epublican Senator Judd Gregg finally ran into a big steaming pile of luck Wednesday when he matched 5 of 6 Powerball numbers and won a lottery jackpot of $853,492. Gregg immediately called Vice-President Dick Cheney to let his boss know he would not be coming into work.

"It's about friggin' time I got some good luck," Gregg told reporters in front of his home in his home state of New Hampshire. Gregg waved his winning ticket in the air frantically and laughed. "Eat it, taxpayers! I'm gonna be my own boss from now on!"

Gregg, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee and spent more than $2 million in his last re-election campaign, did admit to some sour grapes in not winning the $340 million jackpot won by an Oregon player in the same lottery.

"I wouldn't have minded some of that sweet cash," snickered Gregg, who didn't bother dressing up for the press conferences. Wearing a pair of cutoff jeans, brown flip-flops, and a Senate Budget Committee muscle T, Gregg added, "I only play the lottery when it gets into real money like that. I could've used it more than that Oregon guy. What do they even have in Oregon? I bet he uses that money to move to a kick-ass state like New Hampshire."

Though Gregg's announced resignation would be effective immediately, officials at the Republican Party Headquarters, the very mouth of hell, claimed Gregg would soon recant his resignation, and chalked it up to "lottery euphoria."

"He does this all the time," said RNC spokesperson Phyllis Harbor. "Last year he fixed up an old Geo of his and sold it and told Cheney he was quitting. Just a few months ago he called in because a banking error in his favor left $3,000 extra in his account. Or maybe that was a beauty contest he won… I may be getting confused with a Monopoly game we played in the office last night. But frankly, Mr. Gregg is fairly high-strung for a Senator. He quit one time when the Sci-Fi Channel had a Twilight Zone marathon on. He ended up taking a sick day and just came in regular. No big deal."

Fellow Budget Committee member Sen. Kent Conrad (D, North Dakota) confirmed Sen. Gregg has a tendency to overreact in financial situations.

"He was going around everywhere in town just a few months ago, trying to raise $300 million for some 'project' he was putting together. When I asked him about it, it turns out he wanted to open a bait shop by the interstate so he could quit this 'lousy job' and be his own boss. I reminded him he's a millionaire already, and he had perhaps overestimated the amount of start-up capital it takes to open a bait shop. But that's Judd for you. He doesn't take well to numbers."

Gregg himself answered some questions by phone, and was so far staying resolved in his plans to leave the Senate.

"Forget it. I'm quitting this shitty job. I might give 'em some notice—till the end of the week at least. But come Friday, no joke, I'm outta here." Gregg made a whistling sound to punctuate his impending exit, and the sound of Rosanne playing on Nick-At-Nite could be heard. "Between the lotto money and some stocks and shit I could sell, I might finally be able to buy a partnership in a bowling alley like I've always wanted. I'm so ready to be my own boss it's not even funny."

The soon-to-be-ex-Senator was kind enough to respond to all questions, but no one here thought to ask what a Senator is doing playing the lottery anyway.

he kangaroo trial of the century began this week, pitting former dictator Saddam Hussein against the entire Western world in a one-man cage match for crimes against humanity. The trial opened Wednesday, with the much-sought Iraqi ex-President facing charges of murder, torture, forced expulsion, illegal imprisonment, and being a late 20th-century Hitler.

The 68-year-old Hussein answered the charges with a loud raspberry, presumably learned from illegal copies of American movies or television shows. Appropriate charges will be added when the trial resumes in November.

While Hussein himself refused to answer any questions put to him by the judge, the ex-president's appointed lawyer, Barry Kitschwater, explained that his client refused to recognize the authority of the court over the president of Iraq. Whistles and cat-calls ensued, providing a salty opening to the most exciting trial since that of Manuel Noriega.

Kitschwater also added that his client asked to represent himself upon the trial's resumption. Vegas odds instantly doubled that the trial of the young century would become the hotpick for funniest damn thing on television.

In a 40-page letter to the American public (specifically not including the president and members of the government), Hussein outlined his plan for his own defense, most notable among the points an intention to call every living citizen of Iraq to testify on his behalf that he did not personally kill them. Hussein also footnoted that he planned to charge with perjury anyone that didn't testify accordingly.

Hussein also wrote a letter to the judge asking for the materials he would need to interview witnesses, including 200 thin sheets of bamboo, six batteries with electrical wires attached, and approximately 30 dank, windowless cells, or equivalent interrogation space. The prosecution immediately entered the request into evidence, and wrote a nice thank-you to the former dictator.

In his public letter, Hussein pleaded with the American people to defy the "propaganda" of its sort-of-elected leaders.

"Do not accept their polluted ideals as facts," wrote the eloquent scumbag. "Rise up and overthrow the whip-bearers who control your minds and bodies. Remove them from power and forge yourselves a land of freedom and opportunity. And if you really find yourself hurting for a new leader, it just so happens I'm seeking available positions as we speak. Perhaps we can work something out."

That letter, too, was taken into evidence by the prosecution.

The defense found itself getting off to an even rougher start than expected with the news that one of the lawyers of a Hussein co-defendant had turned up missing, presumed kidnapped. Hussein lawyer Kitschwater spoke for his client, saying his heart went out to the poor miserable infidel whose whereabouts were unknown. Kitschwater also reminded the press that he was not officially Hussein's lawyer, since the former dictator would be representing himself, and asked for the media to put that part in big print for everyone to read.

After concluding opening proceedings, the trial is set to resume Nov. 28, by which time networks officials and Pay-Per-View representatives hope to have some deal hammered out with trial officials. The high bet in Vegas at the moment is Saddam will show up on opening day with something obscene shaved into the back of his head, so get in on the ground floor if you have a good feeling about it.

It's recently been brought to my attention that the commune has not been appearing online for the last, say, nine months, give or take a full-term pregnancy. I guess the saying is true: you're always the last to know when your stuff stops getting published for the better part of a year. Anyway, spilled milk aside, it's clear wherein the blame for this blunder lies.

Gerbil tubes.

I'll be the first to admit I was the one who discovered the tubes, poking out of the walls in every room of the commune offices, including the shitter. I was scanning the walls with a studfinder, looking for espionage-style bugs, rather than the usual food-stealing bugs we've always had, when suddenly, tubes! Had covert, turtle-fighting plumbers snuck in overnight and installed them? Nope, turns out they'd been there all along. No gold star for the commune staff's powers of noticing.

But still, you can imagine our excitement at this discovery. Finally, a way to file our articles and columns without the constant drudgery of saving and emailing. Pneumatic tubes have always been the way of the future, and it was about time the commune got some, or barring that, realized we'd had them since the early 80's.

And let me just say that filing your semi-weekly columns by pneumatic tube is a joy and a pleasure. You crumple that shit up into a ball and stuff it in the tube, pushing aside last week's column, and say asta-la-deadline, asshole. Everything in life should be that easy, and involve crumpling.

Everything cruised along smooth as shit until last week, when Emil Zender got out of the hospital following months of recovery following a complicated tonsil-removal surgery and burst into the commune offices, apparently after driving straight from Vermont in his hospital duds to let us know the commune wasn't online anymore. We all made fun of him for not using the telephone instead, until he pointed out that no one answers the commune telephones and in fact we have them all in a pile on the floor of Rok Finger's office so we can close the door and not be bothered with all that ringing. True enough. So then we made fun of him for reading the commune.

It turns out the tubes actually run to a pet store down the block, and they were installed in the early 1980's after an earlier tenant's stroke of genius about revolutionizing gerbil delivery. So Big Stiff's Pet Pouch has been the sole benefactor of the last nine months of commune wit, wisdom, and panache. And he was using the shit for guinea pig bedding. C'est la vie, but suffice it to say you've missed some all-time classic My Friend Polio columns while you were gone.

Okay, that's not precisely true. Actually I've been mailing it in since around June, writing about shit I found in the trash and why nobody makes a barbecue big enough to cook a dolphin. So in fact you've rejoined us just in the nick of time.

Oh shit, I forgot to bitch about how lousy my Christmas was. Hurry up and join us next time, because I'm out of room and gotta piss like a fish. Bricks out.

º Last Column: The Deep Freeze
º more columns