I’m feeling contemplative on this Friday evening, so cue up Monty Python’s “Galaxy Song” as I share with you a story about scientific estimates that there are likely billions of planets in our galaxy alone.  I wonder if the undiscovered denizens of these undiscovered worlds stop to think about the vastness of the universe.  I wonder if, after a moment, they shrug their shoulders (or tentacles or pseudopods or similarly analogous appendages) and switch on the television.  What if other intelligent species have similarly short attention spans and share our affections for fattening foods and movies with lots of explosions?  Should we find that depressing or reassuring? 

A long, long day, with meetings and presentations and obligatory social events, is coming to an end.  Attended a dinner where Steadman…what’s-his-name…Oprah’s boyfriend…was the keynote speaker.  Seemed like a nice guy, but corporate motivational-speak doesn’t do much for me.  He went on about “overcoming your disability,” which just rings false for me.  Again, do women “overcome” their gender?  Do people of color “overcome” their ethnicity?  Why is the burden on people with disabilities to “overcome” personal and institutional biases that we had no role in shaping or perpetuating? 

This is what happens when I’m overtired; I get crabby.  Good night. 

I was crestfallen after reading that Aaron McGruder, creator of The Boondocks, would not be returning from his sabbatical to draw any more strips.  Others than Doonesbury, Boondocks is the only newspaper strip I enjoy on a regular basis.  As someone else noted, all the imaginative, clever strips (Far Side, Calvin & Hobbes) seem to flame out before their while fucking Garfield is still phoning it in every day.  At least Boondocks will continue in animated form on the Cartoon Network

According to the new torture and detention bill that is about to be signed into law, my mother, who is not a citizen but has lived in this country for over thirty years, could be hauled away by the feds on trumped-up terrorism charges without any judicial recourse for challenging the legality of her detention.  I’m using hyperbole to prove a point; this law is a dangerous encroachment on established principles of due process and fundamental fairness in our judicial system.  The suspension of habeas corpus may sound like some obscure topic for a law school seminar, but it’s not called the Great Writ for nothing.  Since feudal times, the right of habeas corpus has been one of the most effective safeguards against authoritarian abuses of power and unlawful detentions. 

We are teetering on the edge of a precipice.  Most of you who know me know that I’m not given to histrionics, but I genuinely fear for the future of our country.  I’m deeply disappointed in our political leaders for passing such reactionary legislation.  I’m deeply disappointed in our media for doing such a piss-poor job with explaining exactly how this law takes away so many long-cherished rights and creates two vastly unequal systems of criminal justice. 

And I can’t help but thinking that things will continue to get much worse before they get better. 

NPR is hiring a blogger.  If it wasn’t for the whole relocating-to-NYC thing, I’d probably toss my hat into the ring.  I’m pretty sure I meet the minimum qualifications.  I feel quite comfortable characterizing my prose style as “lively” and I have a passing familiarity with the “blog form”.  And I’m a veritable fountain of “general news knowledge”.  Not that I don’t love my current job, but a thirty-second commute to my workplace is deeply appealing. 

Someday, I’ll figure out how to make money at this gig.  Until then, I guess sheer love of my art will have to suffice as my motivation.