Michael

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If you're a citizen, the cops will arrest you and charge you with DUI despite the fact that you didn't have anything to drink. They'll make shit up about how they smelled alcohol on your breath, or subject you to bullshit field sobriety tests.

If you're a cop, or even an ex-cop, they won't even *ask* you if you've been drinking, even if you're drunk enough to rear-end the car ahead of you, veer into oncoming traffic, and then hit a second car head-on. Even if you're so drunk you can't remember what year it is.

Feel protected yet?

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Coyote on a Fence


written by Bruce Graham
directed by Ashley Ricord


July 9 - 18
Wednesdays - Fridays

8:00 pm.
Delgado Community College
3rd Floor Drama Hall

Tickets $10 General Admission
$8 Students and Seniors

Reservations 504.616.6066


InSideOut Productions presents the local premiere of Bruce Graham's drama set on a Southern death row, where a celebrity inmate, the editor of the prison paper, won't own up to his crime, while in the cell next to him is a childlike white supremacist, who matter-of-factly admits to mass murder. Ashley Ricord directs Michael Aaron Santos, Jason Kirkpatrick, Kris LaMorte and Angie Joachim

- I can post to LJ, but I can't see the Friends Page.

- My band is playing this Friday at a local venue and they've got us in their ad for our weekly entertainment mag Folio Weekly here too. That's cool, it's the biggest font I've seen our name in yet. I guess with increased popularity, you get increased font size. Evidently we're playing with about six other bands too. That's certainly news to me.

- The Folio has a long rant about a recent Tom Waits concert where, evidently, yet another lovely citizen of Jacksonville made an ass of himself to a performer that's come to town. We're known for our attendants shouting, "Play Freebird!" or various other stupid things. The author then goes on to blast the city stating the numerous times that she's hosted out-of-towners who are shocked, SHOCKED by "the Rebel flags, the sprawl, the political conservatism and religious intolerance. The beach driving, state-issued "Choose Life" license plates and great number of over-tanned, shirtless drunks in our coastal communities." Boo-fucking-hoo. Entertainment mag is usually synonymous with liberal rag and it's expected. I usually only pick it up for concert info, but it is actually entertaining and informative on occasion. It just seems to me that they're just bitter. If she had a problem with the concert-goer her and others at the show should've said something to the idiot. She admitted she didn't know if it was worth the altercation or summoning security. She wallowed in her Tom Waits shame not wanting to disturb the artist further.

Well, I will say this, anyone who went to that concert is a sucker. Tom Waits sucks and he's not worth $90 a ticket at the Florida Theater. Sorry.

Is this problem unique to Jacksonville? There are never, ever any idiots at concerts in other locations? I seem to remember trying to avoid a quite rowdy crowd of idiots while attending the Heineken Jammin' Festival in Imola, Italy in 2002. Get over yourself and take action next time. Taking action doesn't mean causing a scene. Taking action means quietly getting up from your seat, missing part of a song, getting security and getting that guy escorted out. Duh. Low profile.

- Bran flakes work great for your innards.

- Once again, true to form, I'm behind the internet trends and pop-culture fads that commonly come and go. This time it's "Rick Rolling". I get it now. I guess. Perhaps that's just how I am, especially music etc, I always seem to like the song when others have considered it "old". Must be cool to be you.

- I love Niki.

- I need to study for my upcoming tests. I must do well. I think I grasp the material rather well though so I should be alright.

- I'm glad I got paid today.

- Guess I'd better get to work...

Continued from yesterday.

For all that I love casinos, I have never been a big fan of gambling per se. It combines two pastimes that make me incredibly self-conscious - losing money and doing something I'm not an expert in. I get weird and finicky when my friends watch me play. I alternate between wanting to dive right in and wishing I could be done sooner.

I really love casinos more for the scene than anything else. Folks staying up late, eating ridiculous food (vacation calories don't count), seeing live music and dancing until the morning. Free drinks. Overdoses of oxygen. All good things.

So for any game I play, I work out a strategy which will allow me to stretch my stake for as long as possible. The casinos don't get you with the possibility of a big payout; they get you because you don't know when to quit. So I use the following method:

• Start with a stake of x.
  
  
• Play some games. Keep track of how much you lose - meaning, how much money hits the table and doesn't come back - not how much you win.
  
  
• When the amount you lose equals x, walk away immediately.

For a good evening of gaming and a game with decent odds, x should be 10-20 times the table minimum. I went in with a much smaller stake and ended early, with about x/2 in chips. But even then, with fatigue creeping in and the solidity of my method behind me, I heard the whispers creeping around my brain. You can't be done yet. Look at all these people having fun. You planned on playing with more anyway, didn't you?

But I shut that noise off quickly. I was already up for the weekend, in that I gave the casino $100 and they gave me a priceless steak, so I wanted for nothing else.

Fraley, Melissa and I took the last limousine shuttle back to the hotel. We tried to wait for Mark and RJ, but they had to cash out (Mark lost a little more than I did; RJ won back the cost of his dinner). I collapsed exhausted once I got to the hotel.

On Friday we sampled the Bellissimo Grande's continental breakfast (Marriott quality, I'd say) and watched Dirty Jobs before Fraley invited us back to his parents' house in Rhode Island. My GPS and my reckless driving got me there before Fraley and Melissa, but only just.

Fraley's mom showed off their new enclosed porch and chatted us up for a few minutes before Fraley's dad returned from the store, laden with smoked meats. He grilled up burgers and chorizo for all of us while we watched the Red Sox recover from an early 0-3 deficit. They're generous and tireless hosts.

RJ betrayed us to go play Rock Band at Melissa and Fraley's house, so I drove Mark back to Boston alone and loafed around the apartment for a bit before heading to 90's Night, which had a light but comfortable turnout for the 4th of July. That bar gets more entertaining every time I show up, what with helping drunk girls up off the floor and watching portly construction contractors try to pick a fight with Rick. And every time I wonder if Mike isn't the best DJ in Boston, I go to another club and realize that yes, Mike's better than that DJ, too. God damn. (Oh, and: last Friday featured the return of Katie to the Allston scene. I don't expect to see much more of her, for obvious reasons, but I'm glad she's still mobile)

I don't think I did anything else of merit that weekend - hell, I didn't speak to another human being for all of Saturday - but Thursday and Friday were enough.

(original post)

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/07/20087910393984229.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/07/20087995631967660.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/07/2008799318301604.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/07/2008799538459679.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/07/20087945339826409.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/07/200879354192724.htm

• 10:10 i'm still kind of deaf from last night #
• 14:23 my pandora playlist is all chicago tunes today. normally that's fine - but i'm not in a chicago mood today. #

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http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/07/2008794247568247.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/07/20087922811729356.htm

A friend and I were having a discussion about politics in music, specifically artists who promote their own specific political philosophy through their lyrics, either literally (like Rage Against The Machine) or figuratively (like Springsteen). What we found is most mainstream rock and pop ranges strictly from the left to ultra-left, with some exceptions, and mainstream country music is almost exclusively neo-con. But when we tried to come up with a list of artists who were, if not declared libertarians, at least promoted libertarian values in their songs, we drew a blank. The best answer I could come up with was Mojo Nixon. I don't know how he identifies himself, but his message seems pretty libertarian to me. Also, someone mentioned that Neil Peart of Rush was an objectivist, but I've never been a big Rush fan, so I can't vouch for that.

So, there's gotta be some libertarian musicians in the mainstream music biz, and I'm just not thinking of them. Any ideas?

EDIT: Okay, I thought this was a pretty straightforward question, but apparently it needs some clarification. I AM NOT ASKING WHETHER IT IS POSSIBLE TO ENCOMPASS THE ENTIRE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF FRIEDMAN, RAND AND ROTHBARD ET AL IN A SINGLE FOUR MINUTE SONG. I AM AWARE THAT IT ISN'T.

I AM ASKING FOR EXAMPLES OF ARTISTS WHOSE LYRICS REFLECT A LIBERTARIAN VIEWPOINT, OR ARE "LIBERTARIAN-COMPATIBLE" (as jasonaorr put it.) IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION, YOU DON'T NEED TO POST.

I wish there was an easy way of informing "important calls" (generally people we owe money to) that speaking with the 8-year-old is NOT the same as "leaving a message".

Daughter #2 always assumes that the damn phone is for her, so always picks up ... and I will occasionally get told that "some guy from somewhere, I think it might have been a bank, called for you" ... and these asswipes don't call back. Sure, it would be easier if we could convince #2 to just let the damn phone ring until the answering machine picks up ... but what are these morons thinking leaving messages with a little kid???

The Iraqi government calls our bluff. And it didn't take long at all for the White House to reply "All your country are belong to us." Iraq belongs to the US, not to the Iraqis. This analogy is made of win.

If we were acting as a kind of policeman in the Iraq invasion, then the removal of Saddam was the point of the exercise. Let's call Al Qaeda a nosy, belligerent neighbor that doesn't like cops. He came over itching to get in on the fight, and it looks like he's been subdued, as well, for the time being. The lady of the house, along with her kids, is now trying to clean up the mess. We've been helping with that, which is commendable, and all, but it's getting late, it's been a long day, and the family would like us, the cop, to leave.

It starts to look like we're hanging around, trying to wangle a date with the Mom, which is creepy.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/07/mccain-maybe-ci.html

McCain: Maybe Cigarettes Will Kill the Iranians

July 08, 2008 8:08 PM

ABC News' Bret Hovell Reports: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., made an off the cuff joke Tuesday about cigarettes killing Iranians.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was asked about the number of exports going to Iran, specifically the increase in cigarette exports.

McCain looked surprised at that fact and in a line somewhat reminiscent of his "bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran" comment last year said, "Maybe that's a way of killing them." Then he followed it up quickly noting that it was a joke.

McCain made the remark during a visit to Primanti Brothers Sandwich shop in Pittsburg, Pa.

I recently picked up a copy of Samuel Edward Konkin III's "New Libertarian Manifesto". The book is an introduction to a form of "revolutionary market anarchism" called Agorism.

I've always considered myself a minarchist type but believed that working within the system was the best route to achieving maximum liberty. I've supported the LP and whatever government-limiting actions the other parties and non-partisan groups have pushed at the local, state, and federal levels. However, as time goes on, I've felt more of an attraction of the more radical/anarchist side of the libertarian movement.

Has anyone read about Agorism? How does it work in practice? What about the stress on counter-economics? The easiest participation in the counter-economy that comes to mind is smuggling contraband, dealing drugs, prostitution, and other similar crimes but are there other ways that I'm overlooking?