Man, it’s 4AM and I’m still wide awake.  And I mean, mow the yard with a push-mower awake.

     It’s just not right.

     I’ve had this insomnia for … well … yeah, just more than a year.  Can’t sleep, no matter how hard I try.  Maybe it started as the restlessness of impending doom.
     Lovely people like to tell me, “It’s guilt that keeps you up at night!”  But it certainly isn’t guilt, and I just tell them, “Thanks!”

     Now, it’s the same thing.  No guilt.  More frustration. 
     A couple of weeks ago, I was prescribed Lunesta.  Nice one.  Calms my mind.  Makes me speak in coherent sentences.  Makes me dream, and remember.  I like that.
     But it sure as Hell doesn’t put me to sleep.

     I need sleep.

     Real sleep.

     Man, Swanky, maybe it was the greasers over the weekend that got you all worked up.  Maybe it was discussing politics with me where I clearly implicated both sides in screwing over the American Public. Maybe it was being tired and cranky and cantankerous (old man! heh).
     But … I’ve read Lilek’s article over and over, and I can’t figure out WHAT you’re talking about.

I’ve been reading the Bleat for years now and he has gone further and further into the business of being a grumpy guy and less and less being an amusing commentator on culture. He had the sense to move a lot of it to a separate blog. But today he just lost it. It sounds to me like the rantings of an “old guy” who can’t take the notion that he is a complete square. He spends a lot of words trying to discount any sort of counter culture sensibility as being stupid and has a bad habit of justifying things by pointing out that much much worse things are happening elsewhere in the world. Sort of like “Why are the namby pamby Democrats so up in arms about the goverment spying on them without warrants when North Korea has 100,000 people being tortured to death in secret prisons?” “Why get so up in arms about blacks being kept out of good schools in the 50s when Russia was killing thousands of people every month in Gulags?” Sad. That’s not an argument. Mis-direction.

I read most of the Bleat today and over and over it was just saying, this guy is really a stiff neck jerk. “How dare you rebel against a country that feeds you, Marlon Brando and James Dean!” Lileks, you are a sad old guy. Mr. Unhip. And that seems to make you crazy. You need to start allowing people to reply to your rants on your site. Dialog.

     James Dean was a product of his environment, as we all all are.  We all rage against the machine, some harder than others. But when we express our displeasure at whatever’s going on, isn’t it better to focus on facts rather than lefty-nutso ridiculouslness?

     And on that note, I’m gonna throw in Sinatra while I try and sleep.  I hope that’s not too Republican of me, wanting to sleep at 2:41AM.  😉

     As for James Dean, check out this this great Craigslist ad (tip: Link Right 2).

     I read this earlier today, and meant to blog it, but got busy and missed it.  This is News of the Weird type stuff:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli woman’s breast implants saved her life when she was wounded in a Hizbollah rocket attack during Israel’s war with the Lebanese group, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

Doctors found shrapnel embedded in the silicone implants, just inches from the 24-year-old’s heart.

“She was saved from death,” said a spokesman for Nahariya Hospital in northern Israel. The woman has been released from hospital

Source: Reuters

     Any jokes I could make about that are tasteless, so I digress.  And on that note…

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3457727537819073649&q=genre%3Acomedy+implants

     Ok, you have to see this scrape from Yahoo! News:

Full Coverage: Aviation Security

News Stories

• Electronics permitted onboard for U.S. travel  at Detroit Free Press, Aug 10
• At Metro Airport: Security lines thinning out  at Detroit Free Press, Aug 10
• New Security Rules Prompt Confusion  at The New York Times (reg. req’d), Aug 10
• Jets may be vulnerable to on-board bombs  AP via Yahoo! News, Aug 10

     That last headline kills me.  That is just … Wow.  Brilliant!

     Makes me wanna hire Matt Crenson, AP National Writer, and take advantage of his superior intellect.  I mean, with brains like that, he could be a Senator!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A18wmFzDG-o

     A friend of mine sent me this yesterday….

FORWARDED IN THE NAME OF PATRIOTISM

We all know that it is a sin for an Islamic male to see any woman other than his wife naked, and that he must commit suicide if he does.

So next Sunday at 4:00 PM Eastern time, all American women are asked to walk out of their house completely naked to help weed out any neighborhood terrorists.

Circling your block for one hour is recommended for this antiterrorist effort. All men are to position themselves in lawn chairs in front of their house to prove they are not terrorists, and to demonstrate that they think it’s okay to see nude women other than their wife and to show support for all American women.

And since the Koran also does not approve of alcohol, a cold six-pack at your side is further proof of your antiterrorist sentiment.

The American Government appreciates your efforts to root out terrorists and applauds your participation in this anti terrorist activity.

God bless America and GOD BLESS AMERICAN WOMEN!

     Of course, it’s offensive to anyone without a sense of humour.