Monday, November 29, 2004

Hard Work

Big surprise this is. Or not.
Lying Makes Brain Work Harder
Brain Scan Shows Differences in Truth, Lying
Lying is harder than telling the truth because you have to remember what the lie was specifically and to whom, since, you could be telling different lies to different people.
Not that i would know anything about any of this.
No.

i need to come up with three albums that would make good gifts that came out this year.
And quicklike, see?
so i'll be back to post on the travails of thanksgiving weekend momentarily.
Shazzbot.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Insanity Abounds

What the hell is wrong with people?
Mom pleads guilty to locking son in trunk during party

And just when you thought we had more than enough shit to worry about.
Exploding Cell Phones A Growing Problem

Or, you can have elephant seals showing up near your home, like we did.
Seal pup rescued in culvert near Oakland Coliseum

----

Let's Get Serious ... about some real news


Jermaine Jackson ending marriage
Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine has filed for divorce from his wife of nine years in a Los Angeles court. The former Jackson 5 member is citing irreconcilable differences for his split with wife Alejandra, who is the mother of his two sons, Jaafar and Jermajesty. This was Jackson's second marriage -- he divorced Motown boss Berry Gordy's daughter Hazel in 1988.

what up Jaafar?

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And this will make you happy, especially if you flew in June.
I don't think i did.
Airlines Cough Up Passenger Data

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more important information about the esteemed Virgin Mary Cheese Sandwich recently sold on eBay.
At casino, sandwich is on a roll

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Poor Table Manners Lead to Stabbings
nothing like Thanksgiving for a few stabbing of relatives. don't you love family?

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Jump, jump, JUMP! Keep on Truckin'
Man dies in Empire State Building Leap
It's a long way to the bottom if you want to rock 'n' roll.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Hot Words & Terms


  • Black Eye - "The recent basketbrawl in Detroit was a Black eye for the city of Detroit, the Indiana Pacers and humans without legs everywhere."


  • Schadenfreude \SHAHD-n-froy-duh\, noun: A malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others, i.e. "Republicans are reveling in their Schadenfreude at the expense of executing 48% of all Americans who don't agree with them."


  • Daschled - A way to describe someone who has lost out because of lack of personality and charisma, even though they may be much more competent than the close-minded Republican asshole who beat him. "Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle was Daschled right out of his Senate Seat by Tom Thune, a total prick who likes to tout bibles."

Sunday, November 21, 2004

I Am the Sum Total of My DNA


My grandfather, Warren, played the tuba in WWII and was in the Army band.
My grandmother said being in the band was the only thing keeping him from going AWOL. Warren fought the Germans in WWII and was even awarded the Bronze Star for Bravery in the line of duty for tying a tourniquet on an officer�s arm/leg (not sure) which is crazy.
crazy because i don't think i even knew that before (just like i didn't know that my grandmother, Warren's wife, played basketball for four years. but that's another story for another day).
Warren was drafted in 1942 and was apparently in the service through 1945. He and my grandmother, who 'courted' for most of those three years while he was gone via letters to each other, were married in 1946 and my Dad was born February 23, 1947. So they didn't waste a whole lot of time.
Also, Gerry was talking about a tank that Warren was supposed to be in normally and had taken off because he had something to do. Well, that tank hit a landmine and blew everyone in it to bits. They had begun to send word home that either he or a fellow soldier in his division was killed when in actuality that was untrue. But due to the nature of the death, it was difficult, obviously to identify the bodies.
But the whole music thing is what�s especially intriguing. That and my grandfather's decision to do something and not get in the tank at that time is the reason i'm fucking here right now saying this. i love the concept of seemingly innocuous decisions ending up having a gigantor effect on your entire life.
sweet.
But now, i have a clearer understanding of my supposed inborn interest in music, despite the fact that my parents weren't very interested in it. somewhat they were interested because i spent many hours listening to their old 7-inch records when i was a child.
my grandfather, who died in 1978 at age 57, apparently also played the guitar, the trumpet and a few other instruments.
so there's that. neat.
we were talking about all this because my grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday on Saturday, November 20. 80! she's outlived all of her siblings and she had a lot of siblings.
----

i like it China blue.

----

Robert Zinsky makes a fucking fine merlot. i recommend. i love wines and their nuances (though i'm still learning about red wines). being a huge fan of beverages, that's not a big surprise. still. it is a mighty thing to have, good beverages. i purchased many beverages today.

including some hella expensive coffee, the jamaican blue. the damn fine good shit.
but way too expensive.

----

I have four short-sleeved button down orange shirts. What is the meaning of this? Four i tell you, including one to add to the collection via the estate sale at Scout's yesterday. Scout's new house is the shit, the bomb, the bomb chronic, the fucking swiss cheese be-all end-all mutha fucka. and i ain't trippin' at all at that shizen. fu*k. but shit, why do i have so many shirts of the same hue? it must be something that's wrong with me, making me think so foolishly. maybe it's coincidence. or maybe it's the fact that you've been depantsed one too many times.

----

Leave your indie cred with the attendant.

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People should note the similarity in my headline regarding the Detroit Pistons to others used in the mainstream media. They were copying my ass bitches. That was in my previous post, bitches, witches and switches.

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Thanksgiving plays a role maybe in my introspection toward family.
No, not really. But I�m always intrigued to hear things about my family and how they have potentially influenced me and my personality.
Thanksgiving has always been, to me, about being together with friends and/or family and therefore, without much religion involved. but now that too is likely to change, in the wake of our so-called christian 'awakening.' retardo. Enrico Palazzo believes these things i say.
Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, eat food, reminisce about dead people and drink to much liquor. It also means it's time to sit a little longer on the toilet the next day, contemplating America, America the book and America the lean.

----

I�m competitive and I like swiss cheese.

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Last night was a whirlwind of activity.
i gave away a lot of cds. i had hella friends up in that piece. it was righteous yo.
and then there was Mr. Timecop/Cobra complete with the match sticking out of one side of his mouth up yonder and his sunglasses taking his ass home. something about him being a VJ and wanting to know how he could make the transition to that place, the slanted door. interesting indeed.

oh yeah grandma and chicken for supper.
but yeah, three groups of friends for the timmmmmmmmiiiiiii.
and you know i like me some M's.

shit yeah.
molly, ted and teddy's parents all the way from nyc. live love.
the disc golf posse, featuring mr. murphy, mr. poletiek and mr. fisher.
then ms. locklear, mr. fuller and ms. B. all there in the house.
oh! and Amy was there too. she's an ex of a roomie and a really cool girl.
but i also had hella accolades. there was the family very interested in my work. the kids loved it especially. there was the older guy, kind of annoying, who i gave a cd to anyway. what the fuck? there was the woman whose girlfriend was getting hit upon by some drunk fuck wearing a hawaiian shirt and a stupid hat (that same annoying fuck later came up to me and told me i look like elton john, but 'from like 30 years ago.' thank god for small miracles), who i gave a cd to as a way for her to feel better, as she seemed to be unloading on me (what is it about my face that says "please tell me the most personal details of your life even though i don't know you at all"?) about the fact her girlfriend was getting hit upon. it was only when said girlfriend showed up that i realized the women were a couple.
but yeah, gave away all my cds. all of the. kind of a magical night. i shot my load, for sure, and played up the damn good tunes for all to hear, enjoy and piffle with.

punched out the good shit. played it up. hammed it up. i lived the life. i'm already halfway there.
maybe i should write myself a check a la jim carrey, no?
heh.

----

There was the scotch party at peter's too. excellent scotch. too early of an evening though. i wanted to see ellen allien. i was enjoying the liquor a mite much though. so it's a good thing i'm alive and ready for the world.

----

Less is more.
We gotta gets to Barcelona. we are going to barcelona. i say it here, i say it loud, i say it proud.
i am going to barcelona.
!!!!!!!
Barcelona!!!!!
leaving the country.
fuzzle.

----

DPG in the place to be. DPG may not be a match for King Kitty though.
don't be an enigma.
What time to I go to work Monday morning. Is early.
Remember the night i stayed in the car in Tim Danowski's driveway while he got into a fight with some kids and I stayed in the car while some idiot dude punched his fists against my driver's side window in my 1972 Volvo? Remember that?
ah, the ol' cheesebox, as it was called by some.
it was a good first car. in retrospect only, of course.

Everything is beautiful in its own fey way.

FFF is coming back.
1. high fives.
2. green day.
3. barcelona anticipation
4. hello it's me and other fine hits
5. fans
6. decapitation
7. emancipation
8. escalation
9. indignation
10. contemplation

----
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.
Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go.

let's get some numbers, shall we?
burn baby burn.

i'm glad i don't live in haiti anymore.
not that i ever did.
but still.

chocolate rhythm(s).

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Yet Another Black Eye for Detroit


I'm not as much of a sports fan as i once was, though it'll always be in my blood.
so when i saw the shocking footage from the Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers game Friday night in Detroit, my jaw fell to the floor -- and then some.
holy shit, a full-scale fight that began on the court and turned very ugly when an idiot fan threw a beer and possibly soda on Pacer Ron Artest while he laid atop the scorer's table.
Artest leaped into the stands and attempted to fight the guy who threw the cup (too bad he got the wrong guy). there's just no excuse for this to have escalated like it did.
i think the players and the fans are equally at fault in this.
i'm embarassed as a Detroit fan and as a somewhat proud (and former) Michigander.
i still represent for Detroit. But as ESPN just said, this was a line that was crossed, crossed and crossed again. Fucking pathetic on all sides. i'm glad the pistons players didn't seem to be involved in most of the melee. but shit Pacer Artest cold-cocked a couple random fans on the court. it was crazy, to say the least.

but what the fuck, it was a total disgrace. fans dumping shit all over the players? i hated plenty of players but it was in the vein of the game. i never ever thought of taking it beyond that. it's a fucking game. a GAME. it means nothing. really.

it's so weird because i'm so not an avid sports fan like i once was but this thing is just mindblowing.
here's a few stories, though you gotta see the video to appreciate this.
A new low: Only solution for NBA is to get rid of the guy who's the problem

Ugly brawl taints Pistons' loss in Central showdown

Plenty of blame to go around

Video

Fists, objects fly near end of Pacers-Pistons

=====
and in completely unrelated news, i found this to be quite interesting.
so yeah.
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note the condescending tone of this headline in CNN about the election.
yeah, liberal media. oh yeah.

Friday, November 19, 2004

Video Vendetta & Picture Pages


Here's a couple great videos to check out for your life.
First, a very drunk Anna Nicole Smith at the American Music Awards the other night.

Like My Body?

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And then there's little Timmy and his wish that mommy and daddy were dead. I think all kids at some point wish their parents were dead. not that you really actually wish they were dead. but you say dumb things
Timmy's Wish
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Here's further evidence the red state people truly are smarter than us fools in the blue states.
Morans!
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More photos you can shake a stick at. And i like to shake sticks.
Slower
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Don't forget to check out the Air Guitar World Championships! oooooh yeah!
Shred your Shit

Interview with Frank Black of the Pixies


Raw! Uncut Q&A with Charles Thompson, the man, they myth, the legend and the ghost leader of the Pixies.
It's true, people, i just did a story for the Detroit Free Press on the Pixies.
And damn, it was good.
So sayeth me.
and so sayeth my flock of geese.
Here's the final version of the story that ran:

Wave Of Admiration: More than a decade after breaking up, alternative rock icons The Pixies reunite for a run of sold-out shows

and the corresponding sidebar:
Lost in the Lyrics


very exciting, huh? too bad none of the photos run on the website.
hmmm.

yeah, yeah, and yeah.
dammit jim, i'm a doctor not a fornicater.

or something like that.

ok, well, now that we have your attention.
here's the full unexpurgated, unmitigated, most high, Q&A with mr. Thompson. uncut!
unwatched! unwashed! unmussed!

un-un!~

yeah.


INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES THOMPSON (AKA FRANK BLACK) OF THE PIXIES!


FB: Sorry for the wait. I went a little over talking to my girlfriend.

The one I just read about in yesterday's Salon story?

FB: In what?

Did you see that?

FB: No.

Did you do an interview with Salon recently? (long pause) You probably
don't remember. Basically, you were railing about Spin magazine and
stuff.

FB: Oh, was I whining about Spin magazine?

Yeah.

FB: Ok.

I didn't say whining. It was kinda funny, actually. Anyway� So, how
are things going?

FB: Fine.

Where are you calling from?

FB: Phoenix.

Ah. I saw you guys, I caught the show in Berkeley and I also saw the
Coachella show. I first actually saw you open for U2 back in '91 on
the 'Achtung Baby' tour. My first question is, what would be the
difference between seeing the Pixies back in 1991 and today?

FB: (long pause) Well, we were a lot grouchier in 1991. I guess that
would be the main difference.

You weren't talking to each other then?

FB: Not a lot (chuckles).

What inspired you to get back together after so long?

FB: Say again.

What instigated, what made you decide to get back together?

FB: Oh, I don't know. A whole bunch of circumstances, you know what I
mean? Unforeseen circumstances. Unplanned, spontaneous, you know? Not
any one reason or factor.

Back when the band ended, did you end it, was it you that spurred it
or was it more of a mutual thing? There was always rumors about that
you ---

FB: I don't know how they found out but i did send a fax to our manager's office and quit the band, essentially breaking them up.

so would it be fair to say it was your call to get back together?

FB: Was it my call? Well, yeah, sure. i mean, initially i suppose, ultimately it was everybody's call. If someone wouldn't have wanted to do it, it probably wouldn't have happened.

When you decided to get back together and go out on the road, were you surprised at the level of adulation you received? Or was it something you kind of suspected would happen?

FB: I suppose it was more along the lines of something i would expect.

Cuz you've been performing with the Catholics.

FB: Different bands. Whole other vibe. What does that have to do with it?

Just the differences in playing to a huge crowd on a giant stage say like Coachella. Do you feel more comfortable on stage now? You seemed a lot looser.

FB: Who?

From Coachella compared to Berkeley.

FB: That's a natural consequence of touring. i think if you go see any band at the beginning of a tour and go see them again six weeks later, you're gonna see a slightly different band.

Are you guys pretty loose as far as planning your sets? Because the show i saw at Berkeley it seemed like you guys didn't make a set list. Is that something you do a lot?

FB: Sometimes we don't do one. Frequently, I deviate from the set list. Not really a big deal, you know.

A lot of bands on the so-called comeback trail are often derided by people who say "They're only doing it for the money." Would you say that played a role at all in coming back?

FB: Oh, but of course. If there was no demand for us to go play out again, I don't know if we would have. We might have, simply for old time's sake. Something for artistic ambition or whatever. You know, that was not going to be the first order of business if we did get back together. Obviously, there was so much demand.

Why do you think there is so much demand for the Pixies? Why now? Do you happen to think this was the perfect time or it just happened to all fall in to place?

FB: There has been a perfect time for us about every few years. It kind of goes up and down, i think. And this year happened to be one that was up times.

It seemed, at Coachella at least, that most people were there to see you guys.

FB: Yeah, I mean.

That has to be gratifying, it has to feel really good.

FB: Sure. It is gratifying.

Do you feel any more motivated to possibly do something in the future with these guys or are you keeping it open-ended at this point? As far as like, are you going to write music, how long you gonna tour, because it seems like you've been touring for the majority of the year.

FB: Well, that was sort of the plan. You only get to do the reunion tour once.

Well, for some bands.

FB: No, but i mean realistically, i mean, as far as the audience is concerned, you only get to do that reunion tour once in terms of the interest or buzz you create. We'll go out...if we go out next year, there may be just as much interest even or more interest in us, i don't know. But it's got nothing to do with how many people show up. The bottom line is it won't be a reunion tour anymore. That will be gone. Just like you can only be a naive beginner band one time. You know, that first couple of years of your existence, and then after that, it kind of goes away. Put out a couple records, do a couple tours and you start to have some experience under your belt and you're not that naive first-timer anymore. So in terms of like, you know, does the fact that we're popular right now in our reunion tour make it more likely we'll go and record again? I don't know. It probably more than anything will make it more likely we'll play more concerts but i don't think we're really that, i don't think that we're that kind of band. I don't think we would mint a record simply because we might make some money on it. That wouldn't be a reason to make a record, that would be the wrong reason, that wouldn't fit. You really need to have some firm aesthetic reasons for making a record. Because you want it to be good. The fact that you're going to make some money off of it maybe is sort of icing on the cake or par for the course. Whatever. That will happen the way that it happens, either it'll be a big failure, a big success or something in the middle, whatever. It will do whatever it's going to do, but to go out and make a record simply because you're selling a lot of concert tickets is, you know, it isn't that kosher.

Do you find that now are you reinterpreting any of your older songs differently compared with the way you recorded it?

FB: Not really, no. We're playing them probably the same way that we've always played them. Maybe a little more muscle. We all have a little more muscle than we used to. I'm probably literally speaking, you know, just because we're older and we're not 80 years old, and therefore have less muscle. We actually all i think literally, everyone in the band is literally more muscular. Because we're in our late 30s and early 40s, as opposed to early 20s, so there isn't that, physiologically we're at that stage in life where, yeah sure, we may be balder and fatter but everyone's also more buff.

You could take each other out if you need to.

FB: Yeah.

Now you released that one song 'Bam Thwok' and released that on iTunes. Is that even a possibility at least, of releasing individual songs, even if you don't record an album?

FB: It's an option, sure, or recording EPs and selling them at your gigs, or whatever. There's definitely more than one way to release a song, i suppose.

What do you think about that? Obviously a lot has changed in the music industry since the Pixies were around the first time with iTunes and downloading. Some people are opposed the concept of downloading songs instead of albums. What do you think of all that digital media and downloading as a band. Or even as yourself.

FB: I don't know what i think about it. I guess it's an interesting enough topic just to talk about but i don't really have a strong opinion about it one way or the other. I mean, it is what it is. That's just the way technology and cultural habits change. They just do. They always do. It's always changing. Fifteen or 20 years from now there will probably be another, at least slightly different scenario, so i'm not for or against anything in particular. It is what it is, so the question is how do you fit in. How do you use it to your advantage as a person who makes a living as a musician or a songwriter.

I know at least some of your shows there are CDs being sold almost immediately, as a recording of that show. Have you been doing that?

FB: Yeah, we did that for quite a few shows. Well, we didn't do it but this company we're working with did it.

It seems like a possible way to thwart people who are trying to bootleg you or anything else. I don't even know if you worry about that.

FB: I suppose, yeah. No, not really. Bootlegs, especially for a fringe band is not really a negative thing. It may be a negative thing for Bruce Springsteen or something like that or U2, who's immensely popular. Theoretically they're losing a lot of revenue because a bootleg is created of a U2 concert and it's sold to tens of thousands of people or something like that. And so you can say, "Oh gee wow, there's all this income being generated and it's being sold as official product maybe in all these record stores, whatever." From a business point of view, that could be a concern for an artist like that but fringe artists who aren't necessarily selling millions and millions of records all bootlegs indicate is that you have some street credibility. And it's not really the number of bootlegs that are being manufactured and sold, even the ones that are really being sold illegally really blatantly is not enough, it isn't worth it to go after these people. They're just not generating enough revenue to make it worthwhile. So you just kind of go 'oh well, what are you gonna do? I guess people like me. Hopefully they'll go out and buy the real record, which is what i think most people do. Who goes out and buys bootlegs, you know what i mean? They sound like shit.

It's not worth the money you spend on bootlegs, usually.

FB: Yeah because with very little effort you can make your own recording of your favorite band just as easy. You hit the right little Walkman and the right little microphones and clip 'em to your glasses.

Do you ever see people trying to record you guys?

FB: Oh, well, what's there to see? Lots of people are doing it. We don't really care if we don't know about it, we don't care. We don't like people taping microphones to the wall and making a big deal out of it. But as long as they keep it to themselves, i don't care.

All your albums, the Pixies albums i'm referring to, throughout the 1990s would you say they continued to sell throughout?

FB: Yeah, they've always sold. Some seasons they sell a lot and some seasons they sell hardly at all. There's not really any sort of...i can't really give you any explanation as to why.

I'm saying that given the context, that the albums are still selling, there's still a market for the Pixies. People are still really into us.

FB: Yeah, you know, the records are still in print and they're available and they always have been. I don't know if they're in like every record store.

Well, there was the "Purple Album" that was released and there was some B-sides and stuff. I noticed more things being released the last few years, it seems like that anyway. Cuz there was a Greatest Hits record that was released not that long ago.

FB: Sure, there's a fair amount of mining going on. What else can we squeeze out of this? I don't think there's anything wrong with that. There's sort of like, it's just being your own archivist you know what i mean? it's just sort of looking at all your tapes and, you know, you get recorded in so many different kinds of situations and people are interested in hearing it, so you kind of go, oh there's this thing that's never been released. Let's put that out. People can say, oh yeah gee, you guys are just really being whores or something like that. But you know, we're not, really. We're just trying to be smart businesspeople, you know? Hey if there's a market for it and there's an interest in it and this is rock music that exists, then what the fuck? Put it out. Who gives a shit? We're not really making a big deal out of it. We're not getting all precious about it with all kinds of over-precious liner notes. We're not real precious about anything. It's not really our attitude.

I think that's why people like you too, though.

FB: Yeah, i think that's definitely part of our appeal is that we're a little bit like everybody else, we're a little bit like the audience on some levels.

I would totally agree. I think people find you guys relatable.

FB: Yeah. We're not pretentious. We may be pretentious with our music, with the songs. I'll be the first one to admit that a lot of my music is kind of arty farty, or whatever, however you want to characterize it. But in terms of our demeanor onstage, like our personalities, we're totally like, what you see is what you get. That's who we are, we're not pretentious in terms of the way we're presenting ourselves to the crowd or whatever, it's like, it's really straight up.

I like the fact that at Coachella, for example, with this gigantic stage, you just go up there and you play your songs. I think i was more stoked about that than anything else that it was just a straightforward Pixies show. It just happened to be at a big venue.

FB: Yeah. Definitely that's our personality but also that's sort of like from where we came from -- 1980s college rock, that's really the vibe for a lot of those bands, i think. We were totally being anti-mainstream, whether you were a punk band or whether you were a jangly guitar band or whether you a synth band, whatever. All of that so-called college rock is very much about just getting up there and doing your songs and not really, not a lot of flash. And i don't think there's anything wrong with flash. I think there are really great theatrical performers that really do a great job and i'm not...i'm not against anything really (chuckles). It's not that i'm against it, it's a free country, a free world, whatever, it's a stage, it's a rock stage. Go up there and do whatever you want to do. See what people think. Hit 'em over the head with a stupid stick or do something smarter, whatever, the choice is yours. Who's to say that you're right or wrong, everyone has their own opinion, but definitely we are not the kind of band who like to kick the beach-ball out into the crowd and go 'heeey-yo, heeey-yo" and there seems to be a lot of that these days, especially in the festivals. A lot of the younger crowd in the festivals kind of sometimes have been looking at the Pixies this year like 'So when are they going to start kicking the beachball out here? Why are they just standing there?" They don't really get it. Whereas in 1989 i don't think the audiences at a lot of these festivals in Europe, they never would have questioned that. They just would have been like, "oh yeah, cool."

It seems like your crowd, at least from the two shows i saw on this tour, that you had the older thirtysomethings -- i'd be in that group -- that remember you from the first time around, so it's super-exciting for us, and then you had a lot of the younger crowd too. Is it a strange dichotomy at all? Because obviously there are people that are expecting a little more theatrics, a little more livelihood, a lot of it on the stage and--

FB: Not to be totally crass but at the end of the day, as long as people pay their money to get into the door, i don't care if they're little old ladies. It doesn't bother me. You know, i'm glad that they're there and i'm going to try really hard to do my thing and hopefully everybody will get their money's worth and that's sort of my attitude, so i'm not really freaked out or weirded out by a young audience versus an older audience or whatever, whatever. It's not really anything i can control and i just have to deal with it the best that i can. It's fine. It's more challenging. There's a lot more girls in the crowd now than there used to be. And there's a lot of young people who aren't riding the wave of Pixies popularity because that already happened in 1988 or whatever. This is a, there's no wave going on right now. Sure, there's lots of people buying tickets to our show and everything and that's great, but it's not the same thing as when a band is first starting out, they're right out of the gates and the word-of-mouth kinda thing happens and everyone's excited -- and there's a lot of boys, generally. They're really raising their fists in the air and singing along, it's a different kind of thing. People now are a bit lame and the younger crowd are way more curious, they're just standing there taking it in. They're not really ... freaked out because their favorite band came to town. They're kinda like "Ohhh, so this is who they are, this is what all the hoopla's about."

Oh, i think that's because there's so many bands that have cited you now as being an influence, for better or for worse. That plays a role for sure cuz i can't count how many bands i've read that here and there, where it's just like "oh, the Pixies..." -- how much time do we have left?

FB: I don't know, i suppose i should think about calling my next interview.

Well, it was great talking to you. I actually have also seen you play with Frank Black & the Catholics too. Are you still going to be performing with that band too.

FB: I don't know, actually. We're on sabbatical as well, so... the last time i took a sabbatical with a band it ended up being 11 or 12 years, so we'll see what happens. Right now i'm totally focused on playing with the Pixies and enjoying it as they are.

It was great talking to you. I've enjoyed seeing you and your bands in various incarnations over the years.

FB: Yeah, thank you very much. It's good to talk to you. Take care.
------------

silencio

Thursday, November 18, 2004

CLANDESTINE CAPITALIZED CAPITALISTIC CONFLICTS FOR KICKS, NOT TRIX FOR KIDZ



president of the philippines was here today.

cool.

how's your stool sample sara sample?

-7 disc golf was my new record the other day.
-1 today
hey.
addiction is a fey.

shuzzle
muzzle
puzzle

living the life of a sailor.
sailors stink of seaweed and sucklehoney sandwiches, for pleases, me cheeses, sneezes, fo schneeeeeesays.

write about your life.
funny.

shuzen.

puncil
-
+++++
rescue 666

kevin kackles for kundrums.

shaftherd never heard your word for turd nerds. werd.

clack goes the american worker.
calunk goes the majorette.
cachin-siltania goes the pad ped disher.
chunnel love is your marionette.

everything is beautiful in its own pain.

shazzbot.

so sayeth the flock.
cockknocker for soccer snatchers looking for purse pfizers for kicks, tricks, licks, hicks, sickshit mix whips for schlipschness, infinitesimal for shizzle nizzle fizzle de whistle stop caravan mother country fuzzy wuzzy cuzzy nazzletooth perhaps too fruit-tee for me you see hee hee tee tea for seafarwaring daring caring malarian stricken kittens for shitzens in my kitchen, for bitchin camaro don't you diss me marcello. from urugay. don't you pay my way, bay-bay.

touche!

(this messages was delivered to you straight from Geraldine Ferraro's widow)

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.

i love everyone named john denver.
thanks america.
and especially, to Red China, without with, none of would be possible to speak of.
except for the salad dressing.
red china has shitty salad dressing.
you wouldn't believe it.
but, it's true i tell you this.
shit.
damn and
hell.
if you mean to talk privately, consult your furniture salesperson for further assistance.
no additional tank dressings will be required of you m'lady.

fuzz you and your situational comedy hack loving brother in law fuckstains who prey on children purely for cash, profit and american self-worth.
i'm glad we've worked everything out together.

eat more soup.

I am Brie as You Are He and We Are All Together


Take this Cheese Test and you'll learn much about yourself. this is what it said about my wonderful being:
"You are a cheese with a complex flavor. Your moods are affected by your current environments. You are sophisticated and mature but sometimes a little superstitious."

better than a horoscope, that's for sure.

------------
ok, this is a bit scary. A reporter has been jailed for refusing to reveal his source of a video showing a city official accepting a bribe from an undercover FBI agent.
Reporter convicted of contempt

Reporter Is Convicted in R.I. for Protecting Source

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

on fire


jon stewart is just that tonight, fucking hilarious and ruthlessly funny.
the kind of funny i fucking dig mother fuckers.
fuckkkkkkkkkk.
and also.
fuck.

chocolate thunder is your friend.
what's the matter with kansas?
being discussed by jon stewart and thomas frank, author of aforementioned book regarding the plain state.
i fucking hate the red states.
fuck you.
fuck your elementary soup nazis.
this guy the author is a douche.
what the hell. he is from kansas. stinkeyes for free.

i'm so syrupy sometimes. charlotte sometimes too, if i were robert smith.
fuck morality.
the moral minority can go be moral by themselves.
frank the cat is getting on my back.
this is a strange phenomenon, frank just said about people who vote in nebraska and kansas, and ensuing red states. the frank capra-esque ideals of America, their victimization, complain constantly that they're victims.
the baby boomers are all to fault, i think.
attempting to create a world that never really was, an ideal world where morality ruled and that was the only way to keep people in line, to create order.
however, order is actually created by suppression, according to Republicans.
chocolate thunder still rules. unless you're no longer dead.

be careful, i have staples.
apparently, the fucking parisitic christian right are even anti that new Kinsey film starring liam neeson, because of all the 'inaccurate' portrayals of sex and his far-reaching, insanely influential sex studies in the 1940s and 50s. can you guess also controversial?

these right-sucking republican cowards just need to latch onto something at every turn, playing on fear, ignorance and complete blind faith.
i will cheer at your ginormous demise.

also, tom delay goes to hell automatically.
and, fuck you michael powell, you inept bible-thumping cockroach.
stab out all of our eyes please, because you're the real ruler.

tom deLay is a stink-ass.

dead skunk in the middle of the road.
it's a good thing i'm making sense.
these republicans are going to take our entire country down.

again, i say, republicans, you are the enemy.
you are evil.
vile you are.

go away

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Letters to the Big Bad Bush


More hilarity from the peanut gallery. Even though i hate the peanut gallery. What exactly is a peanut gallery anyway? it's bullshit i tell you.
damn.
why can't your head be straighter?

anywhy,

here's the first, better than the first:

    Dear President Bush,

    Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. As you said "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. . . End
    of debate.

    I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

    1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

    2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

    3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness - Lev. 15:19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

    4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev. 1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

    5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

    6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle
    this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

    7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may! not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

    8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

    9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

    10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together
    to stone them? Lev. 24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20: 14)

    I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

    Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

----------

Delicious, isn't it? no? no. make my temple part of your familial circus of destruction.
man, this song i'm listening to right now really fucking sucks. who is it?
The Pastels, oh wait, Bill Wells' remix. Fuck Bill Wells. Even if he isn't dead yet.

here's the next letter, the concession speech Kerry WANTED to deliver. But being a guy who thinks he has a decent shot at running for president again (and why not?), he decided to go with something a bit more conciliatory. yeah thumpkin, yeah!

here we go bitches of wealth. deliver me from whence thyne didst come, puto:
---------
[Former candidate, flanked by his family and supporters, steps up to the podium in the bright autumn sunlight. Cheers and applause are heard.]

My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken, and spoken with a clear voice. So I am here to offer my concession. [Boos, groans, rending of garments]

I concede that I overestimated the intelligence of the American people. Though the people disagree with the President on almost every issue, you saw fit to vote for him. I never saw that coming. That's really special. And I mean "special" in the sense that we use it to describe those kids who ride the short school bus and find ways to injure themselves while eating pudding with rubber spoons. That kind of special.

I concede that I misjudged the power of hate. That's pretty powerful stuff, and I didn't see it. So let me take a moment to congratulate the President's strategists: Putting the gay marriage amendments on the ballot in various swing states like Ohio... well, that was just genius. Genius. It got people, a certain kind of people, to the polls. The unprecedented number of folks who showed up and cited "moral values" as their biggest issue, those people changed history. The folks who consider same sex marriage a more important issue than war, or terrorism, or the economy... Who'd have thought the election would belong to them? Well, Karl Rove did. Gotta give it up to him for that. [Boos.] Now, now. Credit where it's due.

I concede that I put too much faith in America's youth. With 8 out of 10 of you opposing the President, with your friends and classmates dying daily in a war you disapprove of, with your future being mortgaged to pay for rich old peoples' tax breaks, you somehow managed to sit on your asses and watch the Cartoon Network while aging homophobic hillbillies carried the day. You voted with the exact same anemic percentage that you did in 2000. You suck. Seriously, y'do. [Cheers, applause] Thank you. Thank you very much.

There are some who would say that I sound bitter, that now is the time for healing, to bring the nation together. Let me tell you a little story. Last night, I watched the returns come in with some friends here in Los Angeles. As the night progressed, people began to talk half-seriously about secession, a red state / blue state split. The reasoning was this: We in blue states produce the vast majority of the wealth in this country and pay the most taxes, and you in the red states receive the majority of the money from those taxes while complaining about 'em. We in the blue states are the only ones who've been attacked by foreign terrorists, yet you in the red states are gung ho to fight a war in our name. We in the blue states produce the entertainment that you consume so greedily each day, while you in the red states show open disdain for us and our values. Blue state civilians are the actual victims and targets of the war on terror, while red state civilians are the ones standing behind us and yelling "Oh, yeah!? Bring it on!"

More than 40% of you Bush voters still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. I'm impressed by that, truly I am. Your sons and daughters who might die in this war know it's not true, the people in the urban centers where al Qaeda wants to attack know it's not true, but those of you who are at practically no risk believe this easy lie because you can. As part of my concession speech, let me say that I really envy that luxury. I concede that.

Healing? We, the people at risk from terrorists, the people who subsidize you, the people who speak in glowing and respectful terms about the heartland of America while that heartland insults and excoriates us... we wanted some healing. We spoke loud and clear. And you refused to give it to us, largely because of your high moral values. You knew better: America doesn't need its allies, doesn't need to share the burden, doesn't need to unite the world, doesn't need to provide for its future. Hell no. Not when it's got a human shield of pointy-headed, atheistic, unconfrontational breadwinners who are willing to pay the bills and play nice in the vain hope of winning a vote that we can never have. Because we're "morally inferior," I suppose, we are supposed to respect your values while you insult ours. And the big joke here is that for 20 years, we've done just that.

It's not a "ha-ha" funny joke, I realize, but it's a joke all the same.

Being a political addict gives me one luxury - as well as conceding the election today, I am also announcing my candidacy for President in 2008. [Wild applause, screams, chants of "JFK! JFK!"] Thank you.

And I make this pledge to you today: THIS time, next time, there will be no pandering. This time I will run with all the open and joking contempt for my opponents that our President demonstrated towards the cradle of liberty, the Ivy League intellectuals, the "media elite," and the "white-wine sippers." This time I will not pretend that the simple folk of America know just as much as the people who devote their lives to serving and studying the nation and the world. They don't.

So that's why I'm asking for your vote in 2008, America. I'm talking to you, you ignorant, slack-jawed yokels, you bible-thumping, inbred drones, you redneck, racist, homophobic chest-thumping, perennially duped grade-school grads. Vote for me, because I know better, and I truly believe that I can help your smug, sorry asses. Vote for me in '08! Thank you, and may God, if he does in fact exist, bless each and every one of you.

[Tumultuous cheers, applause, and foot-stomping. PULL BACK to reveal the rest of the stage, the row of cameras, hundreds of unoccupied chairs, and the empty field beyond.]

Monday, November 15, 2004

The Real Fallujah
What the media isn't showing you

All the media can do is talk up our success there. Never mind all the people we're killing, or our soldiers that are dying.
And for what???

Take a look at what war REALLY looks like.
These are horrific photos, be warned.

Fallujah In Pictures

Or here's some raw footage from some soldiers in Fallujah.
No blood and guts but still, frightening nonetheless.
Fallujah Video

-------
oh, this is something really important.
Let's send Secret Service agents to a fucking high school because they were planning to perform Bob Dylan's anti-war song "Masters of War" and hysterical parents thought they were talking about Bush.
High School Talent Show Turns Political

Fucking stupid Republicans. Fucking stupid.
------

But then, that is nothing compared to the jaw-dropping shooting of a defenseless Iraqi by an American soldier. I just caught the video on CNN and it made me sick.
Military investigates shooting of wounded insurgent
U.S. Military Probes Shooting of Iraqi in Falluja
So this is what we're at war for? to kill random people at will?
Apparently, yes. All i can say is we're all going to pay for these ruthless disgusting killings of thousands of innocent people so Bush can push his stumbling bravado upon the rest of the world. Again i ask, what the hell is this war for?

And then there's these dumb hick soldiers on TV expressing their amazement at Arabs as young as what he described as 13 or 14-year-old kids attempting to fight the Americans. "Why would they even try to fight us?" he asked. Uh, because you're in THEIR FUCKING COUNTRY! Gee, i thought the Americans were there to "restore peace." Oh yeah, that's right, we kill 13 and 14-year-olds (obviously we do, because the soldiers couldn't believe kids this young were fighting them) in the name of democracy and to 'help' them.

How can we advocate all this senseless killing? And we're supposed to support the troops? i realize that these troops were sent in because of decisions made by politicians, but seeing video like the stuff i posted above, as well as this impending investigation with the soldier who killed the defenseless insurgent, makes me shudder with disgust and fear for our country and what we've wrought.
unfortunately, i do believe we will all reap what this country has sown.

meanwhile, we have the CIA falling apart too and much of Bush's cabinet heading for the exits ...ah what fun the next four years is going to be...

feeling good yet?

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Dead Calm

I was thinking, on the drive home this evening...actually, i think i've been thinking of this for the last couple days...I've been pretty angry lately.

It has crossed over into my day-to-day life a bit...of course, that's too be expected, what with the state of our country right now...you know.

i love me the ellipse.

and i have to state for the record, that as of right now, hilariously, i'm on my laptop at the Mission Bar in SF using some local network that's free. so i'm online here and rocking my laptop in the one plug (that sort of crackled when i plugged it in -- let's hope i don't blow any fuses) that i found in the back.
i got my anchor steam.

and george michael's "i want your sex" is playing on the jukebox.

life isn't all that bad.

and you know, oddly enough, listening to this show on NPR on the drive Home...and there's tina on the phone.

i guess i'll have to do more of this later...

-------
Later - 9:29 a.m., the next day

as i was saying last night before digressing quite a bit (i was excited about the free network, yo!), i realize i've been angry of late.
And i've come to the conclusion that i can't keep being angry forever. i know this.

sure, the blog is used as a way for me to vent and let off some steam, but i can tell i've been extremely edgy lately, even for me. and god knows, i can get emotional.
but life's too short...better to be proactive.

this isn't to say i'm still not angry and upset about the re-election of George W. Bush, nor does it discount my disappointment with the more than 59 million people who voted for the prick.

But yeah, time to focus and figure out what we have to do to beat them, as well as holding their feet to the fire (see how corporate i've become? i'm using lame corporate analogies to make my point. put me in front of a firing squad pronto) when they fuck up, which will be often.

so yeah, here i am. back in black.
or today, i'm beige.
with elements of green, red and black.
sucka MCs and shit.

Let the happiness commence.
Until i get angry again...hee hee hee.

chuckles the clown is dead.
long live chuckles.

Got the Blahs

Ugh. I got me the blahs today. I'm feeling kind of glum, not very fun or funny, for that matter. Just whatever. Rain doesn't really help in that regard. Plus it's November. Maybe it's my personal body clock or something. Hmmm, who does know.
And I'm muddy right now.
And I just had a crappy-as-fuck (CAP) lunch of florentine chicken. Crapper. I really hate onions. The chicken here is so gristly. i think i have to truly give up on eating meat here at work, unless it's cold cuts.

so there.

However, i did feel somewhat heartened by the words of Frank Rich, one of my favorite columnists of late.
Here's his latest (sign-up/subscription required):
On 'Moral Values,' It's Blue in a Landslide

Go on with your bad selves.
hell, even my iTunes Shuffler is feeling my blueness.
I'm listening to The Smiths' "Unhappy Birthday"...but with Morrissey, i can revel in sadness.
so that's something.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

VoooDoo

Nice to have you back. Good to be here.
Thanks for having me.

So, um, PastTim just sincerely freaked out PresentTim, or, from PastTim's perspective, FutureTim, but that's neither here nor there, or when.

Thanks.

No, really, check this shit out i wrote Wednesday, October 29, 2003, filing said thing about which you will read at 10:59 p.m.

here 'tis:
    "you know, george bush could pull a makaveli (because i can't spell the old school way and i'm too damn lazy to look up the correct one) and have us vote for his pseudo-dead ass because we all feel bad, and then he turns out to be ok.

    like the day after the election, he emerges totally via the strength of knowing a solid 51% of the electorate are behind him (of course, rigged by those touch screens that are heavily funded by GOP monsters - but that's for another day, another struggle in this thing we call life man, fucking a)."


(edited for television)

yessir, i, tim pratt, me, yessir, predicted the damn election.
i should be invited to a think tank right about now.
how DOES one score a think take job, anyway?

damn i need some popcorn. i'm addicted to popcorn of late. of course, i get it for free from a little white ghost who visits me from time to time. haven't seen the tyke in a little while now. but you know, those damn ghosts, always on a different time schedule and dimension than you. never can predict 'em, damn right.

but so anyway...that's pretty rad, i thought. kind of weird. of course, the running polls at the time could have said that and i subconsciously remembered it at that particular moment, right around the same time of night i'm writing this here thingie i'm right here writing right about now.
shizen.
shiza.
shazam! i always hated shazam! any superhero that demands you put an exclamation point at the end of his name just sucks.

it's bullshit.

fucking bullshit.

The Kitty is fast asleep right now. She's very tired. She's had a very rough day of being tired.
It's very difficult, being The.

Speaking of, i caught this poet named Cat last night at this spoken word deal at Cafe Royale, a place i had never been before, near Post and Leavenworth. and no, i don't feel like linking the damn thing right now. get your own google search on bitches. so yeah, this girl Cat, she was totally full of herself, but...that's ok. why not? who else will be? she totally surprised me though. i kind of dismissed her as the 'i'm so hip being a spoken word poet and snapping my fingers as a salute to some good 'spittin' rolling forth' type, ya see, but she totally woke my shit up with this harsh anti-republican, anti pro-life crapper type shit, and speaking about her parents in Missouri and such. it just, woke me up.

a bit. we were there to check out Emmanual Ortiz, Tina's activist cousin from Minneapolis who threw down this highly impressive piece about his anger toward the war in Iraq, and oppression of peoples from all over the world. 'A Moment of Silence' is what i would guess it was called.
Fucking intense. i must admit. very good.
he travels out here to SF from time to time to do these types of events. this was the first time Tina and i were able to make it out to one of his shows. which was totaly rad.
and it was doing something different from my normal routine.
which, isn't very normal, i would hazard to guess (as my dad would say, hee - i got pride, yo...respek, west side).

boo-ya-ka-sha.

yeah, i'm white sometimes.
damn.
but i'm so hip-hop. shit.

you know.

well, yeah, this was good. i don't know what this was.

a spurt. maybe i was spittin'
definitely with the possessive apostrophe, yo.

keep it up
bitches

Apostle Pratt Pierre



so sayeth the shepherd, so sayeth the flock...mocka locka cracka lacka macka sacka nacka facka wacka zacka

HACKA

Christianity = Bigotry?

Of course, i'm very excited about John Ashcroft stepping down. But that excitement will undoubtedly prove to be shortlived as a host of new screaming meanies will soon take their place amongst the Bush Cabinet.
Can't wait for that either.
More hateful 'Christians' addressing such important issues as gay marriage and the downfall of society because of it.
Yeah, gay marriage and abortion, those are real issues, huh? If both of those things continue to run rampant in America, we might as well burn the whole place down. Never mind poverty, the 'war' in Iraq, the environment or other inconsequential issues - who cares about future generations and whether they live or die, as long as we outlaw the gays, then everything will just be alright.
For more impressive anguish, check out Michael Feingold's cover story in this week's Village Voice:

Our Vanished Values:
Where They Went, and Why -- And How They Might Come Back


Here's some key quotes:
    This is the election in which American Christianity destroyed itself. Today the church is no longer a religion but a tacky political lobby, with an obsessive concentration on a minuscule number of social topics so irrelevant to questions of governance that they barely constitute political issues at all. These are the points of contention tied into what are blurrily referred to as "moral values," though they have almost nothing to do with the larger moral question of how one lives one's life, and everything to do with the fundamentally un-Christian and un-American idea of forcing others to live the way you believe they should. The displacement of faith involved is eerie, almost psychotic: Here are people willing to vote against their own well-being and their own children's future, just so they can compel someone else's daughter to bear an unwanted child and deprive someone else's son of the right to file a joint income tax return with his male partner.

    Today the Republican Party is not the right wing of anything; it is a band of violent radical reactionaries preaching medieval totalitarian bigotry. And Christianity as currently preached and practiced in Middle America is virtually Satan, by the standards of anyone who strives to follow the teachings of Jesus. Having degraded themselves to the level of political lobbies, most Christian churches should certainly be compelled to register as lobbyists and pay taxes.

In the final words of Richie Cunningham, "These Are Happy Days."
Indeed.
Until we all die from being around gays...

-----------
Addendum 4:10 p.m. PST
Heh, some people are pretty bitter about the Dirty South.
Read with fury!

Fuck The South

----------
Oh, and here's a good slogan my good pal Ron came up with for the Dems:

Gay Marriage is GOOD for Marriage

Say it Loud and Proud!
Seriously, how is gay marriage BAD for marriage?
Two people loving each other. How is that a bad thing for society?
God knows we have enough people fighting and killing each other -- and we all know the bulk of those are domestic disputes (read your local police records if you don't believe me -- they're open to public).

Gay Marriage is GOOD for Marriage

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Welcome to the New America
Where the Right can Dictate Your Personal Decisions

This fucking story made my blood boil. Fucking right wing control freak mother fuckers.
We're going to take your asses down. FUCK YOU!
Druggists Refuse to give out The Pill

here's a quote for you:
In Wisconsin, a petition drive is underway to revive a proposed law that would protect pharmacists who refuse to prescribe drugs they believe could cause an abortion or be used for assisted suicide.

"It just recognizes that pharmacists should not be forced to choose between their consciences and their livelihoods," says Matt Sande of Pro-Life Wisconsin. "They should not be compelled to become parties to abortion."

.........so, birth control is now abortion?
what the fuck is wrong with these people?

Evil GOP Co-opts 'Moral Values'

Here's a good story on how Republicans seem to distort the meaning of catchphrases like Family, Moral and Traditional Values. Or how they've turned the word "Liberal" into a dirty word.

Liberals dismayed by 'Moral Values' claim

Here's a couple quotes that stood out to me:

"The religious right has successfully gotten out there shaping personal piety issues � civil unions, abortion � as almost the total content of 'moral values.' And yet you can't read the Old Testament without knowing God was concerned about the environment, war and peace, poverty. God doesn't want 45 million Americans without health care."

"One thing Jesus was absolutely clear about was helping the poor, and the welcoming of strangers. Maybe this election was a wake-up call to have a serious conversation about what morality means, to look at what sort of country we're becoming."

Maybe there's a reason behind teaching kids (including me!) to sing in church

"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
with the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
forward into battle see his banners go!"

um, yeah.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Bush Is a Parasite on Democracy

This was a bumper sticker i saw on the back of a car this morning. I liked it.
Happy Monday!

----------
Legendary Minneapolis Venue First Avenue Closes
This club was made famous by Prince in Purple Rain. Tina and i went there in 2000, on the way to moving to California, and saw Thomas Mapfumo, the Lion of Zimbabwe, perform. Frankly, it's surprising the club lasted as long as it did. Most clubs have a very short lifespan.

---------
Big surprise, San Franciscans feel betrayed by Bush's re-election.
San Francisco in No Mood for Tolerance after Bush Win
This quote stood out to me:
"I have family in Idaho, but I told my wife we're not going to visit them now. It's all Republicans there," said Ron Schmidt, a public relations executive. "We have family in Indiana and I don't want to go there either."

I agree for the most part. I will avoid red states if i can, and frankly, there are few reasons to go to those states, other than to see family in Indiana. But most of my family lives in Michigan, which was a "safe" blue state.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Quite a Protest

Ground Zero suicide follows post-election despair

A man fatally shot himself at Ground Zero of the World Trade Centre in New York, and friends believe the tragic suicide was a political protest against President George W Bush's re-election and the war in Iraq.

The body of Andrew Veal, 25, a university research worker from the southern state of Georgia who was engaged to be married, was found on the site of the September 11 terror attacks yesterday morning, his family and officials said.

Veal didn't leave a note, but those who knew the sensitive young man said he sent a grim message by choosing to end his life where almost 3,000 people perished.

"I'm absolutely sure it's a protest," said Mary Anne Mauney, Veal's supervisor at the University of Georgia survey research lab. "I don't know what made him commit suicide, but where he did it was symbolic."

"I see it as a political statement," agreed co-worker Stacey Sutherland. "He was so opposed to the war."

When Veal failed to show up at work on Wednesday, his pals assumed he was upset that Bush had beaten John Kerry in the race for the White House and was taking a few days off.

"We figured he was just devastated," Mauney said.

But fears for his safety grew when he didn't returns calls from his mother and his fiancee, an Iowa college student who was supposed to meet him in Seattle this weekend for a family wedding.

Hope turned to heartache yesterday when Veal's body was found. He had a head wound and police recovered a shotgun nearby.

"Andy was so anti-violence, I can't even see him holding a gun," Sutherland said.

Mauney said that other than the war and the election, she didn't know what might have been troubling Veal.

"I told his mother there are some people so sensitive and intelligent and passionate they don't belong in the world the way it is today," she said.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Map Mania

This guy over at The Blogging of the President has assembled a great assortment of maps interpreting the election with a proportional electoral map, county-by-county, kids' votes, and more.
We've Gone Map Crazy!

---------
And this bit of vandalism in North Carolina is only the beginning, to be sure.
Vandals Hits GOP Headquarters in North Carolina

Friday, November 05, 2004

More Election Fraud

While it might certainly seem like i'm obsessed with this, i'm not as obsessed about the election as i was, say, Monday.
though i had reached my burnout period a while ago.
Still, this election fraud problem needs to be addressed and looked at to ensure that the vote count we came up with on Tuesday is the correct one.
Voting Machine Error Gives Bush 3,893 extra votes in Ohio
Is this just the beginning?

Here's another story on the same subject
E-Vote Glitch Inflates Bush Total

-------------
Meanwhile, the Democrats do what they do best, blame each other for their defeat.
This time, they're blaming San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Weak, very weak.
Some Democrats Blame One Of Their Own
-----------

Even high school students in Boulder, Colo., are pissed off about the Bush win on Tuesday.
Sleepover Protests Bush's Policies

Students at Colo. High School Protest Bush

---------
And don't forget to apologize to the world for America's error once again.
But hey, we tried, right?
Sorry Everybody
---------

Ah, i like this posting on Craig's List. Sounds like me!
MC w/59,017,382 Americans
Or read the text below:
>>>
You people, who voted for Bush. Who are you? Why did you do this to us? The man who did nothing to prevent 9/11, failed to react when the attacks occurred, and failed to find the two maniacs who orchestrated the attacks...has been re-elected!!??

Three years ago, everyone in the world cried over New York. You homophobes from Nebraska came and laid wreaths here. But you couldn't give an inch when we needed your help to get rid of this psycho-president. So here we are, in New York, scared of further attacks while this crackpot wages his crusades, and scared of you anencephalic neanderthals who stood up for his failures. To the east of us are islamo-fascist extremists who will stop at nothing to destroy the symbols of Western capitalism. (Yes, those symbols would be the Empire State Building, the broadway shows, and the Stock Market that you smelly, drooling, cow-eyed tourists come and stare at.) And to the west are hoards of pentecostal fundamentalist christians who are waiting with sweaty palms and bated breath for the wrath of God (in the shape of hairy mujhadeen) to come and burn this Gomorrah to the ground.

I don't know you. I don't have your myopic values, your religious fervor, your sanctified hate. And apparently, I don't have as many friends as you do, lemmings. So as this country slides into the stinking shitpuddle of conservative fascism, let me make one request: Don't stay in touch. Don't visit New York and enjoy its food, sites and entertainment. Don't see movies made in Hollywood. Stay in South Dakota, Ohio, and Alabama. Don't look to the coasts for entertaiment and excitement, then wipe your ass with us when we really need your support. Stay at the mall. Play with yourselves in your SUVs. Molest your suburban babysitter. But don't come 'round here no more. We don't know you, you're not our friends. You want values? Stick w/Britney and her 60-second marriages, I'll take an honest fag anyday.

It's hard being a New Yorker these days. It's hard being brutally attacked by a terrorist fanatic. It's hard being used as a backdrop for mindless nationalist posturing. It's hard getting shit on by inbreeds from Utah every election. It's hard being a New Yorker. But I'd much rather be a proud, sad, New Yorker than a mindless pious fuckwit from Jacksonville, Florida with a cross on the wall and six copies of Playboy tucked under the sofa.

So fuck you, red America. Stay out there, in the darkness with your satellite cable and 10-acre supremarkets. Drive around your suburbs in your retarded Hummers. Pretend you have somewhere worthwhile to go. Becasue without New York, and Los Angeles, and all us interesting blue-state people, your world is a boring, lonely place, and you deserve it. We're different, we don't suck.

We may never win an election, and all that proves is that majority rule is a woefully imperfect way to chose a leader.

Next time you want to come and have fun in New York, visit Tarramt County, Texas instead, assholes.

this is in or around Sodom and Gomorrah, USA

------------
buck up some more fellow progressives
Hello, Uranus? Got Any Room? Must. Move. Away. Cannot endure more Bush. Soul about to implode. Right? Not so fast
-----------

And stay angry.
Guilty, Disgusted, American

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Election Fraud??
There are Real Discrepancies
...And other misgivings


Hate to already spring this on people, but some serious allegations are already being made regarding the potential for voter fraud and mischief in Ohio and Florida.
The differences in the exit polls and the machines are striking in those states, whereas most other exit polls almost perfectly match the outcome in other states.

This is just beginning to build but it's striking that it's already emerging two days after this election.
Here's an email i received this morning:
>>>>
I'm passing along some information related to the possibility that this election was rigged. Although I haven't seen enough of the evidence--and am not sufficiently confident in my statistical analysis abilities--to be able to verify this for you, I do think that fraud may have occurred, perhaps on a massive scale, and that this warrants serious further investigation. Perhaps some of you math types can take
a closer look and tell me what you think.

Do not forget that the Walden O'Dell, hard-core Republican fundraiser and chief executive of Diebold Inc (the company that makes most of the voting machines), said in a letter dated Aug. 14, 2003, that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to the president next year." (see http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.htm).

I also find it fishy that Rove said that they would get 4 million more votes than they got in 2000 and, apparently, they did. Almost exactly.

I'm sure that you're all aware of the very serious problems with the electronic voting machines. If not, check out this site: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/.
Wired has an article out on e-voting in this election at Watchdogs Spot E-Vote Glitches.

Okay, so the info about fraud in this election is below. Much of it comes from
Exit polls analysis versus reported vote count.

I want everyone to see this and at least have a choice as to whether they want to be depressed because Bush won this election, or because Bush stole this election.

Black Box Voting and Greg Palast's report of a million votes thrown out in Florida before the election even began aside, basic numbers show that this election was a fraud, it was stolen just like the 2000 election was stolen.

Look at a site which lists the exit polls before they were "corrected." Correction is the procedure by which the exit polls are retrofitted to match the figures provided by the vote counting machines. It is easily done by changing the exit poll results, such as the 2.00 a.m. re-assignment of the Nevada exit poll scores which was done without varying the sample size.

Results can be also changed by other methods like screwing with the weighting (weighting in statistics is a coefficient assigned to elements of a frequency distribution in order to represent their relative importance).

So let's check out raw exit polls vs. announced results

Here is one list as an example of raw exit poll data: All exit polls predict Kerry victory, though early polls not considered reliable

Then look at the results by state, such as here:
Elections

The GOP says that the exit polls are not large enough samples and so there is a large random error in the results. If this were true, then the exit polls would scatter on either side of the actual result, ESP. if the final result is so close to 50/50.

When we compare exit polls with actual results we see a skew - but ONLY in states which the Republicans had previously stated to be target states in play. The skew favors Bush every time.

The exit poll results are not scattered about the mean, they are all on the Kerry side of the vote counts as issued by the states except for a few of states where the final figures are very close to poll figures.

Here are the figures. They list the four contemporaneous and uncorrected exit polls. Kerry is listed first and Bush second in each pair of figures. Published = the figure presented as the vote count as of 10.00 a.m. EST on 11/3/04

AZ Poll one 45-55 Final 45-55 Published 44-55
CO Poll one 48-51 2nd 48-50 3rd 46-53 Published 46-53
LA Poll one 42-57 Final 43-56 Published 42-57
MI Poll one 51-48 Published 51-48 Published 51-48
IOWA Poll one 49-49 3rd 50-48 Final 49-49 Published 49-50
NM Poll one 50-48 2nd 50-48 3rd 50-48 Final 50-49 Published 49-50
ME 3rd 55-44 Published 53-45
NV: 3rd 48-49 Published 48-51
AR: 3rd 45-54 Published 45-54
MO Final 46-54 Published 46-53

These tracking polls are as expected and within the margin of error. But in othe states that is not the case. Either the exit polls were wrong or the vote count is wrong:
WI Poll one 52-48 3rd 51-46 Final 52-47 Published 50-49
PA Poll one 60-40 3rd 54-45 Final 53-46 Published 51-49
OH Poll one 52-48 2nd 50-49 3rd 50-49 Final 51-49 Published 49-51
FL Poll one 51-48 2nd 50-49 3rd 50-49 Final 51-49 Published 47-52
MINN Poll one 58-40 3rd 58-40 Final 54-44 Published 51-48
NH Poll one 57-41 3rd 58-41 Published 50-49
NC Poll one 3rd 49-51 Final 48-52 Published 43-56

Taking the figures and measuring the size and direction of the poll to supposed vote count discrepancy, you will see:
OH Bush + 4%
FL Bush + 7%
NH Bush + 15%
NC Bush + 9%
etc.

Also:
...in several swing states, and EVERY STATE that has E-Voting but no paper trails has an unexplained advantage for Bush of around +5% when comparing exit polls to actual results.

In EVERY STATE that has paper audit trails on their EVoting, the exit poll results match the actual results reported within the margin of error.

So we have MATCHING RESULTS for exit polls vs. voting with audits vs.
A 5% unexplained advantage for Bush without audits.

----------------------------
Here's what what one mainstream paper says:
>Exit Polls: Early Numbers Misread and Misused
-------------------------

Fruit has returned to being deposited in my chair. a mysterious person has been putting various fruit in my chair at work off and on for the last few weeks.
today, the fruit returns. an apple. oh wait!
after reading the little tag, it's an Asian pear. it certainly looks like an apple. it's round.
also, i found a very tiny chocolate chip on my keyboard.
this can only mean apocalypse is upon us.
in the past, there has been a banana, pear, orange and persimmon -- DEF: the usually orange several-seeded globular berry of a persimmon that is edible when fully ripe but usually extremely astringent when unripe -- and...am i missing one? can't recall.

---------------
it must be true that stress does in fact cause memory lapse. how else to explain that the unbelievable amount of stress upon my shoulders has enabled me to not only forget the specific paper i needed for my appointment with the DMV this morning to renew my license (despite the fact i have two copies, i can now only find one and i left that one at work - idiot), but also i pulled my salad for lunch out on to my kitchen table, only to then forget it there.
i am officially dumb sometimes
--------------

guilt is good.
when we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sunday afternoon (gorgeous down there, btw), i noticed in all the bathrooms, there was quite a thought-provoking sign.

next to the paper towels near the sinks was this:
TOWELS = TREES

it made me take less.
see, guilt is good.

------------
i guess i won't be smoking my post-election day celebratory cigar i got in Monterey at Cool Cat Cigars. that was a cool place though. the dude working the counter had the best facial hair. mostly white, except for right around the mouth, which was tobacco-stained.
but his moustache was one of those long ones that went over his mouth entirely so you can't see his lips. and his handlebar part of his moustache was super long and in twisty curly Qs pointed out thanks to some fine wax.
He was a fine gentleman.
Fare thee well, gentle man.

----------
ok, i'm not getting ahead of myself here.
i'm kind of shaking after reading this government document regarding the Selective Service, which is the draft.
but apparently, same old financial aid/register tie-in. Ooooold law.
http://cryptome.org/sss110404.txt

----------------
update: 4 p.m. PST

got some more stuff on the e-voting controversy that is continuing to swirl around on the web.

E-Vote Goes Smoothly, but Experts Skeptical

this next one's much more emphatic.
Kerry Won

here's a story from Salon, which is subscription only (here's a tip - sit through the 60-second or so commercial to get a free day pass each day, well worth it) that sort of discounts what some blogs are saying, so it's a good wake-up call, if nothing else.

Did e-voting fraud help Bush steal the election?
The Internets are abuzz with rumors that Bush won with the help of rigged electronic voting machines.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Farhad Manjoo
Nov. 4, 2004 | Lefty Web sites are buzzing with a supposed "statistical analysis" that they say proves that Republicans stole the election by rigging paperless touch screen machines. According to the analysis performed by a Democratic Underground regular who goes by the handle SoCalDemocrat, states that use electronic machines were all showing strong Kerry support in exit polls, but when the results came in, the states went to Bush. The polls (which are based on interviews with voters as they leave the polls) indicate that voters in the state really voted for Kerry, the lefties say; the machines distorted or changed their votes. "Maybe Dubayah believes God will see him through this, but it's going to take more than blind faith to pull the wool over the data and the facts," SoCalDemocrat writes.

But as we see it, SoCalDemocrat's evidence is quite thin. For one thing, he appears to be wrong on the facts. While he's correct that exit polls showed a Kerry victory in many states that actually went to Bush, this didn't only happen in states that use paperless touch screen machines.

The most obvious example is Nevada, the only state in the nation to use what many computer scientists consider to be the safest touch-screen machines -- machines that print a paper ballot that is reviewed by the voter as each vote is cast, a so-called voter-verified paper trail. In Nevada, the last exit polls showed Kerry leading Bush by 49 to 48 percent, with 1 percent for Ralph Nader. The actual result was a win for Bush by 51 to 48 percent.

And even in states that did use paperless touch-screen machines, it's not clear that Bush made his gains in the areas of the states that used them, rather than regions that use other machines. For instance, in Florida, it's the state's large South Florida counties that use paperless touch screens. But Bush did worse in these regions in 2004 than in 2000. In the 2000 race in Miami-Dade, Bush got about 47 percent of the two-party share of the vote, while Al Gore received 53 percent; this year, Bush only got 46 percent of the two-party vote there, while Kerry got 54 percent. What this means is that in the move from punch-card machines (which, as everyone remembers, Miami-Dade used in 2000) to paperless touch-screens, Bush actually did worse, not better. At the same time, the president gained in Orange County, Florida. In 2000, Gore beat Bush in Orange County, whose largest city is Orlando; this year, Kerry lost to Bush there. And Bush didn't need rigged machines to do it: Orlando uses paper-based optical-scan voting machines -- which computer scientists consider more reliable than the touch screen systems.

Even if unfounded, the Democratic Underground set's suspicion is understandable. The exit polls were odd. And who can forget the infamous pledge of Wally O'Dell, CEO of touch-screen machine vendor Diebold, to deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush this year? (Ohio, however, used few paperless touch-screens.) It's certainly worthwhile to scrutinize how the technology functioned in this year's election, but to date there simply isn't the evidence to conclude that the election was "stolen" using it. One way to make sure future presidential races are above such suspicion would be to add paper trails to all the paperless machines.

-------
I have some good news today.
Long absent, absinthe to become legal in its native Switzerland

-----------------
even better news. People want to fight Bush supporters.
Straight male seeks Bush supporter for fair, physical fight
Let the games begin!
----------------

a quote from my good friend in the State That Would Be Florida:
"What gets me is the fact i'll never know the satisfaction of having defeated that smug bastard in a election and have to watch him admit defeat.
I wanted to see him stunned and angry."
Agreed on that sentiment.
though somehow i feel like Bush's just due is still coming. Karma's a real bitch.
then again, where the hell was karma during this election? out to play?

I was listening to npr last night, Terry Gross was interviewing one of the editors at New Yorker. He was clearly devastated and filled with grief.
One thing he said that was most striking concerned violent extremism and that we're likely to see some of that, in-country terrorism, and potentially violent actions against the U.S. government in protest, which i think will likely, in turn, bring about a bigger and much scarier police state.
Man...this is going to only harden people's attitudes.

----------------
maybe this is why Florida voted the way it did.
Liquefied Heroin Discovered In Fruit Juice Boxes in Florida
----------------

and a sign there's still humanity in the world, despite the re-election of the evil one.
this morning on 880-S, in a super busy area of the freeway, there were several cars stopped in the middle of the road.
Then i see a middle-aged executive looking woman get out of her car in the middle of the road because there was a damn KITTEN in the middle of the freeway.
then another guy gets out of his car and tries helping the woman get the kitty.
all of a sudden this big semi truck comes rolling up and i think it's over for the kitty and she darts in front of it and the truck stops in time. i was watching all of this as i slowly drove by, then out of my rearview mirror.
it looked like the kitty made it to the side of the road but i can't be sure. at least they got the kitty out of the road.
i can't imagine how a tiny kitten got on the freeway other than by some asshole dumping it out of the window or something. so sad.
so i am hoping the kitten made it safe and sound.
people are good, aren't they?
not everybody is an asshole.
Like, say, Republicans/Bush.

have a nice today and tomorrow! (but screw you on Saturday)

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings


Any proper Republican would be laughing at me right now because i have feelings.
And it's true, i am officially in the minority. People want to believe in some religious mumbo jumbo than face the true reality of our world.

I'm completely crushed, deflated, have little hope for our future.
I'm frightened for our future.

I still don't understand how this could happen.

In fact, I woke up at about 4 a.m. last night with nightmares.

I actually felt like crying last night. Still do.

People need to really look hard at the final vote tallys in Ohio and find out why there was a discrepancy between exit polls and the raw data.

As well as florida.

I know this sounds like i�m grasping at straws here and it�s likely too late to change anything now.

My God, I just read something that compared present-day U.S. to 1920s Germany and the rise of Hitler.

It�s just blowing my mind, all of it.
Well, i know where i CAN live now, west coast or upper east coast and that�s about it.

But even here in California, there�s not a ton of solace.

I will say this, the red states are officially my enemies. I will boycott those states at all costs. None of my money that i can help will be going to any of those states. i realize i should be as angry if not more so with the federal government but this is something i can do.

I'm happy about Michigan turning to Kerry, but still. There's simply no reason to go to any red state. Fuck 'em.

Running the Local Numbers


It's nice to know at least my immediate fellow citizens feel the same way i do about most things.

Alameda County
U.S. President : General Election
Choice / Votes / %

John F. Kerry Democratic / 326,675 / 74.3%
George W. Bush (I) Republican / 107,489 / 24.4%
David Cobb Green / 1,926 / 0.4%
Michael Badnarik Libertarian / 1,731 / 0.4%
Leonard Peltier Peace&Freedom / 1,155 / 0.3%
Michael Peroutka Amrcan Ind Pty /665 / 0.2%
100% of precincts reporting Updated 11/03 2:38AM

California Statewide Totals
Choice Votes %

John F. Kerry Democratic / 5,427,055 / 54.6%
George W. Bush (I) Republican / 4,403,495 / 44.3%
Michael Badnarik Libertarian / 39,793 / 0.4%
David Cobb Green / 31,679 / 0.3%
Leonard Peltier Peace&Freedom / 21,616 / 0.2%
Michael Peroutka Amercan IndPty /20,987 / 0.2%

------
update 11:13 a.m. PST
Kerry's giving his concession speech right now.
just thanked Illanya Wexler from Oakland, who launched Kids for Kerry

i feel like i've been punched


the world is going to hell. we're all headed down a really bad road. and people are worried about moral values???
what is wrong with american society?
what is happening?
how can this be?
it's so disheartening.
it's just simply horrible.
that a man as evil as george w. bush could possibly be re-elected.
how is it that all the exit polls were wrong?
did the gop cheat?
nobody is asking that question. and it's not out of the realm of impossibility.
i just don't understand how so many people could do this?

more nasty shit is gonna happen, that's for sure.
and where was the youth vote?

------

it's all such a huge disappointment to thinking people everywhere.
because we all know this just isn't right.
George Bush doesn't seem to have the capacity for reasoned responses to anything.
It's all about making impulsive decisions and sticking with them no matter how illogical or idiotic.
the only hope is that he doesn't have to pander so much to the Christian element of his base. on the other hand, without them, he's not in office again.
this really hurts.
a lot.

i don't really want to talk to anyone.
i just want to bury myself underneath my headphones and get shit done.
at least i won't have this huge gigantic thing to obsess over anymore.

my heart hurts.
i fear the America of 2004.

it's sickening. all of it.

--------
some early rants and reactions from what is apparently the minority - thinking people.

A rant: Kerry Should Have Won

It's Mourning In America

The Dream Is Lost

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

I'm feeling weird/shitty/scared


i don't want this to be true. how can this be true? it seems like the death knell for our future, at least a hopeful and positive future.
it's not over yet, there are still votes that need to be counted in ohio, but i'm nervous. and scared.
this is like bizarro world.
nothing seems right.
what the fuck is happening?
what the fuck is wrong with america?
what the fuck?

the mood is very somber.
it feels like that to me. at least.
nobody was on the streets. it was very dead.

the drive home from work was tense and intense.
i'm just stunned.
fucking stunned. what the fucking is wrong with america?

how can this be?
jesus.

-----------------------------

here's a realtime IM session i'm having with my pal in Cinci. he's a fine pal. him.

AIM IM with m____onthemic
10:18 PM
yeah it's over
puto
buttcake
10:20 PM
i'm speechless
why is this hapening
people are weak and like to be led.
poorly
they like to think god is on their side
it's just unbelievable
plus they are assholes
and dems are lazy or stupid too
i dunno
i really thought it was over for them
the GOP has come out opf the woodwork
even the news guys seem grim. it's like everyone with a brain knows this is grave
nobody on tv seems celebratory
supreme court
like half the court, easily
daschle is toast
i was so ready to be done with Bush/cheney
god
i didn't think there could be 4 more years
me either
Thanks media
yep
scum
so afraid of whiningGOP fucks
you know, cnn still hasn't called ohio for bush
eh, 51/48, 83%
i'm sorry, 89%
what happens now?
i just don't even know
bush will claim victory so its harder to take away....ustlike in 2000
yep
one good note. medical marijuana is up 63/36 here in oakland right now
you'll need it
dude, i feel like the coasts are separate from teh rest of the country.
i can see boycotts of people in the fly-over states
its like family youve grown apart from and canno longer relate to
man
fuck
i'm so glad i'm not of draft age
i'd be hella freakeed if i was 18 right now
california should secede
we could do it
kick out arnold and let him run for president of the rest
california is the 4th or 5th largest economy in the world
wait, kick out arnold
?
of Cali
10:35 PM
arnold isn't as bad as i expected him to be.
frankly,.i'd take him over bush for sure
i mean, the recall was dirty...
but...youknow
what can youd
ohio is in bush column
says who?
oh, shitty local affiliate
nope, 51/48 bush 90%
it's not declared
this guy on local abc affiliate just referred to rhenquist opening as a 'donnybrook'
fuckthegop
anti-gop stuff is going to get much harsher
NOTMYPRESIDENT
yah
btw, that stem cell proposition, gona pass
though i think it's lame because it's a bond measure (i'm giving you cali updates)
all good.
three strikes law repeal is winning though schwarzenegger has been saturating the airwaves saying to vote no
but only 37%
mental health servives prop is winning
how does same sex marriage hurt people?
it boggles my mind
nontribal game expansion is being rejected
people hate gays
tribal gaming compacts defeated...arnold helped defeat
people hate gays
their loving church tells them so
it really does feel more and more like california is separate from the rest of the country
it's big enough to be a country
people here stay in the state a lot
you'd have a dangerous,unpredictable neighbor
it's weird
uh yeah
it won't happen
we need federal funds
this just makes me believe in less than ever
how can i believe in my government anymore?
i can't
coors lost
yay!
really????
fuck yeah
nice
reduce violent crime measure in oakland, winning
medical marijuana still winning big
prostitution enforcement in berkeley losing
to legalize prostitution
10:45 PM
weird. medical mariujuana in berkeley is losing 53/47 right now
dude, what about absentee ballots?
are those being counted in ohio per se?
in these numbers?
ohio is currently....
smaller counties
51/49 92%
puto
nbc has ohio as bush
4 more years of that smirk
i'm happy coors lost
former sf mayor willie brown is not conceding ohio, he's saying some of the networks are projecting it too early
on KRON, local ind.
bush is going to win new mexico
iowa is still in play
wisconsin kerry
maybe
i think kerry wins wisc.
they just said fox and nbc has projected ohio but no one else has
everyone else is open
i agree with you on cheese heads
what about New Hampshire. What's wrong with them?
i'm getting drunk
new hampshire
?
surrounded by red
i thought nh was kerry
still in play
really, cspan says kerry
eh, 51/49 kerry, 93% reporting
tight
still 51/49 ohio 92
%
i got all these crazy political calls this past weekend
p_to
10:55 PM
is Ae there?
if so, tell her i send greetings of jovial goodness
if not, tell her something else
frank just gave up on watching tv
puto
shovel
clacker
i'm talking to myself

sorry. there was a cop at my door
11:00 PM
what?
christ, it's only 52/48 kerry in cali right now and 38% reporting
yeah. he;s knocking on doors trying to find out if we know the people that live in this one building
fox news is gving it to ohio, local fox affiliate
fuck
cop
crazy
you're busted
my guess is a house alarm was triggered somehow
ah
plus i'm busted
what
no. just kidding
puto
kerry campaign is disputing the calls for ohio by fox
according to local fox affliiate
hey
news
something about iowa not going to be done counting
barbara boxer won
big surprise
she's dancing with diane feinstein with arms raised and feinstein is barely moving, looking really uncomforable
11:05 PM
N.H. goes Kerry. the first switch from 2000
nice
i LOVE my new latptop btw
i was using doug's airport when i was talking to you earlier
you were SO RIGHT about laptop
ton of music software on here already
nice. they look fun
planning to use for dj-ing soon?
maybe
things are going strong in dj dept, i feel
this was a big/good move for me...goning to use to record a lot more oddball vinyl i have
not going to make this a mp3 heavy machine
itunes will be light
make my home machine my music storage
edwards is going to make a statement.
my desktop
oh shit, what channel
your desktop like a super-ipod
CBS just said that
cbs here is local affiliate
they also said Kerry camp is claiming a lead in Ohio
see
i think they atre at least trying to set up an appeal/reccount
yeah
11:10 PM
i'm not seeing that
seeing it on cnn
provisional ballots
heh
its talk between rather and others
yeah, here it's local affiliates because it's 11 news time
gotcha
51/49 ohio i'm seeing
i like the networks being more gunshy this year
nobody is jumping to conclusions
fucking youth vote being dissed on cnn
yes. its the one thing that got fixed since last time
jeff greenfield
yeah
i fucking hate larry
king
he's a walking skeleton
pssssssss
diss the youth vote. Crush their spirit and keep them from voting again....just like the GOP wants
man
i hate wolf blitzer
chump
tv news sucks
i don't like many CNN personalities
they all suck
uh oh, marijuana is losing now
in oakland
and weird, prostitution legality is now winning
Poor Dan Rather is holding out hope.
heh
maybe there will be a late reversal in Ohio
i love dan rather even though i hate him
flip-flopper
blackwell in ohio is speaking rightg now
Keyes did well
keyes? how well?
blackwell is black?
yep. Black cincinnati republican
he's refuting claims made by newtworks on provisional ballots
Michigan goes Kerry
trending toward 175,000 provisional ballots at the high end he just said
your sec. of state in ohio
watchign live covearge
kenneth blackwell
heh, that's in margin of difference
heh
puto
local dude just called ohio 'this could be this year's florida'
cinci
?
shuttlecock
cumquat
puddle
11:20 PM
sumptuous
pupple-fuss
kerry is up in mich
51/48 77%
CBS says its his
yeah?
they colored it blue
weird, making assumptions
dude
its a rally
shuttlecock
i forget it's 2"30 in the east
it's only 1120 here
...only to be crushed by a 4th quarter fumble
fumble
cumquat
arnold hasn't shown up to his hq yet
they just said
you know, arnold has a 65% approval rating?
it's crazy
jesse ventura has hair nwo?
he's in some weird pro-indian ad they just showed
weird
they are getting ready for Edwards to speak in Boston
he has a complex beard and corresponding facial hair. ...they are NOT conceding, i say
no
oh no, more footage of barbara boxer holding hands up in air sort of dancing with dianne feinstein, very uncomfortably
footage
i am still seeing local cbs coverage
i'll yell when i see him
here comes edwards
i see him
resolute
we can wait one more night
give them their own medecine
oh man
this may be long again
he slammed his book
reassurance to the peeps
yay!
ugh
enough with the victory punchs
he's stiff
good move on their part
yeah. not the positive i thought he'd be
it'd be rad if nevada went to kerry
watching nbc now w/ russert
brokaw is gettin age spots
125,327 difference in ohio
fuck
28.989 ahead bush for n.m.
kerry up 108,000 in mn
wisconsin kerry up 15,781, 87%
iowa 11,486, 97% bush
nevada 16.392 bush
kujp
michigan kerry up 90,000
oooh, kerry wins hawaii!
they're saying there's growing irritation from the white house
iowa on hold
yeah, this is becoming 2000 again
heh
crazy
it's changed in the last hour
i'm impressed they predicted this Ohio thing months and months ago
i know
florida loses the goat image
scapegoat
itmay relocate to cincinnati
heh
frank is very upset about the returns tonight
it will be cool
i'm sure
stella is very cute these days
;yeah?
getting fluffy
tina is out cold right now
as is the kitty and frank

you are what's wrong with america
damn you and you're manhands
ola
tina just did a big turnover and upset frank's space
i'm america's worst nightmare
i'm so stoked you did the silent protest.
nice work man
i wish you had pics
thanks. I was pleased. I was compelled
it's harder to get compelled here in cali when it's a dem state
lots of peeps around here traveled to ohio and fla.
i just couldnt' do it...too much work, new job, ya know
11:40 PM
i'm gonna bail soon.
nice talking w/you. Too bad the world may end
yeah
ok. it's not that bad....maybe
maybe
i'm unsure about everything
i lose faith in my country tonight
whatever happens
i lose faith in my country tonight