Pointless Man

Just south of the newspaper vending machine. From Duty Free Seattle: http://jimhamerlinck.blogspot.com/ The aluminum and glass Winchell's Donuts stands abandoned, dilapidated, its partial gutting on display through a fishbowl lens.  More than two years after this shop's closure, the manual newspaper stand at its front continues to be serviced.  Today's headline reads, " Art of decay ".

If Israel's 1967 borders are "indefensible", as Benjamin Netanyahu claims, why did Israel have so little trouble beating three nations in six days from within those same borders?  How is it they lasted for over 18 years before being expanded?  Were they so untenable, why couldn't this supposed problem be addressed by negotiated 'land-swaps', as has been suggested by most parties since before the Oslo accords? If the Israeli PM's claim seems unjustified on its face, why are so many politicians and pundits eager to repeat it ad nauseum ?  Why do they cheer this false objection? Is it because Israel is our friend?  How?  We give it cover on the world stage and in the UN Security Council.  We give it hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  What does Israel offer us in turn?  Lectures and insults? I'm not anti-Israel.  Its people deserve to live in peace and prosperity alongside their neighbours.  But this will not be achieved by an in...

Prose and verse are generally accepted as distinct writing formats with their own rules, styles, and grammars.  Though their borders are somewhat vague, they have come to be seen as something of a dichotomy in the eyes of the general public.  There are, however, at least 3 other popular approaches to writing as exhibited in picture-books, comicbooks, and plays.  Though sometimes given short shrift, these styles are accepted as literature.  They are included in libraries, book stores, and academic study.  Most importantly, they are read. In the general case, there is clearly writing being done in the creation of any one of these.  But what of the wordless comic or silent play?  Should we consider scripts written, but fully realized plays, comics, and picture-books, to be performance, art, or some other kind of non-literature?  These worries of theory are kinks to be worked out, surely, but they are not of immediate practical concern to the writer...

My scanner doesn't seem to work without it's power cord--surprising, I know.  I seem to have lost it in a recent move.  Such items are frustratingly difficult to replace now that Radioshack has become something like the sad little brother of Best Buy.  As a result, I am reduced to using camera-phones, with which I am nowhere near skilled enough to make my drawings look good.  This is why I haven't uploaded any sketches or comics in a while. But here is a sample anyway.  The face on the left has become my phone's background image (without the blue noise).  The lady on the right was kind enough to sit for me one day, or rather, she sat in front of me on the bus, and I sketched her without her knowledge.  It's all the same, right?

...that is, if its waves in Egypt, Yemen, and perhaps elsewhere unsettle the current governments, I predict future Republicans will praise George W. Bush for bringing Democracy to the Middle East. They will be wrong, in many ways, but it won't stop them. They might even Reaganize him. How weird would that be?

Sarah Palin recently released a video striking against those she claimed had committed ' blood libel ' (by saying violent, martial rhetoric and a vitriolic political atmosphere fostered by Palin and her ilk had contributed to physical violence, as in the case of the recent shooting in Tuscon, AZ ). At first, I thought this was the sort of write-first-ask-questions-later, gut-reaction I've become used to seeing in Palin's reported tweets. Then I heard quotes from the release, and watched it myself. It didn't have the diction of the governor's extemporaneous remarks, but instead sounded and looked highly prepared. Palin almost assuredly did not write this speech herself, or decide to release it without consulting professional advisers. Thinking so, I wondered what political aim her team might have in avoiding the three more obvious, standard, and palatable routes of respectful silence, a brief statement offering sympathy and prayer, or a call for a sort of rhet...

To be trimmed and sent to pundits and democratic strategists: Last week, we saw popular and just legislation for 9/11 rescuers and civil rights in the military stymied by cynical Republicans in Congress.  For the last two years, they have been stonewalling progress on every front for their own political gain.  Republican politicians have been crying, "Things are terrible," while banking on the situation getting worse, so they can run on Obama and the Democrats not fixing things. Times _are_ tough, but we, as a people, have always known ours will be a better tomorrow. We share this faith. Nevertheless, in fighting aid to workers, small businesses, first responders, and our armed services; in refusing to work on health care, energy, and immigration reform; in constantly stalling, saying 'no', and hoping for the worst, Republican in Congress have bet against America.  They are wrong.  Every one of us knows, you don't bet against the American people, and you don...