Do I owe my blog audience an explanation for not having written on this in awhile?

Wow. We just insulted Putin.

At the G-20 summit. No good can come of this.

So much time has passed. Is it worth picking this up?

Merry Christmas!

We had a fun day today. Kids went nuts with gifts. Went to the inlaws and had fabulous family craziness. More later. Hope your day went well, too.

A certain mania is probably alright, amirite?

Take me, for example.
What is my mood?
Cry? Laugh? Play guitar? Write? Send letters to everyone I love, telling them exactly how important they are.

I will cycle through an endless list -- boundlessly enthusiastic -- until exhausted.

Everything incomplete.

"Be in the Moment"

"Be in the Moment"

What a sentiment. We're told this all the time.
Its worthy.
Its bromide.
It grants acceptance and peace

But 'be in the moment' can be a prison if you don't like where you are.
Its oubliette.

You must dream of tomorrow, too.
And of yesterday.

Carpe diem.
Seize the day.

Check out my new blog.

The other day the Supreme Court narrowed a ruling on torture of certain people by Americans because Congress "hadn't given the court jurisdiction" over that area.

My question: since when has the Supreme Court had to ask Congress for jurisdiction over anything? Marbury vs. Madison in 1803, the first case to establish judicial review, was a clear case of the Supreme Court stepping in and saying "Hi, remember us? We're the third branch of government and we're going to weigh in here."

For the Supreme Court to hover around, fretting and biting its nails, waiting for Congress to throw it a bone is absurd.

Point being: the Supreme Court has de-facto jurisdiction over ANY action that Congress (or the President for that matter) could take. That's what being a 'nation of laws' means: nobody is above the law. Ever. Period. End of sentence.

I have confessions.

I'm starting to warm up to this election.

I've actually begun to see the personalities behind the masks: Biden, Obama, Giuliani.

Neo-Conservatism is dying, but its not dead yet. This MoveOn/"Betrayus" SNAFU is its last gasp. Its the Swiftboat scenario all over again. Some hyper-inflated sense of horror that somebody would dare call a general a name. God forbid. Generals are like uber boy-scouts -- in conservative American culture the Military is always virtuous, and it always acts in the name of preserving freedom, despite a massive quantity of evidence to the contrary.

But that's not my confession.

It is September '07 and I am prognosticating.

I'm gazing into my crystal ball.

And I see...

Giuliani.

He's going to take this election.

What is more: the fact that I have always loathed Republicanism does not prevent me from being excited about him. In fact, I am far more excited about him than Hillary, whom I would appreciate and admire even if she weren't a Clinton. Obama is exciting. Biden seems like a wily pro. But Giuliani has maverick appeal.

Today he announced he's in favor of the second amendment.

I couldn't agree more.

The only two New Yorkers I admire more are my old boss, Kim Beauchamp at the Shoah Foundation, and Elliot Spitzer, from the Elliot Ness, Old-school the sycophant of hard as nails, old-School -isms of eld (Progressivism, , Sinclair, Stephens,

See, people are done to death of Neo-Con bullshit. That philosophy hit the cultural mileu with all the freshness of stale fart.

But people aren't exactly jumping into the arms of the 60s-style, politically correct, yogurt-blooded, self-righteous individuals who occupy the American left. Those folks have been pacified. Their revolution ended when Nixon said sayonara and the last helicopter left Saigon.

I like Giuliani because he seems to know how to handle power.
He is elloquent.
He is decisive.

I might not like him as much if I peeked into his policy decisions, but whose lookin? The guy has an award winning smile, and isn't a phony. The only thing worse than a Texan is a fake Texan. A fake Texan who cloaks himself in Jesus and the flag to keep from taking responsibility for starting a foolish war. Do I sound bitter?

Seriously, I will likely vote Democratic because the Republicans need to be punished for neo-conservatism. But I still think Giuliani is going to win.

Hey all,

I wanted to spend a sec and thank Ramseys from Glassmaze (http://doodleplex.com/glassmaze/) for agreeing to host my latest installment of music on his server. Below is a nasty pile of hyperlinks. I promise to fix them up an' make 'em purdy when I someday get rid of my nasty pink template and get this blog in shape again. Unfortunately, until that particular impulse strikes, you will just have to suffer like the rest of us. But in the meantime, click to download them or contact me for a complimentary copy of the CD, and don't forget to check out the crappy website I threw up here for liner notes and junk:

http://www.claysails.netfirms.com/Music_of_Clay_Sails/index2.htm

Songs:

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/01%20Send%20Me%20to%20Beyond.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/02%20Insecticide.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/03%20Between%20Rain%20and%20Lightning.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/0420Majestic.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/05%20Hafez20Rides.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/06%20filler.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/07%20Crazy%20on%20the%20Run.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/08%20Up%20and%20Down.mp3/crazy/09%20God%20Sleeps.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/10%20What%20the%20Silence%20Was.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/11%20Piano%20Song.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/12%20Music%20Makes%20Kids%20Smarter.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/13%20Sigh%20Metal%20Chorus.mp3

http://doodleplex.com/matt/crazy/14%20Send%20Me%20to%20Beyond%20(reprise).mp3