The Wendy Walkerization of America!

So it's finally on Youtube.

Check out Jeff's blog.

Dianne Wiest Heads a Team of Two Ladies Plus Ugly Betty to Dallas to Issue Warnings for Torn Earlobes

Ditto everything Jeff said about our trip to Dallas. For some reason I have Dianne Wiest on the brain. Mostly this is due to her being featured on a recent episode of Family Guy in which Pablo Picasso rearranges images in his painting and reveals it to be Dianne Wiest. Today I imagined her suddenly ascendant in the public consciousness, claiming huge amounts of authority to issue statements affecting public safety et al. Today she is warning all residents of Greater Union Square to take shelter in preparation for the Super tornado barreling down Park Avenue. As useful as she'd be for downtown Manhattan, she'd be doubly so for Dallas. And Ugly Betty can be her spokeswoman and behind-the-scenes worker bee.

Our trip to Dallas featured many instances of funny -- I'm referring mostly to our adventure on the Dallas light rail system, the DART, followed by our walk through no-walk land, followed by a trip to the gay mall, followed by a fun evening at an East Village-like bar. Having secured the cash needed for the train fare from an ATM machine a mile walk away, we ventured forth, noticing a "Torn Earlobes?" message on an LED display near the train door; walking on a 3-ft wide (some places none) sidewalk next to eight lanes of SUV-filled traffic and strip malls in search of Wii games & gear; walking to the North Park Mall and getting cruised by men with wives and babies, and chatting up a Jersey native who works at the Bose store; and finally being driven to the Grapevine bar, where we listened to Radiohead and Thom Yorke and Tammy Wynette, and where I managed to spill my screwdriver all over my lower left pant leg. Fun.

We discovered Ugly Betty, too -- gayest network show ever. Fun. And Earle's barbecue sauce in Oklahoma City. And I discovered Jack In The Box -- mmm. I made macaroni and four cheeses with smoked bacon. We had smoked and Cajun turkey. We found a Mikasa store where a woman there declared, "I have taste!" We had a lovely and laugh-filled chat with a Portland, OR lesbian transplant. We played Wii! I wore a T-shirt all day and night on Thanksgiving. And we discovered an Angelika Theater! Oh, and the tallest building in Dallas is lined with green light at night - cool.

Oh, but that image of Jeff sprinting through a Wal-Mart on the Wii quest - classic.

Two Ladies Visit America

Emily: Oh, Florence, I do like these Etat Unis, these United, em, States. We must come here more often. I wonder if they have any "Ladies" states, you know, states where only ladies live and frolic. We would go there because we're LADIES.

Florence: Yes, yes -- ladies indeed!

Random Election Volunteer: Are you two guys voting today?

Emily: Pardon, miss?

Volunteer: You know, the election's today, it's a really important one, too, and --

[Emily and Florence gasp in unison]

Emily: Oh, no no! We don't do that, em, vo-tay thing. No, we're LADIES, of course! We do ladies things. Can you tell us where the nearest Ladies state is for us to do...shit?

We Won.

This is what democracy looks like, people. We got the House and the Senate, and it feels good.

We have power. OhMyGodJesusFuckingChrist we have power! Nancy Pelosi is going to be Speaker of the House. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader. Like that. And we did this. Us! You, me, Alexis, Jeff, Jacque, Jen, Jen, Jen, Bill, Alexis... We voted, we called people, told them to vote, they voted and called other people. It was a flood. It really worked this time.

This is unreal, this is unimaginable that we have some power now. In every sense of the word, it is awesome.

I was overwhelmed last night watching it happen at the Urge, watching our hopes come to fruition as asshole after asshole went down in flames. When the words "CNN PROJECTS HOUSE WIN" came on the screen I was in tears. I never expected to take the Senate, though. Thank you for being optimistic, Alexis, it took a while but we did it.

Thank you MoveOn, thank you Air America, especially Randy Rhodes , Jeanine Garofalo and Al Franken. Thank you Greg Pallast, Molly Ivins, and Katrina vanden Heuvel . This has been such a long, hard road. On to '08, I know. There's a hell of a lot of work to do and shit to clean up, I know -- but let's savor this moment.

Paul Wellstone , wherever you are -- this win's for you!

WTF No. 3 of 10,467 --> Vote By Mail is the Solution

So all over the country there are voting problems, and not surprisingly, they are overwhelmingly in poor municipalities and places where people are more likely to vote Democratic.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

Holy shit why don't we have what Oregon has: Vote By Mail. It's that easy. It's that simple.

It's going to be a long fucking night.

Vote Today - Don't Let Republicans Win

Well, here we go. This is it. Are we going to wake up to a fascist country tomorrow or will the Republicans lose? It's that simple.

I am worried about these Republican "robo-calls" having an effect on the outcome. I'm already hearing about voter suppression, long lines and people voting on electronic machines for the Democratic candidate and having the Republican one show up as voted for. This is eery.

I read a good post about how most so-called "conservative" Republicans aren't really conservative at all but simply just authoritarian. These tactics definitely prove Republicans can't win on their merits but have to rely on fear, smears and breaking the law to get the results they want. Why do people fall for it? How dumb a society are we getting? The media is no help, obviously. They report races are "tightening" because that makes for a better story line. Keith Olberman of MSNBC is the only one in the so-called mainstream media (more like corporate-owned talking heads masturbating to power) reporting on Republican dirty tricks and giving voice to those who'd like to spread the word.

Republicans, you are masturbating, meth-dropping cowards. We know what you're really about and we're not afraid. We're about life, you're about death.

More posts throughout the day.

Vote!

Thoughts on Term 'Liberal': How Republicans Are Both Anti-Liberal and Anti-Conservative, How Meaning Was Sullied (Part 1 of a series)

For four years now Bush and his cronies, his Republican sheep in Congress and our pathetic lapdog media have terrorized us with lies after lies after lies about weapons of mass destruction, "freedom" being on some march in Iraq, and "fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here." They have destroyed any sense of civil political discourse or debate in the process. They are on their side, everyone else is on the side of terrorists.

They continue to destroy. In fact, the American Republican party has become the most destructive force the planet has ever seen, and will continue to be unless the Republican Party itself is destroyed. Not just stopped -- destroyed.

People need to wake up and smell the fascism in order to organize. Organize to the extent that we have saturated the country with progressive networks, and nominate progressive candidates at every level of government in all geographic areas of the country, willing to stand up for progressive, liberal, and yes, conservative values. For not only have Republicans managed to negatively connote the term 'liberal' but they have also run away from conservative values as well. Of course this is liberal with a small 'l' and conservative with a small 'c,' for both describe good qualities in people. There is no 'liberal vs. conservative' because this confrontation put in the context of either-or is a moot idea. Most good and decent people are both liberal and conservative. Rather, our mass media have run with this either-or nonsense created by the Republican propaganda machine because it is the easy thing to do to make money. It is simple to grasp in these terms by most Americans.

Let's henceforth call what is obviously our great political confrontation what it really is: the political left vs. the political right. At present, the political right, i.e. Republicans, are headed toward the fascist/authoritarian side of the multi-faceted political continuum. This is dangerous for a free and liberal society. During the last century it was the Communists who were the ones doing this same sort of thing, only there were on the left.

More later...

RUN, elephant, RUN

See Iraq For Sale. Then ask yourself how these horrors were allowed to happen, and why, and why nothing is being done to stop the C.A.C.I.s, Blackwaters, Titans, and Halliburtons of this world.



Republicans are destroyers of hope, of joy, of life.
Republicans are killers.
Republicans are death.
Republicans are sickening.
Republicans are aliens from Hell.
They seek power for power's sake.
They have no soul.
They are small.
They are criminals.
They are cowards.
They are ghouls.

People, you need to watch "Iraq for Sale: The War profiteers," then go out and tell everyone you know to do so. Then run, RUN to the polls November 7th and vote them out. Done.

Woo-Hoo! Fascism's Here, Kids!

Isn't it great? Did ya here? The Senate passed the interrogation bill, and now Bush can decide which method of torture he can use on torrorist supects, which can include American citizens. They can't appeal their case or review evidence against them. This could potentially be used against protesters at peaceful rallies. Wow, there goes that Constitution we all thought we loved. And being a free country? Forget it. Fascism's here, now, kids, and you better not look brown or read Noam Chomsky in public or...else.

Fuck this shit.

The Republican Party has now become a de facto terrorist organization. They are sociopathic thieves, liars and murderers, and I say it's time to get in people's faces who say they vote that way and are proud of it. How dare anyone vote Republican any more with a straight face. Get out of my country.

Everyone, if you read anything read this.

And this.

And this.

And watch this.

And watch this.

Dreams & Roller Coasters

We were at the bar Metropolitan in Williamsburg the other night with my ex Doug and his friends. Nice space with a huge garden out back. We got on the subject of dreams and what they mean. Is the stuff that happens in dreams imaginary, or is it real by the fact that we saw/felt it so vividly, almost as vividly as real life? Why is our waking life reality more valid than our dream reality? If I dream that I have a Penthouse apartment in Gramercy Park and feeding Lizzie caviar and hairball-reducing champagne, why can't that be true? If reality is just a function of our brains telling us this is so, than what are dreams? Doesn't the brain also feed us images/events in dreams? I thought of Jacque's dream about Liz Taylor night at the Urge -- I don't remember there being a Liz Taylor night, but it is entirely possible, and if enough people dreamed it, did it not happen? GREAT idea, by the way.

We also got on the subject of the latest thrill rides in our nation's amusement parks, notably Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. Doug mentioned he went there recently and went on El Toro, his friend Amy talked about Kingda Ka and everyone piped in about their own experiences on various screamers. These rides are quite extreme, but sound so fun. It's not enough to let gravity take you to unbelievable speeds, now it's got to be electro-magnetic or hydraulic propulsion, to speeds over 100 m.p.h. in less than five seconds. It seems like I'm so behind on all the action, as my last new thrill ride-of-the-moment was Nitro at Great Adventure, five years ago (or so). This is kid's stuff nowadays. Anyway, Gay Day at Great Adventure is Friday, Sept. 8th from 6pm to 1am, and we can't wait to go.

Maybe we'll have dreams about it afterward.

Joe Lieberman Must Go

If anyone reads this post before tomorrow's CT Democratic primary and she or he lives in CT, please vote for Ned Lamont. This is shaping up to be such an important primary, not just for the people of Connecticut but for the rest of us as well. Who wins tomorrow will definitely impact the direction Democratic candidates everywhere want to take, and the kind of stand they are to take against the Re-THUG-licans. I think Ned Lamont embodies the kind of tough progressive most thinking people want in a candidate, one who openly questions not only the criminal Iraq War but almost every other bad policy of this horrible administration, and demands accountability in Congress. Lieberman has almost singularly defined himself as being the only Democrat in Congress to do everything opposite -- voting for the war, supporting Israel at every turn no matter what they do, voting for the abysmal and cruel Bankruptcy Bill on the heels of Katrina, voting to disallow a fillibuster on Sam Alito for Supreme Court, knowing full well he could be pivotal in overturning Roe vs. Wade, the list goes on and on. He's basically the Republican candidate at this point. And he has the nerve to say Lamont's supporters are vindictive and ruining his anointed Senate seat. And his campaign tactics against Lamont could have been taken right out of Karl Rove's playbook. Need I say more?

Please, if you can tomorrow, volunteer for Lamont's Get Out The Vote campaign, or if you live in CT please please please vote for Lamont. November will look that much brighter if Ned wins.

Thanks.

Tuna Melts! (warning: overly silly post having nothing to do with anything)

Passive aggression is FUN! AND simple! All you need is:

-Bitterness...
-Anger...
-Resentment...
-Suburbia...
-AND Complacancy

That's IT! And now it's time to make our: "3-Minute Passive-Agressive Souffle!"

Now the first thing you need to do, is put the anger in a bowl -- and I did not realize that there was going to be a ticking sound. That's a little distracting...Okay, where was I? Oh yes, to save time, prepare a point of contention beforehand. Quick and Easy! Now, stir this point of contention and the anger in the bowl until it ripens into full-blown fury, but not so much that you cause physical harm. Okay, now you're ready to bake it in the oven on level Vapid-Boring-Petty 5 for one hour.

Okay, that ticking noise is a little annoying...Just stop that ticking! JUST STOP THAT TICKING!!!

Oh Pleezza, Condoleezza!

The Middle East can wait -- there's a shoe sale at Bergdorff's and Condi LOVES her shoes!

Someone Grab Me A Bucket!

Oh my God, he did not just -- um yeah he (IT) did. What a sick fuck. Ok, now he needs to choke on that buttered roll. Now that he's vetoed Stem Cell funding and with one stroke of his pen obliterated a fighting chance for hundreds of thousands of suffering people, yeah, I say choke.

Happy posts to come I promise!

The Emperor Needs Some Green Tea to Wash Down His Buttered Roll

Everyone must see this:

BuSHIT

Eww.

Someone should tell George the correct use of the word 'irony.' Oh, and please tell him to stop talking with his mouth full, he just might choke. Oh, right...

Looks like Babs really fucked up raising this one -- thanks, Babs.

Kofi, come to the Urge and have some Mojitos with us! We'll buy!

And for my next post we'll be making Three-Minute Mojitos! Mm, yummy!

Go Suck It, NY Times!

This from this morning's nytimes.com:

Even at the End, Ken Lay Didn't Get It
By JOE NOCERA
The tragedy of the former Enron chairman is that he never fully understood what he'd done wrong.

Yeah, ok, and I'm Jesus. No, Joe, it's you who don't fully understand how fucked up the above caption is, and how you could think this douchebag didn't know what he was doing at the time that he did it. Ken Lay is among the most awful men on the planet, and the real tragedy, Joe, is that your newspaper continues to apologize for the awful and powerful. And the Times gets labeled 'liberal' to boot. THAT'S the tragedy, Joe.

Family, holidays & Independence

Sitting here in Taunton, MA, 8:30 in the morning alone with my thoughts. I read William Rivers Pitt's posts in Truthout.org and thought, yeah, Bill, you got it right yet again. Who/what is a good American? What does it mean? Being patriotic today is like shooting fish in a barrel, he says, but what about the other 364 days of the year? He cited Ben Franklin as the ideal model, and I thought that was great. Franklin was a thinker, which is what we could use a lot more of these days. It's not just do you support the President? Yes or no. Do you believe in God? Yes or no. If you watch what passes for news these days, you likely get a ready answer. We live in such dumbed-down times, it's hard to forget what an intellect Franklin was and how he used that intellect to help win the Revolutionary War. There's some irony in that. Hey, he got France to help us out with their Navy, anyone remember that?

I'm getting to know more of Jeff's family these past couple days. There's a whole lot of Massachussetts going on. So went to Mah-ket Basket for some groceries and put up the pawp-op to sleep in and just had a great time in front of the kettle fire outside roasting marshmellows and making home-made pop-tars (two pieces of white bread, fruit filling in the middle and you put in between this metal contraption and you put it over the fire...cool).

I hear breakfast bein' made. Happy 4th, everyone!

The Urge

Ah, so many good times! Good Times!! Gas has gone up another 6 cents. A big storm came through. All this while sipping screwdrivers at the Urge! AND, Jeff and I found a new spot to go hang out and read and relax. We went down to Battery Park, at the South Cove, where there's a wooden dock/park and benches, and everything was lovely and quiet. Jeff read 52 pages and I read a really good article on Thom Yorke from Radiohead making his first album mostly by himself, although he prefers not to call it "solo." Also, Radiohead will come out with new songs soon, although the format is yet to be determined, and how they will distribute it is anyone's guess 'cause they are no longer signed with EMI or any other record company which I think is fabulous.

Okay, enough for now.

Toodles.

NYC Nature

One of the perks of my job.

George Bush Is A Fucking Monkey-Faced Idiot

Among other future postings in which I wear my feelings on my sleeve...

Hello everyone! So I've finally landed on the blogwagon. The idea behind by blog name came from visiting San Francisco and going to this place called Squat & Gobble for brunch one day. They pretty much just serve egg sandwiches, albeit fancy egg sandwiches served on a fresh croissant with fruit on the side. It's a cafe restaurant with tables inside and out, and quite lovely. I realized we didn't have anything quite like that in my neighborhood, and dreamed of opening a 'Squat & Gobble East.' So, I guess this is the next best thing!

Some observations I had today:

1. A squirrel on East 7th Street was trying to make its way through the urban landscape, quickly scurrying past humans and darting under cars. Hope it didn't get picked on by any rats.

2. I got honked at at 8:10 in the morning by Dave, my co-worker who I work with every day in the field inspecting overhead signs on highways throughout Queens. He jarred me out of my thoughts and it quite annoyed me.

3. A man walked out his house in Flushing, Queens and made the sign of the cross three times in a row before venturing out to wherever he had to go.

4. There was a four-car smashup on the parkway because someone lost controll of his car. His (that of the guy who lost control) car was totalled and he had to get pried out of the car and brought away by ambulance. Talk about a bad day.

Jeff's sister has landed a job in NYC and living with us while trying to find a place. I don't know if I was ever happier for anyone I know doing that.