the ipod goal is $399 for the new 40 GB ipod with better battery life and all that jazz.

after just two days it’s only $160 away.

this experiment was only supposed to annoy you for one day. im sorry it has taken so long, and to prove that i mean it i promise that this silly little shakedown will end tomorrow night (wednesday).

i appreciate everyone being so cool about this, especially those of you who have flowed, including the following who donated their hard earned greenbacks today

13. Jim H. $10

14. kimbalina $10

15. josh $10

16. jonathan S. $10

17. David M. $20

a blogging problem. i know that theres nothing i can do to control it, so i dont try to control it.

what i dont know is why i cant get someone to let me blog for them.

and yes, ive asked people to let me do it.

for a pretty reasonable rate, if you ask me.

last night i got home, talked on the phone to a nice young woman who told me all sorts of sex stories. some about big strong men and what she likes them to do to her. some about pretty little women and what she likes to do to them.

it was driving me nuts, and because she lives on the other side of the country i asked her to leave me be so i could make some dinner. but instead she told me about how great i was with her back in the days where she and i had sex.

so i stayed on the phone a few more minutes to let her finish her thought.

and then my true love called, and we talked. and then i had to finish watching Big Brother from last week.

and then i found it was 10pm and it was time for me to start watching the 7 hours of C-SPAN coverage of the DNC convention.

now i am no political expert, and i hope i dont come across as being one.

i am the embodiment of a monday morning quarterback when it comes to politics. i know enough to be dangerous, i have access to the web, i have access to some very smart people who tell me if im way off base or sorta off base.

and then i have you.

after about 10 minutes of the convention i knew i wanted to blog all of it. all 7 hours.

i knew there was no way i could do that and get to bed at 3am, which is my bedtime when i know i want to do something big on my blog, as that will afford me four hours of beauty sleep.

which explains my rugged looks.

and now im writing you at 4:20pm, my second 15 minute break, because i HAVE to write because i feel like i havent written anything chit-chatty all day.

its a problem i have, and i am searching for someone to take advantage of it.

if i worked for a newspaper that said, pierce, i want two columns a day and a news article, i would say, sure thing boss.

if i worked for a website that said, tony, we want you to contribute to this group blog five times during the day and three times at night, i would say, sign me up.

but instead i get people who are all, whazza blog?

or i get people who go BRILLIANT, i’ll get back to you. but they dont get back to me.

i look around the blogosphere and nobody is doing half of what i do. some give snarkly little partisan links. some write once or twice a week. some bitch and moan in little paragraphs, but how many of them do all the things i do? mixing it up between writing fake shit and real shit, the photos, the links to the kids and the adults, the sports, the politics, the dating, the violence?

i could bust with the poems if im forced to.

i WILL bust with the poems if im forced to.

and yet my emails dont get returned. and yet i dont get respect from those in high places, and i get called out when i simply ask for a trinket from the blogosphere, an ipod.

begging, they accused me. as if i would fucking beg for an ipod.

all im doing is what the good book suggests, which is asking in order to receive.

and i have received. and i will add to the list of people who have flowed, but i cant right now because my break is nearly over.

all i want to do, in closing, is thank all of you for contributing in all the ways that you contribute. i appreciate the nice comments, and the nice emails. i appreciate the money and the gifts and the ladies who fly here and let me have my way with them.

which happens more than i let on.

and mostly i am appreciative to your readership. which is all that i really need. regardless if you comment, or flow, or flash.

writers need readers and this writer is thankful.

so, thank you for enabling my addiction.

cellar door guitar + the mollusk + popie

i wish i could say the same for his wife, but shes got some time to brush off the stiffness that happens when you try to sound like a senator.

when hillary just talks, shes fine.

when she measures her speech and mimics all the other fakers that came before her, she sounds like just another faker.

bill is as smooth as it gets. hes a better communicator than probably anyone on the planet.

too bad he’s been defanged of pretty much any power.

however, once in a while, like last night, he can show the world how it’s done.

here are some excerpts of the substance, you’ll have to watch cspan this weekend to get (and feel) the style. which, regardless of how you stand with him on his politics, is amazing to watch.

“We think the role of government is to give people the tools and conditions to make the most of their lives. Republicans believe in an America run by the right people, their people, in a world in which we act unilaterally when we can, and cooperate when we have to.

“They think the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their political, economic, and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on matters like health care and retirement security. Since most Americans are not that far to the right, they have to portray us Democrats as unacceptable, lacking in strength and values. In other words, they need a divided America. But Americans long to be united. After 9/11, we all wanted to be one nation, strong in the fight against terror. The president had a great opportunity to bring us together under his slogan of compassionate conservatism and to unite the world in common cause against terror.

“Instead, he and his congressional allies made a very different choice: to use the moment of unity to push America too far to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their jobs, but in withdrawing American support for the Climate Change Treaty, the International Court for war criminals, the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

12. devoy johnson $30

“Now they are working to develop two new nuclear weapons which they say we might use first. At home, the President and the Republican Congress have made equally fateful choices indeed. For the first time ever when America was on a war footing, there were two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which went to the top one percent.

“I’m in that group now for the first time in my life.

“When I was in office, the Republicans were pretty mean to me. When I left and made money, I became part of the most important group in the world to them. At first I thought I should send them a thank you note – until I realized they were sending you the bill.

“They protected my tax cuts while:

– Withholding promised funding for the Leave No Child Behind Act, leaving

over 2 million children behind

– Cutting 140,000 unemployed workers out of job training

– 100,000 working families out of child care assistance

– 300,000 poor children out of after school programs

– Raising out of pocket healthcare costs to veterans

– Weakening or reversing important environmental advances for clean air

and the preservation of our forests.

“Everyone had to sacrifice except the wealthiest Americans, who wanted to do their part but were asked only to expend the energy necessary to open the envelopes containing our tax cuts. If you agree with these choices, you should vote to return them to the White House and Congress. If not, take a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats.

“In this year’s budget, the White House wants to cut off federal funding for 88,000 uniformed police, including more than 700 on the New York City police force who put their lives on the line on 9/11. As gang violence is rising and we look for terrorists in our midst, Congress and the President are also about to allow the ten-year-old ban on assault weapons to expire. Our crime policy was to put more police on the streets and take assault weapons off the streets. It brought eight years of declining crime and violence. Their policy is the reverse, they’re taking police off the streets and putting assault weapons back on the streets. If you agree with their choices, vote to continue them. If not, join John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats in making America safer, smarter, and stronger.

“On Homeland Security, Democrats tried to double the number of containers at ports and airports checked for Weapons of Mass Destruction. The one billion dollar cost would have been paid for by reducing the tax cut of 200,000 millionaires by five thousand dollars each. Almost all 200,000 of us would have been glad to pay 5,000 dollars to make the nearly 300 million Americans safer-but the measure failed because the White House and the Republican leadership in the House decided my tax cut was more important – If you agree with that choice, re-elect them. If not, give John Kerry and John Edwards a chance.

“These policies have turned the projected 5.8 trillion dollar surplus we left-enough to pay for the baby boomers retirement-into a projected debt of nearly 5 trillion dollars, with a 400 plus billion dollar deficit this year and for years to come. How do they pay for it? First by taking the monthly surplus in Social Security payments and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to cover my tax cut. But it’s not enough. They are borrowing the rest from foreign governments, mostly Japan and China. Sure, they’re competing with us for good jobs but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers? If you think it’s good policy to pay for my tax cut with the Social Security checks of working men and women, and borrowed money from China, vote for them. If not, John Kerry’s your man.

“We Americans must choose for President one of two strong men who both love our country, but who have very different worldviews: Democrats favor shared responsibility, shared opportunity, and more global cooperation. Republicans favor concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for themselves and more unilateral action. I think we’re right for two reasons: First, America works better when all people have a chance to live their dreams. Second, we live in an interdependent world in which we can’t kill, jail, or occupy all our potential adversaries, so we have to both fight terror and build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists. We tried it their way for twelve years, our way for eight, and then their way for four more.

“By the only test that matters, whether people were better off when we finished than when we started, our way works better-it produced over 22 million good jobs, rising incomes, and 100 times as many people moving out of poverty into the middle class. It produced more health care, the largest increase in college aid in 50 years, record home ownership, a cleaner environment, three surpluses in a row, a modernized defense force, strong efforts against terror, and an America respected as a world leader for peace, security and prosperity.

“More importantly, we have great new champions in John Kerry and John Edwards. Two good men with wonderful wives-Teresa a generous and wise woman who understands the world we are trying to shape. And Elizabeth, a lawyer and mother who understands the lives we are all trying to lift. Here is what I know about John Kerry. During the Vietnam War, many young men – including the current president, the vice president and me-could have gone to Vietnam but didn’t. John Kerry came from a privileged background and could have avoided it too. Instead he said, send me.

“When they sent those swift-boats up the river in Vietnam, and told them their job was to draw hostile fire-to show the American flag and bait the enemy to come out and fight-John Kerry said, send me. When it was time to heal the wounds of war and normalize relations with Vietnam-and to demand an accounting of the POWs and MIAs we lost there-John Kerry said, send me.

“When we needed someone to push the cause of inner-city kids struggling to avoid a life of crime, or to bring the benefits of high technology to ordinary Americans, or to clean the environment in a way that creates jobs, or to give small businesses a better chance to make it, John Kerry said send me.

“Tonight my friends, I ask you to join me for the next 100 days in telling John Kerry’s story and promoting his plans. Let every person in this hall and all across America say to him what he has always said to America: Send Me. The bravery that the men who fought by his side saw in battle I’ve seen in the political arena. When I was President, John Kerry showed courage and conviction on crime, on welfare reform, on balancing the budget at a time when those priorities were not exactly a way to win a popularity contest in our party.

“Their opponents will tell you to be afraid of John Kerry and John Edwards, because they won’t stand up to the terrorists – don’t you believe it. Strength and wisdom are not conflicting values – they go hand in hand. John Kerry has both. His first priority will be keeping America safe.

“Remember the scripture: Be Not Afraid.”

the entire speech is here

blog experiment shakedown blegging show is almost over.

in less than 24 hours, you, the good readers of the busblog have donated $140 of your hard earned cash. and for that i am humbled and grateful.

thank you, kind souls.

that means that we only need 13 people today to flow $20.

thirteen, my favorite number.

7. c. rockwell $5

8. t. bradeen $20

9. mark p (from the UK!) $10

10. j. ford $10.01

11. sylkk $20

thirteen the difference between life and death.

ok maybe its not that dramatic, but…

heres what some of you are saying as you flow:

“i read your blog every day tony, you deserve an ipod!”

“Your blog gives me something to do when things are quiet at work, and for that I think you deserve an iPod. Good luck reaching your target!”

“here ya go man. thanks for making my work day in the cube a bit more enjoyable.”

“I think I’m sending money to you that I originally sent for blook II. Its just been sitting around since thanksgiving. Another way to describe giving is that 10 bucks is less than a magazine subscription but you put out way more than any magazine.”

damn straight, america, damn straight.

thirteen is the number, friends.

and ask requested by one of my loyal readers, i bit the bullet and set up an amazon page for those who wish to flow via amazon.

and of course, theres always paypal, my love.