the king of carrot flowers...

I have a distinct inability to focus on anything as of late...so while the markets are up again and some idiots are applauding because they tell us all is swell again I just need to dump my brain...

watching meet the press sunday - the show's opening segment features a token democrat vs. republican rap session. the democrats get dick durbin, a crook that has represented illinois in the senate for over a decade after being in the house for my entire life. the republicans got newt gingrich...a man that was shamed out of the house of representatives a decade ago. could not have provided a more apt analogy for the parties.

it is amazing how much better horrible policies can sound when they are delivered with elegance...

I'm torn on sotomayor...she has potential to be good, but I see her more likely to be a sandra day o'connor or kennedy (possibly a stevens) than a real mover and shaker. I really hoped obama would go balls to the wall with the courts, recognize it was a fight he couldn't lose and take advantage of it...

not to say I don't understand that he does not believe the courts should have to play a major role in progressive politics or that such a role would be proper for them...but the fact is they can, they do, and they will...

but as far as a political strategy. I have to believe they are hoping beyond hope that the elephants are stupid enough to seriously challenge her and hold the nomination up...because nothing says political wilderness like repeatedly telling the largest growing demographic in america to fuck themselves.

a bit more on sotomayor...she's right, appellate courts make policy. that is what they do. get over it. it has been our system for centuries.

even when obama pisses me off it is hard to be pissed. at least he speaks to me like a grown man and not some frightened child hiding in the closet...

speaking of which...hermione, you can come out from under the sink now. the freaky white t-shirt theiving nutjob isn't coming back...

I wish the california supreme court had decided otherwise...but I haven't read the opinion so I can't really say whether or not they got it wrong. but hell...if iowa and maine are there...its coming.

am I the only professional white male that believes it would be utterly impossible to be impartial if one was incapable of seeing the issue through the eyes of both parties standing before them?

rush, dick and newt see no place for the man that could have been the first black president, an unquestionably talented military mind and diplomat, an intelligent and analytical thinker, in their republican party. they are right...which is exactly why everyone in my generation is fleeing the elephant's tent in droves...

the local school district found $16 million it didn't know it had. will this money be used for: (a) compensation for teachers horribly underfunded; (b) hiring new teachers to reduce class sizes; (c) moving classrooms out of "portables" and into actual schools; (d) providing technological equipment to schools desperately in need; (e) athletic facilities?

kim jong il ain't fucking around anymore. immediately after incinerating some ground hogs, he is threatening an attack on south korea if they mess with his ships. and we are no doubt outraged and will stomp our feet and say boo. and when he does it, we'll send every available man and woman to stop him. all fifteen of them.

although I have to wonder if the best way to get him to do what we want is to simply ignore him like you would a petulant child. bring in those brit ladies from nanny 911 for some tough love lessons.

saw an amusing original production of a local theater company...cat gut strung violin. was about a young immigrant finding his way to america only to be conned into joining the armed forces and shipped off to war, where he then desperately tries to cling to his humanity - in an of itself a ludicrious impossibility. I hear the show will be hitting the festival circuit...if it comes, go.

also had the good fortune to end the weekend with horrible depression after viewing the devil came on horseback. the latest reminder that "never again" will again return as a catch phrase in a decade when we look back on the horror we let continue in darfur...

which makes me think that china learned a very valuable lesson from anglo-style capitalism. seriously...the nation acts like some of the biggest corporations in the world, wealth and power without concerns over things like human rights or basic decency. and now the student has become the master.

if it is true that burris got the senate seat for $1,000 bucks I am pissed off that none of my buddies still in Illinois didn't call me up. I would have thrown in twice that for them to be my puppet in washington.

since it seems to be supported by the same politicians that tell me that if I haven't committed a crime I have nothing to worry about with illegal, unethical, unconstitutional and brutal police and prosecutorial tactics (nevermind that I have something to worry about for precisely the reason that I haven't committed a crime...afterall, if I were guilty I'd be on borrowed time anyways) are the same politicians that want guns in our national parks I have to ask - unless you are using them illegally, why would you possibly need a gun in a national park?

new numbers are out...we pay $25,000 a year to house drug offenders in federal prisons...a damn good number of them low level dealers and couriers. legalize the shit and save $25,000 a person. put them to work in a legit billion dollar business with even minimal earnings and they bring in tax revenues like you would not believe (on their own income, on the business itself, and on the inevitable sin tax). could turn into a swing of hundreds of thousands an individual per year. but how sad that the only argument that may work in the end is the bottom line...what does that say about us as a society?

while you read this another aging sick person was busted for the unspeakable act of growing a plant in their house that makes their life bearable and does not hurt anybody.

I've got a pocket full of nothing and I keep on losing it...