Football Season Begins

At last our long national nightmare (the World Series) is over. Sure it was ugly, but there are a lot of sucky months between now and fresh baseballs being fired in anger so yes I watched the World Series. I’ve been interested in football this year but mostly because the Bears have been so much damned fun to watch. It will take the semi-regular reader little time to see that I know even less about football than I do about baseball.

That’s saying something…something bad.

Feel free to go visit the PDawg, ChrisB, my cousin olekobe, bigSoda and Thujone because they have a few more thoughtful thoughts (and more passion) for the NFL in general than I do. I used to be a big football guy, but mostly it was a way to kill time whilst hung over. Now that I’m at a fairly sober point in my life my opinion of the NFL in general is meh, pretty mediocre. I love the Bears because I have always loved the Bears and it’s fun to watch them win – but I think I’m on the record here and in my old journal (ed nausea) about by love for the Sox of White. No man can have two favorite teams (I think) – well I can’t anyway.

So the Bears are beloved even if they are a close second.

I just watched the Urlacher pick again and I think I’d be amazed no matter which team was my favorite, or second favorite as the case may be. I know the sports don’t translate that well, but after the way BU took over the last 11 minutes of the Monday night game vs the Cardz and plays like today – he is the closest thing you can have to a Michael Jordan in the modern NFL. I know football is more of a team and scheme game and the NBA offers individuals the opportunity to let their talents shine...but shit this guy can take a series or a game over and WILL it to go his way. If the Bears can win a title I would but BU in the conversation with MJ as far as individual talents that it was a pure pleasure to watch.

MJ will always have the six titles.

MJ will always have the flu game vs. the Jizz.

MJ will always have the bubblegum camera shots before he walked on to the floor and dropped 63 on the Bird, Parrish, McHale and those Celtic douche bags.

MJ will always be loved by me for the dunk on Manute…the only live MJ game I saw.

MJ will always be the last athlete of my “youth” – although he retired for the 2nd time the day I turned 30.

I am happy to say that Urlacher (as an individual and as a member of the Bears) has captured my imagination.

Bears!

Wise Pizza Lady

If you’ve read the Salon.com interview with Camille Paglia (I think she owns the DeKalb pizza place) this entry considers the merits of the last big question she was asked and her response. The interviewer begins the end of the interview with this:

“It seems like religion has never been a bigger issue in American politics, recognized on both sides of the aisle as something that needs to be addressed. Have the Democrats changed the longtime Republican characterization of them as godless?”

This is a horseshit question.

What about religion is at issue in the coming election? CP nails the first portion of her response because she knows that what the questioner really wants to talk about – and really all there is to talk about in this sort of conversation….the perception of religion.

Before I talk about CP’s observations let me say that I don’t think the contemporary tension and perception with respect to religion is as big an issue as it has been in the past. The difference between early Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists on this score was bigger than huge…it was BUGE. Jefferson was the candidate of Satan or worse…Jacobin-style atheism and Adams was so ugly, his supporters thought he must be loved by God.

Uh, just kidding. I think Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, at bottom might’ve had similar believes regarding the here and the hereafter, but the perception gap was what was important. By the way, it ended up not helping Adams that Jefferson was seen by some as Satan’s choice. Maybe we are the great Satan?

We should forget those dead bastards and think about the present. Here’s the beginning of CP’s response:

“Well, as long as the Democrats are perceived as the anti-religion party, we're going to lose the culture wars. That's why Hillary has made such a show of churchgoing and wearing crucifixes -- even while there seems to be little connection between her Christian ideals and her backstage activities as a politician and money raiser. But religion is absolutely central to this country in ways that Europe's secularized intellectuals fail to understand. I'm speaking here as an atheist who studies religion and respects it enormously. In the history of mankind, the benefits that religion has brought to society in shaping behavior and moral choice are overwhelming in comparison to the negatives, which anyone can list -- like religious wars and bigotry. Without religion, we'd have anarchy.”

Her use of Hilary is important because it helps us see that the difference between the D’s and R’s here might not be religion…it is first perception….and secondly there is some reality that goes along with the perception.

What the hell do I mean?

Hilary vs. the R’s shows (in part) why the R’s have been able to control the Congress since 1994…and spent the last 5 years running the whole show. Most of my friends will not want to hear this – Hell, I don’t want to hear/say this…but the R’s have built/cobbled/somewhat bamboozled their coalition in part because they have the bigger tent. There is no perception of them being held hostage by a particular interest group. This doesn’t mean that the R’s do not shameless pander to say Focus on the Family etc…but since ’94 the R’s have been more in the driver seat than the religious right in America. Hell they made a lot of promises to the blue tie supporting cross bearers…what did those folks get in return?

“A fucking religious based something or other” at the behest of one Hot Karl Rove who every day is looking more like the minor character Paul from the show Cheers.

Where are the pro Life D’s? They certainly do not have a seat at the big boy’s table in the National Party…do they?

Every reader of this dumb blog can name at least one relatively famous pro Choice R and several pro embryonic stem cell research R.

No one pro Choice R does not an open tent make, but no voice for pro Life D’s makes for a very skimpy, droning in unison ‘we are on the right side of history on this issue’ and, quite frankly does not bring new people to the show.

Maybe this is not what the election should be about – who’s tent is bigger?

By the way, I don’t think this one will be about that…the 2004 election presidential and otherwise certainly was…and we know what happened there.

So this perception re religion and the D’s – I think CP certainly has it part right. The D’s have a public relations issue, but maybe a bigger problem is that the public perception of liberals these days is their lack of diversity. I love saying that in public. To the extent that you are now angry and may want to call me pathetic (anonymously or otherwise) or say that I have some conservative agenda and part of it is to mock a particular brand of American liberalism…I guess there’s no room for me in your tent.

I’ve been lurking on a former DeKalbite’s blog and his involvement in the politics of the great state of NH. I am proud that someone from back in the day has become a responsible grown up and wants to make his community safe for decent folks to live there and part of that means to get behind the right candidates and help them win.

Fine.

But to the extent that the politically active consider the base of the other party to be “troglodytes” who win because they know whose buttons to push when…that sort of attitude doesn’t bring in new ideas or help people change their minds.

I think I called certain Republican voters mongers of hate or dumbasses willing to follow some awful hatemongery…basically I called them worse than troglodytes.

But I don’t consider myself someone who is directly politically active. My involvement in the public arena begins and ends with the voting booth.

I am not a conservative.

I am not a liberal.

I am a douche bag and with that comes certain luxuries including the ability to make fun of whoever I want.

Those on either side…especially the side that has been losing and losing and losing the last 12 years who will you include to win?

If you win back one or both houses, how big will your tent be? We’ll fucking see.

My liberal friends (and me) can be right about the war, how it was a big fucking mistake and is a big fucking mess…but that’s one issue. Are we saying that’s all that can unite us. We are united in our disdain for this horrific mistake made by g bushy and his brood of vipers? If that’s all we’ve got, don’t you think our common ground will erode rather quickly?

The fact that I sound mean spirited about this doesn’t mean I don’t want to see the D’s possibly get the Congress back. I’m just not optimistic about what it means from there.

This post was supposed to be about the CP interview and religion in America. Let’s see, what the hell else did she say?

Oh yeah:

“But there's reason for alarm at the right-wing intertwining of religion and politics, where the Bible is seen as the prophetic master plan of the universe and where Israel as the Holy Land must be protected at all costs from Muslim infiltration -- duplicating the agenda of the medieval crusades. But to claim, as Democrats often do, that there has always been a separation of church and state in America is misleading: The U.S. simply has no official state religion. The formative influence in our intellectual heritage came from Puritan dissidents in New England. Major universities like Harvard and Yale were founded on religious principles.”

I think this is why our friend from the District was interested in my take on the interview. I’ve gone so far off track let’s see if I can get it together here.

I think everything in the above quote is in some way, wrong.

CP doesn’t see the biggest problem associated with the right wing entanglement with religion and politics has presented either at home or abroad. G bushy and the blue ties think themselves religious men but when it comes to politics they put faith aside rather quickly (if you have laughed at a “Who would Jesus bomb” bumper sticker you already have agreed with me here). They do not understand politics and activists who are not going to sell out their beliefs for the promises associated with modern Western liberal democracy. That shit is precisely why they want to blow themselves up in the first place. The bigger problem re the blue ties and religion is how they have eroded the faith in believers on the domestic front. Unless there is a strain of American religious conservative that has a little Opus Dei in ‘em (not that you sick bastards) and they like self-flagellation (yes that you sick bastards) they might reach a point where they don’t want to keep being burned by these no promise keeping bastards.

On the other side, reminding liberals of the religious nature or appearance of the founding generation, or it being part of some proud American tradition – I don’t think that helps anyone. It might help self-professed atheists who have studied religion and have a great deal of respect for it…

…but I believe serious believers do not have their belief system supported in any way by saying it is a proud part of American tradition. I’m not telling anybody to vote for anybody or anybody to sell all their shit and follow whatever…

In my limited understanding, true Christian faith should always be radical – revolutionary not part of some conservative value system. I don’t mean what KO has been saying either that Christ’s main message was helping the poor either. His main message was a continuation and fulfillment of John the Baptist’s phrase “Repent for the kingdom oof God is at hand.”

Encountering Christ (I think) should have the transformative results it did on the two brothers who were in the middle of burying their father. Remember the Rabbi said “Leave the dead bury their own”

Translation: Let the corpse of your father rot in the sun and follow me while I talk…

…and that that would be the only reasonable choice. That’s radical. That’s revolutionary.

And I’m an idiot I know. As much as I like CP, and think the interview was actually worth the two reads I gave it there is so much more to the story here.

Maybe that’s why our friend the Hollywood D gave a good interview. There were many opportunities for me to take these responses and go elsewhere. I’m sure she can do way more of the same.

If you want the whole interview there’s a link at the home of the DC Liar.

If you want to attack me, that’s fine too. I probably deserve it.

Good night and good luck to us all.

Captain Blood and Blooder

I think I’m almost at the end of a long week. I still have to work late on Friday in order to finish missed stuff from earlier in the week (when Alex was sick).

This was the boy’s first day back at school and he was almost at full speed.

When I came home from work we went to Twins for grilled cheese. I think his appetite is coming back. Then we did homework and he did some of his best drawings yet – pumpkins. He drew 10 pumpkins, 5 on one sheet of paper and 5 on another. Good work.

Then we played pirates and Alex said: “Dad I’m Captain Blood and you are my mate…Blooder.”

Me: “Blooder?”

Alex: “Yeah, you’re related to me but you’re not me. Blooder.”

Good enough then.

We saw Casey put the first run on the board for the Tigers tonight and the boy was sufficiently excited. I’m so glad he loves watching baseball and football with his old man. I don’t care if he ever excels or plays either sport. I just want to share the stupid shit I know about that stuff with him.

The downside of watching all the sports together?

His new favorite song is the John Cougar This is Our Country chevy truck commercial. I have succeeded and failed as a father all at the same time. He asked me to learn the song from tv. Thinking quickly I said “Daddy has to hear the song two or three times in a row before I can learn it. It all happens too fast on tv.”

Alex: “Dad you can get it on You Tube. You said it was tv we control and watch whatever we want whenever we want.”

Damned internet.

So we learned the song tonight and even watched the performance before WS Game Two in Detroit Rock City (although everyone really knows DeKalb is the true Rock City).

Go to the Clutch of Your Choice

Today I thank my gentle and merciful God for helping me find a place where I can work that is close to my child and that allows me to pick up his poor little fever-riddled ass when he is sick. Thank you God for giving my son a mother that offers comfort in the very sound of her voice. Please be with our beautiful child as he fights his fever and keep him cheerful and an example of your love, even when he’s feeling cruddy.

I’m also very grateful for and to ChrisB. He gave me a bunch of new music last night including this Clutch record. KJ had a great quote: “With that name, the band just sounds like it rocks.”

It does and they do

I can’t believe how interesting the lyrics are. Bands that rock this hard tend to be a bunch of knuckleheads going arrgh arrrgh arrrgh!...but not all bands are Mastodon. I shouldn’t talk, I’ve been really into watching live Mastodon performances on You Tube. They’re always playing at the Reichstag or some shit like that. At least they can spell the word – I can’t…anyone who owns the fB’s 3rd record Smell-0-Vision can just check out the track listing to see what a boob I am.

Enough. I am dying to offer this about the upcoming midterm elections…as if my dumbassery from the other day wasn’t sufficient. I say right in the profile these thoughts are unsolicited. You don’t have to squeeze my head to get this shit out of me. I am sort of a shit Pez dispenser (as if the regular Pez Pez dispensers are hot shit and all that).

Oh, my insights on the coming midterms…

Don’t believe the hype about how the race is over and the D’s have already taken back one or both Houses. I’m not sure if the religious right understands how the R’s (at least in the White House) sold them out. They may still show up and vote Blue Tie out of acquired habit. I don’t know if Americans beyond the viewer ship of KO’s Countdown think they can punish g bushy by voting R’s out of Congress. I think many of us are unaware of the issues that are floating out there getting the angry R base mobilized enough to vote angry. We dismiss the talk of immigrants, building walls and wild claims of immigrants draining the American health care system as hatemongering. This activity may in fact be active hatemongering…but this is America folks…

THERE’S VOTES IN HATEMONGERING!

I may be wrong…but just because there are enough seats in play to give the D’s some room for error in trying to retake one or both houses - - - never underestimate the D’s or your own (or my own) capacity to misunderstand the issue that will drive the election in a wacky direction.

Anyhoo it's the 7th inning of the WS Game 3 and they're playing God Bless America.

I hate that damned song.

Where's Woody Guthrie when ya need him?

Congrats TR

Much love and congratulations going out to my sister-in-law. She ran and finished the Chicago Marathon today. I don’t know what her official time was but come on – she ran 26.2 miles. TODAY! Does it really matter what the time is? She ran the race and didn’t die. Part of me still thinks it’s crazy to run that thing. That was my whole argument to KJ when she ran and completed it in a strong middle-of-the-pack time.

We all know the story of the man who ran however many stadia it was that equals 26.2 miles in modern measure. Wha? He ran it, offered his message and died. I told Kim, in his honor no one should ever run that distance again.

This is another one of those times in my life where I am happy to admit I was totally wrong. I was so moved to see Big Sky running even stronger at mile 18 than she was at mile 6. To see her motoring past SOX park was unbelievable. When Al and I picked her up about ½ hour away from the park (yes traffic was such that she and her friend Trish had to walk ½ hour after running 26.2 miles) – I was moved to tears. Sooooo proud of my girl.

…as we all are of my sister-in-law today. Great job TR. Keep those muscles moving tonight so you don’t get stiff.

Happy Birthday aka Goo

My sister's birthday is today. If you know me, you know I'm not a birthday card guy. I'm a blog about whatever useless shit I'm thinking at night kind of guy.

This thought isn't useless. My sis and I have had our ups and downs. I'm glad to know she comes by the blog. I had sooooo much fun at her beautiful daughter's birthday party last spring. Chucky is still in therapy from dancing with me (yeah, the giant rat, the less famous Chucky).

I know that I will see you again sis and I look forward to it. I'm thinking of you now and hoping you dial in on the blog. I love you kid. Hope you're having a great birthday.

Man I sound as stupid as the greeting cards I mock.

I am what I mock.

Fireside Shit

I was listening to a g bushy speech from a few weeks back on line. I suddenly had this bizarre, not to say utterly insane, notion that internet service should be nationalized. My computer has become my radio. I am finding that I listen to most live and prerecorded programming that I care about online rather than on my radio. Then I thought: SOMEONE KEEPS FINDING A WAY TO MAKE ME PAY FOR EVERYTHING THAT PEOPLE IN THE OLD TIMEY TIMES NEVER HAD TO PAY FOR!

The government would let me pay less, wouldn’t they?

I thought of my grandparents sitting by their radio (which probably resembled the rear of their Desoto), listening to FDR. First of all – they got FDR I got this guy. That’s a HUGE slam at g bushy by the way because I am of the opinion (and have some history to back it up) that FDR gave even less of a shit about the Constitution I love than Howdy Doody does. If my mom’s folks heard me talk this way about FDR they’d slap the shit out of me. I also thought about the fact that I pay $100 a month for tv and internet and if my grandparents were alive they would never stop slapping the shit out of me.

So here I am listening to a digital recording of a shadow of an ambitious extra-constitutional wannabe, while they listened to a real usurper of American presidential tradition, and someone who accomplished great things in the face of greater obstacles. I wonder if the fireside chats were ever recorded? They’d have some big ass acetate and all of a sudden -

FDR recording: “We have noth…we have noth…we have noth…”

Old school radio techs: “Sweet sassy molassy man! The president is skipping!”

FDR staffer: “This is terrible. The American people will think it’s the polio!”

That brings me to presidential, extra-constitutional activities past and present. Our peerless leader is trying to join a rather exclusive group of presidents famous for signing acts and engaging in actions outside the purview of the Constitution. Here is the Mt. Rushmore of suspending or playing fast and loose with the rights of Americans:

1. John Adams – namely the Alien & sedition acts – aside from Sigourney Weaver (who thought that ugly bitch deserved it) – Americans hung that on the legacy of Adams for years…until he had the good sense to die on the 4th of July. Then everything was cool again.

2. Abraham Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus led to the arrest of some 18,000 Confederate “sympathizers” without trial. Hey the guy looked like shit and probably felt worse. Let the poor nerdy bastard suspend the writ of habeas corpus. For once in his miserable life, he probably felt like he was in control of something. Then the sweet bullet came and never again did he have to hear that fat, stupid slut (not Matt Leinart’s wife) tell him to comb his fucking beard.

3. The aforementioned Franklin Delano ‘We Have Nothing to Fear But Having our Businesses Taken from Us and Being Moved From San Francisco to Utah Because We or Someone Related to Us Comes From the Land of the Rising Sun’ Roosevelt…I think his nickname hints at what he did. Shame shame. If you want to see something truly awful, try to find the newsreel that describes the Japanese on their way to the camps as pioneers bringing life to the Utah wilderness. Translation: Let’s see if these bastards can make anything grow in dust ‘n alkali (not a Styx song). Would the president who put Americans in concentration camps and wanted to hold power until it was pryed from his cold dead hand please stand up? Ooops.

4. And the current boob in question has thrown his hat (I never saw him wear a hat) in the ring.

Here is the difference between the good, democratic citizen responses of Boing Boing and our very own ChrisB and me on the president’s support of the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The aforementioned blogs recoiled with horror WHAT HAVE WE BECOME? HAVE WE CROSSED A LINE FROM WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN? WE HAVE BECOME WHAT WE HAVE SWORN TO DEFEAT? OUR REAL VALUES HAVE BEEN BETRAYED!

This is the response of the decent to the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

My response?

This is nothing new. It’s not even as bad as shit that’s happened in the past. It does not seem to affect too many subjects of the Constitution directly and it brings to light something we all knew the CIA was doing anyway…capturing those who may be threats to their client country and extracting info or taking them out of the field of play.

My interest in the president’s support of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is Why. The ‘Why now?’ question is painfully obvious with the midterm elections closing in. But the next question becomes: What are those who support the Military Commissions Act of 2006 trying to accomplish?

Again, painfully obvious – many R’s need the D’s to get worked up about this questionable legislation so they can say: “See these bastards won’t keep you safe. They are a bunch of terrorist-huggin’ panty wastes! ”

If I was advising D’s I’d tell them to either say nothing about the Act or talk about the circumstances that surround it’s adoption…a ‘who do you trust with the power to defend the regime’ bullshit argument, as if either party could possibly be the right answer to that question.

As far as the substance of the Act, I may return to that. Part of this is a result (as I understand it) of the Supreme Court’s urging for the president to include or be involved in some sort of official codification of these activities (horrific or otherwise). In other words, let there be laws and we can go from there.

To my friends on either side of the aisle – now is not the time to attack g bushy for pretending to tyranny. It doesn’t suit him or the circumstances and it is an insult to tyrants everywhere. These blue ties, especially those who swirl around the CEO don’t have the stomach for real tyranny…they just want to keep their jobs. We should attack g bushy for incompetence in domestic affairs/security as well as the global war on terror. Re: the R Congress, I don’t think we ought to link them to the plots of g bushy as some propagandists for the D’s would like us to. The R’s on the Hill have been in the dark on a lot of this shit.

The saddest thing about the midterms?

The way the election is shaking out (through ads and fundraisers) as a referendum on the current administration and the reputation of one William Jefferson George Clinton.

I wish we had a Parliament.

No I don’t.

We talk about the people's rights to live in a free society…but if we need a campaign run on this shit…make sure we have a big investigation of the Congress…stick Clinton’s face out there as much as possible…portraying the D’s as handjobbing the terrorists (ewww, why did I have to go there?) having g bushy’s face in as many Democratic adds as possible and on the other side having R’s trying to separate themselves from the Poor Man’s Prince Charles (who isn’t the rich man’s anything)…

I'd just like to see one candidate's face in their own ad! What're they thinking? Ooooops.

If that’s the tone and substance of this oh so important election then maybe we ought to just accept the part of ‘peasants’ and let our betters get on with the business of doing whatever it is they think they are doing.


Is that justice?

Is that proper?

I got a lot to lose.

Messy

I may end up nuking this entry because it involves some private business. I have to write about this here because I no longer have my journal. It hurts too much to keep it inside. One of Alex’s friends moved away today. We didn’t think he would be leaving until after Thanksgiving. Circumstances are now such that the best thing was for the fella to go now. The boys had their last night of hanging out on Tuesday.

This kid was part of this little crew that’s always coming around my place – raising some hell, making a big old mess, causing me to spend too much time out on the trampoline or playing baseball, drinking chocolate milk shakes, watching King Kong and the like. There are a lot of days that I come home and the house can be pretty chaotic. That’s not the right word. Kim wants our house to be the fun house for kids. I think she has been successful.

Kim wants to (what’s the U2 song?) throw her arms around the world.

Not like Matt Leinart’s slut of a wife mind you…

The kid that’s moving away is twice Alex’s age. He is almost always patient and kind with the younger ones. Alex was so happy when we took his pal with us to the movies to see the baseball flick by the paralyzed dead guy.

Ok I guess all dead guys are, by definition not moving.

That does not include zombies since they are technically undead.

Alex’s friend has a mom that is a teacher’s aide. She tries her best but is a single mom with health problems on top of everything else. Everybody thinks it’s best that this guy moves out to MT with his grandparents. It may be the best thing, but my wife is heartbroken. We can only imagine how the kid and his family feel.

You know, as much as I complain sometimes about kids tearing ass all over my house after I get home from my second fucking job – I miss the kid too.

Sometimes I think the Epicureans got it right. The world is painful on a variety of levels and happiness, or the best possible existence requires separating yourself from the muck and the heartbreak of the world as much as possible. Enjoy what you can and that’s it.

I can’t be like that and neither can my family. Life is messy. We are the lucky ones. We (Kim, Alex and I) have each other and we always will barring some big tragedy. I guess the point is, we have each other for now and we better enjoy that. Part of enjoying that is sharing whatever fun that is in our house. We do that now and we can’t stop doing that.

Funny, we think we are the ones who are helping out and showing other kids a good time. But they can and do share with us. Alex’s friend showed great capacity to share what he had with my son. When Kim dropped him off last night he gave Alex a light saber he decided not to pack. He said: “Here Alex, you can give this to me when you see me again.”

Godspeed Z.

Will They Say Boo?

My attitude throughout the Bears game and my boneheaded enthusiasm afterwards speaks volumes about my character…

…or at least I say it does.

Great time at ChrisB’s last night. He sure knows how to throw a football get together. I guess he arranged it so the Bears would take the Cardinals too lightly for the first three quarters only to play a frenzied 4th Quarter (at least the D and Special Teams played a frenetic devastating Denny Green career ending last 10 minutes or so).

Who am I kidding? Denny Green’s career isn’t over. If Al Davis is alive in the next three years he’ll give another washed up never been a shot to run the Raiders into the nether reaches below the ground where their husk currently resides.

Ga? Ba.

To me it was worth all the suckiness of the 1st 3 quarters of play for the Bears to win that game. The usual suspects at work came up to me and said ‘See, the Bears are too big for their britches’ ‘You keep thinking they’re so great, you’ll see’

My dad’s line: “They are going to get their comeuppance.”

These people are Bears fans. Why would they even think that way? Don’t we all like the Bears? I thought they sucked before the season started. Uh, that’s not true. I didn’t really care that much during the pre-season. I was wrapped up in baseball and the stupid conflict in Lebanon. I thought the defense talked a little too much but once they started playing well on the field – why not cheer, have fun, enjoy the Bears rather than

YOU WAIT AND FUCKING SEE THEY WILL FAIL!

Jeez, it isn’t life. It doesn’t always have to have nasty pitfalls, comeuppance, fits of depression and possible redemption – if you’re lucky. It’s sports. Enjoy the good times while they last for the love of Mike. Ditka?

BEARSSSS!

I think I understand why some people want to think bad things are going to happen to the Bears. They really love the Bears and do not want to be let down. Fine. I can respect that. I guess nothing the Bears can do (failure wise) can disappoint me or hurt me more than my own personal failures.

This is not me saying oh boo-fucking-hoo I’m a failure. I don’t think that way. I just am aware of some of the things I have tried to pull of in my life (doing things I care about) and how I have fallen short there. That is disappointment – that is heartbreak. The Sox success and the Bears success are pleasant escapes for me and I try to enjoy them until things go bad – then I say ‘What’re ya gonna do?’

Even though the Sox are the team I have rooted for the longest and have always been my favorite team in all sports (apparently I’m a glutton for punishment and shirtless, mullet jokes) – the Bears used to get me so worked up – especially when I was in college. My head would start to spin when they played a bad game against the Packers and won. What a stupid ass I was.

Anyway we ate like pigs and drank Old Style fan cans. DC Liar lifted me off the ground after Hester ran back the punt. *Note to self, don’t fuck with DC Liar. He can lift an object over 2 bills pretty damned easily…also he has the arsenal. All I have is the guitarsenal.

One thing is for sure: Matt Leinert went home crying to his fat fucking slut of a wife.

During my lunch break I wanted to listen to the national sports chatter about the Bears but they had the damned Lou Pinella (not in my spell check, yet) press conference. I was pissed and was going to write a rant about how the cubs are going to try and be the Yankees w/out Brian Cashman and if you are a cub fan who hates the Yankees you better shut the fuck up around me…but then I though ‘Meh, it’s sports. Getting worked up about attention the cubs get only shows what a douche bag I can be.’

Will they say Lou?
Will they say boo?
Will they say Booo-urns.

I was saying Booo-urns.

Weekend Still Rolling

Not like I’m Mr. Party guy but I love when I don’t have 5minutes to sit at my computer over the weekend and it’s Monday and it still feels like the weekend is going.

Friday we picked up pumpkins from my friend Jane. Then Alex, Kim and I watched Empire Strikes Back. The boy loved Yoda.

Loved Yoda he did.

Saturday was outdoor yard work, including the removal of a dead possum for the window well. He wasn’t playin’.

Saw our friend from DC on Sat and had a lot of laughs. Got my new WILT and I’m geeked up to listen to it.

Sunday started with a trip to Goebberts and God Bless Steener and Uncle Joe for turning us on to this place. Alex had so much fun. There’s almost no greater pleasure than to see the boy on a pony ride. He’s so happy up there. John and Em’s daughter is cute as hell and I think she dug her pony ride as well.

Met up with DC Liar at Twins for lunch and Alex, DC, OD & I played Big Buck Hunter. Alex wore his camo jacket and everything. Fun as hell and that’s no lie.

We both were bushed after working all day yesterday and going from very early on Sunday morning. Alex was playing while I lay on the couch watching football. Alex crawled up on the couch and said “Dad can you make me a nest?”

That means lay on my side and bend my knees out like a nest. I did and he crashed.

Good boy, great weekend.

Spleen Me

Family Friday! Alex & I picked up pumpkins given to us by my friend Jane. We got dinner at the cat ‘n mouse so Kim didn’t have to do any cooking on Friday. Then the whole family sat on one couch and watched Empire Strikes Back.

Official Alex quote: “Double awesome.”

I hope the boy hasn’t been watching any Olson Twins videos.

Next time you see me someplace that is not the internet, ask me to tell you MY story of bungled, erotic text messages. It’s a humdinger.

Looking forward to some action and adventure this weekend. There may be some e-pissy drinkin’ going forward at the Annex tomorrow night with a special appearance by g bushy.

Yes, Joe will be there.

joe-bushy.

What else? Tigers up three to zip while the Cards and Mets play for second place.

Looking forward to just hanging with some of my pals for the Monday nite Game instead of practice. bigDrag will be in action soon and we need some time to just hang out and drink and talk and watch the Bears end the poor young USC kid’s career. First he checked into the Hilton, now he’ll be checking into the hospital.

ChrisB blogged about Ploop (my spell check sucks because “ChrisB” “blogged” and “Ploop” ain’t in it) the other day and it got me to thinking about that time in my life. Personally it was crappy for a variety of reasons. Then it got me to thinking of the: Bands I Know, Reunions That Would Not Suck. Here they are in this particular order.

1. Festers
2. Ploop
3. Rod
4. Klugs

Oooooh, if I ever need a spleen and we need to raise money to hire a hit man to kill a guy so I can have his spleen, consider this the lineup I want for the benefit concert.

We're Americans Baby

…our names don’t mean shit. Thanks to all for the input on my Crue/Journey personal journey. I will take Tom, Chris (and OD’s) advice and give Too Fast for Love another chance. I had friends in high school that were into that record…one guy was in this band called E.Z. Pleazer and I thought if he liked it; it’s got to be a humungous piece of crap.

Again, maybe another instance of me being an idiot. I guess we can throw it on the pile. The 'ed is an idiot' examples pile not the 'bad records made in Western Civilization' pile.

Tower Records is closing its doors. Where will the useless A&R men of tomorrow come from?

Answer: Mexico.

One thing that is not so slimy about crawling around the My Space Pages adding bigDrag friends…seeing people give themselves names that fit their character etc…

I like the notion that people use the internet to unveil a persona that is within them. I am one of those boring people who is pretty much the same on the internet as I am in my daily life. There is much to mock in the My Space world – and mock it we shall…but I think there is something worth noting about a large (sometimes overly horny) group of people assuming names that they feel define them.

Clearly I prefer what we have done with the e-pissy and the blogs here @ Blogger. ChrisB said it best: “You go on the blogs and it’s just like stumbling in on a conversation some Thursday night at the Annex. Stumbling being the operative word.”

Great, we’ve turned the internets into the Annex.

But his point is a good one.

On the non-airplanes-crashing-into-buildings-baseball front, J. Leland had a great line for Mr. Gomez when he told him that he might play against the A’s. He said: “Well the game is at 5pm. That’s when you hit most of your home runs.”

Back to America for a second (because according to bigSoda it is possible that baseball has become unAmerican)...people who may or may not be working to unseat Congressional candidates who raise a shitload of money that they aren't even spending is a fine thing. One piece of advice, ya need to come up with a better name for your movement than C.H.O.M.P. (Challengers Helping Our Majority Program) - yeeesh, it sounds like McGriff the Crime Dawg just decided to throw all his weight behind the law and order crowd.

Then again what do I know, I was just hanging out in my backyard shirtless, drinking a 12pk of Busch and listening to the Crue's Too Fast For Love.

Thanks again Tom.

What Rocks?

I love my coworkers. That should always be a given here. Very few of them know about the blog – but my love for my fellow helpers is real not bullshit. I look forward to going to that place everyday.

One of my favorite coworkers and I have had a sort of ongoing…um, debate is not the right word. There is no question and no debate in her mind. I’m not necessarily even arguing with her about this. I guess I’m carrying on the conversation – solo, in my head.

Apparently I am more messed up than I thought.

There was an order for a Thomas Lee last week and I said “Praise the Lord, the poor bastard is getting a hearing aid. He will finally realize how much he sucks.”

My coworker expressed her shock: “You don’t like the Crue?”

Uh oh, don’t want to offend anyone so I told part of the truth “I saw them on the Theatre of Pain tour.”

The part I didn’t tell was how it was as bad as the time I saw Genesis because of a girl.

Pathetic

She said: “And you didn’t think it was one of the best shows you ever saw? I put the Crue only second behind the Rolling Stones.”

I couldn’t really pick the right half of the truth anymore so I just said “Ya know there was really nothing about the hair bands I liked and really that’s all they were right? I thought all of them sucked. If you spend that much time with the Aqua-Net you are probably covering up the fact that you suck right?”

“Sure,” she said, “and I was mad when Brett Michael’s hair looked prettier than mine. But the Crue was more than that.”

I dunno.

A few days later the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey came on the We Play Anything radio station and the same coworker said “This is such a wussy song. I can’t believe your Sox chose it.”

Now my friend is a cub fan (as are most of my friends). Hey I am a sort of evidence as to why cubs fans have bad judgment in general since many of them choose to be friends with me.

But her cub fandom was not the reason why she did not like the Journey song. She said “That high pitch squealing and wussy light rock, it sounds like a bunch of dorks made the song.”

Today Same Old Situation came on the We Play Anything station. My coworker rocked out within the confines of the workplace and she seemed sufficiently happy with the whole experience.

I am always in favor or people rocking out. I have a lot of records good and bad that make me feel good. But I kept thinking of her disdain for the Journey song…and to be honest – I can’t tell the difference (wussiness-wise) between Journey and Motley Crue. There's some high pitch squealing and it sounds like lite-rock. By the way I am not deliberately omitting umlauts as a way of showing some disrespect to Motley Crue. I just don’t know how to make the blog umlautify words.

Somebody set me straight here. Am I wrong thinking there is no discernable difference between the Crue and the Journey – are they both full on bags of powdery-puss or am I missing something in the aesthetic or execution that would help me discriminate between the two musical groups?

Help me blog-0-sphere, you are the only one I trust.

Why Do I Care?

I’m not a big media basher – but even the day after, overnight numbers for the stupid Eagles game are making news on sports radio. I’ve got to hear how that stupid game and its stupid sideshow blew away the baseball ratings on FOX. Why do I care about this?

Wait, I don’t. I am no longer Mr. Mom. I now have the strength to turn off sports radio when it pisses me off. If I don’t want to hear the 24 hour coverage of the Joe Torre firing vs. retention saga I can turn it off. If I don’t want to hear about the things a 2 or a 3 receiver has to say…I can turn it off.

I’m sort of proud that I don’t understand why there is this new obsession with NFL power ratings. I thought everyone hated college football. What does that douche bag Chris Berman always say “That’s why they play the games.”

By the way all praise to the NBC America Football nightly thing replacing Prime Time as THE highlight show. I love ESPN as much as anyone, but Berman and Jackson – that shit is playyyyyed out.

Do I have anything better to talk about?

Apparently not.

Gophers

I have to work but it still feels like a day off. I don’t have to get my little buddy ready for school, drive like a madman to get him to day care and I don’t have to pick him up on my lunch break. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kid and I think anyone who reads this blog knows I treasure my time with him. It is just nice to get up, get my lame ass ready for work and just concentrate on me. I spent a lot of my life concentrating on just me – and in many important ways Alex has saved me from that – but it’s nice to have a little time for me this morning.

I love me some me.

This was a good weekend all around. Alex and I got to watch most of Game 4 Tigers over Yankees. I’m happy for the boy, and for my friend Paul J – who is a long time Tiger fan. I feel bad for Torre and the Yankees, but this should be proof that you just can’t throw anyone in the uniform and make a World Series team. You can cobble a pretty good team together but never win the whole thing that way. Steinbrenner will probably save the cubs from themselves by hiring Lou P…but maybe the NY franchise is smart and goes for Girardi. It’s the Yankees call here because obviously they have the more coveted job. I guess it’s a win-win situation for fans of the other team, because no matter what happens, they can blame the Yankees cuz when it comes to the top two managerial candidates, the NY squadron is driving the car. cubs can take who is left and hope to get lucky.

What else happened this weekend? Thanks and much love to the PDawg family for inviting Alex to sleep over. Kim and I attended a fun dinner party on Sat (I normally bitch about the whole couples dinner party thing, but this was a good time especially considering the company)…and late Sat Kim and I had some much needed time together. Watched the Bears win that laugher against the Bills. Jauron coached like he was still working for the Bears. What gives? Chicago sports fans have been so spoiled the last three years or so from the other team’s trip to the NLCS, to the rise of the Bulls who are so much fun to watch, to a World Series winner for the White Sox and now this. I don’t want to hear any local fans bitch about anything. What did Sam Wyche say?

“You live in Chicago, not Cleveland!”

Ok, I said that.

Ooops, I’ve got to change the channel, here comes another highlight of the late afternoon game yesterday with the Eagles. I don’t give a shit about that shit.

Weekend. Bill and I saw the Departed yesterday. The performances were all fantastic. Jack sniffed a little too much whilst talking about a dirty, cheese-eatin’ rat but other than that it was a great cast and a pure please to watch them together on the big screen. I’m a sucker for Martin S. I even liked the ambulance movie.

No thoughts at this time on the big boom in North Korea. They blew it up underground right?

Maybe they had gophers.

Pride and Shame

Pride and shame. Many of the bad things I follow, I cling to, I offer to others are connected with these two powerful things.

All the mistakes I have made come from them.

They are not states of being.

They are not emotions, to me at least.

They are flashes – like little outbursts of rage. They hit and then they are gone.

Asking questions and prayer seem to help me deal with my pride and shame.

If the question is an honest one, even if it is sort of stupid – it moderates the passion that leads my pride to swell up and overcome, not me but an innocent bystander.

See, I’m tough, if it were just me I’d smile at pride like I smile at the Devil.

But when pride leads me to vicious activity – it usually leads me to gloat after winning an argument. It leads me to drop a piece of knowledge on someone like a rock. You can’t teach anyone with a rock, you can only injure them.

Writing a post like this helps me overcome my shame. I’m sure I run the risk of sounding…uh, not level-headed - - - especially when I talk this way. I don’t blame readers that mistake it for bad free-form whatever…

I don’t think it is that.

But I am not too proud of me or my reputation to write shit like this.

Saying that I have behaved badly towards some because of pride (or whatever, if I in fact misunderstand my own vices) also suggests that I can do better. I am not so ashamed of myself as to think that I would rather hide. I don’t want to say I am a hopeless fucker who deserves to be alone…who has fooled all their friends and family…who should be apart from others – his only company, the dark things he can imagine.

That used to be me.

But now I know that pride and shame are temporary conditions. My soul does not consist of pride and shame. They invade, or something inside mixes with something outside and they flare up.

So here is a line of questioning that helps me deal with temporary glitches in the system that is me:

If you have hurt someone, and circumstances are such that they can no longer hear you say - I’m sorry – can you be forgiven?

Since most of the readers here do not share my faith, which teaches of the power of reconciliation, we’ll keep that sacrament outside the parameters of this brief discussion.

Is I’M SORRY only useful as a function of social interaction, does it fulfill some inner need only – or is it both? If it is both must you have both external affirmation of forgiveness, and internal acceptance of forgiveness? Can you just have one? (and it is fair to assume that the only one you can have that will do any good is the internal forgiveness only, when the other party is in a position where they are unable to hear what you say – dead or something like that, or absolutely unwilling no matter what – It’s reasonable to assume that the person who can not forgive themselves will never have enough peace or whatever to be mistake for being happy, adjusted or whatever)

Not much more to say about these things. I’ll post this shit tomorrow.

Still the One

Thanks and much love to http://abc.go.com/ for allowing me to watch the season premier of Lost whenever the heck I want to. I have never been a big ABC person (minus This Week when Brinkley was the guy)…I guess America sort of forced us to watch the big Tuesday nights in the 70’s and I have some good memories of those shows until someone jumped the shark. Actually – I loved the episode where Fonzie (not in my spell check by the way) jumped the shark.

Guderstorm gave us all the heads up on what mini-Disney was doing with their programming (before it actually happened I think) – and while I don’t love Disney – I hate the cable companies even more. I’d love to pick and choose my programming on line like this – watch it whenever – and happily leave the commercials on – good for whatever companies sponsor Lost…they’ve got no idea what they are doing and I love people and institutions that do such things.

Lost is one of the most real things I have ever seen on tv. Do I think it is as well made as Deadwood? Hell no. The writing on Deadwood is a marvel – the script is the star of the show. The characters speak in interesting ways and reveal fascinating things about themselves. But the premise and the developing weirdness of Lost depict life as I recognize it. People wonder what I think I’m doing studying philosophy – some of those crusty old books raise the great unanswered questions for man. Some may say that is all a game that will only confuse me.

Probably.

Life is essentially mystery as I understand it. Some may say ‘ed don’t you think you know certain things because of your faith. Don’t you use that as your shortcut to thinking?’

I know what my faith teaches. I even feel some of the changes inside of me because of my faith…but that has not made me cease to inquire – like the poor man’s Albert the Great – it has stimulated me more…wondering about the real mysteries in the world God created that illuminate the mysteries of faith and at least slap me in the face everyday – without ever allowing me to come to my senses.

There is a lot of horseshit in the show Lost. Guess what, go to Borders, there is a lot of horseshit produced in the quest for the enduring big questions for human beings. Just because some self-help morons can reduce our greatest longings to a dumbass platitude on p.136 doesn’t mean the question and the power of the question is gone. It just means some monkey ass tried to answer it and proved they don’t know anything.

Like the rest of us.

There are a plethora of sub-moronic theories about my new favorite show. I would say, don’t let these morons turn you off to the show – but I’m not writing this to recommend some show on ABC. I don’t care to do such things.

I’m just reminding myself to watch the replay online tonight.

Cheers.

Beirut Close to Home

There was a pic of Shimkus in the paper the other day with a look on his face like “I did not know shit! Ya gotta believe me! How did my ass get swallowed up in this gia-normic bowl of fuckery?”

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

In international news I’m really tempted to go see Beirut at the Empty Bottle on the 12th of October. Normally I hate that quirky accordion shit – believe it or not. There are good melodies and ascending vocal lines in those songs. Check this shit and see if I’m I crack smoking’ liar:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=5050508

Sorry about all the cussin’ on this post. It’s 9pm, my son’s beloved Tigers are trailing the Yanks, I have yet to begin preparations for tomorrows Nietzsche class and I’m wondering how shit got this way. Oh well. Work is a bitch. I hope my son has a job that makes him happy and he can find a way to keep it at work. That’s one of the things I love about the hhe job. I really help people and when the day is done (in theory) I can leave it all behind. Teaching, not so much – or there is a lot of stuff behind the scenes that you have to do or you will be a total failure. Ask Ms. Aquamanski – and she has to teach an overcrowded room full of kids all day – ask my wife…I only have one class a week and I still spend a good part of three days outside of my other job doing work for my piddly-ass little political theory lectures.

At least the Twins lost. I have never been a big Frank Thomas fan. I didn’t hate him either – even with the stupid things he’s said over the years. It had to end and I didn’t miss him. Also anybody who wants to stick it to the Sox – there is no way they could re-sign him – and if they did it would’ve been for more than the shit money the A’s are paying him…and there is NO WAY he’d perform like this for the Sox.

Having said all that, I enjoy that he is causing the Twins pain. I don’t enjoy it because it’s Frank, I’m just happy for anyone to beat that team after all the gut wrenching those dome fucking fuckers put my beloved Sox through this year. Here’s hoping they go down 0-2. I want to see all the garbage bag team fans go home from their garbage bag stadium and eat a garbage can full of Fiddle Faddle in honor of Kirby Puckett. See, the DC Liar thought I was such a good and fair person. Not when it comes to the Minnesota Twats. The faster and more ignoble the exit this year, the better. And Santi, if I see a “Go Twins” comment on my blog I’m deleting it. You rooted for the Indians last year – pick an anti-Sox lane ya bastich.

“Bastich” not in my spell-check. The closest option was pastiche.

Good night bastiches, one and all.

Selfish Bastard

Last night I played a benefit in Downers Grove for one of Kim’s girlfriends from high school. The benefit wasn’t for her; she hosted it for a musician that has ALS. I did a short set:

1. Tonight I’ll be Staying Here with You
2. One Solar Day
3. The Idiot Prize
4. Pancho and Lefty

50% covers?!? Thanks and much love to the PDawg for turning me on to TVZ. I have no business trying to play one of Mr. VZ’s songs so that’s why I did it. I love trying to do things that I have no business doing.

The audience, as usual, was not sure how to react to my original stuff. I should’ve thought about the audience before I decided to do the Idiot Prize. Who am I kidding? I rarely think about the audience before I do these things. I think of me.

Selfish bastard.

I guess I’m somewhat proud of the fact that I can be selfish when playing a benefit.

Saw Chris and Sandy there and it was nice to hang out with them. We haven’t seen them in forever. I’m really happy for those two.

Alex and I made it to holy Mass this morning. Kim went running so she can support TR part of the way @ the Chicago Marathon. She’ll go at noon. I think it was better that only one of us took the boy to Mass. He has one set of expectations and knows what he has to do. Went to WalMart after Mass and I got the boy Obi Wan…

…yes, Kenobi.