Restive State

We'll start with the commentary tonight...

This goes to show that speaking out against the Administration can get you in big trouble. According to this article, the NAACP is being audited/reviewed by the IRS in light of remarks made at its convention regarding the Bush Administration and the upcoming elections. Leads one to wonder if Bush & Co. sicced the IRS on them...

On toFive for Friday...Top 5 political/protest (modern) songs:

System of a Down "Boom!"
RATM "Ghost of Tom Joad"
NOFX "Murder the Government"
Bad Brains "Youth Are Getting Restless"
RATM "Killing in the Name"
...best line ever "fuck you I won't do what you tell me!"

Peace, have a good weekend!

Well, it's snowing again. I really shouldn't be complaining considering we're in the middle of a 10 year drought, but this early? First 5" last week and at least that much today. And no one was ready. The roads were horrible with every jackass with a SUV flying down the road and the rest of dealing with it as best we can. The SUV crowd never ceases to amaze me. 4-Wheel drive does not mean 4-wheel stop. I saw too many out of control today.

My little Bug did great though. Once I got her started that is. I just have to keep reminding myself that it takes time to warm up older cars. You can't just jump in and go. But I felt better driving her than I have felt in my newer car. Go figure.

Here's some hilarity today:

Riffing on the MIlli-Vanilliesque performance Ashlee Simpson laid down on SNL this weekend is the Ashlee Simpson I-Pod. I can't wait to own one of those...

And one more thing we all should be worried about. Check 21 goes into effect on Friday. What it means is that it just got a whole lot more dangerous to float checks. Probably another idea thought up by people who have too much money to begin with (banks...) to bilk it from those who don't (Joe 6-pack and company). Check the info out here.

See ya' tommorrow with Five for Friday...

Just when I thought it was safe to wake up and smell the pollution.

This is just a quickie Monday blurb.

So this is the 5 second wrap-up of the weekend. Ate Chinese on Friday...good. Drove to Laughlin on Saturday...not so good. Watched movies like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"...very very very good on Sunday.

BTW, if you have yet to see aforementioned flick...see it. Do not waste time, do not hesitate, just watch it. It is almost even better with someone you love. (Kinda' makes you realize how special they really are and how you would presumably not want them erased from your memory...)

Peace...on to study!

Once again, it is finally Friday. Off to Laughlin for the weekend to blow whatever money I have. Actually, it is just a chance to get out of town and warm up a bit. There is no rhyme or reason to today's five. I realized that it was almost time to go home, thus losing my internet connection...and hadn't posted the five for today.

As I sat here with "Just what I needed" running through my head (yeah, thanks Circuit City...), it came to me. Five of my favorite covers...that's the ticket. So, without further fanfare here they are, Five for Friday, top 5 favorite covers.

Guns n' Roses "Knocking on Heaven's Door" org. by Bob Dylan
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" org. by Peter, Paul & Mary
Smashing Pumpkins ""Best Friend" org. by Depeche Mode
Everclear "Sin City" org. AC/DC
Jimi Hendrix "Like A Rolling Stone" org. by Bob Dylan

editorial here...and one cover I absolutely hate, it should be destroyed and never mentioned again...
Jessica Simpson "Angels" org. by Robbie Williams (not that I'm a huge pop fan, but that song it wonderful and has a great deal of emotional imapct for me and frankly, her version sucks!)

Have a great weekend!

I'm talking about the election. I can't wait until this crap is over. I can't turn on the TV anymore without seeing some sort of ad attacking someone. That's all that is on the tube anymore. Nothing but political ads. And it is driving me insane.

Up here in Northern Arizona there is a very heated race between incumbent Rick Renzi and the challenger Paul Babbit. And its ugly. There is absolutely no positivity. Every single ad is "Oh, so-and-so took money from such-and-such, raised taxes and doesn't live in N. AZ." But the question is, who really cares? This is truly a choice between 2 people who could give a shit about what happens to small towns in rurual AZ.

The basic thing is, Babbitt (and his family) owns most of Flagstaff (an exageration...they do own a lot though) and Renzi is a sleazy politican (from what I have seen). Neither really represents much of a change or difference from the other. Both are deep in the pockets of PACs and lobbyists, and more importantly, both are extremely well-off. Not that I truly care about that, but, when you're busting your hump just to make rent because the cost of living has spiraled out of control (and wages really haven't followed...), these guys who say they are going to do something to help us ring hollow, because really, what can they do? Call me cynical, but that's how it is. The average Joe cannot afford to buy a house in Flagstaff, but there is a new development of multi-million dollar golf course homes going up. These two candidates are cut from the same stock as the poeple who would buy that kind of place. They profess their care for the workingman and the average Joe 6-pack, but they don't live, work or survive here. So while it seems defeatist and anti-democratic, I'm voting for neither.

But enough of all this. I just have to keep hopeful and remember that there is only 12 days left.


oh yeah...the revolution starts 11/3, and it will be televised...

Yes, game fans, snow. That white crystalline stuff that falls from the sky when it gets cold. Unf*cking believeable. It's October 21st and it is snowing.

Seeing a band in concert has always been a great thing. You get to see the interplay, the skills and more importantly the people who make the music you love. I know lots of people who go to every show that comes around, even if they only like one or two songs. Me I save my money to see bands that I truly want to see. While I'm not fanaticl about going to shows, there are certain ones that I will always go to see, no matter what. One of those is the focus of today's Five. I've only seen them twice and I've only seen them in their hometown, so the view may be a little biased.

It was 1996 when I first saw Everclear. It was the last show of their "Sparkle and Fade" Tour. Sure they were playing to the hometown crowd and glad to be home, but it was one of the best and emotionally touching shows I've ever seen. After the hits, Art came out to do a song that he dedicated to his daughter who was backstage. Talk about sticking you heart on your sleeve.

Second time I saw them was at a festival, again in PDX. Again, at the end of their tour. Once again, an incredible show. Except for my wife getting hit in the head with a plank in the pit (...long story, but one that goes to show how much the pit has changed and that most people in the pit are complete dicks...). The connection they showed with their fans and the love they recieved in return made them on my short list of bands to see anytime they were close.

So, without further rambling, Five for Friday presents, 5 Best Everclear Songs

Pale Green Stars (Sparkle & Fade)
Why I Don't Believe in God (So Much For the Afterglow)
So Much For the Afterglow (So Much For the Afterglow)
Volvo Driving Soccer Mom (Slow Motion Daydream)
Santa Monica (Sparkle & Fade)

Have a good weekend!

The title says it all. Day One of clinicals in the Emergency Department. Talk about jumping in with both feet. More later...

Back at it after a nice trip out of town. I can sum it up very easily though. Had fun, stayed in a great hotel, spent all my money, saw the folks and family, and remembered why I didn't like anyone in high school.

See, that is the funny thing. I was all excited to go and see people I hadn't seen in years. And to be honest, I didn't like many of them to begin with. That was the weird thing, here I was, all excited to see people I didn't like. The nice thing was that nobody recognized me until they saw my name tag. So I guess it wasn't that bad. I shocked me though to see how many people had not moved on. They still lived in the same town, still hung out with the same people and went to the same functions. But I guess that is what made them happy.

The whole trip though crystalized how much I had moved and changed since that time. It made me feel better about what I have accomplished and where I'm heading. So it really was a good thing.

So yeah, it's not Friday, (almost, kind of sorta in some places), but I'm not going to be near a computer to post this Friday. Spending time with the folks, and preparing for my 10 year high school reunion. In reality, I could care less about the reunion, but it gives me the excuse to go see my family who I haven't seen for some time now. So that makes this kind of special. I went back and started digging out tracks that I listened to in high school and had fun doing it. Brought back some memories to say the least.

Here is the expanded 5 for Friday, reunion edition...

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Leavin' On A Jet Plane"
(ok, not in school, but that's what I'm doin')
Soundgarden "Outshined"
Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want?"
Alice in Chains "Them Bones"
Mudhoney "Acetone"
Ministry "N.W.O."
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
NOFX "The Brews"
L7 "Pretend We're Dead"
Pearl Jam "Alive"

Until next week...

Confirming what many suspected all along, the report has come out saying there were no biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons in Iraq at the time of the invasion, or for quite a long time previous. There were no stockpiles, and the nuclear program was pretty much dead inthe water. So what gives?

In the incessant braying of pundits and prophets we, the American people got duped. Plain and simple. Each reason for going to war that was trotted out by the Bush administration has been shot down. No WMDs, no connection between Sadaam and Al Qeda (despite what Dick Cheney had asserted for so long then denied in last night's debate), no shipments of uranium from Nigeria to Iraq...nothing at all. Granted, Sadaam wasn't the nicest guy on the block, and he deserves what he got, but that kind of thinking gets you into too much trouble. Who's next? North Korea, Libya, Syria...maybe Canada, I think they're treating their citizens horribly, I mean socialized medicine, civil liberties and all that...

It blows my mind that we got invloved in a war on a pretense that was proved to be wrong. Sure, it's in our history (Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution rings a bell), but that doesn't make it right. Yes, we were attacked. But it has been shown that Iraq had nothing to do with it. If anything we should have attacked Saudi Arabia, where the majority of the hijackers came from. But thinking like that gets you into places you don't even want to go.

The fact is, the administration f*cked up. Good thoughts for the night...

Update: stumbled this very enlightening article after I posted. Enjoy!

Was reading online tonight and found tragedy.

Rodney "I can't get no respect" Dangerfield, has passed into the great unknown. I always liked his brand of comedy, and him as an actor. Can't really put my finger on it, that one thing that he did that always made me laugh. It was somehting bigger. Not just one joke, but a presence that you could not deny. The crazy eyes, the goofy grin, the trademark line that made him millions, more than just a one liner, his self-depreciating humor made him real enough for the average Joe to understand and connect with. When he made a joke about how small his manhood was, every man in the room chuckled and thought, "Whew, at least I don't have it that bad!" That is where I thought he shone the brightest, at least in my eyes.

Not too long ago I read an interview with him and realized that he was in many ways the American dream. He did his own thing, including getting lit up with the writer, even though everyone tried to stand in his way. He kept getting beaten at the game, but kept at it, persevered, and eventually got what everyone wants, fame, riches, and the trappings of luxury. But in spite of all of that he didn't seem happy (although that could have been the result of his illnesses). What made him happiest it seemed, was performing. You can see it in his face on film. That was what he seemed to love. That struck me though, the sadness in the interview. Obviously he was suffering at that point, but just wasn't ready to pack it in.

But as the saying goes, everyone of us has their time. Thanks Rodney, now you can get a little respect.

It's back, I spend all week trying to find something worthwhile to listen to, but being poor, I can't seem to. So I end up culling thru all sorts of CDs I haven't pulled out in awhile and find something worth listening to.

Remember in no particular order...these have been playing this week. Enjoy!

Faith No More "Falling To Pieces"
this has been so true this week...somebody put me together
Sweaty Nipples "Rum Warrior"
now defunct band out of PDX that not a lot of people outside the NW know about
Beastie Boys "Triple Trouble"
Less Than Jake "Dopeman - Remix"
Smoochknob "Weirdo"
everybody is somebody's weirdo...can I be your?

Unitl next week...