I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.

John Wayne, The Shootist

You want to see karma coming? Go look in the mirror, right now.

Kathe Koja, Buddha Boy

The election's over, the signs of The Fourth Turning are all over the place, and the chicken-shit media weasels are poking their heads out of their hidey-holes and jumping on the passing bandwagons, as afraid that they're going to miss the show as they were afraid that the neo-cons were going to ruin their careers. (But it's better late than never, I guess) The sad thing about all of this is that, even though culture seems to be turning "our" way again, it's a cycle. Changes occur every twenty or so years. But by the time any real turnaround happens, I'll be...well, never mind. I don't want to create any self-fulfilling prophecies.

The neighbors are having a party, with at least fifty people attending. And, I'm not exaggerating here, at any given time between one-third and one-half of them are talking on a cell phone. Two of the younger ladies are even pacing slowly up and down the street in front of the house as they talk. Our computerized devices MIGHT be making us more communicative (I doubt it), but it seems to me that technological advances, rather than making us better as a species, are making us more isolated and ignorant when interacting in person.

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How much enjoyment can you get out of running one of those remote control racecars that sounds like an amplified twenty pound mosquito flying up and down the street? The guy has been doing it now for forty-five minutes and he hasn't tired of it yet. I could understand it if he were a little kid, or a teenager bored or stoned out of his mind; but he's thirty years old! Grow up, for Christ's sake. Or at least get some kind of a muffler for the goddam thing. If I had some CO2 cartridges, I'd sit out on my front porch and shoot BBs at it.

"I had never met Mr. Stanton [the Secretary of War] up to that time, though we had held frequent conversations over the wires the year before, when I was in Tennessee. Occasionally at night he would order the wires between the War Department and my headquarters to be connected, and we would hold a conversation for an hour or two."

new species

So what should they name this new creature? Oh, come on now. It's obvious. If you really don't know, you didn't read the article closely enough.

I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? [Cindy Sheenan]

I painted this for my sister-in-law, who requested it as a Christmas present. She collects images of lighthouses. I suggested to her that her hobby is Freudian, but she insists that the structures are symbols of her (self-defined) role as a sentinel. (No reason why it can't be both, I guess--libido projected in opposite directions.) The blotchiness is not a part of the picture, but rather is my lame attempt to color-correct the areas of the painting that are still wet and were too reflective. Lots of color loss in the yellow and crimson areas, and the land areas are a bit more brown and with much better contrast than appears here.

palette: phythalocyanine green, cadmium-barium yellow medium,
alizarin crimson, raw umber, raw sienna, zinc white, lamp black

The brilliant red leaves are finally falling off the burning bush.
This is how I realize each year that winter is fast approaching.

[I just realized I should have taken a pic. Too late. Next year.]

2 things meme...stolen from bayarts who stole it from ellettra


Two Names I Go By: Joe and jai

Two Parts of My Heritage: German and French

Two Things That Scare Me: American concentration camps and George Bush

Two Everyday Essentials: coffee and beer

Two Things I Am Wearing Right Now: sweats and a corduroy shirt/jacket

Two of My Favorite Bands or Musical Artists: Pink Floyd and ZZ Top

Two of My Favorite Songs: "Brain Damage" and "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond"

Two Things I Want in a Relationship: tolerance and fusion

Two Physical Things that Appeal to Me: the Sun and the Moon

Two of My Favorite Hobbies: painting and dreaming

Two Things I Want Really Badly: coffee and beer

Two Places I Want to go on Vacation: Patagonia and Churchill, Manitoba

Two Things I Want to Do Before I Die: get married again and discover the secret of eternal life (but they may not be two different things)

I've checked out a number of BBC programs and news video feeds today that dealt with the parrot in Britain that died from bird flu, and I'm disappointed not to find any of them introduced by Monty Python's dead parrot skit. They missed a good opportunity for British wry humor there.

All churches' basic message is: "Don't worry about anything. Don't even worry about dying. Just do what we say and everything will be all right and we'll continue to take care of you--and even after you're dead, you'll still be around and safe in the church. Nevermind that religions' rationale is all based on myth and superstition. Forget about what science and cold, hard logic tells you," the churches say. "We've developed our own rationale over the ages, based upon the dreams and visions of wise men and prophets who, inspired by God, have written out the truth, God's word, so that you will know. Nevermind that the prophets were really just crazy old men who lived in the desert and suffered from various degrees of heatstroke, malnutrition, and disturbed body chemistry, who suffered from dream dysfunction and based their prophecies on the misinterpretation of their intuitive mystical visions.( continue to pray )