Wednesday, November 30, 2005

HEHHEHHEH...LISTEN TO HIM GO

As I sit here listening to Frank Zappa's sheik ...that track of him just ripping it the fuck up before the awesome song "Bobby Brown" and then "I knew you'd be surprised". He's ripping it on a gibson SG.
I got this big smile on my face knowing I can coax similar sounds from my own SG...and he just riffs away, like I do sometimes.
It makes me smile.
To approximate Zappa...plus... I know all the words.
Thank you Frank for putting the icing on a actually pretty cool birthday...Dinner at maudie's was about 40 bucks, but when the bill came it was 13.89...the manager cut our ticket for my birthday. Cool.
My friends at the package store gave me some free Dewars scotch...thanks guys, Ann loved it.
All in all it was a good one...now if you'll excuse me, I have some tickets to scratch. :)
Dining Out
It only took two days of work for me to revert back to a brain-dead state at the end of the work day. I had a long list of things I wanted to blog about this morning, but now... well, I can't think of a single one. However, that could change since it's Rob's birthday and we are going to Maudies for dinner. That used to be a major stress-buster for both of us, back when we could afford to go out for dinner. It wasn't the drinks or that someone else did the cooking, but that we could sit and talk for a couple of hours. Of course, we could sit and talk for a couple of hours at home, but that's just not the same. Dinner out always seemed to revive me in the past, so tonight I'll get a chance to see if it still holds true with this job. If it turns out to be a miracle cure, maybe I can find a way to work eating out back into the budget.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

THE PERILS OF AGE CRINGE IN FEAR IN THE PRESENCE OF THIS OLD FOGY

Today was a test of my resolve. Over the past month, I have had periodic pins and needles in my left shoulder and arm, radiating to my thumb. I'm certain it's a pinched nerve somewhere between my neck and shoulder blade. On top of that, my inner elbows have been suspiciously tender for, respectively, left to right, 2 and three weeks.
Today we were working in the main building, where parking is always a premium, but with several projects going on in main, it's next to impossible. We had to park at the library lot, about a block away. Now, being the apprentice, it's my job to run for and bring material to the job site. Put 10 junction boxes, 20 connectors, 20 couplings, 20 stand off straps, a box of 100 toggle bolts, a box of fender washers and some other shit made of metal in a cardboard box and you've got a pretty heavy load.
Then there's the hammer drill and the battery drill, and the bender, not to mention the tool bag that clocks in at about 35 lbs.... Combine that with the trip from truck to elevator to job site, and I'm covering some serious territory with some serious weight as quickly as possible.
Now to be fair, the journeyman carries his weight as well in regard to his tools and packs the bender or the drill. Oh, yeah, the pipe...I forgot about that, bundles of 10, 10 foot long pieces of metal. My journeyman carries the pipe...mostly because I would probably give some student or faculty member a serious head trauma carrying a bundle like that through the crowded halls of a university.
Did I mention the crowds? Like kicking the top off of an anthill crowds...and us being service people and them being important students and faculty, we're invisible. So if anybody's getting out of anyone's way, well, you do the math...and imagine dodging self important/self absorbed kids and faculty in narrow hallways while balancing a bundle of 10 foot pipe on your shoulder.
The elevators in main are small, the largest barely able to accommodate that bundle of pipe, and it has to be wrestled in, providing there are no students or faculty waiting on the same elevator...if there is, you stand with your load and wait...sometimes three or four cycles.
Now, a 10 foot ladder fitting in one of these elevators is out of the question. The room we are remodeling has 12 foot ceilings. If you are 6ft plus, an 8 ft ladder works just fine and just barely...barely fits in the elevator. We have a new journeyman who is an inch or so shorter than me...he requires a 10 ft ladder to do his job.
He and I carried that ladder up several flights of stairs, after I carried it alone from the parking area to the main building. 10 footers are heavy...even when they're made of fiberglass...let me tell you.
But I did it. And I was proud to do it, all that back and forth, all that heavy material. See, most apprentices are half my age and younger, and the ones I've been around cry like babies about this kind of labor.
In less than an hour I'll be 46 years old and I can still kick their asses!
I feel like Kurtz, only without the crazy.
:)
Back in the Saddle
The first day back at work went far better than I expected. It took a few hours to get used to wearing a headset again and having to squint at the tiny monitor. But I think the thing I missed the most about being on vacation was the ability to go to the bathroom when ever I wanted. At work I have to wait for my scheduled break or the in case of an emergency when I know I can't make it to break then I have to ask for permission. Every time I have to do that I always flash back to fifth grade to a particular classroom and the teacher who was the first teacher I ever had with a strict "bathroom only by permission and I might deny it" attitude. I suppose it was her way of preparing us for junior high and high school where virtually no teachers would ever grant a student a bathroom pass. And as it turned out, preparation for the work force as well because many of the jobs I've worked at have had similar policies. I never understood why, as a switchboard operator/front desk receptionist, I was allowed to put a sign on my desk and forward the phones to spend 15 minutes making copies for an executive, but under no circumstances could I do the same thing so I could spend 2 minutes taking a piss. I'm pretty sure that for some employers it was a nothing more than control issue, but that doesn't seem to be the motivating factor where I work now. In fact, this wasn't the policy when I first started there. I could go on a rest room break at any time without asking permission. I didn't abuse it, but there were plenty of employees that did and sure enough, the policy was changed. It's a pattern I've seen time and time again in my thirty years of employment. It's much easier to clamp down on the entire employee population than spend time finding and dealing with the ones who are causing the problem. And since 9-11, this same sort of corporate attitude has been applied to the population of the US by our own government. We are all logged, tracked, and monitored at every turn because a small percentage of the population might be ne'er-do-wells and/or quite a few government officials are control freaks. Most of us, myself included, just sigh and muddle on rather than kick up a fuss. Now I suppose some people are actually afraid to say anything or do anything, but that's not my issue. I just don't have the energy to do much other than whine about it. My adolescent self would be appalled, but I no longer have the fire and drive to try and change the world. That sort of thing is better left to the young, but I suspect the youth of today are not start the revolution of tomorrow. Although I do have hope for their kids.
Timeless
I should be in bed right now, but I'm not. Yeah, I made an earlier comment about showing up for work sleepy and hungover, but there's not near enough beer here to induce a hangover and I'm a bit too fond of sleep to sacrifice it just to make a point. Rather I'm up late doing laundry because I checked the closet to see what I might wear to work tomorrow and discovered I had no clean shirts. I also have nothing for breakfast or lunch tomorrow which just shows how quickly I can abandon my normal practice of planning ahead for such things. Schedules, routines, planning - yeech. Although I might be a master at it (ask anyone who's ever worked with me) that doesn't mean I enjoy it. And I've often wondered if there's a correlation between my dislike of schedules and the fact that I can't wear a watch. Most analog watches just stop, but a few have actually run backwards. I thought when the LED watches came out that might be the answer for me, but they die as well or the LEDs go out after a few days making it impossible to tell what time it is. I also whack out alarm clocks, though much more slowly than watches. I've discovered recently that moving them to Rob's side of the bed usually results in a complete recovery after a period of time. Weird stuff.

Monday, November 28, 2005

REVIEWING MY "STYLE"

Not my style here at depthmarker...I just spew the shit out as it comes...and you either relate or not. It's hit or miss, but it's a blog...I'm allowed to spew. It's more about my interpersonal "style" in real time, day to day interaction with people close to me. In regard to regard and proximity. I like most of the people I work with...everyone on my crew for sure, and there is no one in the periphery I don't like flat out...
But when it comes to personal things I have always been anecdotal, even when I was in the psych wars. Someone presents an issue and I search the data base to see if there is some similar experience on my internal hard drive that I can relate to offer support and understanding, and the important thing...insight into the terrain they are currently deployed on.
I'm only trying to help. And as much as I try to distance myself from my former profession, the one part I can't shake is the desire to counsel. And I do that with anecdotal blathering.I try to relate common experiences and offer kernals of enlightenment based on my own experiences that could help the recipient deal with thier current issue(s).
The advantage of experience is what I'm trying to pass on.
When I tell a story, there's always a reason. Always. But I fear sometimes they get lost in the story and miss the point.
And those stories with a reason worked so well for me in my former life...but I've got to wonder these days, as the people hearing these stories today don't always respond like the ones hearing them years ago used to.
Maybe they have to think about them a bit longer since they're not in the circle.
And then there's always the distance I have from that circle. Fallen away save a precious few.
But understand that when I tell a story, there's always a reason.
Man! That's some convoluted shit.
But I've got to figure it out.
DUKE IS BIG FAT CRYBABY

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham ( R- thief/liar ) has resigned today, admitting, amongst other things, taking over 2 million in bribes from three defense contractors. He explains his earlier lies about this and the other charges against him as his inability to own up and take responsibility, but that he wants to now "atone" for his crimes in his "twilight years".
Which is super rich fuckhead code for "I'm in a corner I can't lie my way out of"...he got caught and suddenly his lame ass excuses for his rolls royce and his yacht didn't hold water, not to mention his 2.5 million dollar mansion...all this on an annual salary of approx. 160,000 dollars.
To him I say... suck on it bitch. Crocodile tears won't help you now. Hopefully he'll flip on some of those other (R-thieves/liars) that keep popping up on the justice radar.
It's funny...3 hours ago the CNN headline said "Crooked congressman resigns near tears" , at this posting it's been cleaned up considerably ( see link above ) what's up with that? Responsible journalism at play? Hahaha. Let's examine this headline : Crooked? Yes. Congressman? Yes. Cry baby? Yes. It's factual all the way around. It might be just a wee bit partisan and inflamatory, but it's still the truth. And the dems are way past due for a little payback when it comes to inflamatory partisan headlines. This one has something else going for it that all those republican hatemonging headlines bantied about and embellished rather than toned down...it's the truth.
Cunningham himself has admitted it, before a judge and the public. Make no mistake, this is the result of an ongoing investigation, not a series of muckraking headlines,accusations and TV commercials. Hard questions about the facts regarding corruption. OK...enough gloating...but Ghawd-Damn! I love it.
____________________________________________________________________

Confidential to William Kay...

Billy...say it isn't so.

The party's over in more ways than one
This is the last day of my vacation and I wish I could tell you that I had a spectacular week off, but it was far from spectacular. I did get quite a bit of physical and mental rest and while that makes for a boring vacation, it was exactly what I needed. Tomorrow I go back to work and there's been a few changes to my job during the week I was off, none of them good, especially the requirement of L2s to work additional weekend shifts. Some L2s don't work any weekends at all, despite a policy that they work at least two shifts a month. And rather than enforce the policy and get those slackers to work on a Saturday or Sunday once in a while, they decided to change it so that those of us who do follow policy will now have to work even more weekend shifts. After all the policy changes over the last few months which have made the job become more and more unpleasant, I think this one might be the worst. There's nothing in life that I value more than spending time with Rob. This is going to cut into that time even more and I'm not at all happy about it. When some person or some event fucks with the things that are most important to me, I always react and I know myself well enough to anticipate that I'm going to do some act of defiance over this in the very near future. Unfortunately I don't know myself well enough to predict just what I might do. I could blow up one day at work and get fired or quit, but I'm just as likely to dye the ends of my hair lime green to take advantage of a job that allows such things. It's anyone's guess at this point. That said, I've decided to make a start on the whole defiance episode by showing up to work tomorrow sleepy and hung over instead of my usual "ready to go to work" self. Maybe I can nip this in the bud without doing something drastic.

Friday, November 25, 2005

READY?SET?GO!!!

It's black friday!Time to go out and violate your credit cards! Go asshats go! I saw at CNN this morning that Walmart saw millions of customers nationwide trample through the door and each other when they opened the doors.Reports of people fighting over items...ahhh! the spirit of christmas.
Are we as a people really this fucked up?
It would appear so.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Here's wishing you all a happy thanksgiving. I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends, ate copious amounts of food and lolled in front of the television watching Atlanta beat the balls off Detroit. That was the game we watched anyway, between trips to the weather channel. But there was something missing for me this thanksgiving...where was Bush with his fake plastic turkey? He didn't greet the troops overseas like he did last year in that fake supportive sort of way. Why not? Why not continue the lie? What's different between prior years and this one? I think the answer is easy.
He was full of shit then and he's full of shit now. And that plastic turkey told him to fuck off...nobodies buying into your shit anymore...the tide may be turning. And we give thanks to ... oh, I don't know...
In this land of bullshit what are you thankful for this year?

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

STRAY CATS

As I've been writing, I take Sullivan on rides in the evening...to the store mostly. I've been trying to spread the love around of late to the other kids, and I decided to take Irene with me. Now, irene is usually a very well behaved little diva of a dog, not requiring the requisite leash our spazzy Sully gets before the door is opened. Irene jets out the door and immediately flushes one of the neighbors cats out from under the rodeo. The cat hightails it across the street to home. There are cars coming and Irene is in hot persuit...across the street in traffic.
I race across the street after her...she is apparently travelling so fast that my voice is unhearable and she disappears behind the house. I turn around to see Theo in the driveway, the neighbors driveway the one across the street. Meanwhile, the neighbors bajillion cats are all ducking for cover, like that old video game duckshoot. I holler at Theo, and he cuts and runs, realizing he fucked up,straight to our front door...through traffic. This is when I see he forced the gate ( time to put the lock back on the gate )to the back yard and ran his narrow handicapped ass after his sister. Have I said
through traffic enough yet?
I put him in the house and Ann is looking at me dumbfounded and asks what happened? I just say shut the door and get my flashlight out of the rodeo and head back over to the neighbors for Irene, who I'm hoping hasn't captured and killed one of his fucking cats. I find her in the side yard, and as soon as she sees me she jets in her hyper speed mode...thats right...across the street with cars coming, straight to the front door.
After a spanking and alot of "bad girl" admonishment...she was tossed into her room, where she remains at this writing. Little bitch :)...I can understand the lure of cats, but it was the cars that they didn't see that freaked me out so much...whew!
What a mad minute.

Monday, November 21, 2005

YES...THAT'S US



Wolves@th'Door...watch out.

THE LURE OF CHICKEN

Way,way back in the day, I was a fool for marijuana...you know...pot,grass,weed,maryjane,dope,and apparently the new slang...airplane and, oddly enough, brocolli.Here's a picture of me under the influence...



Way back in the day, I was a fool for speed...crank,meth,go...none of that pill shit for me, no sir...I was all about the snort. There are no pictures I'm aware of showing me under the influence of speed, but if there are any, they would be blurry because,whatever I was doing, I was doing it really really fast.
Fortunately for me, I learned the error of my ways before my teeth rotted out and my mind leaked out of my ears ( that actually, could be up for debate).
Which brings me to the chicken in a round about way. And our dogs.
As far as our dogs are concerned, chicken = crack.
I made king ranch chicken for dinner tonight, and, as is my practice, I saved back some crack I mean chicken to give to the dogs. I gave some to Theo and Irene, and while Irene was satisfied, Theo was restlessly wandering around the front of the house looking for something . Something to trade for more chicken! He finally settled on an empty pill bottle, which he rolled around in his mouth while standing squarely between me and Ann looking back and forth between us expectantly,wagging his tail like a three card monte dealer in times square.
I got my pill bottle back, and Theo got some more chicken.
He played me...again.
And I let him...any dog smart enough to find something to barter for more chicken deserves it.
Which has nothing to do with my former bad habits, except the time I traded an air wrench to a tool head friend of mine for a quarter ounce of hash.:)
Plus, it was an excuse to run that picture...again...which is a really long way of saying "I got nuthin'".
I should have left town...
This vacation is trying very hard to turn into no vacation. My dad has already called and come by this morning causing me to cut short my pajama time because I had to get dressed so I could help him work on the Tempo, the car that has been sitting dead in my driveway for over a year. Apparently it needs new windshield wipers and an air filter before it goes to the shop where it may or may not be fixed. I went ahead and did it, but I put my foot down when he told me we should go down to the tax office tomorrow to the get the title changed over and buy tags for it. Sorry Dad, but as much as I appreciate the fact that you've decided to give me the car instead of giving it to my brother, I'm not going to waste a vacation day standing in line at the county tax office. Meanwhile I managed to get five missed calls on my cell phone while I was out mucking with the car. That's more calls in one morning that I usually get in an entire week. Forget it folks, I'm not calling you back. Now the gas company is here because there's a gas leak. Fortunately they traced it to the neighbors house and not ours, but this morning has not been an auspicious start for my vacation. I hadn't planned on getting drunk today, but I think I've just changed my mind.
Ah, vacation
Today is the first day of my paid vacation and I'm sure Rob was scratching his head when I went to bed at the usual time last night and set the alarm for 5:00 AM just like I always do. There's a reason for this madness. I wanted to get up, make coffee, let the dogs out, and then savor the experience of not doing any of that other stuff I have to do before I walk out the door and go work. Right now I would normally be scrambling to pack my lunch and lock up the house. Instead, I'm sitting at my own desk in my pajamas drinking coffee knowing that I don't have to go any where unless I decide that I want to do so. Sleeping late just doesn't pack quite the same thrill.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

WOLVES @ TH' DOOR VS. THE CHURCH OF THE POST PUBESCENT STARCH EXPLOSION

It could have been ugly, but it wasn't. But it was so perversely funny that we laughed until our sides hurt. I for one haven't laughed so hard in months...maybe even years. As I've said before, there is a church next to our practice space, and while the congregation has always been small and almost never present during our practices...that has changed recently...what with them having a service on that sunday we jammed...our bad timing, but this was a saturday night so, who knew that shortly after our favorite drummers arrival there would be a stream of cars pulling in and each of those cars would eject some of the largest hispanic women and thier men I have ever seen in my life.
So, we're sitting around the overturned "live specimens" styrofoam box that we use as a table on the driveway to our space watching these cars come in, and I'm amazed at the size of the women getting out of these sub compacts...they are HUGE. I make some lame ass joke about clown cars at the circus...it's the church of obese mexican chicks and thier miserable cheating husbands. Which is quickly deemed non PC and altered to the church of the post pubescent starch explosion.
You can do the math.
We are all laughing hysterically as Clutch blasts from the PA, and decide they should have some musical accompaniment to the sit down supper they are having.


(from left to right: fat...not so fat...OH MY GOD.)

It's mostly a free form jam with smatterings of old Wolves songs thrown in for good measure..."reststop" is played in it's entirety because it's just an ugly ugly song.
When we emerge from our second set, the parking lot is empty...they have dissappeared into the night, with only the zombie green neon cross burning on the front of the building as proof of thier presence.
We should probably feel guilty, but it was just too damned funny.

OUR FRIEND BW ASKS A COMPELLING QUESTION...


But WHY aren't people in your country protesting on the streets about this?

Or are they all so tied up in their consumerist media-driven lifestyles and their gods that they are blind to what murder is being committed in their name?

And I wonder why people from our country who know about this (ie the British army bods on the streets with yours) aren't making their voices heard to our government?
Blue Witch | Homepage | 11.19.05 - 4:37 pm | #


Where to begin...Let me begin by using the recent example of the visit of the klan to our fair city. Barriers were set up that put the anti klan people so far away that any "meaningful" exchange of ideas was effectively crushed. The city deployed police en masse...including helicopters and some say sharpshooters to ensure the klans safety. They even censored the media, arbitrarily deciding what constituted "legitimate" news sources. As you can imagine, civil suits have been filed, and the city of Austin maintains the measures were taken to keep people safe.
From what? Were the city leaders taking steps to avoid the possibility of the klan related riot that occurred in Ohio a while back? Or were they engaging in a far more malevolent practice instituted by the Bush administration?
Yes..."Free speech zones"...miles away from whatever horseshit they were ramming down our throats, and coincidentally, miles away from the cameras and the media at large. As Orwellian as it sounds..."free speech zones", think about that for a minute. You can excercise your right to free speech as long as you excercise that right in an area designated and controlled by what amounts to the enemy. And the bonus here is that if you do, no one will hear you.Which is exactly the result the bushites are seeking. They want to operate unfettered.Like those guys in the guiness commercials proclaim "Brilliant".
You can say what you want, but only at a distance where no one will hear you and it will be of no consequence, plus, we can further marginalize and belittle you and your cause.
Another example is the vigil Cindy Sheehan held in Crawford ( home of the asshat in chief ) Texas. Since she left, the city passed several ordinances limiting protesters severely, there is now a 5 (?) square mile buffer around bush's ranch, a camping ban and a portable toilet ban, all under the premise to "keep people safe".
But I think it's clear what's going on here.
Free speech is being squelched.
And as the critical voices in washington begin to rise, you will see more of this...from the top down.
We are speaking out, BW, but they just speak louder, drowning the voice of reason out.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

REMEMBER THIS?



I do...it was an image that was burned into my brain during that other load of shit war called Viet Nam.
That naked little girl doing the "Richard Pryor mile" had been burned by napalm(olive), (softens your hands while you burn villages), all that smoke in the background should give you an idea of how devastating it is. There's nothing there anymore.
That was first generation napalm...what they have now is second generation. The Pentagon hasn't ( to my knowledge at this posting ) admitted to using the new and improved
napalm, but has admitted to using white phosphorus (WP) or Willy Pete. Initially, it said it only used WP to "illuminate the night skies in Fallujah" but then corrected itself to say it used it as a weapon, but not against "civilians".
OK...let's talk about civilians for a minute. Indigenous non combatants...but there's no official army fighting us in Iraq...there are no uniforms, they are labelled "insurgents" from other countries, even though recent reports show that on our latest offensive, "steel curtain" or some such john wayne swaggering named horse shit, the vast majority of killed and captured are, in fact, Iraquis...Not battallions of republican gaurd in uniform, but the equivalent of the cong, who looked like, you guessed it, civilians.
So, what do you think is going to happen? Please choose from the following:
A. We can't differentiate between combatants and civilians, let's back off...
or,
B. Light those motherfuckers UP!
If you chose A, you should be euthanized.
This is a WP round exploding...




White Phosphorus - A Filler, which burns extremely hot and gives off a thick cloud of white smoke. A unique characteristic of white phosphorus (WP) is that it burns when exposed to air. WP rounds can be very hazardous and should be approached with caution. WP UXO have been found on ranges that were not completed burned out because of a crust that has been formed over the once exposed filler sealing it from air. If disturbed the crust could crack and expose the WP filler to air thus re-igniting the round. WP is used mainly in grenades, mortars and projectiles.
Now, while there are smoke grenades for location and status of troops on the ground, and signal mortars for similar purposes, grenades, mortars and projectiles are by and large used to kill people.
I submit to you they lit those motherfuckers up, with the blessing of the criminals running this war and this country.
I can't wait to hear the "collateral damage" claims undoubtedly coming from the pentagon some time soon...as in a weak dicked "we regret the...". "It was necessary to"... and
"civilian casualties were, regrettably, unavoidable in a campaign of this scope".

"This is a slaughter"...Animal Mother, Full Metal Jacket.
No shit.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

IT'S ANOTHER FULL MOON

I saw it in the sky this morning...mocking me. This explains the bizzare dreams I've been having for the last 3 days and that twitchy, fucked up feeling I've had as well. Here's one of those dreams, as I remember it.
I'm in a house with a former clinical supervisor, she is all in a tizzy because "someone" has been spreading rumors of us having an affair, her tizzy involves a complete failure of motor skills and she falls over backwards to the floor. I pick her up, and as I'm carrying her outside, a truck pulls up. There's this amalgon of rednecks I've known since high school driving and some monkey looking guy on the passenger side.
I stand at the side of the road asking the driver why he's spreading these rumors...He says I'm not the only one who can dance with the doctor and begins to speed off. I scream some volley of expletives at him at which he screeches to a halt and leaps from the truck instructing monkey boy to take the wheel as he charges me.
And then it's on...we fight. We are pretty evenly matched, but then I get him on the ground and proceed to kick his ass without mercy. He starts laughing at me, even as I continue to pummel him...then I wake up.
Fucking moon...

Monday, November 14, 2005

SOME ODD, INCONSEQUENTIAL THINGS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE

My real horoscope makes mention of "a short term loss that will lead to a long term gain". As with all horoscope fortune teller like things, this says volumes or nothing, depending on your lithium levels. I don't read horoscopes as a rule, but I read the one in the chronicle every once in awhile because it has a common sense lean to it.
Speaking of common sense, with the exception of our county, every county in Texas overwhelmingly voted to pass prop 2, the gay marriage ban. Despite the fact that it was written by a neanderthal so poorly that it could nullify not only those deviants attempts at usurping a divine right available to only a man and a woman, but that man and woman who enter into a marriage, whether it be in a lily festooned church or a hand shake and a french kiss after a jello shot in some bar off 4th street. This amendment will be challenged post haste in the appelate and superior courts, and god willing, overturned as the short sighted, narrow minded piece of legislation it is.
Speaking of god...where the fuck is he these days?.
I find it hard to believe that he's up there on his throne scratching his head thinking " OK...they're this far from getting it right...I'm not gonna intervene...gonna give 'em some more time before I let the amphibians take over".
I imagine a conversation between god, St. Peter and Moses...Kind of a daily briefing if you will.
god: So, Pete...how are things going in processing?
St.Peter: Well, Boss...not so good. The ratio of admission or banishment continues to give banishment a growing edge. Currently, 7 of every 10 arrivals are banished, 3 are given entrance to heaven.
god: Moses, can you break these figures down for me?Are there that many sinners down there? My figures show an opposite, in terms of believers v. sinners...help me out here.
Moses: Well, Mr. G...While it appears that there are more believers than sinners on earth, a healthy portion of believers have twisted the doctrine and fooled themselves that they are holy, when in fact they are not.
St. Peter: I can vouch for Moses on this one god, I see them everyday at the gate...they plead worthiness at the gate, but, when examined closely, it's shallow.
god: Please elaborate, I'm intrigued.
St. Peter: For example, this woman was killed by a homeless person the other day, a tradgedy. She was a pillar in her community, a devout member of her church and chairwoman of the churches " drive for decency" council for 5 years.
god: Surely she was admitted to heaven, right?
St. Peter: No, your majesty, she was banished to burn in hell.
god: Why? And why did the homeless person kill her?
St. Peter: She was offended by the homeless living in the park by her high rise condo, and was active in the effort to get them pushed out...she did nothing to help them and was repulsed by thier presense in the park...they interferred with her once weekly walks with her children, a homeless man approached them and did his magic tricks...she was offended and after a verbal exchange, spit on him. He lost his mind and broke her neck.
god: Why was the confrontation so volatile?
Moses: Well...OG...The other 6 days of the week a nanny took the kids to the park, and his magic tricks were routine, he was harmless, she had never encountered him before and wasn't aware that this was routine for a trip to the park.
god: What became of the nanny?
St. Peter: She was detained and fired and deported back to columbia.
god: And what is she doing now?
Moses: She's a whore and a mule for a drug lord.
god: And what of the homeless man?
St. Peter: He was shived at Rikers Island over a sandwich and died on the dining room floor while other inmates kicked him around.
god: And what else can you tell me about this man?
St.Peter : He was a teacher before he became homeless.
Moses: He was also afflicted with a madness, a madness that caused his homelessness.
St. Peter: When he was a teacher, nothing gave him more joy than to delight his students with magic tricks, even in his madness, he remembered that gift.
god: And what became of him?
St. Peter: He was admitted to heaven, and now teaches and does magic on the childhood cancer cloud complex.
god: Even though he killed a christian woman?
Moses: She wasn't christian, she was just pretending to be.
god: What do you mean pretending?
Moses: There's alot of that going around these days OG...maybe you should focus more of your attention on earth instead of mars. 3 out of 7 is not encouraging.
god: But things are going so much better there.
St. Peter: It's still early in the game for mars...you've gone slower there ( St.Peter's pager goes off ) The numbers are down because there are many who believe like this woman...religion has become commercial and crass and status based, and increasingly comingled with politics.
god: Comingled?
St. Peter: I gotta go...got a columbian woman waiting at the gates.
god: That columbian woman? Get back to me on this comingling thing.
St. Peter: You got it ... see you in the morning.
Moses: Yessir...that's the one...maybe you should review condom failure rates again...I know you don't like them, but they're not just for birth control anymore.
God shuffles his feet.
OK...so I kind of wandered...sue me. :)

Sunday, November 13, 2005

THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US

As soon as halloween was just a glint in some hypoglycemic kids eye as he foamed chocolate fizz out of nose and mouth while convulsing on the bathroom floor, the television lights up with ads...most of them bypassing thanksgiving all together, and going straight to the mother of all debt fests, christmas.
Now, for the record, I love halloween, diabetic comas notwithstanding...and the fact that the religio-nutbags get thier collective panties in a wad each and every year, pointing to some satanic celebration going on under our very noses. To them I say where is the guest of honor??? In all the years I have been here for halloween, not once have I encountered the dark one unless it was a hershey special dark one...in short, you are full of shit, halloween is about candy and parties and fun. Get over yourselves already.
Thanksgiving is my favorite. No gifts beyond the joy of gathering family and friends together and eating like there's no tomorrow. That's it, food,family and fun, except for that little detail of us systematically eradicating the race that introduced us to this past time in the first place... if you believe the pilgrims. I like food, family and fun and remembering the spirit of the day, pre small pox blankets and wholesale slaughter. Plus, you got that no gift thing going for it.
But, christmas...that's a whole 'nother critter. From now until the super bowl we will be inundated with buy buy buy! Gone are the days of " I sold my pocket watch to buy you this brush for your beautiful hair " and " I sold my hair to buy you this watch fob"... Now it's " I took out a second mortgage to buy you this holiday cruise" and "I sold a kidney to buy you this lexus...you love me now, right? Please tell me the dialysis in my future will be worth it".
Have you seen that cruiseline commercial? Everyone's walking around with mini ships under their arms and the little girl who is so cute she should be thrown under a sand truck or abducted and held for ransom by the somalian pirates that will attack your ship if you come within 100 miles of the coast of africa, and take even more of your money because you got so caught up in the commercial end of this holiday that you bought a fucking cruise to begin with.
AAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!
Whatever happened to home made cookies?

Saturday, November 12, 2005

A LITTLE BIT OF CULTURE

I was gonna say "Please tell me you didn't name your dog after Godsmack."

"Hajimart" No shit. Every little convenience store and gas station. We don't need explosive growth due entirely to foreigners; legal and illegal, dammit.

How 'bout some good pics and stories about your ink?
Anonymous | 11.11.05 - 12:23 am | #


Thanks for the inspiration...here we go.

I bought the first Godsmack CD and then promptly forgot about it. I wouldn't name a bowel movement after them...well...I might, but it would have to be a really unfufilling bowel movement...kind of like Godsmack. Sullivan came to us with his name. he was a dump job puppy at my vet with parvo, dumped by the original owners and saved by my vet and then palmed off on me and Ann,because we liked black dogs. If the piece of shit human that ditched him named him after a godsmack song, that's on him. What godsmack song are you referring to anyway? Like I said...I didn't give them much time in the player.He's just Sully...

Hajimarts...There's this one at Cumberland and congress where I buy smokes and scratch tickets on a semi regular basis, and the guy there reminds me of the guy that tortures Marky Mark's character in Three kings...he doesn't look like that guy, but he sounds like him ..."my friend" and "my main man"...it's creepy.
But, in the long run, anybody that can cash wetback paychecks for exhorbitant fees and then take some more money for beer and lottery has got a line on what could possibly be the commerce industry (for the south anyway) of the 21st century. By and large, I don't have a problem with the Hajimarts...these guys are just taking advantage of the promise of america...remember that? You know, that place where you could bring your sorry huddled masses ass and make something of yourself?
Somewhere along the line, americans forgot that they were a part of that too, and regulated themselves to the other side of the american dream that's populated by ssi claims and food stamps and workers comp claims and lawsuits. At some point, hard work and results left the consciousness of a large portion of the public and opened the door for a full scale fucking of the system.
Leaving it wide open for these ragheads to move in and steal our thunder. And we deserve it.
Narrow minded bastards we are.

There are precious few good pics of my ink, and even fewer stories. I am colored by choice. To my peril, apparently. Why am I tattooed? Because my dad was...that's the easy answer...But I lived in Austin and was of the age to partake in the punk scene that exploded here in the early 80's...it was an accepted practice and besides, some of the best artists going were here. I was picky...and lucky. I'm not ashamed of any ink I got, and any I had covered up was driven more by bad art than anything else...in 25 years I've covered up 2.
There was this kid I had in treatment that showed up years later...covered in Tats...I wasn't into it that much then and asked him why. He was trying to cover himself up, like he could recreate himself in tattoos...you know, get away and deny his past, become someone else. It didn't work...he drove his motorcycle head on into a truck to solve his problem...he couldn't cover himself up, no matter how hard he tried.
I don't try to cover myself up...never have. I know who I am and If you don't like me...you can go fuck yourself.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

I'M JUST A CHAUFFEUR...BUT IT'S GOD DAMN INTERESTING

In an effort to stimulate our dog Sully...you remember him, the barky one...I take him on store runs with me daily. In short order he has realized that when I put on my hat and pick up my keys that it's drive time. he has learned the words "store" "ride" and "go" and "him" and the resultant circular motion and enthusiastic barking makes it hard to put his leash on..."leash" is another one of those words that results in a jumping for joy barking like a mother, providing I have put on my hat and picked up my keys.
Like a good soldier, he jumps in the car and takes his place in the back seat. I lower the windows to head and shoulders level for him to get the smells available to him on our trip. The trips usually involve the exchange of scratch tickets ( I'm about 50 bucks up BTW :) ) at various locations in the hood. New smells. He loves it. Hell, I could probably just reverse to the end of the driveway and pull back in over and over and he would love it.
Routine...and my love of the dog. He's awesome.
He interacts with people he encounters in the parking lots in the strangest way, sometimes it's all waggy tailed good old boy, but sometimes it's a "kill everything" response.
I have noticed that, regardless of color, if you look like a thug, he wants to naturally kick your ass. I love this about Sullivan, a big dog that can discriminate in regards to potential danger...his vibes almost always match mine in terms of questionable characters, and there are many in the parking lot's of the haji marts in my hood.
And I can tell you from experience that nobody wants to fuck with a tattooed guy with a big black dog in the car...it ain't me that scares them off, it's Sully. Nobody fucks with us. I love it.
And while I fully believe he would defend me like my best friend ever Buddy did, we haven't had the chance yet. He is so imposing that people just don't bother to find out.
And that's a good thing, after all, it's a just a ride to the store. With teeth.
No interpreter needed
I hate it when I dream about work. I'm there for eight hours a day and I'd just as soon not spend another eight hours at night even if it's just in a dream. This dream was the kind where you wake up and then fall right back into it when you get back to sleep. The whole dream revolved around having this coat that my dream-self usually wore to work. During all the different parts of the dream, I was always waiting for a service to come and line the inside of the coat with Teflon. What a great metaphor. Of course, all sorts of other things happened too, but since it involves real people that I work with I'll refrain from any more details. And as much as I hate dreaming about work, I'd be happy for one more dream if meant I actually ended up with the Teflon lined coat. Because that could really come in handy.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

THIS WOULD BE FUNNY

If it wasn't so pathetic, and baldly corrupt, and insanely conniving. Tom DeLay and his weasel are trying to get his trial moved out of Travis County because he can't possibly get a fair trial here. While no city has been suggested by DeLay's weasel...Texas law mandates that the trial be held in the defendants home county. BINGO! They are playing the law to get this trial moved to Fort Bend County...Sugarland, Texas is in this county, that's where DeLay is from. It is primarily republican and supportive of him.
This bullshit started with the removal of Judge Perkins, because he was "biased", because he contributed to democratic organizations. Fine, but when our DA started an inquiry into the political support of the judge assigned to pick DeLays new judge, there was a firestorm of wrangling, and before the inquiry could be officially entered, a judge was chosen. The judge assigned was a supporter of republican causes, and although this information came out, it came out after he chose a democrat judge to hear the case. Great! Unless he's in the republican pocket...or a pussy that's easily intimidated. Why else would the republican judge choose him? Well, maybe to avoid more shit coming out about his activities? He is, after all, a member of the Texas Supreme Court ( and I can only assume that means he comes with sour cream and cilantro ) and this fix Delay is accused of surely goes from the bottom to the top of the republican party here in Texas, he's complicite on some level. Or maybe he just had a moment of clarity and remembered that ethical thing for a minute...hang on a sec while I put a cigarette out on my hand for even entertaining that silly notion.
This is a local example of the absolute sham that's going on nationwide with these assholes. Ethics? Please. The folks on capitol hill are having ethics classes this week.
Think about that for a minute.
People who are working at the power base of the United states of rich america are taking time out of thier days to go to ethics classes???
Something is seriously wrong here
If your head hasn't exploded yet...think about it again.
I can't think about it anymore tonight...but here's another funny one for ya...
It was revealed last week that the United states of lets wipe out the middle class through tax cuts for the rich and hikes for them...you know, the backbone of the country but fuck 'em! Were rich, is operating secret prisons around the globe to incarcerate terrorists and terrorize them. High ranking members of the repub-gestapo Bill Frist and some other asshat whose name escapes me demanded an inquiry into the source of the leak, only to reverse themselves hours later when they learned the leak may have originated within thier own party...HAHA...
Oh yeah...one last thing. It was reported today that the military has used willy pete and a "new" formulation of napalm on civilians in Iraq. You know...the shit that melts you.
What's next? Flamethrowers?
I'll try for something lighter tomorrow...I promise.
Good night and bad dreams.

Monday, November 07, 2005

I'VE GOT THIS COPY OF SABBATH VOL. IV ON CASSETTE IN THE TRUCK...

I'm pretty sure I covered this way back when when I was writing my autobiography, but it's part of the folklore of the band and in my estimation, worthy of retelling.
I hired this guy when I was the milieu Coordinator of TTC, he had considerable experience and presented himself as the kind of guy I was looking for to complement my team. I was right, he was a good addition to the mix...he had a kind of down home sensibility that blended well with the rest of the team.
He also had a history, like most of us in the biz, a history of substance abuse. He was a hardcore drinker and a pill head. Two habits that far outweighed his talent as a social worker, because he LET it. To his credit, he left the field before his habits destroyed his legacy...he was good at what he did, it just consumed him to do it I guess.
Anyway...He shows up at the house one night...already drunk with some fajita meat and a sack full of pecans...he's gonna smoke some fajitas for us. So...he fires up the grill and we sit down at the bar for some conversation.
I've got a CD of Black Sabbath Vol. IV playing and the conversation goes as follows:
Him: ( pulling a packet from his jacket pocket ) "Hey man...you want some rupies"?
Me: " No thanks man...I don't do pills".
Him: " Hey man...I've got a cassette copie of volume IV in the truck...you want me to go get it"?
Me: " This is the CD playing now...."
Him: " Oh...cool...( pulls that packet again ) You guys want some rupies"
Me and Ann: "No thanks...don't do pills...."
Him: checks the fire and dumps some more GREEN pecans on a wimpy fire...throws the meat on.
This exchange went on for at least 2 hours,and I mean the exact same exchanges...the rupies finally caught up with him and he went home. The fire never grew and the meat never really got hot enough to cook...it was raw skirt steak HEAVILY smoked in green pecans.
We joked that he was making jerky. But oddly enough, the next morning, the fajitas were still raw. But our deck was permeated by the smell of roasted pecans.
I've got this copy of Sabbath Vol. IV on cassette in the truck...priceless.
______________________________________________________

AND THIS JUST IN...

Our drummer, and dear friend Badger is having cataract ( and all this time I thought he drove a rincoln!!!) surgery this wed.. He wanted to have this jam we had yesterday beforehand. I'm not sure why the two events are connected. I guess maybe he was worried. He's funny like that, sentimental and shit. But that's why we love him. We've known each other since we were kids. And while the definition of what makes a friend has changed over the years, he has been a constant in my life...often taken for granted as the other bullshit about life got in the way, but never forgotten. Always in my thoughts, between today and tomorrow. And when we get together, it's like no time has passed. We pick right up where we left off the last time, and we've got the pictures to prove it.
I'll be thinking about you Billy...I got your back. :)
See you at the shop in a couple of weeks...

Sunday, November 06, 2005

It was so worth the blister
The band got together today for the first time in a very long time. We played, we barbecued dinner, we played some more. We came up with some new stuff and rehashed some old stuff, including one old song that has a bass line that just kills me and was most likely responsible for the enormous blister on the middle fingertip of my left hand. It wasn't the smartest choice in songs to play after a long hiatus, but what the hell; we had a good time with it.

Here's the instigator of the get-together, our drummer Bill who roused us from our long slumber:



And my best friend, LT:



And here's Rob:



And myself:



P.S. No get-together is without some reminiscing and this is a reminder for Rob to blog about the time, long ago, that his old friend Dan dropped by for one of our jam sessions.
WHY DID YOU HAVE TO RUIN MY FUN?

I didn't go to the rally today, after consulting on the phone with my friends, we decided it was pointless...the anti klan people were relegated to an area so far away from city hall that it was impossible to yell them down or respond to the bullshit directly. I wanted to engage in some face to face with these assholes, but the city saw to it that I couldn't.
I could have showed up for the news cameras, but I wanted a direct effect. I wanted a fight. Short of that, I blew it off.
And I'm glad I did.
12 klansman showed up at city hall...they weren't dressed up. 3000 anti klan demonstrators showed up, they were dressed up, and putting on a show. Good for them. There were 2 arrests...one was an outstanding warrant, the other was somebody brandishing a club and "menacing".
Huh?
This is a demonstration?
This was a worn out hate group who could only muster 12 people to come to a city in support of a fucked up proposition, countered by 3000 people who were undoubtedly more focused on the proposition.
And good for them...it's wrong. I hope it doesn't pass. I don't believe the 12 members of the klan could make a difference on the kind of gravy served with chicken fried steak much less an amendment that is clearly biased and homophobic.
This is like going to see your favorite band but the guitar player is so wasted he can't play...it's just not fair, and more than a little disappointing.
I remember when marches and protests were real and undiluted...it makes me sad and makes me feel really really old, in that "I remember when" sort of way.
It's a joke. And not a good one.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

A STRING FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT

Here's the line of comments I got on my post "It's a rally mofos!"...and of course it's immediately misinterpreted...



Because, of course, the Klan and the Christian/Family Values Right are the same in your knee-jerk, pathological, Christophobic fervor.
And then you'll feel like you made a difference for the better...and then pat yourself some more.
Anonymous | 11.02.05 - 12:25 am | #


So I try to clarify my meaning for the retarded amongst us that fail to understand...

Man...are you SO off the mark on this one! The klan is the klan, I don't care what party they vote for, or support for that matter.
Christian and or family values are not the klan, but that's what they're espousing on this swing through town. They are nothing but racist,bigoted opportunists.Jumping on whatever agenda that suits them and their hate.
The fact that prop 2 is supported by conservatives is just an ironic footnote to me.
My involvement in this is about humanity...not politics.
And when we shame them off the city hall steps this saturday, your'e god damn right I'll be patting myself on the back.
For everyone that joined us.
You need to learn there are two socks people put their shit in.
el robbo | Homepage | 11.02.05 - 9:12 pm | #

Anon refuses to understand, I'm not suggesting he's a retard, but I'm beginning to have my doubts...check this shit...


but you assign my beliefs with theirs and denigrate us as one and the same.
Anonymous | 11.02.05 - 9:29 pm | #


If he/she is a retard, he/she's a high functioning one who spells real good...if you know what I mean.I respond, hoping for a reasonable response.

What??? PLEASE elaborate on this line of thinking. Are you a racist? A homophobe?
A Klan-ster? Or just a conservative?
There is a difference.
el robbo | Homepage | 11.02.05 - 9:43 pm | #

This is what I get...

I'm just a believer
Anonymous | 11.02.05 - 10:30 pm | #


And with that, I have lost all respect for this troll...

What??? Are you that lame that you can't answer a simple question? You are falling down on the job Anon...I'm disappointed, but not surprised.
A believer in what exactly? It can't be that Monkees song from the 60's could it?
Ha Ha....
el robbo | Homepage | 11.02.05 - 10:51 pm | #

And then the truth comes out...

JC, reverend. I'm a radical, ultra, arch, far-right wing fundamentalist extremist...I guess. Just like the Klanclowns, right? And...nevermind.
Anonymous | 11.03.05 - 12:09 am | #


Anon GUESSES he's all of those things...wow...I'd call that CONFLICTED. I don't know if Anon's a "klanclown" but he is definately an "Assclown".


Oh dear Jesus.
special k | Homepage | 11.03.05 - 8:50 pm | #


Special K lends the voice of reason...why do I waste my time?

Check back Saturday for pics and stories of why I waste my time on these sorry bastards called the klan.

I love trolls like Anon...it's too fucking easy to be right. Maybe that's because of my knee-jerk, pathological, Christophobic fervor.

HA HA...
You can't win if you don't play
How many years have we had the lotto in Texas? I really don't know, but however long it's been, during that time I have probably bought a maximum of 20 tickets. It's not that I haven't been able to spare a buck once and a while, it just the odds of winning are so astronomical that it didn't make sense to bother with the hassle of having cash in hand (my wallet is always empty of cash), visiting the store and then checking the numbers the next morning. But it has come to my attention that my odds of landing a good paying job with a decent retirement plan are also astronomical. So what the hell, I'm going to buy a lotto ticket now and again. Rob's covering the scratch off angle and for him, it's entertainment more than any thing else. I don't see where I can get any entertainment value out of buying a piece of paper with some numbers on it, but maybe that slim possibility, that little glimmer of hope, is worth throwing a dollar away.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE



Today at work I was inundated by fliers posted outside of elevators announcing an anti klan rally to coincide with our visit from the hooded ones this Saturday. There were vehicles driving around campus with people calling out through megaphones to join together in solidarity against hate and meet the klan at city hall and let them know they aren't welcome here. Yesterday, on the west mall, a group of Indian students were putting on a demonstration celebrating the culture of India and diversity. Today a group of Mexican-american students were doing the same in the same spot...on the day of the dead, which was an added bonus for us, since we both like the props of the day of the dead...decorative skulls in particular. But it was the clothing and the food and the music that filled the west mall with the essence of these cultures that struck me.
I wasn't too keen on the Indian hip hop, but that's a taste thing.
These young people were recognizing and celebrating their diversity, and sharing it with the droves of all manner of color, creed and station that happened by. It was a cool thing to watch and, peripherally, be a part of.
Seeing all of this reminded me of when I was a young person, full of life and full of myself, and my friends and I were active in political causes. Dedicated enough to spend a week enlarging the above image plus another one that I coudn't find on google to 18x36 signs to carry in this one particular march that was sponsered by the John Brown Anti klan commitee...John Brown was a white man who was executed in 1850 for supporting an end to slavery, but it grew into a multi group extravaganza...the bread not bombs people were there...the no nukes people were there, bikes not bombs, a smattering of all groups supporting peace and tolerance. From the rally point at the gazebo on auditorium shores it was diverse people as far as the eye could see down the hike and bike trail joined together to tell the klan to give it up already and to get the fuck out of our town. And they did. Out numbered and overwhelmed, they jumped onto their buses and hightailed it out of Austin. It was a great victory, and beyond the pelting of the buses with hiking trail gravel, there was no violence, nobody got hurt, and as far as I know, there were no arrests, the police behaved themselves. It was all good.
And,as far as I know, they haven't reprised that visit in any meaningful way, until now.
I busted out the shirt I bought at that march...blue, with a death head shroud pulling his hood back to display the nuke symbol with boney fingers, proclaiming "No Nukes"...it was paper thin...you could see through it. And beyond my surprise that it still fit me, what struck me most was how transparent it was. Like it was diluted with time.
And then I remembered the students I've seen over the last few days, and it's colors were vibrant again.
And suddenly I have that giddy feeling I had back then, and the chance to be a part of something so long in the making, again.
Are we there yet?
I'm working shorter days this week, but they seem longer. I suspect that this has more to do with the end of daylight savings time than my pending vacation, but I'd bet the anticipation of 10 days off in a row plays a role. The year long wait for vacation time seemed an eternity, but the month between the request for it and the actual occurrence seems equally as long. I think the trick is to create a list of things I "need" to have done before my vacation starts. A good to-do list could really make time fly. The trick will be convincing myself I really "need" to do what ever is on the list. Perhaps a way to develop that "need" would be to make some vacation plans beyond the simple not going to work everyday idea; something that would require some advance preparation. So far, the only plans I have are to go out for breakfast one of those mornings off with a good book in hand. Not exactly an item that requires a to-do list to accomplish. Then again, the whole point of this vacation is to for me to do a whole lot of nothing and making plans to "do something" isn't exactly in line with that goal. Maybe with a little creative thinking I can come up with a pre-vacation "to do" list that will let me do even MORE of nothing on my week off.

In other news directed more to myself than any other, I had a dream last night where I went back to work at a place I worked before and for the first time ever in a dream of this kind, the folks I left behind were glad to have me back. In twenty plus years of revisiting old employers in my dreams, that has never happened. Something in my brain has changed and I'm pretty sure it's a change for the better.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

IT'S A RALLY MOFOS!

We are each making signs for the Klan Rally this saturday...here's mine:



And the caption reads: Christian/Family VALUES ???
BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE ASSHATS

While Harriet Miers has scuttled back into her hole...a little volcano of mud and cow shit along the banks of the toxic GOP stock tank, W has fished another out with his string of lies, weighted down with the 3/8's in. nut of corruption and the bacon of lies that the neo-cons can't resist. Drawn out of his little mud and cow shit volcano into the light of day.
And while Harriet crawdaddied back into the shadows without a fight, this one is a king crawdad...Possessed of big claws.
Alito...a staunch conservative, has won favor amongst neocons and served as salve to the pResident to the bruises endured as one after another of his corrupt administration fall to investigations and, in the case of vice presidential chief of staff "Scooter" Libby, indictments.
Here's a quote from one of the neo-con assholes and a witch hunt posing as an organization at the forefront of enslaving the country from a CNN article titled "Conservatives enthusiastic about Alito nomination": James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family ( or as I like to call them, Poke us in the Fanny), said he was "extremely pleased," and the anti-abortion Operation: Rescue declared that the country was on "the fast-track to derailing Roe v. Wade as the law of the land."
So there you have it...the elimination of choice in this country for women.
Beyond that, I don't know much about him, but that is enough to make him suspect in terms of how he would steer the supreme court in matters of choice and privacy.
That makes him dangerous to freedom.
The simple fact that Bunnypants can supposedly rehabilitate the party with this one nomination smacks of blind trust and game fixing.
So transparent that it's beyond pathetic. It's criminal.
Speaking of criminal...Judge Perkins was removed from the DeLay case for being partisan by retired judge CW Duncan. OK...Perkins was removed because he is clearly a democrat, in relation to who he contributes to party wise. Who will replace him? A non partisan Judge? NO SUCH THING. Everyone has preferences, even judges. How much do you want to bet that Perkins replacement in this case will be someone who has no traceable affiliation to any party? Fucking creeps. I'll put a nickel on it. And that Judge will probably be from Tulia or fucking Edna*. That might be stretching it a bit, but you can bet DeLay's looking for a ringer.
* Creepy racist towns in Texas that have engaged in less than legal behaviors to get the "color" out...go to the Austin Chronicle and do a search on either town if you want to learn more.
And, closing on a high note, the democratic minority forced a closed session of congress to discuss the myriad plethora of lies that led us to war...AMAZING! They were successfull, even more amazing.
Bill "I'm a fucking thief" Frist called it an "affront to the United States and it is wrong". This from a man who is under investigation for what amounts to fraud, but still manages to hold a position of power in government. Had he been posessed by the same spirit that got Jim Carrey's character in "Liar-Liar" , he would have finished that statement with: "but not as wrong as the republican fuck around that's been going on since that first election where we totally ripped the people off, not to mention the millions I'm raking in on a "blind trust" I'm not suppose to know about but I do".
Thugs...a bunch of fucking thugs from top to bottom.
It makes me sick.