Saturday, October 30, 2004

Today I Am A Blogger

As I don't have a computer at home, most of my blogging is done at work. But this weekend we're visiting the Feared Redhead's sister and her husband, and I'm blogging from their house. So I finally get to do something I've been wanting to do since the CBS/Memogate days. I'm blogging in my pajamas.

I feel like I should be Bar Mitzvah'ed or something.

Shut Up and Act, Reprise

More fodder supporting my opinion that those whose careers are to recite the wrtten thoughts of others, but with feeling, should not be our primary sources of advice on matters requiring independent thought:

First, Woody Harrelson was here in Eugene to promote his new film "Go Further", a paean to Ken Kesey (a local native and neo-hippie saint) and his Merry Pranksters. Let's not get me started on the fact that Eugene has seen fit to erect a statue of Kesey downtown, depicting him reading a book to two young children. Too late, I'm started. What the hell is the book in Kesey's hand supposed to be -- The Electric Acid Kool-aid Test??????

*Deep Breath*

Anyway, of course the local TV station intervewed Woody. I really can't recall much of the specifics of what he said, it was pretty much standard fare for your more ecologically radical leftist personae. Nothing new, and nothing very well aerticulated. What struck myself and the Feared Redhead was just how appropriate it was that the news mentioned that Harrelson is a big proponent of the use of hemp, since it seemed apparent from his slurred speech and disjointed sentence structure that he's definitely practicing what he preaches.

Kesey would be proud.

Secondly, thanks for the memory to Debbie Schlussel via John Kerry for President? You Must Be Joking:

Apparently, in a recent interview with a French publication (go figure), Nobel Laureate Patrick Swayze was using his clout as an expert on Middle East affairs to criticize President Bush's handling of Iraq. Swayze's credentials?

“I know a great deal about the Middle East because I’ve been raising Arabian horses,” he said.

No, I'm not kidding. I wish I was.

Schlussel really delivers some zingers:

"Does consuming wontons at a Chinese restaurant make you an expert on Sino-American relations?

Patrick Swayze thinks so."

"Swayze’s just like every other annoying, liberal Hollywood airhead who thinks they understand the Middle East because, like Swayze, they raise Arabian horses, ate falafel once, or bought a Moroccan necklace at Kitson. They “understand” and sympathize with those who hate us because, after all, they once used an Arabic waterpipe instead of a bong to get high.

Swayze, a pan-Arabist, encompasses the “I’m not a doctor but I play one on TV” ethos."


Usually I get annoyed when celebrities pull this. But given what a has-been Swayze is, I'm more inclined to just find the thing sadly amusing.

Hope for the Future

Thanks for the Memory to Blogs for Bush:

The above link to B4B is to an essay in their "Thank you President Bush" thread written by Ian Schwartz. It's a very well-written and heartwarming essay.

What's most heartening is the first line of the essay:

I am a 16 year old attending a Catholic High School in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sixteen freaking years old and he's already showing more political astuteness and more eloquence than many people twice his age.

Oh, and he has his own blog.

If this is the caliber of young person coming through the pipes right now, I am suddenly a little less nervous about the odds of my retirement years being spent in a free country.

Just in Time for Halloween:

Skeletons in Lurch's Closet
Update:
Thanks for the Memory to the Jawa Report:

The Swifties are releasing their info tomorrow:

STOP THE MADNESS- LEARN THE TRUTH

MARCH ON WASHINGTON
TO STOP JOHN KERRY

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2004
1 PM * Naval Archives
2 PM STEPS OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL

Join the thousands of veterans, active duty
and every day warriors in a

MARCH FOR TRUTH

(Original Post, 1:46 PM PDT, October 29, 2004):

Thanks for the Memory to Blogfather Rusty at the Jawa Report. He's following rumors that the Swift Boat Vets are about to release a final "October Surprise", and promises an update as the news breaks.

In the meantime he links to a Bullpen interview with Swiftie supporter Troy Jenkins regarding coordination between the VC and anti-Vietnam Protest Literature, particularly that associated with VVAW (guess who?). Very interesting stuff.

I really have tried to avoid saying much about Kerry's service record, since I'm not a vet. But this also has to do with activities after his enlistment, and with his overall fitness to command the defense of a nation he may have betrayed. Even without the myriad of issues on which I disagree with the senator. this is enough in my eyes to disqualify him as POTUS.

Stampede!

Today was a typical blustery, windy, often rainy Oregon day. Very typical for this time of year here. But something caught my eye at one point as it was windy but not rainy.

the street in front of our house runs in the same direction as the wind happened to be blowing at that moment. As the empty street suddenly filled with a wave of fall leaves, all rolling and tumbling and jostling each other down the street, and then gone, it reminded me of an old western movie where the cattle drive comes to town. Yup, pardner, it wasright out of "The Cowboys", and I expected to see John Wayne's ghost following the leaves down the street on a horse, whistling and yelling "Heeyah!" as he rode. Maybe, just maybe, I did.