For a population claiming "frontier toughness," they're pants-wetting little girls about terrorists and weather.

As an 8th-generation scion of the tribe, I can acknowledge that WASP Yankees will *never* be comfortable with Texans' projectile honesty.

Palin's continued viability as a commentator on anything is a lasting confirmation of Americans' terminal ignorance.

After being ID'd at airport Chili's, waitress says "You look good for your age." Ouch.

NM: silvery crescent moon against a cold blue paling dawn sky.

NM: low, bright mid-winter sunrise strikes bare trees' branches--luminous.

Obscene--Kristallnacht returns: http://ping.fm/PLOSd

If she's lost TX...hope she's their candidate! http://ping.fm/ZimjS

Fat Tony takes Tea: http://ping.fm/pKubG

Hospira opts out of state-sponsored killing business: http://ping.fm/3sWpB

Vote. Organize. Donate. Phone-bank. Volunteer. Teach. Converse. RESIST. Thomas Paine said: "Lead, follow, or GET OUT OF THE WAY."

Just as glad that the musics I play don't require poncing-up in some silly-ass costume.

The highest Court is for sale to the highest bidder: http://ping.fm/BGBKC

Perry choices will cost Texans 100K jobs: http://ping.fm/MRdDq

Nutshell: "Throughout the Cold War, we never much cared what people were for, we only cared what they were against." http://ping.fm/KC9Cr

LA Times: "On most important...issues...our two parties don't merely lay out competing arguments; they inhabit alternative realities."

Philly deserves a more admirable leader than Roethlisberger; great QB, but pretty much a dick as a person. & I ADMIRE Tomlin hugely. Still.

Excuse me, Universe? Is there some way you could ensure that BOTH Roethlisberger AND Flacco get the shit kicked out of them? kthxbai

Cowards, cowards, cowards. "We'll foreclose on you but we won't face you". http://ping.fm/kKRWE

Steve Cohen (D-TN): "It was a lie, and...if you repeat a lie over & over again it doesn't make it the truth...that's what Goebbels did."

Kasich's (OH-Gov) Cabinet reflects his vision for OH: 22 white folks. http://ping.fm/4RCKi

Tucson: Judge Roll died because he chose to take a bullet for another. http://ping.fm/0SJkF Nine bows.

Palin: "Those on the Left, if they didn't have their double standards, they wouldn't have any standards."

Please, Sarah, PUH-LEEZ "bounce back": http://ping.fm/TVyCf

In other news, Steve King (R-NY) is a stupid fucking bigot: http://ping.fm/0nOUs

NM: coming home, safe, to a favorite teacup. Equals gratitude.

Re/ "Sons of Anarchy": good casting, direction, locations, CA/Ulster connection. But no Hollywood writer will ever get outlaw bikers right.

Good riddance, Joe--you worthless hack. Too bad we won't have you to kick around any more.

GOP "could be" hypocrites for repealing public health care, but keeping their own? http://ping.fm/ZHOVd

Glen Beck, like his audience, is a pants-wetting coward: http://ping.fm/b4TZW

Paul LePage, grandstanding asshole. Also already-burnt toast. http://ping.fm/I237a

Santorum: "It's been the same in every single race I've ever run. People underestimate me." That's impossible: NO estimate is too low.

And in other news: Newt Gingrich is a pompous lying shithead; HE tells PALIN "she needs to be more careful." Riiggggghhhht.

"A great book is a pain in the ass more often than not." http://ping.fm/N2dbh

This, ladies & gentlemen, is a public intellectual: http://ping.fm/GM3VZ

MLK: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more on military defense than on social programs is approaching spiritual death."

First Read: "The president’s speech made Palin look very small...Is this what happens when you live in a bubble?" Um, yes.

Boehner went to an RNC cocktail party/fundraiser, instead of the Arizona memorial service. Guess he felt he had better things to do. Scum.

A Tale of Two Speeches

NYT:

At sunrise in the east on Wednesday, Sarah Palin demonstrated that she has little interest -- or capacity -- in moving beyond her brand of grievance-based politics. And at sundown in the west, Barack Obama reminded even his critics of his ability to rally disparate Americans around a message of reconciliation.

Sarah Palin will never again hold elected office. Guaranteed.

Told ya, you right-wing nutjobs: the man is an ORATOR...and he reveals you for the mindless screeching fanatics you are.

No matter what they say, to an artist, the beginning, not the end, of a project is the most excited time.

Because your stupid fucking ugly penis-substitute pickup ruins the view off my front porch, asshole. That's why.

The more tortured their arguments disavowing responsibility, the more isolated they become. Soon, no one but the fringe will them: a losing strategy.

The infinite beauty of the universe: Carino Nebula http://ping.fm/6gizc

WaPo: "Right-wing political discourse...implants and reinforces paranoid fears about the government & conservatism's domestic adversaries."

Tea Party "freedom": AZ GOP resigns after too many TP threats: "I love the Republican Party but I don't want to take a bullet for anyone."

Narcissistic bimbos. Must be a new semester.

Teaching history, in a political system that depends upon amnesia, is a revolutionary act. That's why I do it.

I have huge beefs w/ current President, but right-wing nutjobs will be lambasted when he speaks tonight. You assholes: this is an ORATOR.

Clyburn: "I have some experiences that she does not have. When I hear things today that are reminiscent of that time, I know what it led to"

Retired Army Col. who helped take down Loughner explains why gun control is essential: http://ping.fm/811Pl

Art heals people: http://ping.fm/sjata

"No one could ever have predicted"...

...that unbalanced right-wingers might think guns were the answer:

Tea Party rhetoric: "Desperately protecting your special privilege" sounds less inspiring than "defeating tyranny." Sam Adams woulda puked.

Intern may have saved Giffords' life--and he ran *toward* the gunfire: http://ping.fm/UBJNB

One benefit to horror of Giffords shooting: Palin will never again hold elected office.

Muslims (incl movie stars, Presidents' sons, imams & the rich) serving as human shields for Egypt's Coptic Christian community: http://ping.fm/4doLH

Only thing weirder than Kilmore Rangerette uniforms are A&M band uniforms. Like some parallel universe where nothing's happened since 1962.

"For Shame of Doing Wrong"

Dharmonia & I saw this tour. It was terrifying--they were in the midst of an acrimonious divorce--but it was also transcendent.

"I wish I was a fool for you again..."

A population of timid sheep: "Florida Professor Arrested for Having a "Suspicious" Bagel on a Plane": http://ping.fm/gcD6U

"Just swim. Just swim. Go on with your story." --Dainin Katagiri Roshi

Boarded--but a million gate-checks (folks coming backv from holidays) so may be a late departure.

I forgot about satellite terminals--reminds me of the Bad Old Days in Big Flat Place.

Re/ free upgrades when they're trying to open up Coach: my Presbyterian ancestors love the "free extras" aspect--like winning a gamble against airline greed.

EWR-IAH

NYC skyline glimpsed from plane: still noticing absence of Towers reminds me: the Nation's founders would never have cowered before terror--foreign OR domestic.

Jiggity-jig. SNN-EWR.

Leg 3: EWR-SNN.

EWR.

Re/ earlier Texanas: unless it's a pushy New Yorker out of her element, Donny.

Leg 2: IAH-EWR.

There's not much more loud & abrasive than a rhinestoned Texas Rich Lady.

Missin' Dharmonia already, dammit.

One more once: LBB-SNN.

http://ping.fm/5MnMZ

The streets belong to the People: http://ping.fm/qyHjs