I haven’t written because I haven’t felt like sitting at a computer and doing it — of my own free will.

Maybe with this app I will post more, if much abbreviated, entries.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article;jsessionid=AEDDD8450B17A4291E2C1FFBC79DFE94.w5?a=870365&f=19

1. If they read it, they’ll realize they have no idea what they’re talking about three quarters of the time, and/or
2. They’ll be afraid a spook was here watching them.

TIME, 21 Nov 2011

Texas has a budget shortfall of around $27 billion. The 82nd Legislative Session, starting tomorrow (and easily spotted by the increase in crappy, off-the-rack Sears suits on Congress Avenue), should be interesting and horrific for most Texans. (Krugman commented on Texas’ financial situation last week.) This also means I need to get off my ass and finally get a digital converter for the one TV without cable in my house, which is, of course, in my office. DirecTV doesn’t offer local access channels anyway, does it?

The news media covered President Obama’s moment of silence today for the victims in Arizona. No one spoke or made noise, so no news.

Matt Bai had a great column in yesterday’s The New York Times about political rhetoric and how it can lead to violence — or away from violence.

I’m reading a book about emotional intelligence (in fact, that’s the title of the book), and wondering if there are ways to improve the emotional circuitry of the brain. Aside from therapy, that is. Is there a way to exercise that part of the brain — the neural pathways leading to emotional center? I tend to be more logical, cerebral (which, I suppose, is why I’m reading a nonfiction book about this). Would it be better if I read more fiction that had more emotional pull? I don’t know.

Not that I don’t feel any emotion at all — I’m really good at anger, rage, frustration, exasperation and exhaustion. It’s the feeling the feeling in the moment thing that I’m bad at when it comes to the positive emotions.

Finally, for now, if you’ve been wondering which way your ceiling fans should be circling to help keep your house warm in the winter rather than cool, I’ve found the answer: clockwise. Since I have a two-story house, I’m doing counter-clockwise upstairs to force hot air down and clockwise downstairs to pull the cool air up. By doing this, I’m probably just canceling out the entire thing, but maybe there’s a chance of creating a tornado inside my house. Now that would be cool.

[Larry King] wrote one tweet that was almost like a whole Lydia Davis short story: “Irwin is a guy who comes to breakfast on occasion, and asks real questions that make us laugh. He is a retired businessman.”

– Jack Pendarvis, “Larry King and Lady Gaga Are the Same! And other signs of the coming apocalypse.” The Oxford American, No. 70, The Future Issue.

Let them go home to their constituents and say, “Yeah, we wanted to fuck Obama so much that we let your unemployment run out and tax cuts expire.”

I must be missing something here. There must be a larger plan. Like the Christians say about the Holocaust, it’s all in God’s plan — and we little ones just can’t even begin to understand it. That’s how I’m feeling right about now. W.T.F. is going on?

Look, I’ve worked in politics. I just don’t see how screwing the pooch on this gets us anywhere. You couldn’t even negotiate an expiration of the tax cuts for $500,000+ earners? Like those sons of bitches are really going to vote for or against you because you extended their tax cuts. Hell, even the poor-ass Tea Party Republicans hate you, and they’re a bunch of old farts and right-wing nutjobs who are (a) already receiving government money or (b) will never make enough to benefit from continuing high-earners’ tax “relief” (even if they could spell).

I give you props for passing the most significant health-care reforms in decades, but even then you lost your spine when it came to the public option.

Yeah, piss off the base to try to gain the center. Good job. Except that the base that money- and volunteer-bombed your ass into office is probably starting to wonder a little why they didn’t vote for Hillary. I know I sure am. Just a little.

I hope that commie pinko or brain-damaged prick filibuster this bill to death. I want to hear wailing in the chamber on Christmas eve as they talk about Santa Claus not liking deficits and Jesus, the camel and the pin. Dead, dead, dead. I want this bill in flames.

If Bush were in office and wanted these things, he’d have them by now. It’s time to sac up and eat the shit sandwich, Mr. President.

I’ll use the new copy of Wired since the last issue garnered such criticism.

The magazine is delivered and taken from the mailbox.

It must fit into my array of magazines currently on the coffeetable. Where to put it? Oh, yes, I remove last month's copy and . . .

. . . every magazine shifts left and the new issue takes the place of prominence. But where does the old magazine go?

Ah ha! In one of two places: the (guest) bathroom I use the most or . . .

. . . or in the master bathroom (which Misty uses) if the magazine is very, very leftist.

For me, this — the bathroom — is the most likely place this magazine will be read — cover-to-cover. Misty (as much as she hates to admit it) also reads copies of Utne Reader and Mother Jones in the master bath, but she’s also more likely to pull one off the coffeetable and read it. (Which screws up my entire system.)

And once the magazine is read? The recycle bin, a bookshelf where it will be saved or Bennu Coffee for others’ enjoyment.