This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
this ain't no fooling around


Nicolas De Stael, Nice, 1954

* Impeachment? No. Impalement!, by Will Durst. excerpt:

"I don’t know about you guys, but I am so sick and tired of these lying, thieving, holier-than-thou, rightwing, cruel, crude, rude, gauche, coarse, crass, cocky, corrupt, dishonest, debauched, degenerate, dissolute, swaggering, lawyer shooting, bullhorn shouting, infra-structure destroying, buck passing, hysterical, criminal, history defying, finger pointing, puppy stomping, roommate appointing, pretzel choking, collateral damaging, aspersion casting, wedding party bombing, clearcutting, torturing, jobs outsourcing, torture out-sourcing, election fixing, women’s rights eradicating, Medicare cutting, uncouth, spiteful, boorish, vengeful, jingoistic, homophobic, xenophobic, xylophonic, racist, sexist, ageist, fascist, cashist, audaciously stupid, brazenly selfish, lethally ignorant, journalist purchasing, genocide ignoring, corporation kissing, poverty inducing, crooked, coercive, autocratic, primitive, uppity, high-handed, domineering, arrogant, inhuman, inhumane, inbred, inept, insipid, incapable, incompetent, ineffectual, insolent, insincere, know-it-all, snotty, pompous, contemptuous, supercilious, gutless, spineless, shameless, avaricious, noxious, poisonous, imperious, merciless, graceless, tactless, brutish, brutal, Karl Roving, backward thinking, persistent vegetative state grandstanding, nuclear option threatening, evolution denying, irony deprived, consciously depraved, conceited, perverted, peremptory invading, thirty-five day vacation taking, bribe soliciting, hellish, smarty pants, loudmouth, bullying, swell headed, ethics eluding, domestic spying, medical marijuana busting, Halliburtoning, narcissistic, undiplomatic, blustering, malevolent, demonizing, Duke Cunninghamming, hectoring, dry drunk, Muslim baiting, hurricane disregarding, oil company hugging, judge packing, science disputing, faith based advocating, armament selling, nonsense spewing, education ravaging, whiny, insane, unscrupulous, lily livered, greedy (exponential factor fifteen), fraudulent, delusional, CIA outing, redistricting, anybody who disagrees with them slandering, fact twisting, ally alienating, betraying, chickenhawk, sell out, quisling, god and flag waving, scare mongering, Cindy Sheehan libeling, smirking, bastardly, voting machine tampering, sociopathic, cowardly, treasonous, Constitution shredding, oppressive, vulgar, antagonistic, trust funding, nontipping, tyrannizing, peace hating, water and air and ground and media polluting (which is pretty much all the polluting you can get), deadly, traitorous, con man, swindling, pernicious, lethal, illegal, haughty, venomous, virulent, mephitic, egotistic, bloodthirsty, yellowbelly, hypocritical, Oedipal, did I say evil, I’m not sure if I said evil, because I want to make sure I say evil . . . EVIL, cretinous, slime buckets in the Bush Administration that I could just spit."

* The Vanishing Medical Marijuana Gap. excerpt:

"When there is a big gap between the views of ordinary Americans on a public issue and the voting record of their elected representatives in Congress on that issue, something is wrong. In the national debate over the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the people and their representatives in Congress seem to be living on different planets. In New York, however, the gap has been closed, or nearly so.

"Poll after poll show Americans, by a huge majority, want their doctors, not lawmakers, to decide whether or not marijuana should be used as a medicine. Today, however, federal laws prohibit physicians from prescribing marijuana for pain relief even where state and local laws say it is OK to do so. This has not always been the case.

"'For most of American history, growing and using marijuana was legal under both federal law and the laws of individual states,' according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the U.S. Congress. The report goes to say: 'From 1850 to the early 1940s, cannabis was included in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia as a recognized medicinal. ( But ) its decline in medicine was hastened by the development of aspirin, morphine, and other opium-derived drugs, all of which helped to replace marijuana in the treatment of pain.'"
...
"American democracy calls on lawmakers to be responsive to the common sense wisdom of ordinary citizens. Instead, some members of Congress from New York and elsewhere are standing in the way of existing state laws and the majority of Americans who want their physicians, not politicians, to decide if marijuana should be used to ease suffering in sick patients.

"If these officials don't improve their hearing, voters might consider replacing them this coming November with people who have better listening skills."

* It was 20 years ago today that Jeff Krulik and John Hein filmed the classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot. If you have't seen it, track it down now. [via]

* "Some characters in my books do find their own doors. Nobody knows whether that door is fortunate or ominous before opening it. The most important thing is to realize that the door exists. In fact, all of us are divided—mentally, spiritually, sexually, religiously, politically, consciously, unconsciously, intentionally, unintentionally. Why shouldn't we leave it as it is? That's the way we are. Contradiction and ambiguity are our two best, most honest friends. Without them we'd be totally lost." - Haruki Murakami - interviewed by Geoffrey O'Brien, Bookforum, spring 2001