Hammer Mill Days

Hmmm. I think we need to circle back that way. You see that church over there? We should hang a left right there. Right, I said left. Right, you heard me. Left . RIGHT, LEFT!! I need a freaking chauffeur, and that's a fact, friends. Damn this poverty! Damn our puny residuals checks! Damn you, Marvin (my personal robot assistant), you've missed that turn again! Kick the thing in reverse and get us back to where we were a minute ago - we're going to start again. Jeeeezuz! All I want is a couple of beers... is that so much to ask? Day after day in that drafty abandoned hammer mill, little to distract us besides the gnawing of termites and the steady drip-drip-drip from the rafters when it rains. (Even when it doesn't rain, in fact. That may be a plumbing issue... What do you think, man-sized tuber?) Just needed to break out of that joint, get some fresh air. So what the hell - we borrowed the neighbor's car and started searching for a convenient night spot wherein t...

The Israelis have struck Gaza hard over the past two weeks, killing well over 100 Palestinians (including a substantial number of children), and - predictably - Palestinian militants have struck back, shooting up a seminary in Jerusalem, killing 8. Is anyone surprised by this? Olmert's policy of "isolating Hamas" (i.e. strangling Gaza to death) has elicited the kind of violent response that Israeli politicians pray for - the kind they can use to justify the very policy that provoked the response in the first place. And as the situation goes septic, what is more appropriate than having Condi Rice stroll through the wreckage of yet another Bush policy? As in the case of the Lebanon war two years ago, this consummate diplomat has refrained from calling for a ceasefire, uttering the usual platitudes about Israel's right to self-defense and the importance of sparing civilian lives, when possible. Yes, we've been here before, and we've yet to see a military attack t...