Another short post with no image (I'm going to redesign this boogin' blog to support more like this... maybe some kind of sidebar again), but anyway I found this to be somewhat exciting:

http://www.communitycounts.us/debates/

At this point I think people are trying too hard to model themselves after the conventional notion of a debate moderator. But the notion being driven by CNN/YouTube, and the ability for Community Counts to mash it up seems like the inkling of something that could be really important and interesting and healthy for the country.

So, you know, you can get this off the internet the same way I get most of my video entertainment (savvy?), and I just watched it and it was really good. I don't go for Moore's coy, "gee mister, don't people in Cuba have to pay for healthcare" character, but his films can be quite thoughtful, and this is some of his best work. The assembled stores really speak for themselves.

One thing that stuck out for me was this bit from France, where they make sure that if you're poor and you need to take a cab home you can walk out with some cash. There's a line where the French doctor says, when asked about paying bills, something along the lines of, "the only qualification for walking out is that you're healthy enough and are going someplace safe."

That hit home for me, reminded me of the bike crash that got me wearing a helmet:

Actually, the stitches are not that much of a pain. There were a few woozy moments in the ER, but the real damage is muscular. I righteously pulled out my groin and jammed by elbow, both on the left side. Heading in I could walk and move pretty well. Walking out of the hospital took me a full five minutes gimping along, coming close to out and out crying on the ramp leading to the street. It’s a hell of a thing to be totally incapacitated.

UPDATE: Kos/Atrios on the lack of leadership. I don't know how to diagnose the problem ("the consultant class" feels too vague and simple), but the inability of prominent Democrats to actually get infront of the Public is crippling.

Jerome read it in the stars that the race is Hillary's to lose. Maybe he's right. I still think a lot can change between now and Thanksgiving, and I hope to hell that it does.

The 2008 political cycle has thus far been a near universal bummer for me. Nobody seems to be responding to the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. People think this for all sorts of reasons, sure, but the universality of dissatisfaction suggests a real consensus on the part of the Public that, in the words of Dwane Allisandro Comacho, "shit's bad right now."

The Republicans are almost comically trying to one-up one-another with the severity of their proscriptions and solutions for the nation's ills. Nuke Iran! Double the size of Gitmo! Identify all illegal immigrants! It's mostly ridiculous fearmongering, but at least it's responsive. Democrats, in contrast, are running a laconic race so far, afraid to disagree with one another, largely unwilling to suggest that anything is really all that wrong, or that anyone could be at fault.

UPDATE: A sleuthing commentator suggests it's a low/non-alcoholic beer. Add as many grains of salt to the following as you see fit.

G-dubs is on the sauce, in case that hasn't been obvious for a while. The headline is Illness Sidelines Bush at G-8 Summit. Bottle flu is a bitch, man.

I don't really think there's anything wrong with a president drinking, or being drunk even. However, if Bush has actually internalized the AA model of relating to alcohol -- which is debatable; it's totally possible that his whole Billy Graham come-to-Jesus thing was a sham from the start, or that the "dry drunk" theory is for real -- it's not a good thing for him to be drinking at all.

AA doesn't really work any better than other methods of treating alcohol. Relapse-rates remain in the 90th percentile. However, the fact is that the AA model is founded on a paradigm of total abstinence and release of control, the recognition that the addict is helpless and that they must appeal to a "higher power" to control their relationship with the chemicals. Relapses from this kind of treatment -- as opposed to those which try to create a more normalized relationship between addict and substance -- tend to be total, a fall from grace so to speak.

So, while I'm 100% sure that the bureaucracy of government is fully capable of handling a president on a bender -- Darth Cheney and all -- it's still more troubling to see Bush off the wagon than, say, Nixon getting boozed up and confronting protesters. Tricky Dick was in charge of the bottle. Dubs, if his narrative of alcoholic redemption is true, may be at its mercy.

After a pretty intense weekend, I feel a low drop. The physical exhaustion is expected (and I have some minor injuries to heal), but the emotional rebound is harder. It's like the day after Disneyland. I'm so bored!

One of the things I've been mulling over lately is just what it takes to get me excited these days. There are several threads to this introspection, so I'll try to tease them out with some kind of order.

Inhibition
I'm coming to realize that in certain important and meaningful ways, I've developed a range of inhibitions, in the form of insular routines, reflexive skepticism, and internal checks. This is kind of a contrast to my life age 18 to present, which was largely about the shedding of inhibition, tapping into self, going a Dragonball-Z with my chi and that kind of shit.

Maybe it's a weird thing to say as the proprietor of a website that's blocked by many major parental-control (or workplace-control) filters, but there it is. This has been a theme in my writing for the past several months, but I didn't hit on the specific word "inhibited" until someone used it -- or rather, the inverse, "uninhibited" -- the other day to describe an ideal way to be.

That's something I agree with, deeply, being uninhibited. It's in some of my favorite hip-hop lyrics and it stands at the center of what I construe to be personal liberation. Emancipate yrself from mental slavery and all that jazz. The point is, it's a bummer and a wake-up call to realize that's part of what's been going on.

One thing of note: I wrote a chapter for a book. That's a step-up on a longtime ambition of mine.

Book site here.

Well, politically things are looking ugly these days. I've been paying attention to the GOP nomination process, and to the legal drama surrounding the Bush Administrations use of detention, torture and surveillance. They make a wicked cocktail.

First from the South Carolina GOP debate, you take a splash of vengance: Rudy scoring huge when he cuts back against Ron Paul, who had the audacity to suggest that 9/11 wasn't motivated by hatred for our freedom:

Then a double-shot of bloodlust. The debate was hosted by hosted by FOX News(natch), and their long-faced consigliari Britt Hume dropped a lovely little scenario out of 24 to get the candidates out on the issue of torture. This is a segment in which proposals to "double the size of Gitmo... where they don't have access to lawyers" got a hearty round of applause for Marvelous Mitt Romney, and Rudy gets a good response for "every method they can think of."

McCain falls flat trying to be a little honorable, him being the one up there with real personal experience and all. Sorry Walnuts; the crowd didn't buy it. Not salty enough, I guess.

Sorry for two politics posts in a row, but this one doesn't quite fit at FM, and it's too juicy to not pass along. Via the pranksters at Sadly, No! comes a real gem:

Turned off by cunninglingus? Eh, a lot of guys don’t dig that. Who the hell knows what’s going on down there. It’s like H.R. Geiger giving up ink and canvas to work in the avant-garde medium of Play-Doh and bacon.

This is a prominent (linked to by more than 2000 others) right-wing blogger, The Ace Of Spades, responding (defensively) to a list of reasons you might be gay.

I'm reminded of an overheard bit of conversation my man The Girth related to me. An older bachelor, speaking to a younger man, said, "man, I love it when I hear some young cat tell me he doesn't like to eat pussy; that's someone's girlfriend I can have."

Which is an over-statement, but contains a kernel of truth: you're not going to do very well with women socially (let alone sexually) if you've yet to overcome the feeling that a meat-eating fish inhabits the vagina of the Terrible Mother.

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.