nude highway driving

I’m part Irish, part German and from the Midwest. I want to be a writer, I’ve got writer’s block and my professional life is unsatisfying. There’s no way I drink near enough alcohol.

On an unrelated note, authorities finally got some movers to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the judiciary building in Montgomery, Ala. I know people are upset, that they want to protest and claim their right to impose one religion on everyone else via government offices.

I think they’re all nuts.

What I don’t understand, after seeing this photo on the wire yesterday, is why they choose to manifest their protest in the form of homoerotic massage demonstrations. Was Jesus into Turkish baths? I don’t remember reading that. John Ashcroft might be, but I don’t think Jesus ever was.

Maybe I need to escape to New Mexico to write some poetry and run around in the desert.

Maybe I need to go to bed.

Even though I just got a new book, I’m already obsessing over wanting to read another. I want to get books written by Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and father of our PR industry. He helped create the multibillion-dollar business of controlling the masses by appealing to their basic desires. I think it’s important to learn his ideas, seeing as how corporations and our government are putting them to work in full force. He believed democracy only works when the masses are controlled by an elite few through subtle manipulation (propaganda without the totalitarianism). After using his ideas to invent support for World War I, Bernays realized he could make a mint applying his skills to Madison Avenue.

I just started learning about him last week, and yesterday I already saw one of his tactics being put to use. A study came out saying the antidepressant Zoloft is safe and effective for kids. The study, conducted by various doctors around the country, was financed by … Pfizer, maker of Zoloft.

Bernays would be proud. You make a drug - nobody knows exactly how it works, but it raises serotonin levels. Some people think depression and anxiety are linked to lower serotonin levels, so you sell the drug for that. You do well, but you want a bigger customer base. You finance a study that says your drug is safe and effective for children. Then, you have the “independent medical group” publish their findings and send out a news release touting the results of the study. The press release gets picked up by the wires, and before you know it it’s all over the media. By that evening local newscasters are doing consumer-interest features on the study.

We are surrounded this type of manipulation every day, financed by a behemoth behind-the-scenes industry. And our government is pretty damn good at putting Bernays’ concepts to work, too. It’s a little creepy.

If there’s ever a PAC to support, I’d say it has to be the Fair and Balanced PAC. First of all - great name, guys. Second, they just launched their Bush Recall Web site, pointing out that every reason listed for the California governor recall applies just as solidly to Bush, as well. (They don’t touch on the war, just the economy.) We can’t do a presidential recall, but we can raise awareness and give ourselves the gift of a big, fat regime change next year. Please, God, please.

Last night I finally got Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste, the latest collection of wordage by Lester Bangs, arguably the greatest rock writer. He helped put Creem on the map and realized Rolling Stone was turning to crap in the 70s - Jesus, what would he say about them now? I have a hard time finding music magazines I like anymore - have completely given up on RS and SPIN. Only recently did I see that there still is light when I read Blender’s “50 Worst Artists in Music History” (10 of them are here). The editors of Blender are the only people I’ve met who share one of my major music theories: Their entry on Kansas, 6th worst band of all time, bears the headline: “Beware all bands named after states or continents!” (I’ve been saying this for years, though about any geographically named band - think Boston, Missouri, Europe, Chicago, Atlanta Rhythm Section …).

Speaking of good writing, the part of me that wants to move to New York City is all uppity and screaming after reading this very nice little piece about the blackout, posted on Fray. Don’t forget that Fray Day is coming soon, and already is booked in several cities. It’s a great chance to see people tell their stories (or tell some of your own) in a groovy environment. There will be an event in the D.C. area again this year. Maybe I’ll get the guts to get up and read.

Thank God I am a Mac person. Maybe now the world will see the light.

It’s a sunny-ass day in D.C. - the weather is fair, the atmosphere is balanced, and the list of people celebrating their fair and balanced lives through the Internet is growing rapidly.

Power is returning to New York and the rest of the blackout area, and Bush already is subtly laying the groundwork for more deregulation to help out Dick Cheney’s friends. Just kidding - I’m sure the deregulation and the power grid-updating contracts will be handled in a fair and balanced manner.

I hope the power comes back soon, because it’s hot in NYC. It’s even hotter here (thank God we have power). But it’s unfairly hot in France, where they don’t do AC. Seeing as how many Americans and the Bush administration are unbalanced in how they feel about France since the country stood up to our government, I’m starting to pay attention to the people who say the U.S. government controls the weather.

I’m not saying it’s true, I just wouldn’t put it past this administration. Don’t forget what they let their friends do to California. All is fair and balanced in politics and war.

The Pentagon wants to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120- degree-plus heat.

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in “imminent danger pay” and $150 a month in “family separation allowances.”

… San Francisco Chronicle