SwampLog 3.0

Alopecia

My birthday 2005 marks the day that I officially admit that I have lost my battle with baldness. It pains me to admit that alopecia is bigger than I am, and that my arsenal of Rogaine, Finasteride, and Saw Palmetto is no match for the onslaught of genetics and time.

I suppose I have accept that I must rely solely on my charm to get girls now. Hopefully, I'll grow into that old bald guy sexy like Captain Picard or James Bond. Maybe I'll just take the easy way out and buy myself a Russian bride. Over time, ti's cheaper than getting shot down in bars. No need to worry about genetic damage from hazardous waste or Chernobyl -- I'm probably too old to spawn anyway.

Hairlines are wasted on the young....

=M=

Car Wreck

We were sitting in the press box at the Frisco RoughRiders' ball park (the unwieldly-named Dr. Pepper / 7-Up Park) when the TV in the booth, tuned to headline News, ran the banner "Website Shows Beheading." The sound was down, so we didn't have any context of it. I thought it was some twisted teenager who had gone too damned far.

I wish I was right.

Nicholas Berg was decapitated with a butcher knife. And, just to make sure the horror of it hits home, they posted it online for everyone to see.

When I got home, after getting caught up on 'The Sopranos' and '24,' I checked my e-mail, and there it was. A link to a mirrored copy of the clip.

This wasn't some 'Faces of Death' hoax, or ILM stunt. This WMV file contained the last minute of Nick Berg's life. And my cursor was hovering over it.

There are people in America who will try and palm this off as another casualty of the War On Terror©, a man who was made an example by the "evildoers" that we're trying to vanquish. There's a family in Pennsylvania who doesn't have a son, because he wanted to try and help fix what Dick Cheney just had to break.

I clicked on the link. And my stomach is churning.

There's Berg, telling about his family and where he lives. Then, the video cuts away to Berg seated on the floor, legs underneath him, and five masked gunmen, with the one in the middle reading a statement in Arabic. Berg looks nervous, but doesn't look like he knows he's about to die.

At four minutes in to the clip, the connection dies. Berg is still alive, sitting on the floor. And something in the back of my head is mad that there isn't any more video.

What the fuck is wrong with me? Why did I even click the link in the first place? Why do I even want to see a man hold up Nicholas Berg's head to the camera? Am I so de-sensitized to the act of killing another human being that I want to see him die?

I quit out of Windows Media Player, deleted the e-mail. And still feel like throwing up.

The Doctor Is In

As you probably don't know, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson writes a column for ESPN's Page 2 section. You probably don't know it, because -- as is Thompson's way -- he writes it whenever he damned well pleases, not on any sort of schedule. I'll peek every now and then to see if there's a new gem from him. There is, today.

The current missive from Thompson's Aspen citadel starts out railing against the sham of Saturday's De La Hoya - Mosley boxing match, but you can tell Hunter's seething about Dubya. The final paragraph is classic:

The Statue of Liberty wasn't out there for nothing. Beware of War Mongers. They don't give a hoot in hell if you live or die. They are in this racket strictly for themselves.

Brilliant. Trust me -- read the whole thing.

That Day

Rather than re-hash my sentiments on what happened on September 11, 2001, or postulate on how I think America has changed since then, I'll merely say that we had an opportunity to grow closer as a nation, and I believe we have squandered it.

My post from last year pretty much sums up the way I feel. Also, if you didn't see the brilliant collection of essays from various writers that SciFi.com posted, they're worth a read.

A Spoonful of Sugar

Last year, I briefly dated a woman who was on the opposite end of the political spectrun from me -- she was a moderate conservative, while I'm as close to a screaming liberal you can get without constant marching for various causes. This proved to be problematic when Bush went to war against Iraq. During the war, whenever I would go over to her house, she wouldn't let me turn the TV over to CNN -- she preferred Fox News Channel, because "it doesn't have the liberal bias of CNN."

I'm reminded of this while I read Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.

Usually, it takes a pretty special book to get me over to Amazon.com to buy a book new -- I prefer to get the book in trade paperback, since it'll cost less and usually fit better in my bookshelf. But when any book pisses off Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and the entire Fox News Channel legal department, I'm on board.

I suppose I didn't really expect this book to make me think -- his last book, Oh! The Things I Know, was a great satirical stab at the self-help genre, and I expected the same big laugh from Lies.

Instead, the book is a scathing broadswipe at the Bush administration, the Republican party, and the media that feeds both.

As far as mass media goes, I think that, by and large, the "bias" that exists during an administration exists to task whomever's in office. When Reagan and HW Bush were in power, you saw whacks at Iran-Contra, 'Star Wars,' and the ever-increasing deficit. While Clinton was in the presidency, there was Troopergate, Whitewater, Monica, and Hillary. Now that Dubya is occupying the White House (1), he's given writers tons of ammunition to work with.

My singular question is this: why does it fall to an Emmy-winning comedian to provide the most comprehensive, and comprehendible, list of the Bush administration's fallacies? Why can't the Democratic Party explain and expose these people for the charlatains that they are? If they can, why aren't they?

(Look, I know the Dems are just as bad about lying to the American public. It just seems that their lies aren't nearly as damaging to America, in terms of our economy, crime, the environment, and international goodwill.)

Linkage

* When the 'Fellowship of the Ring' Special Edition was released on DVD, there was one showing -- one -- of the damned thing on the big screen in various cities around America. This year, it looks like they figured out that all the geeks wanted a crack at it, as E!Online reports there will not only be special screenings of both the Special Editions of 'Fellowship' and 'The Two Towers,' as well as a marathon screening of both movies leading up to the release of 'The Return of the King.' My geek pants just exploded.

* Americans -- at least the ones the pollsters found -- are getting fed up with the Iraq imbroglio. (Can you say quagmire? Sure. I knew that you could.) Newsweek reports that 60 percent of those polled think we will be bogged down for many years in Iraq, and 49 percent don't want to see Bush re-elected. As the casualties continue to mount, and the Hussein loyalists continue to make our "rebuilding" efforts looks foolish, expect those numbers to grow.

* The new American protest fad: dress up as cheerleaders when going to a rally. Brilliant.

* The current issue of Rolling Stone (sorry, they don't have an online version of the story; just go out and buy the issue -- it's the one with Mary-Kate and Ashley on the cover, as if you don't already have it) details Canadian efforts to make marijuana possession a ticketable offense as opposed to current methods of "throwing the book" at offenders. It's not decriminalizing pot, but it is a lot less Draconian than America's "War on Drugs" -- and this has the Bushies in a tissy. The current U.S. drug czar, John Walters, has threatened to restrict access between Canada and America if this measure passes. This would further cripple the Canadian economy, which depends on the influx of American dollars.

I don't smoke pot, but its use has never bothered me. Is it time for America to finally look back at the 20+ year War on Drugs and rethink its purpose?

Off the Beacon

No updates for a week, since I'm leaving for the DP North American Tour 2003 in about seven hours. If there's any connectivity when I get there, I may post a photo or two from Cancun -- otherwise, it'll be 15 August before you get any evidence of collateral damage. I'll hit the Friday Five to give you something to chew on in a sec (I'm doing laundry and packing right now, as well as printing out schtuff we'll need to know about the hotel), but first, a liberal-leaning link for your junkie asses!

* Dr. Hunter S. Thompson -- the man who urged me into journalism in 1986 with the advice, "Kid, it's the only job in America where you can really make a difference without being shot. But only if you're good." -- was supposed to write a column about the Kobe Bryant brouhaha for ESPN's Page 2. He ended up writing a beautifully scathing rebuke of the Bush administration in the column's middle third. I had never thought to compare Bush to Richard Nixon, but if anyone could pull off such a comparison, it's Duke.

I especially love ESPN's distancing from the Doc's rants in this particular column. The disclaimer is a little stronger than their normal distancing.