Wet Baloney

9:34pm: Sarah Palin, as I see her

3:43pm: Under Investigation
by Tucson CSI

1:55pm: dance

7:22am: America's Generous Aid Pledge to Myanmar
The USA has pledged $3.25 Million in aid for victims of the tragedy in Myanmar. This is just slightly less than what we spend on the war in Iraq EVERY 18 MINUTES !!!

So much American generosity.....

7:14am: downtown "redevelopment" in Tucson

As Gertrude Stein once said about her home town - "The trouble with Oakland is that when you get there, there isn't any there there" - so could we all say the same about Downtown Tucson. Unfortunately for us, the people in a position to do something about this, our supposedly progressive Democratic City Council, seem to be buying the same old tired ideas about new convention centers. These harebrained schemes must have originated deep in the bowels of the real estate developer and Chamber of Commerce communities. Instead of allowing this nonsense to exit out the appropriate end and be flushed into the sewer of stupid ideas, our esteemed leadership keeps regurgitating them so that the community can experience the stench and taste the bile over and over again.

In a city built on the banks of a river-that-goes-nowhere, Rio Nuevo was a particularly appropriate name for the various crackpot schemes put forth for the redevelopment of Downtown Tucson. They too lead into a wilderness of sand and evaporation, just like the intermittently mighty Santa Cruz.

2:59pm: Clinton criticizes former Obama pastor on O'Reilly broadcast

not that anyone reads this, but just for the record:

I went to the Hilary rally over at the University of Arizona a couple of months ago, and even though I had already voted for Obama I was quite impressed with both what she had to say and how she said it. At this point, though, despite Obama's shooting himself in the foot and lackluster debate performance I have to say that the prospect of Hilary as president is only marginally less nauseating than the prospect of McCain.

What is this woman thinking when she appears on **O'Reilly**? I don't want as president anyone who would confer even the slightest legitimacy to that fascist gasbag. Her pandering and posturing is absolutely appalling (and unfortunately in the best Clintonian tradition) It is a suitable follow-up to her moronic proposal to roll back the gasoline tax during the summer (and here I have to reluctantly agree totally that other moron, Tom Friedman).

While we have an overwhelming need to keep the Republicans out the White House in 2008, isn't it also about time that we stop putting disingenuous, lying assholes who will say anything to get elected there?

11:52pm: another useless website 4 U


www.sshole.info

11:39pm: memories of my senior prom

12:11am: Congratulations to John McCain !!!

indeed

9:04pm: spray paint philosophy


I tend to agree with this -- maybe that's why I'm such a recluse. On the other hand, one could say that I'm something of an optimist, since I'm not yet convinced that ALL people are dicks.

7:33am: Chelsea, Hillary, Dolores Huerta


caught this [lucky] shot at the Hillary rally - Saturday, University of Arizona. I'd already voted for Obama, but it was an event worthy of going to and I needed the exercise of a walk over there anyway.

2:19pm: in anticipation of the Friendly Skies

12:18am: It's Time....

Old farts like me have been waiting 40 years.

11:32pm: The Red Army in sepia-tone

Got back from Russia a bit over a week ago, and am only beginning to go through my documentation of the trip. Cranked this out quickly just to put something up here. More later.

9:56pm: The agony of buying a car

What is the shtick with buying a car from a dealer? Is there some reason why they have to make it an ordeal? If I found a car to buy on Craigslist or something I would just go and take a look at it. If I liked it I'd make an offer. Maybe the owner and I would spend a few minutes bargaining. Then I would write him (or her) a check, get the title, and drive off.

So today I went to buy a car. I knew what I wanted. The dealer had. We arrived at a mutually agreeable price fairly soon. I had the money to pay for it. So why did it have to take close to 8 f{{{{}ing hours to complete the transaction? Supposing I didn't have the money to buy it and had to get financing -- would it take all week to complete the transaction?

You get bounced from this person to that person to someone else who has to (only doing his job) try to sell you some extended warranty you don't want and some lame alarm system that will go off and make horribly annoying noises that absolutely no one will pay any attention to, other than to curse whoever owns the car making the noise.

Got to hand it to the dealers though -- they provide unlimited soft drinks to lubricate the process. So while I was buying my ugly little white shoebox with wheels I also had the opportunity to fill my system with copious quantities of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

What a fun day!!!

9:46am: The hearbreak of middle age...
I was sitting outside of my neighborhood cafe, taking in the scenery, admiring the cute, firm butts of the 20-something college girls walking out the door. Taking a sip of my first double-espresso of the day I glanced down at the newspaper, open to the comics page. Like a baseball bat upside my head it suddenly hit me: "I'm practically old enough to be dating Mary Worth".

This was not a pleasant epiphany. I wondered what was next. Would I trade in my motorcycle on a Buick? Run down to JC Penny to buy a pair of white loafers and some plaid Sans-a-Belt slacks? Move to Green Valley and learn how to play bingo? Change my voters' registration to Republican?




to be continued...

10:54pm: it's been a while since I posted anything

and this isn't much of anything

11:21am: biggest eyesore in Sedona
What an uholy monument to greed, ostentation, and bad taste!

Can you believe someone had the nerve to put up this ersatz mediterranean villa directly across the street from the landmark Chapel of the Holy Cross? It is huge, ugly, and dominates the landscape. This makes about as much sense as putting up a bowling alley in the Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

Send a note to the architect responsible for this monstrosity, telling him what you think: John Scholz in Phoenix. His web site is www.scholz.us/

10:15pm: Mailboxes etc
nothing to say

4:24pm: things I rather would not have seen at the Street Fair

The weather was great for the 4th Ave Street Fair this year. As usual, people were out and about, showing off their stuff -- even when they should have been hiding it...

9:42pm: Announcing the Potchke Series
When you were a child did your Jewish mother scold you about "potchkeing around" (the equivalent of wasting time)? Didn't you really LIKE to potchke around? I did.

I potchke'd with cooking, with my chemistry set, with the piano, with paint, with just about anything I could get my hands on.

Now, for those of us inclined to the visual arts, Photoshop provides the ultimate potchkeing toy. Over on my flickr pages are some of the latest products of a genuine professional potchke'er.

1:27pm: Noni juice
just in case no one has noticed yet, Noni juice tastes like dirty socks or stinky old slippers

10:32am: First trip to Las Vegas
Well, a couple of weeks ago I went up to Las Vegas for the Photoshop World conference. It really wasn't my **first** time there -- I've driven through on the way to somewhere else a few times, and I stayed overnight in a motel on the way to San Francisco once years ago. But - it was the first time I've stayed long enough to have a look around, and the first time I stayed at a hotel on the Strip.

To say that I was appalled by the whole scene would be a gross understatement. While I was there I filled a journal with all sorts of indignant observations which I had planned to post online. When I got back to Tucson however, I screwed up and deleted the file by mistake. I view this as a fateful sign to turn down the volume on the critiques of Amerikan society. So some people find the Las Vegas scene to be an appropriate expression of our cultural ingenuity. What can you do?? Most people live for immediate gratification/distraction. I think it's like the lemmings heading straight away to the edge of the cliff, but what I think and two dollars might (at best) buy a shot of espresso at Starbucks.

11:26pm: http://flickr.com/photos/wetbaloney

Over 500 photos posted to my Flickr space, including travel, journalism, manipulations, personal history. More coming every day.

10:33pm: I love Courtney Love