Blue Neck Nation

David Van Os VS Your Apathy: Who Will Win?

2006-08-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

David Van Os will be here tomorrow--Thursday--at 10:30 in the morning. He's doing one of those old style whistle-stop stump speeches on the steps at the Kendall County Courthouse.

His race for the Attorney General's office is an uphill one. Kinda like Ned Lamont's uphill race against 2000's Democratic Nominee for Vice President, Joe Lieberman. If you've been out of touch for the last 24 hours, know this: internationally-known several-time incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman lost to an unknown so-called pencil-necked geek in Connecticut.

Well, David Van Os isn't a pencil-necked geek. Besides being smart and passionate, he's a good guy. You really should give your apathy a quick kick in the butt, and show up tomorrow morning. Be an American! Go listen to a politician on the courthouse steps tell you why he deserves your vote! It'll make you feel good again!

Bill Moyers--Does It Get Any Better?

2006-02-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Moyers is fearless. He takes on the big boys--from chemical companies all the way up to the President of the United States. He simply doesn't care about the ramifications because what he says needs to be said.

And the thing about Moyers is that he understands that to say what no one else is saying and to say it well, honors both the truth, and art. Few people have that combination of passions, talents and tastes.

I'm not a religious man, but I thank God for Bill Moyers.

If I haven't yet made it clear, I'm a rather large fan of Moyers. And the following excerpt from a Huffingtonpost article is testimony to why. Ostensibly it's about Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff, but really, it's about the state of political affairs in Washington. He maintains that corruption has gotten way out of hand, and we need to do something about it. The article is a rallying cry, and we would all be wise to heed its call:

"Something can be done about it. Organized people have always had to take on organized money. If they had not, blacks would still be three-fifths of a person, women wouldn't have the vote, workers couldn't organize, and children would still be working in the mines."

"Our democracy today is more real and more inclusive than existed in the days of the Founders because time and again, the people have organized themselves to insist that America become 'a more perfect union.'"

"It is time to fight again. These people in Washington have no right to be doing what they are doing. It's not their government, it's your government. They work for you. They're public employees - and if they let us down and sell us out, they should be fired. That goes for the lowliest bureaucrat in town to the senior leaders of Congress on up to the President of the United States."

So as you think that the Republican machine is too finely-tuned, too entrenched, too devious, remember that the proposition we face now has always been this way. In fact, probably much worse in times past.

Very powerful people look after their power with great care. It's only through time, a massive effort, organization, creativity and guts that we will overcome the odds. What I'm talking about really, is securing the tenets of our Democracy. The stakes are that high.

While TV Was Playing the Dean Scream a Million Times...

2006-02-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

...here's what Dean was saying in the leadup to the Iraq war.

"The Administration has not explained how a lasting peace, and lasting security, will be achieved in Iraq once Saddam Hussein is toppled. We have been told little about what the risks will be if we do go to war."

"Iraq is a divided country, with Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions that share both bitter rivalries and access to large quantities of arms."

"Anti-American feelings will surely be inflamed among the misguided who choose to see an assault on Iraq as an attack on Islam, or as a means of controlling Iraqi oil." "There are other risks. Iraq is a divided country, with Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions that share both bitter rivalries and access to large quantities of arms."

There's a full URL below with more. The point here is that television news made an absolute FOOL out of Howard Dean by playing the Dean Scream constantly instead of a speech like the above one. What an amazing disservice was done the American public by this kind of stupidity.

As you can see, everything Dean warned against has transpired, and nearly all the predictions by the Administration have turned out to be wrong. Who looks the fool now?
http://www.crooksandliars.com/stories/2006/02/25/whoseJudgmentOnTheIraqWarIsEntitledToRespect.html

Peace. A Recurring Theme

2006-02-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

It's been pretty close to two months since I've blogged. Part of me feels so bad about this because I know there are a dozen or two people at very least who check in from time to time to see if my blather is of interest. To you I apologize.

Regarding politics, my thoughts have been pretty dark of late. In the last two months we've had further revelations on the Katrina disaster. The Vice President shot a hunting companion, and kept authorities away for 12 hours while they made sure everyone's story added up (got sober perhaps?). Have decided to give a large measure of control over several American ports to the UAE. They've installed another right wing Supreme Court justice. We've discovered that the government may be spying on a goodly number of us (hi there, if you're working for the gov!). The Vice President's revealed he has the power to classify, or de-classify secrets (which could in work as a defense if he's found to be the reason Valerie Plame was outed [a shame the CIA didn't know about his de-classification]). Then of course there's the Jack Abramoff scandal.

That's all in just less than two months. I know I've missed a scandal or two. Or three. And this is the gang of thieves who said they were going to clean up the way Washington DC runs things. Do you really need me to point out that...well, someone's definitely cleanin' up allright!

I gotta be honest...my faith in the American people is measureably on the wane. After these scandals in the last two months (piled onto all the other scandals of the last 5 years) what in the hell do Americans need to lose faith in the so-called leadership of George W. Bush? His popularity still hovers at 39-40% when common sense tells you he should have been tarred, feathered, and run out of Washington quite some time ago.

Yes, I understand. The Republicans have control of everything right now, so the chances of an impeachment are far-fetched at best. Nonetheless, Americans are free to answer poll questions honestly, and 39% of them honestly think GW Bush is a good President. That's enough to make me want to jump off a really tall building.

Instead though, I've been making some more stained glass. Pictured above is my Peace window, designed and built for my daughter. When the politics of this world make little sense to me, the concept of peace still does. I kind of like my daughter, too. So before you get too burned out on the politics, don't forget to get back in touch with whatever makes this wacked-out world make sense to you. And then be sure to vote on March 7.

The Story of the Year...That Disappeared

2005-12-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

It's Jeff Gannon.

If the details are a little sketchy for you, let me give you a quick re-iteration: it was revealed on a liberal blog that a reporter in the White House Briefing room was not the Jeff Gannon he claimed to be, but Jeff Guckert.
--Turns out that not only was this reporter there under a name that wasn't actually his, he wasn't actually a reporter. No journalism degree. No experience in reporting.
--Turns out the organization he worked for (Talon News) was created by a right wing Texas Republican looking to get the GOP view more airplay. It wasn't actually a news service.
--Turns out that Gannon/Guckert didn't have a standing White House Press pass, as do most reporters, but was issued one on a daily basis.
--Turns out Gannon started appearing at the press conferences about a month before Talon News Service even existed.

Let me repeat that last part: before the fake news service for which non-journalist Gannon/Guckert even was created, Gannon was given press passes to get into the White House Briefing Room.

There's no way around the fact that this is a construct of someone within the White House. That is a hardcore, big time scandal. Unfortunately, it came and went without a congressional investigation, which would have revealed exactly who rubber-stamped his appearance at presidential briefings.

But wait! There's more. Turns out Gannon/Guckert owned three web sites promoting gay escorts, including none other than himself. There were many pictures of him as an adult wearing every bit of the clothing he was born in. He bragged on being "8 inches cut" and the pictures I saw back then appear to underscore that.

I don't care one bit if someone's gay or not, but what it boils down to is this: a gay escort posing as a journalist was allowed into presidential press conferences to lob softball questions to the president representing a news service that was actually a PR firm. Besides being a movie plot too outrageous to sell, this could not have been done without high-level complicity. How does one get beyond the FBI clearance screenings? There had to be someone there saying "let this guy through." Who?

This whole gay prostitute scandal comes from an administration which vowed to clean up the White House, to restore dignity and to make America proud again. My irony meter is now broken by the sheer bizarrity of it.

So where did this story go? Why is there no congressional investigation? Why is the President no longer being asked for an investigation on this matter? Congress is controlled by Republicans (who are more concerned with keeping power than their duties as promised to the people) and a complicit, or at least lazy press. Asking tough questions is hard, and it can jeopardize your place at these conferences. Ask Helen Thomas.

My renewed outrage over this story was fueled by my daily visits to crooks and liars. Crooks and Liars is an excellent liberal web site offering up videos that you really should see--and see again. Today a retrospective on the whole affair is there, and I highly recommend a viewing. Go to crooksandliars and look for the headline
Blast from the Past: Jeff Gannon retrospective in Video
Your sense of outrage will be fueled too, I suspect. There's also the great line from Bill Maher, referencing Gannon where he says
"Now I understand what Bush meant when he said he had a mandate..."

More Stained Glass

2005-12-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

I am just in a stained glass jag. I've made four windows in the last month and a half, and it's been about as much fun as I've had in a long time. Here's the one I posted nearly done a while back.

It's almost six feet tall and has thirteen beveled diamonds, two beveled stars, and a fleur de lis.

It now resides in Austin, where it soon will be installed in a door. I've made a dozen or so doors like this in the past, and hope to be making more in the future.

It's a pretty plain design, but sometimes, that's exactly what a design should be.

The window on the right is my last window, and tends to elicit fairly positive--and pretty negative responses. People tend to like it, or really not like it.

I just love it myself. I call it "Hoit It On The Grapevine" since the pieces and parts are so wrapped around one another.

I'll get back to political ranting and raving before long. Right now though, I'm just in this stained glass thing...

What the Republican Leadership Needs for Christmas:

2005-11-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

A clue.

The degree of these folks' incompetence is staggering. The near-constant parade of mistakes by the Bush administration and the Republicans who support it are baffling. Yet their bravado is unabated. Perhaps you noticed that former FEMA Director Michael Brown has started a new business: A Disaster Preparedness Consulting Firm.

'Scuse me? Should we expect OJ Simpson to open up a butcher shop?

The Republicans may be clueless, but they've got cojones the size of beach balls. Will Michael Brown's counsel be "do not do what I did, and you should be okay"? Here's the recent quote which just about breaks the irony meter:

"If I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses...then I hope I can help the country in some way."

These are the words of a man who couldn't be bothered to help the country when it was in the throes of its worst natural disaster. More of his words in an e-mail early on Aug. 29--the day Katrina hit New Orleans, acknowledging a colleague's compliment about his clothing:

''Are you proud of me?" he wrote. ''Can I quit now? Can I go home?"

But wait...there's more. On Aug. 31, in response to a message detailing how people are being ''kicked out" of New Orleans hotels and that food and water had run out at the Superdome, Brown responded

''Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?"

People were dying at the Superdome, and that's what he had to say. And what did your President have to say about Brown's response to Katrina? "You're doin' a helluva job, Brownie."

Moving beyond the pick-yourself-up-off-the-floor-in-shock words of the President, and back to Michael Brown, the quotes cited above are not just the words of a man who isn't actively engaged in his job. His words show a fabulous inability to empathize.

I have to put this in bold type: The FEMA Director is without empathy?

You can run the Department of Transportation, you can be the Secretary of State, you can run the Department of the Interior and not have to be terribly empathetic. But FEMA? The notion of there being a FEMA Director incapable of empathy is beyond my ability to express outrage over. That's about as bizarre as Ohio Representative Jean Schmidt calling former Marine John Murtha a coward. Yet both it seems, are quite true.

So if you're buying for a Republican this year, you might seriously consider getting him this.

Making Stained Glass

2005-11-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

God I love stained glass. I know, I've been blathering on and on about autumn, and now you have to endure a few thoughts about stained glass. I'll get back to politics soon...honest.

I learned how to make stained glass windows about 25 years ago from a really neat woman who designed and built her own windows. She was probably the best in West Texas, and due to good luck, good karma, or perhaps providence, she not only taught me how to make these windows. She paid me to learn!

She had a 15-window job to complete and she was getting sicker and sicker, and was incapable of the work. She showed me how to assemble and solder and complete the windows she'd already cut the class for, and I spent the next week doing exactly that. I think I had an aptitude for glass, as my learning curve was pretty short.

The woman got progressively sicker and I kept on building windows she'd already signed contracts to do. She finally got cured from what ailed her, and I moved on, taking my knowledge with me. About a decade later I decided I wanted to get back into glass, so I invested in the basic tools you need to create windows. I've probably made about 70 windows since then.

Pictured at top right is my most recent window. It's about 5 & 1/2 feet tall and features a beveled fleur de lis, diamonds and stars on clear, but textured glass. I think I could only count on one hand the things I like doing more than making stained glass windows. And it's probably the only one I could actually get paid to do!

The Other Day Howard Dean Was Telling Me...

2005-11-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Got your attention, did I? Maybe I should have been a headline writer!

Actually, I'm not lying. I was part of a nationwide conference call associated with Dean For America--whoops...that's Democracy For America. Dean For America was its incarnation before Dean was sabotaged by the press and withdrew from his presidential aspirations. Don't get me started on that whole Dean scream thing, or you'll never hear the end of it.

So about 18 of us are huddled around a space heater in the inner city...there I go lying again! That's what image might be conjured by those who aren't Democrats. They probably figure we lefties as being urban and smack dab full of minorities. In fact, I don't remember anyone there who wasn't white. And the there I'm referring to was an upper middle class home in a prosperous hill country suburb. I'd say the median age was close to 50 and there were far more gray hairs and few hairs than brown-haired folks.

The conference call was Dean's way of fanning the flames of grass roots efforts throughout the country. There was laughter and applause and the real sense that these kinds of things will make a difference. I can only hope so.

Dean's 50-state plan (which in a nutshell means that the Democratic party will fund and push to win offices in red states just like they do in blue states) excites us here in Texas, one of the redder states out there. Our state of mind is bruised and battered, being Bush country. More and more people are speaking out against the prodigal prez, but this place is still solidly behind him. It takes a special breed of us to stand tall speak out when the opportunity arises.

A woman named (if memory serves) Jamie said she always wears lefty-styled buttons wherever she goes. She gets lots of stares, a few snide comments, but also a lot of people who come over and strike it up with her in a very positive way. "They're happy to see other liberals" she says.
Well, we're going to have to encourage a lot more liberals out of the woodwork and into the voting booth if we want to become a real force here in South Texas. We can do it. It just takes the grassroots efforts that the good doctor Dean has begun.

Get involved folks...that's the only way to turn this oh-so-slow-to-turn aircraft carrier around.

Another Autumnal Blog

2005-11-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Autumn's finally arrived in a very big way here in Texas. The temperatures haven't--highs today around 80--but the most impressive trees are approaching peak display. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Texas does of some fall color.

One of my little treats as I drive around my town and in the hill country, is to notice color where I didn't know to expect it before. All summer long trees labor in the obscurity of green--most all are the same general color, especially as you drive by quickly in a car. It's not until autumn that each tree's individual attributes emerge from that obscurity.

I was driving down a street recently that I don't often take and lo and behold--two big tooth maples I wasn't aware of. Always a treat to find new trees to go back and visit each autumn.

Several years ago I was shocked to see vivid golden color of a 25-30 foot tall big tooth maple on the south side of the driveway leading into the Frost Bank in Boerne. Pictured above from two years ago, its trunk splits into two leaders about 8 feet up. I think it's Boerne's most magnificent big tooth. Because of pruning, or natural growth habit, the branches are high enough where you can walk underneath it. It's become my yearly barometer of fall color in these parts, and no autumn's complete without a visit to the tree. On a clear day with a blue sky, the gold-tinted light beneath it is impossible to describe.

Yesterday me and about 8 others, primarily from Boerne's Native Plant Society, planted about a dozen new trees and understory shrubs outside the Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne. Those holes didn't dig themselves, so it was lots of hard, sweaty work. In time though, it will yield more color and more native plants for locals or visitors to see and learn from as the years go by.

Planting a tree is one of the most optimistic things a person can do. The very act says "I believe in the future and I care about those who will follow. " They will be shaded by these trees and they will gaze in wonder at their leaves in the autumn and be thankful that someone cared enough to plant them. Thanks to the Cibolo for setting such a fine example for this community, and for encouraging its citizens to fine works like this. If the Cibolo didn't exist this town would be greatly changed, and clearly for the worse.

So get outside and drink in what nature's provided you.

I Become A Mass Transit Guy

2005-11-09T06:12:00.000-08:00

A co-worker friend of mine rushes into my office yesterday and says "Hey, I just rode the Via Express Route from 281 and 1604!" They dropped him off two blocks from where we work, and he strolled into work, having read the newspaper he rarely gets to properly read. My interest was piqued.

So if you didn't click on the blue item above--shame on you--I'll explain. San Antonio's transit company, Via Metropolitan Transit Company, now offers four different routes from various places on 1604 or I-35 to downtown. They have very few stops, depending on which route you take, and which bus within that route.

"What's it cost?" I asked."20 bucks a month; unlimited rides."
Mmm...$20 a month. I headed over to the Via Transit headquarters on San Pedro and laid my money down for a month pass.

I've got a 16 mile-per-gallon gas-hog pickem-up truck and on my particular commute, I figure I can shave 24 of my 63 miles-per-day round trip by riding the express line. The part of my drive that's the most difficult, the most stress-inducing, and the worst gas mileage for my truck happens to be the part I'd shave off by taking the bus.

So I found my way to the Park and Ride lot below I-10 and 1604. I wasn't there five minutes before the bus arrived and I joined what ended up being about 18 downtown-bound commuters. My day didn't go without a hitch though. My co-worker's optimistic reporting about being let off two blocks from work was accurate, but only for his particular route. My route gets no closer than about 8 blocks. I walked to and from the bus stop this morning, and while it was humid and sultry, it was a very pleasant walk. I'd never walked through the new courtyard at San Fernando Cathedral. I walked beneath the massive trees at the plaza in front of the old Courthouse. And then across the ornate Houston Street bridge over the River Walk.

Would I do this in the summertime? Forget it! Too hot. But for now, I think I'm going to enjoy this. While I rode on the bus I was able to chew up three chapters on the Maureen Dowd book I'm reading. When it was over and done and I got in my pickup to head toward Boerne, I joined the traffic and was immediately aware of something different. It took a minute to put my finger on it, but I finally figured it out: I wasn't stressed. Usually by the time I'm passing Fiesta Texas I'm wound up in knots after having dodged the gauntlet of bad drivers and merging trucks from Huebner through 1604. That stress just wasn't there today.

This Kendall County Democrat is urging you to consider this new offering by Via. It's easy to talk about doing the right thing for the environment, and embracing the idea of mass transit. Actually doing so means breaking bad habits and putting out a little effort. I can report that at this point, the effort's been worth putting out.

Autumn Comes To Texas

2005-11-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

Texas? Sure, we have autumn color. It's not Vermont or Wisconsin, or even Virginia. But on a good year, it ain't bad. While it's still early, I think it's going to be a good year.

The sumac are turning pretty quickly, and some have even dropped their leaves already. I haven't seen a really red RedOak yet. We'll see how it shakes out. A tree which often just kinda turns brown is the Cedar Elm. This year though, I've seen quite a few of them turning golden. I don't know if it's rain or air temperature or moisture in the air, but I suspect it's a combination of all the above. Whatever the case, it looks like they might give us quite a show this year.

There's a non-native tree called Chinese Pistache, which those of us who love native trees would like to think is native. Lord knows it's drought and heat tolerant, and it gives a great show.
I have a Burr Oak(not the one pictured) that I planted in my front yard. He's turning a little gold, so I'm optimistic about Burr Oak's color this year.

The tree that lovers of autumn in Texas are most passionate about though is the Big Tooth Maple. Sometimes they're golden, sometimes they're red, but most always just plain beautiful. The two I have in my yard are doing okay, but got a little summer burn. I planted them in the full sun and mulched and watered them fairly well. This was their first year though. Time for them to get established.

This afternoon I'm going to a place just outside Boerne. There's a long, winding road that gets progressively smaller, and finally becomes a dirt road, ending at a ranch gate. If you park your truck and walk a few paces to your left--not too far or you'll drop about a hundred feet down into a deep cut valley with steep cliffs and a stream at the bottom. In that riverbottom soil there are lots of live oaks, cedar elm and red oaks. The treat though, is that there are probably 30 or so large Big Tooth Maple growing down there. Last year their color wasn't anything too impressive, but this year, they're looking great.

Postscript: The picture above was taken Sunday morning 11/6. A 35-foot Big Tooth keeps a toe-hold overlooking everything from the side of the cliff. I can report that indeed, the maple colors are looking quite fine this year. In fact, they're downright Vermontesque. Heck of a word I just coined there.

Post Fitzmas Funk

2005-10-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

You know the feeling. The day after. The presents are open, and...while you pretty much got what you asked for, you'd hoped for more. Fitzmas never quite lives up to the pre-Fitzmas hype, now does it?

If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, I'm of course referring to Patrick Fitzgerald's Friday afternoon press conference, and the Libby indictments.
bad: Rove escaped indictment.
good: Multiple indictments came down.
bad: All indictments came after the crime for which no one was indicted.
good: The indictments go all the way to the Vice President's office.

Fitzgerald came across at the press conference as straighter than straight. I got the feeling that he was there to do the peoples' bidness, and if crimes were comitted, he was going to prosecute, regardless of the party or who was being investigated. That should give us solace that perhaps he'll find something for which Rove needs to be indicted, and will then do so.

Clearly Libby lied about having heard the Plame news from Tim Russert. Clearly that information originated in the Republican realm, and clearly Novak, Miller and Cooper were told in an attempt to shut up Joseph Wilson. While intent is harder to prove, has anyone suggested Libby told these folks to cause Wilson anything but pain? The former ambassador was publicly suggesting the President was a liar, and he needed to be shut down.

There are a few untold stories here, but here's the one that seems the most massive of them all: this is so stupid! Allowing columnist Novak to publish the name of an undercover CIA operative, and the fact that two high administrative officials had verified Plame's identity...doesn't that just say to law officials: "You want me? Come and get me!!" It reminds me of Gary Hart's catch me if you can scenario about a decades and a half ago.

If outing Plame was not a crime, it was oh-so-very-close to one. And that a pair of high-ranking administration officials are giving out a CIA operative's name because her husband disagrees with the President is an instant national scandal!

And herein lies the interesting point to me: there is such hubris...such a blatant example of pride getting in the way of common sense. Answer me this: after the Novak column, why in hell would there not be an investigation? Why in hell would that investigation not uncover that everyone points fingers in a couple of directions only, and that their stories all match up?

The old saying applies: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And when your party is controlling the house and the senate and the presidency and the supreme court, you dine on hubris with garlic, and vanity under glass.

Why else would anyone make such an idiot decision as to out the CIA operative wife of the man who's been on Meet the Press to tell everyone your President lied in the State of the Nation address? The untold story in this matter is how stupid a decision it was in the first place.

What kind of stain does this put on the Bush administration? They swept into office early in 2001 claiming they would bring back honor and dignity to the White House. It appears that after nearly bankrupting the nation, taking us into and unnecessary war and turning most of the world against us, they didn't find time to work on that honor and dignity thing. Here's an interesting new poll, an excerpt from which follows:

The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems "with ethical wrongdoing" in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an "isolated incident." And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush.

The man and the party who had an opportunity to do good things and to put a shine back on politics and dirtied it more than a stained blue dress ever could.

It's....beginning to look at lot...like...Fitz-mas...

2005-10-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for a prescient examination of up-to-the-minute details in Prosecutor Fitzgerald's investigation, with informed detail-oriented observations, you've stumbled onto the wrong blog. I just thought it was time to post a few thoughts about what's going on.

The Grand Jury clock is ticking down. It's defacate, or get off the pot time. I haven't anticipated anything so much since that time I spent 4 months in another time zone and flew back to Texas to see the wife.

I have an Austin friend who calls me at least once daily to check in and see if there's anything I've heard that he hasn't. Being in the news bidness, I have the Associated Press on my desktop and if there's anything fabulously newsworthy my computer will ding at me. Suffice it to say I'm longing for the dinging.

This part-time political observer thinks the Republican party is l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g overdue for a hard slap across their collective face. After years of them talking God, guns and gays instead of jobs, peace and security, the Republican leadership needs to be humbled. I'm talking drawing and quartering! They should be tarred and feathered, then run out on the rail, and let the bums deal with them! They're a sorry bunch, the whole lot of them.

But rather than just listen to me rant and rave, you should do something else...go here and take a look at a six-minute video. It's crooksandliars.com--an excellent site--and the video is a CNN interview with former CIA operative and Valerie Plame classmate Larry Johnson. He meets head-on and debunks many of the Novak-disseminated disinformation that's become lore of right wing world of late. Once you go to the site, page down. If you see Bill O'Reilly's splotchy face you've gone too far. It's right above that.

Good viewing...and it'll whet your appetite so that tomorrow--let's hope--you'll have a very merry Fitzmas!

Getting Kinky at the Library

2005-10-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Shame on you! Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm talking about Kinky Friedman. He spoke tonight at my small town Texas Library. This is the Kinkster's 2nd visit to the library, ostensibly to talk about his books and about writing. But things have changed since his first visit nearly 3 years ago. This time he's running for governor.

The first time he was here there were lots of sexual references...I can recall a number of audience gasps...and I distinctly remember the word sphincter being used. That was then. This was now.

Tonight Kinky talked a lot of common sense, a lot of humor, and the one edible he knew that any Texan worth his salt would eat heartily: Texana. He referenced Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Sam Houston...all the legendary icons of Texas which were nostalgic, and vote-getting safe bets.

But I have to give him kudos: as he made the audience comfortable, wrapping them in this blanket of Texana, he threw a few curve balls. He said that politicians tried to get everybody worked up over issues that meant absolutely nothing. The issue he cited: gay marriage. He said it wouldn't hurt anybody. That same statement coming from me would have raised the possibility of my being physically attacked. Coming from the cigar-chomping, goateed, black-hatted cowboy-looking Kinky, it was warmly received.

And there was also the idea of naming Willie Nelson as his energy secretary. Or Czar. Or something (I thought ol' Willie should have been drug Czar. Lord knows he's done plenty of research on the subject). He thought we all should be using biodiesel instead of gasoline. He's right.

Something that came through, without a doubt, is that Kinky is serious about being governor. He's not too fond of the political process and his anti-politician leanings seem quite sincere. He hopes as governor to charm the pants off those who want to continue politics as they are.

Is it the cynic in me who thinks there's something further here? Yes, I do think Kinky would love to do Texas good, to turn the place around to start doing some of what it should but isn't, and stop doing some of what it shouldn't, but is. I think there's something more though. I think that as a mondo-bizarro country/western singer, an award-winning widely-read author, a saver of stray animals, I think he wants to be able to put Governor on his lack of resume (surely the Kinkster doesn't actually have one, does he?). I think he wants to lend his name an immortality that will put it up there with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jenning and Sam Houston.

I've read several of his books and can highly recommend him. I've seen him work the crowd twice now, and am cognizant of his talents as a humorist. And you should know that he has a gentle, artistic, poetic and world-weary streak that comes out only occasionally in his writing that's really exceptional. He gets my vote for one of the top five most interesting Texas artists. What remains to be seen though, is whether he'll get my vote for governor.

Pardon the Interruption...

2005-10-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

For various reasons I've abandoned this blog for the past month. I've missed the heck out of it and intend to begin feeding the blog with regularity again.

For the dozen or two of you who come here often looking for real-life examples of how not to write, my apologies. I've been off being who I am when I'm not a blogger. I've been doing really fun things, and this is perhaps the most fun: I went to Washington DC, amongst other reasons, to let the President know I'm not fond of how he's been conducting himself. 250,000 of my closest friends showed up as well, and it was both quite somber, and quite a party. And sometimes those two elements were in close proximity to one another.

Another odd fact about that trip to DC: I took my 16 year-old daughter. My sister-in-law found out about this and e-mailed my wife questioning why we'd allow our baby to go to "that communist freak show." I didn't have the heart to tell her that nearly everyone I met there was further away from a freak show than she is.

But to the main business here: My fellow Americans, let me entreat upon you this...you're aware of, and perhaps have often made the claim yourself that America's the land of the free. To which I ask, how do you know? Let me guess that your first reaction is surprise.

"What do you mean how do I know?? This is America!"

Right you are. But all those things in the constitution about free speech...if you never challenge the prevailing paradigm, you're not being free. If you play along as you always have, and as nearly everyone does, then you're not making your country live up to its claims.

So that's what we did. Just hundreds of yards from the White House, a quarter million of us gathered to tell the President that we in no way, shape or form supported what he was doing in Iraq. I can report that our nation did not fall to its knees. Cats and dogs were not fornicating in the streets. The sun rose in the east, and set in the west after a day of very civil disobedience.

My daughter had a great time, too. Against my better judgment, she got onstage after Cindy Sheehan spoke and greeted her. Ms. Sheehan gave her a long, warm hug, then signed my daughter's Code Pink sweatshirt. I don't know as much about Code Pink as I might, but I love their slogan"

Stop the Next War Now

Such wisdom there! The idea that being anti-war is not an affectation you put on in the lead-up to the war, but a climate for dialogue and action that your create year round, year-in, year-out.

During the visit we also went to the Kennedy Center for a play, did a couple of Smithsonian Museums, some of the monuments, and rode the Metro like pros. It was a fabulous father/daughter time.

I'd like to urge all of you who are seriously thinking about getting old: while that's a viable option, you might consider methods to keep you younger. Heading off to the nation's capitol with your teenager, galavanting around town, and joining a 1/4 million-person anti-war march can take 2 or 3 years off of you.

And more importantly, there's something so patriotic about measuring your country's claims about itself...and finding out that on that day and in that place it measured up. It made the forefathers proud of what they'd created.

But just like the Code Pink ladies who work hard year 'round to keep us from going to war, we Americans need to fight year 'round to be sure the land of the free really is free. Your participation, however can help, would be most appreciated.

May You Live In Interesting Times

2005-09-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

That we do. Like it or not, good or bad we live in interesting times.

A major American City was quite nearly destroyed a couple of weeks ago. That only happens every century or so. But that was overshadowed by an even rarer occurrence: George W. Bush admitted responsibility as President.

Have you seen the video of his...well...apology? You must! Go to that blue link and scroll down 'til you see the President in front of a podium looking uncomfortable.

Before talking specifics, first an aside about apologies. There are many kinds.
1. I only hit you honey, because you made me mad.
2. I know I shouldn't hit you, but you shouldn't make me mad.
3. There's no excuse whatsoever for what I did. I'll seek counseling and pray you'll give me a
second chance.

As you can tell from the above, apologies come in many varieties, and they all contain different levels of guilt acknowledgement. In ascending order, the guilty party above rests no guilt, a little bit of guilt, and total guilt on his shoulders.

The Bush apology resides in the midling ground, in my not-too-humble opinion. Here's the apology transcribed:
"Katrina uh...exposed...(long sigh) serious problems in our response capability in all levels of government. And...to the extent that the Federal Government...uh...didn't fully do its job right...I take responsibility."

The President was about as uncomfortable as I've seen him, especially at the beginning of his so-called apology. He seemed to physically struggle to actually get the words to come out. Just before he says "And...to the extent that the Federal Government..." his hand gesture and dipping of his head are what I take to be distancing gestures. I think the truer nature of his feelings came out briefly there.

Then he switches into 3rd person briefly with "didn't fully do its job right..." which suggests that it's the Federal Government that didn't do its job right, not him. He does end it with "I take responsibility." Time will tell if he does, but judging by his apology, which has all the visual trappings of an 8 year-old boy's insincere apology, I'm not exactly filled with a sense of hope.

Couple of quotes:

"...to the extent that the Federal Government...uh...didn't fully do its job right...I take responsibility."

"The buck stops here."

Which of those two is more direct, more responsible sounding, and more sincere? In reading the two quotes do you believe one and doubt the other?

To close out here, I'll end somewhat ridiculously with a quote I came across in researching the title of this piece "May You Live in Interesting Times." It's an old Chinese quote that has no applicability other than it amuses me. Hope it amuses you, too.

"It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time that be a man in a chaotic period."

The Back of Summer Is Not Quite Broken Yet

2005-09-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

Every year about this time I announce to the family that the back of summer is broken. I don't know how long I've been saying it, but I think it dates back about a decade when we were living without benefit of air conditioning. Our stone house had tile floors, ceiling fans everywhere, rooms with windows that opened on both sides, and westerly shade from a massive live oak.

That being said, 98 degrees and humid is hot regardless. I'd go to bed at that house all through July, August and the first part of September with the big box fan blowing right on me, and not so much as a sheet for cover. I'd wake up with the sheet pulled cocoon-like around me because I'd gotten cool in the wee hours.

But as summer grudgingly gives way to autumn, instead of it being 88 or 90 degrees during the 10 o'clock news, the night cools down to the low 80's or even the 70's. The daytime highs, which hovered all summer near 100, top out in the low 90's, or even less.

I walked out of the house to my truck early last Friday and my digital thermometer explained the slight nip in the air: it was just 66 degrees. I haven't seen those kind of temps since early May. Man, I love that kind of weather.

Here in the hill country of Texas the last round of really bright Crape Myrtle blooms are everywhere. The purple gay feather plumes stick up a couple of feet around fenceposts, or wherever they escape the lawnmower blades.

The harbinger of the greatest weather though is the Maximillian Sunflower. It's not blooming yet because it's still too hot. These guys sprout up about 3 feet tall on roadsides all over the place. They're native, so they take no effort. As a Texan though, I know that when I see them life's no longer a sweatbath. We'll turn off the air conditioner, open up the windows and let the house breathe.

I expect next week will come my announcement to the family that the back of summer has officially broken. 'Til then, there are still a few 95-degree days to suffer through.

Will Katrina Blow George Out of the White House?

2005-09-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

There's a certain glee amongst folks like me. Finally, oh dear God finally GW Bush's teflon coating may be wearing so thin that his actual job performance may finally be sticking to him.
I think it's time to fess up, and I want to be clear about this: I hate George W. Bush.

I don't say those words lightly. It's not hard for me to dislike certain folks, but I hate damned few. I reserve that for the tiny number who not only do not good, but they do damage. Ol' GW qualifies easily.

I'm of the opinion that GW Bush may have greased the skids on the changing of the USA in a way that the country of my youth will never exist again. The balance of power, always in the hands of the movers and shakers, has shifted further away from the powerless. The options for the lower class have diminished measurably, and their remedies are drying up like the phantom water on a desert highway.

Compassionate Conservatism has emerged as a cruel joke. It was the first in a line of Bush misnomers that continued with No Child Left Behind, Clear Skies Initiative, and Healthy Forests Initiative. These phrases are actually 180 degrees away from their actual effect, which is in fact the reason they're called what they're called.

If there's anything Karl Rove knows as well as I know Texas is hot, it's that Americans are busy and have a marginal interest in the minutia of politics. As such, he likes to call a program that will have ill effects on those things that we value something positive. We see phrases like the above and think "Yeah, I don't want any kids left behind. Who's not for clear skies?" And "I love our forests...who wouldn't want them to be healthy?"

Our inattention has been this administration's best friend. Which is the upshot of this post. Politics has become a sport of the few and dedicated. Put simply, they're more dedicated than we are. Because of that they've taken over, they've won the trust of America despite their bizarre objectives.

Those of us on the left need to re-commit our time, our energy our money, to get the word out. Here in Texas where we're far outnumbered by Republicans, we need to speak out. We need to write letters to the editor. We need to be informed.

The good ol' USA can't take another Republican President, at least no one in the mold of GW Bush. And the only way to be sure that doesn't happen is to not let it happen. We've got our walking orders. Now all we need to do is walk.

Bet Your Love Your Kids. Wanna Keep 'Em?

2005-09-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

When George Bush got the No Child Left Behind Act passed, he wasn't kidding (for reasons I'll reveal shortly).

All this time I've been critical of the title because I've heard that there are too many unfunded mandates that the local schools have to figure out how to fund. In the course of doing that, other programs get cut to the point that...well...how do I put this? Some kids get left behind.

There was a little-known proviso buried deep in that No Child Left Behind Act that was so cunning that I'm going to have to think twice when I get the notion to call Republicans idiots. They're oh-so-smarter than I thought! Let me step you through this little item:

If you were a president and you had an agenda that almost certainly would include one or more wars in foreign lands, what's one of the first things you know? You know you're gonna need soldiers. Lots of 'em. How do you get lots of soldiers? The draft! No...can't do that. The draft is really unpopular.

Mmm...how can they get a steady supply of soldiers? Appeal to lots-n-lots-n-lots of our must manipulable populace...teens. God, what a great idea! Get 'em fresh off the tree before they ripen and fall into...say, college. But how to get inside their noggins before they can really get their life plans in place?

I've got it! Write into the No Child Left Behind Act a stipulation that requires high schools to provide recruiters with names, social security numbers, addresses and phone numbers of kids starting at age 16. That way they can send them recruitment literature with their names on it, not the parents' names. They can call them on the phone and start painting the pictures in those young kids' minds as to what their lives in the military might be like.

Okay, change of gears: This is where I break out of the wise-cracking blogger mode and into the outraged parent mode. My 16 year-old daughter has probably gotten a dozen or more pieces of propaganda from 2 or 3 different branches of the military. My child's name has been shared with military recruiters whose only objective is to meet their monthly quota of recruits.

You might by now be thinking, well...the school doesn't have to comply with that...surely it's optional? You'd be wrong if you thought that. Not optional. In fact, federal funding to the school can be pulled if they don't comply. Kinda takes the school out of the education bidness and into the soldier pimping bidness, doesn't it? I'll apologize if that strikes you as crude. But that's a pretty accurate statement!

Them's some pretty smart, pretty devious, pretty dastardly Republicans what wrote that 670-page bill, doncha think? But if it seems like you've been painted into a corner without your even knowing it, I have a solution. Schools by law have to co-operate, but parents don't! You can get your kids taken off the student list that the school has to provide.

Just go here to a place called Leave My Child Alone and you can find out how you can borrow advice from Nancy Reagan: Just Say No! While you're there, take a few minutes and watch the video by Cindy Sheehan's photograph on the right side of the screen. If you're a grandparent and you don't like the military beckoning 16 year-olds to consider enlistment, please share this info with your kids.

I like to say that I think there's a perfectly justifiable reason for our having a military, and that a career in the military is exactly what some people need. Nothing wrong with that. But President Bush (who rushed into a terrible and unnecessary war) has proven that war is not the last option for him. And despite his pretty words, he doesn't care about the kids who are being snookered into the military on false promises.

As for me, I had my daughter sit and watch the video referred to above. I asked her if she understood everything in it, and she said yes. I asked her if she minded if I "opted her out" of the program through her school. She wanted out. So tomorrow I'm going to act on this information. My child is one that they're definitely going to leave behind. And I'm damned well happy of that.

Let's Cut It To the Quick

2005-09-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of speculation over who's at fault for what will surely amount to thousands of people dead in New Orleans. Blame #1 goes to Katrina, no doubt about that. It's whether there's more blame to spread around that is the remaining question.

But near as we can now tell, not that many people died in the initial storm. The greatest loss of life will by far be the result of New Orleaneans not getting out of the city. Whether they'll die through disease, dehydration or other maladies, most will die because they hadn't the means, the strength, the wherewithal, or the luck to have been saved.

"They were warned!" you might say, and you'd be right. But I must say, if I were a poor, car-less and lifelong citizen of the big easy, the idea of leaving my home would be anything but easy. This is all just talk though. Let's get to the meat.

Much has been made over whether or not Governor Blanco asked Bush for emergency assistance. Reports conflict as to whether or not she did. We'll arrive at the truth eventually, but for now, that's academic.

Let's play a game here. Let's play like the governor didn't ask. The levee broke. The waters rushed in to New Orleans. Camera-laden helicopters filled the skies over the city and we saw hundreds of shots of people asking for help and being rescued. The 24-hour cable channels--and almost everyone else--were all over it. It was riveting can't turn away from it television.

Now I want you to consider the president, finally having returned to Washington DC from his 5-week vacation that he cut 2 days short when the publicity over his inaction became too difficult to defray. Are we asked to believe by Bush supporters that our compassionately conservative president watched Fox News transfixed by the same footage we all saw...saw the death and destruction, saw the hell of the Superdome, saw the even worse conditions at the Convention Center, saw all the abject need for food, for water, for leadership...and dismissed presidential responsibility because he hadn't gotten a call from the Governor?

Does he think he couldn't pick up the phone himself? Is this a strong leader? Is this the moral character of a Christian man? Would this guy have let the Tommy Hilfiger-wearing wealthy sit on Beverly Hills rooftops for five days if the catastrophe had happened there instead?

Bush just appointed himself lead investigator for the commission that will investigate what went wrong.

Sometimes when I think things couldn't get any more bizarre...they do.

An Odder Than Normal Weak

2005-09-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

I work in television and have spent a good deal of time in satellite feed rooms and edit suites having editors build pieces of video to try and capture the length and breadth of the Katrina Hurricane disaster, to help viewers process what's gone on. I've come home emotionally exhausted every day, and that's followed immediately by embarrassment. I'm embarrassed that looking at other peoples' suffering makes me feel as though I'm suffering.

Hell, I'm in an air conditioned building. I know where all my relatives are. I'm sitting in my at least middle class home. And I drive a truck whose gas I can increasingly not afford.

I don't even know misery.

The fingers have begun to be pointed. While I'm indelibly on the left end of things, I'm a pragmatist and a reality buff. As far as I'm concerned whoever's to blame for the way things shook out, they oughtta pay, regardless of party affiliation.

I had an altercation with a guy who's just to the right of Ann Coulter. We were watching a piece of video within which a woman says "There's a woman over there in contractions, and nobody's doin' nothin'!"

He snickered and asked "What does she want 'em to do?"
"Oh I don't know...maybe give her some medical attention!" I exclaimed. That precipitated an argument wherein I was dismissed with "They're doing everything they can!"

But you shouldda seen the look on his face when I said "How do you know?"

Clearly it had never occurred to question words that fell out of Bush's mouth.

The biggest offender by far though is Katrina, or if you prefer, God. Given that, I think we should start with the 2nd most offensive offender, the President. This guy is no good in a disaster. Sure, his spontaneous John Wayne dance played quite well standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center. That was a combination of serendipity, luck, a well-groomed Texas accent, and America's thirst for a monosyllabic answer to very difficult questions.

This Katrina disaster actually requires true leadership. This guy was born with a silver spoon up his ass and knows little of actual leaderhip. Imagine if you will: Katrina hit New Orleans in 1943. Can you imagine FDR doing very little for the first four days? That guy did more in his wheelchair before breakfast than Bush does on his treadmill all week.

Ah, but I shouldn't rant and rave. I'll leave you with the "please do what you can" advice. Red Cross is considered by most to be one of the best.

They Tell Me Hell's Hotter Than Waco

2005-08-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

...but I have my doubts.

Five of us piled into my truck at 7:45 on Saturday and headed to Camp Casey. It was a great trip up, filled with deep discussion and music from Eliza Gilkyson.

We got to the Camp Casey area a little after 11 and the vibe was completely different from last time. The 5-7 pro-Bush protesters across the road had swollen to about 80. The 125 or so anti-Bush diehards at Casey 1 were less contemplative than before, and more rowdy. Someone had a guitar and would play a riff and come up with a few lines that the anti-war crowd would parrot. The people across the road would then yell something back at them, throw out some insults and catcalls, and the anti-war crowd would respond.

It looked to me to be only a matter of time 'til there was trouble, so after about an hour or so, we left. As we left a guy was walking past me on the other side of the road with a sign: "Repent you treasonous bastards." I saw red.

"Hey! I'm not a bastard."
"Yeah you are."
I looked at him a minute. He was dressed in the standard redneck uniform; jeans and a cowboy hat. So I had a very minor epiphany.

"Did your mama raise you to hold a sign with a cussword on it?"

He looked uncomfortable and moved on. If logic doesn't work, what the hell--give shame a try. I don't think I kept him from holding the sign up, but I know I made him think. Might've been the first time that week for him...

We went over the Camp Casey II about 3 miles away. The vibe was far different...kind of like a pep rally at Woodstock, if that makes sense. I read that the whipped-meringue-with-peaks-looking tent held 2000 people, and it was full to overflowing. All age groups were there, and all were VERY hot.

Iraq war veterans were speaking passionately against the war when we walked up. Shortly afterward, Cindy Sheehan took the stage. She's the face of the anti-war movement, and the crowd loved her. I was surprised and delighted to see Joan Baez had stuck around. She still looks luminous and...well, almost sexy at 60-whatever she is. She sang Joe Hill and the Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and then sat on the stage leaning against Cindy, holding her hand. It was very sweet.

My wife recognized Laura Flanders, the Air America radio host, so we said hi to her and talked to her for several minutes. We even snapped a couple of pictures with her. She's as pleasant and smart in person as she is on the air.

We had wanted to go to the Crawford Peace House, so we headed to town. There was lots of Pro-Bush action on the very busy Crawford streets, but nothing organized. We found a parking space and were walking to the Peace House when I noticed a life-sized photo of George W. Bush with a sign below it saying "Political Quackmire." I asked the people if they minded if we took a picture and they said that was fine. We posed next to him, me with my thumb down. Suddenly the guy jumps in front of us waving his arms and yelling and basically going nuts. Turns out he's a GW Bush fan. He grabbed my daughter's hand and kinda pushed her away and I was like "Hey buddy, that's not necessary..." He said something like "typical liberals!" My wife had to urge me to move on. It wouldn't do to have a fight next to the Peace House after all...

The question I haven't figured out is why a fan of Bush would have that "political quackmire" sign below him. I'll bet I wasn't the only one to mistake his allegiance.

The Crawford Peace House is an old wooden place with a nice grounds and a neat little stone labryinth that is supposed to help you meditate on peace. The place was rockin' on Saturday, so not a lot of peace to be had. Some rectal orifices from the University of Texas were standing across the road taunting peace folks, to little avail.

Laura Flanders had arrived at the place and was, with help, setting up an audio edit station on the floor to try and get her show together. She was quite disappointed when we told her we weren't going to stick around for her show, but were heading back home. We promised to call in.

We left Crawford knowing that that poor little town will be so happy when el Presidente's vacation is over and they can return to some kind of normal.

I did indeed call in to Laura Flanders' show and we talked for several minutes about our experiences out at Camp Casey. That's twice in two weeks that I've been on national radio...I think I should ask someone for my own show!

A word in closing, and something that was harder to grasp during this visit than our first: this is all about the war, and the soldiers dying. I think the anti-war movement is very important right now. The president, and the right wing need to know they have significant opposition. If they don't, they'll continue to make horrible decisions that we all will pay for. They need to understand the concept of accountability. The best way we can make all that happen is to write our representatives. To speak out. To give money. To sign petitions. To get involved. I wouldn't ever ask you to do something you can't, but please: do what you can. Thanks!

Heading Back To Crawford

2005-08-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

We'll be on the road by 7:30 heading for the sweatbath at Crawford.

Cindy Sheehan was on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight. Bill tried to throw her a couple of hardballs, but she did really well anyway. For this nobody of a housewife, she's damned smart, and suprisingly quick on the uptake. When he was done with her he told her "a straight up thanks for what you're doing." Looks like Bill's a fan, too.

I don't want to suggest I'm fawning over Cindy Sheehan. I am quite grateful that someone emerged to be the face of the anti-war movement. She didn't emerge as a carefully chosen spokesmodel. She wasn't the choice of a PR firm somewhere. She was just a mother outraged at why her son had to die.

So This time five of us go: my wife and daughter and myself, plus my daughter's gymnastics team partner and her mother. They've been kinda cheering us on from the sidelines, and just decided to jump in. I'm real happy about that.

It'll be a looooong day. About 3 & 1/2 hours up and 3 & 1/2 hours back, plus hours and hours in the heat. It could be contentious. The YOU DON'T SPEAK FOR US CINDY caravan is supposed to get there tomorrow as well. Wish us luck.

Hope

2005-08-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

I've been busier than I like to be of late, and I don't see any signs of that lifting. I noticed that it's been a week since I posted, which is way too long. Apologies to those who come here often hoping to read a little something that gives you grist for your thought mill. Let's see what I can do as I get ready for work.

There have been a few daunting things that have bothered me personally recently. I of course, wish Cindy Sheehan's mom wouldn't have been taken ill and hope for her speedy recovery. I'd love to have seen Cindy been able to stay on in Crawford and keep up the good fight. She's done what she's got to do, and there are increasing numbers of veterans and their families who have arrived at Camp Casey, so at least the work continues.

What I don't like is some of the rhetoric that's flying around. I watched an interview with Mark Williams--yet another far right wingnut radio host. He's just returned from Iraq and he's full of himself, full of bluster (and full of something smelling quite unlike bluster). He's going to take a convoy of buses to Crawford in his YOU DON'T SPEAK FOR ME CINDY tour.

I don't like this stuff. It moves beyond the protest standpoint to the let's cause a confrontation standpoint, or the let's inspire the idiot weirdos standpoint. As we found out with Larry Northern when he ran over hundreds of crosses and American flags at Camp Casey, the uber-patriotic can be inspired to idiocy in their fervor. And when I listened to the Mark Williams interview on MSNBC, it was full of that blinded-by-their-own-rhetoric bluster that is about as ugly as it is energetic.

Extreme vanity + extreme energy=trouble.

As I was walking in downtown San Antonio the other day, I came across one of those hip-high bushes full of the canary yellow flowers. They're called Esperanza, which is the Spanish word for hope. I don't know the history of why the bush was named esperanza, but I speculate this: in the absolute heat of summer, when just getting through the day is a major effort in South Texas, there is a bush that inspires such hope...such a sense that we'll all persevere and overcome that which is now so difficult.

So I offer that to you in a time where the words are flying too fast, with too much passion and too little sense...that we'll get through this, the temperatures will fall and the seasons will bring soothing change. Esperanza. Hope.