Burrowowl

I’m glad to see that you think that Cindy Sheehan being arrested in the gallery of the House is somehow funny. What you just saw happening was an American citizen being put in irons for expressing a political opinion contrary to that of her government. My representative in congress, Lynne Woolsey, invited Mrs. Sheehan to the State of the Union tonight, as is her privilege as a duly-elected member of that legislative body.

I do not know precisely who made the decision to remove her from the building, but it seems to me that wearing a t-shirt with “2,245 Dead � How Many More??” printed on it does not in itself constitute unlawful behavior, and would not, in itself, cause any significant disruption to the presentation at hand. A government that cannot countenance peaceful protest and the airing of grievances against it is a government that should not be allowed to hold power. Whoever made the decision to remove Mrs. Sheehan should resign his or her position or be removed.

Shortly after the State of the Union speech concluded, I tuned in to MSNBC’s post-speech coverage, hosted by Chris Matthews. Repeatedly during the minutes after the speech, he laughed out loud in reference to the arrest. Upon interviewing one of my Senators, Dianne Feinstein, Matthews put to her a question relating the arrest to the possibility of a Senate bid by Sheehan against Feinstein. Again, the result was laughter, by both Matthews and the Senator. Shame on both of you. One of your constituents just became, quite literally, a political prisoner and you seem to think it’s a punchline.

A friend of mine recently pointed out that a drinking game has been published in anticipation of tonight’s State of the Union Address by George W. Bush. While I am, as a general policy, in favor of anything that encourages the irresponsible binge drinking of this country’s youth, there are certain qualities that must be borne in mind when creating such a list.

• The rules must be conducive to a hard-line interpretation of what “1 drink” means. 1 drink is a single ounce of hard liquor or a 12-ounce beer. Wine isn’t for drinking games.
• With the first guideline in mind, the list of triggers for a drink must be simple enough to keep track of while inebriated. No unnecessarily-nuanced or specific rules should be introduced.
• The human body is only capable of processing so much alcohol before its toxic effects will prematurely end the drinking game, possibly resulting in a slurred call to the paramedics, followed by a stomach-pumping or funeral. The anticipated total number of drinks should not exceed the limits of human physiology if roughly 3/4 of the rules are scrupulously obeyed. This is why most versions of the Star Wars Drinking Game are totally unacceptable.
• When compiling a list of rules, a great deal of editorial control is necessary in light of the above. Specifying a rule that can be reasonably expected to cause a drink to be consumed more than once per minute is simply unacceptable.
• The subject of a rule should be ironic or anthemic in a way that is readily-identifiable by those expected to participate. An excellent example of this would be “Drink any time half of congress gives a standing ovation” or “Drink any time a member of the opposition party is shown conspicuously not applauding.”
• Multiple-drink rules should be rare. These should be reserved for trigger conditions that are either highly ironic, likely to only happen a single time, or highly unlikely. Examples would include “Drink twice if the president commits sepukku,” “Drink twice if the Vice President chokes a puppy to death,” or “Drink twice if the Presidents mentions that his big Social Security Reform push fell flat on its face,” or “Drink twice if the President mentions Casey Sheehan by name.” Examples of things likely to happen only once would be “Drink twice if the President introduces an Iraq War veteran seated within two seats of the First Lady.”
• On that subject, the follow should be present: “Drink thrice if the token Iraq War veteran is not clearly of a minority ethnicity or female.”

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As mentioned previously, my former roommate is a mad scientist. His work on defying gravity continues with the successful launch of a triangular lifter measuring roughly two feet on each side (Budweiser can present to show scale). Next, I understand he’s going to build a magnetic gun. Keep your heads down, folks!

• Lifter in Action (MPG)
• Another flight (MPG)
• Showing oscilliscope (MPG)

Apologies for the lack of visibly-arcing electricity in these shots; apparently the assembly process has been improved upon at the expense of our entertainment.