There's a new group -- backed by unions and fronted by Elizabeth Edwards -- to put big pressure on Congress to actually for real do something about healthcare. I agreed to be spammed.

They've been talking about a big grassroots campaign push as well. That'll be somewhat important during the election, and very important should the election go well. I'll be keeping tabs in addition to getting spammed. Maybe you should too?

Joe Felice is blowin' up bigtime. This was on the frontpage of youtube.com, and is smart and clever to boot. Go Joe!

Tom Jefferson ten days before the 50th 4th, and his own death, too sick to join the party:

I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact, that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made.

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings & security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man.

The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of god. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.

I added paragraphs and capitalized sentences for readability. Nice sentiment.

I'm my own quest for self-governance, I've gotten spread too thin again. The muscles on the lower half of my right eye socket are now twitching off and on -- a few weeks ago it was the other side -- which I take to be a bad sign. But there's light at the end of this tunnel, and a baseball game this evening.

Funny!

This election is going to be kind of kick-ass.

The partisan jab; way ahead of it's time.

And holy shit, looking for a good url to link my mom's name to, I found this old gem:

Whether it's a pitcher of beer, smoking a bowl or compulsively shopping, many people have felt the effects of unbreakable habits. One New York University theater group travels the country provoking discussions about addictive behaviors.

Quick Fix, a reality-based theater group, will hold performances at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday in the EMU Ballroom. Free tickets for students are available at the EMU Ticket Office.

During the 1999-00 school year, Quick Fix began as a project at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, said Josh Koenig, an actor with the group. He said the year-long project started when a theater class at the New York University conducted more than 100 interviews with students, faculty, lawyers, advertising executives, tobacco executives and people on the street. Then, they put those interviews into a performance piece.

Man, you gotta click through to see our old B&W publicity photo though. That was some excellent stuff. I paid my rent from acting with that!

Obama will clinch tonight, and Sen. Clinton will suspend her campaign. VP? Maybe. I dunno if it's the right ticket or not, but for now it's good that the healing can begin and the campaign against McCain commence.

Politically speaking there's a huge watershed opportunity here. Want universal health care? Elect the Black President, six or seven new senators, twenty congresspeople, and then hold their feet to the motherfucking fire.

Don't forget the last part, because FDR was just some aristocrat in a wheelchair without Huey Long, in the words of the Wu, moving on the left:

Number one, we propose that every family in America should at least own a homestead equal in value to not less than one third the average family wealth. The average family wealth of America, at normal values, is approximately $16,000. So our first proposition means that every family will have a home and the comforts of a home up to a value of not less than around $5,000 or a little more than that.

Number two, we propose that no family shall own more than three hundred times the average family wealth, which means that no family shall possess more than a wealth of approximately $5 million—none to own less than $5,000, none to own more than $5 million. We think that’s too much to allow them to own, but at least it’s extremely conservative.

Yarwood asked for it, so here's my response to this week's big legal/political news out of California:

The California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage Thursday in a broadly worded decision that would invalidate virtually any law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

The 4-3 ruling declared that the state Constitution protects a fundamental "right to marry" that extends equally to same-sex couples. It tossed a highly emotional issue into the election year while opening the way for tens of thousands of gay people to wed in California, starting as early as mid-June.

Groovy.

What I like about this is that the decision is broader than just gay marriage. It's gay anything. It's taking the moral high-ground of saying, "you can't stop people from doing X just because they're homosexuals." That's the right way to go, in my opinion.

This is going to move the ball forward and probably lead to more states doing likewise, which will lead to an inevitable showdown over whether homophobic states will be obliged to recognize marriages imported from more progressive climbs, and of course over how the federal hydra should react.

Personally, I think that the question over the magic word "marriage" may be a sticky wicket, and I'd be in favor of some kind of national normalization of the financial and legal aspects -- which is historically what it's all about, let's not forget -- and a decoupling of the State from the religious, spiritual or moral dimension of things. Any couple of consenting adults aught to be able to make this kind of union, and I think it's right and good that we encourage this as a society by recognizing special rights, providing tax incentives, etc. Beyond that, the government shouldn't have much to say about it.

So, Kellymundo has a subscription to Vanity Fair, which I happened to pick up (RFK cover story) in the bathroom today. This happens to be the issue with the crazy Miley Cyrus Photos!!!!! ZOMG BARE 15-YEAR OLD SPINE!!!!

Sometimes I'm ashamed of America. Sometimes it's because we start pointless wars of choice that kill thousands and leave millions homeless and destitute. Sometimes it's because we're so collectively sexually confused, repressed, frustrated, nervous, and (updated inre Joe's point in comments) desperately depraved, we can't fucking tolerate the challenge of, you know, Art.

Annie Liebowitz is the real thing, and this photo is completely respectable.

America, you're crazy baby but I love you.

Bonus Liebowitz: Sting portrait, and homo Arnold.

God we're stupid sometimes.