Eight Feet Deep

Gee Dubya tried to pull off a miracle in Crawford but to no avail.

The Democrats took back the U.S. House in yesterday’s election rumble. As of this morning, control of the Senate appeared to hang on who wins in Virginia and Montana. Go figure. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. This is especially so since two Nor’eastern Independents were elected.

Bernie Sanders of Vermont has described himself as a “democratic socialist,” so it’s doubtful he will regularly break bread with the Senate G.O.P. caucus. The picture is not so clear about Smoking Joe Leiberman, who was whipped in the Democratic primary but went on to beat the candidate who beat him. Of course, Leiberman playing kissy-face with Gee Dubya didn’t endear him to his fellow Donkeycrats. But Lieberman has said he will vote with the Dems. We shall see.

I guess the best thought about this entire election — aside from the fact that all the stupid ads are over (for now at least) — is that maybe a fraction of that congenital smirk on Karl Rove’s face has been removed. Now I am a reasonable guy. I normally judge people by their character and not by their looks. But once in a great while, someone’s looks pisses me off. Call it a sick (sic) sense. Karl Rove fits in that category.

Here in the Lone Star State there were no big surprises. Gov. Goodhair will have another term. Kinky can make a movie. Carole Keeton Strayhorn Acosta Diablo Von Hindenburg will still be a tough grandma. And Chris Bell? Someone might actually recognize him when he walks down the street. I probably won’t, but someone might.

We shall see what we shall see as for the future. For now, it is time for the victors to celebrate and for the losers to … do loser things. Once again democracy raises its weary head and loudly proclaims: “Keep those drinks a’ coming!”

You have probably seen the Mac guy vs. the PC guy ads on TV in which Mac guy is cool and hip and PC guy is rather drab and clueless. I guess that maybe the ads are a little bit funny. But when it comes to personal choice, I could give a rat’s ass.

Now I think computers are great and thank Al Gore everyday for inventing the Internets. But the truth is, computers are a tool that I use. They are tools that I enjoy using much more than other tools such as say, a mill bastard file or a crescent wrench, but they are nonetheless a tool. I want the tool that works best and is the easiest to use and that does not cause me to bloody my knuckles. I used Macs a lot when I worked full-time for newspapers. I use a PC now because I am borrowing one. Both seem to get the job done. Both seem to screw up at the most inopportune times. Six of one or nine of the other.

No doubt many people out there in Computerland are as rabid about their own computer as I am about … well, I’m not very rabid about a whole lot. But people have their own brand loyalties as well as preferences and that makes the business world go around I suppose.

Since I have wasted way too many words on the subject of Mac vs. PC, I intend to close with a list of other matters taken from today’s headlines about which I really don’t give a rat’s ass:

1. Madonna’s attempt to adopt a child from Mars, or wherever the hell it is that she was.

2. Kirstie Alley fitting into a bikini.

3. The Seahawks beating the Raiders.

4. Mice with jet lag die young.

5. FedEx cancels order for 10 Airbus A380s.

Or in the words of Jimi Hendrix:

… If the sun refuse to shine,
I don’t mind, I don’t mind,
If the mountains fell in the sea,
let it be, it ain’t me.
Alright, ‘cos I got my own world to look through,
And I ain’t gonna copy you.

Now if 6 turned out to be 9,
I don’t mind, I don’t mind,
Alright, if all the hippies cut off all their hair,
I don’t care, I don’t care.
Dig, ‘cos I got my own world to live through
And I ain’t gonna copy you.

White collared conservative flashing down the street,

Pointing their plastic finger at me.
They’re hoping soon my kind will drop and die,
But I’m gonna wave my freak flag high, high.
Wave on, wave on
Fall mountains, just don’t fall on me … “

It all depends on the headline or story one reads today as to who is ahead in the 2006 mid-term congressional elections. For instance, the conservative United Press International (See “Washington Times” and its owners, the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon) see the G.O.P. catching up to the Dems:

Republicans gain ground ahead of elections

From the land of Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Bay Area’s abc7news.com:

Day Left: GOP Making Push, But Democrats’ Lead Still Significant

From our friends in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the “Mail and Guardian:”

Democrats tipped to regain House in US elections

And lest we not forget the “Weekly World News:”

Video report: Bigfoot Tracks Indicate Salsa Lessons

I suspect the truth out there, Bigfoot not included, lies somewhere between the conventional wisdom of the Democrats taking the House and just possibly the Senate, to there being some kind of martial law imposed by Gee Dubya who will declare himself “President for Life.” Who the hell knows, huh Bubba?

A lot of what is going on in these last minutes before election day seems to be something akin to football players who signal they’ve got a first down after a fumble when in fact they really don’t know for sure. I don’t know why football players do this. I must ask one one day. But my WAG (Wild Ass Guess) is that players on both sides of a fumble who signal they have a first down do so as a) wishful thinking; b) perception that their gesturing might somehow influence the officials (a.k.a. the zebras); or c) they just washed their hands and can’t do a thing with them.

If you want to know my prediction, here it is: I don’t know who all will win in the final outcome. I don’t even know when a final outcome might take place because both sides have their lawyers ready because no challenge is too silly or ridiculous for a bunch of election lawyers and partisan hacks.

Call me cynical if you will. Then call me when this nightmare is over.

As I’ve told friends before, the one drawback with a job that isn’t 9-to-5 is that it isn’t 9-to-5. It’s Friday afternoon and I have to interview some folks at 6 p.m. for a story I’m working on for a client. This isn’t particularly the way I would rather be spending 6 p.m. on Friday, but it is work and seems like a pretty interesting story so things could be worse.

This morning was crappy. I was once again dealing with medical issues and trying to talk to my doctor at the VA. He supposedly tried to call me but didn’t have my phone number. I only gave six or seven people at the Dallas VA my phone, most of them were honchos to whom I have been raising hell with because I can’t get any answers about possible treatment for my chronic pain and the nagging shaking of my hands which I’ve had a couple of months.

Luckily, I found a great escape from my funk. It is the Los Lobos Web site and in particular “Los Lobos Radio” which has their entire catalog of recordings and videos, and you can play the songs and watch videos for free. Yes, free. That’s what I’m talking about.

Listening to Los Lobos made me remember just what a fantastic group of musicians the eclectic band really is. No one is like Los Lobos. They are an American original which combines a hodgepodge of this country (and Mexico’s) musical genre and seamlessly blends them into great songs. Folk, Tex-Mex, Rock and Roll, Country and Western and varieties of Mexican styles are put together without the result looking like some head-scratcher.

Songs like the rocking “Good Morning Aztlan” quickly picked up my spirits, which might in turn help salvage the rest of the day. If you need an attitude adjustment, check it out!

It’s starting to look and feel like fall in North Central Texas. I took this photo on a footbridge over Cottonwood Creek in Allen on my morning walk today. The colors are hardly the stuff of New England but the view isn’t bad for this part of the country.

I’ve always joked to my friends who have seasons that Fall is the two weeks between summer and winter in Texas. I am not that far off. But some great Fall colors are to be found in Texas, especially down east from where I hail. I say down east. It’s a variation on the theme of what I tell folks in these parts about my origins and my schooling. When people ask where I went to college, I tell them “back east.” “Oh did you go to an Ivy League school?” they ask. “No,” I reply. “I went to Surfing Steve U.”

Surfing Steve is what some call the statue of the “daddy” of Texas — otherwise known as Stephen F. Austin — on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus which is back east in Nacogdoches.

Just in case you are interested, legend has it that the name of Nacogdoches came from some kind of strange Caddo tribal ritual in which a chief set his sons off in opposite directions from the Sabine River on a day’s walk. One son, named Nacogdoches, walked west and the other, Natchitoches, went east.

Where Nacogdoches stopped is now Nacogdoches and Natchitoches landed where the city of Natchitoches, La., now sits. Natchitoches is home to Northwestern State University, which is not surprisingly the rival of SFA.

Each year the two football teams play for Chief Caddo who, as Hank Williams once mused about another Native-American icon, “was a wooden Indian standing by the door.” Well, at least Chief Caddo quite often stands by the door because he’s one big wooden Indian.

Politically correct, or not, Chief Caddo stands 7-feet 6-inches and weighs more than 320 pounds. And yes, I know someone who once helped steal Chief Caddo in order to keep the big fellow from being returned to Louisiana.

So in just this short time that you have paused to read this you have learned about:
a. Fall in Texas
b. Who is Surfing Steve
c. Why Nacogdoches is Nacogdoches and Nachitoches is Nachitoches
d. Why Chief Caddo moves rather slowly

Aren’t you glad you stopped by? No? Maybe even a little glad?