Daily Inspiration – 1/24/2012

The studio version of this tune has been on all of my monthly playlists since, I believe, November. I didn’t really know why until I came upon this unplugged version – I’m floored! I think I’m most impressed with lead singer Dan Layus’s vocal range – how acutely he can emote in the lows, the mids, the highs, and the falsettos. Just gorgeous.

Video from Augustana’s VEVO. ©2008 Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

I’m seeing conflicting news and commentary around the interwebs re: whether or not these guys are going to be making music together much longer. Let me officially drop my two cents into the “please do” jar. This is a band that has made some really beautiful music (see above), but has also put out some serious mediocrity (like this, which, to be honest, would even be cheesy as a country song.  “…til you’re back in my arms, I’ll be waitin’ up counting the stars.  Ohh.  Counting the stars.”  Really, Augustana?  Counting them?  That’s what you do when you miss your ex-girlfriend?).

The mediocrity, juxtaposed against a few brilliant shining moments over the space of three albums, convinces me that Augustana haven’t yet reached their full potential – as artists, as writers, as musicians – but that that potential could be pretty great.

I hope we have the opportunity to see them reach that potential.

Anyway – hope you enjoy 🙂

Daily Inspiration – 1/19/2012

Here’s a tune that’ll hopefully warm up your January bones. My music turns noticeably more-mellow as the cold continues to fill my world.

Video’s from KEXP.

Stay warm!

Daily Inspiration – BUY GIRL SCOUT COOKIES edition! – 1/12/2012

Our Daily Inspiration for today – another gorgeous tune off of the upcoming album.  Cannot WAIT!  If you haven’t checked out “I Won’t Give Up,” yet, go take a look and download it on iTunes (supporting singer-songwriters who’ve paid their dues is totally sexy).  This one’s a nice little tune about the sun for this snowy midwestern day.  (Highest quality available – but it’s actually not so bad – give it a try)

Video: “93 Million Miles” by Jason Mraz.  Performed at Sydney Opera House November 19th, 2011.  Courtesy YouTube user jmh123456.

In other news, there’s some crazy teen girl trying to get you to boycott Thin Mints because of the Girl Scouts’ policy of not excluding transgender girls from their ranks.  So, you know – contact your local troop and pick up a box or two, won’t you?  We have to show organizations like the Girl Scouts that we’re going to support them when they choose inclusion and acceptance over (like their BSA counterparts) exclusion and hate.  Go to GirlScoutCookies.org to find out when your local cookie season begins!

Peace and love, everyone!

Our Daily Inspiration – 1/10/2012

I’m obsessed with this song.  Enjoy!

Regina Spektor – “Us” – from Live in London – December 4, 2009

“They’ll name a city after us / and later say it’s all our fault / then they’ll give us a talking-to / then they’ll give us a talking-to / cuz they’e got years of experience / we’re living in a den of thieves / rummaging for answers in the pages”

My Thank-You Note to the People of Florida

I just submitted this Letter to the Editor to the Tampa Tribune. Because it’s just so tacky not to send a little thank you note…. (referencing this, btw.)

Dear Florida,

As a resident of Illinois, I just thought it would be rude of me not to pass along my heartfelt “thanks,” as well as that of my fellow Illinoisans.

When you elected Rick Scott, he promised to oppose President Obama’s evil socialist agenda. And in February, he put his – I’m sorry: YOUR – money where his mouth was. The Federal Government tried to give you $2.4 billion to build a next generation high-speed rail corridor between Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. You know – the one that you voted for in a referendum all the way back in 2000. But your new governor stood up to Obama and said “NO!”

Thanks to him, and by proxy, to you (for electing him), most of that money was reallocated to build that corridor from St. Louis to Chicago instead of Tampa to Orlando It’s going to link two major economic centers in my region, and building and maintaining the infrastructure is going to create a whole buncha jobs in my state.

So seriously – thanks, folks. Electing Rick Scott was one of the nicest things you’ve ever done for me.

Valentine’s Day 2011 – On Love and the Gay Rights Movement

It’s St. Valentine’s Day, which, despite our culture’s sometimes-overbearing commercialism and the vast ocean of cliche to which this holiday has fallen victim, today is really about the simplest and most complex, the sweetest and most bitter, facet of our humanity.  Love makes us more alive, and it kills us.  It is so contradictory, and yet so simple and straightforward.

In our culture, many of us spend great portions of our lives, along with a great deal of time, energy, and money, trying to find someone to call in the middle of a difficult day who knows exactly how to lift our spirits – someone to share in our triumphs and to mourn our failures with us, and when those failures occur, to anchor us in a life that isn’t predicated on success or failure and help us pick up the pieces and move forward.

I’m only about 30% into County Music, and find much of it pretty contrived, where some very talented people follow the same cheesy formula time after time to produce nothing but mediocrity (note: this is far from universal).  But there is one thing about a lot of it that I find very telling about humanity, especially our own society, and that is the plethora of America-loving, beer-drinking, good-old-boy Southern men who sing about crying.  They reveal to us the simple truth that, inside this gruff, small-town, self-reliant working-man, there abides a pain that brings him to tears, all because of a woman he loves, and he is nothing without her.

I’ve been thinking a lot about love recently, and about what it, and its pursuit, is supposed to mean to us, and to me in particular.  I’ve been at a point in my life for a while in which there seem to be too many choices to make, and yet the ones that really matter just up and make themselves.  What law schools should you apply to, and what factors are important in that choice?  In the midst of a significant relationship, how do you balance something that has often sustained you and given you an excuse to get up in the morning – your career – with the need to go home and just be there with him?  When things start to deteriorate, and you’ve made mistakes, and he’s made mistakes, and the hurt and weight of those mistakes seem heavier than you can admit, when do you quit trying, and compromising, and sacrificing, and fighting?
___

The Gay Rights Movement is unique in the history of human rights struggles in a number of ways, but the biggest of these, and the one that I find most compelling, is that the entire “issue” is love itself.  It isn’t about religion or politics or morality – indeed, the Movement’s entire existence is predicated on the understanding that, be it cultural programming or biological urge, we all want to find that person or persons with whom we can share our lives.

We all want to have to be in that position where at least some of those difficult questions of which I spoke require answers.

Some of us, built a little bit differently, are looking for that someone in a little bit different place.  Some of us have no desire to pursue that picket fence, or to enter into any kind of legal or religious union with one person to the exclusion of all others.  Some of want a partner and children and a Golden Retriever sleeping next to the fireplace.

But the point is that we’re still looking.  And though our relationships may not look the same to some people on the outside, and though no one outside of the relationship can ever truly be aware of the secret world that exists inside, I am here to assure you that the inside is so much more similar to the inside of yours than you have previously imagined.  We love.  We make love.  We fight.  We lift each other up, and we sometimes tear each other down.  We try to do “little things” for each other like clean the bathroom unexpectedly or leave little love notes for our still-sleeping partners on days when we have to go into work early.  We experience jealousy and regret and sometimes thank God for one another and sometimes resent one another.

Just like everyone else, we’re spending our lives trying to find that person to whom we can give every good part of ourselves, and who will take the bad too and love it as much as we despise it, because they love us and the bad is a part of who we are.

The entire “issue” of gay rights revolves around that fact, and the conclusion that follows – deep-down, we’re all looking for the same thing, and our society has no place intervening in that quest.
___

My generation is truly unaware of how far we’ve come in such a short period of time.

In just 1998 (I was in Middle School), police in Harris County (Houston metro), Texas, in response to an unrelated, false accusation, invaded John Geddes Lawrence’s home to find him engaged in sexual conduct with another man, Tyron Garner.  Both men were arrested, tried, and convicted under a Texas law that prohibited “deviate sexual intercourse” between members of the same sex.

In 2002, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, which would require them to reconsider their 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld a similar same-sex “sodomy” prohibition law in Georgia.  And in 2003 (the year I graduated High School), the Court delivered its opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, overturning Bowers and invalidating laws all over the country that prohibited private sexual contact between members of the same sex.

When my generation watched Milk, we were shocked at those heartbreaking opening scenes depicting gay people being rounded up by the dozens and hauled off to jail.  What we don’t really comprehend is that everyone born before 1984 graduated high school in a country where it was still okay for states to arrest homosexuals because of the details of their private lives.

I have had the privilege of living my entire adult-life in a post-Lawrence world.  The Lawrence decision, several years after Harvey Milk had to fight just for our right not to be fired based solely upon sexual orientation, was allowed to go significantly deeper.  It established, without a doubt, that being alive and being homosexual at the same time could no longer be considered a crime.

It blows my mind that this only happened in 2003.  It blows my mind that Iowa now recognizes same-sex marriages.  My own state, Illinois, almost does the same, recognizing the right of two people of the same sex to enter into civil unions only last year.

So here’s to you, St. Valentine, and to the Gay Rights Movement!  In the words of James Taylor: “Never give up.  Never slow down.  Never grow old, and never ever die young!”

HumpDay Readroll – Three Blogs I’m Following (Part Three)

And for our stunning conclusion!

I started this thinking that I could easily list three blogs with brief descriptions and it would be a worthwhile, not-terribly-time-consuming exercise.  It has been worthwhile – however, my excitement for these writers’ and creators’ work has, as you can surely see, thrown a wrench in the entire operation.  Each of these has become, instead, more of a review.  I’m not complaining – one of the things that I’ve learned about writing is that sometimes you just have to trust and let the piece define its own scale.  Am I right?

Anyway, I did want to make sure and, as promised, complete this week’s feature, and perhaps revisit the format later.  Though I’ve really enjoyed the ability to go further in-depth with these blogs today!

...continuing the theme of completely random pictures for Humpday Readroll...My Fave! Did you know she spells her name with a dollar sign instead of an S? OMG OMG OMG!!!

If you’re just joining us, we’re onto Part Three of a three-part series, featuring blogs I’m following for various reasons (humor, enlightenment, etc).  Check out Part One for a good old fashioned “why,” as well as my review of some delightful grammer-junkie humor, the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks.  Check out Part Two if you’re ready for some humor bordering on ridiculousness as I review Cole Escola’s Weblog!

Having written about blogs featuring two very different varieties of humor, I thought I’d finish up with an even third.

I’ve been wary to include political blogs or writers in this feature, as they serve a very different purpose than the creative enterprises I’ve discussed.  Some of you Nonexistent Readers may even be turned off by their inclusion in the same breath as their creative counterparts.  I assure you, though, that if you check out the next guy’s work, you won’t be disappointed (as long as you aren’t totally put off by any left-of-center commentary – though if you’re on my blog, and you made it through Cole Escola, surely that can’t be the case, right?

In any case, and without further ado… From the Bloggernets!
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Blog #3: Bill in Portland Maine’s “Cheers and Jeers,” a feature on DailyKos.com (bill-in-portland-maine.dailykos.com)
(I know what you non-political types in my Nonexistent Reader corps are going to say.  Bear with me.  I promise.)

Categories: humor, political (left-leaning) commentary
Style: a current-events roundup in the form of good news (Cheers) and bad news (Jeers), as well as a number of other regular features (for example, a daily update on the “Rapture Index” from an outside crazy-person website…)
Good For: some current events catch-up that will make you laugh out loud.

During the fall of 2007, the news came down the wire at Daily Kos that, due to his being laid-off, Bill in Portland Maine (Bill Harnsberger) would be unable to continue writing his much-beloved feature, Cheers and Jeers, while he dedicated his time and energy to looking for a new job.  Always willful, the DKos community refused to let him step down.

In a matter of days, DailyKos members raised $50,000 to pay Harnsberger a salary and become a daily, featured blogger on the site.  And each year, a la NPR, Bill brings back the pledge drive, humbly (yet humorously) asking community members for another year of Cheers and Jeers through their modest recurring contributions of $10 and $20.

Cheers and Jeers appeals on so many levels.  For political junkies, it serves as a great companion to the morning newspaper, and allows us the politics without the vitriol, though it is served with a heavy helping of good-natured snark.  It’s smart.  It’s funny.  It pokes fun.  It celebrates victories for the things we care about, and lampoons the opposition.  Bill’s “voice” is unique and sincere, and his passion – both for the Progressive cause, and for the tone of his argument (always satirical, often disrespectful, never venomous or hateful) – shines through in every line.

But the Cheers and Jeers appeal is more than just Bill in Portland Maine and his fabulous content, though that in itself would warrant mention here.  Equally remarkable, the community that has risen up around his daily blog is large, strong, and has a character all of its own.

Thus, if you read Cheers and Jeers without scrolling all the way down and hitting “View Comments,” you’re missing out.  Frequent DailyKos users often refer to the Comments on Cheers and Jeers with fondness, as there is something of a community-enforced, unwritten civility rule here that makes it a comfortable place for new members to participate, meet other members, and contribute to the discussion.  Commenters frequently post their own “Cheers and Jeers” in these threads, along with pictures of kittens, puppies, their family vacations, and other uplifting subjects.  Indeed, Cheers and Jeers is its own community within the larger DailyKos community, where daily visitors recognize and greet one another and share the start of each day.

I could go on and on, having been a fan of Cheers and Jeers (and sometimes participant in the comments) for a few years now.  Instead, let me leave you with a few feisty, snarky quotes from the man himself, Bill in Portland Maine:

Here’s Bill on the grassroots effort in the DailyKos community to raise money for Bill’s salary)

I was ready to politely decline and enter the priesthood when I received the following email from a right-wing terrorist: “See ya libtard loser. Maybe you can move and Maine will be a better place.”

That’s called peeing in my pool, and I don’t take kindly to it.

-snip-

So here’s the deal: if enough of you agree to support me as your humble servant for a year writing C&J, I will tear up my freshly-signed RNC membership card and accept your recruitment offer. All I’m asking for in return is food and shelter. My diet, by the way, consists of twenty-dollar-bill salads and my roof really needs to be replaced with a new layer of C-note shingles.

(Here’s a portion of his New Years Resolution list for 2011)

>> I shall build a catapult and use it to fling ice cubes up to the North Pole in the hope of seeding new glaciers.

>> I shall find something about Congress that I can be enthusiastic about. So far I’ve got “architecture.”

>> I shall watch my waistline. Specifically, I shall watch my waistline expand.

>> I shall win the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a group hug in the Obama purist/pragmatist diaries.

>> I shall talk to more statues.

>> I shall take a swig of whatever booze is handy every time I hear a tea partier complaining about how Republicans in the House and Senate have betrayed them!

>> With respect to the above, I shall keep a spare liver in the refrigerator.

>> I shall help the TSA while traveling by wearing nothing but my American flag titty pins.

(and finally, an example of a Cheers and Jeers mainstay – the “Shameless C&J Testimonial” – in which, in case you can’t tell, Bill replaces some word in a passage from a mainstream media source with his own name… sorry to kill the joke…)

Crying, peeing, grinning, crawling (there’s a brief crawling montage — the one such gimmick), the babies in Babies offer moments to cherish. Frankly, though, the film itself is kind of slack. I wish Balmès had found more scenes like the one in which Bill in Portland Maine tries to shove a stick into a toy doughnut, falls on his back in wailing frustration, and then perseveres, and succeeds—it’s like watching the dawn of consciousness in two minutes.
—Entertainment Weekly

Thanks for reading along, folks, and don’t forget to check out these three great blogs I’ve profiled!

Until next time (a Roundup tomorrow), PEACE!

HumpDay Readroll – Three Blogs I’m Following (Part Two)

If you’re just joining, we’re onto Part Two of a three-part series, featuring blogs I’m following for various reasons (humor, enlightenment, etc).  Check out Part One for my review of some delightful grammer-junkie humor, the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks.

The purpose of this feature is to make me a better reader, helping to make me a better writer.  If you have any ideas re: blogs, magazines, books, or any other media I should check out, please don’t hesitate to comment or email me at JustLeftBlog@GMail.com.

(btw – the tea party image has nothing to do with anything – this post’s featured blogger just has me in a random mood.  And this picture is simply awesome.  Right?)

___

Blog # 2. Cole Escola’s Internet Weblog! – coleescola.wordpress.com

WARNING: links will take you to some explicit content, or at least something that might offend you.  Just FYI…
Categories: LGBT, sometimes-dark humor, quirky, funny images
Style: Since November of 2009, a random, drily-hilarious “Doodle a Day”
Good For: Some “not appropriate for the office” humor to bring a few hearty laughs to a long day.  Or good to browse on those weekend nights when you come home intoxicated, but are too wide-awake for sleep and aren’t feeling Family Guy on Netflix.

If you’ve never gotten Logo in your basic cable package, or if you aren’t familiar with their particular comedy scene, you might not have heard of Jeffery and Cole.  But stick around for a little while and keep watching funny, irreverent humor, and believe me, you will.  Jeffery Self and Cole Escola, termed the “funniest camp duo since Kiki and Herb” by the New York Times’s Sameer Reddy, produce the low-budget YouTube sketch-comedy show Jeffrey and Cole Casserole, which can also be found on late-night Logo.

Both of these guys bring something unique and whimsically hilarious to the table.  And Jeffery’s blog is smart, funny, and certainly worth following as well (I do).

For my taste, though, which requires random injections of off-color humor and… well… ridiculousness… I gotta get my “Doodle of the Day!”  Cole made a resolution on his 23rd birthday (back in 2009) that, every day for entire year, he would post a random doodle on his blog.  He followed this promise with Doodle #1: “Seductive Baby in a Glass Box,” drawn in pen on simple notebook paper.

Though the “every day” part didn’t exactly work out (due to technical difficulties and, I assume, an ever-busier schedule), he thankfully didn’t quit upon turning 24, and we’re up to #118, “Sasquatch chained to the world and not wearing pants,” and going strong, so there’s plenty there to sift through when you have some time and need a laugh 🙂

Some of my favorite Doodles (sorry – descriptions would just ruin them – you’re going to have to check them out yourself):
•  A Doodle A Day #002
•  A Doodle A Day #031
• A Doodle A Day #091
• A Doodle A Day #103

Cole’s blog isn’t a doodle-only zone – you’ll get an occasional funny update about his life or a musing about some celebrity or other – but for most of those kinds of posts (the non-doodle kind, that is), Cole has turned to Twitter and his Tumblr, and following both is definitely worth your time as well!  If you had to choose (which you don’t, I promise), my recommendation of the WordPress blog is based almost entirely on the Doodles 🙂

So check out Cole Escola’s Doodles and other media.  Don’t forget to look up Jeffery’s Self’s blog as well (also an avid Tweeter), and Jeffery’s YouTube channel for old Jeffery and Cole episodes (once known as the VGL Gay Boys).

And stay tuned for Part 3 of our series, in perfect time for your after-dinner internet surfing.  Until then – PEACE!

___

PS – Note to the featured content-creators – As I mentioned earlier, this project is really about enhancing my own reading and writing habits, not self-promotion, so please don’t feel like you have to promote me or anything – just keep doing what you’re doing, thus making my life better  If you have any questions or if there is an issue, or if it really pisses you off to be featured here for some reason (or if I’ve unintentionally run into a problem with your copyrighted material), don’t hesitate to email JustLeftBlog@GMail.Com.  Thanks for being awesome! –

HumpDay Readroll – Three Blogs I’m Following (Part One)

photo by Tom Murphy VII

My goal for this blog is, as you can see in the About section, to get into the habit of writing regularly, both to create more content and to become a better writer.

This is more for my own self-enhancement than for promotion – while I hope that you, Nonexistent Reader, get something out of the news roundup, and that my commentary makes you think a little bit, and that eventually, someone, somewhere who actually exists is going to read this, this project is more for me than for you.

Thus, a new feature.  The brain, especially mine, works better from habitual stimulation.  It’s a muscle that requires stretching, working out, challenging.  With that in mind, the best writers say that you have to be a good, constant, diverse reader in order to be a good writer.

I’m making a goal today of increasing the amount of time I spend reading a diverse array of good work, and to never let that list stagnate – to constantly increase, change, and grow my reading habits.  Books, magazines, commentary, fiction, nonfiction, liberals, conservatives, food writers, magicians, blogs, Tweets, dating sites (okay, that one might be for a different kind of self-actualization…)

To make this possible, I’ll bring you this weekly (I hope) HumpDay feature: My Readroll.  My list of good, smart, well-written work that has inspired, appalled, or otherwise impressed me throughout the course of the week.

This week: Three Blogs I’m Following (and you should too).  Some are popular and well-followed, some are tucked away on some beautiful little unspoiled corner of the internet.  All feature entertaining, well-written content by talented people, and all will enhance your morning cup of coffee (or evening tumbler of bourbon – whatever your reading habits might be).  Since I’d like to keep these posts as readable as possible, I’ll be posting this in three parts (obviously – one for each blog).

So without further ado…From the BloggerNets!!!
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Blog # 1. the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks – www.unnecessaryquotes.com

Categories: humor, grammar-junkie
Style: one reader-submitted image per post, with brief, humorous commentary by the blog’s author
Good For: light reading and a daily laugh first thing in the morning, or a brief lunch-hour diversion during your workday

For the English major, literature-junkie, or otherwise grammar-conscious person, there are few things more frustrating than the relative illiteracy of the American People.  With the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks, you now have a humorous outlet for these frustrations, from a talented and witty author with a strong following of like-minded English speakers.

Updated daily, sometimes multiple times, this blog features reader-submitted images of sale signs, menus, personals ads, and other forms of public communication in which one particular punctuation – which really has but one very specific and narrow purpose – is misused, with often-hilarious results.

For me, the images themselves are enough catalyst for a good-natured laugh.  Author Bethany Keeling’s grammatically-correct interpretation of each submission can turn that laugh into an embarrassing, not-appropriate-for-public giggle.  As Bethany describes:

…what I’m interested in here is quotation marks that appear for no reason. These often work to obscure the intended meaning to comic effect, at least if you’re a punctuation nerd. Not that i know anyone like that.

A few of my favorite posts, just to whet your appetite:

• otherwise known as the “commander guy” – A marquee sign welcomes “PRESIDENT” GEORGE W. BUSH.  Though, when I think about it, this could easily have been intentional…
• “speak english” – This one reminds me of all the too-fun rally signs from 2009.  Glass houses are hilarious…
• where to begin – At first glance, you would think this used pickup truck ad almost has to be intentionally ridiculous!
• “no sex policy” – You have to see this one to believe it.

If you need something for your coffee table, Bethany has followed in the footsteps of some other successful reader-submission blogs and published a book, available here.  Buy it and stuff.

I hope you enjoy this first blog on my ReadRoll.  If you have suggestions re: blogs, websites, magazines, books, or other media that I need to check out, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or email me at JustLeftBlog@GMail.Com.

Coming up in a few hours – Part 2 – a humorous, quirky blog featuring refrigerator-worthy art by one my favorite gay performers. Stay tuned.  Peace!

PS – Note to the featured content-creators – As I mentioned earlier, this project is really about enhancing my own reading and writing habits, not self-promotion, so please don’t feel like you have to promote me or anything – just keep doing what you’re doing, thus making my life better 🙂  If you have any questions or if there is an issue, or if it really pisses you off to be featured here for some reason (or if I’ve unintentionally run into a problem with your copyrighted material), don’t hesitate to email JustLeftBlog@GMail.Com.  Thanks for being awesome! –

The Roundup for February 8, 2011 – “It’s been forever since I’ve had any time to blog” edition!

Dear Nonexistent Reader,

What a month it’s been! Ugh and three quarters!

I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that, unfortunately, updating this blog and thus entertaining you, my faithful corps of imaginary reader-soldiers, has been near the last item on my to-do list.

But, in the words of President Bartlett, “He has come back.  Like crab grass pulled from the lawn.  Not by the root, but by the other thing.”

I promise to, from now on, give you at least three updates per week, in a effort to make “every day” a habit.  And there’ll be, like, tons of videos and stuff.  And I’ll make more fun of John McCain.  And KE$HA, who it seems, despite my “Good Riddance,” has not yet gone away.

Enough of this rambling lunacy.  Without further ado… From the Internets!!!

IN the EGYPTIAN ELSEWHERE:

• The latest from Egypt, of course, is news that President Mubarak has formed a panel on constitutional reform.  We’ll see how that goes, but how optimistic are we?  Optimistic enough for the US to… actually, we’ve backed off on our reform language toward Egypt, haven’t we?  As they are apt to do, HuffPost has a fantastic live update blog – check it out and follow along.

• In other Egypt news, despite Anderson Cooper being knocked around and then having to report from a dimly-lit, undisclosed location (BTW, he’s a complete BAMF), and despite plenty of grandstanding from American politicians and frequent coverage, Pew Research Center has released their poll showing that 52% of Americans have heard “little or nothing” about the protests, which, as of yesterday, have left almost 300 (and probably many more) dead.  Oh – I’m sorry Americans – American Idol is back on, and it has Jennifer Lopez and stuff.  You obviously have some more important things to do…

• For those 52% of Americans who are blissfully unaware, here’s a short primer on Egypt:

AND IN the NON-EGYPTIAN ELSEWHERE:

• Yes, Mexico is still a mess.  Unfortunately, it’s the innocent who get to suffer. Like the family’s of three high school kids (two of them American citizens from Texas) that were shot by an “unknown” assailant or group of assailants or ghosts or something on Saturday (in broad daylight).

• Yes, Donald Rumsfeld is still the disgrace who ordered torture to be used on detainees in American custody.  And he and John McCain are lashing back and forth at each other in a war of words over the only remaining policy-area in which the stuff coming out of McCain’s mouth still has any credence.

IN the LEXINGTON (because I miss you…)

• Why is it that a full 90% of the Mayor’s job, at the least the part that we see, seems to be calming down freaked-out Lexingtonians about snow coming from the sky? …and I’m not picking on Mayor Gray, of course.  He and the city have reportedly done an excellent job with his first storm 🙂

But it still kind of makes me think of…

IN the POLITICS

• So Exciting!!!!  Joe tells us that there’s gonna be a crazy nutty Tea Party “town hall” tonight, featuring, wait for it… Michelle Bachmann, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Steve King!  Now if only there were a well-funded, faux-grassroots media effort to get unruly mobs of neanderthals to show up and shout them down.  Sigh – we’ll have to wait until next time I guess…

• Speaking of crazy…. Always concerned with the wellbeing of our democracy (which is why, less than half of the way through her term as a public official, she resigned in order to make major bucks on the “lock and load” speaking circuit), Sarah Palin tells CBN that she wants to “help” the media.  Because she has a degree in journalism and stuff.

IN the GHEY

• Since we’re talking Kentucky, some interesting survey results.  A poll commissioned by the Fairness Campaign and conducted by The Shapiro Group shows that a full 83% of Kentuckians believe that gay people shouldn’t be discriminated against in terms of housing, the workplace, and using public places.  Yes, that’s a high number.  No, I’m not surprised.  The Christian Right has already lost this battle – it’s only a matter of time.

• In honor of Kentucky gayfolk being, well, at least less despised by their Bluegrass Brethren, a brief, but amazing, President Bartlet moment….

• For you ghey and ghey-loving folks out there, I must strongly recommend this podcast. It’s simply fantastic 🙂

And Finally, IN the JUST BECAUSE:

• KE$HA spells her name with a dollar sign.  That’s because she’s really cool.  And after making an earring out of a human tooth sent to her by a fan, she’s encouraging people to keep sending her their body parts.  Seriously.  Aside: does the whole “body parts in the mail” thing not seem a little bit serial-killery to anyone else?—

I hope you have enjoyed our triumphant return! Please, if any of you readers are, in fact, real, tell your friends!