Here’s a roundup of my recent tweets on Twitter (slightly edited and remixed for clarity here on my blog). I’d love it if you’d follow me on there; you can do so via my Twitter profile page.

* Donald Westlake used “could of” instead of “could have” or “could’ve” as shorthand for the intelligence/personality of some of his characters. It’s not always an error.

* MoveOn has put together a damning list of the GOP’s recent campaign against women. Rather frightening. http://t.co/9I1MgbS

* I dig @ruckawriter’s Atticus Kodiak novels in pretty much exactly the same way I do the Donald Westlake/Richard Stark’s Parker ones.

* The Parker novels are just like crack cocaine to me, especially the latter ones. So focused and tight it’s amazing.

* I wish you all were reading Westlake along with me. I love noticing the little touches in his writing. He was fond of the word “jounced.”

* Reading Donald Westlake’s Pity Him Afterwards from ‘64. May be his bleakest and most disturbing novel, told from a madman’s perspective.

* Donald Westlake’s Pity Him Afterwards is like a Parker novel where Parker is a serial killer instead of a thief. Psychopath AND sociopath.

* Just finished Westlake’s Help I Am Being Held Prisoner, which is a comedy but worked for me, unlike the overly broad Dortmunder novels.

* Help… was like Westlake’s whimsical version of The Shawshank Redemption. Written long before, of course.

* I am usually repulsed by whimsy, but Help… had it in the right blend with suspense and a convincing prison setting.

* The lead character being named Harry Kunt (pronounced Koont, with an umlaut), nearly put me off. I can be easily turned away by whimsy.

* Why there should be a case against George W. Bush under torture law - http://bit.ly/hZlRVu

* Union-busting. Woman-destroying. The next Civil War is just a few more Republican attacks on the American way of life away.

* If our unionized neighbours continue to receive a fair wage, they will spend that money helping revive the economy. Unlike the GOP.

* First ep of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior not nearly good enough. Writing 3/10, acting 5/10. Not even a patch on the original CM.

* The 20-40 percent off promised in the email I got about our local closing Borders was not even close enough to convince me to go.

* All-Star Superman is the best Superman film ever done. Second best would be the animated Superman-Batman movie.

* There goes the noon whistle. Does your town have a noon whistle? We also have a Noon Whistle Deli, although I have never eaten there.

* We have a large paper factory that used to employ many more than it does now and goes back over a century. The noon whistle started there.

* There’s a church bell downtown that I think goes off every hour during the day, but we’re on the edge of town and don’t hear it.

* GOP to cut aid for schools, nutrition programs, environmental protection, and heating/housing subsidies for the poor. http://n.pr/f9TTjR

* Local Blockbuster had the whole sign lit tonight. For years it had just read “USTER” at night.

* Conservatives say fuck you and your health, America, especially you stupid women: http://on.cnn.com/fWKEhP

* Distressed by the hateful actions of Conservatives in Wisconsin and the U.S House, keep in mind: THEY ARE JUST GETTING STARTED.

* Hannity says Obama’s acting more like a community organizer than President of the U.S. when it comes to Wisconsin. It’s about fucking time.

* SPACE INVADERS, the best 1970s comic Roy Thomas and Jim Steranko never teamed up on.

* The best art films of 2010 according to @ebertchicago: http://bit.ly/elhwtT

* The truth about how Wisconsin’s governor has manipulated the situation there to destroy unions: http://bit.ly/f69iLf

* It’s amazing to me our female cat is always angry at the male cat, but when he wants her breakfast, she just moves off and lets him have it.

* My take on the Obama Nation controversy: http://troublewithcomics.com/post//is-obama-nation-racist-or-just-stupid

* Just heard the long, lonesome train whistle I hear from time to time. I have no idea where the hell the train tracks are around here.

* Actual ways to get your real credit score free: http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/free-credit-score/

* James Kochalka talks about the possibility of retiring his American Elf daily diary strip: http://bit.ly/eCIRfK

* They’re all dead and the island is the afterlife. Also, Rosebud is the sled.

* Am I the only one who thinks of The Muppets every time I see or hear a reference to Manama, Bahrain?

* Glenn Beck is “the evil spreading around the globe.” Pass it on.

* Excellent piece by @Comics212 Christopher Butcher on RSS feeds and how you engage (or not) with your readers: http://bit.ly/eCuDH5

* Are we really to take seriously an opinion on a woman’s right to choose from a child with the experience and sophistication of a tadpole?

* My closest Borders is closing, in Saratoga Springs. Full list here: http://on.wsj.com/faieV6

* Phew. A lot of stuff off my chest in a private email. Wish I could say it all in public.

* You know, the internet is awesome until it’s not, and then it is the worst thing ever invented. How spoiled we are!

* One program to rule them all: HootSuite. Problem solved.

* Using Internet Explorer makes me feel dirty.

* Made General Tso’s tofu for dinner, with chopped pecans, peppers, onions and celery over brown rice. Damned yummy if I do say so myself.

* How come almost none of the good Mountain Dew flavours come in diet? I really miss Diet Code Red. I’d even settle for Diet Ultra Violet.

* Still waiting for an American President brave and honest enough to say the U.S has been on the wrong side of history, even once.

* At the high school for a meeting. Just noticed the smell of school lunch. Haven’t smelled school lunch since 1981. Smells exactly the same.

* John Byrne is as crazy as a bag of cats that just had a bag of hammers thrown into it.

* Let’s hope Obama’s 2012 budget provides massive funding to care for the American people, and zero dollars to kill innocents abroad.

* The Office was really good this week. I can see how they are slowly working up to Michael’s final, time-travel filled episode.

* Best line from this week’s Big Bang Theory? “Oh, the Humanities!”