I'm so tired

I haven't been sleeping much lately. It's weird but I've averaged only about 5 hours a night for the past few months. I feel fine from the neck down, but the lack of sleep makes me cranky and confused and shows on my face, and I can almost feel it making me old. I look like I've been president for a few months or something. It's no good. I need to start going to bed earlier.

I saw a commercial for a sleeping pill called Lunesta. They apparently feel it necessary to warn you that the side effects can include drowsiness. How about that, huh? Sometimes, as a side effect, it works.

Raider Pride

Ghost Ship

This movie sucks so bad that I wrote a short story in the style of Raymond Carver about how bad it sucks:

Home Box Office

"Are you coming to bed?"

And then Susan waited, her hand on the doorframe.

"In a bit."

Jerry took a sip from the can, and then turned the volume down a little as the pixilated cable cut through the sudden abattior.

"What are you watching?"
"Ghost ship."
"It looks like it sucks."

Jerry shrugged, and turned the volume back up a little.

Susan hesitated, and then retreated alone to the darkened bedroom.
...

What do I think about the administration media Shills?

Not alot...
Rick,

It's sad indeed, but I have become so inured to this adminstration's love affair with all things Soviet (e.g. content manipulation, insider dealing, seige mentality, oligarchy) that I lack the capacity for outrage in excess of shrugging, and the phrase "well, what're you gonna do..."

I mean, I didn't vote for the guy, and I'm a liberal, (a real one, not some bullshit Hillary Clinton/John Kerry progressive or some elistist who believes "The President is stupid" is a winning campaign centerpiece) so what we're dealing with is pretty much what I expected. But I also expected that Bush would win again, owing to deepening support among voters that laughably refer to themselves as conservative even as they vote for a man who violates seemingly every principle of what a genuine American conservative said they stood for, just a generation ago.

Increasingly, they (the "conservatives") define their belief system around reflexive defense of the President and his administration. Only 10 years ago, every single Republican in the House of Representatives signed a pledge to support a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. Now the Republican adminstration and a Republican Congress has publicly and openly embraced deficit spending and a corrupt form of Keynesianism so extreme that even John Maynard Keynes himself would tremble at the implications. Of course, the background operating imperative is not economic stimulous, but the delivery of public monies into the hands of a priviledged few.

The "healthy forests" initiative gives away our trees to those who sell them. The Iraq war pays private security companies to do what infantry could do, guard duty, for 10 times the cost. What is the ANWR drilling plan but another attempt to enhance a system wherein profits are private, but expenses are shared?. Think of ANWR, Iraq, the "Healthy Forests Initiative", the "Clear Skies initiative", "No Child Left Behind", and the Social Security Plan as a huge, unbelievably lucrative publicly funded baseball stadium. Or if you prefer, think of them as part of the great collective, the big union, the animal farm. "Neo"-conservative, indeed.

But whether you are talking about the jock sniffing impulse that motivates suckers to vote for a stadium - to vicariously share in somebody else's "victory" at their own expense, or subjects of a second rate "realm" who fund a monarch and assorted progeny for the purpose of lurid entertainments in the press, or an entire political party who defines its ideals around it's chief executive's willingness to remunerate his personal loyalties, it's just a cult of personality, untethered by any ideology except a slavish devotion to the concept of authority itself.

Welcome to the Great Leap Forward.
I'll be at the bar...

Terry McAuliffe Must Go

Since my party just got whipped again, I wanted to lay some ideas down about why that is.

I'll not comment on what's wrong with a GOP for this post, since it seems they have a formula that resonates well enough for the time being with at least 59 million people.

The issue with the Democratic party right now is our inability to market a crisp message, our inability to control the vocabulary of the debate, and our mortal terror of being labeled "liberal". The truth is that the Democratic party is emphatically not "liberal",anymore. At the top, it's "progressive".

And progressivism makes a lot more sense as a political philosphy in it's original home (the GOP) and coupled with evangelical Christianity.

The fact is that the GOP is becomming classically progressive again. George Bush is a Herbert Hoover Republican, and the truth is that he shares more political ideology with Hillary Clinton than she shares with Franklin Roosevelt, or for that matter, Bill Clinton (who is a moderate liberal, but not really a progressive).

Since the Democratic party made the decision to largely abandon liberalism both in word and deed, we have no reason to exist, except to peddle corporate partnership with oversight, as opposed to without.

The reason why the Dean campaign ignighted the grassroots was because he was an unafraid, unapologetic Frank Capra liberal (and not a "radical leftist", regardless of what the media says and regardless of what you ignoramuses think). The problem was that he just wasn't presidential. Right campaign, wrong guy. Fine.

This debacle is a good thing, I believe. It is hopefully the last straw for those of us in the vast democratic majority who are tired of years of failure, and tired of watching our leadership simper and evade what we should be proud of:

that we believe that Americans can be both compassionate and free;

that we believe that government can help where it's needed;

that people who want to work should work, but nobody who can work should just get a check for nothing;

that we believe we should leave this campsite cleaner than we found it;

that Government stops at the skin;

that all men truly are equal in the eyes of the law;

that small businesses and corporations should play by the same rules;

that public education should be more than acceptable, it should be great;

that affirmative action of all kinds should address root causes first and symptoms second;

that our politcal system is the core of our civility and partisan tampering and sabotage is paramount to treason;

that we need to defend democracy where we can;

that we shoud feed the starving where we can;

that we shouldn't shake hands with the unjust, or grease the machinery of our economy with human blood; and,

that these are traditional American values, and we are proud to defend them from those who would rig the rules of society for the benefit of the few, because that's what liberals do.

That's where I sit, anyway, with the grassroots of the Democratic party, and there I will stay until the party comes to me.

"Keep Austin Weird"

Whatever. 78704 used to be a great place, as did Hyde Park and Deep Eddy, for the people who lived there and the vibe of the neighborhood.

But living around a bunch smug, self-satisfied, not-in-my barkyard liberals in a $350,000 2 bedroom with no closets (but ironically, twin Sub-Z's) so as to be walking distance to Guero's stirkes me as just as shallow and provential as living around a bunch of narrow-minded, self-rightious Bushies in a $350,000 4 bedroom just to be walking distance from the Circle C Golfcourse.

What's the difference? Everybody is likey to be well off and white, in any case. Their knees just jerk the other way.

Bouldin Creek's a nice neighborhood for a lot of reasons, as is Academy, Travis Heights, etc. But the notion that moving there is somehow a sign of higher conscioussness is bullshit, especially since in doing so one is only contributing to the gentrification that is driving the music and spontenaity right out of this town.

Have you taken a look at South Congress lately? They might as well call it "Austin Land". The only thing missing is a giant plush Willie Nelson wandering around posing for snaps with little kids.

The Continental Club effectively blocked Zen from building a rooftop deck on grounds of "not enough parking". Jesus! When did the groove and mystique of South Austin begin to revolve around being a dick?

Keep Austin Weird, my ass. The last Goddamned thing this town needs is more Stepford weirdos.

Did you hear what Rome said about Aggy? (My all time favorite hoax)

This was heard on Jim Rome's radio show recently. For those of you who don't know who Rome is, he is a nationally syndicated sports talk show personality based in California with no other connections to Texas.

You see, ESPN is spending the season following the A & M Football team for some documentary. Well, I guess Rome has something to say about the Aggies & College Station. Here it goes:

"They won't shut up. They have to go on about spirit, and old army, and red ass, and how bonfire represents the burning sensation they have in their urine to beat UT, and blah blah blah. Shut up. You start to get the feeling the entire school was built to spite UT. Forget the fact that when the Texas Legislature back in the 1870's passed legislation to start a state university they also decided to have a subsidiary branch of the main school(University of Texas) that would teach agriculture and mechanics. Aggies love to say their school is older, from where they get that I don't know......the fact is, the State intended A&M to be a branch of UT. They are like the afterbirth from the original creation. Like Danny Devito in "Twins". So they apparently have this complex, so much so, that they must devote their entire school to trying to prove to UT that they are just as good. All the while, nobody at UT denies that A&M is a good school, yet they won't shut up. So they write a fight song......about?....Texas, and how they want to beat them. They have a Fish Camp for freshman where they tell them how bad Texas is and how good A&M and all its traditions are.

It is the world's largest known case of penis envy, and it is manifested in everything A&M does. The people at A&M. Now we all have friends who went to A&M or are at A&M. There are some nice people there. However...there is the Corp. East Texas' answer to dreams of ROTC kids everywhere. For every boy scout who never learned to stop playing with his GI Joe Toys, there is the Corp. Now, forget the fact that A&M will actually let people with sub-par grades enroll if they agree to join the Corp. Forget the fact that the Corps looked like a Gestapo hate rally while beating down students on Kyle Field in 1995. Forget the fact that along with the numerous hazing charges that have been filed against them, and swept under the rug over the years, they just this past month have had one Corps member bring charges against another Corps member who apparently had been propositioning others for a little actual sodomy. Not only could I go on with more instances of idiocracy by these Khaki-clad-shaven-headed-dorks, I am sure each of you have your own stories.

The point is: We all respect West Point, Annapolis, The Air Force Academy; however, nobody respects the Corp. I imagine they are kind of the laughing stock of the military world. Just because you dress like the Army, and try and act like the Army, does not make you the Army. People at A&M don't even respect these clowns. It is not cool to shave your head and dress up. Halloween is only supposed to be one day of the year. If you want to carry guns and beat up civilians, move to Israel. It is even less cool to slobber on somebody's daughter on national television and call it a tradition. Dry humping 18 year old girls in the stands at football games is not cool. Not only is it not cool, it should be against the law. I know that in College Station, students are just prone to mount each other on the campus lawn, or in the middle of class, or anytime anything good happens you can just grab the girl sitting next to you and start sucking on her face. But everywhere else in the world, it is looked down upon. Especially if you are doing it on my TV. That is why we have moved the game from Thanksgiving. Because people across the nation were gagging on their turkey when in the middle of watching a football game, some boy scout is tongue thrashing some overweight co-ed during somebody's Thanksgiving dinner. We do not need to see burly women engaged in a suckfest every time your woeful offense manages to put points on the board. Some of these girls are in desperate need of a trip to the Clinique counter. Screw that, forget make-up, it is too late for that, just give them a veil.

"t.u." is not funny. It is NOT insulting. It is dumb. Just imagine if folks from Texas kept talking about M&A and giggling. That would not be funny. In fact, it would be retarded. That's why UT fans don't do it. Please learn. You want to lose the image of country bumpkins, of a people fond of sheep, of people that aren't stupid? Then quit building things that fall down. Quit chasing cheerleaders around with swords on national TV. Quit whooping in church. Quit whooping period. Quit putting up scoreboards for the enjoyment of dead mammals. Quit spending your Friday nights practicing how to yell. Quit telling rape jokes to reporters when you're running for Governor. When you are filling out season ticket renewals, and the form asks for your phone #, H & W, quit putting 258-3999, Height 6'3", Weight 185. Just, collectively, stop making asses of yourselves.

Go to East Texas, tour every small town, and ask every red neck with a 5th grade education why they cheer for A&M and wear maroon. That is your fan base. This is why you are perceived by the educated masses as stupid. Nobody cares if you think your band is better. They might be louder, they might march in neat little zig zags, but they have no musical ability. The point is, nobody cares who wins halftime. Quit getting geeked up about marching bands. I find it hard to believe you stood through your high school band's entire halftime performance. And why? Cause nobody cared then and nobody cares now. Plus, you can hear them fine sitting down even if you do care. Why is it cool all of a sudden now that you're in college? Men should never let out high pitched whooping sounds. Perhaps the only justifiable situation in which this can be tolerated is perhaps during an anal probe. Oh wait...I understand now.

Dogs are not ladies. They don't look or smell like ladies. Dogs eat their own feces and should be treated accordingly.

Finally, College Station is an arm-pit of a town. Quit pretending that it is a great college town. It is a town and there is a college there. That should be the end of this comparison. If you feel that life doesn't get any better than the Dixie Chicken, and enjoy being stuck in a never ending "Dukes of Hazard" episode, then move there. More importantly, don't move to Austin.....they are trying to create an educated, technological, and open minded population base. Austin is, and will continue to be, the birthplace and final resting place of all that is cool.

As my friend Stephen Johnson once said: "If the world were ever to get an enema, College Station is where you would connect the hose." If you go to school at A&M, please don't be an Aggie.



God Bless the Great State of Texas