Hammer Mill Days

Sunday evening, 6:37 p.m. - Mitch Macaphee test-fires the main engine on our ramshackle space craft; the one that will supposedly carry us to many a far-flung rock venue in the galaxy. Based on what I heard, I have my doubts about this vehicle. It took Mitch about fifteen pulls of that rip cord to get the thing smoking, and that's about all it did... smoke. No lift. Matt just looked on and shook his head. I saw that and shook my head. Whole lot of shakin' going on 'round here. Monday afternoon, 12:45 p.m. - Sumptuous lunch of cheese doodles and expired raisins. Did I say sumptuous? I meant nauseating. Marvin (my personal robot assistant) is practicing his galley skills. He has volunteered to be our ship's cook. Lincoln refuses to call him "cookie" (as Marvin has asked to be called). Anti-Lincoln vehemently disagrees with that refusal. We shake our heads, yet again. Monday night, 10:30 p.m. - Oh, great - now there's drinking. No, not the band. (I'm ...

Fast again, my apologies. Our friends in the mass media are breathless over the primary elections this past week, particularly with regard to the triumph of certain "tea party" affiliated candidates. This is the big story, we're told - the tea party conservatives are where all of the enthusiasm is this year. It's a growing movement, says old Pat Buchanan, as if we're witnessing anything new. Have any of these people actually lived in the United States over the past twenty years? I wonder. What is the tea party movement, after all, but the hard core of the Republican party conservative base? Chris (Lambchop) Hayes made this point on Rachel Maddow's show the other night. Think about it for a minute - even at his nadir of popularity, George W. Bush could count on the unquestioning love of 25-30% of the country. This country is home to more than 300 million people, so that 25% adds up to 75 million people. Based on their rallies and their primary returns, the tea ...