today

I was just thinking that it might be nice if, every day, I titled my posts today. Of course it would make the idea of a title pretty useless, as it wouldnt differentiate one post from the next, but my titles rarely do that anyway. Something to think about…

I dont know how long this is going to last, but Im trying to blog with a baby strapped to my chest. Its like being handcuffed to a ticking bomb

A new neighbor is moving into the house next door. Linette and I said Hi as he was lugging in boxes. It wasnt until we turned to walk away that I noticed the Id rather be in Ann Arbor bumper sticker on his car. Oh, I thought, this is gonna be fun. I might have also muttered something to Linette like, Sorry youre havin to slum it, Dickweed, but Im not sure. As I mentioned before, the lack of sleep makes me forgetful.

I went running today, and, while making my way clumsily though the woods, I had an idea for a new website called, Scrabble Emergency. I havent worked out all the details yet, but Im thinking that it would have something to do with cellular camera-phones and the internet, like you could surreptitiously snap a photo of your letters in case you cant think of any words, then push a button and send it off to a site where it would be posted, along with your phone number. People who saw your emergency post could then call you or text message a word back to you. (My friend Jad is unstoppable at Scrabble and Id love to have something like this in place should we ever have the opportunity to play one another again.)

The MM.com operative in Athens (Georgia, not Greece) just wrote in with a tip that theres a story in this weeks issue of Flagpole, the local Athens entertainment weekly, on the Pylon reunion. I think Ive said it before, but theyre not only one hell of a band, theyre also the nicest people that youll ever meet. If youre lucky enough to have them come to your town (if they tour), you should go and see them. Heres a quote from Venessa, the lead singer: This isn’t bragging, this is just a feeling that I had, and I just want to share it. Not every time, but sometimes, I’d be up there and I’d feel like, Tonight I’m in the best band, maybe in the universe.” Im very happy for them that they were able to come back together after ten years apart and feel that again. It couldnt happen to a more deserving group of folks. (Our operative in Athens, by the way, tells me that his penis is not cancerous.)

Oh, while youre hanging around the Flagpole site, you should also check out the interview with Dexter Romweber, former front man of the Flat Duo Jets, and one of my all-time favorite musicians. Those of you who have been reading this site for a while will remember that I had a chance to hang out and speak with him last April, but chose instead to go home and go to bed as it was already past 10:00 PM. (That story continues to sicken me.)

OK, theres some real news too. Apparently Larry I never heard a shot Thurlows war records were handed over the Washington Post yesterday. Larry, as you may recall, was one of the men involved in the organization, Swift Boat Veterans for Fucking with the Electoral Process. He appears in the Republican-funded group’s anti-Kerry television commercial and in their recent best-selling book, saying that Kerry didnt deserve a commendation for a particular mission in Vietnam. Even though Thurlow was not on Kerrys boat at the time, he claims, in both the book and the ad, that Kerry was not under fire when he turned his boat around to rescue a special forces soldier who had been thrown into the water after a collision with a mine. Well, it would appear as though Thrulow, who also earned a bronze star that day, might not be telling the truth. According to his own military records, all the boats were under fire that day. Heres a quote from the Washington Post story:

Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry’s most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events.

In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly disputed Kerry’s claim that the Massachusetts Democrat’s boat came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day.

But Thurlow’s military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several references to “enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire” directed at “all units” of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat “despite enemy bullets flying about him.”

Thurlow, as might be expected, is saying now that the wording found in his file was in fact the handiwork of Kerry, who rushed in the first report of the event so as to better establish his own heroism. Of course, Thurlow hadnt, until now, taken the effort to clear that up in his own record, much less return his commendation.

Meanwhile, over at the Washington Times, theyve apparently forgotten theyre supposed to keep up the appearance of being a real newspaper. This week theyve begun running whole chapters of Thurlows book as though its news. (In a sane universe someone would stand up and say, Let me see if Ive got this right, were debating whether or not one of the candidates for president, the one who served two tours of duty in Vietnam and was honorably discharged, the one who still has shrapnel in his leg, the one who we just saw standing on stage surrounded by the men who served on the boat with him, really deserved ONE of his FIVE commendations for valor on the battlefield? Is that what were discussing? Were not debating whether or not he went to war, or whether or not his father pulled strings to keep him from going? Were asking whether he deserved all FIVE of his commendations for bravery? And then everyone would look down at their feet in shame for even bringing it up. It’s pathetic that this is even being discussed.)

OK, my time is up. The baby is beginning to stir and it smells as though I might have been shat upon. If I dont see you again before Monday, I hope you have a pleasant weekend and dont have any cause to purchase, or have purchased for you, a Costco coffin.