XOXOXOX

With each passing day, JANZIG becomes more and more prepared to rock your evil world. We solidified our set list last night and it will rip your face off! Hope to see your lovely devilocks this Halloween!

More to Smile About

9) The "Freddie For A Day" benefit is coming up, with several local friends/musicians all taking a stab at various Queen songs. Yours truly will be doing "Killer Queen," which is a bit of beast. I spent some good time with it over the weekend and feel much more confident. Freddie rocks and their songs rock! Can't wait to see the costumes and mustaches. Guaranteed to blow your mind!

10) The Twins are 5 - count 'em, 5! - games ahead in the AL Central!! Keep on truckin', boys!!

11) Janzig practiced yesterday, yet again confirming it's just about the most funnest band in history. Top contenders for our Misfits covers are Attitude, Some Kinda Love, Hybrid Moments and Bullet. BULLET! Psyched about that!!

12) OMG - I got the shooting star on Katamari "Make a Star 10!" A STUNNING FEAT!!!!

More Happiness

6) My dear friend Matt has come to visit! I haven't seen ol' "Marmot" in about 2 years. Seeing friends makes me happy! We've been having a great time. In fact...

7) We went to see "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" and it was really great! Both of us were prepared to hate everything about it as it hits us directly in the Nerd muscle (comic books, video games, AND music). Thanks to Edgar Wright's capable hands, though, we had nothing to fear. Definitely recommend! Fun movies make me happy, especially when you are pleasantly surprised by them.

8) We're getting together with other friend(s) tonight and making pizza. Making pizza = happy. It's all preparation for the day we finally open Pizza Terrace, our much-dreamed-about pizza place. Pizza Terrace will have only pizza-related songs on the juke. Accepting recommendations! Never fear, Abber, "Pizza Rocket" is *definitely* going to be on there.

#5

The Twins have a 3 game lead in the AL Central. THAT MAKES ME HAPPY!

Good Things

Even though the blog is the place for venting, thinking too much about those subjects really drags me down. This week, I'm going to try to talk only about positive news and things that make me happy.

1) I have a jade plant in my office and it is growing like crazy. I look at it every day when I get to work. My jade plant totally makes me happy.

2) I love earning trophies on PS3 games. We have over 80% of the trophies for Katamari Forever. Vee and I almost always play that game together and it has given us many moments of shared amusement and a sense of accomplishment. That makes me happy.

3) The flowers in my garden make me happy. We did a lot of work to the backyard last weekend and it looks so nice.

4) I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera, which is really beautiful. Reading makes me happy.

More to come!

Where the Hell Am I Supposed to Shop??

Because I'm crazy like that, I try not to put money in the hands of corporations whose owners fund right-wing causes. I don't work out at Curves, I don't succumb to the allure of waffle fries at Chick-Fil-A, and I don't get pizza from Dominos. But that's mostly because their pizza absolutely sucks ass.

In the interest of full-disclosure I must point out that while I don't shop at Wal-Mart, but I DO have a Sam's Club membership, which a friend (who is also a member) memorably equated to "buying from the Hitler-Chinese." So, already my whole philosophy is doomed. The impetus for this post, however, comes from the recent discovery that Target funded an right-wing, anti-gay Minnesota politician to the tune of $150,000.

TARGET. A company from my home state. A company that bought the naming rights to the stadium of my favorite sports team. A company that at least markets itself a being hip and diverse. I never felt bad about giving my money to Target, even though they are a big-box store. Now what? Does it even matter? Are all my dollars ultimately doomed? Where else do I spend my money?

Harris Teeter: Local NC supermarket chain. The president of Harris Teeter, Fred Morganthall II, donated to the campaign of Richard Burr, one of the most right-wing Senators in the nation (and friend of the blog! see below...). He has also contributed money to Republican members of the state legislature as well as the "Food Marketing Institute" PAC (which, admittedly, on its face at least appears to be bi-partisan).

Whole Foods: CEO John Mackey is an anti-union, anti-health care reform Libertarian. The health care plan at Whole Foods has extremely high deductibles and does not cover any form of medication or treatment for mental illness. In a New York Times op-ed, Mackey defended his position on health care reform by stating that, at least in his view of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, an "intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter has never existed in America."

Any Time I Buy Gasoline Ever, No Matter Where: 'nuff said.

Even if the company doesn't support right-wing causes, I can't help but feel like a jerk whenever I buy clothing or shoes. All those items are made overseas probably by a person who makes a LOT less money than they should. And, precisely for that reason, only on the rarest occasions do I buy any clothes or shoes. Any tips on where to find good 'merican made stuff?

WAIT - Some good news!!
Total Wine & More: Founder David Trone gave money to the campaigns of Paul Wellstone and Max Cleland. A toast to Total Wine! You can continue to count on my patronage! [Vee, I know you are breathing a giant sigh of relief right now. :) ]

Dead Heat

The Twins are White Sox are tied for the lead in the AL Central going into tonight's match-up at Comerica. A 3-game stand in the Windy City and then back to the Cities next week for another 3-game series. Let's go Twinkies!!

If Hindsight is 20/20...

...what is Foresight? Over and over and over and OVER again I am perplexed by the extreme short-sightedness of our citizenry - and our "leaders." In order to gain some short-term popularity or cause a stir or further one's own opinion (facts are irrelevant, or course), there seems to be no limit to what people will do. Who cares about anybody else? I DO WHAT I WANT! We are a fucking nation of Eric Cartmans. Prove me wrong - I IMPLORE YOU.

What an absolute breath of fresh air to hear Ted Koppel on Talk of the Nation yesterday. In January, he spoke eloquently about the need to help Haiti in the aftermath of their devastating earthquake. This time, he spoke about our war "efforts," or, more precisely, our lack thereof: how the burden of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is not shared by all Americans, and that the average American (read: non-military) has not sacrificed anything during the last 9 years of war.

Seemingly common-sense legislative checks and balances such as, I don't know, (a) actually making a Declaration of War like we SHOULD do when we invade a country; (b) raising taxes to fund war efforts; (c) creating a sense of shared sacrifice [rationing, the draft] so that all of the citizenry shoulder the burden in some way - all these ideas are absolute political suicide. If our fucking politicians do not have the wherewithal to engage their constituents in something as serious as WAR, then THEY SHOULD NOT WAGE WAR. As Ted said,

We haven't sacrificed. I haven't sacrificed any blood. I haven't sacrificed any treasure. My taxes are the same now as they were before the war began. My taxes have not increased. None of us is paying more in taxes today for a specific war tax than we were paying before. And when he says we are sacrificing blood, that's precisely my point -we aren't. The young men and women who are over there are, and by extension their families are. The rest of us are sacrificing nothing.

It is an awful lot of easier to borrow the money from the Chinese and defer the payment than it is, you know, I mean, imagine here we are coming into the political season again. We have elections coming up. How many congressmen out there do you think are going to come out and say, yeah, I was listening to Ted on NPR the other day. I think he has a terrific idea. I'm going to propose raising taxes so that we can underwrite the cost of these wars.

Almost by definition, that man or woman would be elected out of office. It is politically so unpopular to suggest any additional taxes. But that is a state of mind. And that's really, Tony, what I'm arguing right now, that the American state of mind these days is so self-indulgent, is so self-oriented, is so concerned about doing, you know, I'm all right, Jack, as the British used to say. Everything is okay with me. I'm not going to worry about what's happening to those kids over there. I'm not going to worry about where the money is coming from. Maybe my grandkids will pay for it. You know, where will I be by then?

I mean, think of a single sacrifice that we, as citizens, who do not have children or relatives in Iraq and Afghanistan, what sacrifice are we making? My argument is: none. And it has to be something.

Putting aside the argument of whether the draft is right or wrong, at least it spreads out the burden of fighting our wars. And when "normal" people are called to serve their country, it might make us think twice about putting their lives in jeopardy, hence the massive protests during Vietnam. The motivations for waging war need to be scrutinized to the utmost degree, by our politicians and by the public. Lots of luck with that pipe dream. We're all too goddamn busy watching Jersey Shore to give a fuck about anything real.

T-Minus 4 Days!!

Need I say more??

We Hate To Pay Them, But...

Taxes matter. I blathered about this a few weeks ago, but Paul Krugman summed it up quite nicely in yesterday's NYT:

The antigovernment campaign has always been phrased in terms of opposition to waste and fraud — to checks sent to welfare queens driving Cadillacs, to vast armies of bureaucrats uselessly pushing paper around. But those were myths, of course; there was never remotely as much waste and fraud as the right claimed. And now that the campaign has reached fruition, we’re seeing what was actually in the firing line: services that everyone except the very rich need, services that government must provide or nobody will, like lighted streets, drivable roads and decent schooling for the public as a whole.

I need to post that FDR statement again. Poverty is real and it is serious. What kind of a nation are we if we can't help those in need? What kind of a nation are we if we turn a blind eye to human suffering - within our OWN borders, let alone the world? I absolutely cannot understand that.