Yes, it's been quite a while since I've updated anything here. Blame it on a couple of factors: First of all, the Republican landslide victory in the last election still leaves me reeling. I'm sorry; call me opinionated, call me a left-wing communist hippie freak, but giving free reign to the party most self-interested and sympathetic to big business and with a pretty clearly demonstrated disinterest in the welfare of the people--ALL the people--of this country cannot be a good thing. And shame on the Democrats for not effectively presenting themselves as a calmer, more intelligent, informed, and level-headed alternative to the sort of war-mongering, fear-mongering distraction tactics the other guys have been using to cover up their own evil doings. Because, let's face it, the one sure thing the Middle East could do to keep the US from getting involved in any of its affairs is to simply declare that they're out of oil.

Speaking of our greedy, oil-consuming citizenry, I recently heard of a church-based campaign to better the environment by reducing the number of SUVs in the world. And I can't help but feel a little conflicted. I mean, on the one hand, any efforts to remove these schoolbus-sized monstrosities from the face of the earth is a good thing. (I drive a small pickup truck, and I can't find it in parking lots.) On the other hand, isn't the fact that these gas-guzzling behemoths are major contributors to the destruction of our environment, let alone the oil dependency that is helping fuel (pun intended) the conflicts in the Middle East and terrorist activity enough? I mean, if someone can't be bothered to pay attention to that sort of evidence, what does it say about their simple-minded inability to form coherent thought if they will be pushed over the edge once Jesus's name is dragged into it? Gah!

Okay, clearly things have been building within me the past few weeks, and it feels good to finally say them. And I hope to be posting more regularly soon, but my computer still hasn't been fixed since the viral attack. (Nothing to do with Al Quaeda terrorists, honest.) Apparently, what needs to be done is I need to format the hard drive and reinstall everything. I had a friend who was going to help me with that, but it hasn't really worked out. So, I'm going to go it alone. I figure, if my goal is to wipe out all the data on my hard drive, how can I screw that up?

One or two TV tidbits, before I go: Birds of Prey has been canceled, and that's disappointing. It would seem that Robbery Homicide Division will probably go the same way, since CBS opted to show a rerun of CSI in its place last Friday. And it would seem Firefly is hanging on by a thread as well. So please, watch these shows while you can.