Discombobulated

Ugh, I'm feeling like a giant pile of crap. Or like Jeff said on Curb Your Enthusiasm last night (in a different context), "a big bowl of wrong". Nothing major, just slept late Saturday, spent the afternoon and evening out at a friend's house, stayed up till 5AM running our end-of-month processes (still better working from bed than from the office), slept till noon on Sunday, spent the day laying around feeling like crap, took some sleeping pills to get a good night's sleep and passed out blissfully right after Curb. Then, at 2:30AM, MY FUCKING PAGER GOES OFF AGAIN!!! Website's down, so had to spend 20 minutes figuring it out, and then found something ELSE that was messed up from earlier in the day, had a little heart attack and spent another 30 minutes fixing that, so there goes an hour of sleep, plus another 30 minutes to relax and fall back to sleep. Today at work was okay, thought I finally was back to normal, and then when I got home, reached in the fridge to get the flaxseed for the dogs' dinners (yes, we put flaxseed on our dogs' food, along with olive oil--makes for healthy poop!), and WHACKED my head on the freezer door standing up, enough to make me a little dizzy. And of course, I ate too much of our yummy Thanksgiving leftovers, so now I feel full and bloated. I just hope a) I don't get paged again tonight, and b) I feel better tomorrow. Going to the gym will help.

So enough of my self-indulgent whining. Let's gloat for a moment. Randy "Duke" (or it "Dick") Cunningham, Republican Congress-douche from San Diego, resigned today after pleading guilty to taking bribes from defense contractors and being a general scumbag. I hope this is the first of many dickheads being caught and knocked down, even if for nothing other than fun. I don't actually expect that this will "clean up" Washington, but it's just fun to see these old farts get called to the carpet for this stuff. And even if it were a Democrat--I wouldn't mind seeing Robert Byrd get in trouble for something.

Just finished watching Wife Swap, and surprisingly, was not horribly offended by the "Christian" family. It was a pastor and his wife swapping with an atheist radio show host and his atheist wife. And shockingly, the Christians were actually, well, Christian. What I mean is that they said, several times, that they respected the other family's choice to be atheist, acknowledged that they cannot and should not try to convert them, and preached to their flock (flock--silly word) that being Christ-ian, ie. like Jesus, means loving your neighbor regardless of their beliefs. HOLY CRAP!! I mean, if all Christians were like that, maybe I'D even consider being one. Okay, probably not, but I wouldn't fear them like I do. THAT'S what's so frustrating about the trend in our current theocracy--it's become extremely easy and convenient to forget about what Christ actually taught, and focus on what's in the Bible that serves people's personal moral agendas. I would be all in favor of letting people believe what they believe, as long as they were as accepting of what I believe (or don't) and what everyone else believes. So props to Pastor Stonerock from tonight's episode (couldn't find a good link for it) for being a good Christian and giving me a chance to actually respect a man of faith. And also to Amber (the atheist's wife) for reaching out to the Stonerocks' niece, who had come to live with them, the only girl among 4 boys, and showing them what they should be doing to make that little girl feel accepted.

I think I'll stop now since I'm finding my mind wandering, and Dr. Phil is showing some really fucked up people who tricked their spouses into getting pregnant or got knocked up without telling their partner, etc.

Holy crap, I'm full!

I didn't even try to slow myself down today. After spending nearly 6 hours prepping and cooking dinner (not all working, just a lot of waiting), and having heat-blasted the turkey early on and then smelling it all day, all inclinations of moderation went right out the window when we finally sat down to eat. So now I'm friggin stuffed. Oh, in the interest of getting over being self-conscious, I posted the one picture we took of ourselves today cooking (that's me), even though I have wicked bedhead. I'm seasoning the turkey there.

I'll share my turkey secret, since it would be a crime for me to keep this awesome knowledge to myself. I make a great turkey. First time was November 1992, junior year at Stanford. Mario and I were too poor to fly home that year and we had access to the eating club kitchen and cooked for all the "orphans" left on campus, and he taught me his mom's secret for perfect turkey. At least, that's what I remember now. I seriously doubt I would have come up with this on my own. Since then, I've probably done it about a half-dozen times, just enough to stay in practice and keep the buzz alive, but not so much that people got tired of it.

So here's the deal. First of all, get a good bird--I usually do Butterball, but this year Jennie-O was the only fresh ones at the market. You can do frozen too, but allow plenty of time for thawing. Anyway, follow the rules about keeping it in the fridge till you're ready to roll. Remove the neck and the gibs, and wash it out good. Run some hot water over the whole thing and inside the cavity. Dry it off and plop it in your roasting pan. Now the fun part. Mix up a little bowl with equal parts salt and pepper, and sprinkle in some oregano. Now slice a fresh lemon in half (after rolling it to get the juice flowing), and squeeze the juice all over the skin areas. Rub it in real good, cover all the areas you want to be crispy. Squeeze a bit inside the back cavity. Now sprinkle the seasoning all over the breast and drumsticks and massage it gently, BUT be sure you don't rip the skin. Sprinkle some inside the cavity and also add 3 or 4 bay leaves in there. If you feel daring, try some Montreal seasoning on a section--we gave it a shot today, and boy was that some good skin. And that's it for prep. Don't stuff it. And we tried something new today--high heat, worked great. Crank that oven up to 400 (450 if you feel really daring) and blast it for about 10 minutes per pound (took us 2 hours for a 12-pounder). It'll smoke a bit, and the skin will brown quickly, but tough it out, no foil or nothing, and it comes out awesome. My turkey is always really moist and juicy, and here's why--I don't break the damn skin! I read about people putting butter under the skin and poking holes and stuff, but that's what's keeping the juices in. And the lemon juice tightens the skin up so it's crispy AND holds the juices in. So that's the secret.

Anyway, it was a really nice holiday, in the truest sense. I slept in, the wife woke up earlyish and couldn't go back to sleep, but it was generally a nice mellow morning with no pressure to get up and do anything.

Here's Lucy and Lady waking up leisurely as dogs should. So we didn't get up and start cooking till like noon, and the knowledge that we could finish whenever the hell we felt like it was extremely comforting. Everything came together perfect, and the food was all really good. The dogs all got to have some turkey, and quickly proceeded to pass out in front of the fire.

The wife made a wonderful pumpkin pie (first pie she's baked from scratch) which we just polished off half of, and the dogs are slumbering away, happy and full of turkey.

Holy crap, it's f**king cold!

Now why do I feel it necessary to censor my title? Isn't that silly? I've never had a problem cursing freely within my posts. Watch--fuck fuck fuck fuck fucker fucker fucker fucker. But for some reason, it seems more offensive in the title. I guess that's what you call a "modicum of decorum".

But it is fucking cold out there. All of a sudden, here's winter. We had a decent fall, although once again, I got cheated out of a proper New England October. Last year, we were out in California for almost half of it, which was cool, but when we got back, all the leaves were down. This year, it stayed really warm through September, then just when it was starting to turn fallish, we had like 12 straight days of rain in October, just miserable, crappy weather, and then the leaves all started turning, and we got like maybe two weeks of real fall. Got a couple good rounds of golf in when the weather was absolutely perfect. Then it got a lot chillier last week, then it was like 70 again one day.

But I guess today was the end. Woke up early to let the dogs out, barely had my eyes open when I went to open the slider. I could hear Trixie getting all excited waiting for me to unlock the door, and when I looked up--SNOW on the ground. Just a dusting, but enough to snap me awake. Plus it was like 30 degrees out there on the porch. Yikes. I mean, I don't hate the winter like I do the 100-degree days in the summer, but I could do with more moderation. I think after all, I really do prefer San Francisco's weather. I kept thinking like I was really missing fall and winter being out there, but SF had the best part of that (the cool, clear days) without the really cold stuff and the snow. But whatever. Weather is weather.

What I'm actually most disappointed in, climate-wise, this year, is that I got very few good "porch days". Here's some insight to the things which I've learned to accept and embrace about myself, rather than questioning if it makes me neurotic or weird (thank you Zoloft). We have a cute little sunporch on the back of our house, just a little 4'x10' room with windows all around and a sliding door on one end. Till this spring, it was an uninsulated porch floor, but I covered it with ply and laminate flooring to help insulate a bit better. And I replaced the old swinging glass door with a really nice slider. But enough talking like Adam Carolla. Point is, we love that little porch. With all the windows open (screens on the windows), it's nice and breezy and comfortable for very short periods of time in the spring and the fall. Unfortunately, in the middle of the summer, it just gets too goddamn hot, even with the ceiling fan I added this year. But when it's right, it's a great place to just sit and be outside without getting bitten by bugs.

So anyway, last year, I happened to have several nearly perfect evenings where I would get home early, Diana would be working late, the weather was perfect, and I got to sit on the porch for like 2 hours, reading my New Yorker and Entertainment Weekly, having a couple beers or glasses of wine, playing the digital cable soul/disco station (reminds me of a station I listened to out in SF), just enjoying the nice weather, and I'd stay out there till it got too dark to keep reading. Well, so of course, I had it in my head that I had to get some more of those days this year, but it just never seemed to come together quite right. The spring flew by without many good days, and then it was summer and too godawful hot out there. I caught a couple good days, but not enough. Then poor Max had his bad time, and that took the fun out of everything. And then September stayed too warm, and then October floated away in the rain, and just when the weather was turning good, I had like one or two good days, but the crazy little beagle would drive me nuts barking and pacing, and then boom, clocks change and it's freaking dark at 5PM! I realize it's really selfish to complain about not having enough time to sit around drinking and reading, but it's just that when I got to have those days last year, it was so peaceful and grounding and relaxing, I just craved that sensation again, probably more so because it reminded me of Max being here, since he would flop down in the doorway and eyeball me to make sure he didn't miss out on any treats.

It's also really annoying when my shows go on vacation--no Daily Show this week, no new South Park tonight. Thank Dog for Tivo, there's always something to watch. We were just watching the Seinfeld cast on Regis (so annoying when those shows have interesting people on their show, and then barely allow them to talk, make the whole thing about the hosts). We haven't gotten any of the Seinfeld DVDs for ourselves, since we've seen every episode in reruns twice, but it might be worth it just for the outtakes. We laughed so hard watching just a couple minutes of bloopers. They really should make DVDs with just the extras--I mean, really, I don't need all the episodes on demand, but I really would like to see all the extra stuff.

Okay, so I just hit the wall where my stream of consciousness ran dry. I got distracted and went to update our Netflix queue, and now I'm not sure what else I was going to write down here. So I'm going to try something new and just stop and remember that I can always come back later. It's not like anyone is reading anyway.

My Little Lady

I've been feeling bad that I haven't posted any pictures of our new baby. She's been with us just over 2 months, but we've been really bad about taking pictures, so I haven't done her Dogster page like I did for the others.

But she's just such a sweet little beagle, and she's already such a part of the family, she deserves some spotlight time. We were definitely not planning on getting another dog so soon after losing Max. We knew it wouldn't be smart to try to "replace" him, and we wanted the others to all find their new dynamic without him. But then Katrina happened, and we found ourselves wanting to do something to help all the pets who were displaced by the hurricane. So the wife started checking out pet rescue sites, looking for a way for us to foster or adopt someone. And oddly, in perusing a local shelter site, she saw a notice for this poor little beagle, 13 years old, whose people were getting divorced and had decided neither of them alone could keep her (after 9 years!). She had about a week before they would have to turn her over to the shelter.

We couldn't believe someone could give up their dog like that. And we talked about it for a couple days, but we quickly realized that we saw that site for a reason--Lady was meant to cross our path. We learned from our experience with Lucy that when they're meant to find you, they just do. So we called and arranged a visit, and this beautiful little beagle with a limp came bounding in our door and ran laps around our house, with Lucy and Trixie sniffing after her. We weren't sure how she felt about us, but we fell in love right away. More importantly, she seemed just fine with the other two dogs, and the cats seemed to care less, so everyone looked compatible. A couple days later, she came to stay for good.

She's a special little beagle. Her limp is from a weakened left front leg, and she's got a big lump on her shoulder, plus a bunch of other little lumps all over her chest and belly. Our vet says they seem to be just benign fatty tumors, so hopefully they won't turn into anything. Poor Max had them too, but we don't know if that's what eventually got him. Other than that, she seems to be real healthy. She gets that reverse sneeze thing a few times a day, but she seems to know how to take care of herself.

Lady's a great addition to the family. She gets along great with Lucy and Trixie, and barely seems to notice the cats. She hasn't yet started playing with toys, but there's some playfulness in her, so we're hoping she'll grab one of the plushies someday and start gnawing on it. She's really good at telling us when she has to go outside, and she always reminds us to give her a cookie when she comes back in. She definitely has a beagle bark, and sometimes drives us nuts with her yapping in the evening before we come up to bed.

The most charming thing is how we can see her becoming more and more comfortable with us. She was always friendly, but over the past month, she's really been seeking us for attention and cuddling. She loves hopping up on the bed with us (I don't think she was allowed to before), and she knows how to turn on the cute to make sure she gets a lot of kisses. She's started running after me and doing the head butt thing when she wants some hugging. Tonight we got her all riled up and she was nipping at Lucy, wanting to do some tussling. And she's got the best tail wag, big and wide and happy-looking.

Oh, and the most interesting thing is that she reminds us of Max in so many ways. He was a Kerry Beagle, not strictly a beagle, but same family. And we had no expectations that she would fill any role he left behind, but we definitely felt an affinity for beagles because of him. But we've quickly found her to be very "beagly" the way he was--always looking for food, letting little silent farts pop out. But what's weirder and sweeter are the less obvious things she does that remind us of Max--laying in the same spot in the yard, acting like she doesn't want to be hugged yet chasing after us for it when we stop, pretending like she doesn't hear us talking to her, and eating from the litter box. Maybe it's projecting our own thoughts onto her, but I honestly believe that our Max is visiting us through Lady from time to time.

It's just so satisfying to see another little fur person become part of our family.

Douchebag to Nowhere

It's been a while since I added anyone to my Hall of Douchebags. Just had to wait for the right one. But actually, this guy's been on my radar for while. Jon Stewart just helped bring it home last night.


Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska (need I say he's a Republican)--one of the biggest dicks in Congress (Jon called him a dick last night, but I thought so long before that). He seems to be the poster child for what's wrong with politicians. Forget about partisanship and people whose ideology I hate (talking about YOU, Rick Santorum)--this guy is just corrupt.

First of all, I heard about him in regards to the giant transportation bill they passed, which includes two huge pork projects for Alaska, including that infamous bridge to an island with 50 people living on it. In reality, the bridge goes across that island, and connects to another island with Ketchikan's airport on it. But even so, $250 million of our dollars for some ridiculous bridge in the middle of nowhere, when everyone seems just fine with a ferry, that's a bit out of hand.

Then, when Congress started talking about how to find money to fund Katrina reconstruction, he threw a tantrum. I wish I had video of him yelling "NO!" to the senators who proposed reallocating money from that transportation bill, including taking away from his bridge, to pay to rebuild New Orleans. He actually threatened to resign if they did that.

And then last night, I saw him chairing the committee hearing where Congress supposedly "grilled" the top 5 oil executives about why gas and oil are so expensive yet the oil companies have shown record profits. He refused to have them sworn in, like all other witnesses before Congress are, and when Barbara Boxer (who really kicks ass) motioned to have them sworn, he called her out of order and threw another little tantrum. Jon accurately called him "an assclown to the oil industry"--love it.

You can get a pretty good picture of what this guy's about from a summary of his voting record. He's probably not nearly as objectionable on ideological grounds as a lot of the other schmucks in there, but on the basis of being a giant crybaby who seems to be only interested in bringing federal money home to his state and specifically his family, he's definitely a douchebag.

Cute Puppy Number 1

I've been feeling bad that I haven't posted more pictures, especially ones of the puppies (and the kitties too). So here's one of my favorite recent ones of Lucy (aka Lulu, Lulubelly, Tater, Tot, Nub). She was napping in her mommy's arms like a little baby. I mean, does it get much cuter?

She's a pistol--still very puppyish at 3 years old or so (we've had her for 2). She sings to us whenever we come home. It's beyond howling or barking, it's genuinely a Schnauzer song. Must be heard to truly experience.

I'll post pictures of the others over the next few days. They all have Dogster/Catster pages (except for little Lady, still need to do hers), so I'm linking those in the title.

What is funny?

I really need to stop trying to post at night while I'm watching TV. I started the other night, and I just get distracted too easily, and before I know it, it's taken me an hour to write one paragraph, and my train of thought is in another county. I always thought I was good at multitasking, but clearly this requires a little more attention.

I was just thinking this morning about what I find funny. Reason it came up is that I laughed out loud at a caller on the radio as I was leaving the house. Every morning, the station I listen to (WBRU Providence) does a "3-way" contest--they play 3 songs and you have to guess what they have in common (something in the lyrics, about the band, etc). I usually miss the songs themselves since it's at 7:15, but I heard a caller today who guessed wrong, and the DJ said he would let him guess one more time, and the guy said "3 songs that I would play while masturbating angrily". That made me laugh. You know why? "Angrily"--just that one word. Saying "3 songs I would play while masturbating" would be only worth a snicker perhaps. But making it "masturbating angrily" made it funny for me. For one thing, you immediately wonder, what the hell is this guy's problem that he's pissed off while he's jacking it? Second of all, it's kind of funny that he's willing to so readily say it on the radio. And finally, for better or worse, it does create a mental image that is hard not to laugh at.

I'm sure not everyone would find that as funny, but my point is more how I love how a single word or phrase can take something from being sort of funny to being hilarious. Like the word "again". I wish I could think of a good example, but any I would come up with wouldn't measure up. But some line about a crazy scenario that is sort of funny becomes very funny when you add the word "again", and you introduce the idea that this sort of thing happens repeatedly. I know I'm not explaining this well, but whatever.

I actually find my sense of humor rather interesting, mainly because I feel I'm pretty diverse. I'm a pretty intelligent guy, but the things I find funny run the gamut from silly and gross to clever and sophisticated. Very rarely do I ever dismiss something as not funny just because it doesn't fit a preconception. Hell, I'm sure I'd even find something to laugh at in Blue Collar TV if I could sit through a whole episode. I like that fact that both South Park and The Office are equally capable to bringing me to tears, that I still quote Beavis and Butthead on a daily basis, that my wife and I reference Seinfeld episodes in every day conversation, and that on a daily basis (no pun intended), the Daily Show ends my day on a funny note. And yet I still enjoy checking out CollegeHumor.com and laughing at pictures of drunk guys who got written on (chopped up) after passing out.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds all these things funny, and maybe it sounds pretentious to analyze one's sense of humor this way, but I think people get so caught up in what's appropriate or cool, or they feel they're above something or that something is too pretentious to be funny to them, they miss out on a chance to laugh. Dog knows we all need to laugh more, and I feel like everyday, I get at least a half-dozen good belly laughs because I'm pretty open to anything I see or hear.

So in that vein, I'm just going to randomly list a bunch of things I remember laughing at lately. Maybe the two people who read this blog will see something they missed and go take a look or listen and get a chuckle out of it. It adds years to your life to laugh more, so if you do laugh, you owe me.

• Family Guy - it's gotten funnier and funnier this year and really pushes the boundaries of what networks usually find acceptable
  
• Eddie Izzard - if you don't think he's funny, you're an idiot, plain and simple; unless you can't get past him dressing like a woman, then you're just close-minded
  
• Seinfeld - I probably watched every episode in syndication 2 or 3 times, and then stopped for years, but recently have been finding them so comforting and funny
  
• Daily Show - You actually CAN stay somewhat informed by watching this, and they are consistently the funniest thing around
  
• The Adam Carolla Project - I know, I keep flogging this show, and I'm sure it's not for everyone. But besides Adam's clever spontaneous riffs, what I find funniest about this show is watching his crew of knuckleheads just being guys and giving each other shit and laughing at themselves.
  
• Sarah Silverman - Again, not for everyone, but I've been reading a lot of interviews with her lately and I think she's hysterical. I can't wait for her movie to come out--even I'm a little shocked by some of the things she says, but mainly in a "wow, I never would have that of that" way.
  
• South Park - They have their not-so-great episodes (the hurricane one that started this season wasn't that great), but they still usually find the perfect mix of wicked politically incorrect satire and lowbrow humor. What I like is that they're not ideologues--they have their beliefs, but it doesn't stop them from making fun of anyone who's too full of themselves.
  
• John McCain - He was genuinely funny on the Daily Show last night, and not in a forced, contrived way like other politicians can be. He struck me as a truly intelligent, funny man, and were it not for the fact that he insists on saying he's pro-life, there's a very good chance I would cross the aisle to vote for him in 2008. I would have in 2000.
  
• Curb Your Enthusiasm - Sometimes Larry's off his game. The whole Producers thing last year was a bit too gimmicky, and a couple of this year's eps have been just silly. But when they're on, they're hilarious, all the more so because they're improvising. The wife and I love doing the raised eyebrow look at each other.
  
• The Office (both versions) - The UK is still the best, nobody does that better than Ricky Gervais. But the American one is really good too, in its own style, and it just mines a different territory of stuff.
  

Probably a lot more for this list, I'll post more later.

Something to Feel Good About

Lest my blog become one giant negative suckpit, I'm posting something one of my employees forwarded me (thanks Pat!), because it's just too heartwarming not to pass on. In case I haven't mentioned it, I love my animals, as well as everyone else's. And I love seeing other people rescue animals--there's nothing like giving a home to a dog or cat (or whatever!) that doesn't have one. Believe me, we've done it 6 times now, and they really do know what you've done for them. I can feel their gratitude, and there's nothing like it.

So these are some pictures from someone doing animal rescue down in the Gulf region following Katrina. Not sure exactly who or where, but it doesn't really matter. I'm paraphrasing the captions that came in the email--no offense to whoever wrote it, but lame captions really bother me, only slightly less than scrapbooks with stickers and cute little quotes coming from the people in the pictures.

Anyway, so it starts with this adorable little puppy, who someone had taken in after he was separated from his owners, but couldn't keep any longer. So these rescuers took him with them.

Then the rescuers came to this house, totally destroyed, and found this poor little beagle either inside or nearby who'd managed to survive that destruction.

She reminds me of our little Lady. And just like our little girl, she quickly made friends with her new traveling companion, as most dogs do.

Then they found two more beagles, who of course were thrilled to join the party.

The final, and possibly most controversial addition, was a pretty orange kitty.

But fortunately, nobody seemed to have an issue with that.

I hope all these animals have either been reunited with their original people, or have been placed in good homes, hopefully some of them together.

If anybody reads this, I can't stress enough how important it is for us to stop BUYING pets and start rescuing the ones who need homes. Yes, all dogs and cats are cute and lovable, but paying hundreds of dollars just because you a puppy who's a certain color or looks a certain way is exactly why there are so many homeless animals. It's so shallow and selfish to make an animal some sort of fashion accessory--how could you possibly say you wouldn't love some mutt from the shelter as much as some puppy from the breeder? Would you love your kid less if he were ugly? Doubt it.

And when you rescue an animal and open your home to them, they never forget it. Oh, they may try your patience anyway, but they always remember that you saved them. I love telling people what my wife said to our little Lucy the day she found her on the street looking all raggedy and hungry and tired. She scooped her up and put her in the backseat and said "Don't worry, sweetie, I promise this is the worst you'll ever feel". And I know that Lucy is grateful to us every day for bringing her into our home.

And one final thing--please get your pets a friend. No pet should live alone. Dogs are pack animals, and with some rare exceptions, they thrive with a friend or two. Our three are totally unrelated but are inseparable. And your kitty will be much happier with a friend to play with. We always thought Bella was a loner, happy to be the lone cat in the house, but having Chia join us brought out a whole new side of Bella and really gave her energy and youth back. So the more the merrier.

Those Fuckers (or what I learned on TV tonight)

Okay, I know better than to trust TV shows at face value. When one of the cases on Boston Legal tonight (we watch mainly because the wife LOOOOVES James Spader) mentioned that a National Guard enlistee who'd signed up for a "Try 1" one-year trial enlistment had his commitment extended by 26 years (to 2031) under the stop-loss order, I was skeptical.

Lo and behold, it's actually technically true. Of course, the use of that fact in the show was a bit selective, as we liberals can sometimes be. But I found the actual Army message regarding the stop-loss policy, and it basically says that soldiers who were scheduled to "separate" in 2002 (and then 2003 and 2004) would have their separation dates changed to 2031 in the database. They then say that this an arbitrary date and doesn't represent when they'll actually separate. But really, the service could choose to just keep them there that long. I mean, what, you're supposed to TRUST THEM that they'll just let you out in a few months? And hell, even if they did, those few months will mean that some of those guys won't come home, or will come home in pieces.

It's so easy to become complacent and forget how angry we should be, how wrong this war is, how it feels futile to rail against it. But we have WASTED the lives of thousands and thousands of people basically so that our "leaders" don't have to admit they were wrong. And saying that those lives were wasted in no way dishonors them--it's very painful to hear and to say, and I'm sure I would never have the guts to say it to the parent of one of those poor kids. But what I am saying in the safety of my blog here is that those people deserved more. They deserved to not have to die in the desert fighting to basically stay alive. They're not achieving anything there, they're just trying to keep themselves and their fellow soldiers alive until someone decides it's time for them to come home.

It infuriates me to hear Bush and the others say that the reason to stay there and keep fighting is to honor those who have already died. That's such a ridiculous argument. Honoring those men's and women's lives means to me that we try to make sure no one else has to die like they did. Do you really think any of them would want more people to die? Who really gives a rat's ass about "spreading freedom" to Iraq? Do we really think they're going to become a flourishing democracy? Doesn't everyone see the civil war about to explode? Is that really worth us spending more lives on?

This somewhat silly show just made one other good point. Where is the real coverage of this war? All the technology and embedded reporters and live phone cam coverage, and we're not seeing nearly the reality that people saw from Vietnam. We don't see the people dying, the carnage that happens everyday. Twenty Iraqis, forty Iraqis, a hundred Iraqis killed in a bombing, we just don't care. Six Marines died yesterday, and it was just a number on CNN.com. Nothing real.

It's just so hard to stay focussed on the real points with all the crap swirling around. Maybe that sounds like a really obvious point, but it's just dawning on me that the media really is spinning us away from the truth, or at least part of it. I think that if it wasn't for that phenomenon, there would be thousands of people marching on Washington demanding we end this disastrous venture.