More OccupyDenver tomfoolery

Had to go to the bank (sorry, credit union) this morning, so I left the car parked there and Billy Bob and I walked down to the OccupyDenver protest at Civic Center.

Billy Bob is kind of a pain on these jaunts, because a) he doesn't understand that his leash becomes a deadly weapon in a crowd; and b) there's lots of food lying around on the ground and he is bound and, yes, determined to eat all of it.

So I thought about leaving him in the car, but didn't on the off chance he might get to meet his newest heroine, Shelby, the border collie/cattle dog mix who last week was elected leader of the OccupyDenver movement (one dog, one vote, one time).

So who do we run into as soon as we set foot in the park? Shelby!


She's already adopted the trappings of an imperial presidency.

Naturally Billy Bob, being a pup of the people, promptly violated protocol in a move so embarrassing I'll probably never be able to show my face at these protests again:


I, I say! It was almost as bad as that time Moochelle sniffed the Queen's butt or whatever she did. Security rushed in to pull BB away, but the damage was done.

Anyway, protesters were already yacking away, complete with mic checks and the small crowd repeating everything the speakers said (no up- or down-twinkles that I noticed, though).


The blonde in green, oddly enough, was going on about how brilliant it was that OD elected Shelby leader of the movement. Sadly, it just reminds me of Ward Churchill and Benjie Whitmer's utterly lame attempt to emulate the also-lame (as well as dead) Abbie Hoffman and run a pig for president (scroll down a yittle).


What the well-dressed anarchist is wearing this season.
The guy in the trench coat and go-to-hell porkpie hat in the pic below was, of course, a truther. Even the Occupods were having none of it.



But check this out. See the big kid on the right with greenish hair? That's the same kid who was arrested with three others a few weeks ago for squatting in the abandoned house right across the street from the D-blog manse. I took him aside and asked how that had worked out. He said they were charged with trespassing and burglary (a class 2 felony, he said), but that he thought that charge would be pled down to a misdemeanor. "As soon as that's over with," he said, "I'm going to be squatting again." And damn me, I forgot to ask who was representing them.

A little signage 'n' stuff:


Hard to read: it says, "Kick Uncle $am Off Indian Land."



"(Neither is Ron Paul)." Then we're left with no one.


Yes, the utterly unnecessary but de rigueur bandana face.




"Yes we kill."



One of the sexiest features of communism is food lines. Coincidentally, I guess, one of those was recreated across the park:




The line of food tables stretched the whole block in front of the City and County building. Biggest potluck I've ever seen, and it smelled fantastic. Maybe communism isn't that bad . . .


On the other hand, the line of people stretched for three blocks. Good. Times.

BB and I were tempted to get in line, but the credit union was closing, so we had to get out of there.

By the way, the D-blog is aware what weak marinara this post is compared to the gripping fillums the Lonesome Dictator of North Denver got of the brouhaha at BlogCon (which the D-blog was unable to attend) yesterday, when Occupods attempted to infiltrate the conservative blogger get-together. You've probably seen them, but if not here they are at their rightful home, the People's Press Collective.

Update (7:47 MST): The Post: "Denver police forcing Occupy Denver to move their property in Civic Center." Again.

Update II: The Washington Examiner has more. The protesters have been acting out. ("This is not Tehran!" Sheeeeit.)

(via commenter kbdabear at the AoS ONT)

Update III (2 December 2011): Believe it or not, I saw Black Flag at the Ogden, way, way back. They sucked, tho Henry looked pretty damn good in his panties.

Listening for the EAS test

Yep, the first nationwide Emergency Alert Squeal test. Wait, here it comes!

That was weird. All I heard was this.

Update: That, of course, was from a list of Star Trek sounds. My fave (not that I listened to them all) is this one, undoubtedly from one of the movies after they figured out that Bones' "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor not a _______" had comic possibilities.

A pic from the student protest over tuition fees in London

Which police fear anarchists may use as an excuse for violence. From the Telegraph's liveblog:


I did not know Mila Kunis was an anarchist.

Colorado AAUP report: CU treatment of Wart should make it "last resort" for prospective faculty

The American Association of University Professors has been a Wart-defending joke for years, of course. But this time, no doubt in an attempt to maintain their fake evenhandedness, they also mention the completely unrelated case of Phil Mitchell. The Gamera (which calls the AAUP a "professors-rights group"):

In the report issued this month, the Colorado Conference of the American Association of University Professors criticizes CU-Boulder for not renewing the 2007 contract of Phil Mitchell, an instructor in the Sewall Residence Program, and for firing Ward Churchill, a tenured professor in the ethnic studies department. CU officials fired Churchill in 2007 after an academic misconduct investigation.

CU-Boulder spokesman Bronson Hilliard said that Churchill was given full due process during the academic misconduct case and Mitchell's contract was not renewed because he was not adhering to the academic rigor standards that were clearly communited in the program.

Communited? That's not a bad word. Anyway, sometimes I wish Colorado could have its own little Cultural Revolution so we could just send academics up to work the beet farms around Greeley.

Update: The pirate with the parrot who knows all about Cleveland Steamers goes much more entertainingly in-depth on the story.

Sieg Heil!

A piece in the (Trinity University, San Antonio) Trinitonian on Wart's appearance at the school last week, during which he yelled "sieg heil" and gave a Nazi salute to the university president's wife, has some new quotes from said wife, Penelope Harley:

“I just felt that what he said was totally uncalled for and was actually very hypocritical, and this is what I led my comments with [during the after-speech Q & A with Churchill],” Harley said during a phone interview Thursday morning. “The most important message I wanted to get across was that in the first half of his presentation, which seemingly was all about the need for truth and evidence in legal cases having to do with academic freedom, it seemed extremely hypocritical that he launched into this unsubstantiated personal malice against Dennis that I knew was unfounded, with absolutely no evidence and with no regard for the truth.”

Never stopped Wart before. The piece also has some new stuff from hubby Dennis Ahlburg, former head of the CU Leeds School of Business and now prez of Trinity University:

“I would never have invited him myself, I think he’s despicable,” Ahlburg said. “A faculty member invited him and I chose not to rescind the offer because I believe in free speech. I don’t believe you should give a free stage to people like Churchill…I don’t believe Ward Churchill is about free speech. I think he’s about his own public persona.”

Ahlburg’s connection with Churchill seemingly stems from their time spent at the University of Colorado Boulder. However, Ahlburg claims their interaction was virtually non-existent.

“The thing that’s most peculiar is that I’ve never met the man and all of the things that happened to him at Colorado preceded me, so the fact that he would think I would waste a nano-second of my time on him just shows how delusional he is,” Ahlburg said. “I mean he has enough real enemies, he doesn’t have to make one up. I am not his enemy.” . . .

Time to join the club, Dennis!

“His modus operandi is if he can’t argue with you on the merits of the case, he will attack you personally,” Ahlburg said, before also addressing Churchill’s reference to Nazism. “What role does screaming ‘Sieg Heil,’ ‘Sieg Heil’ and giving a Nazi salute to anybody, what role does that play in the academic discourse? That is somebody who has lost their grip on reality and seems to have a mania for anything that has to do with Nazis, and at that point he should have been shown off campus.”

And into the nearest sewage pond.

Churchill claims that controversy surrounding [the 9/11] essay led to an unfounded investigation of academic misconduct, insisting that he would not have been under such scrutiny if not for his political views. He also claims that Ahlburg used this controversy as a means to persuade donors to withhold money from the College of Arts and Sciences and alternatively give to the Leeds School of Business, of which Ahlburg was the dean at the time.

“He told every one of those wealthy donors, corporate contributors, basically ‘Ward Churchill is in the College of Arts and Science [sic], you are committing money to that, withdraw it and give it to Leeds,’” Churchill said during the lecture.

Prove it. Oh, wait, for once he has evidence:

Churchill also stated that he had alleged email documentation of Ahlburg using his name to raise money, but refused to provide these emails when contacted.

Sekrit evidence.

Churchill was also contacted by the Trinitonian for a phone interview about the series of events that took place Tuesday. His response, via email, was as follows: “I’m not much interested in something focusing exclusively on 2 sentences lifted out of a 35 minute talk. If you’re inclined to do something with the real story with regard to Dennis Ahlberg [sic] — that Trinity’s board of trustees hired a guy rated 26th out of 27 deans at the University of Colorado in terms of administrative effectiveness to be your president — let me know. I’ll send you a copy of his UCB administrative evaluation and we can go from there.”

There are no depths to which this scumbag won't go. But we knew that. The paper has an accompanying editorial: "Churchill's attacks distract campus discourse." Sample graf:

In all of this commotion over who said what about whom, the glaring question is: why was Churchill invited to Trinity? Out of all the possible speakers available, why choose someone so aggressively divisive? As students and journalists, we at the Trinitonian are the first people to stand up for freedom of speech, and we believe it is important to practice and even test the limits of freedom of speech. However, it is also in the best interest of society to employ reason in our campaigns. Although Churchill’s choice to give Harley a Nazi salute was constitutionally protected, it certainly undermined his argument.

Now there's a ringing declaration.

Update: The pirate with the parrot who donates to Ron Paul notes that the CU Board of Regents is finally going to consider ending the ridiculous policy by which professors fired for anything but "moral turpitude" receive a year's salary as a parting gift. Unfortunately, Wart's already got his.

Possible Fort Collins Occupod* arrested for arson

The Post:

A Fort Collins man has been arrested as a suspect in a $10 million fire along Mason Street in downtown Fort Collins.

Benjamin David Gilmore, 29, was taken into custody Thursday night.

Gilmore appears to be the same person who recently appeared before the Fort Collins City Council to ask that Occupy Fort Collins protesters be left alone. He was arrested for suspicion of first-degree arson, burglary and criminal mischief in the blaze that destroyed a condominium complex under construction and damaged a complex next door.

The alleged arsonist allegedly spoke before the Fort Collins city council Tuesday. He spouted the usual gibberish.

*The Post is careful to note that "Arrest papers available to the public do not connect Occupy Fort Collins to the arson fires, and police made no connection between the group's protest and Gilmore's arrest. Organizers could not immediately be reached for comment on Gilmore." Maybe he was just cold.

Update: 9News has more, with a story from the (Fort Collins) Coloradoan. Gilmore, "a registered Republican" according to the piece, was definitely heavily involved with the Tea Party OccupyFortCollins.

Update II: In comments JWP links to a three-week-old piece from radio station Tri- 102.5 ("The Best Variety of Lite Rock Favorites") which sent a reporter to the Fort Collins protest. The reporter interviewed Gilmore, describing him as "a Fort Collins business owner, war veteran and a member of Occupy Fort Collins." Okay.

It's Arts Week in Denver!

So a bunch of mercifully evitable krep going on. Among the krep is the Starz (blech) Denver Film Festival, which will be featuring movies by "area" filmmakers (whatever that means) in its "Spotlight on Colorado." One of the movies is "Patriocracy." The Post says the doco asks the musical question, "How did the U.S become the politically riven nation it is today?" One look at the lineup of talking deads (sorry, the site won't let me link) tells you where the film's creator, Brian Malone, will be coming from: Bob Schieffer, Eleanor Clift, Roy--sorry--Pat Buchanan, Sheila Jackson Lee, Jared Polis . . .

Area theaters are puttin' on the blitz as well, including Curious Theater's offering, "Collapse," of which the Post's fine arts critic John Moore says, "Though it's inspired by the 2007 Minneapolis bridge disaster, artistic director Chip Walton swears, "It's one of the funniest plays we've ever produced."

There's also Chinese art and Klezmer abusers and Day of the Dead stuff and all like that. The Post's story on this, by the way, was published yesterday and has gotten only one comment thus far, from a "yip cabbage": "Zzzzzzzz."

Not a cowtown.

OccupyDenver tittle and bosh

First, Michael Moo!re is supposed to show up at the Denver encampment around 4:00 p.m. today, according to the Post. He's in town to appear at the Tattered Cover and UC-Denver. Who cares? (The Post and various news crews, that's who.) Saw the round mound of suet a few years ago; don't need to again.

Second, KOA says the Occupods are going to move camp soon from the sidewalk on Broadway to Skyline Park so they won't be in the way of the Veterans Day parade. Mighty thoughty of them. Skyline Park is a block-long concrete hole beloved of skateboarders and nodding addicts. The wind absolutely howls through it.

Update: Apparently the move isn't voluntary. KOA now says some veterans organization has dibs on Civic Center Park, and that the protesters have to move by tomorrow night. The D-blog was a leetle premature in pronouncing the end of the non-Boy Scout jamboree a while back, but again, how is it that this bunch gets to camp in city parks when no one else does?

Update II: Post: "Michael Moore fires up OccupyDenver, says rest of country watching"

Couldn't be happening to a nicer bunch

Copyright scum-sucker Righthaven finds no haven.

Wart "sieg heils" uni prez's wife at speech

The charm, it just never quits. The San Antonio Express-News:

Ward Churchill, a controversial activist for academic freedom, at a speech at Trinity University on Tuesday accused the university's president, Dennis Ahlburg, of a smear campaign against him some years ago in Colorado.

He also invoked the Hitler salute of “Sieg Heil” to Ahlburg's wife, Penelope Harley, as she stormed out of the auditorium after defending her husband in front of the audience of students and faculty.

“This personal vindictiveness in an institution that has welcomed you ... I find very, very hard to listen to. And quite frankly, pretty darn insulting,” said Harley, before leaving for her son's soccer match.

Ahlburg was in New York, but was reached by phone later.

“He comes in and insults me in my absence... and screams ‘Sieg Heil' at my wife?” Ahlburg said. “This is a champion for free speech that America does not need. The only speech he wants to hear is his own voice.”

True, true.

Ahlburg became dean of the UC Leeds School of Business in 2005. Though the two never met, Churchill said some faculty and alumni told him Ahlburg was “bad rapping” him to potential donors, using Churchill's notoriety to convince them to give to the business school instead of the arts and sciences.

“He quietly, back-channel, through personal communications conducted about as vicious a smear campaign against me personally as it was possible to engage in,” Churchill told the audience.

Ahlburg called the accusations “absolutely false.”

“The last thing I would do to try and raise money is mention his name, goodness gracious.”

Goodness gracious. Civility is dead in this country.

To be honest, btw, I don't remember this little incident a'tall. Wonder if it even made the papers back then. I'll look when I has the chancet, or maybe JWP knows.

Update: And by the way, Express-News, it's "CU," not "UC."

#OccupyMyStreet

Sitting in my office going "doy" over the Broncos' win Sunday when I hear screaming outside. Look out the window and this:


Apparently some kids were squatting in the abandoned house across the street (a place I've had occasion to write about before, when Crazy John lived there).

The woman with the bad case of knee-head was one of the squatters, and she would not settle down. Even with a face full of asphalt she kept trying to kick or otherwise bowdlerize the cops. She also had a very foul, if unoriginal, mouth--"fascists," "pigs," "nazis" (place "fuckin''" before each noun, of course). They had to hold her like that for at least 15 minutes while they waited for an ambulance. No, I don't know why they needed an ambulance. She was definitely fully conscious and appeared unharmed. Probably a mental health hold.



Naturally a crowd gathered. But it was very odd. So many white people:


Several of whom were shouting abuse at the cops.



Center guy was apparently one of the squatters. A cop yelled, "Hey, get over here!" but he melted around the corner of my house and down 27th. The cops didn't even bother to chase him (though they may have caught up with him later).



The big green-haired kid being escorted by the mini-cop (h/t Joseph Wambaugh) offered no resistance.

There were a lot of cops.





The guy on the left viddying the whole thing told me he was from West Denver Copwatch.

Guess they have a police scanner, because he was there filming before I heard a thing. Here's WDCW's account of the incident:

Please Post and Forward Widely

Background

Sunday afternoon a squat in the Jefferson Park Neighborhood of Northwest Denver was raided by over a dozen officers from District 1 of the Denver Police Department.
Witnesses report that the raid was very violent, with at least 8 officers repeatedly beating one of the arrestees, and eventually using paramedics to sedate them while they laid face down, bleeding, in the street.

Four people were arrested, one being sent to a hospital in an ambulance to receive medical care. As of Sunday night, three of the arrestees are facing 2nd degree Burglary (a class 3 felony) and $10,000 bonds. The fourth arrestee’s charges remain unknown because she is still hospitalized. All four have been active participants of Occupy Denver.

Of course. What's funny about this posting is that even though the copwatch guy filmed the incident, no video accompanies the post. Easy to figure out why: because then they couldn't lie about what happened. There was no beating, there was no blood, there was only one person lying in the street (the kicky chick), and if she was sedated, she was the only one who was.

In principle I have no problem with groups like Denver Copwatch. Cops can get out of hand, and Denver cops in particular have had more "incidents" than they should over the years. The problem is that Denver Copwatch is made up of rad-left liars and grievance-mongers who at the very least exaggerate any incident. Think Larry Hales.

Anyway, the place is boarded up now.

But wait! There's more! The next day I was doing chores out back when I noticed there was a cop car blocking the alley and police tape across both ends of the block. Bomb scare. Somebody found a suitcase lying in the street outside Crazy John's house and called it in. And after what went on the previous day the cops were taking no chances:


No kaboom.

Update: AP says two Occupy Denveroids were taken to Denver Health last night from Civic Center Park suffering from "symptoms of hypothermia." No kidding. The story also says "about 30" people stayed overnight without tents (the cops made them take them down) in heavy, wet snow. Sounds like fun.

Seen today

On a car in traffic: A black ribbon like the pink ribbons you see all the time. This one bore the legend, "Support Zombies."

I think the zombie thing is about over.

I do not need glasses

Goddamnit. The D-A-W is always going, "You want to use my [reading] glasses?" when I'm reading something just fine, if at arm's length. A couple of years ago I was in the doctor's office reclining on the table or whatever with my book and the nurse comes in and says, "You know, we could probably rig something up to suspend your book from the ceiling so you can read more comfortably."

Bitch.

See, back in the day I could have been a fighter pilot, if they went only by eyesight and not eyesight, intelligence, reflexes, intelligence, mathematical-type skills, good looks, engineering skills, intelligence, and George Bush.

Actually I could still be a fighter pilot, except for the above, and the fact that I've shrunk to 4'9" and couldn't see over the plane's dashboard (that's what it's called, right?).

There's only one thing I have trouble reading: the two-point type on the various bottles of yard poison a householder naturally accumulates. This has led to many comical episodes involving dead dogs and Peter Coyote in a hazmat suit.

But I do not need glasses.

Update: Yeah, I stooped to an easy "Bush is dumb" joke, though I know perfectly well that the smartest man in the universe, the SCoaMF, is, at best, exactly as smart, IQ-wise, as Chimpleron-X7, and that John Kerry was dumber. No links, look for yourself.

Fatso, Fatso Rizzo!

King of the Lard Countreeeeeee!

So what's been up with the gigantic mouldering mound of corruption? Who cares! The LAT, that's who.



Hot, hot, hot.

Update: Remember, the camera adds ten pounds.

"The whole world is--zzzzzzzz"

The Occupy Denver camp is no more.

Talk about goldbricking, maaaaaan

The Post: "Medical Marijuana workers unionizing":

The state's largest labor union today announced that it has hundreds of new members from the medical-marijuana industry.

Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said in a statement that the new members come from a "comprehensive cross section" of the industry. The union, which has 25,000 members statewide, said it would announce more details at a news conference Monday.

The union put the total number of jobs in the medical-marijuana industry in Colorado at 8,000, though it is unclear how it came to that number. . . .

Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, everything . . .

Oh, and just for completness' sake, JWP's favorite vid, that "modern spiritual by Gale and Dale":

Lane sounds off on Occupy Denver

On KHOW. Ward Churchill's attorney David Lane weighed in on whether the state (city, whatever) can lawfully clear out the occupods. He doesn't think so, of course, unless typhoid or cholera is "sweeping" the camp. Craigie reads him the law. Lane questions what the meaning of "camping" is. Christ.

Lane also mentioned (as PB did today) that Patrick O'Rourke, the lead CU defense attorney in Wart's 2009 suit against the school, is one of the finalists for a state Supreme Court post. No chance (as PB also notes), but Lane added that if O'Rourke did indeed secure the spot, he would have to recuse himself (as two SC justices, according to Lane, already have) from the Churchill case, leaving only four justices to decide it. Bad for Lane: tie goes to the appellate court, which voted unanimously against Chutch.

"Police action imminent"

To get the occupods out of Lincoln Park across from the Capitol. "No details." Well, except that navy reservists are scheduled to have the park Saturday, some campers say they'll "fight" any attempt to get them out, and: "This morning was the first time the governor visited the growing tent camp from which the stench of urine has begun to waft onto adjacent Broadway."

That's odd. Not the urine stench, but the claim that today was the first time the Gov. visited the place. He at least strongly implied (see post immediately below) that he visited on Tuesday, saying he "went down there this morning," and saw only "eight or ten" tents.

In any case, what a (government-created) mess. If Hick had sent the cops in when there were just three tents, no prob. Now, no matter how things shake out, it's going to be nasty.

Update: KHOW's Dan Caplis, a law and order guy if there ever was one, thinks (and, obviously, hopes) the cops will move in tonight.

Burgeoning

The Post today: "Hickenlooper unsure about what to do about Occupy Denver protesters at Capitol":

Should they stay, or should they go now?

Gov. John Hickenlooper didn't give a clear answer to that question Tuesday when asked about the growing Occupy Denver tent camp on a grassy lawn along Broadway that is part of the state Capitol complex.

Interviewed on radio station KOA-AM's Mike Rosen Show, the Democratic governor and former Denver mayor said he was concerned about the illegal encampment on state property but didn't indicate that he was prepared to order the State Patrol to clear out the park. Patrol officials said Sunday that they had no plans to remove the tents. . . .

The governor seemed conflicted on the question of what to do about the tents, saying that he has "always supported the First Amendment" but had concerns about the camp.

"I will confess I worry about the precedent," Hickenlooper said. "If suddenly we have a park where people can camp out whenever they want, why not the next park and why not the park after that? And then suddenly, you don't have any rules."

In any case, the governor said, there weren't many tents on the lawn, saying: "I went down there this morning, and there were like eight tents, 10 tents. This is not a burgeoning metropolis of tents."

I was down there a couple of hours after the Gov. There are a few more than eight tents:






I counted about 50, and a guy calling in to Rosen right now says he counted 80 tents today.

Burgeoning. Not that I give a rat's ass, except for one thing: The occupods are getting special treatment. During the DNC when Chickenpooper was mayor of Denver, he vacillated on whether to allow those protesters to camp in city parks, but ultimately made the right decision, followed the law and banned them. Wonder what the diff is here (he asked rhetorically)?

Anyhow, pics:


Unusually coherent









Didn't finish the thought.






Left over from the Columbus Day protest Saturday.



Zen around the fake Liberty Bell.



Construction workers eating lunch and getting ready to kick some hippie ass, but mostly eating lunch.

Update: Rosen keeps referring to the gathering as a "shantytown," which, since there are no shanties, is inaccurate but appropriately scornful.

Occupy somewhere or other

Had to be doontoon today, so brought my camera to check out the Occupy Wall Street spinoff protest at Denver's Civic Center Park. It was, um, sparsely attended. One thing must be said: However misguided their various beefs, these people were nice. Friendly. Sincere-seeming. And if Soros is funding this particular protest--what a cheapskate. Pics, por favor!


Three tents. That was it. Still, how come they get to camp overnight in a city park when even R!ecreate !68 wasn't allowed to?


"This is recycled!" he said. I think it was an old feedbag or something.



Occupy my face.



Where's the peroration?



Radical doing the Frug.



This duffer told me he'd been there for three days. "When the snow comes. That's when we'll know how strong we are."



No Tina.



They had some stuff, and handed it out to bum and protester alike. (There were far more of the former than the latter.)



Bum.



The medic station seemed to consist mostly of those toothbrush-'n-paste combo packets, which, again, they cheerfully handed out to all--even the toothless.



The word "divided" seems to have caused some problems, while what we get when we mess with them was apparently left to the imagination.



Focus!



Don't think so. More like Day Five.



Protester reading material.



Dale Carnegie was there in spirit.



This guy was proud he'd snagged the Boy Scout Handbook.







Of course, I had to force Billy Bob to wow the rubes:


Hardly anybody noticed.

Update: The Post has lots of pics of the various protests around the country.

BTW, see how I'm linking to the Post? That's because they've ended their contract with evil copyright suit-filer Righthaven.

Update II: There's supposed to be a march tomorrow. The D-blog may or may not attend, he said wanly.

Update III: Forgot about this card a guy gave me:


What do you want to be when you grow up, Johnny?

Update IV (8 October): No way I'm going downtown. First, there's the "Rock and Roll Marathon" wending its way around town and which the Post claims will draw more than 17,000 masochists (doubt it; it's 40 degrees and cold-drizzling right now); then, to my shock (well, ennui) there's the Columbus Day Parade and Protest, which, who knew? Anyhow, forget it. What a clusterfuck.

How do they know me so well?

Three spam e-mail headings, the first from one "Solitair Hutchins": "My willie in your jaw, jgm!" The second, from Kwaku Anokye, makes nearly the same statement: "My penis in your jaw, John." The third, from "Lucja Piejko," probably explains the first two: "John in fancy girl stockings?" (Why the question mark?)

Random memory trace(s)

Is this possible? I have the distinct memory of my father, Michael-Jackson-like, hanging me out over the parapet or whatever it's called on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I was seven or eight, so it must have been 1965 or 1966. I'm not googling or binging to find out what security measures, if any, were in place back then. But I remember it. Despite my dad being a very determined drunk, I wasn't afraid at all.

The reason I ask is, just the other day I was forced to watch Sleepless in Seattle (actually I rather like the movie--yes, mancard revoked) and I noticed that all the security fencing on the ESB (curved spikes included) was bolted on the original masonry. When did that happen?

One more trace, which I may have mentioned before. Daddio took the fambly to a circus that gave a tour of the animals if you showed up early. We were looking at the elephants when one of them wrapped his trunk around my neck, picked me up, gave me a look, and set me back down. This, according to witnesses, happened.

Memory traces?