Full Spectrum Disorder, by Stanley Goff.

Goff served as an NCO in the U.S. army from Vietnam to Haiti. He is an experienced killer, a thirty-year veteran of our splendid little wars, a very pissed-off veteran, and a hardcore leftist. He’s set himself the task of demolishing our current military fantasies, which isn’t too hard. The usual military anecdotes of incompetence, brutality, pants-shitting terror, etc. are told with style. He’s clearly been in the thick of most of the Imperial mistakes of my lifetime. At his best, he combines the rip-roaring stories with serious criticism of U.S. military strategy. Technology-obsessed generals, neo-con idiots in suits, pathetically dishonest politicians, and military failures cycle through the stories he tells. Bitter old soldiers tell good angry stories, and their targets are deserving.

He loses his thread when he tries to connect military incompetence and foolishness with the essential evil of Empire, though. His disgust with the Army’s decline and his loathing of capitalism imperialism are both genuine but there isn’t much of a connection here, and each chapter has an awkward bit where he tries to glue these two things together. There are two books here, and they don’t sit well with each other.

He’s also way further left than I. I’m one of the coffeehouse liberals he despises. In a memory passage he describes the difference between the Zapatista rebels in Chiapas, Mexico and the FARC revolutionaries in Colombia. The Chiapas movement was crushed, he says, because they never had the balls to make war. When it came down to whether to blow stuff up and machete people, they refused, and the government didn’t, and they’ve been a spent force since. The FARC, on the other hand, is an army. They are just as brutal as any other army, and they still control large portions of the country. He quotes Mao: “Political power grows out the barrel of a gun” and he isn’t messing around. Way more hardcore than I’ll ever be; I’m anti-violence.

I’m of two minds about this book. His stories and his detail are wonderful. The criticism of the U.S. Military sounds accurate, and I’m not one to argue here. But the ideology feels tacked-on as though some Soviet censor had ordered it. And I’m not ready to burn any villages with Stan, yet. B+

…Sleestaks?

Movie Guy D and Crazy Counselor C have a few things in common. They’re both around 40. They both spend way too much time at the coffee house with their very old laptops. They’re both floridly neurotic. They both have a lot of trouble with social interactions. And they both at least very slightly know every attractive woman between the ages of 16 and 50 that shows up there. When the target shows up, one or both of them will greet her effusively, and then later leave his seat to go converse, sometimes lingering until she leaves. We joke sometimes about their crawlspaces full of dead indie girls, but they’re harmless.

They’re both pretty smart guys, and D for one can tell a good story, and has done interesting things over the years. C doesn’t talk to me, but others say he’s a nice enough guy. D drives me nuts with his mannerisms but he’s a nice guy too.

The other thing they have in common is that they’re a lot like me. We’re all three socially adrift, out of our element, alienated from the people around us, and lonely. We all have attachment issues and social anxiety that have kept us from getting close to others. We’re all smart, and neurotic, and we squick the girls.

My laptop is a lot newer.

And we’re all too old for this shit. You know, a fish can flop around in the bottom of a boat for a hell of a long time before it finally goes limp. Hard to watch, ain’t it?

I keep seeing this article about William Burroughs linked everywhere, as though it was somehow the definitive word on him.

I don’t think so.

Is it supposed to be news that Burroughs was a drug addict and did some really shitty things, and was neurotic? Or that he had an “Ugly Spirit”? Has anyone read a biography of him, or paid attention to his writing? Parts two and three are worse, ending in a clumsy Freshman Comp “conclusion” paragraph that says exactly nothing.

What is wrong with “internet culture” that a mediocre 5-7 page undergraduate literature class paper that deserves about a B+ is linked all over the place as canonical, innovative, fascinating?

READ A BOOK, EVERYONE!

7.9 quake in Chile

San Luis Obispo’s Public Fish Sculptures + H.P. Lovecraft = COMEDY GOLD.

http://www.gaywheels.com/

1. What, no Cabrio on the top page?
2. Where are the Silverado pickups and Subaru Outbacks for the lesbians?
3. Is the Escape Hybrid a “Bi/Curious” car?

Jokes aside, the “gay friendly” thing is probably a good idea if they do it right. Certainly I’d feel more comfortable giving $30,000 to a company that treated GLBT people well.

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Four Bravo Nine, I’m out with one pedestrian, request a Code 1 for unusual circumstances. And a supervisor. And the Taser…

Surgical tools washed with hydraulic fluid.

Now, I worked in a hospital, and I know the people who do this stuff are major stoners. But not noticing the difference between detergent and hydraulic fluid? What. The.

E-zekiel! The easy website solution for churches…

I wonder what Ezekiel himself would have thought of a pyramid scheme portal site aimed at clueless pastors. My guess is that he would not have liked it so much.

Their levels of service are: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The Silver level is about $30, which made me laugh pretty hard.

I am now going to quote their entire “About Us” text, for hurting you. It’s written in GodBuzz™!

Axletree Media, Inc. is a profitable, private corporation committed to providing Christian organizations with easy-to-use, powerful, cost-effective, Internet-based communications tools.

Since purchasing E-zekiel, Axletree Media has continued to extend this powerful communications platform as well as develop strategic partnerships to meet the ever-changing needs of Christian organizations from mega-churches like Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee (http://www.bellevue.org), to Christian businesses such as Lead Like Jesus (http://www.leadlikejesus.com), to churches with less than 50 members.

As a leading global application services provider, Axletree Media is focused on providing web-based products with best-in-class functionality, at entry-level prices without sacrificing the look and feel of your organization’s web presence. Our commitment isn’t to technology, it’s to you. We focus on providing what you need–when you need it.

We believe solutions should solve problems, not create them. We don’t resist change; we create it. We don’t follow; we lead. Every day we immerse ourselves in your needs and constantly work to unleash the power of the Internet for your ministry, Christian business or non-profit organization.

With more than 6,000 customers in 12 countries worldwide, we believe that our track record of growth, excellence, and service means we are succeeding. We also believe that this is just the beginning.