Holy Schneykies! teh Editors has announced his intent to run!

un.

fucking.

believable.

if you are unfamiliar with the poor man institute for freedom, democracy and a pony then you are, well, a terrorist. the editors announced yesterday his intent to run for president. the above video is of his press conference. everyone should watch and learn. this is true democracy in action. go and leave a comment at the institute's blog expressing your support.

word!

well lookie here...

(via mssr klein via the rude one)

striking houston janitors trampled by police horses, no coverage in houston chronicle.

rude pundit gets it right re: tased student and trampled strikers -- when those with authority do this shit in broad daylight, with no fear of reprisal, it's a sure sign that we as a society have forgotten our role as responsible citizens. these are our cops. we pay them. we decide what's law and what's not. when they feel that it's a-ok to abuse and punish and harm it's because we let them.

so. write to the houston chronicle editors with shock and horror. same with the la times. call the houston and ucla police departments and express your rage. let them know that this shit ain't cool. it's the least you can do.

on a more personal note...

i'm down in san luis obispo for the weekend for work. the last time i was in this town was 11 years ago, halloween weekend, and on a shit-ton of acid. the second-to-last-time i tripped, with only slightly less traumatizing and frightening results...

anyhow, i'm here again, for work. i am, as a friend so eloquently put it, herding the homeless. i gather a small group of down-and-outters, hand them each a sign exclaiming "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!" or "30% OFF!!!" or "EVERYTHING MUST GO!" and set them out at pre-determined street-corners like little chess pieces in this grand game of overconsumption.

and the reason that i do this is because it pays well. the more class-conscious among us are probably at least a little disgusted. i know that i am. but i also know that without this little side gig (and the catering one, all thanks be to derek) i'd never get out of the city. i realized this morning when i was driving to the beach (nice directions, gretch... not!) that i hadn't left the bay area for months. i think i made it to oakland for a tool show a while back with the laura's, but that's really it.

and also, the guys working with me: they're great. they like that they're getting a little cash for sitting around holding a sign. one of the old timers said yesterday that he'd be sitting downtown anyway, and the fact that he's getting paid to do it pretty much blows his mind. one of the guys is actually trying to get his shit together again, and dropping forty bucks in his lap for a few hours of work helps him get a shower and a new shirt for an interview.

i recognize that if it weren't for capitalism's requirement of about 5% unemployment i wouldn't be able to get these guys at all. i see that the consolidation of ownership in all sectors of the economy is what is leading to the going-out-of-business sales that give me something to do. i'm well aware that the company i'm working for is a carrion-eating parasite, leeching it's subsistence from the dead and dying life-long efforts of the mom-and-pops. but shit, motherfucker's gotta get paid, ya' hurrd!

seriously though, this is a bit of a dilemna for me.

any suggestions?

good luck, bad luck, who the fuck knows?

it's completely clear that we got the house (wait... who is this "we" of whom i speak? what i meant is that they've lost lost the house... or... fuck. you know what i mean!). the senate is still up for grabs, which means it's still up for manipulation. south dakota shot down an incredibly restrictive anti-abortion bill (good news) but seven new states passed laws banning gay marriage (fucking nitwits). the terminator gets another round to play the role of governor of cali (sure, angiledes was no saint, but wtf?), and the army times (and navy times, and air force times and marine corps times) has called for rummy's resignation (wow. didn't see that one coming).

so where do we stand? how much better off are we today than yesterday. did it make any difference at all that we took back the house (there's that "we" again... i don't know where it comes from, i swear)? we're still mired in iraq, most of the fuckers that voted us into that clusterfuck are still in office, and there's still no coherent exit strategy.

we're still addicted to oil. we're still a fundamentally racist, sexist, classist and homophobic nation. we still (as californians) have abysmal public education (k-12 and higher ed), and nationally we are completely uncompetitive with pretty much all the other industrialized nations. our debt is soaring (in no small part due to our bloated "defense" budget), our reputation as both citizens and as a nation internationally is in the shitter and i don't think anyone outside of america is going to be fooled by a slight shift in the name of the majority party of the lower house.

now what? what can we do to really fix this mess? this is not a rhetorical question. i want to hear your ideas. bring it on!

UPDATE 1:oh yeah. almost forgot. this and this and this (via boinboing)

UPDATE 2: looky here... rummy resigns. how sweet it is.(via the rude one)

UPDATE 3: and now this. so when do we start the impeachment hearing? (thanks, junkfarm)

this savage season

the rude one has always been one of my favorites, and today he captures my skepticism, pessimism and fear as well as he has ever done. i'm off to moveon's san francisco office (1366 mission, between 9th and 10th, if you're up for it) to do some more volunteering at three today. i hope you all go out and vote today. somebody smart said something to the effect that the most important political office is that of the private citizen performing a citizen's duty: voting. i'm not currently a full citizen (thanks to my own stupidity, negligence and laziness, i admit), so the volunteering is the best i can do. you all, on the other hand, can exercise your right to exorcise these demons.

get to it.