Sunday, May 22, 2005
Here's the Keys--You Drive
For over two freakin' years, the Daily Aneurysm has been almost entirely the product of one brain--mine, such as it is--although a handful of dedicated regular commenters and private e-mailers have improved it immeasurably. Now, one of those regulars is going to be punished for his good deeds. Tom Herbst, whose comments are often funnier and more intelligent than the posts to which they respond, is going to serve as my first-ever guest blogger for the next 10 days or so, especially over Memorial Day weekend, when I will be out of blogging range entirely. Tom describes himself thusly:
Recommended Reading: Over at the Decembrist, Mark Schmitt says Tuesday's nuclear option vote may result in neither a mushroom cloud nor a fizzle. Some of the Republican senators currently trying to find a compromise could, in effect, stop the clock by voting stategically on one of the motions that would be part of the nuclear package--taking the balance of power away from Nurse Frist and the wingnut hardcores and into their hands. It may be too much to hope that this is the moment when the Republican coalition--the marriage of convenience between the christo-fascists and the old-line grownups--might finally split. But stay tuned.
(This post has been edited since it first appeared.)
For over two freakin' years, the Daily Aneurysm has been almost entirely the product of one brain--mine, such as it is--although a handful of dedicated regular commenters and private e-mailers have improved it immeasurably. Now, one of those regulars is going to be punished for his good deeds. Tom Herbst, whose comments are often funnier and more intelligent than the posts to which they respond, is going to serve as my first-ever guest blogger for the next 10 days or so, especially over Memorial Day weekend, when I will be out of blogging range entirely. Tom describes himself thusly:
I reside in western PA and work in the financial industry as a low-level bean counter. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania all my life except for a dubious and very brief stint in Austin, TX. . . .I realize that by promoting Tom from reader to blogger, I have probably cut my number of readers by a significant percentage. I'm willing to risk it, however, because it'll be nice to have some good writing on here for a change. Watch for Tom's stuff over the next week or 10 days, and if you're going somewhere over Memorial Day, keep his advice in mind: "If you have to travel across country and your choices are a Greyhound Bus and the back of an offal tanker, choose the latter. Trust me on this."
I only achieved any real political consciousness in the mid-90’s, though I voted for Clinton in ’92 and have, in retrospect, always been a liberal. . . .
I worked for a long time in food service, during which I learned that people who look down on that type of work have never had to do it, and mall-store retail clerks think they’re the top rung on society’s ladder, versus the bottom-rung pizza guys in the food court. If that kind of thing doesn’t make somebody aware of the absurd artificiality of “class,” then I don’t know what will.
My great-grandfather patented the method by which people roll up the toothpaste tube during use; every time you curl up your Colgate, I get a nickel. Keep on brushing.
Recommended Reading: Over at the Decembrist, Mark Schmitt says Tuesday's nuclear option vote may result in neither a mushroom cloud nor a fizzle. Some of the Republican senators currently trying to find a compromise could, in effect, stop the clock by voting stategically on one of the motions that would be part of the nuclear package--taking the balance of power away from Nurse Frist and the wingnut hardcores and into their hands. It may be too much to hope that this is the moment when the Republican coalition--the marriage of convenience between the christo-fascists and the old-line grownups--might finally split. But stay tuned.
(This post has been edited since it first appeared.)
