The new home of "The Frank Report."

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  So there I am hanging from the pull-up bars when I overhear two skinny alpha's discussing how they're against the war in Iraq and how they can't believe that anyone supports it because they don't know anyone who does. (As if having a limited social circle gives one a lock on the truth!)

This pisses me off, which is good, because I was seriously in need of an energy boost for my next set. I keep my mouth shut because it's rude to listen in on other people, even when they're yakking right next to the rack. Besides, I'm there to focus on my workout, not train to be a talking head on CNN. (more on this later)

I move on to the rest of my workout - legs - when I notice that the anti-war groupies are monopolizing multiple machines. They've put their Walkman's, towels, and weights all over the place - more equipment than they can handle at one time - while they just stand around and talk. So I have to go around and clean up after them, working my way into their sets, because there's really no other choice with the amount of equipment they've shanghaied. If you're going to do a superset, then they should at least be related, and you should be on one of the pieces of equipment - or replacing the weight for your next set at all times. It's common courtesy. And if you can't do a superset without needing to take an extended rest break, then do single sets and just do them faster. There's no reason for one person to have equipment set up for two different types of calf raises, an incline bench press, legs raises, and a set of dumbbells.

That's when it became obvious to me (in light of other conversations and actions that I've seen) that many (not all) of the anit-war protestors are in love with the abstraction of peace and love, but don't practice that attitude in their daily lives. Pompous hypocrites piss me off.

The New York Times carried an article today from a CNN producer who moaned about how CNN knew about egregious human rights abuses in Iraq - including planned murders - but kept their mouths shut for fearing of losing their plum position of being able to report from Baghdad. That's sick and it pisses me off. What makes me even angrier is this writer's public appeal for acceptance and forgiveness, as if such moral bankruptcy can be whitewashed by a simple "mea culpa."

If I weren't so damned polite, there's some truth I'd like to speak to power.

posted at 8:48 AM

  From Jeff Jarvis, who I should read more often....

"Yes, I shouldn't be so happy, either. After all, I'm a liberal: Heart bleeds. Underbelly soft. Weeps easily.
I should be haranging any nearby victim about the conspiratorial military-industrial complex grown even more powerful. I should be railing on about the Bush plan to take over the world (or am I supposed to complain about his isolationism? I'm so confused). I should be tsk-tsking that we're going to find ourselves in another damned quagmire. I should be singing Where have all the flowers gone? damnit. And drinking French wine.
But I feel like dancing with those Iraqis in the streets. I cheer for the gigantic guy with the sledgehammer when he slams the marble plinth and douses Saddam's picture in gas and set it afire (we liberals call that "acting out," or perhaps I'm just projecting). Why, I even laughed when Donald Rumseld tried hard not to be smug today.
What's wrong with me? What's wrong with our world?"
posted at 1:30 PM

  From the very insightful and vivacious, Tim Blair. (Why yes, you should be reading him!)


"I SHOULDN'T be so happy. After all, I'm a right-wing deathbeast, and the end (or near end) of a war should upset me, because we conservatives lust for war all the time. Except when we have to fight it ourselves, of course. Being chickenhawks and all.

And the toppling of a fascist dictator should have me all weepy and nostalgic for Hitler. Because I'm a fascist, according to much of the mail I receive.

Those Iraqis dancing in the streets? That should really piss me off, because I want to oppress them and steal their oil. Why are they even able to dance? I was promised 500,000 murders, yet thus far only 1,000 or so innocents have died.

So why am I so damn happy? I really can't explain.

I'd go and ask some oppression-hating anti-fascist peace activists about it, but for some reason they're all incredibly depressed."


posted at 1:27 PM

  Test Post
Just exported my blog to disk. Required serious tinkering to do. Don't panic if some formatting errors appear. I'll do the panicking for us both.
posted at 1:19 PM

  For the past two days I have been a chore/project machine: running errands, doing laundry, getting organized. Then at the end of the day, I turn on the tv and watch about all these people who work 12 hour days, go to the gym, party with their friends afterwards and *still* get all their chores and errands done.

And I wonder to myself: what the h*ll am I doing wrong?

Regardless, it's the simple things that give me pleasure now. The satisfaction of scratching dozens of items off my 'to-do' list in one evening is often the high point of my day. Sad or refreshingly simple. You be the judge.
posted at 11:55 AM

  I can now get the horse to walk continuously at a steady pace and turn without having to fight tooth and nail to make it happen. For those of you who scoff, I can only say: you try it. Next week's advanced challenge will be to do the same thing with a different horse, sort of like increasing the difficulty setting on a video game.

Did you know that horses can have runny and/or congested noses? I found out the hard way when I stood in front of "Cash" to marvel at the enormous booger that was hanging out of his nose. He sneezed on me - covering my face and chest in horse snot.

It was like something out of "Ghostbusters."
I've been slimed.

posted at 10:29 AM