One Trick Pony Rides Away

So we have another Supreme Court nominee. His name is Samuel Alito, and he is as American as apple pie, and the death penalty. Conservatives love him, liberals are ready to fight tooth and nail against him, and it's business as usual in that most screwed up of cities, Washington, DC. Minorities are pissed because the guy is as white as I am...well, ok, no one is as white as I am except maybe the Winter brothers, but I digress. The guy has been a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1990, and is reportedly quiet, polite, and even tempered. Not too bad. But then THE ISSUE pops up, and the polarization occurs. He's not a big fan of abortion. [GASP!!] What did people expect from a republican president, the baby eating bishop of Bath and Wales?(rent Black Adder II if you don't get that joke) It seems to me that there are only two issues that get discussed whenever someone is up for appointment/election/selection/cannonization or whatever: abortion and gay marriage. While these are, indeed, important issues, are they really the most important issues facing the nation right now? I am certainly not trying to trivialize these issues, but there is such a complex melange of legislative and political issues facing any high-ranking member of any branch of the government that to distill their effectiveness down to how they feel about two relatively narrow issues is ridiculous.

Roe V. Wade is a done deal, and I really doubt the Supreme Court is going to change it any time soon. Besides, what politician in his right mind wants the issue decided for good? That would be like Columbia lobbying to legalize marijuana. Abortion is not going away, and one justice either way isn't going to change that. And if it gets a bit harder to get one, is that really such a bad thing? I am not big on abortion, but then again I'm a man, and not really qualified to have an opinion on it, but that's never stopped me before. I have no problem with underage girls being required to inform at least one parent, unless of course the parent is the father. And I do think that abortions are legal wayyy too far into the pregnancy, and there is nothing wrong with requiring some form of pre-procedure counseling. But that's where I get out of the debate. I have never had to make the decision, nor can I imagine how difficult it must be for some to take that step. There are some who use it as birth control, and that I object to strongly, but I don't agree with legislating against it, either. It's all about choice. If there is a God, and abortion is a sin, well that will be between the person and The Creator, and it's none of my business.

Gay marriage affects an even smaller percentage of the population, and has absolutely no societal effect beyond allowing a group of people to experience the joys of divorce along with the rest of us. I think it is much more important to find out how a Supreme Court nominee feels about amending the Constitution, or states' rights, or what to do if an election gets so screwed up that no one can tell who won. How do they feel about immigration, both legal and ill, or things like the drinking age, or the draft. The Supreme Court is all about giving the people a final place to be heard, and I want to know how open the ears are on those who sit on that bench. I don't know if this Alito guy will do a good job, although my initial reaction is yes, but I do know that I couldn't care less how he feels about abortion or gay marriage...unless a case arises when these will matter, and then I would hope he'd be as impartial as possible.

Let the political blood-bath continue.

Marius

When Harriet Met Shrubby

Harriet Miers, legal council to George W. Bush for more than a decade, and now former Supreme Court nominee has withdrawn from consideration for the court. I had predicted that her confirmation hearing would be brutal, but I never imagined that the lead pirahnas would be Republicans! The extreme-right wing of the GOP tore into that poor woman like a tiger on an effeminate magician, coming to the conclusion that while she is conservative, she just isn't conservative enough. I mean the woman seems to think that Roe v. Wade wasn't the work of Satan on Earth! Imagine that! Actually, trying to find evidence that Miers has had any opinions about anything is kinda like trying to find an overweight European man on a Florida beach who isn't wearing a Speedo. In fact, the only thing I heard about her, other than lamenting the lack of anything to say, was that she is a good bowler. Wow, by that reasoning I'd have a pretty good shot at the bench myself. But that's not what I want to talk about today. Join me in the next paragraph, will you?

The collapse of the Miers nomination is the latest falling Ace in Shrub's eroding house of cards, and I think it's indicative not only of Bush's incompetence, but of his advisors' legal troubles. Something I saw after 9/11 was that, with the exception of the Three Horsemen of the Apocolypse(Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft), W surrounded himself with very smart, if mostly evil, people. They sat on him when I'm sure he wanted to send a squadron of B-52's to Afghanistan. They held him back and made him wait long enough to lend some verisimilitude to the lie that Saddam had WMD. They even got him to nominate John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But now most of them are putting together legal defense teams, and don't have time to tell Gilligan not to eat the coconut cream pie. I have no doubt that the day he announced Miers' nomination there was a chorus of 'He did WHAT?!' all over Washington. And the real loser here is Ms. Miers. She didn't want the job, and maybe she torpedoed it herself, but having your liver eaten by the eagles you work for in front of the nation can't feel good. And now W has to start all over again. Who next? Pedro, his gardener because he's Mexican? Bob, his barber, cause he tells the best stories? The freaking dog?! We should all hope that they get the leash back on Georgie again fast before he decides he really is the president, and by God he'll do some presiding. Then we're all screwed.

In my ever so humble opinion, of course. ;-)
Marius

Wilma Update

I almost feel guilty talking about our Wilma experience, but since some of you might think we were in the danger zone let me assure you we got some gusty winds, a steady drizzle, and the day off, that's it. Now folks in Naples and West Palm Beach got slammed. Everyone I talked to down there yesterday was without power, and thankfully with relatively minor to no damage. The worst thing I heard was that Celebhith's screen porch, which covered her pool and was at least 20 feet tall, was destroyed. But, and this is strictly the male perspective, her gas grill was undamaged. (Whew!) Targon had some window leakage, and my folks lost a bit of the fence around the front yard. Mayi dodged a couple of diasters as a neighbor's tree came down and merely touched her roof with an outstretched, but undamaging branch, and another tree came down in her driveway, where her car normally sits but was moved into the garage for the storm. I have yet to hear from Thummy or Rico, but I hope that they are ok, especially Rico. They are trying to sell their house and get out of Lake Worth, so it would really, really suck if the storm did any appreciable damage now. Thummy lives only an hour South of us, so I imagine(read: pray) that they only got it a little worse than we did. Adam and Bi, who live just a few miles north of ground zero, are without power and got some superficial damage to their house. Overall, given the unanticipated severity of the storm the damage was light, at least to the people I know and love. And to any of you reading this, if you need an extra hand to help repair just holler.

Marius

Wilma, I'm Home!

Lest you start worrying about the hurricane readiness of The Corner, fret not. We shall just be catching the outer rain bands of Wilma, so it will be a damp, probably noisy evening, but we should be quite safe here. We are also on the second floor, so flooding isn't a concern. So with any luck, and strong power lines, I shall let you all know how we fared tomorrow. For now rest well, and dream of large women.
Marius

Something I've Learned, and a Cool Link

Welcome to The Corner,
In one of those Dickensian conundrums, one of my favorite parts of being a teacher is also one of the most painful/difficult parts. As a theatre teacher my relationship with my students is often different from, say, a math or science teacher. I don't just see them a couple of times a week for an hour or so, and have no real interaction with them. We work together to create art. We party together after shows, we work late hours and early mornings together, so my students often become my friends. And as their friend I am naturally inclined to try to protect them and shield them from the harshness of life. One of my LC students, in particular, is going through a rough time right now, and I want so very badly to just make all her pain go away. But then I have to think about what I would be like if I hadn't gone through that adolescent crucible myself...what if someone had come to me and said, 'Don't fall for that one, she'll break your heart.' Or, 'Don't try that, you'll regret it.' Yeah, a lot of my teens and early twenties sucked, so did a lot of my thirties, but it was how I dealt with those ordeals that made me stronger, and more resiliant, so that when real trials came later I was better able to cope. So all I can do is hold their hands, give them an ear to rail to, and an understanding that comes from having been there myself. I just hope it's enough.

If you have digital cable you have probably seen G4TechTV. It is the channel devoted to all things computer, from PC help shows, to video game reviews. (I especially like the show X-Play, which is a sort of Siskel and Ebert for video games. The two hosts are Adam Sessler; a goofy twenty-something fanboy everyman, and Morgan Webb; that rarest of creatures: a gorgeous videogamer, and my current celebrity crush) On a program called Attack of the Show last week I saw an interview with an attractive young lady who is the anchor for Rocketboom, a semi-daily video log, or vlog. She caught my eye, so I checked the site out, and it's a lot of fun. Mostly it consists of a brief newscast, but as often as not they have video segments from other sources, and links to everything they show or talk about. Today's edition is a music video that will get into your head even worse than the Crazy Frog bit, but it's a lot of fun. Check it out at:

http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/

And you can check out G4 at:

http://www.g4tv.com/


See ya!
Marius

Loud Bass Music Shrivels Male Members

Ok, here's my plan. Someone of you devoted visitors to my humble little sector of cyber-space must have the digital know-how to make a story look like it came from a legitimate source. With all the ridiculous 'facts' making the rounds on the internet how hard would it be to report on a scientific study proving that high decibel, low frequency sound waves lead to penile shrinkage and impotence. Since all these car-booming, living room shaking, inconsiderate dolts don't seem to care about inner ear damage, maybe a percieved threat to the mighty sword might get these pinheads to turn thier fucking stereos down!!! I like good, loud music as much as the next aging metal head, but when I can hear the apartment two buildings away over my own stereo it's time to get a reality check.

So, any takers?

Marius the Peeved

Let's Purge the Lexicon: Part II

Here are some more linguistic abuses I'd like to see excised from my life.

Alumni There is nothing wrong with this word in and of itself, but let's get something straight people...IT'S PLURAL!!! If I hear one more supposedly educated person proclaim proudly, 'I am an alumni of that school.' I'm going to scream. A single person, depending on their gender, is either an alumnus, or an alumna, or a member of the alumni, but unless your name is Sybil you alone are not an alumni.

Irregardless This is not a word in the English language. Irrespective, which is the word most people mean to use when they use irregardless, is a real word. Regardless is a real word. Irregardless is not. Both real words mean without regard for, or in spite of. Irregardless means you slept through most of your English classes.

I know these are rather tiny nits to pick, but it seems to me that the English language is under almost daily attack from pop culture, internet abbreviation, and the general 'dumbing down' of America that I see where ever I look. This country used to venerate the great minds, the Einsteins,the Hawkings, the Kissingers, because they inspired us to emulate them. We strove for enlightenment and knowledge. Today we venerate people with names like Simpson, Carrey, and Bush because they make us feel smarter. As an educator I try my best to promote good grammar, even though it technically isn't part of what I teach, but when I heard a colleague use the word irregardless the other day while addressing a bunch of students it gave me pause. I have seen papers turned in by college freshmen that would make a 6th grade teacher cringe, but I don't blame the internet, or television, or movies. I blame parents. My mother worked two jobs for many years when it was just my brother, she, and me, but she still found the time to work with us at home with flash cards on our vocabulary skills. My brother and I read way beyond our grade levels almost from kindergarten. And I never once heard the phrase, 'Me and my friend' come out of her mouth. Parents need to take an active role in their children's education. Teachers are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated and they need all the help they can get to make kids understand that what they hear on MTV, or the latest Adam Sandler epic isn't necessarily the correct way to speak. Know what I'm sayin', beeyotch?

Peace out,
Marius

In Local News

Today's post is just to bring folks up to speed on what's going on here in that wacky wonderland called Tampa. First of all, my lovely wife has a new job. A few weeks ago her bosses, who shall henceforth be known affectionately as The Stooges, told her on a Wednesday that the upcoming Friday would be her last day at the paint store. Aside from management bungling that would seem unbelievable on a Brady Bunch episode, the store is located in a small, out of the way strip mall behind a real mall, surrounded by tea shops and a grocery store. And they are puzzled by the lack of contractors walking in and ordering kilotons of paint. So, miraculously, they couldn't afford to keep Muriel on the payroll. We were, of course, bummed, but hardly surprised. Then, the next day the guy they were keeping quit. So the first thing The Stooges do is ask Muriel to stay. She had already put in a few applications elsewhere, and while we would have dearly loved to tell them just where to stick it, nothing else had come through yet so she agreed, with the proviso that if anything better came along she would take it. They said they understood. The following Monday we got a call from a store in the mall to which she had applied. They sell somewhat risque items of apparel while purporting to be based in Hollywood. My lady wife is a costume designer, so this gig suits her much better then slinging flat latex, and the freebies are much more fun.

On the automotive front, The Hyperion, my car, is in a coma. She needs a fairly expensive transplant, but a donor has been found, muchas gracias hermana. Te quiero mucho. So hopefully she'll be mobile soon.

In reproductive news, we have decided to cease all activities designed to prevent a blessed event from occurring. I have been finding excuse after excuse to not have a young'n, but I realized the other day that there would always be reasons why 'now' would be a bad time. Also, while my little fishies don't have an expiration date, the rest of me ain't getting any younger, and kids are like little life-force vampires, so if I'm to survive an infant it'd best be soon. Of course, the little lady has been walking on sunshine, ooh ooh, ever since we made this decision. And yes, Mom, if it happens you'll hear about it before it shows up in a blog entry.

And that's all from Tampa. It looks like Wilma will be paying a visit sometime this weekend, but hopefully we'll just be getting the outskirts of it. I will let y'all know if anything more dire than a wet day is impending.

Ok, that's all for now. Take care, be safe, and if you can't be good, at least be good at it. ;-)

Marius

ps

Best Goldfish Joke Ever!

Two goldfish were in their tank.
One turns to the other and says,
"You man the guns, I'll drive."

New Orleans Beating

Somehow I don't think there is going to be a run on New Orleans Police Department tee shirts any time real soon. I just watched the tape of New Orleans business owner Robert Davis getting the living shit beat out of him by three NOPD cops, and this time it seems pretty clear that the police were wayyyyy out of line. (http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/12/taped.beatings/index.html) Now I'll be the first to admit that all too often video of a police beating can be misleading. The Rodney King video that we all saw over, and over often left out the part where he was tazered three times and kept resisting. I know a guy whose career as a local South Florida cop was ruined by a misleading video and a spineless departmental administration, but in the New Orleans case I don't think there is any doubt that the three officers went too far. They claim that the 'perp' was resisting arrest, and visibly intoxicated. Davis claims that he hasn't had a drink in 25 years. The video shows Davis, calmly facing a wall, apparently obeying the commands of the officers. Then something quite disturbing happens. Another officer, on horseback, purposely interposes his horse between the arresting officers and the camera...twice. When the camera operator finally gets a clear shot the cops are beating the man senseless. I can't say what happened while the horse was blocking the view, but unless the 64 year old Davis pulled out a pair of nunchakus I can't imagine he did anything warranting such a beating. Once Davis is cuffed and bleeding on the ground another officer attacks a reporter, shoving him up against a car and cursing at him.

This incident is being classified as 'a few bad apples' by New Orleans officials, but I see it as something more insidious. The flood waters of Katrina have uncovered much more than mud and ruined houses. They washed away the scab that covered a corrupt and festering police department that seems, in my opinion of course, to be used to doing whatever it wanted with impunity. We have heard stories of police brutality, desertion, looting, misappropriation of relief supplies, and greed that go far deeper than simple stress-based misbehavior. I lived in Louisiana for three years, and I saw first hand the levels of corruption and unabashed public abuse that exist there.{there was actually an ad campaign for a local car dealership that essentially said 'come buy from us, we won't screw you anymore'} The NOPD doesn't seem to understand the their cover has been blown, and they are expected to act like real public servants, and not as warlords and thugs. If anything good is to come from this unfortunate incident, let's hope that it inspires the department to get rid of its bad apples, and to start protecting and serving the public like it's supposed to.

Marius

Babbling Brook of Semi-Consciousness

Do you ever feel like a ghost, walking the Earth but having no real effect on things? I feel that way now, a feather in the wind, a ping-pong ball in a tumble dryer. A flesh and blood ghost, but without all the cool ghost stuff like walking through walls and being invulnerable and such. I can't even scare people, well not without getting naked in public. I exist at the whim of dead cars, and capricious scheduling, and people who have no idea how a theatre program works, and students who feel that they are entitled to degrees without actually acomplishing anything. Right now my glass is half empty, and I don't even like the drink that's 50% gone.

Bitch
Bitch
Bitch


I know.

I'll be more interesting tomorrow, I promise.

Marius the Bummer

Happy Rapacious Villain Day

Good morning, Gentle Readers. I was going to devote todays entry to a harrangue against the pretender we have venerated as the dicoverer of the America. I refer to that greedy bastard Christopher Columbus. You know, the guy who never actually set foot on the North American continent, but was instrumental in starting a process that resulted in the genocidal destruction of more than one indiginous peoples. And don't start with that 'if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be here today' bullshit. Is there any one of us who is so important that the the natives of two continents had to be slaughtered and enslaved for centuries? Besides, Leif Erikkson, a viking explorer, discovered the actual North American continent 500 years before Columbus. The Vikings attempted to set up a permanent colony somewhere between Newfoundland and Cape Cod, but friction with the locals eventually caused them to abandon the post. (see, not all Vikings were conquerers)

I say I was going to harrangue, but in one of those cooincidences that just might get me believing in a higher power again I checked out Breakfast Of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut, this weekend, and lo on page 10 is the following excerpt:

"...Teachers of children in the United States of America wrote this date on blackboards again and again, and asked the children to memorize it with pride and joy:
1492

The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them. Here is another piece of evil nonsense which children were taught: that the sea pirates eventually created a government which became a beacon of freedom to human beings everywhere else."

These words were published in 1973, about the same time I was being taught that Columbus was a brave explorer who dared to think that world was round. This also is pure bullshit. The spherical nature of the planet was well accepted by the 1400's, in fact the Greek mathemetician Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth sometime between 276 BC and 194 BC. So there was no great bravery in Columbus' venture; no 'we will risk falling off the edge of the world for our Queen' crap. He was looking for gold. Nothing more, nothing less. And if a few savages had to die in the process, well they eat their own babies, don't they?

Many contend that since the indigenous peoples of the Americas tended to practice human sacrifice they needed killin'. In 1492 the Inquisition had been around for nearly 20 years, and Europeans had refined the killing, maiming, and torturing of each other to a fine art. So I don't buy that Europe was 'civilizing' the savages.

Another distinction is that in Europe the battles were usually between relatively evenly matched adversaries. Each side had roughly the same level of blood letting technology. Not so when they came to the Americas. Here is another quote from Breakfast of Champions:
"Here is how the pirates were able to take whatever they wanted from anybody else: they had the best boats in the world, and they were meaner than anybody else, and they had gunpowder...They touched this seemingly listless powder with fire, and it turned violently into gas. This gas blew projectiles out of metal tubes at terrific velocities. The projectiles cut through meat and bone very easily, so the pirates could wreck the wiring, or the bellows, or the plumbing of a stubborn human being even when he was far, far away.
The chief weapon of the sea pirates, however, was their capacity to astonish. Nobody else could believe, until it was much too late, how heartless and greedy they were."

So happy Columbus day, everyone.

Marius the Disgusted

Great Innovations in Science

Let us discuss the esthetic qualities of the canine scrotum. You go first............................Anyone? No? Well then let us turn to Gregg Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, IgNoble prize winner and inventor of Neuticles...artificial testicles for dogs. "Neuticles allow your pet to retain his natural look, self esteem and aids in the trauma associated with neutering. With Neuticles -- It's like nothing ever changed!" according to Miller's Web site at http://www.neuticles.com. I know that whenever I see a dog walking away from me my first thought is 'where are that dog's nuts?' The scary part of this story is not that Miller went deep into debt to come up with this earth-shatteringly pointless invention, but that people are buying these things in droves! Here's another quote from his website: 'To date over 100,000 pets Worldwide have been neutered with Neuticles by over 9,000 veterinarians...' Most of the vets quoted state that if it gets folks to neuter their dogs then they are all for it.

Are there really folks out there who won't neuter a dog because they want to see their pet's nutsack intact? And since when is self-esteem an issue for dogs? I'm as quick to anthropomorphise my pets as the next man, but I have never, ever in my life known a dog to give a rat's ass about whether is sack was empty or not. He'll lick it in front of whomever, whenever regardless of it's contents. With all the problems there are in the world do we really need artificial dog testicles, which by the way, come in three different sizes and
firmnesses?
The best part of this story is his explanation of why:

"We feel the removal of a God given body part - leaving a male pet looking unwhole after the traditional form of neutering is not only unethical but unnatural. With Neuticles it's like nothing ever changed."

It's nice to see that in a world afflicted with war, famine, pestilence, and a Back Street Boys reunion that someone is devoting the needed funds and time to vital projects such as this. Now if only someone would invent an artificial brain for our president.


Marius

Assistance Requested

Ok, it seems that I have some strong support in my endeavors to start writing seriously. My biggest problem is that I have trouble coming up with stories. Characters, locations, and descriptions are no problem, but situations elude me. So, if you all will suggest some scenarios, I'll see what I can do with them. And I have a big idea, but I want to let it simmer for a bit before I reveal it. So, if you would please help this might be fun.

Love ya's,
Marius

For Mom

Ok, when we were kids I remember that it usually took spurting arterial blood, exposed bone, or sucking chest wounds before you would give us a band-aid(tm). I have harbored that memory for the better part of half a century.(Jesus! Am I really that old?) Anyway, tonight I had to listen to the wailings of a child who wants for nothing, save a constant diet of hot dogs, pizza, and yoo-hoo, because she itches on her back, and has a nearly microscopic cut on her finger. I don't think Dr. Calligari heard such expressions of misery in his dungeons. I would just like to say publicly, and for posterity, I'm sorry. You have been wronged many times over in my memories, and now that I am dealing with a child who may, or may not be quite as demonic as I was the karmic wheel has come full circle. And I can finally say, for the first time, I think I'm beginning to understand you.

Go ahead, gloat and get it over with.

Love ya,
Marius

So Long and Thanks for all the Intimidation

I am currently reading, well, let's be honest, listening to Douglas Adams' last book The Salmon of Doubt. It is a collection of prefaces, introductions, newspaper columns, and various other random musings that were left in the depths of his hard drive after his far too early death in 2001. I am only 1/6th of the way into the book, and am enjoying it immensely, albeit with a huge side order of melancholy. It fascinates me that his more conversational pieces sounds exactly like the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. No, not the series, the actualy entries in the guide. It seems rather strange, yet also totally apt that the truest representations of his thought and speech patterns come from relative non sequiters. There is, however, one small problem. Listening to Adams' words can be incredibly inspirational to a guy like me who fancies himself as someone quite capable of writing a book someday, if he can only come up with the right story to tell. I hear the clever, Adamsian cadences and bizarre juxtapositions and I think, 'my god, I can do that too!' But then, the eponymous fish wriggles its way into my consciousness and whispers, 'but not as well.' This is a struggle I have faced all my life. I have little tolerance for bad literature, and have long since abandoned my youthful vow that a book begun is a book finished. Nowadays if I'm not enjoying a book, I stop reading it. The upside of this is that I tend only to read what I consider to be exceptional writing. The downside of that is that it often leaves me feeling like a Little League pitcher practicing with Sammy Sosa.

I don't really know if there is a real point to this, merely an observation, put out there so that I can't allow it to slip quietly and ignored into the tar-pits of my subconscious. Maybe if I can wrestle this particular demon into submission, I might just get that damned book started. And hopefully an unwritten book started, will be an unwritten book...written.

Marius

El Diablo Me Tiene

A few weeks ago I mentioned playing Diablo II on line with some friends. That has gone quite well, and our Tuesday night virtual gathering is a highlight of my week, but there is an evil downside to this. The great wizard Rico Sanchez warned me that this 'time sucking click-fest' would insinuate itself into my psyche, demanding more and more of my time and attention till all I could think about was the game. Pshaw, thought I. I'm the one who's immune to the lure of video games. I have tried many times to get into gaming. I even had the original Diablo back in 2000, and while I played it nightly for about a week, it soon wore thin and I forgot about it. My wife bought a Play Station II last year, and while we have a bunch of games for it, most require such feats of manual/mental dexterity that I quickly get frustrated and storm off in search of Mythbusters reruns. I have enough trouble keeping the right and left buttons on my mouse straight, never mind having to press square, square, square, triangle, X, X, and stand on my head with my right toe in my left ear to make the ninja on the screen do a flying somersault. I'll take Scrabble any day.

But then came Diablo II.

After our first group game, in which I died twice and often held the group up while looking for them, I decided to practice a bit. I created a disposable barbarian and went zombie hunting. The controls are simple, and the game play is difficult enough to be interesting, but not so hard that you die every five minutes. Before I knew it hours had passed, and the first two fingers on my right hand were killing me. Then Targon asked if we could play just he and I, which we did and I made a different character for that game. Then I decided to see what I could do with a sorceress. She's at 14th level now. Now I'm playing a necromancer who has the creepy, but very useful ability to reanimate the creatures he kills and force them to fight for him. It's wierdly satisfying to go up to the bloody corpse of some beastie that just nearly did you in and make it your bitch.

Then yesterday something happened that made me realize that Rico's prediction had come true. After playing some in the morning before work, I went down to my car, put the key in the ignition, turned it, and heard that dismaying sound of a car that just won't start. The starter moter was turning, the battery was strong, just no ignition. At first there was panic...my car is a decade old with nearly 150,000 miles on her, so any illness could be terminal. Then I paused, took a deep breath, and pondered the least dire possible cause. If she had crappy gas, and was just a bit stopped up, perhaps she would be ok if I let her sit for about an hour. Now here's the disturbing part: my first thought after that was not who to call at work, or whether I should call the wife to prepare her for the possibility to taking me to work and living with only one car for a while, no. My first thought was that I could PLAY THE GAME FOR ANOTHER HOUR!!

help me.

Agamemnon the Barbarian
Maenad the Sorceress
Sphigmoid the Necromancer

and somewhere in the crowd,
Marius

Oh, yeah, the car. It was crappy gas. I hadn't started her at all Sunday, and she was a bit clogged. Stay away from Sunoco gas if you can.

New Supreme Court Nominee

Well, I don't know why I'm surprised. Dubya put a guy in charge of FEMA whose greatest prior achievement was heading an equine organization, so Harriet Miers is actually an improvement: at least she's a lawyer. But she's never been a judge. I haven't had a chance to research whether other justices cut their judicial teeth once on the Supreme Court, so if you know feel free to comment. I have found out, with just a cursory glance at Ms. Miers' record though, that she is deep, deep in Shrub's pocket. She's been on his payroll since his days as governor of Texas. Republicans quickly pointed out that there is ample precedent for presidents appointing justices who once worked for them, Nixon and Kennedy for example, so I honestly don't know what to make of all this yet. I suppose we'll all find out once the confirmation hearings begin, but I will predict this much. The pleasant, almost polite questioning we saw in the Roberts hearings will give way to the almost gladiatorial battles we are more accustomed to hearing from Capitol Hill. It's just a gut feeling, but this is going to be a political blood bath, and if Ms. Miers survives it then she just might be a good justice. We'll soon see.

Marius