Why do I do this? Why do I bother to write this blog? It started innocently enough as a live production diary for my first film, but it has evolved into another beast entirely. My writing tends to be angry, bitter and sarcastic, and it doesn't really paint a very accurate picture of who I am as a whole. Granted, anybody who has known me for a while knows that I can be an angry, bitter and sarcastic SOB, particularly when it comes to politics and our government, religion, issues of labor and class, even movies and music that I don't like. But also as anyone who knows me can attest to, that's not all there is to me. There's the part of my that loves to make music. There's the part of me that loves my family and my friends. There's the part of me that sometimes even cries during a sad movie. There's the part of me that makes me smile when I see babies or puppies or happy old couples who have loved each other for longer than I've been alive. I don't know if I can pinpoint the exact point when I became such a cynic, but to me it feels like it's been forever. I know at some point I must have been a happy little boy without a worry in the world, but then I remember some of the tantrums that I'd throw over the most trivial stuff. I remember how mad I'd get every time I had to do something that I didn't want to do. I remember a whole lot of seething over all sorts of things. As an adult, I focused my angst in the form of political activism. Despite the feeling that I was out there doing something that I felt was positive, I did it more out of my anger towards those who I feel are making the world a worse place (republicans, greedy corporations, fundies, etc). After a year-long stint at the Democratic National Committee leading up to the 2000 election fiasco, I left there more cynical than ever about the state of our country. Right at the end of that was when I met Anne, and for the first time in many years, I had a reason to be happy. But I still let the anger eat away at me, particularly in the aftermath of 9/11. I made a movie full of anger and bad language as my reaction to the political climate, and to publicize it I would go invade right wing message boards spewing anger and obscenity, trying to get under the skin of those who support an agenda that I truly believe goes against everything that I feel is good in this country and the world. Did it make me less angry? No. Did it do anything to make this country a better place? No. Did it make one bit of difference? Not a shred. Did it help DVD sales? Not really. And that anger has spilled over onto my blog. I'm not one of these "citizen journalists" that you read about in the papers and magazines who are jumping on the blogging bandwagon right now. I'm just another opinionated guy who offers up other people's stories with a side of cynical snark, trying to get a laugh here and there, or perhaps sell a DVD. It would be one thing if it made me happy. Sure, I enjoy the attention. I enjoy seeing lots of hits. I enjoy hearing from people who agree with me and tell me that they enjoy reading what I have to say. And I get a kick out of hearing from people who I disagree with and have managed to offend. But it doesn't give me any kind of real happiness, and I wonder if it ever really did. So after 3 years, I'm hanging it all up. I'm unplugging from the matrix, getting myself out of this virtual existence of spewing words back and forth to no avail and getting back into the flow of real life. I have other outlets for my creative energy that have been neglected. My poor bass hasn't been played in far too long. I haven't written a word of fiction since I don't know when. I'd much rather get the attention that I crave by entertaining people in a live setting. It's much more real. I want to go out more and actually talk to people face to face instead of hurling letters across wires. I want to really live a happy life without getting all worked up over things that are beyond my control. I want to sing and dance and run through this world (OK, maybe not so much the dancing part) and really start seizing the day. So thanks to everyone who stopped by to read my opinionated rants. Thanks to those who have linked to me. Thanks to those who have left comments, both positive and negative. And thanks especially to Anne not only for loving me despite my bitter outer shell but for giving me the wakeup call that I needed about all of this. While I'm ending this blog as we know it, you haven't heard the last of me. At some point I'll reincarnate it as a much more personal list for updates on what I'm up to and as a way to share my creative pursuits. I would also like to urge everybody reading this to join Tribe.net. It's the best online community out there, and I've made many great friends with whom I plan on spending more quality time in the real world. If you join, please add me as a friend. Signing off for now. J.

Oh no, Christians are being oppressed! File Under: Opiate of the Masses

So did any of you catch Bush's speech Fort Bragg pep rally last night? I didn't, since I can typically stomach only about a minute of listening to his outright lying and embarassing butchering of the English language, delivered with that arrogant expression on his face. But I've read about it today and am I wrong in wanting to pimpslap him repeatedly for trying to link 9/11 with the Iraq war again? How can anybody with any shred of integrity continue to support this man? I have yet to come across anybody with a good argument of support for the guy. They'll talk Saddam this and Osama that, but is the fact that he's slightly better than a brutal dictator or a terrorist mastermind really enough? Memo to the neocons: while all the recent talk of 9/11 might be firing up your base of fringe loonies, it's definitely making you lose some traction with the general public. I know that it's been your policy to talk up 9/11 every time the polls start dipping and all, but just like the strategic timing for raising the terror alert level, that's not really working for you anymore. That makes it all the more obvious why you're pushing a distraction like a flag burning amendment when we have much more important things to do than worry about a burning piece of cloth. File Under: President Asshat

Two years ago today, Anne and I got married in the garden at her parents' house. When I first saw her coming down the aisle in her gown, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. I say "one of" because it's only rivaled by the giddy hour we spent in Gilroy when we got engaged. Today there are no angry political posts. There are no trivial pop culture posts. There's none of the usual snark, or cheap plugs for my movies. Not today. Happy Anniversary, sweetie. File Under: Anniversary

Here's a conservative who gets it, at least on the issue of flag burning. File Under: Flag Burning

YouTube.com is to video as Flickr is to photos. You can upload video files and they will stream them for free. I'm currently in the process of uploading several of my video clips there right now. Here's what I have up so far. Should I consider Video Blogging now? My first exposure to some Vloggers wasn't particularly positive, but I shouldn't let that stop me. I've got all the stuff to do it, and now I have the bandwidth to make it worth doing. All I need is an original idea since nobody is going to want to watch video of me sitting around and talking about stuff. File Under: Videoblogging

Now that John Ashcroft is gone, sculptures are allowed to freely run topless through the rotunda of the Justice Department once again! File Under: Boobies

Two brave undercover bloggers have put themselves on the front lines of the culture wars to bring us reports from inside the Hitler Youth College Republicans Convention! No mention as of yet of Operation Yellow Elephant operatives. File Under: Investigative Journalism, Fascist Youth

Want to see just the kind of asshat who supports the flag burning ban? Check out this wingnut and his Hitler-riffic justifications for eroding the first amendment! File Under: Rightwingnuts, Asshattery

Operation Yellow Elephant operatives, report for duty: The General has three special assignments for today! Got a fax machine? Get on board with Operation Fax-a-Facsist. People in the DC area can participate in Operation Lucky Strike or Operation Tikrit Taxi (if you have a car). File Under: Operation Yellow Elephant

Fun with referers! I saw that somebody had come to this blog searching for "woman kicked by young republican," taking them to any number of posts on this page. The funny part is when I clicked on the google link, google asked if I had meant something else. File Under: Googl'd

Democrats, take note... the next time Howard Dean or Dick Durbin or any other democrat says something that gets the right wingers all pissed off and demanding an apology, don't show your weakness by distancing yourselves from the comments. Be strong, and in a unified voice say something to the effect of "I think Howard was very specific, very accurate, in who he was pointing out. It's touched a chord with these Republicans. I'm not sure why." Take a cue from the republicans: never apologize for anything. Never admit that you're wrong. Just smear the other side for not understanding what you're saying. If you have to make an apology, make it a non-apology. Apologize for the republicans being too stupid to grasp the concept of context. And then quickly change the subject, like perhaps bringing up those Downing Street Memos, or calling for more able bodied young republicans to go enlist in the military to fight the damn war that they love so much. File Under: No More Apologies

Well I guess that our congress has taken care of every problem we have. They must have balanced our budget, investigated the Downing Street Memo, impeached Bush's lying ass, ended crime, made sure everybody has access to quality health care and education, stopped racism, gotten our troops out of Iraq and instituted a new era of world peace. Since they obviously have nothing more important to do, they are focusing their energy once again to try to pass an amendment to limit our free speech by banning flag burning. I've never burned a flag in my life, but if they make it illegal, I'll be having a big old flag barbecue to mourn the death of another one of our freedoms. You would think that for them to push to ammend the constitution to limit our freedom that there was a huge epidemic of flag burning going on, but this is just another example of our so-called leaders putting some highly emotional (for some) issue on the table to distract from important things like holding an official hearing on the Downing Street Memo, or maybe even providing body armor for the troops that they sent over to fight an illegal war in Iraq. They drag this bullshit out every few years, but this time it actually stands a chance at passing the Senate. Start writing your Senators now, people! File Under: Encroaching Fascism

Via The Green Lantern: Watch The Corporation for free online (scroll down a bit - RealVideo). This is a brilliant documentary that explains in no uncertain terms why corporate power is not such a good thing, and should be required viewing for all business students. File Under: Anti-Corporate, Documentary

Today's Operation Yellow Elephant Assignment: go to this blog and send emails to 6 websites of young supporters of the war and urge them to add Army recruitment links to their websites. Also, here's a handy enlistment form that you can print out yourself to hand out to these brave young right wing keyboard warriors, or to put on the windshields of cars sporting those made in China magnetic yellow ribbons. Don't support the troops with a magnet. Either fight to bring them home or put your own ass on the line with them! File Under: Operation Yellow Elephant

Democracy for America has an informative flash movie about the Downing Street Memo, along with a petition demanding a full congressional inquiry. File Under: Downing Street Memo

Folks on the religious right always talk about how we on the left are engaged in Christian-bashing. As I've always said, it's not Christianity that is the problem. The problem are these fundamentalist loonies who use their religion as an excuse to support a political agenda of intollerance, theocracy, inequality, war and imperialism. The only difference between them and the Taliban who imposed their fundamentalist law upon the people of Afghanistan is the size of the body count. I am not paranoid to say that if these people had their way, our great country would be a theocratic fascist state. Well finally there is a movement of religious people who no longer want to be associated with the Robertson-Falwell lunatic fringe, and they're getting organized! I would hope that the majority of people calling themselves Christian in this country would fall under this category and that they fight hard to push the loonies back to the fringe where they belong. (Via Comments From Left Field) File Under: Religious Left

File Under: Operation Yellow Elephant

I realize that this isn't nearly as interesting as two faced kittens and two penised puppies, since there haven't been any more freakishly deformed animals in the news since yesterday, I'll just have to talk about the whole shitstorm in the Senate over Michael John Bolton's confirmation. The democrats are really sticking to their guns on this one, to the point where Bush is considering a recess appointment. While it's good to see democrats actually following through on something important like keeping a hostile neoclown freak like Bolton out of the UN, it's disappointing to see that they can't seem to get this sort of unity behind something even more important, that being the impeachment of a president who sent us to an illegal war based completely on lies. At least Howard Dean isn't afraid to take the gloves off when fighting with these swine. File Under: Bolton, Bad Mustache, Howard Dean, Badass

Friday I blogged about the kitten born with two faces. Now check out this doggie. File Under: Match Made in Heaven

Note to the senior senator of my home state: Hey Chuck, stop wasting your time going all Tipper Gore on violent video games when you've got a president to impeach for getting us into a war based on lies where there's REAL violence going on. File Under: Gangsta, Censorship

Are you in the DC area and want to help out with a good cause? Consider joining The General in his latest campaign: Operation Yellow Elephant. While the College Republicans hold their convention, volunteers are needed to get them to put their money where their mouths are and enlist into the armed services where they can truly support the war in Iraq. Any right wingers want to comment on this? Talk to me after you've enlisted. I'll make it easy for you: Army | Navy | Air Force | Marines File Under: Chickenhawks

Holy crap, this is one seriously freaky little kitty! File Under: Oddities

I've been engaged in a debate in the coments a few posts down by a guy who toes the Bush administration line by ignoring the fact that Bush lied to get us into the war in Iraq while spouting off about what a horrible guy Saddam is and that is apparently enough justification for for fixing intelligence, breaking international law, and turning a contained and neutered dictatorship into the bloodiest quagmire on the planet. So how come this brutal and inhuman dictatorship is our "ally in the war on terror?" (NYT link: l/p nobody42) File Under: Iraq War, Hypocrisy

Today is the day! Led by Rep. John Conyers, the democrats in the House Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on the Downing Street Memo. If you've either been living under a rock lately, or if you only get your news from the mouthpiece of the White House mainstream media, that memo is the smoking gun that Bush had every intention of invading Iraq but was fixing the intelligence to support the attack. Now why is it that the republicans who demand with their magnetic car ribbons for us to support our troops are not the slightest bit concerned that our troops are dying based on lies? Why is a blowjob an impeachable offense while sending our troops to die for no damn good reason at all isn't even worthy of their precious time? We may never know. But that's beside the point right now. Right now, you need to listen to these hearings, going on at 2:30 EST today. Here's all the info you need on how to tune in, and how you can contact the pathetic shills of the mainstream media and demand that they cover this. And if you're in DC, please attend this rally at LaFayette Park to coincide with John Conyers personal delivery of a petition to Bush demanding a response to this memo. File Under: Downing Street Memo

Just when I start thinking that maybe I'm being a bit paranoid when I think that the current crop of republicans are nothing but a bunch of wannabe fascist dictators, I go and read this. The 22nd Amendment which they want to repeal, that's the one that sets a 2 term limit to the presidency. It'll never fly, but just the fact that they are trying to pull this off this makes me really angry. How much longer before they try to pass their own version of the Enabling Act? File Under: Rightwingnuts

Here's yet another fine right wing website that seeks to elevate the levels of political discourse: LiberalScum.com! The webmaster remains anonymous because he's certain that liberals will come gunning for him if he ever identified himself. I don't know how we'd have the time to mess around with some 2 bit opinionated chump with a website when apparently we're so busy conspiring to destroy this great country of ours. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you. And I'm guessing that a guy who rationalizes his death wish upon liberals by putting Michael Moore and Ted Kennedy on the same level as Osama bin Laden has bigger problems than just paranoia. File Under: Rightwingnuts, Asshattery, Sociopath

A Guy Walks Into a Bar (15mb QT) has been accepted into a film festival! It will be shown on Monday, July 11th, at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia St, San Francisco. Doors are at 8. Films start at 9. There's a $5 cover. File Under: Film, San Francisco

Holy crap! Police video of some spun out hoser going on a crime spree in a "bait car." File Under: Police Video, Great White North, Crystal Meth

This just in: Escape from Neverland! File Under: Michael Jackson, Flash

Michael Jackson has been found not guilty. It seems like any high profile defendent with enough money for a serious legal team can get out of pretty much anything (good luck, Phil Spector!), but the accuser and his family sure didn't help the case much. If that kid did get mollested, it would seem that his folks pretty much set that up to happen so that they could cash in. Sick sick sick from every direction, but now that it's over perhaps the press might have a minute to actually report on the Downing Street Memo. You know, the smoking gun in the case to impeach Bush for lying our way into a war in Iraq? What, you haven't heard of it? It's not as sexy as a stained blue dress, but it's only a million times more important, yet you'll hear barely a peep about it from the "liberal media!" I'm giving the mainstream media 2 days to get this Michael Jackson stuff out of their systems and start reporting on the Downing Street Memo before I... (hhhmmm, what am I going to do about that?) ...before I really start complaining about how lame the supposedly "liberal media" are. That'll show them! File Under: Wacko Jacko, Downing Street Memo

The band is just fantastic that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which one's Pink? In case you haven't heard, Pink Floyd will be performing again with Roger Waters for the first time in over 20 years! No word yet from Syd Barret. File Under: Pink Floyd

Filmmakers, if you're going to be filming anything with realistic looking guns, it's a really good idea to let the cops know. These kids are lucky they were in England. If they were in the states, they would have probably gotten shot. File Under: Film, Guns

I miss college! File Under: Asshattery

And speaking of drama and wigging out, here's a little taste of the post pitbull mauling San Francisco which has lead some to go far beyond Godwin in the very headline of the post. Are people sort of freaking out over pit bulls in general? Sure. Are there some valid points in there about responsible dog owners and irresponsible dog owners? Yep. But do a bunch of angry posts about pitbulls really warrant a comparison to the Holocaust? File Under: Pit Bulls, San Francisco

Wow! People are writing reviews of the whole blog documentary drama. Brett Lamb sums it up nicely: "The lesson from all of this? Don't wig out." Word. File Under: Blogging, Documentary, Drama