SUNDAY STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Disney theme parks are still loaded full of magical memories, but do they have to suck even the lining out of a visitor's wallet? A hundred fifty bucks for a 3 day pass, and everywhere you turn, something else costs at least three bucks ( a soda, a bottled water) . . . Ted Nugent's recent stupid, violence and sex mixed rant against 2 Democratic presidential frontrunners is neither surprising - Nugent's been a cartoonish simp for more than three decades - nor deserving of censorship per se - in a Democracy even idiotic twits are allowed to express their opinions - but it points up the selectivity of the media outrage machine. Why are the unhinged kooks of the extreme right (Nugent and Coulter come to mind) never taken to task for "suck on my [brandished machine] gun, Obama and Hillary," but Michael Moore goes to Cuba in a film about health care and its " get out pitchforks and torches the evil fat Commie is back?" . . . College Football Season approaches, and every talking head prognosticator has now labeled Virginia Tech as "America's Team" presumably because of the campus tragedy there last Spring. Huh? At the risk of peeing on ESPN's parade, perhaps it should be pointed out that confessed pet-pal Michael Vick played his college 'ball there, too? Maybe the two stories could cancel each other out, and we could get rid of the pseudo patriotic nickname . . . So now Iraq IS like Vietnam after all, at least according to the Nobel Laureate in Chief? Oh wait, it is in the sense that we can't leave early? Sheesh, in the world of "Flip flops" that's a triple summersault 1 1/2 twist that would make Greg Louganis proud . . . aren't you so relieved and happy to have heard - over and over - that Lindsay Lohan will only be charged with misdemeanors? LOST's life is now more complete because of that news

ALL WE ARE SAYYYYING, IS GIVE SURGE A CHANCE . . .

All this time, since the grand notion of Surginess took the airwaves by storm, and the President's great new idea for Iraq became the direction, all through the debates in the newly-but-barely Democratic-controlled Congress, we've continually heard "give it some time to work," or "wait til the progress report IN SEPTEMBER!!. For months, September's report has been high up in the talking points, along with "progress" - of course that one's been there almost since the day after Mission Accomplished on the Lincoln. It all became clear though, as reported in yesterday's Los Angeles Times how this White House can be so sure that September's report "From General Petraeus" will be a praising of the surge:

Administration and military officials acknowledge that the September report will not show any significant progress on the political benchmarks laid out by Congress. How to deal in the report with the lack of national reconciliation between Iraq's warring sects has created some tension within the White House.

Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

And though Petraeus and Crocker will present their recommendations on Capitol Hill, legislation passed by Congress leaves it to the president to decide how to interpret the report's data.

What a complete farce - except for all the casualties.

SUNDAY STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
A frequent feature of the past makes a comeback, of sorts . . . can the Iowa straw poll thin the heard of also rans on the GOP-er side of the Preznit Pageant, 2008? Can we get to the Mittster and the 2 vangelicalistas (Huckabee and Brownback, the Place and Show winners), stat? . . . and how did "none of the above come out in the poll? No mention, and little mention of the 35% decline in participation over the last one of these held in 1999, or of how much formerly- pro-choice-but-now-"pro-Life" Mormon Mitt (sandals anybody?) spent in Iowa for each of those non-binding votes. Does anyone else smell the campaign equivalent of "Vanity publishing" here . . . speaking of the Sport of Kings, Del Mar's been running down here for 3 weeks already, and LOST's tally over 2 visits is, well, a lot of fun spent in the company of good people, but no happy post-race trips to the windows yet . . . time is more fleeting in happy times than sad, but the bad days come to an end just like the good ones do . . . how do you convince rock ribbed conservatives who say things like "all of our innovations in products have come from war?" I mean, where to start with that one? The telephone, invented by General Graham Bell? The Lieutenant's Duryea and their "military automobile?" Commander Edison and his lightbulbs? How about Capt Orville and Major Wilbur and their flying machine? And who could forget major Renaissance era hawk DaVinci, and all of his innovations, or Colonel Ben Franklin and his electricity experiments? Some folks will repeat stuff they heard their fave talkshow or Fox News head say with abandon and absent critical analysis, then stare blindly at you when you point out the fallacy . . . it bears repeating that overstated piety. like the exagerratedly slow, reverent movements of a church deacon coupled with a sermon delivered with dripping condescension is a major distraction from the message. Far too frequently in the past, those with the most perfect pretensions of holiness have been hiding a seediness below the surface . . . High school starts tomorrow TOMORROW? MID-AUGUST? for the locals including the LOST boys . . . talk about time blowin by . . . Is the market tanking, or is it's drop due to mortgage company losses being exacerbated by the flight of the skittish, and does it really matter why? Enquiring minds wanna know, especially those of us starting to think about retirement, that far off light on the horizon which doesn't seem to get closer, despite the increase in wrinkles and hair growth in unwanted locations . . . .