Going Once, Going Twice...
I saw Mr. Rumsfeld on the news this morning... boy, he sure told me. I make one little remark about the potential of the Iraqi troops and he flies over there so he can refute it on the TV. He said I was "wrong" -- but I did say that sometimes I might BE wrong. I said might...

What I really wanted to talk about was the gas thing again. See, some of us here in town are looking for things to pawn so we can buy gasoline (they said so on the news). I'm always looking for ways to make a buck myself. I've decided to take a break from donating plasma. The last time my vein got all bulgy and my arm is still bruised, so I got to thinkin' that maybe I should take a rest from punching a hole in myself every few days.

Here's something that might be valuable... it's a genuine Three Stooges watch. It's in mint condition, see there it comes in it's own baggie for protection. Any takers? The bidding starts at one million dollars. Maybe Rummy, Dub, or Cheney would like to have it. How about it guys? I only have one so you knuckleheads will have to fight it out among yourselves.

Put A Tiger In Your Tank
I reckon it's time for me to present my views of the world once again. Sometimes I'm right, and sometimes I'm wrong (I suppose) but to me it's always the former.

In the news right now it's the price of gasoline. At the moment, I can thank my lucky stars that I don't have to buy much of that shit. It's mostly accidental -- a combination of intention and happenstance. Believe me, I've done the commutes and driven all over the place. Once you're caught up in that lifestyle, there's no way out without a radical reformation of your existence. So let's see what the Oilman in Chief intends to do about it. I'll tell you right now -- some mollifying talk for the masses along with some slick-sounding initiatives that they can ballyhoo on Fox News and the like. Watch this; they are all going to be about making sure the Oil Companies' hands aren't tied by pesky regulations. Has it not become clear to everyone that it's all about keeping power and money in the hands of a few folk at the top? Meanwhile, let us eat cake!

The news is amusing anyway... did you hear about this "shake up" at the White House? Wooo, Karl Rove gets to go smear Democrats instead of making policy. The "go-keep-the-press-off-my-ass-guy" is being replaced by a new one from a different propaganda outlet.

To me, it all looks like it boils down to those three guys at the top. Dub, acting as front man; Cheney behind the scenes doing whatever the hell someone with that much power and influence does; and then there's Rumsfeld, and I don't pretend to get what his trip is. They started a dang good war with Iraq though. Now that we've all seen what a threat those people are, how can we argue? For crying out loud, see how they put together a government? See how they run a trial? Have you seen the soldiers and policemen our guys have to try to train? No offense, but they look like fourth graders playing army! If we hadn't gone and blowed 'em up real good, we would have had Iraqis marching in and takin' over any day.

Enough words from me. I had planned to explain how Mystery Babylon plays into this, but that's for another time. I thought I might comment on that Beverly Hillbillies performance we put on for China's Top Dawg, but we all saw that. At any rate, tomorrow is another day...

Time To Waste On My Face
You might have seen this internet thingy. It's a face-recognition software on MyHeritage.com. You upload a pic, it goes through some calculations and tells you what celebrity you supposedly look like. The gizmo seemed quite convinced that I look like Selma Blair! Apologies to Selma, who looks nothing like a middle-aged man to me, but there you have it. It gives some other options, in my case Johnny Knoxville, Shahrukh Khan, Liam Neeson, Michael Landon, and Ben Kingsley.

I tried a different photo, this one a three-quarter view where I had a goatee. Oddly, the first guy up was M. Night Shyamalan. It was quite a list from there -- Francois Truffaut, David Blaine, Richard Stallman, Richard Nixon (!), Omar Sharif, Russel Crowe, Chad Michael Murray, Haile Selassie, and Michael Keaton. Coincidentally, as I looked up the people I hadn't heard of, I found a quote from Richard Nixon praising Haile Selassie, who was the Emperor of Ethiopia back in the day.

I believe that this software is similar to what they use to spot terrorists at airports and so on. Noted without comment.

More Millionaires and Stuff
Once again to demonstrate the awesome power of my blog, the news sends us a report relative to my last post. I noted that once upon a time Midland Texas had more millionaires than you could shake a stick at. I just heard a report that a similar stat has been released. Now the millionaires are in Los Alamos, New Mexico -- that is a mere 93 miles from where I sit.

I guess the lesson is that I always get to be within shoutin' distance of fabulous wealth. Hooray for me!

In other news: Let's not stop there... there's a report out this weekend that someone is making W's boyhood home into a shrine of some kind. Guess where it is -- yup, Midland. If you ever visit you can cross the draw and see where the other half lived.

Such power I wield with this blog to influence events. It's really amazing when you think about it.

Greasin' Those Wheels
This time-change is bugging me. Everything is the same, but by general agreement it is an hour later than it used to be. It takes a little time to acclimatize myself to being in another day -- I can hardly afford an extra hour for that process to take place.

In other news: Guess who was in Albuquerque the other day: Laura Bush. That is a teeny-tiny coincidence of geography from where I stand -- as she and I were born in the same city, Midland Texas (1958 for me). I remember my birth, believe it or not. At least I remember the memory of it. As a toddler I had an odd recollection of being in a very clean, well-lit environment. I was high above the floor being passed around by giant people. The hand of the doctor was almost as big as me. I remember thinking about that and sort of wondering if it would happen again and what it was. The memory was lost and recovered almost a half a century later during meditation.

We were all in Midland together for a while I suppose. By "we" I mean my family and Laura's family and I guess the Bush family was there. My family lived on the other side of the "draw" which was some kind of concrete channel that runs through Sharbauer Drive. According to tradition, on the other side of the draw lived the "Oil Men." My brother was older so he used to cross the draw to play baseball with the Oil Men's kids. He was what you called one of them "Draw Rats." He swears he crossed paths with the young George a time or two.

There was a concentration of wealth there. It was said that there was the highest number of millionaires per capita of any place on Earth at the time. That wealth would allow one of their number to rise to the very tippity-top-top of management. He pretty much gets to run the whole show now.

My family moved away to Southern California. I grew up there from about age five onward. I don't run anything except my own existence.

Coyote Makes News (again)
Hal (the New York coyote) is dead. I'm sorry to hear that. I've been going through a bit of a rough patch myself, but I'll probably make it through alive -- for what that's worth.