By the way

Man, if there's an afterlife I'm totally screwed.

John Waters on Leslie Van Houten

Over on Huffington Post, there's a series of five surprisingly thoughtful posts (what we used to call "essays" back in the Bronze Age) by John Waters about his relationship w/ Leslie Van Houten. He makes no apologies for her actions, and it's worth a look. Still can't forgive him for Pink Flamingos, though. Actually, had an amusing moment about that this week. Somehow the subject came up while talking w/ my friend John, and I noted that I had a hard time eating eggs for some months afterwards. He said, "yeah, same w/ dog shit."

My boy Christopher Hitchens gets it right again

Good article by Christopher Hitchens over at Slate talking about the movie detailing a series of debates he had with a Christian minister. I highly recommend his column Fighting Words; pithy and usually spot on. We need to hear unpleasant truths about ourselves(well, you) and others. I believe the movie's title is Conversations, and it should be worth a look.

Back from Ungawa

A good weekend at Ungawa. It's all guys, but don't worry, it's not some Iron John shit where we're running through the woods screaming. It's just a good excuse to hang out, get drunk, eat tremendous amounts of meat, and talk in a low pressure atmosphere in an LCRA park in the beeyuutiful Texas hill country. Good people, good fun. And I learned a good nasty term(some UT guy around the campfire said it, all in good fun) for my friends from Texas Tech: Sand Aggies.

Turns out he was nuts

Okay, so I spoke too soon. Turns out that the American who got Suu Kii in this latest mess was told by God to warn her of assassination. I'm suspicious, though; how'd someone like that make into Burma? He still should have done the right thing and stayed here in America, which has plenty of mental health options. Probably less than the European social democracies, but certainly better than the Third World. Anyways, how about my boy Jim Webb? He's apparently started some initiative to review the prison systems, including the non-violent drug offender problem. That's what you call genuine, since there's no constituency for prison reform.

Dogsittin' in Cedar Park

Going out to dogsit in scenic Cedar Park tonight. Good dogs, one of whom can climb trees.
Actually feel like I'm doing something useful.

Ugly Americans

Have you been following the trial of Ang Sang Suu Kii? The elected leader of Burma(you heard me), she's been under house arrest for years. She's currently being tried by the insane junta ruling that country on charges of breaking her house arrest. Apparently some American idiot swam across the lake to her home, and was too ill from the swim to leave(?) and so stayed at the house for couple of days. She's reduced to arguing that the guards should have been more diligent in keeping people out. Great. I want to see an interview of this fool countryman of ours. What good were you, oh globe-trotting, over-privileged, probably won't shut up about his knowledge of the rich cultures he's graced w/ his presence; well-rounded and self-actualized mother fucker that you are, going to do? What is probably an enriching vision quest for you is deadly serious to the natives. Do some real good. Stay home. Send money. Follow the State Department's warnings.

Linux

I'm using linux now, just thought I'd let you know. We'll see how this goes, as change frightens and angers me. Also, walking down Guadalupe today, I had occasion to ponder if Hot Stuff is in the public domain. I don't think he is.

Bad Karma at the Coast

Did kind of a bad thing this past weekend. I was fishing in Port Aransas(the white trash Riviera, for those outside Texas) when I caught a hardhead catfish(that's a throwback fish, for those of you who haven't sailed the Spanish Main. Couldn't throw him back because the hook was too far embedded in his mouth- he was already a dead man. I decided to cut him up and feed him to the pelicans as I'll eat 'em but I don't want them to die in vain. My friend JB correctly told me to be careful not to let anything eat the part w/ the hook. I began cutting at the back. I threw a piece to the pelican who was standing about two feet away from me. Fortunately, the cat died quickly, I think. The second piece missed the pelican's beak, and he was too good to stoop and pick it up, so I had to pick it up as I can't just leave dead fish on the pier. While I bent down, another pelican swooped and picked up the head, hook still in it. Now, hopefully he gave up on eating it 'cause it was large and it was really hard(hence the name) or because it was mostly bone and pelicans have to kind of flip large fish into their gullets and often they miss and the fish goes back to the water. Otherwise, I sincerely the process by which they pass fish bones enables him to get the hook through. I sincerely hope he and Neptune forgive me. I'm but a clumsy savanna monkey.

The year of Darwin

Over at National Geographic's web site they have an interactive feature showing stages of evolution such as land dweller to whale and dinosaur to turkey.

Finally a cure for toe fungus

A couple of friends had mercy on me and took me out for my aaargh 45th birthday. I can see the reaper on the hill as we speak. I got to eat crawfish and went to Fado's, a nice Irish bar here in Austin where the nice waiter gave me a free shot!

A historic milestone

My platonic friend the Yankee Terror is taking me out to eat for my shudder 45th birthday. Halfway to 90, and yes, you can feel the Grim Reaper's hand on your shoulder.

Nature's beauty

Slate, linked to at the left, has an article about one of my favorite birds, the vulture. Seriously, the sight of a bunch of them wind surfing out at Enchanted Rock is quite a sight. They may be carrion eaters, but you've got to love someone who does that.

Pro death and proud of it

Bipartisanship is when we do what I want. Partisanship is when we do what you want.

Trattoria Lisina, I think

Got to go to Damien Mandola's restaurant in Dripping Springs recently. I loved his show w/ Johnny Carraba on PBS. Not a bad place, scenic too. We've taken a lot of shit here in Commancheria about our home grown wine industry. Nice to get some respect. I personally can take or leave wine, but it is alchohol and you've got to respect that.

Bill Hicks, Great Texan

On the Mark Evanier blog I reference to the left in links, there's an item about the famous censored Bill Hicks routine on the David Letterman show apparently actually be broadcast this Friday in the midst of an interview w/ his mother. I can't figure out how to put links in my posts, but that's a very good blog, by the way. I can't recommend Hicks highly enough. I never got to see him live, and in face know him mostly for access tv here in Austin. And yes, I know I should be embarassed to admit having watched access. Hicks was a genuinely funny and insightful man, and this thing on Friday should be well worth watching.

This is why I vote for the D's

Obama's first acts were to repel some Bush nonsense, particularly the gag rule on foreign health care providers. The simple fact is that if you want to help women out of poverty, you need to let them have reproductive freedom. Things like this cost nothing and set better policy.

Fear for the new year

Don't know how much I should panic. This year's flu strain is not covered by the vaccine(although I'm told that it still buffers the effects somewhat; I always avoid the shot, just to be different), the increasingly scary economic news, and there's some horrible worm from the Ukraine(sorry, it's just Ukraine, no the; however, Gambia does prefer the Gambia- remember this) that may have already attacked your computer. I'm switching to Linux. You know what the problem w/ technology is? All these programs are made by right brain(I think; I always get the hemispheres mixed up) types who, though intelligent and better contributors to society than I, can't communicate well to a normal audience. I've got a degree, albeit a cushy liberal arts degree, so I'm at least functionally intelligent. I should be able to figure more of this out on my own. Ahh, I can't wait until we get to the stage where Capt. Picard justs says, computer, do so and so and the computer has to ask him questions to clarify things. Oh well.
P.S. Failing the nerd test. Picard is the superior officer. It must be nice to make out w/ green and blue women, but isn't that some sort of dereliction of duty?

Embarrasing Texas Moment

The New York Times, among others, is reporting on the battles on the Texas Board of Education over evolution. Wonderful. I love and am fascinated deeply by this state but this shit makes us look like the Salem town council. The moderates won on the dismissing of a rule that teachers and their students explore the "strengths and weaknesses" of all theories. You heard us, all theories. The Snake Handlers won w/ a new rule that teachers must instruct the kids, those who are still listening, on aspects of the fossil record that don't jibe w/ the idea of species changing over time(there should be a term for that) such as species that don't change and sudden appearances of new species. Ah well, time and evolution are on our side. I always liked the Marvel comics character the High Evolutionary. He was this guy was neither good nor bad but hung around anthropomorphizing animals. Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, was another good not so funny animal book.

Bugs & the Dodo

Checked out the Looney Tunes Golden Collection last night. A fine, four-disc set that I heartily recommend, not just for the many Bugs cartoons but some "off-brand" cartoons w/ Porky, the Dodo and such where they did some really interesting art, both fore- and background, with some cultural and temporal references you'll have fun identifying.

Postscript

I highly recommend Boogie Man, a documentary broadcast on PBS' Frontline, which I believe should be available on their website. I does a good job of exploring what I find most dangerous about the right wing- true believers and what they will do.

Today's the day

I've always been skeptical about how much the president actually affects our daily lives but if the intelligentsia(seems weird to say that in America- we prefer less flattering terms like pundits or chattering class or at best, experts) is to be believed, economic catastrophe looms. I've told anyone who'll listen, and many who don't, that I don't vote for the Democrats, I vote against the Republicans. All I want him to do is hold the line against the right wing of this country on the environment, science, and such. That's what I liked about the Clintons, not necessarily what they did but who they drove into apoplectic fits. I'd rather deal w/ foolishness on the left than the danger of the right.

Gotta give him that

Bush didn't spend his last days pardoning all the various miscreants his policies helped create, despite much speculation that he would do so. Good for him.

Latest Osprey sightings

Saw an osprey out at Lake Travis this past weekend. That was the second time I've seen one out there. That was so cool. Happy MLK day.

One redeeming feature

He did say the highlight was catching a seven pound perch. That's fair. Perch are usually much smaller. He probably caught it in an breeding pond, though, so I can't really even give him that. Like shootin' fish in a barrel.

What a fool

Bush warns against "isolationism." Nobody said anything about that. Opposing an elective, insanely expensive war against a wounded opponent who posed no threat to us is not isolationist. Diplomacy, anyone? This is the man who did nothing w/ the I-P peace precess, not even a special envoy, in eight years. Apparently, if we're not engaged in war we've returned to isolationism. Is he lying to us or himself? Trick question, probably both.

Lies I told my children

To resume the lying issue, I aver that euphemism(or PC language, although I hesitate to use that term 'cause I am, technically, on the left) is a particularly egregious form of lying. For instance, say you wake up and you're a quadriplegic. That ain't good. Life isn't over, you can still get to a good place, perhaps even achieve fame and fortune peddling a specious form of physics(time goes in a straight line, dammit), but obviously at the least it's going to be a bit of an adjustment. Happy talk isn't going to make it better. You're not "differently" abled, you're disabled. You have been deprived of your abledness. This applies to mental illness as well, as I previously mentioned about our patients, who are locked in, being referred to as consumers. It doesn't matter whether you "have schizophrenia" or you "are schizophrenic." Spend that energy on something useful, like inventing a better antipsychotic.

Midnight at the Insane Asylum III- The Bloodletting

I take as my text for today's sermon an article some years back in Texas Monthly. This is usually an advertising broadsheet for the very wealthy(rich white trash, we call 'em in Tejas), but it usually has at least one good article. I call this the New Republic ratio. If that article's worth the cover, that's up for you, gentle reader, to decide. The good article is often a small town crime article, which I really like for some reason(shows the rural population is showing some spark). Anyway, this article was by the woman who wrote the book that became the movie Rush, which I highly recommend although some of my friends do not. It's a true story of this woman's work as an undercover narcotics cop in Beaumont, TX. I do not recommend Beaumont. In the course of the assignment, her partner and her are, of course, swept up into drug use and hilarity ensues. Her main point in the article was to parents: don't lie, because when your children find out you're lying they won't trust you again. You had to read the article, of course, but this struck me as sound advice. What does this have to do w/ mental illness, you ask, bored reader? Well, it's going to have to wait until this evening's post because I have to get ready for my drudge job. Have a delightful day, and try to have at least one good laugh.

Midnight at the Insane Asylum, Part the Second

One of many problems I have w/ the business of mental health or lack thereof is the constant use of euphemism. For instance, our patients are officially referred to as "consumers" and, less often, "clients." Client? Isn't that like a customer? I think of a client as someone who can leave the premises and go to another establishment. You don't get court commitments to keep a client. This is just one of many and I often wonder how anyone who's read or is familiar w/ 1984 and Orwell could make such cynical usage a part of their professional milieu. It's PC gone to extremes. It's one thing not to hurt someone's feelings or be crass. It's quite another to lie to them. There's even a new name for it at the asylum. It's "People First." Rather than do something, we're going to concentrate on spiffing up the official releases. That probably took an untold number of committees of bureaucrats who haven't had contact w/ a patient in years. You people out there just nevermind and keep paying your taxes.

Six degrees of Wyatt Earp

In my previous post, I mentioned the guy who worked at the federal prison in Bastrop where he met Jack Cerone, the Chicago gangster. If he didn't know the Rat Pack himself, he knew Sam Giancana and others who did. So Giancana knew Dean Martin(or the Rat Packer of your choice), who knew John Wayne, who as a young extra and stuntman met an old Wyatt Earp. Wayne said he patterned his lawmen characters after Earp. Bonus- through Earp, you get connected to Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson and Johnny Ringo.

Six degrees of Al Capone

I work at the asylum w/ a guy who worked at the State Penitentiary at Bastrop, TX where he met Jack Cerone, a former boss of the Chicago "Outfit." He was a protege of Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo, who knew Al Capone.

Six Degrees of Adolf Hitler

My sister worked on Clinton advisor Paul Begala's campaign for class or school president or something in high school. Begala knows Clinton. Clinton knows John Glenn. John Glenn knew Warner Von Braun. Von Braun knew Hitler. See? It's easy. Now you try. And remember, a war criminal who's an employee of the US government ain't hardly a war criminal at all.

Eggs! Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!

A friend of my gave me shit for recommending Pink Flamingos, a John Waters film. Said I just did it to be quirky. Actually, it's an important piece of American cinema. Ha! Just kidding, it's actually an endurance test. I like John Waters films, but this one is something you watch to brag that you watched. It taught me an important lesson in perspectives. You're sitting there thinking that the singing asshole scene will be emblazoned in your conscious forever and will haunt your dreams. Then the chicken fucking scene comes on and you're like, hey, that's not bad! This is pretty gross but it knocked the other thing out. Seriously, you should watch this movie.

That reminds me

On the previous post, one thing the Aussies are forgetting is that most believers do sleep in on Sunday mornings. The loudest, wear your faith on your sleeve Christians invariably haven't set foot in a church 'cept for weddings and funerals for years. And they wouldn't know their own holy book if it bled to death on their front yard.

Where's your messiah now?

Just read an interesting in the New York Times about atheists in the UK starting their own bus advertising campaign. Their tag line was "There's probably no god, so stop worrying and enjoy your life." Apparently the "probably" was necessary for truth in advertisement laws(!) Don't know why the religious ads don't have to admit a gray area as well. The the American Humanist Association started running ads in Washington w/ a man in a Santa suit w/ the caption "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." The Australians couldn't get permission but I thought theirs best: "Atheism: Sleep in on Sunday mornings." Now that's effective advertising.

Thought for the day

Whenever you hear "Blagojevich," I encourage you to mentally pronounce it as Jerry Lewis would. Repeatedly. Enjoy!

More on evolution

That reminds me, the National Geographic society has a website I highly recommend. Again, I'm too lazy to post it myself, but if you search their site there's an article about a fossil find in the last couple of years that seems to be of a deerlike ancestor of whales. Also, there's material on the megafishes project, wherein they're trying to preserve giant fish like the Mekong giant catfish(some fascinating photos there- I love giant fish).

Draft Dodging Carpetbagger

That's my nickname for our outgoing unlamented president. He's not actually from Texas, you know. He was born in Connecticut or Maine or something like that. And yet we're forever tarnished by this mess. What I dislike about him most is not the elective war or the torture or the assault on civil liberties(this list could go on), it's what Hillary Clinton called the "war on science." It's the interference with the World Health Organization, twisting environmental rules and that nonsense with the endangered species list(we can always breed more savanna monkeys, but charismatic megafauna are well, charismatic). Beyond the dislike of applied science, what's truly frightening about the current GOP is the assault on Darwin. I don't know what W thinks about this, but clearly his party has done nothing about the snake handling wing that pushes the nonsense that is "intelligent design." That was one of the sharpest nails in Palin's coffin for me. Evolution now, evolution forever!

Please help, although I do not intend to

People mock Wikipedia, but I actually think it's a valuable resource. I'd check any fact I got off it but it usually gives a good general overview of any topic of interest, and tends to cover subjects that aren't available elsewhere on the net. I say this as a former renowned trivia(Latin for "three rivers," the Roman name for the Greek goddess of witchcraft, Hecate) buff who has been rendered obsolete by Wikipedia. Why run to me when you can google the names of the Banana Splits?

Midnight at the Insane Asylum

I've worked at Texas' flagship psychiatric hospital for some years now and, to quote Sally Brown, it's been an education not to be confused with learning anything. The patient care is for the most part pretty good, particularly given that it's, as we say, the state. The basic conundrum of the mental health system is that, unlike in "real" hospitals where you go in and get your leg put in a cast and go home and that's often the end of it, a trip to the psych hospital is often the start of a lifetime regimen of drugs that are better than they used to be but still often have some annoying side effects. More than that, it can be the beginning of a struggle against what you perceive to be reality. Psych meds obviously help and some patients have good support systems, but ultimately it seems to me that the patients face a lonely battle. Do we and the agencies we release them to do the best we can to help them? Hmmm....

Let the world tremble and yawn

My first post- can you feel the excitement? More to come.