"My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or entered some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk;"

--John Keats (1795-1821)

You said it, Johnny baby! It's really been one of those decades. In addition to being depressed about the incorrigible romantic idiocy of my best friend, and overwhelmed by house and yard work that I have absolutely no inclination to do, I am now completely unable to send anything through my primary e-mail account (a possible computer virus) and I grow increasingly weary of politics. I managed to drag myself out of bed today and even do the dishes, but all I feel like doing is lolling about languidly like some Lake Poet, doing British crossword puzzles.

I have been having second (and third) thoughts about Dennis Kucinich. I admire the hell out of the man, but he did vote in favor of that legislative Trojan Horse, the Flag Desecration Amendment. I got involved in a heated discussion on the Kucinich4President newsgroup, discovering that there are practitioners of Flagianity on the left as well as the right. Howard Dean (whatever his perceived shortcomings when viewed beside St. Dennis) might be the one to whoop for after all. I don't want to burn Old Glory, but if the Amendment is passed I might just be tempted. Codified PATRIAUTISM is just another tool of the far right to stifle dissent and make questioning our (unelected) leaders seem un-American.

I have to unsubscribe to all these newsgroups. They are just sapping my energy and wasting hours of my life. To Hell with it. To Hell with politics, religion, controversy, EVERYTHING. That Keats kid (obviously a Democrat) gets the last word:

"And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake
And no birds sing."