Pariah Baseball

Rules of a poker game we made up in VT last weekend (3:00 AM, lots of beer) :
The 3 and 9 cards are wild, the 'low in the hole' is also wild, and when you see Pam Grier (a black queen is dealt) , then everyone:

• owes the pot a dollar,
  
• hugs,
  
• goes to write JACKASS on Jeff Veen's forehead while he sleeps,
  
• gets a 4 cards,
  
• gets an apartment together
  
• re-antes and we re-deal.
  

The hand with the best five cards wins.

BULLY PULPIT

My hat is off to The Rev. Dr. Stephen J. Sidorak, Jr.

I was in Washington DC last week. Jeff and I decided to go to The National cathedral for Sunday service. It was Connecticut day. The guest lecturer was the Executive Director of the Christian Conference of Connecticut
and he was delivering a sermon called "Peace within Your Borders".

I was ready for either a passive effort to calm the nerves of an anxious public or just a toothless objection to a generally described "evil" in the world.

What we got was a moving, carefully considered, exceedingly well crafted message to the President of the United States. Dr Sidorak took this moment, in the pulpit of the Nationa Cathedralal, to make a stand. Even for those who disagree (as those who walked out in protest surely did), one has to admire the conviction of the messanger.

From the text:

Our age is anxious due largely to "wars and rumors of wars." Our nation's policies cause us exceeding anxiety because we recognize they could bring about the very thing they seek to avert -- the use of weapons of mass destruction and worldwide war. Our anxiety is compounded when considered in conjunction with our country's incipient policy of preemption. And, our anxieties are multiplied dramatically when the policy of preemption is coupled with an oversimplified Manichean worldview, a newly militarized, alarmingly bellicose foreign policy, and the sanctimonious conviction of being on the side of the angels -- as was disturbingly evident in the remarks delivered in this very Cathedral on September 14, 2001, by the President of the United States.

Later...

... no combination of ethically suspect policy and morally repugnant weaponry will ever provide the protection we covet because only God grants peace within our borders.

Amen.

art

Above all, we are coming to understand that the arts incarnate the creativity of a free people. When the creative impulse cannot flourish, when it cannot freely select its methods and objects, when it is deprived of spontaneity, then society severs the root of art.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Cake Tasting

You should get married just for the cake tasting.

Schwarzenegger, Coleman, Flint & your mom.

Yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gary Coleman ( the actor/security guard), Larry Flint (pornographer/1st Amendment crusader), and several ladies who lunch from Orange County are all in for the truncated gubernatorial dog-and-pony show.

In a normal election year, I would love this. And I guess even though the recall is an idiotic idea and an abuse of the electoral system, I still like to watch this. People are talking about electoral politics, folks are getting involved, and it's fun to see what silliness the next campaign day will hold. If new voters actually register and show up at the polls, something good will have come out of this.

Game Show Network to Spoof Calif. Recall

The Associated Press
Monday, August 11, 2003; 7:39 PM
LOS ANGELES - The Game Show Network has found a reason to get into politics: the California recall, which will be spoofed in an October special.

"Who Wants to Be Governor of California? The Debating Game" will include a political debate produced in the style of a game show, the channel announced Monday.

"Politics is the ultimate game and the California recall election is one of the most bizarre contests in American history," Rich Cronin, president of the channel, said in a statement.

The channel said it is lining up five candidates to take part in the Oct. 1 program. The show will chronicle their campaigns and include a "wide-ranging" debate, including buzz-in answers and bonus questions, the channel said.

Officials say 195 people have submitted papers to run to replace Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, whose approval ratings have fallen to record lows.

9:14PM

I have yet to put on pants today.

This Manhattan!

On July 1, I got a note from my liver:

Bryan -

Since May, you've seen one New Orleans bachelor party, two weddings, a week in Tuscany, a week in Milan, and a week in New York City. One if us is quitting for a while

I enjoyed my month of sobriety. I'm glad it's over.