Random Notes

This week's column is a slight change of tone, as I tried to write something a little more personal while still dwelling on politics. It may be too unfocused for its own good. This column has a feel closer to a blog/journal entry.

True confessions of a tired political junkie



What's my mission statement? Judging from the tone of my previous columns, my mission statement seems to be "I will think aloud in this space and also bash President Bush at every given opportunity, maligning him for every mistake."



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I wrote the column Wednesday evening and only tweaked it this morning, but let me say I think John Kerry slammed it home with his speech. He was tough, he was fair, and he took shots at the Three Stooges -- Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft -- which hit the mark dead-center. Best of all, the man was presidential and seemed more like a flesh-and-blood human being than a reanimated hulk with bolts sticking out of his neck.

I was flipping channels and saw Alex Trebek starting to announce the categories for the first Jeopardy round. Now, I'm a complete sucker for this show. I feel the need to watch it a few minutes any time I see it's on. I wouldn't win if I were on the show, but at least I can feel good about the answers I get right.



College Championship Week is always fun because I get more correct, but I feel terrible about it because I know that week is dumbed down. But how dumb can it get? Kristofer and I found out.



The category which kept me glued this evening was Star Trek: The Original Series. K and I waited and waited for the college kids to make their way to that category. Naturally, they saved it until dead last.



Before they got there, the mouth-breather at the center podium (who would later go on to win) had us cracking up when the answer "This lizard is sometimes known as the Jesus Christ lizard for its ability to do this" came up.



The fucktard rang in and said "What is 'Shed its skin?'"



"WHAT?" I asked.



"The fuck?" K asked.



Admittedly, neither of us have seen The Passion of the Christ, so maybe we can be excused for not immediately connecting those two dots. No wonder the Romans needed Judas to identify Jesus. Left on their own, they never would've thought to look under a fern or notice the way Jesus managed to blend into the foliage.



They finally made it to the Star Trek category, and it was the most basic shit you could imagine. All you had to know was character names and that Spock wore fake ears.



They flashed a picture of DeForrest "Dammit, Jim... I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer" Kelley on the screen and all they had to do was say "Who is Bones McCoy?"



The chick buzzed in and said "Who is Data?" Data is Next Gen, but never mind.



The next category's answer was "Who is Sulu?"



The fucktard in the middle buzzed in and said "Who is Data?"



I weep for the future.

The convention is almost over and I'll finally be able to sleep again. Every night I vow I'll go to bed early, and every night I end up staying awake until ungodly hours to watch speech after speech on CSPAN. It will be a relief to get back to my boring-ass normal 9:30 p.m. bedtime. I'd like to think I'll make up the sleep deficit this weekend, but I'm planning to buy an Xbox and a copy of Halo or Knights of the Old Republic. I can sleep when I'm dead!



I'm ready to drop $100-150 on a video game system this weekend, but I dropped my idea about taking an introduction to Spanish class at WVU-P when I saw the $200 tag for a three-hour course. My priorities are wondrous to behold. *sigh* Maybe I should get one of those Lesko books and see if I can scare up some grant money in the name of education.



Random iPod Lunch Mix

"Backside of Thirty" - John Conlee

"You Fucking Whore" - Sam Kinison

"Bang Bang Boom" - The Moffatts

"As I Lay Me Down" - Sophie B. Hawkins

"A View to a Kill" - Duran Duran

"Kids in America" - Kim Wilde

"Live for Loving You" - Gloria Estefan

"Louie Louie" - The Kingsmen

"Traditional Irish Folk Song" - Denis Leary

"Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" - Eric Cartman (South Park)

"Take On Me" - MXPX

"Someday We'll Be Together" - The Supremes

I received a letter in my mailbox today from Senator Byrd. I had sent an e-mail via his website and urged him to vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment. A letter was more than I expected. I don't care what anyone says about his being the king of pork and constantly bringing up the KKK thing, because I think of him as a true statesman and will likely vote to keep him in office until he dies.

Dear Mr. Estep:



Thank you for contacting me regarding same-sex marriage. I appreciate hearing from you.



On July 14, 2004, the Senate failed to invoke cloture, or limit debate, on this measure and it was withdrawn from consideration. It is unlikely it will be further considered during this Congress. I have enclosed a copy of my speech from the Congressional Record to explain my position on the amendment. Again, your providing me with the benefit of your thinking is helpful.



As your elected representative in the U.S. Senate, I value your opinion.



With kind regards, I am



Sincerely yours,

[signed]

Robert C. Byrd

---

Congressional Record - Senate - July 14, 2004



Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, today the Senate faces a cloture vote which

we should never have faced. We have been put in this position by a

majority leadership that is toying with the faith and the trust of

people across this country. I share their faith, and I share their

belief in the sanctity of marriage. I am very disappointed that we have

a procedural vote, instead of a vote in direct consideration of a

constitutional amendment. What these people want is a vote, up or down;

what they are going to get is more rigamarole in this Senate. The

majority party is manipulating the faith of many Americans, with the

unwitting aid of many well-meaning religious leaders, which is one of

the most disappointing aspects of this issue.



The majority party does not expect to win this cloture vote. In fact,

the majority party likely does not want to win this cloture vote. The

White House and the Republican leadership want to campaign on the fact

that Democrats blocked this amendment, that Democrats somehow oppose

marriage. How ludicrous. Yet, the Republican leadership will try to

capitalize on this procedural vote with fundraising letters, campaign

stops, and election-day votes. It is an abomination, an absolute

failure of trust, to hatch such calculated political schemes on those

Americans who genuinely believe in this issue.



The majority party wants this cloture motion to fail. I, for one,

will not help in that effort. I will not help to manipulate the

churches and the pulpits across this country. I will call that bluff,

and vote for cloture on the motion to proceed.



While I strongly support, and will continue to staunchly defend,

efforts to strengthen and preserve marriage in our society, I oppose

amending the U.S. Constitution based on the resolution that is before

this Senate. The resolution is rife with contradictions and ambiguities

that would, with certainty, lead to nothing but confusion and endless

litigation in the future. I had hoped that the Senate would have been

given the opportunity to debate and to vote clearly, yes or no, on that

proposal, and not cloud the debate with procedural votes that few

outside of this Capitol understand.



We are in a phase in this country's history that seems to tend toward

the belief that cultural conflict, deep wrenching questions about right

and wrong, should be fodder for political games. That view is high

folly when the legislative vehicle is the Constitution of these United

States. As much as I sympathize with the deep personal and religious

convictions of those who revere the institution of marriage, we must

not start down the road of using our national charter to win political

or culture wars. Such a course could lead to the unraveling of

individual freedoms and eventually could leave our Constitution in

tatters and disrepute--making our beloved Federal charter the most

tragic and dramatic victim of the fierce, unprincipled, political

conflicts that rage in our land today.

The good folk of JibJab.com have given us a great cartoon singalong between George W. Bush and John Kerry. It's worth the download just to see Kerry in the S&M gear and ball-gag combo. Ha!



Woodie Guthrie's people are suing over the unauthorized use of "This Land Is Your Land," but that just makes it even more amusing.

Let me see if I've got this straight. The Republicans are having their national convention in New York so they can be close to the site of the World Trade Center attack and tie their message to 9/11. Probably not a bad strategy for them, but why would they invite Jerry Falwell to give the opening invocation? Do they remember his explanation to Pat Robertson about why God lifted his veil of protection and allowed the terrorist attacks to happen?

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. [T]he pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say 'You helped this happen.'"

This just gets funnier and funnier by the minute.



Maybe we can get Anita Bryant to serve carrot cake in the presidential skybox.

My buddy Gravely wrote a great post about his love affair with books. As a fellow bibliophile, I can relate. He mentioned a situation which would've sent me scrambling for a blunt object to crush someone's skull.

I was watching "Clean Sweep" on TLC earlier tonight. The woman whom they were "sweeping" liked to read and had a good many books. The guy who was the "organization expert" told, didn't ask, the woman that any book she'd read previously was to be tossed or put in a yard sale and she was allowed to keep her favorite fifteen previous reads. Then he told her to whittle that fifteen down to ten. If I'd been that woman I would have kicked that man squarely in the testicles for even SUGGESTING that I sell, much less throw away, any of my cherished books.

It's a great post.

So, the name of the third Star Wars movie has finally been announced. It's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and I'm starting to feel that giddy fanboy anticipation for this one. We're hopefully going to be treated to Anakin going over to the dark side and killing a bunch of Jedi before finally donning the Darth Vader suit we've all come to know and love.



I feel stupid for feeling joy.



I saw The Phantom Menace with my sister and some of her teacher friends. They hated it, while my sister and I gushed over the plot threads and elements we knew would be resolved down the line. When I watched again later, it didn't hold up as well. I wanted to strangle Jar-Jar every time, though. "Meesa gonna puke!"



I saw Attack of the Clones with Kristofer and again gushed my little heart out when it was over. Awesome special effects and amazing spectacle, Hayden Christensen shirtless for about five seconds (even if Anakin was a whiny bitch, he's pretty to look at), and Yoda unleashing the dragon. *sigh* Then I watched it again later and thought Wow, this acting is so wooden they should be clutching cigars in front of the tobacco store.



Thankfully, seeing Clones slightly redeemed Phantom Menace because it proved Lucas was at least going somewhere. I still hated Jar-Jar, though. Somehow the idea of an idiot receiving a bit of power and using it cause the downfall of a great republic sets me on edge. "Meesa gonna invade Iraq, Ani!"



Now I'm wondering how Revenge of the Sith will treat me. Part of me is getting wood in anticipation of that imperial goodness, and I know I'll stalk out of the theater heaping praise on it and declaring it the best of the three. Then it'll come out on DVD and I'll start picking it apart.



Be gentle, George Lucas. I've been hurt before.



I know Lucas drew a lot of inspiration from Akira Kuruosawa, and I gave The Hidden Fortress a shot because he modeled R2D2 and C3PO after those bumbling characters. I enjoyed the movie, and I ended up watching Kurosawa's Yojimbo over the weekend. Sure enough, there was an arm-hacking scene which later became the severed arm shot in A New Hope's cantina.



Random iPod Tracks from Trip to the Mall

1) "My Paper Heart" - All-American Rejects

2) "Runaround" - Blues Traveler

3) "Searchin' My Soul" - Vonda Shepherd

4) "Chump" - Green Day

5) "Sunday" - Bernadette Peters

6) "Breathe You In" - Stabbing Westward

7) "Ballad for Dead Friends" - Dashboard Prophets

8) "Voices in My Head" - Denis Leary

I found this great quote floating around, and it made me laugh. So true... so true...

A Christian who does not try to push their views on me or on public policy is, to me, sort of like a person who is wearing a funny hat. You know the hat is stupid, and it sort of bugs you, but you try to ignore it even though it is huge and floppy and bright pink with big metallic-green feathers. If you can deal with the funny hat, many Christians are pretty OK; but sooner or later, they always have to say, "So Scott, how come YOU aren't wearing a funny hat?" and I have to say, "Please fuck off."
-- Why Christians Suck

In other non-news, after taking the Ethical Philosophy Selector, it appears my internal philosophy most clearly resonates with these philosophers.



1. Kant (100%)

2. Jean-Paul Sartre (97%)

3. Stoics (94%)

4. John Stuart Mill (80%)

5. Spinoza (74%)

6. Jeremy Bentham (66%)

7. Prescriptivism (66%)

8. Ayn Rand (65%)

9. David Hume (60%)

10. Nietzsche (60%)

11. Epicureans (58%)

12. Thomas Hobbes (57%)

13. Aquinas (56%)

14. Nel Noddings (46%)

15. Aristotle (42%)

16. Cynics (41%)

17. Plato (32%)

18. Ockham (30%)

19. St. Augustine (28%)

My sister's friend Anne pointed her to a game called "Zuma," and it quickly took over our lives for a few hours. It's a magical combo of Columns, Billiards, Puyo Pop, and Bust-a-Move. A long chain of marbles rolls along a track toward a skull grate; you control a stone frog which fires marbles from its mouth. By firing the marble into the chain and matching three colors in a row, you destroy those balls and halt the advance. If the marbles make it into the skull's mouth, you lose a life.



The game is fast-paced and addictive. Multiple power-ups -- reverse balls, accuracy balls, explosive balls, etc. -- keep the excitement going. A free online java version lets you play through the first few levels with steadily-increasing difficulty. The full version costs $25 and features more levels and different game modes. I'm thinking it's very much worth it.



Naturally, April and I were making wildly inappropriate jokes as we played, doing our best to elevate the exquisite art of double-entendre exploitation.



"Destroy the balls, Mommy!" Andy said at one point. "Destroy the blue ones!"



"Yeah, because blue balls suck," I chimed in.

I'm sitting on the couch when the puppet show begins.



"Hi, I'm Kelly," the doll peeking over the upturned table says. "What's your name?"



"Uncle Bubba," I say obediently.



"What's your name," the doll says, twisting to look at my nephew.



"Andy!" he yells.



"What's your sister's name?"



"Emma!"



"And what's your other sister's name?"



"Laura!"



"Where is Laura?" the doll asks.



"Right there!" Andy yells, pointing below the edge of the table where the doll disappears from view.



Laura's head pops out. "Uncle Bubba, tell Andy I'm Kelly!"



Andy giggles and Kelly announces she has to eat dinner.



"It's time for another show," the doll says as she pops into view again. Her large maroon hairbow is missing this time. "Hi, I'm Julie," the doll says. "What's your name?"



"Uncle Bubba," I repeat. "I thought your name was Kelly."



From below the table, Laura stage-whispers "This is another show, Uncle Bubba." Then, as the doll turns to Andy, "What's your name?"



"Andy!"



This puppet show plays a lot like the first, as does Kaylie's and Candy's. The only variation is when Andy stands on tiptoe to allow his monster truck's headlamps to peek over the edge at me.



"Hi, I'm Candy."



"And I'm TRUCK!"

I had hoped to watch the second episode of USA's The 4400 last night, even though it didn't come on until 1 a.m. I'm on vacation this week, hanging out at my parents' house in Boone County, and I ended up in the guest bedroom making bookmarks and listening to music on my iPod for an hour or so while I waited for the show. I managed to make it to the teaser and fell asleep right after the opening credits. *sigh*



To steal an idea from K, here's what I listened to:



Random iPod Mix from My Playlist

  1) "These Are Days," 10,000 Maniacs

  2) "Wise Up," Aimee Mann

  3) "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," Tom Lehrer

  4) "Runaround Sue," Dion

  5) "Material Girl," Madonna

  6) "Final Fantasy 4 End Theme (Orchestral)," Nobou Uematsu

  7) "When I Come Around," Green Day

  8) "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," Ella Fitzgerald

  9) "Angel of the Morning," Juice Newton

10) "Jane," Barenaked Ladies

11) "Hands Down," Dashboard Confessional

12) "Like Nothing Ever Happened," Sylvia

13) "She," Louie Says

14) "Five O'Clock World," Vogues

15) "Clint Eastwood," Gorillaz

16) "Jungle Love," Morris Day & the Time

17) "Beetlejuice," Danny Elfman

18) "Girl from Ipanema," Lou Rawls

19) "You Keep Me Hangin' On," The Supremes

20) "The Real Slim Shady," Eminem

21) "Xanadu," Olivia Newton-John

22) "The Ballad of Booth," Patrick Cassidy & Victor Garber

Clive Barker wrote an excellent novel called The Great and Secret Show, among whose themes was the idea that Americans have lost their faculty for imagination because of constant exposure to television. They let Hollywood take over their dreaming. When a magical event allows dreams to become manifest, there were suddenly television characters running around the city instead of unicorns and abominable snowmen.

 

That came back to me when I woke this morning because the only dream I remember having last night was hanging out in the parking lot of Oprah's studios talking to "The Fantanas" from the Fanta commercials. Of all the things a guy like me could be dreaming about, why in hell would it be those ultra-kitschy Spice Girls knockoffs? Ugh!

 

At least in my dreams the girls understood how annoying their commercial counterparts were.

 

Wanna Fanta? Don't count on it.

Kristofer and I saw I, Robot today. It was a pretty good sci-fi action movie, and my only disappointment is that's all it was. I don't fall to my knees at the throne of Asimov like many science fiction geeks, but seeing this after Asimov and Harlan Ellison's I, Robot screenplay went unproduced makes you weep for humanity.

 

But it's pretty good. The special effects are great, although there are a few shots which needed some serious polish. The robots looked pretty cool, like they were designed by Apple. And who (other than Kristofer) can argue with giving us multiple shots of Will Smith in his underwear or in the shower?

 

Beware of product placement, though. If you've never considered buying a pair of Converse sneakers, you will by the time this movie is over. It's as blatant as Jeff Probst offering Doritos at a Survivor reward challenge.

Greetings, kiddies! This week's Sentinel column is my tongue-in-cheek response to the failure of Republicans to get their amendment. After listening to them complain about how the Massachusetts decision was such a "radical redefinition" of marriage -- as though it hadn't changed a bit in 5,000+ years of human evolution -- I thought Wouldn't be great if we could really go back to the old ways?



And now we have this column, which is probably more smart-ass than anything I've published in the paper before. I didn't throw in the Old Testament admonition that widows were to marry a brother-in-law, but I thought about it.

Federal Marriage Amendment failed because it was too soft



In the wake of Wednesday's defeat in the Senate of a Constitutional amendment that would deny civil marriage rights to gay citizens, Republicans vowed they would return to the issue again.



And good for them, I say. The first draft of the Federal Marriage Amendment contained two sentences that limited marriage to one man and one woman and effectively nixed civil unions and domestic partnerships. The measure was doomed from the start, so GOP senators decided to amend their amendment and shore up moderate votes by dropping the civil unions section. The Democrats shredded them over the move.





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A reader over at AmericaBlog offered this idea to protest Senators who led the charge for the Federal Marriage Amendment:

Dear John -



As Cheryl Jacques from HRC so aptly said, "it is outrageous and frankly surreal that ... they are literally rewriting the Constitution on the back of a napkin." Well, why not send our condolences to some of the worst bad guys (Allard, Cornyn et alia) on the back of a napkin as well? Picture a few staffers in each of these offices opening an assortment of letters of complaint - on napkins!



If nothing else, this can communicate how poorly advised their plan was or rub well-deserved salt in their wounds. And if enough people voice their dissatisfaction on the issue in this way, it may gain some media traction to forestall defeat in the House in November.

Thank you for all the hard work you do!

I think this is a brilliant idea, and I may have to start putting some napkins together later. If anyone wants to join me in this, I'll post some addresses later.

Watching CSPAN's coverage of the Republican circus trying to draft Constitutional amendments on an Etch-a-Sketch was funny enough, but Sen. Rick "Man-on-Dog Sex" Santorum knocked the smile off my face when he had a press conference with A-List celebrities speaking out against allowing gays to marry.



It's time to hang up the struggle for equality, because let me tell you this: When Darrell Green, Dean "Herbie: The Love Bug" Jones, and Pat fucking Boone are against you, you are out of the game. Kudos to Boone for dressing like an orange push pop. He may be against the gay folk hooking up, but he still knows how to look faaaaaaabulous.

The Charleston Daily Mail decided to follow up on Boone County's "Dancing Outlaw" Jesco White in a piece called "Lonesome Dance for the Outlaw". He's still living in Boone County, although he's not with his wife.



I'm one of those people who was completely transfixed by Dancing Outlaw, although the first time I saw it I suffered from outbursts of hysterical laughter which lasted nearly three hours and made it difficult to go to class. As bizarre as Jesco may be, he also has a certain dignity which you can almost admire if you can overlook every other aspect of his personality.

I have a dream that one day President Bush will be able to talk about protecting the "sanctity" of marriage while also using the words "gay" and "lesbian." I don't understand why it's such a difficult thing for him to do -- if you're going to fuck over a few million Americans, the least you can do is refer to them by name instead of nimbly dancing around what you're doing.



It's not an abstract issue, George. Just say it. Say "Gays and lesbians should not be allowed to marry. They're icky and they're going to destroy the country." Rick Santorum doesn't seem to have problems saying it. Pat Robertson doesn't. What's wrong with your ability to say it? I know I'm not lucky enough for it to be guilt, as though you were playing a neat semantic game to avoid culpability in writing discrimination into the Constitution.



And can you and your Republican cronies stop this tired line of pretending allowing gays to marry will suddenly make straight men decide to marry other men? I know a lot of straight men, and I've wanted to bed my share of them. None of them were holding out for a legal framework for a long-term relationship with me, okay? They didn't want to have sex with me because they like having sex with women. Gay people have been marrying in Massachusetts for over a month, and yet I still can't get the hottie at the 7-11 to look at me. You're barking up the wrong gay tree with that argument.



I agree with everything you say about how important marriage is to our culture, except for that none of those are reasons to exclude gays and lesbians. That's what galls me the most about the situation. If you'd pull your head out of your ass (and I know it's wedged in tight with that Bible the fundamentalists keep shoving in there) long enough to look at some gay couples, you'd probably see they're not much different than the straight couples you know.



Just try to avoid mental pictures of them fucking each other in the ass, okay? I know you're from that breed of straight guy who's nearly incapable of seeing gay men without giggly-horrified thoughts of them taking up the butt, but try. Okay? It's rude. We don't picture you fucking Laura.

It's that time again, kiddies. Friday is here, and that means another column by yours truly. Again, I'm finding ways to take shots at the Bush administration in particular and Republicans in general. I'm in serious danger of sounding like a broken record, but they're sooooooo good at giving me material, y'know?

Republican dogs of war are making a mess of the carpet



By TERRY L. ESTEP



Wow, that didn't take long.



Before Kerry could finish announcing the choice of Sen. John Edwards as his running mate on the Democrat presidential ticket, the Republican attack dogs had already started their work of chewing up the candidate. A series of Web sites covering every possible choice listed the foibles and policy decisions which would drive a wedge between voters. The "Who Is John Edwards?" page quickly labeled him "a disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal and friend to personal injury trial lawyers."



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For further amusement, check out "Why the Homosexual Movement has Won," a interesting column on SBC Baptist Press. The author references the success of After the Ball, a public relations manual for the gay community which was the first piece of gay non-fiction I purchased during my coming-out process. Then follow it up with Landover Baptist's Is My Little Baby Going to Be Gay?.

Yeah, I decided to go with a new look for the site. It's all part of my long-term redesign with plans to eventually collapse the Random Notes archives into this style. I want to move to a more dynamic setup where I can makes changes to the template all at once instead of page-by-laborious-page.

I'm usually on the fence when it comes to outing someone against their will. I know how horrified I would've been if someone had taken that choice away from me. John Aravosis makes a strong argument about why those rules do not apply to staffers of anti-gay congressmen. I agree with him on this one; if you're gay and helping that anti-gay Republican garden gnome Rick Santorum, you're a schmuck and deserve to be exposed.

It's high time we stopped treating grown men and women as children who simply need a hug. These people don't need a hug; they need a swift kick in the ass. They are, for the most part, well-educated, highly paid adults who are perfectly aware of the harm they are causing.



Yet still they choose to perform their roles. To suggest that all, or even a majority, are closet cases living on the fringes of gay life, and thus deserving of our pity, is a fiction. They may work against our civil rights by day, but they surely enjoy its benefits by night.

I didn't do much today except shuffle my books from one shelf to another in a pitiful attempt to create a sense of change. The attempt was triggered when I realized I'd devoted one of my inset shelves to Tom Clancy paperbacks. Is that really necessary?



"You just want people to think you're butch," my sister April said when I told her what I was doing.



I think Clive Barker and Harlan Ellison look much better in that space. I also moved The Alleged Cat (a stuffed kitty given to me many moons ago) to the top shelf with the bears and Meeko. They look like a jury up there.



Other than that, I haven't done anything except sleep through The Return of the King and Independence Day.



Speaking of, April sent a link to the Be a Bush Stylist page. It's a cute little paper-doll set-up using President Bush as its model. I was a little horrified to see you can strip him completely naked. Insert Abu-Ghraib reference here, etc.



Somewhere in my collection is a White House paper-doll book featuring the Clintons and the Gores. I think Chelsea is on one of the pages. I don't remember where I got it. Was it a gift? Damn, that's going to bug me all week.

I didn't write a column last week, but I'm back again with a new piece about the eternal struggle between politics and science.

Galileo could feel right at home with the current administration



By TERRY L. ESTEP



Galileo faced a Vatican City trial in 1633 and was eventually sentenced to house arrest for teaching the Copernican model of the solar system. Saying Earth revolved around the sun was a punishable breach of Vatican policy. Were he alive today, he might feel bitter nostalgia about the current occupant of the White House.

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Two columns in the same month... My poor little head is aching from the effort. Heh. We used to have a cartoon hanging in the Mercury office at Glenville State College of a guy throwing a dart at a board which said "Today I am an expert in..." and trying to hit a target. That could be me at some point, trying to figure out what to right about. I have a feeling I could get on a good alternative medicine rant at some point.