God Bless you Mr. Abramoff

Keep your enemies close, and your friends closer.

This should be the new mantra of the Republican party. Jack Abramoff, the Tom DeLay of lobbyists, is going down, and taking as many of those evil, right-wing fucks as he can. Abramoff will lessen his sentence as much as possible by implicating any and all of those with whom he dealt - basically every registered Republican in Washington. The added stress to already-under-investigation ex-speaker-of-the-house Tom DeLay has forced him to permenantly resign his position. However, the number two Congressman, who just happens to be married to the top Tobacco Lobbyist, is in no less hot water. There is speculation that they will have to go as far as the 5th or 6th Congressman to find a new Speaker of the House, though by that point the Republicans may very well be the minority party.
This hopeful political junkie sees a controversy on the scale of Watergate, if not larger. The media, however, prefers to keep this situation more or less under the rug. The (extremely small) concerned public is, consequentially, forced to look for snippets and sound-bites of the progress being made on the investigation.
The problem of the lobbyist is not new. They are thought of as a necessary evil. For as many bad lobbyists out there, there are also many good ones. However, it is usually the bad ones who have the money, and therefore the sway. We are far from the end of lobbyists, though we may see a re-structuring of their influence. The problem then becomes that anything pushed into illegality will merely be done behind the scenes. If nothing else, the final results of this debaucle will undoubtedly come back into the news and shake up the public for a week or so, after which it will be overshadowed by the next reality tv show. Let us hope I am wrong.

P.S. - Abramoff is a biblical name, based off the name Abram. The "h", making it Abraham, is a biblical reference to a 'holy-fication' by God. Sara became Sarah, etc. One cannot help seeing a certain amount of irony in the so-called "Religious Right" being taken down by someone with a less than sacred name.

On The Road goes on the road

The famed and beloved novel On The Road by Jack Kerouac is making its way across the country, much like the pot-smoking pioneer did in the mid to late 40's. Contested as one of the Great American Novels, On The Road popularized a new and poetic style of writing known as stream of consciousness where the author attempts to relay thier exact thoughts, no matter how sporatic and fragmented, to the reader. The book is autobiographical, and chronicles the cross-country adventures of Jack Paradise (Kerouac) and good friend Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady). The two make their way from New York to San Francisco, and everywhere in between, two full times. It was as much a tale of coming of terms with oneself as it was a microphone for the angst of the rebellious youth of the time. As is quoted in the first of the below pictures, Jack's character says, "...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to love, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time...". The already fabled book grew to mythological proportions once it was discovered that the book was written over only 20 days in a frantic, caffine/alcohol/pot induced frenzy - hence the stream of consciousness style. Seeing it in person is just as seeing a revered work of art. To find out when this show is coming near you, check out the Jack Kerouac Official Website.


Kerouac himself.

Brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant.

It's little known that The Dharma Bums was also written on a scroll.

Quite an exhibit with over 30 feet rolled out on display. I'm going back at least once more.