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Ben & Jerry's just recently announced the addition of a new flavor... Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream.  No word on when this will hit stores, but soon hopefully. 

So I will now use this time to plug my band's farewell show again.

Saturday March 17th @ the Dome.  Show starts at 6:30, but we will be playing at about 8.  So if you are going to the Fishlips extravaganza, you might want to head out, if only for an hour, to come witness this final event.  If you RSVP with me here, then I can arrange for a discount from the $7 cover charge.  And hey, there is beer there.  So C'mon... I mean.... C'mon eh?

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As of more recently we've become bombarded with this new political phenomenon known as Barack Obama.  This charismatic senator from Illinois has, as of late, begun to attract the attention of a vast array of supporters for his recently announced 2008 presidential candidacy. 

However, in true mainstream media fashion, there is always a jump on trying to 'expose' the seamy underbelly of political candidates.  So in order to save you time and energy, I've compiled a list of character detriments which have been revealed through cunning expository journalism by a number of different news outlets which will serve best to deter you from even thinking about researching Obama's politics.  Ready?...

-         Barack Obama does in fact...lean toward the left of the political spectrum

-         Barack Obama's name not only contains the middle name Hussein, but his last name rhymes with Osama as well, which, as we all know, means that his political agenda is going to parallel that of Saddam and Osama, just as George Bush's politics has paralleled a variety of shrubbery. 

-         Barack Obama does in fact... smoke cigarettes! This, I believe, is the key to destroying his campaign altogether!  Nobody in the history of the United States has ever had any aspect of their person carry a flaw as heinous as smoking occasionally!

-         Barack Obama is in fact...Black.

My favorite aspect of this candidate's list of critical (flaws?) is the fact that he is a black man.  Unless of course, you yourself are black, then he is not really black.  He's more African-African American than African-American.  He just hasn't felt the sting of slavery (as every single black citizen of America has been subject to).  It stings my soul to hear people prattle on about how there is so much racism in this country and how "the Man" is keeping the black society down, and when a candidate arises that, as of yet, seems to have a fighting chance, he is "not black enough!"  I agree though, I think we should try to get Tupac Shakur elected as the next president.  Hell, we all know he isn't really dead anyway!  Or better yet, P. Diddy would suffice.  He is already so politically involved, what with his Vote or Die! campaign which has worked so well in mobilizing the youth.

There is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama's race has helped to build public intrigue and push his media exposure, but is that necessarily a bad thing?  And from the perspective of modern marketing and advertising, doesn't it usually take new packaging to reintroduce society to features which may have been previously overlooked?  If he were white and with the same ideologies, he probably would not be receiving the attention he has gained, but as far as I'm concerned, if all it takes for attention to be paid is that a candidate must be black, then let him have it.  I'd rather have his initial popularity be based upon skin color if that is going to help pave way for, as Obama puts it, "...a different kind of politics."  His strong articulation and personable nature, however, have certainly not hurt this grand-scaled constituent swooning.

True, one should not let their vote go to the first person with a vibrant smile and strong voice.  The same can be said, however, for non-sequitur blast campaigns.  Read up and then get build a conclusion.  The key phrase there is "Read Up."

GM just downsized and I am now out of a job.  So if anyone knows of something, preferrably interesting, for 15 hours a week (more during non-school summer), please let me know :)

Otherwise, you can all make me feel better by joining my band for our last show on March 17th @ the Dome.  6 pm  $7.  I mean, I've lost my job, and my band.  Have sympathy for me :( :( :(

Dominated by your roundabout pathways 
And open wounds scream louder than shrill degradations
In titles that reach G-d until sunset, from which the shrew pouts into play  
The cancer of the sun collected dust in your eyes
And it buried you before you could choke out your way 

Sirens with aesthetic counts of leech
Devour progress with phallic allusions and tendancy 
With mock dresses whose threading was pining for silk
Touched the entrails of the boar to feel at home
And shield itself from autumns breath

Because your mirrors are broken, as mine are as well
But to stand mourning their loss over cyclical reason
Has left your humanity, as operation, a manic divide
Astranged runs the sheep from its masochist flock
With the smile of insecurity, and the scowl of its child

And all the while the bloated belly of epiphany
was more of a knife to the gut than a way out
Cutting through the bag would mean acknowledging freedom
And it was never freedom that was in doubt
Because its fashionably cold and savvily heated
To use color on your pallette would to give favor to Edith

"So I interviewed this person, I need not mention his name, but he was someone in public life; and when I examined him, my experience went something like this, fellow Athenians: in conversing with him, I formed the opinion that, although the man was thought to be wise by many other people, and especially by himself, yet in reality he was not. So I then tried to show him that he thought himself wise without being so. I thereby earned his dislike, and that of many people present: but still, as I went away, I thought to myself: 'I am wiser than that fellow, anyhow. Because neither of us, I dare say, knows anything of great value: but he thinks he knows a thing when he doesn't: whereas I neither know it in fact, nor think that I do. At any rate, it appears that I am wiser than he in just this one small aspect: if I do not know something, I do not think so." -Plato, "Apologia Sokratous"