I'm not one to knock someone else's achievements, but clearly I have lost touch with popular tastes. I find this girl to be about the most boring and bland actress around these days. I like the fact she plays (supposedly) more cerebral roles. Somebody please tell me what the appeal is, because she also isn’t what I would consider attractive. She isn't BAD looking, but hardly worth getting a title like "sexiest woman alive."

I just love this song. Unfortuntely this isn't the best version out there, but if you're a fan you'll still probably like it.

Ann Coulter is not hot. She looks like a hat rack and she is a raging beotch to boot.

I guess what has my goat today is the fact that one of my nephews has decided in his early adulthood to become a card carrying ditto-head. The name alone says it all. It implies blindly agreeing with someone as moronic as Rush Slimebaugh. It isn’t gays that are ruining the sanctity of marriage, it’s Rush. I’m sure he’ll be courting wife #4 any day now.

I just think an unexamined political view is a dumb one. How many people draw in the sand right between party lines and see things as black and white? I don’t agree with everything “liberal.” I believe if you come to the US, you should learn English. That would probably get my skewered in liberal circles, but hey; I’m entitled to what I believe. I’ve thought it out. I just hate to see anyone hold a political belief that they inherited from someone else. Things like faith and politics require soul searching and not blind ditto-dom. At least that is how I see it in a nation founded on freedom of thought and speech. To walk away from either would be far more un-American than questioning W.

Terrell Owens made a suicide attempt this morning. That is pretty sad and unexpected.I wrote something more thought out and lost the post. So those thoughts are forever gone. I just hope he finds the help he needs.

I have freed myself from SUV ownership. I feel like I’m now not such a big part of the pollution problem or a contributor to the coffers of big oil. I feel like I’m doing less damage to the environment and not contributing so much to the chaos in the Middle East. As you can tell, owning an SUV gave me some guilt. Well now I’m absolved. The car I bought is small and gets about 40 on the interstate and solid low 30s in the city. I’d rather have a hybrid, but I couldn't possibly afford one.

Admit it... we all slow down a little at the scene of a traffic accident. Yeah, we could say it is a courtesy to the police and emergency crew at the scene, but secretly for a split second we all want to see some carnage. Now I’ll be the first to admit if I saw someone’s head rolling around on the median, I’d probably be hard pressed to ever drive again. I think we like this sick stimulation, but in a controlled environment. Thus Hollywood gives us another installment of “Jackass.”

While I could sit here and tell you why I’ll never see this movie the truth is I probably will at some point. Maybe not in theatres because God forbid anyone see me sneaking into something so moronic and sophomoric. Last night I saw Johnny Knoxville on TV and they showed a clip from the movie. I’ll admit I was immediately captivated in a way movie clips don’t usually grab my attention. I felt a little dirty and in need of a hot shower but there was old Johnny. He was healthy and alive, so obviously nothing too bad became of his adventure. Therefore it is OK for me to watch him and his crew get in harms way. In the end no harm, no foul. I’d rather see this get green lighted than “The Ringer 2: Retard Bugaloo.”

The only confounding thing about this film is I don’t understand how they can keep doing these stunts. I slept in a funny position last night and I’m in pain today. These guys have at least 5 years on me.

I thought this was a fascinating factoid. Introverts remember our dreams better than extroverts. I can only speculate why. I’ve noticed a lot of the super extroverted people on the world are that way because they really aren’t very interesting in and of themselves. So perhaps their dreams consist of tumbleweed and the sound of wind blowing. Yikes, that sounds harsh, but I challenge you to name me a genuine extrovert who is interesting.

Sure plenty of public figures seem extroverted, but real genuine extroverts are the kind of people who can not stand silence and would never see a movie by themselves. They also never shut up. Those of us more introverted can fake extroverted behavior to varying degrees. I can and have stood in front of a couple hundred people before and spoke. That doesn’t make me an extrovert. So of the real genuine "I never shut up and can not stand to be alone" segment of the population, name me one interesting and dynamic figure. That’s what I thought. Hitler doesn’t count.

Speaking of introverted sad bastardom I downloaded that song “Mad World” from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. It may be the saddest song every penned and perhaps the most haunting.

...and that alone is all you'll hear from Presidente Chavez. The thing is he isn't entirely the lunatic our media will make him out to be. I think his speech shows us not only that he is articulate, but gives us a little insight into how the rest of the world sees the US. That's something we all should pay more attention to, because our dominance only rests on the assumption that the rest of the world doesn't turn against our nation. That is a possibility that seems more realistic every day.

Who are we to say that Bush isn't the devil? The anti-Christ was said in the New Testament to fool "even the elect." So maybe the most brilliant thing he could do is get the unquestioning backing of the conservative Christians. It is called "hiding in plane sight." So take a second and read this. At least skim it and realize this man is not the raving lunatic he is being made out to be.

Sep. 21, 2006 -- President Hugo Chavez calls George W. Bush the devil. Amid applause and laughter from the UN General Assembly, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez yesterday called George W. Bush the devil in his address to the UN General Assembly. [It should be noted that Chavez is not the only world leader to link Bush to demonic influences. The late Pope John Paul II feared Bush was the anti-Christ]. In comparison, Bush's speech the day before was met with stony silence, with many delegates who did not leave the assembly hall beforehand, crossing their arms, looking downward in boredom, or reading. The neocon media is haranguing Chavez, even suggesting that he supports "terrorism" -- the new "communism" bogeyman for the right -- and putting Venezuela's Jewish population in jeopardy as a result of Chavez's support for Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. The media paid scant attention to Chavez's references to two terrorist incidents in which the Devil's father was directly involved as CIA Director -- the Washington, DC car bombing assassination of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and the bombing by right-wing Cuban terrorists of a Cubana airliner off Barbados, both occurring in 1976 when George H. W. Bush was ordering these and other atrocities from his perch in Langley, Virginia.

Hugo Chavez applauded by nations of the world in his remarks about Bush.

Chavez's entire speech, unfiltered from the neocon corporate media:

"Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning to all of you. First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it.

Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, 'Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States.'" [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.] "It's an excellent book to help us understand what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th century, and what's happening now, and the greatest threat looming over our planet.

The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very survival of the human species. We continue to warn you about this danger and we appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our heads. I had considered reading from this book, but, for the sake of time," [flips through the pages, which are numerous] "I will just leave it as a recommendation.

It reads easily, it is a very good book, I'm sure Madame [President] you are familiar with it. It appears in English, in Russian, in Arabic, in German. I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own house.

The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today."

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.

I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's statement made by the president of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world.

An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: "The Devil's Recipe."

As Chomsky says here, clearly and in depth, the American empire is doing all it can to consolidate its system of domination. And we cannot allow them to do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The world parent's statement -- cynical, hypocritical, full of this imperial hypocrisy from the need they have to control everything.

They say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's their democratic model. It's the false democracy of elites, and, I would say, a very original democracy that's imposed by weapons and bombs and firing weapons.

What a strange democracy. Aristotle might not recognize it or others who are at the root of democracy.

What type of democracy do you impose with marines and bombs?

The president of the United States, yesterday, said to us, right here, in this room, and I'm quoting, "Anywhere you look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from poverty and recover your dignity through violence, terror and martyrdom."

Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother -- he looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist. Evo Morales, the worthy president of Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him.

The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up.

I have the feeling, dear world dictator, that you are going to live the rest of your days as a nightmare because the rest of us are standing up, all those who are rising up against American imperialism, who are shouting for equality, for respect, for the sovereignty of nations.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, you can call us extremists, but we are rising up against the empire, against the model of domination.

The president then -- and this he said himself, he said: "I have come to speak directly to the populations in the Middle East, to tell them that my country wants peace."

That's true. If we walk in the streets of the Bronx, if we walk around New York, Washington, San Diego, in any city, San Antonio, San Francisco, and we ask individuals, the citizens of the United States, what does this country want? Does it want peace? They'll say yes.

But the government doesn't want peace. The government of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war.

It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened in Lebanon? In Palestine? What's happening? What's happened over the last 100 years in Latin America and in the world? And now threatening Venezuela -- new threats against Venezuela, against Iran?

He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said, have seen how your homes and communities were caught in the crossfire. How cynical can you get? What a capacity to lie shamefacedly. The bombs in Beirut with millimetric precision?

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is crossfire? He's thinking of a western, when people would shoot from the hip and somebody would be caught in the crossfire.

This is imperialist, fascist, assassin, genocidal, the empire and Israel firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon. That is what happened. And now we hear, "We're suffering because we see homes destroyed.'

The president of the United States came to talk to the peoples -- to the peoples of the world. He came to say -- I brought some documents with me, because this morning I was reading some statements, and I see that he talked to the people of Afghanistan, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran. And he addressed all these peoples directly.

And you can wonder, just as the president of the United States addresses those peoples of the world, what would those peoples of the world tell him if they were given the floor? What would they have to say?

And I think I have some inkling of what the peoples of the south, the oppressed people think. They would say, "Yankee imperialist, go home." I think that is what those people would say if they were given the microphone and if they could speak with one voice to the American imperialists.

And that is why, Madam President, my colleagues, my friends, last year we came here to this same hall as we have been doing for the past eight years, and we said something that has now been confirmed -- fully, fully confirmed.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I don't think anybody in this room could defend the system. Let's accept -- let's be honest. The U.N. system, born after the Second World War, collapsed. It's worthless.

Oh, yes, it's good to bring us together once a year, see each other, make statements and prepare all kinds of long documents, and listen to good speeches, like Abel's (ph) yesterday, or President Mullah's (ph). Yes, it's good for that.

And there are a lot of speeches, and we've heard lots from the president of Sri Lanka, for instance, and the president of Chile.

But we, the assembly, have been turned into a merely deliberative organ. We have no power, no power to make any impact on the terrible situation in the world. And that is why Venezuela once again proposes, here, today, 20 September, that we re-establish the United Nations.

Last year, Madam, we made four modest proposals that we felt to be crucially important. We have to assume the responsibility our heads of state, our ambassadors, our representatives, and we have to discuss it.

The first is expansion, and Mullah (ph) talked about this yesterday right here. The Security Council, both as it has permanent and non-permanent categories, (inaudible) developing countries and LDCs must be given access as new permanent members. That's step one.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Second, effective methods to address and resolve world conflicts, transparent decisions.

Point three, the immediate suppression -- and that is something everyone's calling for -- of the anti-democratic mechanism known as the veto, the veto on decisions of the Security Council.

Let me give you a recent example. The immoral veto of the United States allowed the Israelis, with impunity, to destroy Lebanon. Right in front of all of us as we stood there watching, a resolution in the council was prevented.

Fourthly, we have to strengthen, as we've always said, the role and the powers of the secretary general of the United Nations.

Yesterday, the secretary general practically gave us his speech of farewell. And he recognized that over the last 10 years, things have just gotten more complicated; hunger, poverty, violence, human rights violations have just worsened. That is the tremendous consequence of the collapse of the United Nations system and American hegemonistic pretensions.

Madam, Venezuela a few years ago decided to wage this battle within the United Nations by recognizing the United Nations, as members of it that we are, and lending it our voice, our thinking.

Our voice is an independent voice to represent the dignity and the search for peace and the reformulation of the international system; to denounce persecution and aggression of hegemonistic forces on the planet.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This is how Venezuela has presented itself. Bolivar's home has sought a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.

Let's see. Well, there's been an open attack by the U.S. government, an immoral attack, to try and prevent Venezuela from being freely elected to a post in the Security Council.

The imperium is afraid of truth, is afraid of independent voices. It calls us extremists, but they are the extremists.

And I would like to thank all the countries that have kindly announced their support for Venezuela, even though the ballot is a secret one and there's no need to announce things.

But since the imperium has attacked, openly, they strengthened the convictions of many countries. And their support strengthens us.

Mercosur, as a bloc, has expressed its support, our brothers in Mercosur. Venezuela, with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, is a full member of Mercosur.

And many other Latin American countries, CARICOM, Bolivia have expressed their support for Venezuela. The Arab League, the full Arab League has voiced its support. And I am immensely grateful to the Arab world, to our Arab brothers, our Caribbean brothers, the African Union. Almost all of Africa has expressed its support for Venezuela and countries such as Russia or China and many others.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I thank you all warmly on behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of our people, and on behalf of the truth, because Venezuela, with a seat on the Security Council, will be expressing not only Venezuela's thoughts, but it will also be the voice of all the peoples of the world, and we will defend dignity and truth.

Over and above all of this, Madam President, I think there are reasons to be optimistic. A poet would have said "helplessly optimistic," because over and above the wars and the bombs and the aggressive and the preventive war and the destruction of entire peoples, one can see that a new era is dawning.

As Sylvia Rodriguez (ph) says, the era is giving birth to a heart. There are alternative ways of thinking. There are young people who think differently. And this has already been seen within the space of a mere decade. It was shown that the end of history was a totally false assumption, and the same was shown about Pax Americana and the establishment of the capitalist neo-liberal world. It has been shown, this system, to generate mere poverty. Who believes in it now?

What we now have to do is define the future of the world. Dawn is breaking out all over. You can see it in Africa and Europe and Latin America and Oceanea. I want to emphasize that optimistic vision.

We have to strengthen ourselves, our will to do battle, our awareness. We have to build a new and better world.

Venezuela joins that struggle, and that's why we are threatened. The U.S. has already planned, financed and set in motion a coup in Venezuela, and it continues to support coup attempts in Venezuela and elsewhere.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): President Michelle Bachelet reminded us just a moment ago of the horrendous assassination of the former foreign minister, Orlando Letelier.

And I would just add one thing: Those who perpetrated this crime are free. And that other event where an American citizen also died were American themselves. They were CIA killers, terrorists.

And we must recall in this room that in just a few days there will be another anniversary. Thirty years will have passed from this other horrendous terrorist attack on the Cuban plane, where 73 innocents died, a Cubana de Aviacion airliner.

And where is the biggest terrorist of this continent who took the responsibility for blowing up the plane? He spent a few years in jail in Venezuela. Thanks to CIA and then government officials, he was allowed to escape, and he lives here in this country, protected by the government.

And he was convicted. He has confessed to his crime. But the U.S. government has double standards. It protects terrorism when it wants to.

And this is to say that Venezuela is fully committed to combating terrorism and violence. And we are one of the people who are fighting for peace.

Luis Posada Carriles is the name of that terrorist who is protected here. And other tremendously corrupt people who escaped from Venezuela are also living here under protection: a group that bombed various embassies, that assassinated people during the coup. They kidnapped me and they were going to kill me, but I think God reached down and our people came out into the streets and the army was too, and so I'm here today.

But these people who led that coup are here today in this country protected by the American government. And I accuse the American government of protecting terrorists and of having a completely cynical discourse.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We mentioned Cuba. Yes, we were just there a few days ago. We just came from there happily.

And there you see another era born. The Summit of the 15, the Summit of the Nonaligned, adopted a historic resolution. This is the outcome document. Don't worry, I'm not going to read it.

But you have a whole set of resolutions here that were adopted after open debate in a transparent matter -- more than 50 heads of state. Havana was the capital of the south for a few weeks, and we have now launched, once again, the group of the nonaligned with new momentum.

And if there is anything I could ask all of you here, my companions, my brothers and sisters, it is to please lend your good will to lend momentum to the Nonaligned Movement for the birth of the new era, to prevent hegemony and prevent further advances of imperialism.

And as you know, Fidel Castro is the president of the nonaligned for the next three years, and we can trust him to lead the charge very efficiently.

Unfortunately they thought, "Oh, Fidel was going to die." But they're going to be disappointed because he didn't. And he's not only alive, he's back in his green fatigues, and he's now presiding the nonaligned.

So, my dear colleagues, Madam President, a new, strong movement has been born, a movement of the south. We are men and women of the south.

With this document, with these ideas, with these criticisms, I'm now closing my file. I'm taking the book with me. And, don't forget, I'm recommending it very warmly and very humbly to all of you.

CHAVEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We want ideas to save our planet, to save the planet from the imperialist threat. And hopefully in this very century, in not too long a time, we will see this, we will see this new era, and for our children and our grandchildren a world of peace based on the fundamental principles of the United Nations, but a renewed United Nations.

And maybe we have to change location. Maybe we have to put the United Nations somewhere else; maybe a city of the south. We've proposed Venezuela.

You know that my personal doctor had to stay in the plane. The chief of security had to be left in a locked plane. Neither of these gentlemen was allowed to arrive and attend the U.N. meeting. This is another abuse and another abuse of power on the part of the Devil. It smells of sulfur here, but God is with us and I embrace you all.

May God bless us all. Good day to you.

Last night my girlfriend and I went to check out Corollas. She has an old one that has more than done its time on the road. The poor thing needs to be put down. So we quickly learned Corollas haven’t changed much over the years and still appear to be great cars. The only problem is they are about 20 grand to get off the lot.

We took the time to look at the Yaris and I have to say it looks way more impressive in person. Unlike the old Toyota Tercel and Echo, this car just didn’t feel cheap. It also didn’t feel like it would fold up into a wallet size ball if rear-ended by an Expedition. I was so impressed I’m debating trading in my gas guzzler for one.


What I liked best about it is people, actual people, report getting high 30s driving this thing.
While it will not distract people from your small wee wee the way a Hummer does, it definitely is about 67* times more fuel efficient. I was impressed by this car and in a time when gas prices may never drop below $2 a gallon and summers aren’t getting any shorter, maybe it could be a viable option for those of use who would love to buy a Prius, but can not afford the mid 20s sticker shock.

The Prius probably doesn’t live up to its hype anyway.

*Not actual figure.

If nothing else, I can carry on another day now that "Scrubs" is on Comedy Central. Last night they had the episode were Erasure gets stuck in everyone's head. Brilliant!

I guess it is all about the size of your endowment.


At least that is what the Ivy League ladies say.


So goes another day. For the first time in my life, I went to the doctor and didn’t get chewed out. It was kinda nice. The doctor said I was on the right track. I couldn’t help but think of the Gary Coleman epic.


Maybe the doctor should checkColeman’s BMI. Apparently my shortness is sabotaging my ability to lose weight. So the good doctor says. Gary probably weighs 80 lbs. The bad news is at 4’9” that makes his BMI somewhere around 42.

If you don’t know what BMI is, then I hope you choke on the next 12 inch hoagie you slather with mayonnaise and mindlessly shoved down your throat you perpetually skinny beotch. Clearly you’re one of the bless few who can eat anything they want without gaining weight.

I try not to dwell on this, because it is somewhat personal and honestly not too many people probably care to hear about it. You read my blog so obviously you have some interest in my mundane existence.

I’ve been hovering between 30-35 lbs of weight loss for the past month or so. It took me since New Year’s going on and off the structured Weight Watchers plan to get where I am today.

While losing that kind of weight is an accomplishment, I need to drop another 25-30 to be were the government says I should to have a healthy weight. Anyway, my dietary practices have become second nature, so I dropped the Weight Watchers program last week. Here is the scary part, in just one week, I gained 5 lbs. Just like that.

My guess is not really being completely conscious of what I was eating was the culprit. How many of us think we are eating healthy without giving any thought to what we actually do eat? My journey has taught me that it isn’t so much an issue with shoveling down Ho Ho's at 3 A.M. I’ve never done that. It is the dozen of little daily decisions about eating mayonnaise or cheese on a sandwich or choosing to drink soda instead of water. They are small, small choices. Over time though, they can add up. Apparently just 7 days can even make a difference.

So I did the right thing and signed back up for Weight Watchers. Clearly I need the structure. I also rejoined my old gym. I’m trying to get minimum of 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week. I think that will move things along. So while I’m patting myself on the shoulder with one hand, I’m pushing myself forward with the other. 30 pounds is a lot to lose and I’m proud of what I’ve done. I also know the next 30 will be twice as hard.

Sometimes I find it ironic that we live in the most informed time in history, yet so many people are so misguided.

I have to resist the temptation to stick my head in the sand. The news sometimes becomes incredibly depressing to endure. India and Pakistan are always butting heads, Iran is working on nukes, ditto for North Korea. People are taking guns to work, school and random places and shooting. Sometime they shoot strangers and not really for any particular reason. The government is no longer accountable and anyone who questions it wants the terrorists to win. We drive the safest cars and have the best technology to protect us in all of recorded history, yet the world just doesn’t seem like a safe place.

In some ways I suspect it is perception. The media is quick to show us anything to help us believe our kids will be snatched, our cars are ticking time bombs and the next irate customer you talk to will come back and pump you full of lead. The reality is news reports about Britney Spear’s latest bundle make for a nice distraction. Sadly I’d rather hear about that, because I don’t give a $hit. I am completely devoid of any feelings regarding celebrity offspring, other than a desire to buy Federline some Trojans.

The real news is often what we don’t hear about. It is the disaster that is happening in the Middle East on an hourly basis. The real news is the entire providence of Iraq that we have zero control over and the fact that we only appear to have a handle on the situation, but only if you get distracted by the smoke, mirrors and double speak and don’t stare directly at the mess.


In the end I know the world isn’t a safe place. I hear sirens every day that point that out. Some of neighbors got robbed last week. Does ignorance=bliss? It seems some days just hearing about how awful the world is makes you miserable. What end does that serve? Surely no one can look at conditions in Africa, or Iraq or what was once the 9th ward of New Orleans and feel like everything is just fine. So the question becomes is it better to hear about and feel bad about things you have little or no power to affect change on? or is it better to avoid the bombardment and bad news and try to focus on changing the things you can?

If Mikey rourke fronted a "Catherine Wheel" cover band and hired My Chemical Romance as a backup band, you'd have "Hate Me" by Blue October. Despite all that, I still like it.

There are millions of heart-breaking images from 9-11. This one is the view from space.

File it under “I should have known better” but I watched CNN this morning.

It didn’t take long for the CEO of Cantor-Fitzgerald to come on. He was talking about how he happened to not be in the building the morning of 9-11 and how he came back and tried to help. He desperately wanted to make sure his people made it out. In the end, the company lost 658 employees that day. One of them was Jake Jagoda. I knew him. He has become my face for the terrorist attacks. I can only imagine what this day must be like for the family and close friends of those who were killed.

In so many ways, the event seems like it happened yesterday. 5 years is just a quick blip on the radar of life. Yet the faces I saw on the news this morning reminded me how trying the last 5 years have been. Ari Fleischer and the president look like kids in the archive footage of their Sarasota school visit. These last 5 years have taken their toll on everyone.

I think of that day often. I had a classroom full of teenagers who were trying to make sense of what was happening. Many were genuinely scared for their own safety. Those kids are now approaching their mid 20s. Most have probably finished college and I’m sure a few are married and even have children of their own. Life has gone on.

24 hours after the last plane came down; I was fired from my teaching job. I’ll never understand how a young teacher could be let go based on a classroom evaluation done on 9-11. I can at least say I did the best I could that day and would not have handled it differently. As I tried to prepare the kids for the state standardized exam, they had very real, very genuine questions about why their world changed on some random Tuesday morning. I did my best to hold them together.

That day quickly evolved into a world-wide numbness. It was the day the earth stood still. The skies were empty and every television was tuned into the news. Those of us who know anyone in New York became frustrated with the lines being jammed. Little did we know many of the cell pones in the city relied on towers that once stood atop the World Trade Center.

A few weeks later, I was in DC for my first and only visit to the capital. Some idiot was sending anthrax in the mail to important people in our government. So for a few days, the capital was a ghost town. One place that did not fall silent that day was the Pentagon. Even then on that crisp October afternoon, hundreds of strangers were gathered around the charred center of military operations for the last remaining super-power. We stood there with our mouths agape wondering if we would ever feel safe again.

Just minutes ago, a plane was diverted to Dallas because someone lost their Blackberry. Whatever sense of security we had on September 10th, 2001 is gone forever. Even a false sense of security is better than none at all.

Broadway is dark tonight…a little bit weaker than is use to be.

Hey, just a random suggestion. Check out The Pee Wee Fist. You can download their song "Pedicure" here. I love it, but I love anything with an accordion.

Half a lifetime ago when I was starting to figure out who I want to be I heard a song by a band called Pearl Jam. Soon it would become a huge hit to the point where it was played ad naseum on every radio station in the country. Eventually I would grow to tune the song out and no longer identify with the young man in the story and his screwed up relationship with his parents. In fact a few years back at a Pearl Jam show I took the song’s intro as my cue it was time for a bathroom break.

Tonight in the throws of insomnia I was channel surfing. Somewhere in the dark recess that is late night cable TV I found the show “Storytellers.” I did not even realize the show was still on the air. Had I not known better I would have guessed the show was at least a decade old. Then I started to notice the band was looking more like a group of dads that get together in someone’s garage to do Beach Boy covers and less like what was once the biggest rock band in the country.

The story Eddie Vedder told about “Alive” made the tune meaningful again for me. He said it was autobiographical (as you probably guessed). He also said that over the years as audiences have sang along they have “broken the curse.” What was once a young unknown musician exorcising his demons grew into a chart-topping hit. Somewhere in that process it became a song about hope and healing and no longer about teen angst.

Yeah maybe I over analyzed that moment. It is after all 1 A.M. It just seemed as I watched this group of people collectively pushing middle age sing along it occurred to me that there is some sort of cyclical beauty to the moment. We are ALL still alive. A band that survived grunge and its backlash coming from a city and scene that took a few lives over the years survived. Those of us who came of age with that tune in the background are still alive. For one brief moment I reclaimed that first time I heard a song that didn’t sound like everything else on the radio. Once again that song talked about a kid dealing with his f-ed up family. It was no longer background music but a message of hope. Time heals all.

With anyone making supposed predictions, you should take what you see with a grain of salt. A friend posted the info on myspace. So this guy called the 9-11 attack before hand. At least that is what I found online. He is
saying now another round is due by October's end.
You'll be surprised who he points to.

Judge for yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAHqSfDNjaI

I sort of started wondering after our latest change at the airport how long it would be before we were attacked again. It is a gut feeling I have as well. I don’t know that I agree the government was involved. I certainly wouldn’t say that is impossible, but I’d also like to think any cover-up that massive would be impossible to hide. I also like to believe we don’t live in a world were our own government would do such a thing.

Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody
puts a code on my desk, something nobody
else can break. So I take a shot at
it and maybe I break it. And I'm real
happy with myself, 'cause I did my job
well. But maybe that code was the
location of some rebel army in North
Africa or the Middle East. Once they
have that location, they bomb the
village where the rebels were hiding
and fifteen hundred people I never had
a problem with get killed.

Now the politicians are sayin' "send
in the Marines to secure the area"
'cause they don't give a shit. It
won't be their kid over there, gettin'
shot. Just like it wasn't them when
their number got called, 'cause they
were pullin' a tour in the National
Guard. It'll be some guy from Southie
takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he
comes home to find that the plant he
used to work at got exported to the
country he just got back from.
And the guy who put the shrapnel in
his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll
work for fifteen cents a day and no
bathroom breaks.
Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes
the only reason he was over there was
so we could install a government that
would sell us oil at a good price.
And of course the oil companies used
the skirmish to scare up oil prices so
they could turn a quick buck. A cute,
little ancillary benefit for them but
it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty
a gallon. And naturally they're takin'
their sweet time bringin' the oil back
and maybe even took the liberty of
hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes
to drink seven and sevens and play
slalom with the icebergs and it ain't
too long 'til he hits one, spills the
oil, and kills all the sea-life in the
North Atlantic. So my buddy's out of
work and he can't afford to drive so
he's got to walk to the job interviews
which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his
ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids.
And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every
time he tries to get a bite to eat the
only blue-plate special they're servin'
is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State.

So what'd I think? I'm holdin' out
for somethin' better. I figure I'll
eliminate the middle man. Why not
just shoot my buddy, take his job and
give it to his sworn enemy, hike up
gas prices, bomb a village, club a
baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join
the National Guard? Christ, I could
be elected President.
-from "Good Will Hunting" a good 2 years before we even heard of W.

I’m going to start writing again.

Here is the premise and I hope you don’t swipe it.


It is a coming of age story and these days we all do that somewhere around 30. The old story of the 18 year old discovering himself seems sort of hackney.

So it is loosely based on my own life, because my dad asked me to scatter his ashes in New Mexico. He ran away there when he was a teen and worked as a ranch hand. The story begins with the dad’s passing. The son is now obligated to fill his promise and sees a trip out west as a huge inconvenience. He’s got his own assorted BS at home to tend with and is sort of hitting rock bottom fighting depression. So his decides he’s going to wrap up as many loose ends as he can at home and then hop in the car for one last road trip with his pops. He’s going to sprinkle his dad’s ashes off one of the many humungous suspension bridges in the desert. Then, he’s going to jump the railing and end his own misery.

On the way he starts to gain understanding about his father and his own life. While it might sound like a lifetime movie, I think my pessimistic, but hopeful view of the world could add a new element to the story. I promise it will also have some good dialogue. Maybe I’ll even go the screen play route, because I have some great music ideas. Check out my myspace page for “The Funeral” by Band of Horses. I think it would be the choice song to close the film with.

I wonder if John Holmes has days were he'd rather just be an accountant. Do any of us love what we do? Even success doesn't necessary spell happiness. Half the time when you go to a concert for some band like Radiohead they look like performing is really just a favor they are doing for you. At the end of the day, aren’t we all prostitutes? Don't we just give something up in exchange for monetary reward? I guess that is all, enjoy your 3 day weekend.

I also want to go on record as saying that Jeremy Piven is the man. Point taken Uncle Bobby. He owned PCU. So maybe he isn't all warm and fuzzy. Kanye, on the other hand, needs to be grateful he isn't managing a Hardees...yet.