It just seems odd to me. Our fighting generals who walked right in and toppled Saddam even under the supposed threat of bio attacks. I cannot explain their hesitancy to go in and get al-Sadr. He's gotta' go. But all the military can do is reason with him and shoot back if fired on. They've been lolli-gagging on the outskirts for weeks, negotiating. Why? He's sitting on a hornet's nest. If y'all find a hornet's nest in the rafters you can put it off, but eventually you're gonna' have to confront it.

Even the music trade magazines haven't caught on to the depth of what just happened. It only garnered two paragraphs and no editorial comment. Gibson successfully sued Paul Reed Smith for making a guitar that looks vaguely like a Gibson Les Paul. Actually, the PRS looks nicer and costs more, but that's beside the point. The point is that there are hundreds of guitar factories across the planet cranking out guitars that look exactly like a Les Paul. And Strats, and SG's and Explorers and Flying V's and ES-335's. Gibson (and Fender) could easily close the import guitar market because these are the only guitar shapes these people know how to make.

Interesting day. Oh yeah, I turned fourty-eight, but who's counting? Nah, the interesting part is that I just paid all the bills. And they were drawn on funds that came from the store. It took almost two-and-a-half years to make enough money to pay about two months worth of bills. But hey, it's a start.