i thought i was tripping

oh wisdom

For some reason I have decided to try to rectify a situation tomorrow... I'm seeking wisdom from all angles- Dharma, Tao, Medical Marij...no- forget the last one... Wish me luck

UPDATE:

It worked- better than I could have imagined. A little Taoism applied to conflict resolution has left me feeling downright positive and optimisitc about life, the universe, and everything...

John Brown!

The lovely Cassandra sent me a link to screwthegovernment.com , as well as a quote from one of my heroes, John Brown. (Hero? Wasn't he a terrorist? Um, ask an American slave circa 1859...)

John Brown, to the court, at his trial:

I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted: of a design on my part to free slaves . . . Had I interfered in the matter which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved . . . had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, or the so-called great . . . and suffered and sacrificed, what I have in this interference, it would have been all right. Every man in this Court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

I see a book kissed which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament, which teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do unto me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say that I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, I have done no wrong, but right. Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done.

June in Iraq

A blood stained bullet cartridge is fed into a heavy caliber machine gun a top an armoured vehicle after a US convoy was hit by a road side bomb while on patrol in southern Baghdad 11 June 2005. (Yuri CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)


Link: CrisisPictures

Not Afraid...

See http://www.werenotafraid.com/ and the CNN.com article about it.

London...

Ken Livingston's (London Mayor) statement in response to the attacks:


. . . I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.


That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. I said yesterday to the International Olympic Committee, that the city of London is the greatest in the world, because everybody lives side by side in harmony.

Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved and that is why I'm proud to be the mayor of that city.

Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.

I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others - that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.

In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.

They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don't want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.

(found at MyDD)

Frogmarch that TRAITOR...

"At the end of the day, it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words." -- Joseph Wilson, August 21, 2003

(Fantasy image of justice from Needlnose, DailyKos entry about it here)

An actual indictment for Turd Blossom? Maybe...O'Donnell points out why here.


And in case we forget what's at stake here, what the CRIME involved is and just how disgusting it is, let's remember what Poppy Bush had to say about it:

RAW STORY: Flashback: First President Bush called those who outed CIA agents 'the most insidious of traitors'

Lookout Ballerinas! Angry Conservatives want to push you off your bicycles!

God bless conservative hero Ted E. Schelenski of the Heritage Foundation.

He saw a ballerina on her bicycle, blocked her path with his car, got out, and pushed her to the ground!

What a MAN!

Obviously being a young ballerina on a bicycle she was A) planning a lifelong career sucking off the national teat in the subsidized "arts" in addition to B) ignoring the national call to burn fossil fuels in order to make the Iraq war "worth it."

Read all about this heroic Conservatives bold actions on the front lines of the Culture War, here.

It began as a shouting match on a busy Capitol Hill
street corner during the frenetic morning commute, a bike-vs.-car incident not uncommon in a big city.

But then the silver-haired, retired Navy lieutenant
got out of his car, approached the red-headed ballet dancer riding a bike and allegedly shoved her to the ground, authorities said. He got back into his car and, as bystanders followed him, drove down the block to his nearby office, the bicyclist said.

The man was identified as Ted E. Schelenski, 64, vice
president for finance and operations at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that promotes conservative policies. He pleaded not guilty this week to a charge
of simple assault.

(Go Navy)

R.I.P. Luther

I like to think I've got varied musical taste, although as I've aged I've started to realize that those people who thought the music I liked as a teenager was deriviative and a little crappy might have been right, because the stuff the kids listen to today (Emo?) is pretty derivative and crappy.

There was a time during my journey as a music lover when I couldn't get enough of Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much". I took pride in memorizing all the lyrics and singing it to myself. I just got hooked on that song, and can still entertain myself imitating his sweet, sweet voice.

It's bad enough Sandra pulled the SCOTUS trigger today for the Further Rise of The Right Wing Nuttery formerly known as the United States...

But for now I'm just going to be sad because Luther Vandross died today.



"I can't fool myself I don't want nobody else to ever love me
You are my shining star my guiding light my love fantasy
There's not a minute hour day or night that I don't love you
You're at the top of my list cuz I'm always thinking of you

Oh my love... a thousand kisses from you is never too much
A million days in your arms is never too much
And I just don't want to stop
Never too much
Never too much
Never too much
Never too much"

Personal to Cmdr. Vinvok

Apparently there's some kind of blogging etiquette about keeping your blog secret, not telling your friends and family about it...

Man, I have had enough of your rules, man. Man.

This is a post for the Commander, whom I will call and say "Commander, check out my blog today, because there is a tidbit for YOU there" and I will know if he really checked it out, because I am telling him NOW to leave a comment to prove his love- er, uh... to prove he was truly here.

Commander, here is the McSweeney's article I told you about:

On The Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor

ole!

edged of allegianced

Completely unrelated blog here.

He's the Monkey King, and he links to this video, Apache, which will change the tenor of your day, if not your week.

Unless you are a hopeless tight-ass that isn't fun ever.

Blogger Images are here...

Hopefully Blogger Images will make adding stolen pictures even easier! I used it to snag this test from Art Bell... (I still call Coast To Coast AM "Art Bell" because George Noory is a right-wing tool. And by tool I don't mean he's a means to an end or a cog in the right-wing dumb machine- I mean he's a penis. A wang. A dick.)

Open lines ! West of the Rockies! You're on the air! Turn your radio down!

BURN YOUR FLAG!

In celebration of my American Freedom that so many are fighting to protect (well, that's their noble intention, so I appreciate their sacrifice more than I can say) I think I'll burn an American Flag!

Seriously- is the Senate going to let this happen? Of course they are! It's been the Right Wing Nutjob Dream for so long!

17110
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

My God- what are we becoming? A nation of childish jingoists... blind... incapable of understanding the ramifications of our actions...

The Republican States of America.

flagwhore
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Face flushed from another day with a toxic coworker, I can only muster enough energy to link to this site that handles the whole flag burning "issue" quite well, with information about the official flag rules and ettiquette and all that...like this:

"The only "respectable" way to dispose of a worn or soiled flag is to give it a ceremonial and dignified retirement, preferably by burning it. Ironically, the American Legion and Boy Scouts burn thousands of flags every year in respectful retirement ceremonies. The only difference between their actions, and the actions of a long-haired hippie protestor are the thoughts in the minds of the two. Do you want to live in a country that arrests people for "anti-American thoughts?" I sure don't. "

You know it still really bothers me when someone hangs an American Flag short-side up, but the wrong way- with the field of blue on the right instead of where it belongs, on the left. And I believe that flag burning is a protected right of free speech and should remain so! But if you hang it wrong, or make it into a necktie, or a pair of hot pants, then I am a bit offended!

untitledwore
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

By the way, when was the last time you saw an American flag being burned? Not on TV- with your own two eyes... in the streets...honestly?

My guess is the answer is never.

Must we monkey with the Constitution to appeal to our childish natures? Our Big Daddy/Big Brother/Big Government lazy selves?

imagesflagpants
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Of course, Cassandra says we could always pass a law that says that American flags must be made of non-flammable material, but that's too clever...and it involves science... and Baby Jesus(tm) doesn't like science...

Hey- don't burn that flag! My All-American Baby hasn't taken a shit in it yet!

Little Monster Hand Girl

hand
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

this monster hand of mine stinks.

even nail polish doesn't help

Sexy?

DSC02398
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Crazy Girls, La Brea Ave., Hollywood, CA

Must... not...show...common sense...keep ... war... going...

Lt. Gen. Conway

"If you look at it from the insurgents' perspective, they know our history, just as we study them," General Conway said. "And they see where we have withdrawn previously, in Vietnam, in Beirut, in Somalia, and nothing would make them happier, I suppose, than to think that there is a deadline out there."

I posted this because I saw a clip of this press briefing on the Newshour on PBS, and it gave a me a chill... to hear Lieutenant General Conway bring up what some consider "failures" of American military resolve reminded me that there are those, not on the front lines of the "terror war", that will never give an inch- they are Nixonians and Kissingerites that were Young Republicans and are still convinced that we should have dropped the Big One on the North Vietnamese... they're still stinging at Nixon's downfall (hence the revisionist history surrounding the recent outing of Deep Throat).

Mr. Di Rita said he believes, in the long-term, the American public will look back on the U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as missions that were worth the loss of American lives.

Man, I hope so.

www.optruth.org

Lookout, Quincy!

I want to make a cynical prediction:

Some right-wing Jesus freak fascist is going to go after Dr. Jon Thogmartin, the Florida medical examiner that confirmed that Terri Shiavo was never going to get better.

I did a google search on Thogmartin and found that he was the M.E. that performed the autopsy on the son of a noted Scient*logist- the son who drowned trying to cleanse himself of cocaine addiction by swimming in the ocean(?) If you read the report, you see that Dad is a proponent of the Scient*ology's Narconon- the bogus mumbo-jumbo drug "treatment" program that the Thetans use... interestingly, the decedent had not spoken to his Scient*ologist parents for some time, and both parents last meetings with their boy ended in arguments. tragic, of course, but compounded by their adherence to L. Ron Blubbard's BULLSHIT.

(Why the "*"? Because those space people, like Republicans, make powerful, chidish, and vindictive enemies. Look out, Quincy! )

Update:
Sherri ought to have something nasty soon: here

Who's been a lazy blogger?

I have.

I'm sure I've disappointed my fan.

I'm so lazy I just grabbed photos from tony pierce's busblog for this entry- pretty sure I saw tony at the West Hollywood Gateway shopping center last week- didn't say anything- the playwright I was having coffee with wouldn't know who he was, nor would he want to talk about anyone else but himself, so...

that's right- i was having coffee with a playwright... cuz I'm literate n' shit...

seen a lot of celebrities lately- Martin Landau, Paul Stanley, Spike Jonze... all in or around my office...that's life in tinseltown fer ya...

When the Revolution comes, these motherfuckers are going to wish their goddamned Hummer was uparmored:

This next one tony must have got from the Freewayblogger, one of my personal heroes, who I also met once here in Hollywood, but I will never give away his secret identity, you Homeland Security lurking Stormtroopers- the joke's on you - I FORGOT his secret identity, due to overuse of my "prescription", no doubt. By the way- I hope Justice Rehnquist isn't in too much pain from his chemo... a nice long toke might help with the nausea, but he can ease the slow trickling pain and the creeping knowledge that his throat is being eaten away by malignancy by downing a full bottle of DUMB SHORTSIGHTED RIGHTEOUS STUPIDITY. He may be in agony, but he stuck it to the hippies!

the downing street memo(s?)... this one won't stick either because the right-wing nuts of today LIKE the idea of the Preppy Cowboy kicking ass, breakin' rules, doin' it his way.

Of course, those people need to sign up for duty in Iraq like, yesterday...

thass right... we sexy

Well, I haven't been TOO lazy- the wife and I shot a short film at a stolen location using "borrowed" equipment... not too bad... only mentioned divorcing each other a few times during production. But she's burning up the Final Cut Pro like a mofo. If I hadn't violated two corporations' copywritten materials without seeking their permission you might be able to see it someday! But I did, so you probably won't.

I am a lazy filmgoer, too. I just watched the DVD of Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. The filmmaker is my age! I like that- we late bloomers have to support each other! Cuz the younger pod people are going to ruin this country...

The film was silly and fun and full of references- Star Wars, King Kong... the only special effect that didn't work was Miss Angelina's English accent... ooh, I'm catty...

Piss-and-Vinegar-Color

Piss-and-Vinegar-Color
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

By Ratna Pappert! She's awesome!

Revenge of the Sith

"Dodging the Apocalypse"? Now that's a blog I haven't blogged to in a long, long time... since , oh, before you were born...

I've been working my ass off, it seems, and playing host, again. But this time it was a visit from my childhood best friend who brought his wife to Hollywood to see Revenge of the Sith with me.

We saw it twice... best of the prequels? Of course... better than Return of the Jedi? For me, yes...

Still have to park my ass and see all six in order (including the Clone Wars- one of the best Star Wars movies!)

Putting it all in perspective, here's a report from a US soldier who got to see it on opening day... in Iraq...

More later...

Jesus Christ does not like Rev. Chan Chandler

This fascist preacher, "Rev." Chan Chandler is excommunicating people from his church for being Democrats.

Read about it here.

He's excommunicating people for not supporting Bush, but says his actions are not politically motivated.

Look- another dumb right winger!

I bet Jesus Christ, Lord, Saviour, Liberal, Hippie, would like to sock this hick in the nose.

People should call this guy and get him straight with God. 1-828-456-6841 .

UPDATE: Amuse Yourself has more ways to reach out to Chan Chandler and share the glory of Christ's message of peace and love, and a handy reminder that his actions very well may get him and his church in trouble with the IRS.

I'd never seen this painting before today. Gassed by John Singer Sargent.

RP at work knew immediately this poem that is associated with it:

Dulce et Decorum est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And floundering like a man in fire or lime.

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in.

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. *

-- Wilfred Owen (1917)

* DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country

(From this site's annoted version of the poem- http://www.warpoetry.co.uk)

beach

beach
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Arlington West May 1st 2005

Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Stopped by Arlington West today, by the Santa Monica Pier. There is a touring version out there right now- you can read their road diary here.

Filled out a form for Sgt. Tyler Prewitt. He was 22 years old when he died.

Army Sgt. Tyler D. Prewitt, 22, of Phoenix, Arizona
Prewitt died September 28, 2004 in Landstuhl, Germany, from injuries sustained in Baqubah, Iraq, on September 24, 2004 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle and exploded.
He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Vilseck, Germany.

We need to wrap this war up, and soon.

at work on monday

at work on monday
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

on Monday I drove through Hollywood with this monument to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in the back of my truck...

falling man

falling man
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

save the filibuster

save the filibuster
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

moveon.org protest

moveon.org protest
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

don't let bush go nuculear

don't let bush go nuculear
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

the wheels, the cart...

It's kind of fun to watch the doin's in the Senate these days.

I spent last Friday night here in my Hollywood apartment watching the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on John Bolton. I don't know how long CSPAN keeps this stuff available, but try here. It's kind of fun to watch. Liberal Oasis has minute by minute notes here.



got a tenacious d song stuck in my head earlier in the week.. the part of City Hall that goes

...people inside me, are asking me to smoke up City Hall
cuz no one here is talking...
...people inside me, you're asking me to blow up City Hall, cuz no one here is rocking...
...people inside me, arere asking me to blow up City Hall
... cuz everyone is Rock-em-Sock-em Robots...
...everyone is Rock-em-Sock-em Robots...
...everyone is Rock-em-Sock-em Robots...

no great meaning to this... it's just a pleasant hook... makes you sing about blowing up City Hall over and over again...

city hall
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

Hitler made the cover too...

From Mark Twang via Wonkette

You all deserve each other, crybaby fascists...

those republicans were mean to me

This is a fun one. From Cnn.com today, this Republican, Jerry Gossett of Wichita Falls, Texas, came up with a logo for Chimpy and then the RNC stole it...

So he's suing.

" Gossett says he is a loyal Republican and voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, but has become jaded by his experience.

'The big RNC against little me, there was absolutely no chance to win,' he said."

Can somebody say frivilous lawsuit? Does he need a trial lawyer? Or a judge?

Hey look, crybaby- you and your kind made this shit sandwich- now you are going to take a bite and you are going to enjoy it, is that clear?

saturday... pork chops... battlestar galactica

Ok, look, I'm going to be honest here...

I'm not going to try to fool you into thinking I'm cool or anything...

My wife and I just got a tape of almost all of the episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica today, and we are excited about it...

becuase it is one of the best shows on televison right now.

I just made some pork chops, and we are going to see a play in a about 10 minutes (if she gets off the g-d phone) and there is a new SNL tonight, but after that, we will continue our BG weekend marathon.

that's the truth.

POPE STILL DEAD

here comes santa claus, here comes santa claus...

Yep... he's still as dead as Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

i was feeling sort of glum about popey, but then in all his obits they went on about how he would criticize liberation theology.

Damn, dog, liberation theology restored my faith in the Catholic Church.

And he wouldn't tell people to use rubbers. It's AIDS, man. Hand out the rubbers! I mean, wtfwjd?

I remember when he came to Philly when he was a fresh, new popey. I tell ya, he was bigger than Rocky. Rocky. In Philadelphia.

You know what would be cool? If at the funeral, popey sat up, looked at W., and said:

"I've been talking to Jesus. YOU are in BIG trouble, kid."

that would rock.


Tuesday- man, it's been a great month- we went to NY, my brother and his family came to LA and we did all kinds of great stuff, then UNCLE STAN showed up to camp in our living room for a few days.

I'm beat. Happy, but beat. And I gained @ 12 pounds.

The American version of The Office is on tonight. I've been watching it- check out the review at our sister blog, Patriot Actors. The NBC version doesn't suck as much as I thought it would.

UPDATE: I come home after a grueling 4 block commute and Cassandra tells me that popey isnt' embalmed. Jon and Ken said it, so it must be histrionic...

yes, virginia, there is a california

If this is what you think of when you think of Southern California, then all I can say is it DOES exist- for a fee. Took this at Disney's California Adventure.

I thought I would not like Disney's California Adventure. I thought it would be a crass sanitization of The Golden State. And it is. But it is, in its' corporate way, a celebration. If it inspires some of these tourists to head up to Monterey and Big Sur and San Francisco, then so be it.

There should be a little Haight Street, though. If they can pump in the smell of animal crackers on that bug ride (see here), then they can pump in the odor of two camped out Deadheads sleeping on your doorstep.

they just didn't know where to go when jerry died...

look ma, ponies!

hollywood hills

got guests in LA? do THIS- the Sunset Ranch Friday Night Ride.

they will thank you for it. your ass will hurt. i promise.

oooo... candy corn! jah!

candy corn!


i love this bug. no, i don't remember his name. he's in one of those bug movies. he's got a german accent.

they gave him his own ride, where you climb... into him, i guess... and he takes you around the yard and tells you all the things he's gonna eat, he wants to eat, or that he already ate.

he doesn't care if he's fat. he's gonna eat.

i like that. go little bug. have more candy corn. it's all yours. really.

no, i don't want it - let me get you a bag- you can take it with you... please...