Tonight I attended a meeting of local activists who are concerned about police brutality in Rochester. I'm not going to get into a lot of the details of what was discussed in the meeting, but I do have some interesting...ummm...sociological/psychological observations of what went on tonight.

First of all, there were a buttload of people there. Not all black, either. This is the second meeting and again, I just sat and listened. I'm not leading this charge. I'll be a good soldier and do what I'm told. I don't have to deal with this issue personally, but it is a human rights issue. While the meeting was going on, it was interesting to see who sat where, who spoke up and what they said. The ISO (international socialist organization) people are freakin loons. I pretty much agree with everything those cats say, 100%. But their cult-like mentality is seriously creepy. I was sitting in the front and a friend in the back said he watched the ring-leader orchestrate how and what each ISO person said...and it was pretty much the same as the first meeting. Then when it was over they all (5 or 6 of them) lined up at the only exit to greet people leaving by selling those damn ISO newspapers.

[tangent alert] I remember those cats coming to an outdoor rally we had last summer for my and David Cobb's campaigns. They were relatively rude during David's speech and afterward, this one guy went semi-coocoo on me. He's arguing his points...and I was agreeing with what he was saying, but he didn't get that his arguments won't fly in poor neighborhoods. He got so upset that he's yelling in my face, almost flapping his arms. I thought dude was going to fly away. He kind of reminded me of a crazy uncle I have. And they sold those damn ISO newspapers.

OK..so back to the meeting. The "MC" was pretty good at letting people have their say but keeping the focus on police behavior. But there were a lot of agendas working there. There were a couple of potential candidates for office. A couple of people promoting their organization/group who stood up to speak while making sure everyone knew who they were connected to. People from black churches and people who thought black churches spied on the black community for the government.

While I'm still analyzing my own feelings on this, there were people there who are committed activists, but are also "former" Greens; who decided that the revolution wasn't happening fast enough for them and that they would be able to propagate change from the inside. I know this is going to sound self-righteous, but right now my attitude is...we're all human and subject to the frailties of our humanness. but, the fact that these cats would go to parties that really didn't uphold their values becuase these parties got people elected...I have a hard time respecting this. And one of them is a friend of mine. It's not really my place to judge...but sometimes I have a hard time not taking it personally...which is irrational...I get it...geez, I'm almost like those ISO Goobers.

Well, I'm on a roll, so I guess I'll just keep going. After the meeting broke up, I just wanted to get out of there. I tried to be one of the first people out and ended up being one of the last. Every time I tried to make it to the door, another person would call me over to talk about something else. It made me think...I didn't realize just how many things I had gotten myself into lately. This group, a charter school, the green party, a citizens education advocacy group and a couple of other things. It made me feel kind of good about the things I've been doing, but at the same time I wondered if I was going quantity instead of quality. Except for being a Green I was invited to participate in all the other things. (I was even asked to work on a guy's campaign for Mayor - I turned it down...the police chief...see the conflict of interest there)

I thought I was just going to be a teacher and make stupid songs....now I barely do either. And it still doesn't feel like I'm making any difference. I think it's time for some guitar practice.

Wow. I just finished listening to a speech given by Bill Moyers at a media reform conference on November 8th. You have to check it out...the speech lasts almost an hour if you listen/watch it, but I also found the text...

[and I'm fairly sure the video is captioned...Democracy Now has started captioning their feeds, so I think it is...]

Text
Video/Audio

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I'm trying to get the "archives" back on...so you can find old links, pictures, etc. I'm having a little difficulty figuring it out, but I'm also being a pain in the ass to the folks at Blogger.com, so I should have that up in the next few days.

Also...we just affiliated with a new website. Uh...well...I guess it's an adult site. You know that infamous definition of obscenity..."I know it when I see it" well this may confuse it a bit more. The site is called Beautiful Agony and it's...well...just check it out for yourself. It's basically video of individuals from the neck up, having orgasms...how they're having them is none of our business. It's an interesting concept.

I just finished reading Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. It's pretty funky. I'm really trying to put myself in the mindset where I could go along with any of that...dude is responsible for killing, deporting, torturing, imprisoning over 60 million people. Worse than Hitler. Allegedly in the name of "the state" where Communism was supposed to be the way, but then everyone in the upper ranks (where there was only the pretension of a collectivism in the beginning) were debauched murderers. It's been 50+ years and family members and other Russians still defend Uncle Joe & his brood. I just can't put my mindset there.

As I've been reading this book, I'm thinking...I know I'm a pacifist - that I would want a non-violent means to fix this as it was happening. But as I'm reading, seeing the workings from the inside, I can't see any other way to prevent the mass murdering, torture, rape, etc than assassination. Not just of Stalin, but Khrushchev, Beria, Molotov, et al. I can't see how else the other slaughter could have been avoided - from within the USSR. As for outside, would that have been a reason for the US to invade? Well, maybe, but at that time the circumstances wouldn't have permitted it. Two world wars followed by the threat of nuclear annihilation...

Man. It makes your head spin when you put yourself in that place. But transfer that to today. What do Bin Laden followers have in common with Stalin (or Hitler) followers? A Cult of Personality who spews out crap about fundamentalist religion or politics while there are inconsistencies in how they behave. They're able to use the hypocracies of modern Imperialism to get people who have no hope to do incredible things. What would make a person hijack a plane into the World Trade Center? To be a suicide bomber? We shake our heads and curse these people, but stop for a second and think. These people weren't born with this hatred; neither were you. How did it get this way? Aren't we just propogating it?

Our current government is heading down that same path while other people just look on when they could be doing something about it. Check out this article that compares where the US is now to other facist regimes from the past. And I can't vouch for the authenticity - we know how spotty the internet can be - but there's evidence linking Bush to Nazi Germany.

Here's the thing. I could get arrested for putting this stuff up here. It's true. Under the provisions of the Patriot Act and now the recently signed National Intelligence Reform Act, which is really Patriot Act II. There doesn't need to be just cause if the "powers that be" say it's for homeland security. I don't have rights if that is said. If I get the right judge I MAY get a lawyer.

The deal is, no one wants to believe this shit is happening. We were brought up as children believing this is the "land of the free & home of the brave." And in relative terms it is. But if this stuff is going down that is un-American...no...screw that...un-human, then we have an obligation to do something. We...that means me and you, not our so-called representatives...because they sure aren't representin' right now. (more on that soon)

It's getting worse, not better. Our Federal Government is unpatriotic. All the arugments, slogans, mantras they use are the exact opposite of what they're doing. I go back to my incredulousness with Stalin - what put Bush, Rove, Cheney, et al in the mindset that killing people for oil, ideology & personal power is OK? And like those in and out of government in the USSR who went along until it was too late, what are we going to do about it?

Are you afraid to be put on "a list"? What if it was your child or sister who was carted off in the name of Homeland Security? It doesn't seem plausible, but the framework of government is set up to do it. I'm not saying that there's going to be 60 million Americans (and others) killed, tortured, etc...but that's already happening to some. When is too many? And it's being done on your behalf by your representatives.

This isn't a call to hit the streets - yet. But you sure can put your money and computer where your mouth is. Stay tuned.

I'm listening to Democracy Now and they have Harvey Wasserman, Senior Editor of the Free Press in Ohio is on talking about how the election was stolen in Ohio. He's making a strong case...instance after instance of voter fraud perpetrated by the Ohio Secretary of State, Kathleen Blackwell (I know, it's Kenneth). In Wasserman's words: "Thankfully Jesse Jackson has come to town." and "Thankfully, Jesse Jackson, John Conyers and other people have been on it." I guess that would make the Green Party and Libertarian folks who had the courage to start and maintain this whole thing. Democrats should be kissing their asses, big time.

This isn't about getting credit. This is about people recognizing that there are people and political parties that are willing to walk the walk.

Now...January 6th, when the US Senate has to certify the electoral college vote...if you saw Farenheit 9/11 you saw the scene where the Democratic Black Caucus needed one member of the Senate to support their call for an investigation of the 2000 election and not one freakin Senator would do it. Not one. Well, the exact same scenario is coming up. This time...it's time to be ready.

Here is a link to the official list of all US Senators. You can e-mail your reps to tell them to give the Democratic Black Caucus the ability to speak on the Senate floor. NOW is the time to go watch Farenheit 9/11, for that one scene...check out how the Dems screwed their own members. Then e-mail your warmongering senators to tell them to give the DBC the floor on the 6th.

I just saw the most ironic sentence in the history of irony. OK, I may be exaggerating, but I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this.

I'm doing some reasearch on economic theory for a class I'm teaching. One of the sites I was just at is Capitalist Magazine. Go look at some of these articles...jeez. So at the bottom is the following sentence: "Capitalism Magazine survives on donations." They then hit you up to donate to them via PayPal. Survival of the fittest, my friend.

The internet's a great thing...you wouldn't be reading this if we didn't have it. Everyone knows that the number one thing on the net is porn. Most of it is pretty bad. If you've ever taken the 3 seconds to sample online adult...um...content, you know that it's definitely convenient, formulaic, relatively safe and for the most part, private.

But there's still nothing like going into an adult book store. From finding a place to park so that no one will see your car (with the Green Party bumper sticker on it) to making sure no one sees you go in, making sure there's no one there you know, not making eye contact with the clerk. It's just an experience every one should have...in my humble opinion.

So guess where I went today...yep. Being in that holiday spirit, I wanted to give someone a gift certificate for the place. I will say that the gift certificate is for a female and she has already effectively called me buddy. I just ran out of ideas...well...sort of. The only things I could think of were just so freakin lame...and there was this discussion we had this one time...so...one way or another she may not be calling me buddy in a few days. Ho! Ho! Ho!

So I said F-it. I parked right in front, by the door. Bumper sticker facing the street. I took off my hat & sunglasses before I got out of the car. Walked in, wiped my feet...proud to be there, damnit! As I'm walking to the counter to inquire about gift certificates from such a fine establishment, I noticed out of the corner of my eye an adult student I've tutored at a local college looking at movie boxes...then noticed him notice me and slink away to another corner of the store.

Next time, I'm going to buy "The Fist"...just because I can. And I'll tell the guy behind the counter, "No thank you. I don't need a bag!"

"God bless us...every one." - Tiny Tim

When I was in high school, I played football. I have no illusions here. For the team I was on, in the city I was in, I was...uh...servicable. I showed up, I worked relatively hard, knew my assignments, played hurt. But let's face it...(insert any offensive lineman you've heard of, here) I wasn't. To the best of my recollection, my coaches never gave me a compliment, except for once. One time, one of them said that I knew what I was able to do physically & mentally and made sure I did that. I'm sure I just made it longer than the compliment actually was, but you get the point. And I think that's pretty accurate - even today.

Having said that...I can't wrap to save my life. (Some would say I can't rap to save my life, either) Christmas is a freakin nightmare. It's as if when December 25th comes near, the Jew part of me takes over...I can't wrap a box, a book, a baseball card. I just ain't got the skills. Too much tape, too much paper and I'm surprised I haven't cut off a finger by now.

If I'm ever out of a job, I know I could do things like wash dishes, dig ditches, build lockers, whatever...but if I had to work at Sears wrapping gifts, I'd end up homeless.

So now it's Christmas...and if I were able to follow my coach's compliment, I'd throw all my gifts in garbage bags and just hand 'em out that way...I'd even tie them with ribbon...hmmmm...maybe next year.

I used to try to not do the gift thing...or I should say get others not to do the gift thing, but no one would ever listen. So I wouldn't feel like a schmuck I'd do the typical guy all-my-shopping-on-christmas-eve thing. Almost made me wanna take up heroin. So now I decided that if I was going to be buying people stuff, I'm going to make it at least stuff I can live with (relatively). Stuff from local or even African or South American artisans. Yeah, I know...my 3-year-old nephew didn't get the significance of the Xylophone made from wood & gords from Nigeria, but god damn I had a good time playing that thing before I wrapped it. I think I was jamming to some Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, if I'm not mistaken.

Just wait...this year, my relatives on the West Coast are going to think I've lost it but damn it, if I'm going to be consumer boy, I'm going to try to save the world at the same time. Multi-tasking!

Don't get me wrong...I don't mind buying stuff for people I care about. I'd just rather do it because I see something I think someone would like, even if it was in August. In fact I'd probably do that anyway if I wasn't such a dumbass with money.

And now that my nephew is 5...if he still doesn't have fun on that zylophone, I'll take it back. That thing rocked.

I'm probably going to seem like a trainable here...but lately I've been trying to make some improvements in what I eat. I've had moderate success, but let's just say you're still not going to see me on the cover of Healthy Eating Digest any time soon. So I thought I would try some vegetable juice...you know...V8 kinda stuff. Only this is organic, blah, blah, blah.

Dude...it's spaghetti sauce. I bought a bottle of watered down spaghetti sauce. Whose freakin idea was that? Now I have to get some pasta. Or make Bloody Marys or something...I'm not drinking that shit. I'd rather just put tomatoes on my burger.

"You don't understand! I ain't scared of you MFer's."

I know I just said I wasn't into doing anything political right now, but then I hear some of the dumbest-ass shit...

So the December 17th edition of Democracy Now has Manning Marable and Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile, on discussing the future of the Dems. First of all, why the hell is Gore's CM getting any play? Holy freaking crud, they should bannish her to Montana or something. OK...let's see if I can get all this in and make it coherent....

Marable said that the Democratic Party only goes to people of color or poor folks after the decisions have already been made. He also said true progressives shouldn't even worry about the party - that they should form a new kind of "Rainbow Coalition" to work on, among other things, real democratic (small "d") reform. And he mentioned instant runoff voting.

So Amy & Juan (from Democracy Now) keep asking her about this stuff and she's not going near it...babbling on about "I've done this..." and "The party needs to do that..." Not touching on anything Marable said, blaming 2000 on the Supreme Court and 2004 on Kerry yet saying there should be a recount in Ohio...oh...and it was she who lobbied the D party into getting involved in it...even though they are barely.

God damn! If you're a Dem and you seriously think there is hope for this cluster fuck of a party...good luck. You should all jump into Democracy for America and kiss Howard Dean's ass. That's probably the only chance you have.

Jeez.

Oh. And on another note....you can kiss this American Empire goodbye. Of course the corporate media's not touching it, but Russia & China just signed on to do joint military exercises in China. Shheeeee-it.

Quick musical note...if you haven't seen 'em before you won't know the difference, but we changed some song lyrics for the next release. Leftovers of Crane has been changed to Leftovers of Wayne. Just like it better. And we cleaned up Flapjacking. It'll be much better. You may not have seen these because I found some problems with the pages from putting the site back up last month. We also fixed the link to Whitee Saves the World. Don't be afraid to shoot an e-mail if you catch any more problems with the site.

I've been trying not to be, but I'm in my usual holiday funk, so I'm not going to go too nuts on current events. Right now I pretty much hate everyone so I'll wait.

Ho Cakes?

"Ho Cakes. Cuz Ho's gotta eat, too!" (John Witherspoon in Hollywood Shuffle)

Ho's...or is it hoes...whatever...a little ho news...

Someone e-mailed me about the Mariah Carey shorts controversy...the shorts aren't really unbuttoned, they're made to look that way. Whatever...another friend commented, "Man, they can all probably smell that shit." Well, yeah...graphic, but I appreciate the sentiment.

I've been buying book-related material for people for Christmas. Lame? Maybe. But I hate christmas...and every time I say to the family that I want nothing to do with it, I'm ignored...so rather than look like a dick, I participate. I mean...I love my family...and I don't want them to think I'm a dick...but I really wish they'd leave me out of this stuff. I'd rather buy people stuff all year 'round when I see something I think they'd like...blah...blah...blah.

So as I'm buying some book stuff for folks online from a book club I'm a member of...I see another book that I thought would be cool for me so I ordered it. It was one of the features...which means it's new, it's (hopefully) hot and they're promoting it. Well, I get an e-mail that it's out of stock. Already. That many people wanted this book. Which book? Well, of course...Jenna Jameson's Make Love Like a Porn Star.

So let's analyze this...OK...first of all...to answer your question...why is Whitee buying this? Well, I'm pretty sure it's obvious that I'm fascinated by sex...well, yes, in the "biblical" way, but also how it's used to promote and sell other things. ...how it's used to manipulate people...on an international, commercial, political, and personal level. Fascinating. I mean, I don't get shit...but I'm not so desperate that I'd sell out my ideals for a sex act performed on me. And I'm one of the horniest people I know. (sorry, mom)

So the book was just put out as a book club offering and it's out of stock already...what does that tell y'all. How are your "moral values" now?

A friend of mine showed me this a few months ago, but I haven't been able to find it in electronic form to post (I'm not big on scanning). I finally came across it last night...uh, I mean found it last night.

Like most celebrities, Mariah Carey does charity work. That's great. Fine. I like to think that it's usually well intentioned. One of Mariah's things is Camp Mariah - which is a summer camp ala the Fresh Air group...innercity kids get to spend some time out of the ghetto for a while each summer. I remember Eddie Murphy talking about it in his early stand up act...in fact I think he spent time in Rochester a sa kid.

I...uh...well...I guess I can give her an A for effort, but...I really don't think this is the way to do it. Look at the picture. Really look at it and tell me what is just not right. It took me about 30 seconds to figure it out. (the answer is below)



Have you figured it out?

Look at her shorts! They're freakin undone! Around a group of kids! Christ, they'll swab Jacko's mouth but they won't do anything about this.

Look...I'm not a prude. I'm down with young, half-dressed nubile women. In Mariah's case, I think it's her only talent. (OK, that's mean. I'm sure she can dance or something) But come on...it's a freakin kids camp! And if you look at pictures of Camp Mariah, you got little kids making gang hand signs. Niiiiice. I guess instead of going fishing little Billy can just bust a cap in a fish's ass. Instead of going horseback riding, Vanessa will go horsejacking. And don't get me started on tetherball.

Mariah Freakin Carey.

It's Sunday morning. I get home from work. I'm eating "dinner". But it's 7:30am. So the TV's on and all I have on is Sesame Street and 4 religious shows. OK, now my life takes on some kind of weird movie as I'm flipping through these shows and I'm noticing that you could virtually interchange these bastards...Angely...Swaggert...Slick-Creepy-Southern-Guy-With-Bad-Dentures...Elmo...Neighborhood -Catholic-Priest-doing-the-sacrament-thing. Swaggert / Craig T. Nelson...separated at birth. I guess I was lucky I wasn't dropping acid or my head would have exploded.

But it made me miss the days of the Reverend Gene Scott. God Damn! (pun intended) Gene Scott was one crazy bastard...he may still be, I don't know. His show used to be on Sunday nights at midnight, right after the original, half-hour SCTV which was just called Second City, then. Gene would sit on this stage wearing a bright metal helmet...gold...I swear. And the lights would shine into the helmet and blind you. And he'd be sitting there with a cigar spewing something about God, then rambling about his horses, then back to God. I didn't know what the hell that dude was talking about, but he looked so freakin bizzare I didn't want to turn the channel...but he was so damn boring that he'd put me to sleep every time.

Freakin Gene Scott. Crazy-Ass Bastard.

Well, I seem to have lost my title as "Funniest Guy". (I think there's a way to create a link to this, but I don't know how so...see entry from Dec 2nd)

I sent an e-mail to a guy who helped me on my local political campaign. There was one more loose end that needed to be wrapped up and I needed him to sign something. I've been leaving messages for him for weeks and he hasn't called back. So I sent an e-mail that (at least I thought) was funny.

Well, he didn't think it was too funny and I just got a very defensive response. I mean, my note didn't say anything like, "Your Mom's a slut. Baaaaaaaa!" In fact I think I made fun of myself more than anything. I mean, that's why my friends call me "Chuckles"...OK, that's not true and I'm pretty grateful that's not true, but you get the point.

Anyway, now being the narcissist I am, I have that bugging me...someone be mad at me? Not acceptable!

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Not to turn this into a web journal, but just to give you some background on the direction of any upcoming posts....been feeling a bit out of it...some physical some emotional/mental. While I haven't been sleeping for hours upon hours, my usual 4 hours a day haven't been cutting it - I've been slacking and slipping in 6 or 7 hours of sleep. Whatever I eat I feel like it was made of lead. I want to bitchslap everone I interact with over the age of 17.

Combined with that, I'm about to get involved in a movement that will probably end at least one friendship and maybe a second (to go with the possible one I screwed up with the "hilarious" e-mail).

I also was invited to this chick's house to hang out with some people. When everyone else left and it ended up just being the two of us, I wasn't called "buddy". Oh, no. I was told about in excruciating detail about some guy who she had been kind of seeing dumping her. That's not the bad part - it was peppered with constant comments like "all the good guys are married"...as I'm sitting there like one of the girls. I may as well been wearing hot pants & a tube top....OK, that may have been a bit graphic.

I know she didn't realize the connotation of what she was saying and she had other stuff going on that really sucked - so I'm not mad or anything like that. But it did inspire me to re-post the mp3 She Called Me Buddy.

I did have a couple of positive things happen, too - so I'm not trying to get into a "woe is me" thing. But there is definitely some funk in my life...and not the good kind. I could definitely use a little shake up.

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So I may as well try to make this appear as if it's something relating to a blog-like site...

I have noticed something this week. A big difference between left-wing & right-wing radio (which would pretty much be Air America & all-the-rest) is the people on the left tend to be allegedly incredulous all the time - as if their wisdom/viewpoint is common sense. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that O'Liar & Co spew common sense, but they sound decisive. The lefties use phrases like, "I don't understand these people", "what are they thinking?", "What are they trying to do?". It's a tad elitist.

Someone sent me the first chapter of George Lakoff's book "Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives". I bought the book, but then before I could read it, I let the guy who sent me the chapter borrow it. Anyway, the point of it is, if Progressives are going to be successful they (we) will have to frame our messages better. Sort of a Truthful Propaganda.

Notice, I didn't say Democrats. That is not a progressive party. They have a progressive history. But if you look at their behavior - and more importantly, their platform - they are not progressive in any means.

OK Big Boy...

Look...you can't go on in Stupid White Men...showing all the hypocracy of the Democratic Party...sell out the Green Party because you really want Bush out of there...Make Farenheit 9/11 that showed the Democrats (including Kerry & Edwards) ignoring black representatives that wanted 5 minutes on the congressional floor...watch the Dems bring up Harry Reid as Senate Leader...roll over in the midst of voter fraud...

Get your shit together! Get all your Hollywood pals who abandoned Nader & the Green Party (yes, I know. Nader isn't a Green...that's for another time) and get them back on track...Sarandon, Robins...all those cats...

Damn it, Mike! Enough of this Gee Whiz shit...you're down with Russell Simmons, Puffy & D. You have Hollywood hanging from your jock...you're smart enough to see that if Harry Reid is the Dem leader - they're going nowhere...

Mike, Howard Zinn...all you cats...it's time to take over the Green Party...we have the same number of nutjobs in our party as the R's & D's, it's just our percentage is higher. Get the sheep who will follow you over into the party and our nutjobs become as obsolete as the D's & R's nutjobs.

Sparky, you can't keep calling for certain changes then backing Douchbags who work to do the opposite...even if they are Democrats. The Democratic Party is dead. Howard Dean isn't going to do shit...they screwed him once and they'll do it again....he isn't really "progressive" anyway.

Mike, you take chances...now take it to the next level.

I just finished reading The Life and Death of Petra Kelly. She was one of the co-founders of the Green Party in Germany - which is the most sucessful one so far...they've had more people elected to higher offices than any GP in the world.

I guess you gotta be a little nuts to get stuff done. People are so messed up and there are so many "interests" competing against each other that if you really want to make things happen you have to be different...you probably can't have a normal relationship or hold a job for a long period of time. While you may do the most altruistic things, you still should have an ego the size of Montana.

That's why when you meet your "hero" s/he is never what you expected - to get to a level of power or celebrity you have to be a bit...off. Almost by definition. That is unless your hero is a tax attorney.

"No disrespect to the (tax attorneys), but we have what we call (tax attorney) plays. No disrespect intended."

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Seriously...can any individual have an "arch-enemy"? Really. Batman has an arch-enemy...Captain Undepants has an arch-enemy. But have you ever heard a person say that s/he has an arch-enemy? Dude, you need a heaping tablespoon of Get Over Yourself. This isn't Spy vs. Spy, MF'er...

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I don't know how much more I can keep coming here and typing about The War Criminal. I mean, it's going to be four years of...he said this stupid thing...he's screwing this group of people...he's pissing off this country. Whatever. That's what we're stuck with...like it or not.

Our focus should be on the other politicians...Congress...State Legislatures...

Oh, by the way...did you realize that there are elections only 11 months away...shoot, some this spring. This Democracy thing...it's not a once every 4 year thing. You gotta stay paying attention. Put down the freakin remote and do some reading...go to a school board meeting...town council....whatever. Their general meetings are only once a month. Go and ask questions. Does it have to become your whole life? No. But find out what's going on...then talk about it with people you usually hang with...you can still sit around, drink cheap beer and talk about football, just mix in some local & state politics. If you let it stay taboo (don't talk politics or religion) then The Man will continue to screw you.

Hell, if it gives you another place to "Wooooo!" Go for it. Start a wave at your next town board meeting. Paint your face the town colors. Get "Where life is worth living." shaved into the side of your head. Unless you don't live in Webster...then you're just a retard.

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Which reminds me...I know I'm a big anti-advertising/corporate guy, but I gotta admit...the Payton Manning MasterCard commercial is freakin brilliant. I know, I know, they're just trying to get your money...but the point of an athlete acting like fans do to someone pumping gas or coming out of the subway. Couldn't have done it better myself...too bad it's for a credit card. It started with the Brett Favre one where he second guessed people shopping, getting haircuts, etc...but the Manning one is a perfect example of the stuff I've been saying about hero worship.

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Since the election, I've been listening to Air America a little more. It still gives me a headache, but it's not the pounding one it used to give me. Al Franken still sucks, though...can't listen to it for more than 2 minutes...he needs to stick to SNL. His show is like, "Oops I Crapped My Radio." I can fart funnier and more interesting stuff than he comes up with. And you know what...I just did.

I don't mean to seem ungrateful. I know she was trying to be nice, but some people need to think before they speak.

As I came into work tonight, I passed a woman who I don't really know...seen her a couple of times. I know what she does within the agency I'm at, but again...don't know her...don't know her name.

She sees me and all of a sudden has this look of recognition on her face..."I heard you're the funniest guy here!"

Uhhhhh...it didn't seem like a challenge, but either way, I really didn't know what to say to that - so I just kinda did that dog-tilt-the-head-look.

"(So-and-so) said that you're the funniest guy here. I'll have to come over and hear some of your stories."

OK. Now I'm starting to panic. You mean right now? I have to prepare 20 minutes of stand-up for you right now? I don't even know you. What stories? Can I just do mime? How about shadow puppets? Does it have to be something related to current events? Can I finish with a dick joke?

"Uh, OK."

Probably not the hilarious response she was expecting, but I wasn't expecting all this pressure. I didn't even have my coat off yet. So this chick- who I don't even know -is telling me how I'm going to have to entertain her at her whim. Like I work at The Improv or Giggles or Chuckles or Guffaws.

So I know she meant well...and it was a compliment, but jeez...Think before you speak.

"Who arrrrre these people?"