Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out

Al Gonzales (as part of his resignation speech):

"Public service is honorable and noble."

George W in accepting Al's resignation:

"Under his leadership, the Justice Department has made a priority of protecting children from Internet predators, made enforcement of civil rights laws a top priority. He aggressively and successfully pursued public corruption and effectively combated gang violence.

It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeding from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons."

May the god I don't believe in smite you both. Really.

Wow. That's all I can say: Wow

I heard this on, I admit, KROQ this morning and was going to search for it to blog it, but I see that Annika beat me to it. Anyway, enjoy. (For the full pleasure of watching all five finalists display their genius click here.)

You know you live in the valley when...

...you're excited because the high is only supposed to be 91 today.

In other news:

1. We returned unscathed from my birthday trip to Big Sur and points-north. Some pictures are here (ah the pleasure of dating a great photographer). I'll post more photos and details about the trip here this evening when I have access to the Trav gallery at home.

2. My birthday was yesterday. I am now 42, which seems so unlikely really. Both in the "I didn't think I'd make it this far" sense and in the "but I only feel 23" sense. Be that as it may, it's true. Had I kids, I venture to say I'd qualify for milf status at this point. Ah well...

3. I am getting ready to go to San Antonio next week for a boot-camp-ish week of work. I know I've been a bad blogger--both here and at blogging.la, but I hope to squeeze out some salient posts before I leave town again. In particular, I have one germinating about why LA museums are stupid sometimes, so look for that at blogging.la tonight or tomorrow.

In the mean time, here is me making my mean face with fangs:

Sad search terms

Someone found my blog by searching Google for mental illness husband whores gambling denial.

That's so sad.

Honey, you should just leave him. Take my word for it.

I did not solicit sex from that officer!

And the hypocrite of the month award goes to Bob Allen, Florida lawmaker and co-chair of McCain's campaign in Florida, who was busted in July for soliciting sex. (I realize that technically makes him the hypocrite of last month, but I just read about the story today, so oh well.) Anyway, Allen's story is that he was scared for his life because the park was filled with sexy scary Black men, so he sought the protection of the big strong guy who was locked in a bathroom stall. Sadly for him, the big strong guy happened to be a cop on a sting:

The officer's report said that after peering over the stall a second time, Allen pushed open the door and joined Kavanaugh inside. Allen muttered "'hi,'v" and then said, "'this is kind of a public place, isn't it,'" the report said.

Kavanaugh wrote that he asked Allen about going somewhere else and Allen suggested going "across the bridge, it's quieter over there."

"Well look, man, I'm trying to make some money; you think you can hook me up with 20 bucks?" Kavanaugh wrote in the report that he had asked Allen.

The Republican lawmaker, the report said, replied, "Sure, I can do that, but this place is too public."

According to Kavanaugh's statement, the officer said, "do you want just (oral sex)?" and Allen replied, "I was thinking you would want one."

It was at that point Allen was arrested.

Ironically, Allen was the Police Union's 2007 Lawmaker of the Year.

In the last session of the Florida legislature he sponsored a failed bill that would have tightened the state's prohibition on public sex. He also has been a supporter of amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage and has opposed a bill to curb bullying of gay students.

That's always my strategy when I feel threatened by the large numbers of Black folks milling around, bust in on a big guy in a bathroom stall and offer to give him $20 and a blowjob. That'll work.

I'm awake now

Don't you hate that? You try to go to bed early and a lousy earthquake wakes you up.

A trio of random links

I really will return to regular posting some day. I am still up to my nostrils at work and leaving for a week's vacation largely off the grid this weekend (Big Sur! Yay!). Then it's back in town until the 28th at which point I leave for another week, this time in San Antonio for a work trip--the kind that makes boot camp look mellow.

Aaanyway...

Here are three things that I would say more about if I had time:

1. the outrage link of the day
2. the really stupid link of the day (via Popgadget)
3. the cool site of the day (via Good magazine) from whence comes the World Clock below


Poodwaddle.com

Where it's at

So I have been up to my eyeballs at work trying to finish this albatross book project. We are still on schedule to be "finished" mid-week next week and to print around mid-month. But I am having to remind myself to breathe, both because this puppy has had a three-year gestation so the birth is requiring a lot of "push" and because the rest of life is pretty full-tilt as well. We are preparing for our biennial convention here at the same time (Labor Day weekend in Texas--yeehaw) and that is always mildly manic (and sometimes full-scale loony).

I miss smoking today.

Nonetheless, I managed to escape all that and go to the Hammer last night to see the screening of Inland Empire. (David Lynch did a Q&A afterward.) My one-word (with hyphen) review: self-indulgent. I will post an explication later today (I hope) at b.la.

Okay, back to my cover essay for the albatross.