Headstone in Rome.

First and foremost, I waited last night until 12:01am to truly celebrate the demise of the Bush Administration, the most ugly and demeaning Presidency that I think I can even recall, even flipping through the texts of history books.

Part of me is very vanilla, though, about the swearing in of Obama. So many years ago, on those same steps is where Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. stood and delivered perhaps on of the most inspirational speeches in American history.

I truly feel now that all those years that parents have told their children, "you can be anything you want to be" is a very valid, very true and attainable goal. That despite color, you can go far.

But thats where those lines end. We've still yet to have homosexual Presidents. Think about it: That administration would be FABULOUS! But we've yet to have a President stand there and not say he didn't believe in this Christian God, or anything of that sort. We haven't had a woman President yet.

As long as your dick's bent straight, as long as you have a dick, as long as you worship that same God, we welcome you with open arms.

Everyone wants to say Obama is the savior of America. Hope is that powerful equalizer that brings everyone down to an even-set playing field; no one is above or below those lines of wanting change for something positive, hoping that things can be corrected.

I voted for Obama, I'll make no qualms about that.

But there isn't really a discernible difference between he, and Bush on paper. They both were in favor of the Patriot Act.

I know when I'm being lied too. I know that Obama being where he is, is solely because he IS a black man. If people wanted real, tangible change, they'd have voted for Ron Paul. But he's a creation by an organization to polish the turd thats become our political processes. And truth be told, it might have always been a turd, it was just never this stinky.

He's here simply to polish that turd and try to pass it off as a diamond, and I'm just not buying into it. No one will want to hold this guy accountable for what he's saying and doing because he doesn't stutter when he speaks, and he can look a camera in the eye without laughing, and he won't be called out for a spade being a spade...and my head might fucking explode.

Dance puppet, dance.

Five years ago, 15 normal American's outside of Illinois knew who this man was. He'd barely gotten time to get his ass in that Senators seat, much less even get it warm before it was auctioned off on Ebay. Now he was thrown into the waves of the Presidential race.

And don't get me wrong, I like that he wasn't there long enough to become a visible person of "politics and usual", but honestly, what the hell?

He didn't even have enough time to make his politics in CHICAGO, let alone AMERICA something known. Thats why so little dirt was had on this guy.

What I'm saying is, and not trying to come off like some crazy fucking Anarchist conspiratorial whack-job, is that after all of this death and destruction...we will still wantonly accept these hand outs, and eat it up like we were starved for nachos, and Uncle Sam was doling out Government Cheese.

Here, let me put it in a different context: Take N'sync and Backstreet Boys. For you kiddies out there, thats the equivalent today of Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At the Disco. They were pre-packaged to make money off of adolescent girls, and horny cougars.

Eventually people will despise this man. There is no Shangri-La. But it won't ever be for the proper reasons. He wants to bring troops out of Iraq. Celebrate good times!...except those kids are on their way to Afghanistan. And I wouldn't be surprised if their tour of duties weren't retroactive to their Iraqi tours, meaning they start from scratch.

And Afghanistan, when you think about it, is worse than Iraq! What are we fighting?? For what? Do you ever remember anymore? It's still a war that was defiant of the UN, and by supporting that while condemning Bush is still...politics as usual.

The Who once said, "Meet the new boss...same as the old boss."

He's got a different color of skin, and thats it. Whether you support the war efforts or not, thats neither here nor there. We need to look up the word accountability and apply it to situations that our leaders place us in, because it's our money. It's our homes, it's our reputations, and god damn it...it's our lives, and our friends/childrens/mothers/fathers/sisters/brothers lives at stake. Even the most timid of animals will fight to the death to protect their flock.

We're too busy popping champagne because our struggle is over.

The Boxer Brief Chronicles.

Hey guys, I just wanted to do a quick update on the writing front. Of course I do a daily update at Days Gone By, and a weekly update of For Your Consideration. But lately I've also been writing and working on a book of short stories, which recently I unveiled the title over at Days Gone By. It will be called File Under Powerviolence. I have a few people interested in talking about publishing it, which I was told the other day is practically unheard of when a relatively unknown, young writer (I'm only 23) to get published.

So I decided to take care of the unknown thing.

A few months back during the D4 fiasco, which if you're up to date on Piss and Vinegar, you know a thing or two about. Well, one of the people who didn't like what I'd done during that event (an editor at Punk News) wrote an article on his site, Bitter Press, called Plugging the Leak.

If you know anything about Bitter Press, you know that guy is awesome and he gives a lot of unheard of authors a chance to be a little bit heard. After the fiasco we talked a bit, and an invitation was extended to submit a story for his site, and I accepted.

Fast-forward five months:

I recently submitted a story near and dear to me as I wrote it called Shootin' At a Mound of Dirt. It's picked up some steam (it's on fucking Digg!) from word of mouth, etc.

Truth is I'm doing this all alone, and this is my passion. I really appreciate everyone who's jumped on board, and I hate to ask this but please...without word of mouth, I'm going nowhere, and I mean fast. Check it out on Digg. Check it out on Bitter Press. You like it? Digg it. You hate it? Do the opposite of that. Leave a comment, and please...just share the link. I've worked really hard, and I'm finally seeing some of that pay off, but without the help of people reading this...I'm dead in the water.

Thank you guys so much. Piss and Vinegar ain't dead, I swear it. I just want to keep my blood pressure low, but if I were a betting man...I'd say the Tuesday, and the 24th look like mighty fine days to check back up on old Piss and Vinegar.

The Zionist Zeig Heil!

Israel, can you please calm the fuck down? I mean, my God whats next? Interment camps? Maybe, and this might not be such a bad fucking idea, but maybe you might want to look into acid showers and opening back up the gates of Auschwitz and really teach those god damned dirty Palestinians a thing or two.

The title of "God's Chosen People" can only go so fucking far, because to be quite honest I don't see God around anywhere with a generals helmet on leading tanks into war.

America might pull some fancy, cutesy bullshit once and a while when we dip into the Middle East, but you sit right in the middle of it all and constantly poke and prod. And I get that you're a people that have been through thousands of years of suffering, but do you even realize that you are slowly turning into the Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of the World Stage? I'm half expecting you to stroll down the Gaza Strip in Trench Coats reciting some real Old Testament judgment (you know, the kind where God smote people for taking dumps and not lighting a scented candle afterwards.) Oh wait....you already are.

What makes your plight any different than that of Africa's, of the Irish, of the Native American's or every Gandhi-esque figure that ate the butt of a riffle because they wanted freedom? A wall and some Dead Sea scrolls?

Your actions with bombing Lebanese civilians to retaliate against their troops is nothing short of Hitler instituting the Holocaust. But now with the Palestinians over what? Because they want some land that is rightfully theirs, yet you feel is due to you because your God promised it? Guess what? You share the same God.


Maybe God's been two timing you both. I've seen it a hundred times. Maybe God's a player. "Sure baby, your my only one and I've promised this land for ya. Who loves you the most?" He just gave you both different names...but it's the same guy.


Palestinians know him as Allah, Jews might know him as Yahweh...we American's simply know him as the dude that lets our favorite football team win the Superbowl.


So maybe God's a player and never expected you two to be in the same room. And by golly, it surely is a bit awkward now, but trust me baby, he loves you the most.


The blame lies here solely with Israel, and it pains me to say that to an extent, but theres only so much bullshit one can absorb before you have to hold the incompetent on trial for their transgressions. Theres no need, in this modern world and society for a need to be a Zionist. There simply isn't. We've progressed to the point where we don't have to rely on trading sheep and cattle for the neighbors virgin daughter. We have e-harmony and MySpace now, so...you know...it's okay to step into the modern world, if only for a minute.


Theres always going to be aged people who are book smart, but do not know their pinkies from their dicks, and for the past eight years thats really been an indicative statement of America. But now I have to wonder if the rest of the world will hold Israel in just as much equal contempt as we've felt for our transgressions now that they are instituting "guerrilla warfare" and civilian hand-to-hand combat.

If it takes the rest of the modern world shunning and ostracizing Israel until they fuck right off about the Gaza Strip, and remove the collective holy sticks from their asses and realize that what they are doing is no different than what they suffered through during Egypt, Rome and Nazi Germany's Third Reich, then so be it.

This isn't a slight against Jewish people whatsoever, either. The truth of the matter though, is that each and every single gathering of people be it; Southerners, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Blacks, Mexicans, Asians, Irish, Russians...what the shit ever, it's always the minority of morons that think they know whats best for everyone else.

But this, coupled with America's involvement in the Middle East these past few years...I just don't see how the addition of our "most trusted Allies" jumping on the wagon of pummeling those dirty, dirty non-believers is not going to result in World War Three with an A-Bomb the size of Texas not being dropped on either one, or both of us.

Calm. The. Fuck. Down.

If you wanna measure dicks, make it a side bet during some other pissing contest over the Wailing Wall or something. But innocent people are suffering because your pimp God spoke to you louder.