October 20, 2004

Wednesday Is Poetry Day

The following poem, by beat poet Gary Snyder, was posted on the inside of a bus i rode this weekend. (The whole "Poetry in Motion" idea is the best thing to happen to public transportation since Wells Fargo invented the stage coach, in my opinion.) i liked it so much, i decided to make it this week's selection:


Why Log Truck Drivers Rise
Earlier Than Students Of Zen

In the high seat, before-dawn dark,
Polished hubs gleam
And the shiny diesel stack
Warms and flutters
Up the Tyler Road grade
To the logging on Poorman creek.
Thirty miles of dust.

There is no other life.


This poem was one of those discoveries where i found myself saying "Yesss, that's it! That's how i want to do it."

It's short, it's not cryptic, and it takes me someplace new in the space of a few lines.

i love the way the little details create a scene that's instantly recognizable, though not overly familiar. Did you notice how the visual picture of the the fluttering diesel stack makes you hear the growl of the truck's engine, without the poet even mentioning the sound?

Writing about poetry is like describing wine. It's so hard to find the right words and the end result always seems meaningless, compared to the original.

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Gavin Newsom: Sex Symbol

Not much to add to this story. It's pretty freakin' funny as is:

Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom took the stage at Thursday night's big Empire State Pride Agenda fund-raiser.

Guilfoyle Newsom was a last-minute sub for her husband at the gay rights event, which drew 1,100 guests. By all accounts, Guilfoyle Newsom -- who lives in New York and is a regular on Court TV -- gave an inspired speech.

But what really brought the house down was when she started talking about her hubby.

'I know that many of you wanted to see my husband and some of you had questions out there,' Guilfoyle Newsom said.

'Is he hot? Yeah.

'Is he hung? Yeah.

'Is he (she waved her hand to suggest bisexual)? Not unless you can give a better (she mimicked eating a banana) than me,' Guilfoyle Newsom said.

Clinton and Starr, what hast thou wrought?

From SFGate.

Update: Here, Bill and Gavin seem to disagree on what the definition of "hung" is.

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October 19, 2004

Back Online

Things i've learned after not blogging for over a week:

  • The electromagnetic pulse weapon is real.

  • The EMP weapon is dangerous.

  • It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.
(Okay, there is no EMP device. i just fucked up somehow. Don't even ask.)

After not blogging for over a week, i was also surprised to find that:

  • My head did not explode.

  • The sun still came up in the morning.

  • The Red Sox still found a way to blow it in the post-season.
Oops, maybe my lack of blogging did have a tiny effect on the space-time continuum.

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October 11, 2004

The Fantasy Footballer's Dilemma

"Yaaah, go Chris Brown!"

seconds later:

"Yaaah, c'mon Favre!"

i am the John Kerry of football fans.

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Football Update

Snooze Button Dreams is killing me in Fantasy Football this week. (Good luck on the interview, Jim.) The Raiders sucked again on Sunday. And Saturday, Cal outplayed USC and still lost. Very depressing.

Hey, at least the Niners beat the lowly Cardinals.

Regarding Monday Night Football, i need Chris Brown of the Titans to have a stellar game for my fantasy team. But i actually think that Green Bay will win this one. Green Bay is favored by three points and they're at home.

This is actually a pretty tough game to pick (i'm 2 and 2 on the year with my predictions). Both teams' quarterbacks are hurting, but how can you bet against a Favre led team on Monday Night? Although i also read that Green Bay's center is out, and the replacement is not as good. But i don't know if that's just bad or really bad. (i actually didn't even know what a nosetackle was until Casca told me. i thought nose tackle was when you hung a snap swivel off your nostril piercing.*)

The hardest question for me is, will the Packers cover the spread? i have a sense that the game might be close, but i know that as soon as i say the Packers won't cover, they will. That just seems to be my luck lately. So i'll pick the Packers minus three points.

Update: Chris Brown: 148 yards + 2 TDs. Will it be enough to overtake Snooze Button Dreams though? i'll find out tomorrow. Re: my MNF predictions this year, i don't want to talk about it.


* Ba-dum-bump. That's a little fishing humor for y'all.

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October 09, 2004

Beautiful Asymmetry

These two quotes from John Kerry at last night's debate are so beautiful, all i can do is sit back and admire them.

Quote 1:

He's trying to attack me. He wants you to believe that I can't be president. And he's trying to make you believe it because he wants you to think I change my mind. Well, let me tell you straight up: I've never changed my mind about Iraq. I do believe Saddam Hussein was a threat. I always believed he was a threat. Believed it in 1998 when Clinton was president. I wanted to give Clinton the power to use force if necessary.
Quote 2:
I don't think you can just rely on U.N. sanctions [to contain Iran], Randee. But you're absolutely correct, it is a threat, it's a huge threat. And what's interesting is, it's a threat that has grown while the president has been preoccupied with Iraq, where there wasn't a threat.
Kinda takes your breath away don't it?

Via Paul at Wizbang.

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October 08, 2004

Presidential Debate Notes 2.0

i wanna do this without listening to any of the TV pundits, so my opinion won't be tainted. Which means that i may end up modifying my opinions later after i've taken in the insights of people wiser than i am. Plus, we finished another couple of bottles of that chianti, and i'm on my second glass of Port. So waaatchout!

more...

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Style Fucking Matters
(my open letter to the President)

Dear President Bush,

Have you seen the latest Electoral College map? i took the liberty of turning it into a gif file so i could highlight some important areas of concern for me, and i hope, for you too.

more...

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October 07, 2004

Pre-Apprentice Dinner Menu

i cooked tonight, and there were two requirements: be done in time to watch The Apprentice, and include the four major food groups. Those food groups being 1) meat, 2) bread, 3) vegetables and 4) alcohol. My roommates don't get enough veggies.

dinner.jpg

i accomplished this task with the following menu:

  • meat stuffed tortellini with my own sauce (leftover)

  • Brussels sprouts with mustard-horseradish cream sauce (non-fat)

  • crusty romano cheese sourdough rolls

  • $5 chianti
Oh sure, at first my roommates turned up their nose at the sight of the Brussels sprouts. But afterwards all three of them pronounced my side dish to be: "okay," which i will translate as a high compliment.

The $5 bottle of chianti was indeed a hit, though.

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October 06, 2004

Wednesday Is Poetry Day

How different is this war we are fighting now. Compared to wars of the distant past.

Thomas Hardy (1840-192 writes about a once universal irony among soldiers:


      'Had he and I but met
      By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
      Right many a nipperkin!

      'But ranged as infantry,
      And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
      And killed him in his place.

      'I shot him dead because --
      Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
      That's clear enough; although

      'He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
      Off-hand like -- just as I --
Was out of work -- had sold his traps --
      No other reason why.

      'Yes; quaint and curious war is!
      You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
      Or help to half-a-crown.'

In this current war of ours, i doubt you'd find many on our side who'd share Hardy's poignant sentiment.

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Law Students Can Be So Competitive

If you had been in the cafeteria today, you might have overheard a conversation that went something like this:

"Hey Quan, where've you been?"

"Oh . . . uh . . . hi Annika."

"i haven't seen you in, like, weeks. Where'd you go? i thought you quit after the test or something."

"No . . . uh . . . I just moved seats."

"You did? What for?"

"Umm."

"Didn't you like sitting behind me?"

"Well . . . uh . . . to be honest . . .uh . . . I had to move."

"Oh come on. What, did i smell bad?"

"No . . . uh . . . no it's just . . . uhh . . . "

"You're fucking kidding me. Quan? You're kidding, right?"

". . . uhhh no it's not . . ."

"Please tell me you're fucking shitting me. Aren't you Quan? i really smell bad?"

"No . . . uh . . . you see it's . . . uhhh . . ."

"What the fuck? Just tell me!"

"It's . . . uh whenever you wore those uh blue warm-up pants . . . it got . . . uh . . . kinda distracting uhh . . . 'cause I could see your uh . . . your . . . uhh . . ."

"Oh . . . well . . . uh . . . sorry about that . . . uh . . . Quan . . . i uhh . . . "

"No problem, Annika. Don't worry about it."


The lesson to be learned from that little vignette is this: When the professor grades on a curve, consider converting butt cleavage into extra points.

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New Political Blog

RightViews.com is only a week old, and it looks like it may be a pretty good group blog. Here's an excerpt from OJ's first post, which echoes my own thoughts (while watching that a-hole Keith Olberman the other night).

Why no one in the media is holding these politicians accountable for inconsistencies and in some cases absolute contradictions is beyond me. Clearly the media is traditionally liberal but these extremes are bordering on misrepresentation. Turning a blind eye, the Media is misleading the public by not reporting the whole story and as a result, is knowingly censuring the truth as it relates to the forum. Someone needs to hold the Left responsible for what they are saying.
That someone is the blogosphere, OJ. Welcome, and good luck with your new blog.

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How Does He Do It?

Bill Whittle posted yet another gem.

Teaser:

[W]eÂ’ll look at what both men said, and through a very specific filter: not their Aggregate Presidentiality, or their respective Molar Charm Ratio. WeÂ’re going to look at what both men believe in respect to deterrence: whether their positions increase or decrease the likelihood of further attacks on the US.

. . .

And all of this rage and fury and spitting and tearing up of signs, all of these insults and spinmeisters and forgeries and all the rest, seem to come down to the fact that about half the country thinks you deter this sort of thing by being nice, while the other half thinks you deter this by being mean.

ItÂ’s really just that simple.

. . .

And although we can not run an experiment to look into the alternate futures to glean the best result, to determine the relative benefits of being nice or being mean – for those, ultimately, are the choices, believe it or not – we can at least look back to see which seems to have produced the best results in the laboratory of history.

Thus begins another intellectual journey, Whittle style. Set aside a couple of hours and read it all the way through.

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October 05, 2004

Notes On The Vice Presidential Debate

i live blogged the debate on my crappy laptop. i don't think i'll be doing that again. It's too hard to watch and type at the same time. Here's my notes: more...

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i Can't Wait To See This One

Brittany is busy writing a letter to her fans.

[Spears] has worked so hard on her letter that she says, she 'feels like I'm at Harvard.'
i can't wait to see which of the 26 she will pick.

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October 02, 2004

Monday Night Football Pick

No posting this weekend, so i'm giving you my Monday Night Football pick early. The upcoming game is between the surprisingly sucky Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, at Baltimore. According to USA Today, the oddsmakers have Baltimore favored by 4½ to 6 points.

After last weeks pick, i'm hesitant to go with the favorite again. (An SI.com poll says the Chiefs are the most likely 0-3 to bag a win this week.) But Kansas City's offense seems really disorganized this year,* and MNF or not, i don't see them solving their problems against the Baltimore defense.

i'd be comfortable picking Baltimore minus five points.


* Although, statistics-wise, Baltimore's doesn't seem much different, and their QB is even worse than Trent Green has been. But the Ravens appear to have a better run defense, which they'll certainly need against Priest Holmes, and a better pass defense.

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October 01, 2004

Debate One Deconstruction - Substance

Last night John Kerry said "The president just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the president invaded it."

If Kerry thinks Afghanistan is the real center of the War on Terror, it occurs to me that Iraq is just on the other side of Iran. Maybe that's not close enough for Kerry, but i think Iraq is definitely in the right neighborhood. And that's why Iraq is so important.

Kerry also said: ". . . I would not take my eye off of the goal: Osama bin Laden. Unfortunately, he escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora."

If you examine Kerry's insistence on finding Osama as the real goal of the War on Terror, you'll see the central flaw in his thinking. He still looks at this conflict as a law enforcement and containment problem. i believe most Americans realize we can't play that game anymore, just as most Europeans think that the law enforcement model is the only possible solution.

Europeans think that way because they lack the military strength for any alternative strategy. We don't suffer from that limitation. We can fix the problem of terrorism with a real long term solution. Our might allows us to do what the Europeans cannot. Like Bush said, it's hard work, but it's not an impossible task for Americans.

But Kerry thinks like a European; we all know that. He's an internationalist at the core, and always has been. Despite his hawkish double-talk, he mistrusts the use of American power the same way Europeans do. We - and i mean you and i - can't afford to mistrust our own power. The stakes are too high now.

Why? Because our enemy wants to kill us.

This is a new kind of war. Our enemy isn't like Imperial Japan in WWII. They don't want access to oil so they can create a new Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Our new enemy's goal is much simpler: They want all Americans to die.

Capturing Osama will not solve the problem of terrorism. The bad guys will still have the capability and the desire to kill Americans, with or without Osama. John Kerry must not win because if he is elected, we will lose our focus on the real goal of the War on Terror.

The real focus is long term. It is the transformation of the Islamic world. The only way - the only way - we can stop this enemy is to change the societies in which they live into free and democratic societies.

If the Islamic world does not change, we will be forever on defense in the War on Terror. Bringing democracy and freedom to Iraq is the first step in a long term strategy to protect America from future 9/11s. That's what i mean by being on offense.

John Kerry and his followers miss that very important point. They would have us abandon Bush's strategic goal and substitute the short term tactical goal of hunting down the sick and probably dying Osama bin Ladin. Not that we shouldn't bring him to justice, but it won't solve the problem of terrorism. Bush's strategy is designed to be a permanent solution.

Hugh Hewitt wrote:

Would the many terrorist attacks since 9/11 in Bali, Madrid, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Beslan and elsewhere have occurred had the United States focused all of its efforts on Afghanistan? Yes. Would Zarqawi still be roaming freely throughout Iraq and the middle east, building his parallel networks? Yes. Would killing Osama at Tora Bora have stopped the Islamist fanatics around the globe? No.

John Kerry does not understand the enemy. He does not understand the war we are in, or how it must be waged. He doesn't understand the reason Libya disarmed. He doesn't get what's going on at all.

Kerry calls Iraq the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time? Sorry Kerry, President Bush was right (even when he flubbed the line) when he said "It's not a grand diversion, this is an essential that we get it right."

One more point. Despite Kerry's occasional hawkishness, don't forget that something like seventy percent of Kerry's support comes from the ant-war left. That's a big umbrella that contains few reasonable people, and a lot of kooks. We cannot allow Kerry to open the government up to this anti-American fifth column, which he will undoubtedly do. Remember, he was one of them once.

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