“[W]hen a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental–men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost… [A]ll the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre–the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

– H. L. Mencken, in the Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

She tried to check into the motel and clerk said “okay, just let me know in the morning how you feel about another night”. We play a game we call “Street Lunatic or Cellphone Handset?” in that neighborhood. If you don’t want to have him dealing speed out of your apartment you need to tell him that; it’s a personal space issue. She only wants to move there because it’s next to a bar where she knows everybody.

The problem is I’m not just replacing someone; I’m replacing The Guy. In a classic case of calling down thunder, I got three emails from her today. She managed to get fired by the tweakers at Norms from a job serving the other tweakers at Norms, it was unbelievable. It’s all socialites and there’s a lot of work, you know there’s 10,000 registered charities in this town.

What to do about these four boyfriend prospects, or make that three? Oh my GOD that is the WORST EVER hiding place!

We’ll always love you but that’s not the point.

According to portions of today’s blast of junk email, I am supposed to:

1. See if trolls are leaving mold in my walls
2. Find out if Neal is ready for the results
3. experience “Lust sex no commitments”

and

4. Look into the benefits of track lighting

It’s going to be a busy week. Anyone seen Neal lately?

I dreamed that nickjb and I were at a record store and I found a rare four-CD box set of Stan Ridgway’s solo work. The best part was that the box itself was a working accordion.

Not only have I lost my religious faith and my belief in the American political consensus this week, but I also appear to have misplaced the warranty documentation for my car.

1. People argue about what they came to argue about, not the topic you raised.
2. Everything is personal.
3. If you ask someone a question and they answer a different one, you have your answer all right.
4. Don’t mention Canada. In any context, really.
5. Open communication is greatly overrated.
6. If you have something incredibly important to say, for Chrissakes don’t. And if you must, don’t do it on the Internet.

Landline phone is down here. Communicate via interweb or cell only. Cheers.