blog archives

daily snapple fact #27
A ball of glass will bounce higher then a ball of rubber.

contact... me
doug at freewayslowdance.com

rituals
Life
Yahoo Most E-mailed Content
Salon.Com
Fray.Com
This American Life
QDB Quote Database
Wired News
Digg.Com
Fark.Com
BoingBoing

Comics
Penny-Arcade
Exploding Dog

Real People
From The Butt
Soylent
Metropolio
Leylop

The Texas 11.

You all remember a month ago or so when those 11 Democrats fled Texas so that the Republican controlled house wouldn't have enough folks to force through redistricting?

Well. Even if you don't, I just found out they're still there, in a Marriott in Albequerque, New Mexico. And I know that the California gooberschmatorial race is more colorful, what with Arnold, but holy cow. Those guys are still out there. They haven't seen their families in a month, they're racking up huge hotel bills! That's a long time to be away from home.

And it's not like Albequerque is even particularly entertaining either. So I got to thinking, why would these folks feel so strongly? I looked into it. 9 out of the 10 remaining Democratic Senators are minorities. Apparently they're out there because the redistricting, while not directly affecting their jobs, means that the white moderate democrats out there will lose theirs. Which will leave pretty much ... them.

Imagine a state in which every Democrat is Black or Latino. You could hardly be a Democrat without being branded a nigger-lover. That's scary. And why are the Republicans so intent on redistricting? Because within the next 5 years, whites will no longer be a majority in the state, Hispanics, Latinos, Blacks will (together) constitute a majority.

And that's a scary prospect for a Texan. The redistricting will mean that whites will retain control of the state for the next 10 - 20 years.

Politics sucks, man.

posted by Doug 9:40 AM

Dean for America.

So you've all heard about the Howard Dean Meet-ups, right? First Wednesday of every month, Howard Dean supporters nationwide gather together and ... I don't know. Talk about the campaign, how it's going, talk about what events are coming up, what they need, what Dean's about, that sort of thing. it wasn't nearly as exciting as i thought it would be, but it was pretty crowded, and there were a lot more old people than young, which was weird, but expected.

things they highlighted: vote no on the recall, yes on bustamante, no on some ban of cultural research thing. for the most part, i guess it was just nice to be around people who share some of the same political thoughts as you.

because really. when it comes down to it. most people (myself included the majority of the time) don't care. but it's sort of nice once a month to think that maybe you do.

posted by Doug 11:13 PM

Blogging is Hard

I want you to know that I am well aware my previous post sucked hardcore. But blogging is more difficult than you might think, and normally, I'd just delete it, but I want you to know that not everything I write is charming and cool.

Sometimes it just blows.

And the previous post is a testament to that. A monument of unfocused thinking. Evidence of Mediocrity.

How many blogs do you know that are downright boring? I don't think it's necessarily because the people themselves are boring, but just that they don't know exactly how to express themselves.

Yessir. Sometimes. They blow.

posted by Doug 12:02 PM

Cute vs. Hot

So Reina asks me last night, she says "how do you rank 'cute', 'pretty', 'hot', those things; like do you have a hierarchy?"

i do not. in fact, i usually rank on a scale of 1 to 10. as in: "that girl over there is a 6.7, but only from the left" i don't tend to differentiate on this scale between a cute 6.7 and a hot 6.7.

but i do know this:

but now that i think about it, i guess i do have a hierarchy. hot does not age well in comparison to cute, cute ages well. do not ask me why this is a concern, but it is, it makes a difference to know that if i do happen to fall in love with this person, i won't have to worry about them getting ugly in old age. cute usually indicates a youthfulness as well. so now that i think about it, i guess i do have a hierarchy. 1) cute 2) hot 3) pretty. why is pretty third? i guess because it feels tacky to me. but hot, hot people can sag into non-hotness pretty quick, but a cute girl can put on a good amount of weight, start sagging and still be cute. maybe it's the eyes. but definitely the youthfulness.

and you know how i like the young-ins.

David Spade to Hilary Duff: "You're only 15? As my friend R. Kelly would say 'If only she was 2 years younger.'"

posted by Doug 11:58 AM

home