Self portrait.

Here's my charcoal rendition of everybody's favorite liberal.

As for "Bring them home safe". Not only is it bad grammar, it's yet another blatently false sentiment from chicken hawks. Start the demobilization now.

I saw a great magnetic yellow ribbon sticker on a car the other day. It read "Go Bears". It's about time we buried the "Support Our Troops" line. Let's face it. It's become a cheap lie. Of course I support the troops. (Don't worry, we're not going to dump on the troops; some of us learned something from the Vietnam War.) They are the only real heroes in this whole thing. They're putting their lives on the line to protect our big, fat, sorry, reality-TV-watching asses. And we're simply not worthy. Why not? Because we shouldn't have put them in harm's way in Iraq in the first place. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a 100% pacifist. I think our retaliation against the Taliban in Afghanistan is justifiable. As we're all painfully aware, the political environment in that failed state served as the launching pad for 9/11. I can see only two valid positions: if you're for the war then volunteer to fight it, otherwise you must protest it. Putting a "Support Our Troops" magnetic yellow ribbon on your gas guzzler is the apotheosis of dip-shittedness.

On the bright side, the White Sox did win the World Series. Sweep!

Haven't posted much lately. Back now. Stream of consciousness. What's up America? Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how we seem to be silently freaking out? We've been conned into invading another country by our dubiously elected leaders and somewhat take it in stride; we're at the head of the class when it comes to handing over more of the world's resources to the wealthy; we're at the forefront of global-warming advocacy (and proud of it!). How long can this center hold? I think the breakdown is manifesting in pathological ways: rampant petty rudeness, vast underemployment that's recognized but barely acknowledged, the thoroughly sold-out and compromised fourth estate knowingly complicit in selling the Iraq War. For the world's foremost superpower, we're acting awfully insecure. In some ways the Iraq invasion is a lot like jail house psychology: find the weakest, most defenseless punk and beat him mercilessly to show everyone else how bad you are.