the best part of family gatherings? getting home and being alone. it wasn't bad, but there you go. good food.

skeely came over and we watched rushmore after...

today is being spent dealing with little annoyances, such as properly setting up the wireless network and tearing apart the home studio. fun.

went and saw green day do the jimmy kimmel show last night. there's a bar in the green room. that was cool. watched mike tyson and serena williams rock out during the show. that was surreal.

supposedly, this is a holiday break this weekend... not for us. work is once again coming in with last minute deadlines. oh well.

just been too busy to blog recently. in addition to moving everything over to our new server, almost every one of our client has had EMERGENCY PLEASE DO IT RIGHT NOW changes to their sites...

plus, a friend in town and visiting last week, another friend getting ready to pack up and depart LA for good, a troop of friends moving back and forth temporarily between the coasts... there's a lot going on these days.

Judging by the speed with which this is loading, I'm assuming this is all running off the new server... whew. one domain down, 37 more to go.

Luke's been visiting, so lots of wine. been a blast so far. art shows, dinner, hangovers, oh my.

just finished watching bill maher's last show... probably the best thing out there right now, but apparently the last episode. i guess he only has to do 6 a year or something.

anyway, it was great, as great as the one demanding rioting the in the streets of new york during the republican convention. he had andrew sullivan on, and that really just depressed me. i mean, here's a guy who actually did vote for kerry this time around... but still, he just doesn't seem to get it. or, truth be told, we just don't get him. i don't see a solution... we're a very split country and that ain't gonna change. chomsky was on and was rational and very pragmatic, tell it like it is and depress the hell out of us as usual and sullivan, who actually seems reasonable and intelligent and capable of thinking outside of the box, was going off about how he was an american hating bastard. whatever.

So i don't know how this ended up being a political thing instead of discussing how much i drank last night, but there you go. i still don't support the democrats anymore, and i still think we need a third party system, but the bottom line is the dems have gotta stop walking the line and pushing themselves to the right in an attempt to get votes. fuck 'em, you aren't ever going to win that way.

they have got to stand up for what we all believe, and get the people that think the same to come out and vote in droves. don't got after their marginals, go after your base... the ones too lazy to vote. be strong, be convincing. look at bush - he stood there and said "at least you know where i stand". And we do. And most polls show a majority of people think his stands are wrong, and STILL FUCKING VOTED FOR HIM.

So there you go. Learn from them. They know how to win. One comment from a day or so ago was about Michael Moore, and how he ostracized people. I completely disagree. I'm sure he did, but I'm willing to bet he fired up more people than he pissed off. And that's what the dems need. Maybe if Kerry would have recognized the pissed off left there might be a different outcome right now, instead of toadying to the centrics and giving the republicans the flip flop chant.

That comment also went on to talk a bit about the supposed inaccuracies in Farenheit 9-11. I'm not going to attempt to defend the movie - for every pointed out inaccuracy and documentation, he's got documentation showing how he's right. Pick and choose, but at least read his defense, particularly if you're leaning liberal. That's also part of the problem - why are we trying to distance ourselves from people like Moore who take up the rallying cry? The republicans circle the fucking wagons, and protect their own - we leave ours out to dry.

But even more important than that - Ok, let's assume Moore's lied, shall we? What did it cost you? 10 bucks for the movie? 30 if you bought the DVD?

Now, let's talk about how Bush/Cheney/Rice/et al might have lied. I'm pretty sure they did. No weapons of mass destruction. Saddam didn't seem to be an imminent threat to us (while that pesky north korean could be). So, let's just go ahead and assume he lied as well, just like we assumed Michael Moore did. Mikey cost you 10 bucks. Bush cost your children's future, with a stratospheric debt and tax cuts in a time of war (thanks for that $300! Wait, that corporation got 5 billion in tax credits?). I'll admit that Mike's movie might have possibly caused some 80 year old die-hard republican to have a heart attack somewhere in Georgia after he saw the movie. But that'd still be 1 to how many US soldiers, for no reason? Not to even mention innocent civilian causalties.

So I think you need to balance things a bit here. Michael Moore made a movie; George Bush is the leader of the free world. One's (supposed) lies seems to have a bit more weight than the other's (supposed) lies.

Or something like that. Anyway, at the end of the day it doesn't seem to matter. I have no chance of convincing the red states, and they have no chance of convincing me. Us blues just need someone to really stand up and put up next time around. And the way things are going, I seriously doubt it's going to be a democrat.

Arianna weighs in, and Slate does a nice piece, but where's Moore? We'll have to wait until tonight for John Stewart, although he got his point across pretty well in the hour special last night... and Maher on friday...

This seems to be the question on most of my friends' minds at the moment... it's certainly on mine. We lost, and the next four years are going to really, really suck.

Well... I've never really been politically active, but I think the time has come to get involved. I think it's time we all did. Small things. Pay attention to local races, initiatives and what not.

Campaign finance reform. Election reform. These things need to happen. They must happen or else this is the way it will always be.

And one other thing - I'm done with the democrats. We need a third party. This is just ridiculous. They got one last shot from me, simply because Bush was an intolerable option. But that's it. They blew it, again. No more. No matter what. Cheney could run in four and I will still NOT VOTE DEMOCRAT. Naders and Perots will get my vote from now on.

I'm sorry, they blew it. They lost this election. They lost the House. They lost the Senate. They can't do anything. To hell with them.

And they don't really speak for us. They just spoke a little better than Bush. I never liked Kerry, I was just stuck with him.

A challenge to those who are on the fringes of their parties - go independent. Yes, you, McCain. You hate Bush. Admit it. Get out of there. Dean? Come on, to hell with the Democrats. They screwed you and you know it.

Alright Michael Moore, Arianna, Franken - what's next? Are you guys going to suck up to the democrats again, or are you done with them as well?

What the fuck is wrong with you people?

What do you care if a guy wants to marry a guy? Or if a woman wants to marry a woman?

Why the fuck are we in Iraq? How is this helping us? How does this stop people from hating us, and what does it have to do with what happened to us on 9-11?

Do you not know that we financed Osama Bin Laden not that long ago?

We did.

Please, please, please stop this. I love this country and what it stands for. Or at least I used to.

a postscript added a few minutes later:

"If you strike me down, Darth, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

Do not lose faith. If Bush ends up winning for the first time - or stealing it again - we must all stay the course. this country MUST remain a beacon.

If you're still undecided, you obviously have no ability to make a decision. So I'll do it for you. Vote Kerry.

Off to get beer for the TV viewing tonight. Finish a beer every time someone says "too close to call". Throw beer at TV screen whenever lawyers are mentioned.