Hasta Luego??

For the life of me I can’t figure out why the Alberto Gonzales thing isn’t gaining steam.

Scratch that, I think I can. An ineffective Democratic congress and evil doings of the firm Rove, Bush, Cheney, LTD.

Robert Greenwald and ImpeachGonzales are at least keeping up the push, though he’s not doing as well as I expected. A week or so ago when I wrote my first post regarding this, they had about 29,000 signatures on the petition to get Alberto outta there. Now they only have about 69,000. Not shabby, but nothing groundbreaking either.

The organization has put together a new video. Even I know that editing is everything. They show Gonzales answering, yet not answering the questions. Maybe he did eventually, but they don’t show it and I’ve never read that he did.

[ youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/hk7Sluyzqr0]

You can sign the petition at the above link, if you so desire.

Casualty of War

The war in Iraq has claimed another one: Cindy Sheehan.

War supporters can say all they want about her – so can war detractors. But she put a face on an anti-war movement. Not a celebrity face or a political one. But a human one. A parental one. An american one.

Stating on the Daily Kos that she has failed her fallen son, she is giving up her anti-war protest and heading home. Disillusioned with both the Republicans (duh!) and even the Democrats (hard to argue with that one too) – and that both parties care more about their own political lives than the ones they’ve sent to fight and die. I hear Cindy Sheehan’s cry – especially with the Democrats. She could easily be seen as mobilizing them to win 2006 mid-terms, which it took all of 4.5 mos after starting their term before they fucking folded like a house of cards.

Is it just me, or are there no faces/voices of anti-war? Vietnam had so many. And I’m not talking the famous folks who spoke against that war. I’m talking of the people who became famous for speaking against it. There is no Chicago Seven with Iraq. It’s a shame actually.

I always wonder if Bush could have avoided such public scrutiny if he had taken 10 minutes to meet with Cindy Sheehan. Maybe it would have opened up the flood gates for parents of soldiers. But maybe not. If any other parent of a soldier has been vocal about their loss, or the war in general, they haven’t made a dent on the national front.

Who is out there who will be so vocal now? Dennis Kucinich? He’s got the right attitude. Unfortunately, Cindy Sheehan got more press coverage.

Tis the Season

Prom season that is.

I have no idea where this tradition started. Were they just end of the year sock-hops? I even think that the kids in Grease just had a carnival. (I say I ‘think’ because I’ve never actually seen Grease.) I supposed I could Goooogle the origins of prom, but I really am not that invested.

I myself never went to my prom. I know – you’re all shocked. But I went to an all-boys school, so I did not have lots of opportunities to meet girls to take. Oh – and I was (and am) gay and had no desire to meet girls, let alone take them to a dance.

When it came time to vote on a prom theme our class had five songs to choose from. I don’t remember any of them, except for the one that was picked: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘She’s the One’. I always found this to be comical – as I assumed that your senior prom was to reflect your…well……senior year. This song was released six years before our senior year. For the record, I did a write-in vote: Nick Lowe’s ‘Cruel to be Kind’ (and even this was released two years before my senior year). No one thought it was funny……but me, of course.

Clearly, this timeframe was a few years back when gay kids never bucked the system and tried to bring a same-sex date. Nor did I want to. Fuck – I didn’t even know a gay anyone my age. It wasn’t an option.

Like many gay teens, even though I had come to a level of self-comfort in my own sexuality, I was still uncomfortable with anyone else knowing. No one wants to be ostracized.

So regardless of what the third paragraph in this post states, I succumbed to peer pressure and social norms. A year or so before senior prom, I tired cloak my identity by going to homecoming with a……a…….. girl! We drank a LOT. I think the pinnacle (if you dare call it that) of the evening would have been the drive home when I noticed she wasn’t going to be able to hold her liquor. Being the quick minded guy I am, I stopped the car on the side of the road, reached over, opened her door and pushed her out of the car while she proceeded to get sick all over herself. But at least my father’s car was still pristine. That probably says a lot about my relationships with women.

Unknown to her, Lynn (I think her name was), helped me to stop trying to pass off ‘the pseudo (or faux) straight guy’ facade for the rest of my high school career. I never went on another ‘traditional’ date and oddly, and no one asked why I never attended the ‘traditional’ events.

It’s great that in this day and age, some high school gays will take a same-sex date to prom. I’m glad more teen gays even have the option. I still don’t think I would have ever attended though.

originally posted on Gay Men Rule – which no loner exists 

Morning View

Like anyone cares – but here is a view of my workstation.  Yes, I didn’t have a blog post prepared for the day.  My bad.

It is the first time in umpteen years I don’t have a private office. …and you know what? It’s not that horrible. The entire office is a very open workspace – and at least there are no cubes per se.  (you can click on image to make bigger.)

There is enough blockage of partitions for privacy – kind of, but not everything is blocked off by crappy metal, plastic and material.

My desk is usually this cleaned up at end of the week, but it doesn’t get a lot messier.

It’s A Girl

ummm…..I mean grille. Or grill. Or outdoor cookery.

Yes, our Memorial Day weekend, between the showers, thundershowers and threat of rain was spent at Lowe’s.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, as I don’t usually complain about Lowe’s and Homo Depot. Honestly, we were killing time hoping it would clear up….but it never did.

We looked at counters for new bathroom sinks and actually started to discuss bathroom tile. And it didn’t end in a knock-down, drag-out fight like our last bathroom renovation. Actually that wasn’t a physical fight either, but feelings were invalidated and hurt. Words were left unspoken….for days. A few slaps would have been a welcome change.

Anyhoo…Lowe’s really isn’t the place we are planning on getting our tile. Just ideas. Germs of ideas, if you will.

We also looked at some patio furniture (it is so hard not type ‘Patty O’Furniture). They had nothing. Or more to the point, nothing we liked or wanted.

But they did have grills. From decent prices (what we purchased, and what is pictured at the top of this post) to behemoths that are over $1200!!! For $1200 I could rent Bobby Flay to do my cooking.

We have a grill, but it’s on its last legs. Well over a decade old, we thought it was time to swap it out. Almost nothing comes in black anymore. Stainless is the way – as if you really have a choice. You also cannot not get it without the side burner. I’m never making baked beans or soup on my grill. I’m not Bobby Flay (thank you jebus!).

The grill is for chicken, burgers, steaks, ribs, fish and corn. Men’s food!

I know this time of year there are big controversies on gas vs. coals. I don’t doubt coals are nice and give the food more Flavor Flav…..but who has that kind of time? Heat them up. Cool them down. Then the clean up. Oy. It also doesn’t help that the fear of burning myself while starting that shit would have me at Rally’s before I ever fired one up. I’m fine with gas and an auto-start button.

The box barely actually fit in my car, so no delivery charge – though the hernia repair might be more expensive. Then there was the assembly – which Denton did on his own.

I’m such a grill.

Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con

Just another post to make us all feel a little bit older.

30 years ago this weekend, Star Wars (episode IV: A New Hope) was released.   Then it was just called Star Wars.

The story line wasn’t horribly original: damsel in distress.  good guys in white.  bad guys in black.  battle for good and evil in the new frontier.  the frontier was the galaxy, not the west. the cowboys were now spacemen.  the horses were X-wing fighters.

That being said, it was (and is) still a pretty good movie – despite George Lucas’ tinkering with every re-release and the stilted acting (which is leaps and bounds better than the second trilogy).

Blobby fights many things commercial. I think it’s why I’ve never seen ET or Grease.  With all the hype that surrounded the original Star Wars release, I fought seeing that too.  I actually never viewed it until about a month before The Empire Strikes Back was released.  Naturally, the second I saw it, I couldn’t wait to see it again, or the upcoming sequel (which truly was the strongest of all six episodes).

A New Hope really was just the start of my sometimes movie geekdom – culminating in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but really it is Raiders of the Lost Ark which probably holds the record for the movie I’ve viewed the most…..and the majority of those in a theatre.  I know every line and every pause.  It drivesDenton insane.

I’m a Star Wars pseudo-geek.  I mean, not as big as say, Jon….but I’m up there.  I like it, I know it, but I don’t live or die by who shot first in the Cantina scene.  I do have a life.

I also have my Darth Tater and my Spud Trooper. But my prized possession is a halogram of Princess Leia bending down to put a disk into R2 telling Obi-Wan, ‘you’re our only hope’.  It doesn’t actually talk, but I add in the dialogue when I play with it.  It came off a Taco Bell soda cup.

I also enjoy the parodies……the one below is one of my favourites.

So It Begins….

or continues, as it were.

Almost 3500 dead soldiers and still the democrats can’t get the balls to stand up to their own talk and agenda.

It’d be one thing if they got voted down for war funding without the setting of a deadline, it’s another when they don’t even vote for it. 86 Democrats supported the war funding bill.

Bush has a fucking 28% approval rating and they are STILL fucking scared of him. I hate the man with a passion, but say this: he gets what he wants. We bend over and seemingly take it dry.

Taking the White House in 2008 is going to be tougher than any of the candidates imagine. What should be a slam-dunk will be either another photo finish election, or a blow-out in favour of the GOP.

How fucking sad is that?

Site of the Month

It’s not quite Donnie Darko, but it’s something to kill time.

Image of the Day

In conjunction (junction) with my post earlier in the week, the National Building Museum sits right in front of (or possibly in back of) the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

In a town full of historical and cool architecture, the NBM really stands out. If nothing else, it is red brick (more than 1.5 million of ‘em) and not white marble. No small feat in WDC.

Though it is difficult to see (though easier if you click on image to make larger), you might notice the elevators that take you to and from the Judiciary Square Metro station. As I mentioned earlier in the week, both elevator and escalator dump you out right into the middle of the memorial.

Built circa 1885, the building used to house the Pension Bureau. It became the NBM in the 1980s.

The NBM is just as cool inside. A huge lobby with massive columns and a three story or so atrium. It is a perfect place for gatherings and oddly enough, it is the rental of the space that keeps it in the black. It is a great space for one the the umpteen inaugural balls that goes on every four years.

Getting into the museum is free, though donations are accepted. Denton is a museum member, as he is very into architecture, urban geography and city planning. It also contains what is possibly the best museum gift shoppe in DC. I have a cool tie that has the city streets of Rome all over it. They now seemingly have them for most major cities: New York, London, Paris, Munich (mmmm….everyone talk about, Pop Muzik) DC and a few other cities. Ok, I don’t really know if they have a tie for Munich….but I cannot pass up a good MTV / 1981 reference.

I had nothing to do with the picture, other than point, click and shoot. No editing or enhancing of the colours has been done.

The blue of the sky, the green of the trees and red building and even the white of building to the left along with the cement in the memorial just works together perfectly. The forces of nature and time made the photo possible. I was just in the right place at the right time.

Vaya Con Dios, Alberto

I know this is just a timing issue, but I almost miss John Ashcroft.

Hey! I said ‘almost’!

I mean, he was a scary scary man, but at least you knew where you stood with him.

Not that others haven’t called for it, but Robert Greenwald is jonesing for Gonzales’ resignation. But aren’t we all. As the time of this writing, there have been almost 30,000 signatures to the on-line petition.

I’m assuming the number will go up since Mr. Greenwald’s making the talk show rounds and his viral video is making the internets rounds (see below). I don’t know how big of a draw NRP’s American Public Media’s Marketplace is, but it got me to look up the video. But I always let Kai Ryssdal dictate my every move.

It’s ok…it could be funnier, but you never know.

Gonzales is a dolt and even gives lawyers a bad name. This is not one expects from the Attorney General. Or maybe it is…at least in this administration. But we shouldn’t have to put up with this kind of incompetence.

If nothing else, you can sign the petition.