WHAT THE %$^&%*$@!#& ?

That's all i can say about Roger's loss....
Still gathering my wits......
I haven't completely believed it yet.....
When I do, you'll see a post as to why that was all wrong....
I mean, after saving 6 match points wasn't he s'possed to win???
Suffice it to say: a guy that can save two matchpoints at deuce, when he's clearly not playing his best --- still God...

A denizen’s guide to being jobless in Sam’s Land

Eat more than you normally do (if that’s possible without getting sick 'cos nobody’s paying your health insurance).

Get your host to sign up for HBO on demand so you can watch every movie on the planet and yes, unlimited Sex and the city (they all have jobs alright, but their lives still suck more than yours does).

Take to NFL cos that’s the only thing you can watch on American TV ANYtime of the day or night.

To that end read “Idiot’s guide to Football” and realize you rank one rung lower than the idiot.

Go back to watching a game that makes sense when they start airing the first grand slam of the season if only for a fraction of a second (relative to American football) and scream your lungs out rooting for Federer, though he’s the last one on the tour that needs it.

Or here’s a better idea: Walk down to the nearest Barnes and Noble, grab a cappuccino at the cafe and sit down to read....

Books worth glancing at:

What’s the matter with Kansas
Thomas Frank (which reminds me, I have loved excerpts from his other book, ‘One Market Under God’ refuting the convoluted concept of free markets as an engine for democracy—amazingly well-written, though I have never gotten down to reading it).

Though What’s the matter with Kansas was written after the 2000 Election, it elegantly answers a very relevant question today--- How did the lowly-paid, blue collar worker (whose ideals and way of life are so obviously upheld and patronized by the Democratic policy) become a loyal Bush-loving red-stater? Other than the now-famous (and pain-stakingly resounding) ‘moral values’ concept, there is another perfectly valid answer. The “Two Americas” divide is not between John Edward’s rich and poor. In the mind of the average, small-town worker, the divide is between the intellectual irony-loving elite democrat living in the blue state and being paid to write legal briefs and economic reviews, the guy that thinks manual labor (the bread and butter of red-state America) is obsolete. Hence, these God-fearing, gun-loving moral-value-touting Americans are voting for Bush to wage war against Wall Street. Hear that? Waging a war against Wall Street and voting for Bush. Something sure is amiss there. And that is what Thomas Frank explores in this book. Tracing the history of the “great backlash” of populist conservatism, that essentially began as a fight of the little people against the high-flying liberal elite. The book actually makes sense out of the ridiculously fast-paced growth of conservatism in the country.

The Games Do Count
Brian Kilmeade (host of Fox and Friends—an attempt to show some patronage as my interest in the channel dwindles)

Tell me what games you play, I’ll tell you who you are. I was always a reserve on the high school basketball team. I have no complaints. I have quite a few certificates because of being reserve, which I wouldn’t have had I been on the team. But my point is, you play what you are in life. One of the reasons why I did better at athletic games as opposed to team games; so did a lot of my equally introverted friends.

Brian Kilmeade brings out that concept in a book where he describes celebrities (politicians, journalists and the like) as a portrayal of their sporting interests. It comes as no surprise that Jon Stewart’s idea of fun was hanging out with the guys in a bus and traveling to soccer games or that Bill O’Reilly thought he was a better player than a lot of guys on the high school football team though he himself was never on the team.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Dubya in the book that is bound to make you go searching for it:
“I loved the game [baseball] but frankly my talent didn’t match my enthusiasm.”
“ I took the game seriously but I never felt the pressure to be a better player than he [George Bush senior] was.”

I betcha he doesn’t feel the pressure in presidential debates either.

God’s Politics
Jim Wallis
An evangelical sees that ‘God bless America’ is found nowhere in the bible. Come on! How often does that happen?
A good book if you are wondering how faith in Jesus came to be known as pro-rich, pro-war and pro-American. And baffled by the republican claim that they speak for God and their monopoly on moral values. When faith asks that we do justice for the poor, why is the so-called religious party supporting enrichment of the wealthy? And when did abortion and gay marriage gain precedence as hot-button social issues over equality and justice for all, truth-telling, capital punishment and human rights?

Naked pictures of famous people
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart’s amazingly original style of humor is just as compelling in print as on celluloid. ‘Lack of Power: the Ford tapes’ is sure to get any political buff cracked up while “Martha Stewart’s vagina” will send many rolling on the floor with laughter. Particularly funny was his portrayal of the last supper as a dinner party at Jerry’s and Jesus’ crucifixion as a bachelor party gone awry!!

America: The Book, A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
By the writers of The Daily Show
Cheeky and irreverently brilliant, the Daily show team does what it does best----dissect American democracy and critique everyone responsible for it—including the pilgrims. While the graphic pictures are the high-point of the book, the “discussion questions” and “classroom activities” are downright ingenious. If not for the now-infamous naked pictures of the justices, I am all for introducing this marvelous fabrication as required reading in high school.