Our government, defending your rights by taking them away...

Found this report of gestapo-like tactics via This Modern World.

I guess this "Patriot" Act was only the next step that was bound to come no matter who was in the whitehouse. Storm troopers have been invading homes and seizing property in the name of the drug war for years. Now they just have another reason. Every time I see one of those documentaries on a commercial educational channel that shows cops smashing in private residences I am sickened. Just keep you nose clean if you know what's good for you. Just wait until the next big domestic terrorist act, the we'll all be screwed. Then truly only the powerful, er, I mean, the innocent need not be afraid.

Ticketmaster is the great satan

I bought a ticket for a the Bob Dylan show in Asheville just a few minutes ago. Every time I buy a ticket through those scum bags I get pissed off. The ticket officially costs $33.50. Kinda high but I'll pay it. There is a $1.00 facility fee. Fine, the Asheville Civic Center looks like it could use some fixing up. No problem there. The kicker is you have to buy your ticket through Ticketmaster. I even tried to phone the civic center and use their box office. No dice, I got ticketmaster. So I went onto ticketmaster's webpage to buy the ticket.

Somehow Ticketmaster managed to charge me ten dollars extra for my ticket. The first $6.95 was a "convenience" charge? What the fuck does that mean? Is it convenient for me not to have to drive to Asheville today and buy my ticket so they figure they are entitled to whatever money I saved on gas? Fine take my seven bucks. After I enter my credit card information and address and all that there is a final bill and somehow they managed to tack on another $3.05 "order processing charge." What the fuck? Did I just pay them $6.95 for the honor of being charged $3.05? It's funny how all these charges somehow work out to exactly $10.00. Almost one quarter of my ticket cost goes to a middle man. This is a disgusting and crooked way of doing business. Ticketmaster's profits must be amazing. They make money providing a service that is unessential. They are leeches.

Norman Mailer Quote

"For those of us who do not like George Bush, we may as well recognise that putting up with him in the Oval Office is like being married to a mate who always says exactly what you know in advance he or she is going to say, which also helps to account for why the other half of America loves him."

From the Times Online.

Another Marine Corps Memory

I mentioned a couple weeks back about a time that I spent at Fort Ord near Monterey while taking part in urban warfare training. I wrote about one of our adventures during training. I'd like to balance that with an off-hours story.

On a Saturday afternoon a few of us caught the bus from Fort Ord into Monterey. We were just going into town to sight see eat and then later, drink. Among the members of our group were Jay Steinmetz and the New Corporal. The New Corporal was a little guy with freckles that reminded me of a diminutive Richie Cunningham. I'll call him Richie since I have forgotten his name. We knew Richie before he was a corporal so when we were off duty he was just one of the guys and fairly low on the totem pole. Jay was a big round punk rocker from L.A. who wore tinted prescription glasses because he claimed his eyes were light sensitive. The first sergeant hated the glasses which caused Jay to love them like a bass-head loves his trunk. Jay was a fun person to be around, he was smart, funny, loved to laugh and liked good music. He also didn't take shit from people.

As the bus got inside the city limits of Monterey it started making frequent stops and picked up civilians and dropped off military personnel. I don't remember him getting on but at some point a little wiry guy ended up sitting across the aisle from me on the bus. The eight of us were gathered in the last three rows of the bus. He caught my eye a couple of times and tried to be intimidating. I just did my best to ignore. I didn't feel too threatened surrouned by a bunch of my buddies. After a few more stops I notice he has a small pen knife in his hand and is slowly opening and closing the blade and muttering about "being looked at" and "I've been to jail."

Jay sees what is happening and from his seat in the center of the aisle in the last row speaks up to the guy with the knife. "Hey, man put that knife away. What the fuck's wrong with you?"

The knife wielder mumbles a bit more about just getting out of jail and he shouldn't be messed with.

Now Jay gets mad. "Goddammit! I said put the knife away, this is a bus! What the fuck?! Who are you trying to intimidate?"

Richie puts his arm on Jay's shoulder and says, "Steimie, calm down. Don't worry about." Jay never takes his eyes off the guy with the knife and tells Richie to "shut up." Richie does.

Again more mumbling about jail and alleged toughness.

"Get the fuck off this bus, you piece of shit. You and that knife need to get the fuck off, now!" I had never seen Jay so serious before. He was making me nervous. I was seeing in my friend a willingness to be violent. He was not out of control and raging, he was displaying the calm aggression of the boxer.

Now the bum gets coherent, "I don't have to get off this bus, you can't make me."

Steimie plays his trump card, "Look around you, you fucking idiot. This bus is full of Marines." He finally does look up from his knife and really looks around him. He sees three seats full of Marines and we all, even me, are wearing our Marine faces. For a group of guys that generally didn't like the Marines is was a bonding. "You see, you fucking moron. We will fucking waste you if you don't get off the bus. Right now!"

Next stop he got the fuck off. We didn't react in any way because Jay had got himself worked up and needed a few minutes to calm down. I caught Richie's eyes and he raised an eyebrow. After we got off near Cannery Row I asked Jay what was up with his performance. He was smiling again and he said, "Fuck him, he was tyring to intimidate us. I ain't putting up with that."

Just sayin

I am having the hardest time finding a book I want to read right now. I need a good book to read. I got this Phillip Dick book in front me and I have read only the first page. So far it's pretty good. Maybe I need some good non-fiction. Or I just need a spanking.

Overjoyed and thrilled

On AOL search if you search for poontain this blog is your third choice. Praise His name!

Vinous history

Out of death comes booze.

Vagueness

So far there have been "signs" that Saddam Hussein is dead and right before he died it "appears" that all his WMD's were destroyed. So far it appears to me that they're "making this shit up."

Anything Michael can do...

He's not the only one that can mention of dearmitt.com out in internet land.

The Word of God

No one has ever lived into his adulthood without asking a question of self that involves their place in the universe. Generally as our culture looks at it, it comes in the form of "what does God want me to do with my life?" Since it's obvious to all of us with an atheist or humanist slant that God is not going to answer your question in any way that doesn't require an intermediary I have decided to answer for him. I figure you don't need to study the bible a lot in order to decide what God thinks are important proclamations. I got that from watching the 700 Club. Those fucks can quote the bible frontwards and back'ards and they're completely full of shit. I figure my atheistic brain can do better than that. This will be in a Q&A format.

1) Q: Oh, God, what is thy bidding?
A: Move out of your parents' basement and get a day job, you fucking bum.

2) Q: Dear Lord, what is thy plans for me?
A: Sleep in and quit moving to cities you hate just for a higher paying job.

3) Q: Why does it hurt when I urinate?
A: Because you got drunk in Houston and woke up in the street. I'll let you figure out the rest.

4) Q: Should I draw for the straight or discard, hoping to draw another ace?
A: As a general rule I would rely on your instincts. How has your luck been for the last few hands? If your confident go ahead and try and draw one card and attempt to complete that straight. If your luck has been shitty draw for a pair and bail early if you don't get it.

5) Q: My Lord, are you a leg man or a butt man?
A: God loves all the features of his female creations equally.

6) Q: Why are my feet so ugly?
A: Because you keep them cooped up in shoes and socks all day. They weren't designed for that kind of treatment, you dolt.

7) Q: What's the deal with races? Couldn't you make humans all look the same?
A: Shut up. You probably think it's cool there's a McDonald's in every city.

8) Q: Who is your favorite Christian Singer?
A: All those guys suck. Turn off your Christian pop stations and listen to static. Static has more inspiration than that dreck. Get this straight, God hates Christian rock.

A question I stole from "Inside the actor's studio."

Me asking:
Q: What will god say to me when I arrive at the gates of heaven?
A: Hendrix starts in twenty minutes, grab your guitar.

What makes a man?

I have been asked several times what it is exactly that makes a man a man. I found the answer, finally. A true man risks life and ridicule to save baby ducks.

Yeah, but what about shows that sucked?

OK, fine. In no particular order...

- Alice in Chains at the Lollapolooza headlined by Primus. God, were they boring.

- Steve Miller and Paul Rodgers at Blockbuster Pavillion. Ended up getting drunk because the music was so dreadful

- Blues Traveler playing after Lenny Kravitz at the Horde Festival. After Lenny killed the crowd the show was over.

- Paul Kantner at a now defunk downtown Charlotte club. Bad 80's rock in the mid nineties.

- Ringo Starr and his All-Star Band. We booed Ringo and demanded more Joe Walsh.

- A local shoe-gazing band I won't mention that I went to see a few times just because a girl wanted to go.

- Every single artist at the WRFX, The Fox 5th Birthday Bash.

- Luna at the Tremont Music Hall. If there had been mattresses I would have gone to sleep.

I'm sure there are more but I think I blotted them from my memory.

Music moments

We've all been to live shows so I thought if would be fun to list my favorite ten moments I have had during a live performance.
In no order:

- Southern Culture on the Skids at Tremont Music Hall playing Biscuit Eater during an encore one night about three years ago. It was an old song and they put a charge in it that was electrifying.

- Sitting in the grass at the feet of Doc Watson as he played a free outdoor show in the campground near Carrowinds.

- Seeing Neil Young and Crazy Horse for the first time in the spring of 1996 and hearing the opening to the song "Fuckin' Up."

- Saw James Cotton at a short-lived club in Rock Hill in 1997. He sat next to me and my friends at one point and as we encouraged him he said "for the first time tonight I really feel like playing the blues."

- Seeing R.L. Burnside for the first time in May 1997 in a tent on the Mississippi River in Memphis. Hell, each time I saw Burnside derserves a mention on this list.

- The opening of the KISS reunion tour in 1996, Paul Stanley in his purple trench coat and hat.

- A night we saw the Wire Mules at a place called Ty's and sitting there in awe next to Jeff as they finished an especially blazing set and Jeff said, "Wow, that wore me out."

- Seeing Johnny Rotten performing with PIL in San Diego in 1990. I didn't really believe he was real before then.

- Wendell dancing on stage at Tremont during a Southern Culture on the Skids show. As Jogen said, "that will forever be etched into my memory."

- The opening to the recent Flaming Lips show in Asheville.

- One of the hundreds of times a jam with Lenny Federal went into the stratosphere.

OK, that was eleven. I didn't even mention Mojo Nixon. Dang. There are a lot more but I think this works.

Don't take your guns to town

I was doing laundry yesterday evening. I can walk to the laundry across the courtyard that I can access through the back door of my apartment. On my way to the laundry, to get my clothes that had just finished the drying cycle, I noticed a commotion at the apartment complex that is on the other side of a small sloping ravine at the edge of my back courtyard. I could see at least five police cars, a fire truck or two and an ambulance. They had been there a while and I could sense some tension so I planned to come out and take a gander at the proceedings after I took my folded clothes inside.

Just as I enterd my apartment with my load of fresh laundry I heard two muffled pops that were definately gun shots fired inside a room. I heard one of the paramedics shout "they shot 'im!" Looking out my back window I could see the paramedics scrambling like ants after you disturb their hill. They grabbed gear and hauled ass through a narrow courtyard and up the steps to a second floor apartment.

Casulty vampire that I am, I went outside and squatted where I could see through the trees in the ravine and up the narrow courtyard. All I saw was a couple of paramedics take a stretcher up the stairs and a police officer come down a minute later all alone and stand in the parking lot. Was he contemplating what he had just done, was he physically ill from what he had witnessed another do or was he just coming out for air? I don't know but he did glance over at me and the 40 to fifty yards between us was too close for my voyeurism so I went back inside.

You can read about the incicdent here.

Most recent coolest thing ever

Ever hear of those groups that build large scale models of famous warships and then stage battles? Check out some cool photos here.

Don't let those robots eat me

After bombing a telephone interview for a job at a local college Thursday morning I went to Asheville to see the Flaming Lips with Chris and Wendell. They performed at my new favorite venue, the Orange Peel. Did I mention before that the bathrooms at this place are majestic? I've been to stadiums that have bathrooms inferior to the potties at the Orange Peel.

We found a new hotel to stay at in Asheville. It's a wonderful shithole Day's Inn. It's old and the rooms smell of BO, the elevator is scary, the staff is friendly and probably drunk and stoned and the place was filled with people forced to drive 2 hours from Charlotte to see good music. The place may
have been a dump but it was only fifty bucks and with three people that is downright affordable.

I don't know what to say about the show by the Flaming Lips other than to say I doubt very much if there is another band putting on a show
with as much energy and obvious enjoyment.

The opening of the show was one of the best openings I have ever seen. They got a bunch of local young people to wear the animal outfits.
I believe they either won a contest or "knew somebody." I hope they got in free because those 16-20 people danced all night in those hot
outfits. They had a projections screen behind them all night. The band and the animal people come out, an overture starts to play, some
text is projected on the screen to announce the start of the show. Wayne Coyne, dressed in his white Steve Martin suit, raises his arms
each time a new line of text comes up. The text then morphs into dancing topless women. During this time the animal people and Wayne are throwing
large balloons into the audience. A lot of balloons. There must have been ten bouncing around as the show started. After a long instrumental opening they kicked into the first song and as the drummer hit a strong beat Wayne would throw a handful of confetti into the crowd.

By this time the crowd was screaming and dancing and everybody was smiling. It was one of the best openings I have ever seen. I don't recall a band ever giving off such a good positive vibe like that before. This was not a rock and roll show, it was a party. The only thing that could have made the opening better was Paul Stanley in a purple trench coat. It was the atmosphere the Grateful Dead wanted you to think they exhuded.

Key Moment

During the song "Yoshimi battles the Pink Robots" when the line "she's an expert in karate" came up the crowd supplied the "hoo hoo" sound effect with perfect timing. There were a lot of people there that listened to this album a lot.

Lunch in the big city

Yesterday I had an appointment and I came into work a little before one. Yesterday was an especially beautiful day and there were people everywhere. I could not believe how crowded the sidewalks were. It was like a scene right out of New York City. Downtown Charlotte felt like a hustling and bustling metropolis. It was fun. I have to say that the increase of females in the work force is a positive thing from the aspect of one who enjoys walking around town on warm spring days, Yes sirree, bob.

Today I went to a place called Tic Toc to eat lunch. I like to go to Tic Toc on these mild spring days because it is my favorite place to sit outside and eat and then read for a bit. It's best to get there after 1 pm if you want to eat outside.

Today as I was sitting there reading Cannery Row by Steinbeck a woman was driving by in a small shitty early 80's compact car with a cell phone to her ear. She screamed the name "Bobby!!" into the phone so loudly that every diner sitting outside Tic Toc looked up from what they were eating wearing a look like their mother caught them doing something wrong. A second and half later, another hundred meters down the street we hear the same voice distantly shout the same name. This caused the little douche bag with black curly hair that was trying to impress the fat girl with too much make up and jowls with horrible jokes to ask all gathered, "Is she on her cell phone?" Yes she was, you Wild and Crazy Guy, now go back to wooing your wildebeest.

Weekend geetar playing

Sunday afternoon around 4 pm the tips of the fingers on my right hand were officially graded as hamburger. On Friday night Wendell and I played guitar for a while. On Saturday night Wendell, Chris B____ and I played guitar for an even longer time. On Sunday Jim B____ came by for an even longer jam session. We even had the One Big Loud Guy sitting in on whacked out vocalizing and scary harmonica playing. I still can't tell if I have been improving my playing recently. I am pretty sure that I haven't got worse in the last few monts. I have to say there is something exquisite about the tender pain of over-used finger tips. After a while it becomes hard to continue playing your instrument even though you desire to. Your arm muscles are tired, your hands start to cramp and your fingers are post-orgasm sensitive; yet you plow on.

That nonsense we refer to as the Bunker Brothers is now preparing to promote their first full-length album. If you are interested in ordering one let me know, we'll be happy to get the new Bunker Brothers album entitled "Can't Polish a Turd" out to you ASAP. I believe the going price is $2.50. These things will be Ebay gold in a few years. Well, not in a few years, maybe 100 years from now when the true genius of our output is appreciated. We have already begun work on our next album and we have a tentative release date of Christmas of this year in mind.

We made the short list

From the Amnesty International website: "In 2002, 81 percent of all known executions took place in China, Iran and the USA."

I am so against the death penalty. It's not a deterrent and is just a hot issue used by politicians to divide people and to avoid real issues.

I thought I would mention that since I am tired of thinking about the war.

A question of quality?

I came across an article about the authors of the horrible Left Behind series were suing the company that made a movie based on the book because the movie was of low quality! Low quality! I read the first few pages of the first book in that series and I don't know how any adaption of that crap could possibly be inferior. In fact I think the people that do read that tripe can only be helped by pictures.

Within the last two years I handled one of the recent books in that lengthy Left Behind series. It was about 250 pages long or so. I opened the book up and was shocked by how large the print and margins were. If the book had been printed as all other books are it would have had about 2/3 the pages it did. For a book that is supposed to be of a religious nature I found that tactic to be alarmingly dishonest. Could it have been a ploy to drive up the price of the novel?

Operation Iraqi freedom

Hmmm, why is this war shit? Let's see...government organized rallies and mutilated children.

Enjoy your freedom, folks. Be sure to grab yourself a few chairs and desks from your former government's offices. It's a perfect start on those reparations for 20 years of oppression.

Ten more things you may not know about me

10) I attended Central Piedmont Community College for three years
9) I have a small hole in the top of my head
8) I once shot a squirrel and never hunted again
7) One of the coolest things I ever have done was watch my father shoot a mason jar with a 30-06 rifle
6) I gained 20 pounds in boot camp.
5) I can't eat cooked broccoli, spinach or cauliflower. I will gag. I can eat the same foods all day if left uncooked.
4) I love dogs but haven't had my own for almost 20 years.
3) I have four scars on my hands. One from a box cutter. One from wart surgery when I was a child. One from cutting my hand on the inside of the bumper while shutting the trunk of my Volkswagen Beetle back in high school. The fourth is from forgotten causes.
2) I am addicted to Mountain Dew.
1) I have used the greeting from work on my home telephone more than once.

shitty fuck

War with end, amen.

Ten things you may not know about me

10) I broke a bone in my right hand during a football game my freshman year in high school
9) I have only woken up on a sidewalk once
8) I am left handed
7) I once sat through a speech by Ronald Reagan. That was as surreal as you think it would have been.
6) My finger nails grow really fast.
5) I don't have enough work clothes.
4) I like Alice Cooper
3) I once fell through ice on a lake. Luckily the water was only waste-deep.
2) A few years ago I had sinus surgery.
1) I used to record David Letterman when I was in high school. I would watch the previous night's episode after school.

The dude in charge of the baseball hall of fame is a dick

I found that out here. Thanks again, Eschaton for the link.

unbecoming giddiness

I saw a video of the prez yesterday as he was describing the fingers of Saddam's power were weakening on the figurative throat of the Iraqi people. I swear, he looked about to burst. He looked like a high school freshman wide receiver that caught a touchdown pass while scrimaging against the varsity. I don't know if I have ever seen someone so happy that he didn't completely fuck up.

"Low" by David Bowie

I was listening to this album on the bus this morning. The second half is moody electronic music. It really fit the scene of a cold and soggy mid spring morning that had the chill of fall. The thought came to me that Bowie had created music that really was only fit to use in a soundtrack of a movie that needed music for a scene where you were showing junkies shooting up in a mansion or an expensive hotel.

The Wire Mules

There was a band in Charlotte for a few years called the Wire Mules. They were around for a few years in the early and mid 1990's. They were composed of Jake Berger on guitar and vocals, Rob Tavaglione on bass, Lenny Federal on guitar and vocals and Jeff Nesbit on drums and vocals.

I remember first seeing the Wire Mules at the 13-13 club on a night when they opened for Southern Culture on the Skids. As an opening band they didn't get to play too long but something about the bar band intrigued me. I think my initial reaction was that they reminded me a little of the Georgia Satellites. They didn't sound anything like the Georgia Sattelites but they tweeked a nerve in me that said: rockin' bar band.

A week or so later I noticed that they were playing at the Double Door Inn. My friend, jeff, and I went to the Double Door to check the band out. We were enjoying the band a lot. They were still becoming a 'band' at this show and the dichotomy between the two guitars and the creative tension that eventually killed the band hadn't fully surfaced yet. They were cruising along and we were having fun but they hand't really wowed us as they got deep into their set. You gotta wow me to get me to come back and see you again.

Then they played "Ring of Fire." Jaker Berger sang the vocals on Ring of Fire as played by the Wire Mules. Imagine Johnny Cash meets Sonic Youth with your father's gruff recoverig alcoholic brother that your mother hates singing. Did you know that Ring of Fire played with electric instruments can be turned into a ten minute jam? It can and when it's done you're stunned. We were hooked. The way they played that song told us there was something special going on here.

After that night, for over a year, Jeff and I along with Wendell and Chris B. saw the Wire Mules on an almost monthly basis. We would end up in bars that we would never have gone and never went to again just because they were there. They would play all night long and they would play their asses off. They jammed but they were not a 'jam band.' They would jam on different songs on different nights. They didn't noodle until they found a groove but if one did surface at an opportune moment they would take it and throttle it. I can't even begin to describe the amazing wall of sound this band would put out every time we saw them. Lenny did most of the soloing and his style was ethereal and weaved throughout the song. Jakes guitar was more straight forward with a heavier sound, some called it Tex-Mex. The rhythm laid down by Rob and Jeff was as solid as it can get and they allowed Lenny and Jake to take a song wherever they desired and then have a solid platform to land it on when they came back to earth. My friends and I thought that soon they would gain a regional following and eventually perform in Charlotte less frequently and every show we saw we considered a privilege.

The Wire Mules provided me with a very important lesson. Each of these musicians in this band was and still is accomplished. They eventually broke up and I consider Lenny and Rob to be friends. Wendell and I still watch Lenny play on a regular basis and wish Rob would play out more because he's fun to be around and pick on. What I learned from seeing and knowing these guys was that there is no reason to become a musician and join a band other than to make music. I don't know if the Wire Mules had aspirations to break out of Charlotte, become a regional sensation and eventually make a go as a working band but I do know that they are all still playing music (at least Jeff Nesbit was the last time I saw him about three years ago) and they will until they can't no more as long as people keep showing up. That's why Wendell and I still go to see Lenny because he just wants to play in front of people and we're willing to support that.

With all that being said: Does anyone out there have a copy of a Wire Mule show?

Monster in the back yard?

I don't know what the hell was going on this morning but two of the cats who run my place, Pippin and Gallagher the Invincible were agitated. I heard mournful mewing when I was doing the snooze button dance and Wendell who had been sleeping on the couch, was pissed at the cats but he didn't know why they were making all this racket and running from window to window. They had been doing this while it was still dark out. It's disconcerting to wake up, stumble half asleep into the living and see a disheveled and pissed Wendell and two cats behaving like bigfoot had just tapped on the back window.

Upon further review I believe what may have gotten the cats into a tizzy is a possum. The cats were fixated on the window in the kitchen which has a bush in front of it. I would wager that possum I saw a few weeks back was climbing up in that bush.

At the bar

Ya'll were there
my tongue turned to mush
my mind was sharp with inanities

In the morning, traveling, breakfasting, sitting down to woik

Bus Stop: I arrived there right before the bus pulled up. Each time that happens I tell to the old smoker that works at Harris Teeter how much I love when that happens and how I wish that happened each time I came out for the bus. Today he complimented me on my timing. The temperature was over 60 this morning. I think I can finally hang my light jacket up until October.

On the Bus: An old aquaintance, one of those friends of a friend that came by our place a couple of times when it was party central, is a regular rider now. She used to work with Chris at Borders. I recall that Courtney, who now lives in Winston-Salem, doesn't like this girl because Courtney claims she was stalked by the new bus rider. I don't know about that but I do know that she is very tiny and bubbly because she has a new job and she makes me feel gigantic, clumsy and old.

Breakfast: Mmmm, Salsaritas breakfast burrito. I'm walking out and this beautiful bronze skinned goddess smiled at me. Wow, I must look sexy carrying a big breakfast burrito in a bag.

CVS drugs: Pop in for my morning Mountain Dew. The pretty cashier with the straightened hair was opening and smelling bottles of shampoo that were in a discount bin by the front door. They were 75% off.

Goodness

Oh my gosh.

The Square

The intersection of Trade and Tryon in the middle of downtown Charlotte is referred to by those that were born in Charlotte as The Square.

Today at work I had a four o'clock lunch because I am working from noon until 9 pm. After eating my lunch at Salsaritas I moseyed over to the square so I could sit in the park with the waterfall-like fountain and read a bit surrounded by chess players. I like to eat out when I work evenings since lines are generally shorter and therefore quicker then. Of course there are fewer choices at 4 but there seems to be more choices all the time. I got the ground beef burrito at Salsaritas. I don't recommend. Stick with the chicken or the steak. The ground beef is tasteless. Ground turkey from Harris Teeter has more taste than the ground beef at this joint.

I got the heck out of that restaurant after finished eating. They were playing bad music over their sound system and Fox "News" was on the television. Fox News! Ha!! I recall for a while on his old NBC show that David Letterman would say "Fox Network" and then burst into maniacal laughter. That is the same impulse I get when I say "Fox News." One of their douche bag anchors was interviewing a retired American general. (How many retired American generals are there?) The douche bag anchor was trying to insinuate that the Iraqi military was going to slaughter their own civilians without "jumping the gun" into insinuation. It truly was expert double speech delivered by a very handsome and very American young anchor. No matter how shitty their approach is you do have to admire the skill with which they manipulate their viewers. Who needs indoctrination camps when you gots Fox "News."

I did make it to the brick and water park and sat down kaddy corner from the Big Ole Tower. Although I hate banks almost as much as Mojo Nixon does I do love this building. I am a sucker for skyscrapers, man. Before I got down to reading my book of short stories by Ursula Le Guin I took a moment to lean my head back and admire the Big Ole Tower. I was treated to what must be a unique site when you consider skyscrapers. Since Charlotte's downtown area is small when compared to other metrogolopises the afternoon sun was shining down Tryon Street and fell fully on the building from about the third floor on up. Everything else around me was in shadow except for the Big Ole Tower which was illuminated like a slide projection. I felt like I was in a deep valley that was dominated by a high peak catching the last rays of the day, almost like Mt. Fuji in the morning sunrise. Ok, forget that. Nothing is like Mt. Fuji in the morning sunrise.

Again I thought to myself, why don't they have an observation deck? The black balling bastards.

Lee Cloninger quote of the day

"When I get carpal tunnel I'm suing this dump."

Georgia Satellites lyric of the week

"My brain is bleedin, got nails in my spine
but I ain't gonna stop for that empty line
radio's fadin, road's like a snake
it's two in the mornin' and I'm wide awake"

From the song "Dan Takes Five" from the album "In the Land of Salvation and Sin" which is the hardest rocking, best written, saddest and funniest album you will ever hear.

Has anyone ever had this luxury before?

From yesterday's USA Today article on the prez: "Through the day, he regularly watches war coverage on the nearest TV, which is in the private dining room next to the Oval Office. He knows when heavy bombardments of Baghdad are scheduled and sometimes tunes in to see them."

I was called by god to laugh at this next statement

"Bush believes he was called by God to lead the nation at this time, says Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a close friend who talks with Bush every day. His history degree from Yale makes him mindful of the importance of the moment. He knows he's making "history-changing decisions," Evans says."

The full story can be found here. Be careful he's portrayed positively. You might find yourself empathizing with the guy.

Joshua Micah Marshall

Lays it down: "The idea seems to be that there is something brazen or illegitimate about being serious-minded about national security and comfortable with the use of military force in foreign affairs and yet still not willing to sign on to the party line of the Weekly Standard. What does this mean exactly? I can't for the life of me see the problem with being a "hawk" on some issues and yet still resisting very point of enthusiasm or ridiculousness that this or that "neo-con" signs on to."

Full text here.

The people are speaking

I just took a phone call from one of those 90 year old women that call occasionally. She wanted the telephone numbers to the newsrooms of all the major networks, including CNN. She is calling to inform them that she is tired of seeing coverage of all the war protesters. Her words "I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear it and I don't want to read about it." I think she prefers how dissent was handled back during WWI. In keeping with the blog spirit of April 1, I think she may have been Dick Cheney's mother.