John Stewart brought his A-Game against McCain, who does well in this format. They maintain an affable and friendly rapport, but Stewart's responses to McCain's talking points are something every Democrat who wants to have a voice on this issue should grok. This is how it's done.

McCain starts filibustering in the second segment -- probably because he realizes that his best chance is to not let Stewart talk -- which is a little annoying. Also, Stewart could have done a better job of returning to the issue of "metrics and timetables" when McCain started talking up the "new strategy," because even if you accept the proposition that the Surge really counts as a new strategy (most honest military observers contend that a 10% increase in troop strength will have little to no impact, which is what we are a seeing) you have to wonder when and how you'll know if it's working or not.

Still, this is something every Democratic contender should study.

I just took the Monday evening yoga class at the Westhaven Community Arts Center, and it was just what the doctor ordered. Good to touch base with my Hippie roots.

There are a lot of places I haven't stretched out or accessed in quite a long time, and it's more than worth my ten bucks to have an external structure to focus and calm my mind for 90 minutes. I left feeling lighter than I have in quite a while.

It also made me miss my old artsy city life and all the human connections. Things these days just aren't as rich.

The taxman cometh, and he requires of me about seventeen thousand dollars. Yeah, that's right. I grossed a little over fifty G's last year, and because I ride that crazy "self employment" train the IRS wants a big piece of the pie. It's no biggie though: compared to, say, Bank of America, the Internal Revenue Service is a paragon of reason, patience, and customer service. Plus, their juice is only six percent.

The truth is that I sunk all my spare income over the past year into starting a new business and in paying off my high-interest credit card debts. That this now leaves me with a massive tax liability and no savings is a little annoying (Redman wants out!), but it's a much better position compared to being square with the government, but without a growing small business and eight or nine grand in hock to the corporate shylocks.

Hell, by the time I pay this off -- I'm guessing the end of the year or so -- we might even be on our way out of Iraq, so maybe I can think of it as a kind of war-tax resistance.

That said, I'm actually fine with paying taxes. I don't want to pay more than I have to, but I tend to think that for all its faults this old US of A has some pretty good perks. Freedom isn't free, bitches. Besides, a bigger portion of the money I owe goes towards Social Security (which I believe in) than the Pentagon anyway.

Here's to funded retirement and an end to empire!

Rolling over the clouds, chasing the sun, looking back at the expanding crescent of the earth's shadow in the sky behind, it hits me all over again.

I'm going to have to find my own way.

And the only way that works is if I've got the pride, ego, confidence, vision or whatever you want to call it to make it happen on my own terms. I spend a lot of time second-guessing myself and guarding against hubris -- a well-known tragic flaw -- but it's too late at this point to hope that some ordained path will mystically arise. I'm not destined to fit into a "career track," too independent (cocky) to go into apprenticeship, and I'm certainly not going to find some guru to hand me down my purpose on a silver platter. That much is clear by now.

My experience as a performer (and with a few other things) has given me a bedrock belief in my power to create moments of sublimity, to temporarily transcend the normal boundaries and limitations of humanity and make contact with the divine. It's real, glorious even, but also ephemeral. You can't live it, although you can do your damnedest live for it, by it, and through it. For better or for worse that's how I roll; seeking the edge.

This past year and a half I've struggled with my rambling nature, trying to settle down in one way or another. It hasn't really taken. I've learned a lot about myself and gotten into some really great things -- and so I have no real regrets -- but I'm coming to the conclusion that now is not the time for me to put down roots in the conventional sense, and indeed that "conventional sense" may simply not apply.