So, ok...it's been a while...as promised, this blog has been both mundane AND infrequently updated...never let it be said that I don't keep my promises to you the viewer.

So what's in the news today...Blackout in New York (oh, and some other "cities" back east too, I hear...interesting how this has become such a New York story even though Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, and a buncha other cities have been affected too (is it "affected" or "effected"? I’ve been wrestling with this for a while (sorry for the parenthetical inside of a parenthetical...sometimes my stream of consciousness leads to seriously disturbing grammatical issues))...maybe I’ve been bleached too much by the California sunshine, but when did New York become our nation's last bastion of sane, intelligent society? Just like in the aftermath of September 11th, the news media and our governmental officials just can't get enough of New York, touting the amazing strength of New Yorkers for "going about their business" in the face of these myriad disruptions & tragedies...now I ask you, kind reader, when was the last time that New Yorkers DIDN'T just go about their business when something, strange, disturbing, or completely fucked up happens? I thought people HATED New Yorkers for being caustic and emotionless, unable to turn away from their daily grind to appreciate the bigger picture of what's happening around them…I mean, that’s always why I loved New York, because you could walk down the street and people weren’t always talking to you and saying hello and making eye contact and all that kind of Pleasantville shit...now apparently New Yawkers are to be held as model Americans for their "public catastrophe, ho hum, I’m goin' home, wanna share a cab?" attitude? Did I miss a memo or something?)

Ok...but enough about that...what else is up...California's gubernatorial recall, the biggest waste of taxpayer money this side of...well...the California state government and the biggest public popularity contest since "Am I Hot?" ...except this outrageous mockery of politics could easily be titled "Am I worse than Gray Davis?" with the potential candidates (all 135 of ‘em) not strutting around a stage in bathing suits, but strutting around the National Enquirer and Page Six in the long shadows cast by the race’s frontrunner, the Govern-ator himself, Arnold "Total Recall" Schwarzeneggar…I am so exceptionally disturbed by the shortsightedness of California voters I can barely bring myself to talk about this topic…am I mistaken or did we, as a collective voting body, legally and bindingly ELECT Gov. Davis to another term less than a year ago, knowing full well the appalling state of our energy reserves and the shifty market dealings (fueled by reputed corporate crooks like Enron & Halliburton and all but excused by the quite literally Power-hungry Bush-Cheney White House) that, excuse the term, generated these problems? I distinctly remember pulling the Davis lever last fall in the Palm Elementary School gymnasium (is there any more disturbing tradition than voting for our freely-elected government officials on the very same floor that generations of kids are ritualistically humiliated and browbeaten playing Dodgeball, the most brutally Darwinian game our hard hearts have ever invented? Poetic justice, dear reader). Yet now, without even a Floridian question of electory legitimacy raised, our Governor is being forced out of office? Despite the fact that the vast majority of California’s budget problems are a result not of fiscal irresponsibility by our state officials, but because of severe budget cutbacks necessary in all states thanks to the Federal government’s gutting of tax monies for states in favor of $300 worth of tax rebate hush money for every American to take the kids out to Disneyland? California Republicans should be ashamed for the way they have manipulated the system after nominating the biggest tool in the box to represent their party last November against the Devil Davis. And it appears that if the recall effort continues where it is heading, they will be. And even Ah-nold will tell you that once this all plays out, it is Californians that will be faced with a true RAW DEAL.

Whew…alright then…all that and not one Gary Coleman reference…

I think I’ve just about warn out my rhetoric for the day…time to hit the spell check and be gone…if you have read this far, I truly thank you for your patience, and you shall be rewarded…check out this link to the Kansas City Star’s publication of tips from Iraqis to Americans on how to deal with blackouts: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/6540718.htm

Too…many…jokes…must resist…