How Many Sociopaths Live In Your Building?

"We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people, one in 25, has an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in 25 everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt.

How do we recognize the remorseless? One of their chief characteristics is a kind of glow or charisma that makes sociopaths more charming or interesting than the other people around them. They're more spontaneous, more intense, more complex, or even sexier than everyone else, making them tricky to identify and leaving us easily seduced. Fundamentally, sociopaths are different because they cannot love. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others' suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win.

The fact is, we all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. Part of the urgency in reading The Sociopath Next Door is the moment when we suddenly recognize that someone we know, someone we worked for, or were involved with, or voted for, is a sociopath. But what do we do with that knowledge? To arm us against the sociopath, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she writes, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game.

It is the ruthless versus the rest of us, and The Sociopath Next Door will show you how to recognize and defeat the devil you know."

Farewell Darkness Premieres Friday

This Friday night, 8 PM, at the Gene Siskel film center, come see my silver screen debut. I should still have a scene or two left in this movie, who knows. I'll be the one in the back row of the theater hiding under a large hat and a veil. The director, Dan Pico is a genius; and the lead, Keith Compton, is sexy as hell. Support local cinema!

Another Kooky Christian Fucking Everything Up

I recently admitted that Martin Luther King Jr. has always creeped me out, and now another nutty black pastor has my attention. Wow, this reverend Wright is as whacky as a shithouse rat, but at least he's funny. I was howling at his routine today (it's great schtick - you'd be hard-pressed to write anything this funny). Unlike King (who just creeped me out across the board) reverend Wright only creeps me out intellectually. I really like him on a visceral, actor/comedian level. He's got great delivery, great body language, a great face, and he's really fun to watch (kinda like Julie Andrews, or Hannibal Lecter). I'd party with Brother Jeremiah - what a character. I've just returned from NYC where my Obama hoodie was not such a hit. That's Hillary cuntry out there in fancypantsland. I'm just a simple, white, cowtown gal with a dream. I guess I'm okay with nutty people as long as they're funny, and this guy's a riot. Arabic is a language, not a fucking religion. Whoohoo! Preach it crazy brother J. The truth is: he's no nuttier than any white preacher, so chill out and enjoy the show.

Yo Dumblebore, Sell Your Cane And Feed Somalia

Jesus said: "Take everything you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men." I often think of how utterly appalled the carpenter from Nazareth, would be by this photo of the Catholic Führer. The unrestrained opulence - layers of golden dresses, red Prada shoes, castles, emerald encrusted necklaces, diamond studded scepters - everything in antagonistic opposition to the substance of Jesus. The pope is as anti-Jesus as it gets. Jesus would fucking vomit if he could see this charade playing out in his name (have any Catholics actually 'read' the bible?) The Catholic Church is an organized conspiracy of idiocy, a fraud, and a war criminal, led by a barking mad lunatic in a Rolex wizard costume. Ah, but the good news my children - just like all evil things - THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS DYING AND IT'S DYING FAST. Shame on anyone who claims to love Jesus, but does not condemn the pope. Jesus of Nazareth and the pope's values are inconsistent and irreconcilable. If that's not crystal clear to someone, they either a) have not read the bible, or b) are a moron. "Hey, dumbfuck in the platinum panties - why don't you sell that 24k gold walking stick and use the money to feed 180,000 starving children? ... you degenerate piece of shit."

My Love For "Miss J." Alexander

The thing I love most about ANTM is watching Tyra hammer the attitude out of the snottier bitches (ultimately it's less about beauty than being a nice person). My second favorite aspect of the show is Ms. J. Alexander. Talk about balls. It takes more courage to appear on television dressed like Miss J than it does to rescue a bag of kittens from a burning building. I'm such a slave to societal pressures (especially when it comes to appearances). I wish I had Miss J's courage. There's an ANTM marathon on today, with Oklahoma Kahlen. Being from Oklahoma, I especially love Broken Arrow Kahlen's quote: "We have shoes in Oklahoma, but nothing like this." Oh shit, gotta run... Tyra Mail! I love you Miss J. Alexander. You're a personal hero of mine. xoxoxo

In Honor Of The Weather Underground

1964, Laos: The U.S. initiates what U.N. observers call “the most appalling episode of lawless slaughter in United States history” when the U.S. Air Force launches the first of 580,000 bombing missions, dropping over 2 million tons of large armaments (that’s one planeload of bombs dropped every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years), in addition to 80 million cluster bomblets - twenty percent of which will not explode, leaving 18 million scattered across the country. 1967: The U.S. helps South Vietnamese agents assassinate alleged North Vietnamese leaders operating in South Vietnamese villages. A 1971 congressional report reveals that this operation killed "over 20,000 Viet Cong.” 1968: In violation of international law the U.S. begins a secret bombing campaign along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the sovereign nation of Cambodia – killing more than 300,000 farmers and their families. 1970: Prince Sihanouk remains highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. The U.S. topples him, installing puppet ruler Lon Nol, who immediately orders Cambodian troops into the war. The people’s outrage over this action results in the strengthening and mass expansion of a previously insignificant opposition party – the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge achieves power in five years and massacres millions of Cambodians in The Killing Fields. The Weather Underground (“Weathermen”) waged a justified response against an illegal agent of international terrorism – the United States. The sad thing about the Weathermen is that they didn't kill enough rich white men in suits to stop the slaughter of several million brown peasants in southeast Asia. Clinton pardoned two of them, and I would be proud to count them among my friends. Weathermen, I'm proud of you, and Willie Ayers you are a true hero and make me proud to be an American. The Weathermen deserve the congressional medal of freedom (but our congress isn't worthy of honoring these patriots).

Sundance's "Iconoclasts" Curiously Lacking Iconoclasm

I love the show Iconoclasts, but why the hell is it called "Icono- clasts"? Open your diction- aries: 1) One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions. 2) One who destroys sacred religious images. Consider some of the show's guests: Samuel L. Jackson - bad actor and hollywood conformist. Bill Russell - what?! Tom Ford - seamstress (makes icons doesn't destroy them). Jeff Koons - the opposite of an iconoclast. Brian Grazer - he is tradition. Sumner Redstone - not. Renée Zellweger - creepy nothing like an iconoclast. Mario Batali - cooks italian food, not an iconoclast. Michael Stipe - maybe a little. Robert Redford and Paul Newman - so well known for their assault on tradition and the church. Quentin Tarantino - maybe a little. Isabella Rossellini - model, nothing iconoclastic. Dean Kamen - yeah, a little. Lorne Michaels - iconoclast. Dave Chapelle and Maya Angelou - okay, they're iconoclasts. Mike Meyers - lol. Alicia Keys - love her, but not even in the iconoclast universe. Wynton Marsalis - not. Ashley Judd - time to rename the show. Don't get me wrong, I adore most of the guests they've had, but why not call the show "Paired Genius"? I'll end with a quote from the ultimate iconoclast, Mencken: "The iconoclast proves enough when he proves by his blasphemy that this or that idol is defectively convincing - that at least one visitor to the shrine is left full of doubts. The liberation of the human mind has been best furthered by gay fellows who heaved dead cats into sanctuaries and then went roistering down the highways of the world, proving to all men that doubt, after all, was safe - that the god in the sanctuary was a fraud. One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms."

Rot In Prison Shitbag

This filthy sinner Nazi, Rat- zinger, just landed on U.S. soil. Barf. If you or I wrote a letter to cover up a systematic child abuse ring at a local day care center we would spend the rest of our natural born lives in a maximum security prison getting gangbanged by Bubba and 20 or 30 Latin Kings. Not this proxy child molester. He's going to the white house to lick a war criminal's ass over cake and ice-cream. Here's my birthday message to the douchebag in the rolex dress: go fuck yourself you degenerate criminal. You're a disgrace to the human race, and belong in prison.

Soul Proprietorship

There is as much evidence supporting the existence of the 'soul' as there is supporting that of vampires, zombies, and angels. That's not to say I'm certain there is no such thing as vampires and zombies (sixty percent of Americans, I kid you fucking not, believe in angels), and there's actually a chance they could exist. A classic test question for students working on probabilities goes something like this: "what are the odds that you will suddenly disappear from this room and reappear in the room next to this one?" You can actually calculate the probability of things like this (0.0000000000001). With the odds being so similar I wonder why people who buy the 'soul' story don't take the whole vampire/zombie/witch package too, oh yes, and angels. A trillion SECONDS ago Neanderthals stalked the misty plains of Europe. Man has been here for less than a billion HOURS. I live in the Dark Ages. I should have been born 1,000 years from now (or 10,000). My eternal thanks to Mencken & Carlin before the lights go out and 75% of Americans stop trying to shove their retarded fucking imaginary friends down my throat.

Peeing For Peace

Love That Tiger Woods!

This is my fave pic of yummy Harvard man. Look at that face. Stun- ning. Considering the trend, a comparison to Tiger Woods makes an eerily prescient 'slight'. Look at that face. Wow.

Martin Luther King Jr. Totally Creeps Me Out

Any Christian preacher who believes all the nutty shit he says creeps me out. Oral Roberts, supercreepy. Have you heard of Robert Tilton? Ubercreepy! Kenneth Copeland, creepy. Billy Graham wasn't creepy. I've been watching long video clips of King's speeches, and he just creeps me totally out. He sounds every bit as looney as all the rest of the howling ministers barking from their pulpits - barking mad. Jim Bakker really creeped me out. Tammy Faye creeped me out, but then I fell in love with her. I know I'm supposed to love Martin Luther King, because that's American Holy Writ, but he fucking creeps me out. I don't care if he was black, he was just as nutty as every other believer in virgin births, talking snakes, and walking dead people. Thank god I've never heard Obama preach. Yikes. Just because someone does great things doesn't mean they aren't nutty (consider Van Gogh, Howard Hughes, and Sally Field). Perhaps King's violent death adds to the creepy factor. Marilyn, JFK, RFK, MLK, James Dean - the young dead - creepy. Pope Benedictus Childus Molestus is one of the creepiest of them all, but the Mormon's Magic Underwear take the creepy cake.

Democrat Racistometer

I can't shake this horrible (and admittedly absurd) suspicion that any Democrat still supporting Cunton must be a racist. The differences are so stark - a crystal clear winner to me, but millions of people appear to feel the reverse. I know a few guilty white liberals who pretend to love their "african american friends" (some of their best friends are, you know), but I know far more white liberals who genuinely do. So my suspicion is based in some kind of collective, projective, homosexual insecurity - therefore totally irrational - therefore ludicrous. But I can't stop feeling it. Back da fuck off of my nikka yo! Dat's a republican's job.

A Note From Roger

"Are you as bored with my health as I am? I underwent a third surgery in January, this one in Houston, and once again there were complications. I am sorry to say that my ability to speak was not restored. That would require another surgery.

But I still have all my other abilities, including the love of viewing movies and writing about them. And at my side I have my angelic wife, Chaz. It was Schrader’s line from his screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” that inspired my acceptance of my bandaged appearance: “I ain’t a pretty boy no more.”

I am still cancer-free, and not ready to think about more surgery at this time. I should be content with the abundance I have. So that’s the latest. I have been so moved by the messages I’ve received from so many of you. Thank you. Now let’s go to the movies."

We love you Roger and Chaz.