I'm sleeping on a naked matress in a blank room in a house in Tampa, under a wool sheet. It's cold and I'm fully clothed. The sheet is sweaty, somehow. The house is surrounded by a chainlink fence with weeds growing so completely through it that the fence bristles; creeper vines hang down from the trees overhead almost touching the fence, giving the impression that the house is being reclaimed.
Mostly the house only contains records, keyboards, and amps. There is a wraparound couch in the living room, a turntable, and a glass endtable appropriate only for cutting lines on. The fridge contains only beer, and there is only one towel in the bathroom in a four bedroom house. The shower has never been used. None of the mattresses have sheets, although there is a couple year out of date Mac Book in one of the rooms, incongrous in it's clean shiny lines.
At 2:30 in the morning, a caterwauling sets up outside, 'Dee! Deeee!', a woman either jilted or angered somehow, suddenly a wierd part of my pleasent dream about my wife. It comes closer, increasing in volume, but muffled by walls and the enclosed front porch. Now it's pounding on the walls, jolting me awake disoriented. It is at the window, blows to the window even louder echoing in the empty room, calling for Dee desperately and all of the attendent fun of domestic disputes is with it in my mind. This woman is bereaved, desperate sounding. Is she covered in blood? Is someone coming after her?
Burrowing and ignoring it might work, but then I'm just going to feel bad about it later. So I get up and go to the garage door. A few helloes and I'm waiting for the worst, some lover's quarrel that is going to consume my night, a slasher movie right at the beginning. In my life story, I'm the protagonist, but in any story involving an ax, I'm going to be the nice guy who goes down right at the beginning. This lady will make it through, although her number of limbs will be in question.
But no, looming out of the nighttime mist, it is only the band Hellscape, here to spend the night after their show, and unable to get in touch with any of the people who live here, all of whom have left the house to me.
Steed, the pleasant, shaved head with the blond ponytail, rotting black clothing and the iphone who lives here has told these poor, beraggled folks that they can stay here. There is a lot of black denim, and patches. The lady's name begins with 'Ch', and her dress is very short and she has a short haircut and a lot of tatooes, but I don't catch a lot more. I point out the couches, and they unload more beer in to the fridge as I retreat.
The blanket they are sharing covers up the tatooes, and their faces are waxy and childlike in sleep as I leave at daybreak.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Paradise Lost or a new beginning
OK. So, BHO goes down to the Hill and personally lobbies representatives of the other party to pass the stimulus bill. He doesn't call names or threaten anyone politically, or invoke the anger of the people, or in any other way hurl invectives. He actually removes some pieces of the bill that the representatives find offensive, although does not give substantially.
When the vote comes, not a single one of the those representatives vote for BHO's bill. In fact, they come out in force on the television to shittalk the thing.
BHO, instead of launching a full-scale blame game, has them over for drinks that evening instead.
He's said from the beginning that he was going to change the tone in DC. His opponents have paid lip service to such a thing, but clearly have no intention of following through. But BHO is clearly in this for the long game. While not turning the other cheek, he's doing his best to include the other team.
This isn't a partisan thing. BHO is pure-bread politics; by remaining cool, friendly, and focused, (and winning at the same time), he's building his street cred with the people. By driving his agenda as quickly as possible, trying to bring others along and being incredibly (why not just say it) nice to them, he's not only accomplishing policy goals but laying groundwork for long-term grasp of power.
He's making them look like irritable children.
The more interesting part is whether or not this style will play in the Senate. While BHO has the party muscle to drive his bills through in the House, he lacks the necessary votes in the branch from whence he came. How will he finesse his way to victory there?
And, will the opposition party start picking up his vibes and following him or will they continue their petulance? What will that mean about policy designed to help this country from it's doldrums in the short term? What will it mean for the 2010 elections? What will it say about we, the American people, if we embrace the opposition's 'taxes, taxes, taxes' credo?
The best possible outcome, to my mind, here is that BHO drives the opposition party to some new understanding of partisan politics and drives elections that are debates over policy prescriptions, arguments about implementation of new ideas, that grapple with the problems of today.
The schadenfreude of watching the opposition double-down right now, even as they continue eating themselves from within in their own leadership contest, does nothing to ease my concerns on what the implications are for the next two years. If this kind of rancor from their corner continues, what is bad now in our society will only become worse.
When the vote comes, not a single one of the those representatives vote for BHO's bill. In fact, they come out in force on the television to shittalk the thing.
BHO, instead of launching a full-scale blame game, has them over for drinks that evening instead.
He's said from the beginning that he was going to change the tone in DC. His opponents have paid lip service to such a thing, but clearly have no intention of following through. But BHO is clearly in this for the long game. While not turning the other cheek, he's doing his best to include the other team.
This isn't a partisan thing. BHO is pure-bread politics; by remaining cool, friendly, and focused, (and winning at the same time), he's building his street cred with the people. By driving his agenda as quickly as possible, trying to bring others along and being incredibly (why not just say it) nice to them, he's not only accomplishing policy goals but laying groundwork for long-term grasp of power.
He's making them look like irritable children.
The more interesting part is whether or not this style will play in the Senate. While BHO has the party muscle to drive his bills through in the House, he lacks the necessary votes in the branch from whence he came. How will he finesse his way to victory there?
And, will the opposition party start picking up his vibes and following him or will they continue their petulance? What will that mean about policy designed to help this country from it's doldrums in the short term? What will it mean for the 2010 elections? What will it say about we, the American people, if we embrace the opposition's 'taxes, taxes, taxes' credo?
The best possible outcome, to my mind, here is that BHO drives the opposition party to some new understanding of partisan politics and drives elections that are debates over policy prescriptions, arguments about implementation of new ideas, that grapple with the problems of today.
The schadenfreude of watching the opposition double-down right now, even as they continue eating themselves from within in their own leadership contest, does nothing to ease my concerns on what the implications are for the next two years. If this kind of rancor from their corner continues, what is bad now in our society will only become worse.
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