guapacha.com

I suppose that if CostCo has Christmas decorations for sale in September, I should not be surprised that the local stores have switched to “winter fashion” and its now impossible to buy a short-sleeved shirt anywhere. Only long sleeve lumberjack shirts and nice wool-knit sweaters for sale now. Don’t worry that the temps are still in the high 90s and, lets face it, aren’t going much below 90 even in the “winter”. This is Southern California and, dammit, we’ll wear scarves and down jackets even if its still 75F out, even if we do look stupid.

So… the Pope makes a remark in where he quotes a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only “evil and inhuman” things, and Muslims get a little pissed. The Pope says he’s sorry they took it that way but doesn’t say he’s sorry he said it, and Muslims get a bit more pissed and start killing nuns, burning churches, the usual stuff. No “evil and inhuman” in that response, then.

As somebody put it on the BBC News website, if I was to go stand outside a Mosque shouting for the clerics to renounce the violence I’d probably be put in jail. But when its the other way around, its called exercising their right to free speech (and free hatred). Its a lot like immigration these days. The only people with rights are those who seek to change the way of life of everyone around them rather than fit in themselves: criticise and you’re an anti-fill in the blank, and intolerant. Surely, if you don’t like the (ahem) “white christian oppression” then go somewhere else. It really does seem pretty simple.

Anway, props to the Pope for sticking to his guns (and the way its going, he may need them for real).

Last night was the start of the third season of Dancing With the Stars. Despite some problems with the show, I was a big fan of the previous two seasons but last night’s show was just so boring. I think perhaps it just went on too long, or maybe the stars just weren’t very interesting or recognisable. The football star was better than last year’s but didn’t deserve any standing ovations; its only one show and already everyone is showing the same old biases. The judges are already bickering and, like with American Idol, it isn’t entertaining any more. There were some highlights: I loved the foxtrot by Vivica A. Fox and the ex-Miss USA contestant. Jerry Springer was fun to watch, and any time Karina Smirnoff is on screen is a good time by anyone’s standards.

Yep, the American football season in about to start and we haven’t yet got rid of that awful bore, the baseball season. Ugh, it gets so I’m scared to put on the TV lest I catch any of it and go into a boredom-induced coma.

Oh no, the east coast is suffering a heat index of 115F – call out the national guard, the world is ending. Out in Brawley, its been an actual 115F for a lot of the time, and will be again and stay that way before the summer is out. So do what we do, turn up the a/c, strip down to your undies, and lay in front of a fan.

P.S. Don’t tell me that its ok because it’s a “dry heat” :-)