The schedule of late has been unrelenting, and though there have been MANY recent occasions where I thought to myself, "Self, you sure haven't .Blogged for quite a while now," I just haven't been wildly moved to post anything, or at least, sit down and type.

How about some music news, eh? Why yes, there's some! The band, Half Zaftig, is slowly backing its way out of hiatus, which it's been on since like - huh, last June! We've moved into a new rehearsal facility in downtown Seattle, and we're getting together and being loud three times a week, which is honestly quite a luxury. It's hard getting three people with day jobs (and in at least Pete's case, some other bands he's playing with) together to work on original music that much. I'm overjoyed that we all have the time and inclination right now. We're a trio again, I think I mentioned that - the lineup now consists of Pete Johnston on drums, Lizzy Daymont moving from guitar #2 to bass, and then there's me doing the same things I always do. I got lazy guitar-wise with Lizzy playing guitar in the band, so there's a few things I have to woodshed on again to get sounding good with just one guitar going. My favorite thing has been Monday nights lately, which we reserve as our night to work exclusively on new material - jamming on bits that I bring in, and in a couple of cases now, stuff that Pete has brought to the table. I LOVE working on new things, and we've started coming up with some cool stuff. No vocals on any of it yet, and no finished songs yet. I tend to demo everything out to finalize arrangements and vocal ideas, and my brutal schedule hasn't been allowing for that kind of work. But I still feel optimistic that we can get back into the studio with Darin in a couple of months and start cranking out recordings for consideration for the new album. Man, I can't wait to start that.

Otherwise, there's not much to report - had a lovely Thanksgiving meal with Beta Girl & Brian, and my stepsis came over for that, too. Thanksgiving leftovers are always fabulous, though the first things to be finished off (as of last night) were the TWO pies I baked for the occasion. I'll take that as a complement.

And now the holidays are upon us, and the next few weeks look to be filled with very long work days leading up to another rushed and harried trip back east for a holiday visit with the family. I came SO CLOSE to being a selfish bastard and begging off the trip this year... I'm just exhausted and the idea of flying across country on a stinky plane again just wasn't igniting any holiday spirit in me.

Then I got over it and bought a ticket. You know how it is.

Oh! Starting on the new 2004 mix CD. Some interesting contenders this year, and some of the artists who I thought would be contenders aren't, simply because the albums they are putting out are kinda... lame. What is with A Perfect Circle's eMOTIVe, anyway? Why would they let anyone other than Maynard sing? Weird. And disappointing.

Hey, there's been an upsurge in activity at the .Forum lately, for which I say thankya. If you aren't over there yet, come on over! Thankee sai.

Interesting reading the "What Do We Do Now?" articles written by downcast lefties all over the Web. I like this one, from this week's Stranger (which is the local "alternative" weekly). It's a LONG, but worthwhile read. I don't know if I completely agree with everything said in it, but I'll admit the call of the urban environment has gotten a lot stronger for me lately. I'm working downtown now. The band is moving into a new rehearsal space downtown this weekend. I like being in the city these days.

There's also been some interesting discussion in the .Forum lately. How come you don't join up and talk to us? Do we smell funny?

"I think there are probably not enough people making music that allows their personalities to be what they are, to be there as part of the art. Which is necessary, I think, for cool music. It doesn't matter what kind of music it is; it has nothing do to with that. It's really about saying, 'Hey, I have a personality and I'm not going to keep it hidden.' Too many people are trying too hard to be something that they're not, and no one really believes it. And that's always the problem with something that's very good: People are usually like, 'I don't buy this. They think they know what I want, but I don't even know what I want.' No one knows what he or she wants. You like. That's what it is. You don't know. The reason you know what you want is because something struck a chord in you and you go, 'Oh, I like this.' But no one knows what they want, they don't have any preconceived notions. We're human beings. We were born without language; we don't know what we want. We get exposed to things and decide we like them. The problem with the people who aren't very good is that they are trying so hard -- to have a hit, have a career -- that they're not being themselves."

You can read the rest of this great interview at Salon. Man, if you don't have Surfer Rosa and Doolittle by The Pixies, you need to get 'em.

I'm being sarcastic, mostly. I know it doesn't translate well in HTML, but I'm kidding, sort of. A little. I responded to a comment in the last .Blog entry and made a remark about wishing the Blue States could secede - that was sarcasm, too. I don't really think that - nor do I agree with the scores of folks on the losing side of this election who are talking about leaving the country. Come on. The good guys lost this time, to be sure, but there's only a couple million more members of the Black Hat Brigade than there are on our side. It's not like clear-headed, thinking people can't come back again in the future. I just looked up the word mandate in the dictionary, because Bush/Cheney are saying they got one now, and lots of liberals are crying foul about it. I don't see anything in that definition that doesn't apply to what happened. The Empire Struck Back. They won. They cut off our hands, told us who our Daddy was, and kicked us off the gantry where we fell headlong into a windy garbage disposal shaft. Now we're barely hanging on for dear life, hoping like hell somebody flies a metaphorical Millenium Falcon under us, to take us out of here, far, far, away.

So many people are shocked, SHOCKED, at what happened. I was surprised, but not shocked. To echo Bill Maher on one of his recent shows, "It's a stupid country." And heck, only 60% of us even bothered to vote, and everyone's SO EXCITED about the turnout - I wanna know about the other 40%! What were they doing? Of course, had they voted, it's very possible that Dubya's victory might have been even MORE lopsided. You never know.

One of my oldest friends has pretty much always voted for Republican candidates for fiscal reasons - that is, he wants less of his income taken away in taxes. He can't be a REAL Republican (as they are defined today) because he is viruently anti-religion. I've learned a lot from him over the years as we've debated hundreds of topics, and certainly politics has come up many times. There are aspects of conservatism that I completely agree with - I don't trust Big Government, I'm big on individual liberties, I would certainly like a smaller tax bill, and I don't think the government should be spending more than it takes in except in special circumstances (see: Fight For Our Survival As A Nation). I would like to see more issues decided on the local and state levels, rather than being argued on the national level. The word for that is "federalism." I understand that how people in California live might not be how people in Mississippi want to live. Does that sound like a "liberal elitist" to you?

But I'm also an arty idealist. Ideas matter to me more than most other things. I've always had it pretty darned good, and I'm sympathetic to those that have a harder time of it than I do. I recognize that even in the wealthiest society, there's always going to be some people that cannot take care of themselves. I want to do my part to help them. I think that environmental issues are very real. I think humans are having a major effect on the world, not just in warming temperatures, but on the quality of air and water. I don't like seeing trees knocked down to build yet another Wal-Mart (a place I won't shop in anyway, because they censor the music/entertainment media they sell). I think corporate control of the media is incredibly dangerous and a threat to free speech.

I am a hawk about the war we're in, which is not a war on terror, but rather a war on Islamic extremism. Those fuckers are crazy, and they want to kill as many of us as they can. I don't have to watch even one of their endless stream of Internet snuff films to realize this. This week they slaughtered in broad daylight a Dutch filmmaker who had apparently criticized the barbaric way some Islamic men treat their women. You cannot, I repeat cannot reason with religious extremists. Underline that point. I'll come back to it in a minute. The way to beat them is to go after them and exterminate them where we find them. Does that sound like a pinko liberal view to you?

All that said, I remain skeptical that the American occupation of Iraq advances the cause in any way, shape, or form. The jury is out on this one. I think it's a good bet that Iraq will end up an Islamic theocracy in a few years. Is that a victory? Will it be worth the cost in lives and resources? Will it be worth the crushing deficits we'll be paying off until long after I'm dead and gone?

So since I'm all about fiscal prudence and responsibility and small government, why wouldn't I be elated that a Republican administration has been re-elected to another term?

Well, it's them there "social issues." The "moral values" as referred to in the recent exit polls. In just about every single case, I'm against the current GOP view in all of these areas.

And this is where I get back to my old buddy, the Repub-voter. His mantra, for years, whenever I got myself into a tizzy about all the "moral issues" - abortion rights, gay rights, the death penalty, the alleged wall between church and state, free speech, censorship, etc. (and believe you me, I can get myself into a tizzy about such things): "Those social issues and related legislation never pass. I don't agree with their views on that stuff either, but they never get their way with that stuff. But they pass tax cuts, so I want them in there." That would never be the end of our argument, because remember, I'm an idea guy, see, so I can froth endlessly about all those things that offend me so much about prudish right-wingnut Jesus freaks. And these discussions have continued between us for years now - long enough for me to observe Republican and Democratic regimes of all stripes rise and fall; and I have to admit that generally speaking, my friend has been right.

The reason I'm really worried now, though - is that I think that this time, the wingnuts finally have enough power, and such exquisite timing (see: several ailing and/or retiring members of the Supreme Court) that I really think they are going to be able to get a bunch of their extreme social "moral values" legislation passed. And they know it, and they are bragging about it. Don't think so? Take a look at this. They are talking specifically about knocking down the "wall" between church and state. That's very, very bad. I can easily get worked up into one of the aforementioned tizzies just thinking about this stuff.

You know what else my tax-hating buddy always asks me? He says, "Why do you care about that stuff, anyway? It's never going to affect YOU."

And he's awfully right about that, too. Hey, being neither gay nor female, none of the major legislation the Christian Fundies are so hot to impose on us will infringe my rights. Any marriage I participate in will be of a Jesus-Approved� Heterosexual variety, and I can't get pregnant, so there's no chance I'll ever need an abortion. I'll never set foot in a classroom again, so what do I care if the words "Under God" are in the Pledge of Allegiance? What do I care if they abolish the teaching of evolution in public schools, and replace it with "Intelligent Design" hokum? I won't have to hear it! And anyway, all of these new laws and societal "improvements" - they're all for the children!

Why should any of that bother me?

For me, it comes back to those dad-blasted ideas again. Because ideas are the only thing humans are responsible for that can be truly immortal. Because ideas matter. Because enshrining discrimination against a minority group in our fucking Constitution would be akin to wiping our collective asses with the paper it was written on. Because freedom of religion means freedom from religion, too. Because a government that governs by religious authority is a theocracy (you know, like they have in Iran, one of the Charter Members of Bush's Axis O'Evil). Because the state should not have the power to execute its citizens (because the legal system has proven again and again to be fallible). Because people no more "choose" to be gay than they choose what color their eyes will be when they wake up in the morning. Because, sorry, No, We Are Not Experiencing The End Times, and generations to come DO have to live here, and so NO, we CAN'T pollute at will and use up all the planet's resources in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. And on and on. Most of these social views are driven by a truly frightening strain of fundamentalist Christian philosophy - and you'll recall what I said about religious extremists. Now, it would be unfair to say that our home-grown fundies are as nutty as the Islamic Jihadist Buddies we see in the blurry internet videos (at least, so far - though I haven't forgotten how people cheered for the guys who shot abortion doctors in cold blood, or bombed Planned Parenthood clinics). But I don't think it's that much of a stretch to compare the two - again, you cannot reason with these people. All of these fundamentalists get their instructions from Magic Invisible Cloud Dwellers, and therefore those of us who live in a rational world, where people can't sit on clouds, have no chance to get a word in edgewise. They won't even listen to our arguments. We don't matter, because we're the ones who will be Left Behind.

Again with the Bill Maher quotes (this from last night's broadcast): "I will not apologize for being a rational person." Re-reading the above paragraph, I can see why someone who is religious would be upset with me, who might feel condescended to. But you know what? I am tired of being patronized, too. I walked away from religion somewhere in my teens, but I have always tried to maintain a "live and let live" attitude towards the religious folks I come in contact with in the years since. I think "morals" and "religion" do not necessarily always inform each other. I think you can be moral in absence of religion. I consider myself to be a "moral" person. Until I hear from the other side that they can accept this idea, I feel entitled to hurl a little anger their way.

So. What to do now? I know, I know. None of my lamentations of impending doom have happened yet. Maybe my worries are misplaced. Sure, I could be overreacting, something I have been guilty of in the past. Maybe Iraq will end up a shining example of democratic principles in a few years. Maybe Dubya will convince me that he isn't an empty-headed fake-Texan Son Of Privilege and Entitlement, and maybe his tax cuts for rich people really will help the poor to get ahead. Maybe he and his posse really do respect me and my open-minded agnosticism, and others like me in the 48% of the voting population who didn't vote for him.

I want to believe that, but I don't. Something feels different this time. A corner has been turned. I guess there's not much I can do at this point but wait and see what happens.

I'll just close for now by saying I'm against religious extremism of all kinds, both at home and abroad.