Sunday, October 31, 2004

The lonely Republican

Okay, I'm going to break my own rule about putting all the political links in one post. But this isn't a link -- it's original content. Yes, a story about one of my own family members.

Early this evening I called my 84-year-old mother, who lives in suburban Portland, Oregon -- a town called Tigard, to be exact. She lives in a retirement community, about 100 standalone houses with retired couples between the ages of 55 and 95.

Uncharacteristically, our conversation turned to the election. She asked me how I was voting and I told her Kerry. She said, "Oh, you dirty dog!" -- which is pretty strong language for her. But then she said she had tried to get neighbors to come over to her house on election night to watch the returns. She only wanted other Bush voters, of course.

She couldn't find any.

She asked the guy next door. Kerry. She asked the people on the other side. Kerry. Finally she turned to the lady sitting next to her in church. Kerry. I asked her how many people she had asked. She said, "Oh, not that many..." I got the picture she had asked six or seven people.

Well, it is Oregon; it is near Portland. But I would have thought, among retirees, in the suburbs, more Bush support. Nice to hear.

Monks in the news

Readers of Thomas Merton's journals will remember him recounting the time in 1947 when his own monastery was so overcrowded -- mostly with war veterans trying to deal with PSTD -- that they sent a deputation of monks to establish a monastery in Utah. Today the Utah monastery is in bad financial shape, but they refuse to sell of part of it, despite the likelihood the land would pay them top dollar.

In February, some Tibetan monks were scheduled to perform their prayers at a Catholic church. Fundamentalist catholics became so theatened that they out-prayed them, and the monks packed up and left. The group that sponsored the performance sued the Catholics, but has now dropped the suit because the law they cited doesn't apply to religious groups.

This space reserved for politics posts

Make it stop, New Mexico cried. Yes, yes. I feel your pain.

This morning in the NYT, Maureen Dowd discusses the OBL video and the big question -- who it benefits. Some good zingers:

The Bushies' campaign pitch follows their usual backward logic: Because we have failed to make you safe, you should re-elect us to make you safer. Because we haven't caught Osama in three years, you need us to catch Osama in the next four years. Because we didn't bother to secure explosives in Iraq, you can count on us to make sure those explosives aren't used against you.

In Washington, the Redskins lost to the Green Bay Packers. So what? As MSNBC's Keith Olbermann explained this week at some length, the Washington Redskins' final home game before the election has predicted the presidential winner for the past 70 years: If the Redskins lose their last home game before the election, the incumbent loses. So if the Red Sox weren't enough, surely this is.

Perhaps the Red Sox winning the World Series wasn't enough to make hell freeze over, but sure this will do it: in Florida today, Karl Rove exclaimed, "Viva Cuba!"

Saturday, October 30, 2004

I see dead people

After winding up on the wrong side of several ethics charges, ruthless GOP politician Tom DeLay -- who engineered the brutal, and some say unfair redistricting process in Texas, is now in a dogfight in his own district. He leads by only 7 percent, 42 to 35 percent, in a recent poll.

Speaking of near-death experiences, Bill Clinton had a doozy on the operating table:

"I saw dark masks crushing, like death masks being crushed, in series," he told ABC television. "Then I'd see these great circles of light. And then, like, Hillary's picture or Chelsea's face would appear on the light, and then they'd fly off into the dark, into the distance."

Just think of all the faces he could have seen.

Friday, October 29, 2004

Fishing for votes

Now let's catch up with former FTH art director Orna I. -- she's joined the staff of Tidepool.org, a fish-and-rivers friendly enviro website. For some time now, Orna's owned the Klamath River as an environmental story, and has been writing about environmental issues in general for several years. She has a book proposal about the Klamath making the rounds, and has settled in Portland.

Just when we needed it

After the October Surprise was finally revealed -- they didn't need to theatrically capture OBL, just flash his image on TV -- this joke, from a political blog called See the Forest, was very welcome.

Q. What's the difference between Iraq and Vietnam?

A. Bush had a plan to get out of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, never mind the lost-explosives story getting pushed off the front burner. It's the FBI's criminal investigation of Halliburton that really got bumped. I tested Cris, deep in her first semester of law school. She'd heard the OBL story. She hadn't heard the Halliburton story. There you go.
 

Headline of the week

From the San Jose Mercury News: Please Make It Stop, New Mexico Voters Cry

San Francisco refugees show art in desert

This run-of-the-mill piece in the Desert Trail, a small-town newspaper for the Morongo Basin region of the Mojave Desert, highlights this weekend's annual art festival. Hidden in the small print are the names of two San Franciscans who emigrated to the desert several years ago, Debora Iyall -- former lead singer for the San Francisco 1980s punk band Romeo Void -- and Perry Hoffman, whose guest house is available for short-term lodgers. Good excuse to go down there, now that it's no longer 100 degrees every day.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

What I said

Guardian (U.K.): Kerry Gets Boost From Red Sox Victory.

Dept. of 'Wouldn't it be pretty to think so'

A young black voter, writing to Salon.com, takes credit for the fame being accorded Eminem's anti-Bush video, and predicts a Kerry landslide because of the youth vote and... well, read it if you'd like some optimism spread your way.

Also in Salon, a piece quoting a Republican pollster as predicting a huge minority vote in Kerry's favor. Yeah, if they don't all run into bogus "challenges" (1, 2, 3).

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Touch me in the morning

If Electoral-vote.com and the LA Times electoral vote "tracker" aren't enough for you, a Washington Post reporter ran a computer model and came up with 33 possible combinations of state wins that would result in a 269-269 tie. The horror... the horror.

Speaking of disputed elections, a man was arrested today after he apparently tried to run over Rep. Katherine Harris, the former Florida Secretary of State, who jimmied George Bush into a razor-thin victory four years ago. The man is alleged to have told police, "I was just exercising my political expression." Unfortunately, assault with a Cadillac is not among the traditionally protected forms of free speech.

Why Tuesday will be a long night

As linked by electoral-vote.com, the BBC has found a secret Republican document planning challenges to 1,886 voters in a predominantly black area of Jacksonville, Florida. Local elections officials, when shown the list, said the list was possibly illegal. And a Republican spokesperson did not deny the party planned to challenge voters at polling stations, as permitted by state law.

While this mindset might strike most people as shameless, I'm afraid it's typical of the ruthlessness of American politics now. Yesterday I was listening to an NPR program in which two newspaper editors talked about the aftermath of their endoresements of Kerry or Bush. In one case, an editor said his newspaper had been falsely attacked by local Republican operatives after his paper endorsed Kerry, but when he called and calmly asked if they didn't feel they were being unfair, was told, "I'm not in this to be fair. I'm in this to re-elect the president." That says it all.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

My back pages

Someone wrote me saying she was putting together an anthology of the best erotica of the last 25 years and wanted recommendations on what my "favorite" erotic stories were. Here's what came to mind:

Top of the list for me would have to be "Jessie" by Pat Califia (published in Califia's Macho Sluts collection. It's a long, nuanced story that was probably the first great story anyone ever wrote about lesbian s/m. A genuine groundbreaking work.

Second would be the first story I ever read that had explicit sex in it. This was "Sea, Sea Rider" by Richard Brautigan, in Trout Fishing in America. I was 15. I guess any story that's the first sex story you ever read blows you away. It's a really beautiful story, though it was published in 1961, so it doesn't exactly fall into the 25-year window they wanted.

Third is Marilyn Jaye Lewis' story "The Urge Toward Jo," which I published in Frighten the Horses in 1990. Amazing transgressive story.

And finally I really have to say something about another big influence, Kathy Acker. Though it would be impossible to pick "a story" from her, a passage from "The Childhood Life of the Black Tarantula" or "Blood and Guts in High School" would do the trick. And I think it would actually be difficult to have an anthology of the last 25 years of erotic writing without acknowledging what Acker achieved. Even if she wasn't primarily trying to write "erotica."

I came up with that list really fast. And to tell you the truth, it's not hard to stop there. I'm sure there's great erotic writing all over, and since I haven't been editing a sex magazine for ten years, I can hardly claim to be on top of what's out there. Those are the big standouts for me.

Maybe he has some balls too

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom, already lionized by the lesbian-gay community for supporting gay marriage, was expected to be a pro-business mayor. That's what his main opponent in last year's election attacked him on the most. But todayNewsom not only threatened to join picketing hotel workers, but warned, "You will see me take actions to represent my disappointment not just in the proceeding days and months but years. Even when the strike ends (the hotel owners) will have sent the message that San Francisco is dispensable as a city and its employees can be used as pawns, and I will not forget that and I will act accordingly."

I think it's all a ploy to distract people from his wife's off-the-wall comments at a gay function in which she alluded to the favorable dimensions of the Mayor's shlong, and suggested he would never turn gay as long as she was giving him such good b10w jobs. (She didn't actually say "b10w job," she said "banana" and mimed a b10w job. When glee at these comments threatened to spiral out of control, she stupidly tried to back away from her comments, saying the sex joke had been exaggerated by reporters. But the story is not going away, which is why I think the mayor stepped forward with his own oral action. (Sorry for the cutesy spelling, but the filter here at the d.b.t.s. won't let me view a page with the actual phrase in it. Now I know why people resort to such lengths.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Another one bites the dust

In the latest incident of many this year involving girl pop stars -- think Courtney Love, Paris Hilton, the Olsen twins -- a popstar named Ashlee Simpson did a a Milli Vanilli last weekend on Saturday Night Live. You know, I always thought the word "live" in the name of the show meant all the acts were performing live too. No, it just means they appear live, and when there's an unfortunate gap in the integrity of the dub-live continuum, there's nothing left to do but slink away. NBC, the network that broadcasts Saturday Night Live, ran this bizarre story in which the performer's father claimed he was the one who urged her to use tapes because of hoarseness due to "acid reflux disease" (is there some product placement coming along here?), and also said that the drummer pushed the wrong button. Meanwhile Salon had a typically scathing piece, though taking down some manufactured teen popstar is not saying much.

By the way -- sorry about those pictures on the right not changing. I finally went to take new ones, and my digital camera is broken. So you'll have to look at the cat a little longer. We do.

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Baked to a crisp

Pretty funny anecdote on 1115.org, where the guy mostly writes about politics. In this entry he describes his night on a phone bank.

I knew it was trouble when the guy answered the phone with a big Budweiser-esque "Whaaaaazzzzzzuuuuupppp!!!"

Me: "Hello... this is Jason representing America Coming Together, and..."

Him: "America COMING Together? Are you shittin' me?" (followed by braying laughter at clever sort-of sexual pun)

Me: "Uh... Yeah. I'm calling to make sure you've received your ballot for the upcoming elections..."

Him: "Dude, call back later. I'm waaaaaaaaaaay too wasted to deal with this." (hangs up)

Strangely enough, this was the only guy on my sheet of voters listed as a Republican.

 
INT. UNIV. TEXAS COMMUNICATIONS BUILDING A    DAY

When I was in college, my first ambition was to be a disk jockey. Of course, you couldn't take any classes in what you actually wanted to learn until you had done with all your required classes. By the time I took my first radio class the first semester of my junior year, I had already started reviewing movies for the student paper. The radio class turned out to be rather discouraging, and in those days the University of Texas's radio station was the primary NPR station for the whole region and they didn't let any of the students near it, so I had no opportunity to get any actual experience. I did learn to cut and splice audio tape, though, a skill I have not had the opportunity to apply since.

Having been discouraged from becoming a disk jockey, I switched to the film criticism program, which was conveniently in the same department, so all I had to do was sign up for different classes. I did well in film criticism, and the department head even asked me one day if I had ever considered getting a graduate degree. "No way," I said. "Every one of your grad students is a total asshole, and I don't want to become like them."

That's a true story. Well, thirty years later one of those grad students is in charge of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences screenwriter fellowship program -- which is not, I think, the same thing as actually being a successful screenwriter. At least the imdb doesn't list his name anywhere. But as the formatting examples on that page show, he does have a very good grasp of how to format a script.

One of the reasons I disliked that guy was that there was a fellow student we were both hot for, a girl who lived in my co-op named Bernice. My opinion at the time was that he treated her in a dismissive manner, and I could treat her much better. I didn't get much chance to, because she moved out of town. About 18 months later, when it was time for me to leave town too, she found herself in San Francisco, and when I complained to her in a letter that I was getting bored with Austin, she said, "Why don't you come out here?"

Thus it was that I moved to San Francisco in April, 1979. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had had the guts to move to New York instead. I would have been around a flourishing writers' scene that included Kathy Acker, Jim Carroll, and (if I really wanted to write about film) Jonas Mekas. Instead I came out to SF and did contact improvisation. I didn't really start focussing on writing until about 1985, long after my fascination with movies had waned.

We take so many detours in our lives not knowing what we really should be doing. If I had gone to New York in 1979, 23 years old and full of piss and vinegar, I might have got somewhere. On the other hand, I might have been crushed by New York; living in Austin with a bunch of stale hippies was probably not the best preparation for moving to New York at the nadir of its urban decay. And I have a fine full life here in SF, and thirty or forty more years of writing left in me. I still might get somewhere.

One movie I never want to watch again

Insane. According to today's electoral vote predictor map, which reflects the latest polls, it all comes down to Florida again. The good news is that Kerry is now several points ahead in Ohio. While there are scenarios in which Bush could still win without Ohio, it's more likely -- if he loses Ohio -- that neither candidate would get 270 votes. Then it would be up to ... the House, according to the 12th Amendment. I guess we're going to hear a lot about that in the next ten days.

Here's an interesting article about electoral math from the Assoc. Press, which suggests that despite the apparent closeness, a small shift in "momentum" could cause a landslide.

Friday, October 22, 2004

At least I've got a job

Kind of a frustrating day at work, where we're in the last week or two before the product release. There are two main products, a server and a builder, and I keep downloading new builds of the builder and each one seems buggier than the last one. This afternoon I finally had a session with my boss, who was supposed to show me how two new features work. We didn't get too far, and when he left I was trying to build a new basic app that I could use as a basis to document the new features. I got my first real setback when I realized that something we did actually corrupted the one app I've been able to build that works. So I decided to start from scratch. Then I found myself really stymied by a simple SQL JOIN query that I just couldn't make work in the tool. Finally I went home. I guess I could go in tomorrow and bang my head against the wall for a few hours trying to make it all work -- but I'm not sure I'll have time.

And they say facts are stupid things

Ordinarily I name the Republican Of The Week. But they are coming so fast and furious now, I'm going to have to recalibrate. And thus we have our...

Republican of the Day

Sen. Jim Bunning (R.-Ky.) has been the focus of rumors for weeks now that his mental state is deteriorating -- just google "Bunning mental state" and you'll find plenty of references. Today he said he had no knowledge of the huge story last week about a National Guard unit FROM HIS OWN STATE that refused to perform a dangerous fuel-transfer mission in Iraq. Better yet, Bunning had this explanation:

Let me explain something: I don't watch the national news, and I don't read the paper. I haven't done that for the last six weeks. I watch Fox News to get my information.

I'll bet Sen. Bunning would feel comfortable with a new poll that shows Bush supporters are "resistant to information" and "suppress awareness of unsettling information."

Another solution for the homeless problem

In his State of the City address today, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom promised "every San Franciscan ... free wireless internet access. (Courtesy SF-ist) Well, if you can't give every homeless person a place to stay, you can give them a home page.

Tied in the top of the 9th, extra innings possible

Today, 10 days before the election, the latest polls show not only the popular vote tied, but the Electoral College vote tied too.

All those states with a white center are states where either candidate's lead is within the margin of error. That makes it even crazier:

strong kerry  	 Strong Kerry (88 votes)

weak kerry Weak Kerry (124)
barely kerry Barely Kerry (52)
tied Exactly tied (10)
barely bush Barely Bush (55)
weak bush Weak Bush (62)
strong bush Strong Bush (147)

The site's editor goes on to say that one of the most important, yet neglected, issues in this election is the very likely possibility that the next President will get to appoint more than one Supreme Court justice. That is the main reason I'm voting. Who cares about Kerry for four years or eight? I care about the makeup of the Supreme Court for the next 25 years.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Country avoids symbolic sports battle

The Houston team failed this evening to reach the World Series, so Boston will meet the St. Louis team instead. This prevents a World Series matchup of Houston v. Boston perfectly echoing the presidential race. As I said, the better the Sox do, the better Kerry does; I certainly wouldn't have wanted Bush's base to take pleasure in Houston winning, that's for sure. But the victory by St. Louis avoids all that.

The St. Louis-Boston matchup is a repeat of the series of 1967, when I was 11 years old. It was the last World Series won by the great team of the 60s that included Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Tim McCarver, Ken Boyer, and current St. Louis General Manager Dal Maxvill. The next year, they lost the Series to Detroit, and that was the end of their domination.

In any case, Boston v. St. Louis isn't symbolic of anything, though I'm afraid it's a tougher matchup for Boston than Houston would have been. Here's hoping Boston surprises everyone again.

Red Sox fans = Democrats = pumped up

I've been saying this for days now: The better the Red Sox do, the better Kerry does. Stands to reason:

Kerry's from Boston.
Massachusetts residents, and especially Bostonians, are hard-core Democrats.
But there are many, many Red Sox fans in other states, including swing states like New Jersey, Virginia (yes, polls show Virginia is close) and Minnesota -- former residents of the Boston area, now scattered about the country like so many leaves.
And the better the Red Sox do, the happier those fans will be and the more pumped up they will be to vote their Bostonian guy in.

And that leads us to our...

Republican of the week

One of the higher-ups here borrowed my NY Times to read the story of last night's "Monumental Collapse" (that was, from the New York perspective, the headline in the print edition). Knowing he was a big Red Sox fan and a Bush backer, I shared my Red Sox-Kerry theory with him, and his face positively fell. "In that case, we better hope they lose the series," he said, proving that class loyalty trumps even Red Sox fandom.

Somehow this has something to do with Votergasm

ABC News is basing its Primetime Live show tonight on a sex poll, which among other things found Americans have:

Sex outdoors, 57%
Discuss fantasies, 51%
Faked orgasm (women), 48%
Sexually adventurous, 42%
First-date sex, 29 %
Paid for sex (men), 15%
Paid for sex (single men, 30+), 30%

I can't believe they didn't divide that into Republicans, Democrats and others. Are Plains-state Republicans more likely to have sex outdoors than city-dwelling Democrats? I really want to know.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Things to do

On Thursday, Regina Marler, author of Queer Beats, reads at 7:30 p.m. at Diesel Bookstore, 5433 College Ave. in Oakland.

And on Friday, my friend Lisa is singing again:

FRIDAY 10.22.04 8:00pm at THE JAZZ HOUSE
3192 Adeline (look for blue light) in Berkeley.

8:00pm -- HIDEOUS DREAM -- A Noise Trio
c.j. reaven borosque, jim ryan

8:40pm -- SUBJECTS OF DESIRE -- Poetry and Sound with Lisa B. poetry/voice, Jim Ryan poetry/flute/kalimba/spoken word, Scott R. Looney keyboard/electronics, Lisa Mezzacappa doublebass, & Andrew Wilshusen percussion.

9:30pm Forward Energy: Jim Ryan’s alto, tenor, flute - Scott R. Looney piano - Lisa Mezzacappa contrabass - Andrew Wilshusen drums

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Republican of the week (updated!)

Heard on the BBC World Service today, on a story involving the American election:

Female voter (from "a small town in the state of Oregon"): I don't know if I'm gonna vote for George Bush. I don't think he was tough enough. I woulda been in Iraq on 9/14 and blown them off the face of the earth!

(Short pause, perhaps as reporter's jaw drops)

Voter: Well, they attacked us!

BBC reporter: But Iraq didn't attack anybody. It was Al Qaeda.

Voter: Well, they're from there! Kill 'em!

And our runner-up: here's Senate candidate Alan Keyes on the wisdom of allowing gay marriage:

If we do not know who the mother is, who the father is, without knowing all the brothers and sisters, incest becomes inevitable.

And they say Nader's campaign is an ego trip. Keyes was eager to become the sacrificial lamb to the sure winner -- Democratic Convention keynoter Barack Obama, who became a shoo-in when his Republican opponent dropped out in a sex scandal -- and shoot off his mouth like this. We could run something funny from Keyes every week and never run out of fun.

Tea time again

genius writer Michelle Tea's RADAR reading series
tuesday, october 26, 2004
san francisco public library
downstairs in the latino reading room
6pm sharp * free

featuring:

from canada, AMBER DAWN, whose poetry has been published in several Canadian literary magazines and anthologies; who for the last five years has combined performative reading with performance art at literary cabarets in the Pacific North West; who currently hosts a bi-monthly queer erotic literary event called Femmes Read Porn in Vanocouver; who traveled with the 2003 Sex Workers Art Show Tour, is editing an anthology of writing with Arsenal Pulp Press, and is working on a novel, titled Beeyatches.

from east boston, the return of PETER PIZZI, independent filmmaker andphotographer; who tells stories with the use of slides and photos, of which are set to a poignant music track; who delighted and disturbed Radar audiences last year with his Mr. Bunny character succumbing to
loneliness, a depressed couple taking a fatal stroll, and one young woman?s dream date with a little doll; who leads workshops in video producing and can be found teaching at cambridge community television in cambridge, mass. Peter's work has been featured in living rooms, and film festivals across the country; more information about him and his work can be found at
? www.magicclubfilms.com.

from canada, MICHAEL V. SMITH, who has written, performed and produced a number of award-winning videos which tour international festivals; who performs a popular naked stand-up improv audience-participation cabaret act; who writes a monthly sex-ed column, Blush, in vancouver's XtraWest, and freelances for the Globe Mail; who was named one of Vancouver's Most Dangerous People (Loop Magazine) and is an MFA grad from UBC's prestigious Creative Writing program. Michael's small town blue collar novel, Cumberland, was nominated for the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award.

from the east bay, CARLA TRUJILLO, editor of Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About, winner of the the LAMBDA Book Award for Best Lesbian Anthology and the Out/Write Vanguard Award for Best Pioneering Contribution to the field of Gay/Lesbian Lifestyle Literature; who also edited Living Chicana Theory; and whose novel, What Night Brings, set in the bay area of the 1960s, is about a young girl who wants god to turn her into a boy and get rid of her father, won the 2003 Miguel Marmol Prize.

hosted by Michelle Tea, who will provide hommade cookies and leftover Skittles.

the readers will dazzle you, the audience, with their words and pictures.
then you, the audience, will impress the readers with witty questions during the lively Q -n- A session.
snacks distributed to all the participants.

OH! and you all really, really do not want to miss the San Francisco premiere of the poet, writer and Radar alum Eileen Myles' opera, Hell, at Yerba Buena this Thursday, October 21st. It features an underworld purchased by an apocalyptic earth, run by a sinister, wooden Father Tree, populated by slick, agent-type Devils on cell phones, and stars Julianna Snapper as the hero, a girl poet. The opera tackles the soldier archetype, probes the mystery of Iceland, looks at our increasingly fascistic, corporate-controlled culture and makes a beautiful case for the salvation of live poetry. It's gorgeous and scary and really funny. Please check it out.

Casting dream

I dreamt that I had a great idea for a story, and with friends I was going to make it into a film. We interviewed several high school-aged girls as possible stars of the film. I remember being really excited about the story idea -- too bad I can't remember it.

During the night a storm blew in, and I had to drive through it to work, south through the city, down 101 past the airport, and to Redwood City. On the way I had to stop at my bank, which is right across from a Whole Foods, so I went in and picked up something I could eat for lunch. I also got something from the coffee bar, and for the first time in my life I ordered a "mocha." Damn, those things are sugary! I could only drink about three sips, then when I got to work I left it in the car.

The world's shadiest office park parking lot was covered with leaves, and my usual spot had a puddle four inches deep. I parked there anyway, under the willow. It proceeded to rain really hard for about an hour and half, then cleared up a little, then rained some more.

I love the start of the rainy season. I didn't even mind all the traffic. Everyone just seemed rather calm. You tootle along at 20 mph and listen to NPR.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Where the data is really raw

If your keychain drive isn't cute enough, you could always get one that looks like a piece of sushi, and plug it into your Hello Kitty USB hub.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Carpetbagging

My friends Sara and Martha are among many Bay Area activists travelling to swing states to register voters and get them to the polls. This Rolling Stone article has a guy going to Orlando -- the most Republican-plastic place he could think of -- as a tongue-in-cheek undercover worker at the local Bush H.Q.; he imagined a crack field operation, a combination of "The West Wing" and the Death Star, but found a nearly empty office where he quickly became one of the major operatives. And the FBI, among other organizations, was investigating reports of fraud in voter registration drives, like the one in Nevada, where a firm hired by Republicans to register voters is alleged to have torn up the registration forms of anyone who registered Democratic.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle picked up on something I'd noticed while watching the 3rd presidential debate: both candidates passed up chances to seize on culture war issues which were expected to play a large part in the election. Of course, just because Bush isn't slagging gays doesn't mean his fifth-level-of-deniability operatives aren't slipping anti-gay fliers under windshield wipers.

First rain of the winter

Not counting the anomolous spritz we had last month, today it rained for the first time this season. I spent the afternoon indoors doing not much. Just before it started raining I took a walk over to the drug store on Potrero Ave. and got caught in the rain before I got home. Wouldn't you know it's Sunday and I'm supposed to go to the park to feed the cats. (Don't ask.)

Nader pues Nader pues Nader

Quixotic -- to use a nice term -- Presidential candidate Ralph Nader continues to draw a few percent in several swing states, even where he is not on the ballot. A site, votepair.org (courtesy Electoral Vote Map), pairs Kerry voters in hard Kerry states with Nader voters in swing states, so that they may set up an exchange of votes. A Californian votes for Nader while a Floridian votes for Kerry. Nice idea, dunno if it will catch on, but even a few hundred votes can make a difference, as last election so painfully showed.

Today's biggest news story should be this long Knight-Ridder investigative piece whch concludes the U.S. "invaded Iraq without a comprehensive plan in place to secure and rebuild the country." Best quote, from a State Dept. official: "We didn't go in with a plan. We went in with a theory." Best telling moment:

In March 2003, days before the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, American war planners and intelligence officials met at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina to review the Bush administration's plans to oust Saddam Hussein and implant democracy in Iraq.

Near the end of his presentation, an Army lieutenant colonel who was giving a briefing showed a slide describing the Pentagon's plans for rebuilding Iraq after the war, known in the planners' parlance as Phase 4-C. He was uncomfortable with his material - and for good reason.

The slide said: "To Be Provided."

Game without a name

Saturday was mostly devoted to errands and chores. In the early evening, I did manage to tighten up chapter 13 of my novel, Make Nice. [40K PDF file] I had printed it out for my writing group the other day, and when I read it over it seemed a little slack. So I cut a couple of pages worth of slack.

Last night I had a remarkable dream. People were flocking to play a certain kind of role-playing game -- that's the best description, though I don't remember any details of how the game was played except that all it required was a pen and a pad of paper. When you played the game -- solo, or in pairs or small groups -- you were drawn in so completely that not only did the reality of the game completely take over your consciousness, but it was addictive, and people would spend days locked in the fantasy, emerging ecstatic and drenched in sweat. Clubs had formed around the game and rented lofts for people to go on missions, as it were. I was standoffish about it all because of the addictive aspect, but if I even went over there to talk to a friend, I found myself drawn in and becoming a character in the game. It was very compelling.

There was also a large dormitory where I was living, where you could climb around in secret passages or go down to the basement swimming pool on ladders, and which also was skyscraper-tall, and unfinished at the top, so you could climb around on a wooden superstructure. Perhaps that was a separate dream.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Post-reading happiness

I had a lovely time at my LitQuake-hosted reading tonight at Forest Books in the Mission. Seven people read, about 35 people were there -- plenty for the small store. My favorite reader was Queer Beats editor Regina Marler, who regaled us with an account of Jack Kerouac's date with Gore Vidal, among other scandals. Black-sweatered, intensely smart and funny, she reminded me of a lost love.

Tomorrow will be so much less glamorous. I'm helping someone at church take inventory in the sacristy. Reminds me, I better bring my HEPA dust mask.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Nuts to all!

Man, it was like Xmas at the d.b.t.s. today. First a package came from an online shopping service -- I had it delivered here so the UPS man wouldn't get frustrated trying to deliver it at home. Then someone made a delivery of all the snacks and drinks the company provides for free. Water, sodapop, Snapples, M&Ms, mixed nuts, trail mix, pretzels -- they really go for it here. When you only have 15 people working there, I guess they can afford it.

One of the more trivial ways you judge a company, in terms of what it's like to work there, is what they give out free in the break room. Most companies start out generous and then cut back more and more until you're bringing your own coffee creamer. I remember it was a dark day at Peoplesoft when they stopped paying for bagels three times a week. But every company gets to that point, because every company gets to the point of having to cut costs, and if you're spending hundreds of dollars every week on bagels and cream cheese for 3000 people, it's kind of an obvious thing to cut. Morale plummets, though.

Best name of the month

What Italian parlimentary candidate uttered a remark saying homosexuality was a sin? Rocco Buttiglione. According to his bio, when in the U.S. he hangs out at the neocon American Enterprise Institute.

In other news about neocons talking a lot about sex and not having any, everyone in the world is blogging about the lawsuit accusing Bill O'Reilly of sexual harrassment, including some definitely adults-only passages (see pages 8-14 of the complaint, which is no doubt making The Smoking Gun one of the most aptly-named websites today. Today O'Reilly responded in a Wash Post (reg. req.) story that has a pic of the complaintant, looking very prim as one must in these situations, as well as the detail that, yes -- THERE ARE TAPES.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Bush senses an opening

I left work a little early and went grocery shopping, then got home in time to watch the third presidential debate.

Duller than others -- bad moderator, candidates being a little too careful. Thought Bush was going to swallow his tongue when Kerry said "Truth test," though. Oh, no, it was "truth standard":

But I think it makes sense, I think most Americans in their guts know, that we ought to pass a sort of truth standard.

Bush's eyes bugged out like he was thinking, "Omigod! Another thing I can hit him on! Only I can't think of how to do it right now!"

Republican of the week

Republican senate candidate Tom Coburn of Oklahoma threw a nice bomb recently when he was recorded on tape saying "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it."

Yes, think about it. Let's see... southeast Oklahoma... uh, nothing there.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Good day

I must be having a really good karma day. Two different friends sent me two totally unrelated job leads. Since I just got a new job, I can't take them. But if you're a tech writer, proofreader, or can be a tech company project manager, email me and I'll send you the info.

And at my job, I had a breakthrough understanding the products and how to use them. It ain't easy, but part fo the problem was the docs I inherited, and another part of the problem was that they were out of sync with the product as it acts now. So I had a really productive day of actually doing my job, which is tech writing.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Too much at once

You have no excuse for staying in on Thursday, Oct. 14, because three friends are performing/exhibiting that night. Pick one:

Film: Chimera House, a feature film by my friend Brandy Brawner, will be shown at the 4-Star Cinema in SF on 14 Oct. at 7:45 pm only. That's at Clement St. at 23rd Ave. (My first night ever in San Francisco, I went to a film at the 4-Star, riding out there on the number 2 bus.)

Literature: As part of the LitQuake festival, some local heavy-hitters will be reading, including Kim Addonizio, Justin Chin, and others. That's at the Make Out Room at 3225 22nd St., where I read last month, at 7 p.m. I totally ♥ Kim, who used to contribute to FTH and has since gone on to be nominated for the National Book Award.

Music: My friend Lisa B will be singing with her new band Subjects of Desire ("my new poetry-free improv band") at the Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market St., at 9 pm.

So you may be able to see the film, then hear Lisa; or see Kim, then Lisa. In any case, get off your butt and out of the house!! The debate's on Wednesday!

Saturday, October 09, 2004

Another Saturday indoors

Now having recovered from my cold -- those Nighttime Tylenol pills are pretty good -- and having finally left my church secretary job for good, I spent all day Friday and today down at my new job. I've gotten all set up equipment and software-wise, now I'm trying to get up to speed with the knowledge. I spent some time today refreshing my knowledge of SQL and then running through my limited repertoire when it comes to the company's products. At the end of the day, I sent an email to my boss asking him to show me a few basic things on Monday. I can't doc these products if I can't figure out how to use them.

I guess I'm going to have to come up with a euphemism for the company I'm working for now. When I was working last year at a Borders I referred to it as "the l.n.c.b." so I wouldn't embarrass my friend the manager who hired me there. And while I was working at the church, I didn't even blog about my work, much less reveal where I was working. I've come to think it's a good idea to be a little discrete. So why don't we call my new employer the d.b.t.s.

No, I'm not billing my blogging time, either. When I'm a full time employee with a salary, that's one thing. When I'm a contractor, I like to keep it really clean.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Getting back up to speed

After you take a few days off blogging, it's kind of hard to get back up to speed. When I feel like linking to something, I think, "Ah, people have probably seen that already." Nevetheless:

Instapundit writer Glenn Reynolds, a famous conservative who weakly denounces the label, says in a Guardian column, "I'd be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons." Let us pause to consider that vision for a moment. First of all, how many "happily" married couples, of any gender combination, do you know? And if they're not all that happy, would you really want them all to have "closets full" of assault weapons? Second, I doubt it was just a slip that he used the word "closets" in the context of talking about gay couples. If they're out of the closet, and their guns are in the closet, does that mean they are secret gun owners? ... I could go on, but instead:

Reporters are gleefully deflating Cheney's statement about having met Edwards for the first time at their debate, as well as Cheney goofing with "factcheck.com." I'll let the AP story take it from here:

In answering a question about his involvement with Halliburton, Cheney meant to direct people to FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan site run by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. He urged people watching the debate to go to the site for facts countering Edwards' statements about the corporation Cheney used to run.

But Cheney cited FactCheck.com, a for-profit advertising site based in the Cayman Islands.

The company decided to redirect traffic to ...a site run by George Soros, a billionaire who makes no secret of his opposition to the Bush administration, after it became inundated with hits -- about 100 a second after the debate, John Berryhill, a Philadelphia lawyer for FactCheck.com, said Wednesday.

"This was to relieve stress on the service and to express a political point of view," said Berryhill, who spoke with the site's administrators shortly after the debate ended.

Makes you wonder what Cheney said that was accurate.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Feelin' fooey

Sorry no updates. Caught a cold Monday and still feel draggy. About to conk out for the night. Starting my new job Friday.

Secret msg to Shannon: I doubt anyone wants to wear my clothes. I could bring a few unsold FTH t-shirts though.

Sunday, October 03, 2004

Magma is pushing its way to the surface

Votergasm. An idea whose come has time. (Update: Don't miss their press release about Rush Limbaugh's opposition to them. Makes you want to actually participate all the more.)

I have my October back

Today on the last day of the season, Houston eliminated the Giants from any possibility of playing in the playoffs, which start Tuesday. Of course I want to see the Giants win always, but this year I'm secretly relieved. Last year I spent way too much time watching baseball playoff games -- even games the Giants weren't in, even after the Giants had been eliminated. Now I can actually spend my time doing what I need to do, such as come up to speed on my new job.

I've been listening a lot to Pirate Cat Radio, 87.9 FM in San Francisco. It's a pirate radio station broadcasting from, where else, the Mission District, playing a lot of punk and rock. Yesterday they were down at the Love Parade -- San Francisco's attempt to keep the queer summer season going, a season which traditionally starts with Carnival* at the end of May and ends with the Folsom Street Fair in mid-September.** The Pirate Cat people were basically going around with an open microphone saying "Say something on the radio!" Most people screeched, "I hate Bush!!"

*Oh, you didn't know Carnaval was a queer holiday? Who do you think sews all those sequins on?)

** Of course, Halloween is also a huge queer holiday, but no one pretends it is still summer.

Saturday, October 02, 2004

Nice work if you can get it

Here's a sign I'm back working in the software industry: I take note of a big firing in the tech world. That link goes to the only part of the story of interest to non-techy people: the CEO who got booted is getting over $10 million in "compensation" for ruining his company. Scheiss! And how much you want to bet -- despite the fact that he never has to work again, nor does anyone in his family, unto the fourth generation -- the same guy will be back in charge of a company within a year or two.

I interviewed at that company a couple months ago, when I was starting my job search. Am I ever glad I didn't get that job. Talk about uncertainty -- despite the fact I've just gone to work for a startup that might not be here 10 or 12 months from now, I'd rather be here than there.

Though it's Saturday, I've spent much of the day at my new job, working through a tutorial for the company's products. Curiously, this tutorial is not on the list of stuff I have to update; it has a lot of faults and several errors. Worst of all, it doesn't really explain anything, just tells you how to open this and propogate that.

Also listening to the Giants game. Giants led through whole game, now on verge of losing in bottom of ninth. Yikes! The tension! Update: Egad, the Giants ended up blowing a three-run lead and losing 7-3.

        1 2 3   4 5 6   7 8 9   R H E

- - - - - - - - - - - -
SF 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 2
LA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 7 0

Friday, October 01, 2004

Pain in the neck

I spent nearly all day down at my new job as a tech writer. Got my P4 environment set up and synched (that will make sense only to those of you who have worked in software engineering) and started in on my doc plan. By 4 pm I had the most godawful case of tension in my neck and shoulders. I'm going to have to figure out how to work at that desk without totally messing up my posture.

Came home and got out this giant foam thingy the chiropractor sold us. It's a long cylinder of hard foam, about 10 inches in diameter and three feet long. You put it down on the ground and slowly roll back and forth over it like rolling off a log. It did help iron out the kinks. Then I got on the treadmill and did my 4 miles while watching TV. There's a cable show on MSNBC -- I swear I'm the only person I know who ever watches that channel -- hosted by a former Republican congressman named Joe Scarborough. It's generally a very conservative show -- MSNBC trying to poach viewers from Fox. But the host opened it up with a "commentary" in which he utterly freedom-fried Bush for his miserable performance in last night's debate, which he termed, among other things, "a disgrace." I'll update this entry with the transcript when they post it tomorrow.

After the 4 miles I felt a lot better. Why is it that you come home from work exhausted, wanting to do nothing but collapse, but you feel better after you walk 4 miles on top of everything else you've done that day? Sure didn't hurt that Cris made spaghetti sauce. Wow!