Last night we rolled down into town to see a ballgame, a great all-American summer activity. The hometown heroes are the Humboldt County Crabs, and they're a good crop. 11 and 5 so far this season.

We watched them take down the California Glory, who had a pitcher named "Sandercock," which makes a great crowd-heckle, and his penchant for passed balls gave rise to a great pseudonym:

Spaulding "Dirtball" Zandercock, arch nemesis to the infamous Wiley Weckmen.

One of the things Mark and I like to riff on is names for characters. With the right name, everything else just springs forth. For instance, just think of the possibilities if you had someone enter the scene labeled as Prof. J P Talkertion (and his saucebox of words). Crank up the boombox!

Off to a wedding ceremony for two girls down at the underground music club. No joke.

Bruce's new album (along with the new Hank III, which is pleasantly less-produced) are on heavy rotation at this point in the Summer of Jefferson. Here's Bruce on CNN:

The Seeger Sessions are really great. It's a whole new Boss, I say, both vocally and musically.

Bruce's new album (along with the new Hank III, which is pleasantly less-produced) are on heavy rotation at this point in the Summer of Jefferson. Here's Bruce on CNN:

The Seeger Sessions are really great. It's a whole new Boss, I say, both vocally and musically.

This kind of thing happens quite often:

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- College students in central China smashed offices and set fires in a riot sparked by administrative changes that made their diplomas less prestigious, students and school administrators said Monday.

Photos of the weekend riots posted on the Internet showed fires set in debris-strewn school courtyards and glass smashed in administrative offices, shops, cars and a bank.

...

There was no mention of the apparent riots in the country's state-controlled media.

Emphasis mine. Interesting to see stuff that finds its way out on the net, even with their American-made "great firewall".

One big reason Republicans win? They cheat:

"In late 1999, the Choctaw paid ATR $325,000. In a 2005 interview with The Boston Globe, Norquist said that ATR had sent $300,000 of that $325,000 to Citizens Against Legalized Lottery (CALL). Norquist explained that he sent the money to CALL because the Tribe wanted to block gambling competition in Alabama. Out of the Choctaw’s $325,000, ATR apparently kept $25,000 for its services. According to Rogers, Norquist demanded that he receive a management fee for letting ATR be used as a conduit."

That's from the the McCain Report, an investigation into Jack Abramoff's thoroughly crooked dealings with Native American gambling interests. The two parties mentioned here are GOP superconnector Grover Norquist, and Christian Conservative wunderkid Ralph Reed. The exposure of all the various fixes will likely cause many heads to roll.

And seriously, check out the brass fucking balls on Grover, demanding a cut of that money he was laundering for good old Ralph! Seems like on their end of the movement everyone gets a slice.

It's interesting that this report comes from Republican John McCain, but it makes sense. McCain doesn't have much to loose by burning down Ralph Reed and Grover Norquest. There's no real public political cost to exposing other people's corruption.

Still, some might ask, isn't it a faux pas for a 2008 presumtive presidential nominee to backstab two starting players on the movement all-star team? Probably, but in this case it's smart politics. Reed and Norquist would almost certainly support some other nominee than McCain in the upcoming primary season. He's taking out the competition

Also, revenge is sweet:

In 2000, Reed was a consultant and senior advisor to Bush-Cheney 2000, and was widely credited with crafting Bush’s victory over Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in the intensely negative South Carolina primary

Reed was “paid to develop the no-holds-barred -- and winning -- South Carolina primary campaign strategy for Bush against Sen. John McCain, which included phone banks branding McCain as untrustworthy on abortion and for being a little too cozy with gays."

Norquist too:

[Americans for Taxpayer Reform] also funded ads during the 2000 Republican presidential primaries questioning the political agenda of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), and criticizing his push for a campaign finance reform bill. The ad claimed that McCain, who was opposing George W. Bush in the primaries, wanted to make taxpayers pay for political campaigns. The ad also stated that conservative leaders had called McCain's agenda "dangerous, reckless and dishonest.” New Hampshire's GOP chairman called the ads "a disgrace" and a "mischaracterization of John McCain's record and views."

By the way, that "no-holds-barred" primary also included push polling asking questions like, "would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" Payback's a bitch, but this is a guy who was in a POW camp for years. You think he was just going to let you get away with that shit?

McCain is one of the most electable Republicans out there, and he's probably one of the best positioned to benefit from the implosion of the GOP establishment. Interesting to see how the wave of scandal will change the inside-baseball playing field.

Questions from a habitual gap-straddler:

How many different facets can a person have before they become suspect? What's the difference between a renaissance man and a dilettante?

Is it possible for people to be comfortable in many different cultural situations while still essentially remaining themselves?

The eventual question is one of where (assuming you're comfortable in a lot of places) will you invest your energy. There's an upper human limit to that shit, and if you spread yourself thin, where do you truly live?

When is it important to settle down and pick one thing?

"Run the place like Saddam"

He's talking about Iraq, of course, but I'm sure if a bunch of punk teens were out violating curfiew here at home the attitude wouldn't be all that different.

This is my man Mark these days:

Oh yeah. And here's a little video of the beach down the hill:

Given the chatter about content creation and whatnot, I figured I might as well poke at my ego and check out my site stats. Looks like I've been doing well! (oops, a header might help)

The stats broke on the 12th, so the last weeks worth aren't in that tally of June, but the average of around 17,500 visits a month from 7,000 or so people is massively head-swelling. I don't know what broke w/my stats, but I just got a Google Analytics code so we'll see how that works out.

Fame and fortune, here we come.

Love Rose's Blog:

Out of nowhere I started missing Bill Clinton. I mean, I always miss Bill Clinton, but the other day I started thinking specifically about Bill in the White House and the whole Lewinsky scandal, and when it came out that he had put a cigar up her pussy and then smoked it later. And my main thought was "Now that's a president I can relate to!"

Think of it. Sitting in the oval office. You're the leader of the free world. What do you want to do with your unimaginable power? Declare wars? Seek profit? Help the needy? Build something giant? Well, there would be a little part of me that would like to use it to get chicks. And if I were president I would never ever seduce interns...but I would definetely think about it. Maybe ask jen to do a little role playing. And the cigar part is just the icing on the cake. Leaning back in the chair, talking to Desmond Tutu or some shit, smoking your pussy cigar. You've got the world on a string.

So, apropops nothing I got the camera here. Will play with it this afternoon and post some results.