Ive decided to change a few things in my life, and at least one of the things Ive decided to change, Im afraid to say, will affect you After giving it a great deal of thought, Ive decided to cut my blogging down to a maximum of one hour per night, starting tonight. Actually, because of that last post, I only have five minutes left So this will have to be quick.
The bottom line is that I was devoting too much time to this blog and it was beginning to adversely affect the rest of my life. Most noticeably, it was cutting into the time I had allotted for reading, sleeping and crying. Well, Ive decided, after about two years of internal debate, that it was time to correct that. So, as of tonight, I will be blogging no more than one hour per day, six days per week. I will also be going to bed at 11:00. Its something Ive been thinking of doing for a long time now.
So, as of right now, this site will be about two-thirds less insightful and humorous, and there will be much fewer links.
The good news is, I will live longer and be happier.
Goodnight my invisible friends. I am now out of time.
Thank you for your continued support.
Its apparently just come to the attention of the folks at the Village Voice that the Bush administration clears its foreign policy stances with the evangelical right (the people that think theyre going shoot straight up to heaven like tightly compacted springs when Jesus comes back to slay the rest of us) committing to anything. While the rest of us have suspected as much for quite a while, the Voice just received confirmation in the way of a leaked memo. Heres a clip from the article:
The National Security Council’s top Middle East aide consults with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios.
“Everything that you’re discussing is information you’re not supposed to have,” barked Pentecostal minister Robert G. Upton when asked about the off-the-record briefing his delegation received on March 25. Details of that meeting appear in a confidential memo signed by Upton and obtained by the Voice.
The e-mailed meeting summary reveals NSC Near East and North African Affairs director Elliott Abrams sitting down with the Apostolic Congress and massaging their theological concerns. Claiming to be “the Christian Voice in the Nation’s Capital,” the members vociferously oppose the idea of a Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and David’s temple rebuilt, they believe, Christ won’t come back to earth.
It doesnt really sound to me as though this memo proves much Im sure that Abrams and others listen to their constituents quite often, especially those that represent large voting blocks but I thought that it was worth mentioning And while I dont necessarily think that this one instance proves much, I do think its probably very likely that such confused, evangelical thinking does influence the decisions made by George W Bush. I dont know if he sits and worries, Well, if I do this, then Jesus might not come back and destroy the earth, thus enabling me to live forever like a king in heaven, but Im sure its crossed his mind, and thats scary as hell.
Speaking of Christ coming back, I just got a note from my friend Dave pointing me toward an Andy Kaufman Lives site The note accompanying the link said simply, The best faked death since Christ.
Heres an idea What if we start a new religion here at MM.com, one that has as a central tenant that Andy Kaufman will return, send all of us good people up to heaven, and then get knee-deep in gore as he gets medieval on the asses of non-believers? I could really get behind something like that.
Linette and I had our first baby shower on Saturday. (It was thrown by our friends Dawn and Monica.) As being in a room with one woman has been known to make me fall over and curl up into a ball like a uncovered grub, I wasnt much looking forward to the prospect of being in a room with about twenty, but Im glad I attended. Our friends, as Im sure Ive mentioned here before, are wonderful, generous, beautiful people. Right now, Linette and I are sitting at the kitchen table, writing out thank you letters to everyone who was there, so I dont have a lot of time to blog about it. I will say, however, that all of the gifts, as well as the wishes of health and happiness, were very much appreciated. Following are some photos from the party and of some of the several hand-made gifts that were given to us. (I will go into more detail in the future. I promoise.)
I got a note from my grandmother yesterday warning me about a dangerous new sport called spunkball. Fortunately, I was able to tell her that that there was no such thing that gangs of zombie-like kids werent roaming the back-roads of America with gasoline-soaked rags and firecrackers, looking for carloads of senior citizens to immolate. Unfortunately, however, I cant tell my grandmother that theres no such think as surface lubing. While I dont know that its necessarily a trend sweeping across the nation, it does appear that theres at least one guy looking to popularize the unusual form of terrorism Apparently he was last seen lubing every available surface of a Motel 6 guest room in Florida. According to the local news, Police found 14 empty Vaseline containers and numerous pornographic magazines in the room’s trash can.
While were on the subject of slippery characters, did you happen to see the completely fucking freaky preemption of Colin Powell on Meet the Press this last Sunday? It appears as though one of his Bush administration handlers (a woman identified only as Emily) decided that Tim Russert had gone too far in his line of questioning and just reached out and pushed the camera so that it was no longer on Powell, who was being interviewed at a remote location. Heres the exchange as it was broadcast on network TV. (Russert has since said that its the first time that anything like this has happened in his 13 years at Meet the Press.)
RUSSERT: Finally, Mr. Secretary, in February of 2003, you placed your enormous personal credibility before the United Nations and laid out a case against Saddam Hussein citing…
(You can see it, but the camera suddenly swivels at this point from Powell to a tree I believe it was a palm tree.)
POWELL: Not off.
EMILY: No. They can’t use it. They’re editing it. They
POWELL: He’s still asking me questions. Tim.
EMILY: He was not…
POWELL: Tim, I’m sorry, I lost you.
RUSSERT: I’m right here, Mr. Secretary. I would hope they would put you back on camera. I don’t know who did that.
POWELL: We really…
RUSSERT: I think that was one of your staff, Mr. Secretary. I don’t think that’s appropriate.
POWELL: Emily, get out of the way.
EMILY: OK.
POWELL: Bring the camera back, please. I think we’re back on, Tim. Go ahead with your last question.
It just occurred to me that I never posted my review of the cheremoya. Unfortunately, now that a week or two has passed, I dont have much memory of it. All I can remember is that it tasted kind of like Hawaiian Punch-flavored mucus mixed with sand. Heres a photo.
