Pearl Harbor Day
Sixty-three years ago, to paraphrase President Roosevelt, air and sea forces of the Empire of Japan launched an unprovoked attack on the United States of America, forever changing America's role in the world. Before the Second World War was over, Japan, Germany, and most of Europe would lie in ashes; the atomic genie would be loosed on an unsuspecting world; and America's stubborn streak of isolationism would finally take a backseat to our interventionalist revolutionary zeal. History teaches only hard lessons: without the villainy of the day of infamy, the United States would not have been in a position to resist the winner of the Nazism-Communism death struggle, and the Cold War, whomever the opponent, would not have ended well for democracy and freedom.

But for today, let us just remember those 2,900 souls who were killed on a beautiful Sunday morning in Hawai'i. You will never be forgotten.

Vote For Kodos - Apocalyp$e Now
Did you know that the US federal budget deficit is now so large that within 3-5 years it will exert a destablizing gravitational force on the Sun and trigger a premature supernova? Wow! We've had budget deficits before, we'll have budget deficits again, and the sky is not in fact falling.

"No, those piggies are for science. Science!"

Last night, I had IM conversations with Skeeter, Friendster Girl, Kiel (pronounced "Kyle" for all you Newsletter readers), and Captain Malice. I remember conventional human interaction... but only vaguely. It's like a dream you remember having, you just don't know what it was about.

Note to self: you might actually want to buy some Christmas presents before it's, you know, Christmas.

Books I've Read...
{A Selection of Contemporary Authors}

...by Tobias Wolff
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
Back in the World
This Boy's Life
In Pharoah's Army
The Night in Question
Old School

I have not yet read the novella The Barracks Thief

...by Chuck Palahniuk
Fight Club
Survivor
Invisible Monsters
Choke
Lullaby
Diary

...by Nick Hornby
Fever Pitch
High Fidelity
About a Boy
How to be Good

...by Lucinda Rosenfeld
What She Saw...
Why She Went Home

...by Steve Martin
Pure Drivel
Shopgirl

And yes, I'll put my own eyes out before I read The Da Vinci Code.