days of naze

one of these days, the american people will listen to a president that says, "hey, this war isn't a good idea". until then, there is this:
10:28 PM

The Afghan Speech Obama Should Give (But Won't)

cleaning the family silver
09:23 PM

"Your father took these pictures...in that dank little room..."

"He told me he kept them in his pocket in Vietnam...to protect him."

-Six Feet Under, Season One, Episode Six - The Room

An extraordinary moment in film: cable, tv, theater...it doesn't matter.

November 25, 2009

why only 30% of Americans identify themselves as Republican
01:05 PM

Dana Perino, a former W press secretary, recently nominated by Obama to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, returns the magnanimous gesture by:

1) taking a shot at Obama, accusing him of playing politics with the Fort Hood shooting,

then

2) claiming that 9/11 didn't happen on W's watch.

Way to keep it classy!

Watch Perino disgrace herself. Or not.

November 23, 2009

13 1/2 hours today
11:34 PM

"My son is having the best school year ever."

"My daughter loves coming to school every day."

"My child was anxious about having a man teacher for the first time, but now he's having a great year."

The teacher must always lead by loving learning. Only then can he expect students to follow.

November 15, 2009

it's funny because there are actual people out there like this
12:40 AM

"Our very way of life is under siege," said Mortensen, whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of the document but from talk-show pundits, books by television personalities, and the limitless expanse of his own colorful imagination. "It's time for true Americans to stand up and protect the values that make us who we are."

November 09, 2009

stand up
10:42 PM

Times are tough.

There are a load of Oregonians out of work. A lot of this has to do with people with a lot of power abusing our system. As a nation, we have a pattern of privatizing profits and socializing risks. That's resulted in a monumental bail outs of the savings and loans, Enrons, and the entire banking system.

And we keep catching and saving those that create these disasters. They're the same people that have convinced too many that we need to drive wages into the ground. This has produced an ever diminishing middle class and a growing separation between the top one and two percent and the rest of us.

The teachers of Portland Public Schools have been working without a contract for more than a year and a half. We already have a history of giving up pay to make things work. I'm very proud to serve this community. I wouldn't want to teach anywhere else. However, I've experienced an ever-increasing workload and an administration that doesn't listen to the workers on the front line.

Tonight, 300-400 teachers gathered at PPS district headquarters to express our discontent at being left high and dry without a contract and frozen out again. There will be a number out there that want us to sit down and shut up.

But remember the last line of Ralph Ellison's American masterpiece, Invisible Man:
"Who knows but that on the lower frequencies, I speak for you."

bring it
10:21 PM

Premiere of the Wanda Sykes Show:

"I'm Obama's new Tell-You-Where-to-Go-and-What-to-**** Czar."

are we here to serve the economy or is it here to serve us?
09:24 PM

"Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, the world is facing another stark choice between two fundamentally different forms of organization: international capitalism and state capitalism. The former, represented by the United States, has broken down, and the latter, represented by China, is on the rise."

Loads of Americans nearly broke their arms patting themselves on the backs when communism's last experiments died. The great question of our time is how will we move forward from here. George Soros, who knows something about making money, exactly underlines the fork in our road. Read it.

November 01, 2009

hair on top
11:07 PM

I've been taking ballroom dancing classes on Sunday afternoons for 2 years now. This afternoon, I was getting my dance shoes on and I was approached by a short, thicker Chinese woman who had been in the classes I'd been taking. She was in a bit over her head in the intermediate class. Her English was far superior to my Mandarin, yet still in a developing stage.

She took me aside and the best I can understand, this was her story. This woman has a teenage son that stresses her out. The stress has caused her to lose some hair and that isn't o.k. for a woman. She started eating flax seed and now her hair is thicker and fuller.

For those of you keeping score at home, I converted to the buzz cut about a year and a half ago on the advice of a very attractive woman. I'd been taking meds (propecia) with moderate success to sustain a level of hair on top, but it really felt like a comb over. Then I decided it was a little ridiculous to fight it.

Hey, I'd worn a buzz from age 1 to 5. And I have to tell you that I dig the buzz. A 3 razor on the sides and a 4 on the top? Works for me.

No living in denial. And I don't have to remind you that hair loss in guys is directly related to high levels of a certain male hormone...

Propecia precludes one from giving blood; I've given more than 8 gallons. I don't think I'll go back to Propecia, but it did make me think about my decision to embrace losing hair on top.