rock over London. rock on, Chicago.

edit: scrubbed.

the biggest fish to fry yet in the RNC lesbian-bondage club affair: Michael Steele’s chief of staff.  I would bet that this doesn’t have as much to do with this guy’s or Steele’s actual involvement in putting in a strip-club trip on the Republican National Committee dime, and more to do with the fact that the party’s establishment (read: old, white crackers) doesn’t like Steele’s fundraising prowess.
what makes this interesting — and a nonstory at the same time – is they can’t do anything about it. because the people who voted him in, the RNC delegates, apparently don’t give a shit about stories like the strip-club thing. they don’t live in DC, they don’t read Politico. they’re focusing on winning primaries and state elections. now, generally speaking, I hope they crash and burn in their efforts, because I’m not a Republican by any stretch of the term (what a bombshell). but at least, you know, they’re being proactive about their situation, and not fucking worrying about appearances, about the fact that the figurehead isn’t a white guy who’s sufficiently subservient to the Kabal of elderly wasps that runs the RNC. they don’t like Steele? well, it seems that’s just tough. they don’t get a say, they don’t have a vote, and the rank and file who do think he’s fine. so fuck them.
and if he’s forced him out, which is how he’d go if the criticism keeps a head of steam, it’ll say a lot about the influence of the political elite in the Grand Old Party. and it’s be another reason why you should never donate to those assholes in the first place.

fucking Duke won the goddamn national championship. god is dead. the ill will this event generated in its happening manifested itself on the Blue Ridge Parkway about five hours ago.
and earlier, a mine exploded West Virginia.
holy crap. don’t hike the Appalachians.

I made a stupid a couple of days ago that I forgot to note.
signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon in … November? I think it’s in November. either way, I did it through Aarti’s brother’s childhood cancer foundation (I will be shaking people down for donations in the coming months), and then mentioned it to my dad.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but to recap: my dad was in the Marines. my grandfather was in the Marines. my mom completed an OTC in the summer of 1969. my parents met at Quantico. etc.
the Marine Corps Marathon isn’t the only marathon in DC, but its the older and more established of the two. it fills up quickly, as well. so I got in early, and told dad on the phone: “oh yeah, dad, I forgot to tell you. I signed up for the Marine Corps.” used the shorthand.
this would give most anyone pause. but it probably made dad — who was returing from his nine-to-five at Quantico when I told him — just about drive off the side of 95.

I am dumb. sign up for the marathon here.