Paralysis of the Mind

This is only a half-assed post, but I'm sick. You'll deal. :)

I have a stat-tracker to figure out how many people visit my site. I'm approaching 1,000 (hoo-rah!) but that isn't really the fun part. See, clicking on the number, you can see the domain names of where my visitors come from, and then you can see how they got here. I once got a visit from the Department of Justice (a good one), but even more fun are the utterly WACKY visitors that show.

Now, my blog is generally political with other random crap on it, but here's some google searches that have brought people to my blog:

Chingy Girlfriend Baby Momma
Derek Jeter on Oprah
Sick of the Beckhams
Mark Prior's Girlfriend
Paul Molitor's Divorce
Trischelle and Katie (I assume this regards the sluts from MTV's The Real World)


Interestingly, someone was really obsessed with girlfriends and divorce, as I've gotten quite a few of both of them. Firstly, who are looking for these things??? And, how the friggin' hell does Google bring them to MY site?! Other than sick of the Beckhams, which I wrote VERY much in passing when I came back from England, none of the other search words hang together.

This is what I'm paying Google for...?

... sorta.

Went to Phish on Sunday, and came back with a 103 fever and various other ailments. Cough. A few advils and cold showers later, it looks like I had a little heatstroke going on (very much fun, I highly recommend it.)

However, as for the show, it started slow but really kicked up for a galloping second set. No complaints from the peanut gallery.

Until my next post, though, I'm lying in bed taking in fluids and rest and/or cold showering. Possibly at all once. Will my bed fit in my tub...?


MmmmMMMmmmm...

The countdown can begin.

After a 3 year hiatus, the newest (and therefore, greatest in the history of drawing) cartoon is under construction. Featuring new and old characters, I've decided that the time is completely and utterly ripe for my brand of, er, artistic talent.

As for old copies of the original 4 ("Cathy Moulton Goes to Work", "A Day in the Life of Shey Schnell", "The Mature Relationship", and the 15 page epic "A Late Sunday Morning") I'm trying to figure out if there's a better way to make copies for mailing other than just winging it with a photocopier? Scan and send electronically, perhaps?

However, this burst of creativity may preclude my blogging activities, therefore, I'm giving a heads-up on this corner being quiet for a few days. No guarantee I won't be on here, but don't get disappointed if my current slavish pace (ha ha) slows.

CARTOONS~!!

Is alcohol an unknown religion?

I ask not because I feel like I want vodka to be my new God, but I'm drawn to the ideal of acceptance that organized religions like to espouse. For examples:

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little. --Luke 7:47

Judge not, that ye be not judged. Matthew 7:1

And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who commits an error, when he sins unwittingly, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven. --Numbers 15:28

Yes, the Bible is full of acceptance of those who have sinned. Let us not forget Jesus, who healed the lepers, and said that whomever is without sin may cast the first stone. Furthermore, he forgave Mary Magdelene, despite her life as a prostitute (although, I suppose, if you've read the Da Vinci Code you might think she isn't necessarily such?). Jesus was a powerful historical figure, no matter WHAT you think of the religion that sprang up in his wake, and he was firmly on the side of acceptance, no matter what.

But what kills me, personally, about the current crop of evangelical church-types these days is their total lack of acceptance. Which, incidentally, is why I asked about alcohol as religion. See, if you're a drunk and looking to clean up, you can join AA. Church groups are happy to have you. The only catch is that you have to accept Jesus, oh, and give up every last scrap of your old life. Even a few of AA's famous (infamous?) steps involve God:

Step 2:
"Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

Step 3:
"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him."

Step 7:
"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen. We have then completed Step Seven."

Although atheists are certainly welcome to change their lives, giving your life to God is pretty much a cornerstone of AA. And it's CERTAINLY a cornerstone of those who simply want to strongly belong to a church. A friend of mine (who has made, over a few years, an odd progression from independent to Fox News watcher to church-goer to SERIOUS right-win fundie conservative) recently has gone through some hard times. He gave up drinking and smoking to "fit in" with his new crowd, but has slipped, and now acts embarrassed because he smokes and drinks. Still loves Jeebus, though.

But it makes me wonder. What DO drinking and smoking have to do with either being a good person, or being accepted as one of God's children. After all, the Bible pays great service to being accepted and not judging others. So what of the other church, or should I say, the bar...?

"In Vino Veritas, In Cervesio Felicitas" -- Italian proverb(Italian for: "In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is joy")

"Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart." -- Ecclesiastes 9:10

"There can't be good living where there is not good drinking." -- Benjamin Franklin

"Good people drink good beer." - -- Celtic Axiom

And, of course, because you didn't ask: Garth Brooks talks drinking, in one of the best drinking songs ever written

Indeed, folks at the bar will be FAR more accepting of you. Random people will buy you drinks, no matter what your circumstance is. Could you imagine a church group buying something for a woman who just had an abortion... or a non-converted drinker... or worse yet... one of those dreaded free-thinkers?? Nay, nay, sympathy is for those who are willing to turn themselves into exactly what the group wants, and not a stride off the path.

For these reasons, I figure that the world would be a lot better off with party-boy George W. Bush as opposed to value-spoutin' born-again Bush. One just wanted to have a good time; the other has decided to push his values on the rest of the country and the world. But on a deeper level, it's that sort of fanaticism and lack of acceptance that lay the foundations for a lot of hate in the world. And that's why the real solution to world problems lies not in war or diplomacy, but some really kick-ass booze and some sticky reefer. Not just for the sake of getting drunk or stupid, but in being able to have a good time with someone who isn't like you, either by race or religion or creed or upbringing. Bringing down a barrier between people, even if it takes a party, is often the best way to figure out that, really, deep down... maybe they AREN'T so different after all...

And again, can't say this enough, if God's followers actually took the time to read, understand, and follow their God's teachings, this world would be a FAR better place. Tip one back to that sometime. I'm sure God would understand the toast...

I don't quite know how to feel about Reagan.

He certainly presided over some interesting times. The Soviet Union imploded under his watch. The army became stronger and prouder. The economy turned around (indeed, Reagan's job growth was the best under a Republican president in the 20th century and one of the best of ANY terms) and the stock market did well (with some reservations, though).

Reagan is certainly a "great" man; a true Republican icon, having pulled himself up via those sturdy bootstraps to first make a name as a movie star, and then Governor of California and then the biggest chair in the world (a quick aside: May the Lord prevent another Republican from making the same jump at any point in the future).

But Reagan didn't seem to be a good man. He espoused family values, but divorced amidst rumors of affairs. He had a poor relationship with his children, going so far as to not recognize one of his own step-sons at his high school graduation! Reagan talked about taking fiscal responsibility and shrinking government, yet Reagan put a debt into place that was not finally paid off until 1999, and increased the government payrolls the most of any President (other than FDR, obviously) of the 20th century. Reagan was big on talking responsibility of a more personal kind, yet he allowed Iran/Contra to go on around him. Either he was complicit and therefore a criminal, or else he was totally unaware and just a pawn. I'm not sure which is better.

More, surely, will be made over his battle with Alzheimers once the historians get their ice picks out. How far out of the loop was he after the 1984 election? Reagan was remarkably talented at beliving things that simply weren't true, and his mis-speaks were so familiar that the White House gave up trying to fix them all. Yet it's hard not to ask, "Was he really capable?" and should the world find out that he wasn't, the ultimate question would be who WAS the President? Assuredly, it wasn't George Bush senior; the Bushes and Reagans were not exactly pals. Howard Baker, perhaps? Give it another 10 years, and I think we'll find some exceptionally wonderful facts that will make the reader never want to sleep again.

Beyond that, though, Reagan's ultimate legacy will not be his title of "Great Communicator" or any of the pride he instilled... no, it will be the political movement that has hijacked America. The modern conservatism, an ideal that uses all shrieking style and no real or factual substance, was grown from his seeds. What other brand of politics could get a man who was called - even by his closest friends - an "amiable airhead" elected? How could Reagan stump for fiscal conservatism and yet run the debt up to unimaginable heights? How could he run on family values and yet have such poor personal relationships? How could he take the title of "Great Communicator" and yet speak so far off-base? He ran on what has become the conservative mantle: It is not what you do, but how you say you will do it.

Americans ate it up for Reagan. He made the word "liberal" just short of a curse. And after Reagan's reign, the pieces were set for what writer David Brock cleverly calls the Republican Noise Machine. The machine nearly destroyed Clinton, and has blinded America to the atrocities of the Bush family. And that, sadly, is the Reagan legacy.

... it'll be me.

Creed calls it quits.

I can't complain too bitterly. In 1998, when they first became popular, there was some suspicions that they were the worst band of all time, and it's still possible. I never got to see them, and would probably have to claw my eyes ouf if I did. So it isn't as thought I've missed anything. And heck, I jabbed the radio dial every time one of their horrid songs came on, which isn't quite "hater" status, but I've been there and hated all of their stuff...

But it's hard to tell myself that I'll never have to endure another turgid CD from them. They'll NEVER play again. It isn't that I can avoid them forever - heck, they had a whole bunch of "hits" that will get replayed plenty over the next few years - but thankfully there's no more crap, no more Eddie Vedder ripping off, nothing horrible at all, just their same talentless hackery over and over. Awful stuff, of course, but at least it isn't the new thing.

They'll never have a new CD coming out, and their old stuff was awful, but gee... it's gonna be a sad day when no one else buys their last album. And never hearing them again, not even in Coventry VT when I go to see a good act, well, that's gonna be a happy day. Hippies celebrating everywhere, getting dirtier by dancing and burning Creed CD's... well, I won't dwell on it too long. So, if you hear celebrating, make sure I'm not taking out the trash.

**UPDATE: This post is remarkably is remarkably like this one don't you think??... :) :)**