Coming down from caffeine
I had a bunch of coffee with breakfast this morning, and I think I'm coming down from it. Our guests who came for the holiday are on their way home, and I find myself missing them tremendously. A wonderful time was had by all and our house is remarkably quiet now that they've gone.
Their visit was action-packed. We watched really bad horror movies on the Sci-Fi Channel, went to a club I'd never been to before, had excellent meals, played a ton of video games, saw some other movies and TV, visited a cheese factory, did a bunch of shopping, and talked our heads off. Oh, and drinking. Musn't forget the drinking.
One of the things I picked up this weekend was the Cat Owner's Manual. One of the best-designed books I've seen in a long time, treating felis catus like a high-end piece of electronics. Multiple chapters on hardware, software, interfacing, maintenance, and the like.
Found a new-to-us beach when we went to the coast yesterday. There's a small park right near Pacific City that has a fabulous view of Haystack Rock from the south. Usually I'm used to seeing it from the north at Cannon Beach, but this was also impressive. We didn't spend a heck of a lot of time on the beach. Just long enough for the constant 20-35 mph winds to threaten windburn and cut through every article of clothing we had. I'll have to remember it for warmer times.
Speaking of warmer times, there's this article by Matthew Gross about politics and abuse.
Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the new language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, “Why did they beat me?”
And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence shelter if they have heard this before.
They will tell you, every single day.
The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in the case of Iraq, physical violence.
This is why I am sick and tired of Democrats bringing knives to gunfights, rhetorically. Liberal is not a dirty word. Having an opposing view is not grounds for the kind of invective and filthy tricks the GOP is fond of. Fuck them and the horse that they rode in on. (Santorum can have a dog if he wishes. He seems a little too fond of mentioning man-on-canine sex. What are you trying to tell us?)
Anyway, off to play more Ratchet and Clank 3. It's a bit shorter than the other two, and I think the middle chapter is by far the best. Not sure if there will be a fourth in the series--I imagine Insomniac is a little tired of Ratchet, too. Of course, I could go off and read comics that I got today, too. I might be a nerdy robot. Don't tell anybody.
