esrosedotblog

HALF WAY MEASURES

I like to keep my weight between 150 and 155 and on the down side of that.

A while back, when I found that I was creeping up above 155, I just added a few more bike hills on Monday.

You know, burn baby burn.

When it went above 160, I decided that it wasn't too bad to have to put the 32 waist shorts up on the high shelf.

Somewhere in there I started to leave my shirts out of my pants/shorts. Hiding it.

Did I mention that my fat cells (shown here) all go to my belly? Never to my ass where they would be welcome.

When the weight got to 165, I found, through providential reading, that my BMI (Body Mass Index) was still in the 'normal' area and that I would not be 'overweight' until I hit 170.

When I hit 166, I realized in a sudden burst of self-honesty that I was in denial and that the weight creep had reached the final and last stage.

This week I went on the patented half-way measures diet.

I eat everything that I was eating before only half as much. No celery. The only concession is to eat the usual 4 ounces of protein for dinner.

Since I have a balanced, healthy diet this makes nutritional sense. And half makes my just hungry enough but not too hungry.

Starvation diets are self defeating since they kick in the anti-starve mechanisms in our metabolic machinery.

So, I have been losing a little less than a pound a day.

So far so good.

At this rate I have three weeks to go and then start all over again.

I will have to figure out how to cut out enough from the standard eating to keep at the fighting weight. But, by that time I will have a different idea of what normal is and I will be able to cut my previous normal by about 10% to stabilize.

I know from experience that there are two hazards when I get to my target.

The first is that 'everyone' will ask me if I am OK. They will tell me that I look too thin. This is mostly because the world is looking at itself through obese sunglasses.

Good thing that I am basically a rebel and the minute I hear conventional wisdom I go the other direction.

Contrarian.

This takes me to the second hazard; to not know when to stop.

There is just a teeny weeny bit of fat kid in there who could go all anorexic.

So, forewarned is forearmed.

I will keep you informed.

FEMME FATALE

There is something about seeing someone boldly and skillfully 'getting away with it'; whatever 'it' is.

It is not necessary admiration. There is that itch to see it work. There is excitement in all the unrepentedness of it.

A likable sociopath.

Such is the case with the woman in Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films.

Linda Fiorentino has the role most actresses would kill for (well she does) in

The Last Seduction (1994)

Bill Pullman and Peter Berg are the men that she has it out with.

It is a thriller. It is funny. It is surprising. And it has that guilty pleasure of seeing an evil job well done.

There are many twists and turns. The director is John Dahl.

I am going to order his Red Rock West which came out the same year or, actually, was discovered and returned from video hell to play in theaters successfully.

Even if you don't like the amorality of it all, the photography and some of the business is just delicious.

Here and there the plot is a bit too much and so I will give it a 4 out of Netflix 5.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Immigration again.

I love Molly Ivins:

Immigration 101 for beginners and non-Texans

FROM BLUE TO SHINING SEA

I love poll stuff and Survey USA is one of the most wonkish places to wallow:

GOP Starts to Sour on Bush (Survey USA polls)

MASOCHISM

From Kevin Drum, the Political Animal:

BLEATING AROUND THE BUSH....

Ryan Lizza writes today that former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card viewed his job less as running the White House and more as being George Bush's ultimate spear carrier:

"As his White House service wore on, this ostentatious modesty morphed even further into creepy masochism. He seemed to delight in the most painful assignments. After his own father died of Parkinson's disease, Card became a supporter of the life-saving potential of stem-cell research. Yet, when Bush limited federal money for the research, it was Card who made the rounds on the Sunday shows to cheerily defend the policy".

But this is less a reflection on Card than it is on Bush. After all, what kind of man would allow (or force?) a loyal retainer to do something like this? Answer: The same kind of insecure blusterer who repeatedly humiliates his aides in public with remarks like, "He's a PhD, see — I'm a C student. Look who's the President and who's the advisor." Or who's so famous for surrounding himself with toadies that it's considered newsworthy when he appoints someone who doesn't decorate his office with pictures of George Bush.

This is the central mystery of George Bush: How does this man-child with such an obviously mediocre mind manage to generate such inten

LA DOLCE VITA (1960)

We were do to review this film in the Best Film series, but it came in cracked.

When you report damage to Netflix they ask if you want to have the broken disk replaced.

I checked no. I have seen it so many times, I couldn't bear another viewing. Maybe ten more years.

I love the film but it sits nicely in my memory.

Good enough.

So, this is an air-rating.

5 out of Netflix5.

I love Fellini but not enough to do three hours of 'the sweet life' again.

Besides, La Strada is coming right up.

It is odd that the Best Films listing ignores all the French articles 'le' but makes all the Italian ones, 'la' be in the L's.

Or some of them.

It is inconsistent.

Hard to believe that the NYTimes would be inconsistent, eh?

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Franklin got his annual shots today. Bortedella, Parvo, DHLP.

And a physical.

He loves to go to the animal hospital and cooperates with every step in the process; even the rectal thermometer, although he does put his head down a bit and shoves into his dads. It is a little embarrassing and the nurse is a lady.

He doesn't flinch on the shots. He stands right up and takes it like a big boy.

We don't go that often, thankfully. So he doesn't quite 'get it' until we make the turn into the building. Then, the excitement builds.

There are people who pay a lot of attention. And then there are other dogs too.

He is a born schmoozer; an extrovert; a friend to all.

We go early and sit by the door so he can look them all over.

Cats come in too but we ignore them. Cats are to be chased or barely tolerated.

As we go into the doc, they weigh him. He even has that one down. He steps right up on the scale and, I swear, looks at the readout.

He is a steady at 67 pounds. We thought he might be overweight since the breeder works toward 60 but he is svelt and always has been. I guess he is just an over achiever.

Our first vet told us that he ought to be near-anorexic.

We don't go to him anymore. He moved out of the Valley back to Chicago. He didn't like the desert!

We had known him before he was a vet in Boston. Right after we got Franklin, we ran into him in town!

He was great with the dog. His physical exam consisted of getting down on the floor and 'wrestling'.

Since Leonard left, we just go with whoever is on duty. They are all nice and all competent as far as I can tell.

Franklin loves them all.

Did I mention the cookies?

The give treats although we don't use treats for behaviour at all. We allow it at the groomer (who goes all out of control with it) and the animal hospital.

The vets give 'vitamin' treats. A treat by any other name is still a treat.

But, it is OK.

Another family process. We love it too. It is a chance to show off in public with our 'best friend'.

PIPE DREAM

I have not heard from my friend Allaha Abdullah Sayed for awhile.

But he is back again.

So pleased.

He has another good deal for me.

A pipeline in Nigeria.

I can get in on the action and make a fortune from it.

All I have to do is put up a little backup money and let him do the rest. He won't even use my cash. Just use it for equity.

ONE GOOD THING ABOUT THIS BUSINESS TRANSACTION IS THAT ALL THE
NECESSARY DOCUMENTS THAT WILL BE APPROVED FOR THE SMOOTH PAYMENT OF THIS MONEY
WILL HAVE TO PASS THROUGH MY OFFICE FOR FINAL APPROVAL.I WILL ALSO LIKE
TO INFORM YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% RISK FREE AND THAT YOU ARE
NOT AT ANY RISK AT ALL.THE MONEY WILL BE SHARED AS FOLLOWS AT THE
SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF THIS TRANSACTION: 30% FOR YOURSELF (ACCOUNT OWNER),
65% FOR MYSELF AND WE WILL SET ASIDE 5% FOR THE TRANSFER EXPENSES.

AS SOON AS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER, YOU WILL FORWARD TO ME YOUR PERSONAL
INFORMATIONS WHICH I WILL FORWARD TO THE ACCOUNTS DEPT OF CBN FOR
ONWARD PROCESSING, APPROVAL AND RANSFER OF THE MONEY INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.

YOURS IN BUSINESS,
Alahji Abdullah Syed
(DEPUTY GOVERNOR FINANCIAL SECTOR SURVEILLANCE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

The truly amazing thing is that this got through the earthlink and my own spam filter.

There must be a new trick old Alahji is using.

EXCEPTIONS

The bushies want to spread democrussy to all the world because it makes for freedum and other good stuff.

Well, except when it runs against their interests:

Bush Opposes Iraq's Premier, Shiites Report

Now, them Shi-ites. Ain't they the ones we was hoping would get to run the government?

I guess we will have 'controlled' democrussy for awhile.

SUMMER

Today I switched from socks to sandals and I wore shorts on the morning hour bike ride.

I make my changes absolute.

It might get cooler again but I will not change back.

I am still in three layers on top.

Not until mid November or later.

When we first got here, I always wore shorts and sandals. But the thermostat changes after awhile and I have winter here just as much as if I was back east.

Well, not really. But clothes wise, there is an adjustment.

Some people here even get out winter coats, furs, in November.

That is all over now. We are into our 9 month summer.

There is no spring or fall.

TIME FORGOT

Today we watched the Best Film

The Last Picture Show (1971)

In the 80's John and I rode around the hill country of Texas. We were told we should see some towns that 'time forgot'; get off the highway and drive through.

This film could be one of those towns. It is in a different place in Texas but it is the same thing.

I more or less grew up in a town that time had not yet forgotten but it was working on it.

This movie is about that time. That place. That feeling of loss; of the end of time.

Now, we know that it was the beginning of the end of the age of innocence.

And so on.

It is very bleak.

This is a Larry McMurtry story and it is surely about him and it was shot in his actual home town of Archer, Texas.

We have had bounteous gifts from McMurtry and this is one of the first ones.

This is also Peter Bogdanovitch at his best. And it was his second film.

And we have the great Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman and Ellyn Burstyn and Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottom and Cybil Shepard patenting her uber-bitch personna. Randy Quaid and Clu Gulager too; bit favorites.

It is surely one of the classics.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

HOLY ASTEROIDS

This is a great (and a bit scary) animation of asteroids bouncing around earth in its orbit.

Some of these are expected visitors and others are not!

Gulp.

OK OK

I know all Christians are not the same.

Take the UCC for example.

They had an ad last year about a church with bouncers.

This year they have a new one.

And, yep, the networks won't accept it because it is 'too controversial'.

But that didn't stop them and you can see it here.

The Ad the Networks Don't Want You to See.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

When you have an IRA, the upside is that you get to save money tax free in your earning years.

The downside is that when you get to 'a certain age', you have to withdraw the tax deferred money according to a formula based on life expectancy.

Like most (all?) people, I will reach that age next year when I am 70.5 years old.

As a prudent manager of my own money (hah!) I have already begun discussions with my CPA and money manager about this important (and somewhat stressful) step.

In doing so, we have done some trial calculations on the formula.

You divide your nut (the amount in the IRA) by your life expectancy. The life expectancy (why do I keep typing out the entire term) comes from a chart at the IRS or the Census or someplace. The product gives you the withdrawal amount.

Anyway, right now, my LIFE EXPECTANCY is 13.5 (thirteen and a half) years!

Keeerist!

Who made up this chart?

Can't be.

There is no way I feel 13.5 years away from the reap.

Anyway, that is this month's sobering statistic.

Compared to a lot of other statistics it is not too worrisome.

My resting heartrate is still in the low 60's. My body fat is under average (and declining as I am taking a brief dietary break calory-wise). I can do a mean hill on the bike.

But, then there are the other stats. Death by auto accident and all.

Anyway, my own personal life expectancy moves out more like 20+ years into the nineties.

Fuck the government tables.

500,000

It is hard to take one photo of a half million people, but you can try.

This one was taken by the LATimes near the familiar LA City Hall.

This is a divisive topic on all sides.

I put it in because I was so amazed at the overhead teevee clips that I saw of Saturday's walk-around demonstration.

You know, there are 11 million people here who are undocumented. Most of them are in California but many are now in other states.

It is high time for a solution but little leadership to accomplish it.

Representative Sensenbrenner is not it. He of the Kotex fortune (smirk*).

Right now, I am committing a felony based on his Bill passed through the House. Maybe twice a week. My whole neighborhood is a den of felons.

So are another 20 or more million people. 30 million? Surely all the guys who are picking up workers at Home Depot.

It is nuts.

Steve Soto has a good rundown in The Left Coaster today.

*Yeh, I know. It is sophomoric and sexist to smirk at Kotex but, there you are. Immaturity revealed. Don't send me a lot of comments.

WSJ?OTD

"Should the federal minimum wage of $5.15 be raised?"

Piece of cake for me bro'!

Answer: Fuck, yes!

Yes what?

More and a lot more.

Do the math. At 5.15 an hour people are making 206.00 a week. Of course, all would be working overtime or a second job as this goes under the poverty line.

And so on.

Give me a break. I am an old line liberal progressive. I shouldn't have to rationalize here.

For once, the WSJ righties agree with me! It must be good for business to pay more.
Here are the choices and results:

Yes, but keep it below $6 an hour
106 votes (9%)
Yes, make it $6 an hour or more.
563 votes (45%)
No, keep it where it is.
152 votes (12%)
Abolish the minimum wage altogether.
424 votes (34%)

FLASH IN THE PAN

See how many pages you can look at before you begin to turn too fast.

The Book of Numbers

ODORAMA

This is the time of the year that the whole neighborhood smells like citrus bloom.

I am inside the house now and I can smell it.

You might think that the constant sweetness would cloy. It does not.

It is just another wonderful fringe benefit of living in this wonderful place.

MASS

I have mentioned before that this immigration reform business is a very hot topic out here.

500,000 Pack Streets to Protest Immigration Bills

These people are not kidding.

And the problem is not going away no matter how high they build the stupid fence.

There will be civil disobedience and it will be supported by Archbishop Mahoney of the RC church here.

I have a lot of problems with the church these days but their position on this issue is a winner for me.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to mobilize a demonstration these days? In a city with marginal mass transportation? On a Saturday?

This is big stuff.

The solution to this 'problem' is probably out of the reach of this administration.

Guest programs are not the solution. These have been tried with woeful social results in Europe.

Let me tell you a story.

There is a place not far from here where workers assemble every morning for pickup by contractors, gardeners, and other businesses in need of labor.

Every so often the word is posted (actually posted) that there will be a sweep on a certain date.

Guess what? On that date, the only people who show up at the 'shape-up' are the people who want to get sent back home; a free airline ticket and a hot meal.

That way the Feds get some 'wetbacks', the workers get some time off, and the economy continues to run.

Wink wink. Nudge nudge.

Watch what we do not what we say.

PREP

This NYTimes Best 1176 Film would be anachronistic if it was not about an anachronism.

They don't have debutantes any more and, so, there are no escorts. There is no 'season' which peaks mid-winter.

Metropolitan (1990)

is a talk film.

The characters, mostly NYC preppies, live out winter vacation from college with each other. Their life centers around the debutante thing.

They meet and talk and go to dances and talk some more.

An outsider appears who throws it all a bit off balance. He is needed as an escort so that the 4 and 4 balance of young men and women can be maintained.

The chatter is as serious as 19 or 20 year olds can be about who they are and their future.

All that.

Romance is in the air for the outsider and one of the lesser female lights of the group; actually the only admirable young woman in it.

It is nice; from a time forgotten.

It is very smart about itself. In a bar, a graduate of the scene talks to a few of the boys, almost as the ghost of preppy future.

I liked it a lot even though I hardly identified with them. As another outsider, I watched the boy navigate.

He occasionally hits the bank but sails through it all rather well and finds himself and the nice girl.

It requires some commitment to get through all the young adult poor little rich kid angst. And the end is protracted.

I will give this winner of an Independent Spirit Award (best first film) a 3 out of Netflix5.

UPDATE: I spent so much time telling John about this movie at dinner that I have to change the rating.

It will be a 4 out of Netflix5!

It really does stick with me. It was better at getting into my head than I thought.

INDIE

Today's film is not a NYTimes Best but it did win an Independent Spirit award. I got it because Netflix is promoting it to people who like Mexican films.

I rented one or two.

Robbing Peter (2004)

is pretty good. Slow.

It is three stories that finally connect head to tail; a la Ronde in spanglish.

When I say slow, I mean that you get to savor the humor and basic humanity of the subjects. It is enjoyable.

The underlying theme is an epigram that says if man were not basically criminal, we would need no laws. The characters here are all amateurs trying to get into the criminal life.

Based on the results, I would say that none of these people are very good at being criminal.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

I needed a break from the heavy cinema and it was a good one.

SARAH

We thought of Sarah Caldwell just the other day.

We were listening to some opera on the FM and her name came up.

We used to subscribe to Sarah's Boston Opera Company and went to maybe four or five operas a year at whatever theater she was able to get for the production.

She eventually 'bought' an old movie palace on Tremont Street in Boston and year after year we would watch the small improvements grow until they started to go the other way. Little by little, the building crumbled under the weight of age and Sarah's struggle to keep a budget going.

Sarah was BIG. I mean in every way. She had a big heart and was a big innovator of opera production.

She was also big physically; round not tall. When the lights went down and she rose up on the pit podium, she was immense.

She was eccentric. I remember rather greasy, unkempt hair and a big smile.

We knew guys who worked with her in the office and in the chorus. They all loved (and were scared of) her.

Sarah went to the Phillipines; a bad move. But, by this time, the company she founded in Boston had foundered.

Sad to say, Sarah Caldwell died yesterday.

Sarah Caldwell, First Woman to Conduct at the Met, Dies at 82

Of course, it being the NYTimes, her Met conducting is the headline.

But, to us, it was her years in Boston that were the great years.

Read the obit. It is a great tribute to a one-of-a-kind woman.

SCRIBBLED OUT

I am sorry to say that Charles Pugsley Fincher has ended his superb cartoon blog

The Illustrated Daily Scribble

Sadness.

I used to look forward to seeing the latest Fincher take on the bushers.

His 'Fuckin' Dick Cheney' was a masterpiece of cartoonmanship.

He says that the bush-tricks are so repetitive that he is in a creative block with it; the 'Groundhog Day' effect of it all.

He quit once before and then resumed. Perhaps he will have second thoughts.

I hope so.

I will keep his link to the right.

EVERYTHING

Today's Best 1176 Film (NYTimes version) is a coming of age, father-son, redneck to riches, stock car racing flick that spares nothing. It's a true story about Junior Jackson's start as a professional driver.

Last American Hero (1973)

The acting is superb and the cinematograhpy is the kind of in-your-face, fast cut work that captures the energy and force of the action at hand.

That action is all human, incidentally. The racing is secondary. There is a point in a race where they just go to montage shots to get the feeling. Very effective.

The young Jeff Bridges stars. It has Gary Busey (yes!), Art Lund, Geraldine Page, Valerie Perrine, Ned Beatty and a bunch of real honest to goodness rednecks; my people.

Even the theme song is wonderful. I did not know that Jim Croce wrote 'Movin' on Down the Highway' for this film.

Well, no one did.

It is basically a B picture that ended up big and wonderful but did not get much notice except from the NYTimes. There are only three reviews at IMDb.

Warning: this one is an eye wetter. All the way through.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

You must see it.

Oh. And when you do the wide screen version is on the 'blank' side. Put the disc in red on top.

WILL POWER

Will Ferrell in another bushie interview:

Bush on Global Warming

Funny as, well, hell!

Sure is hot down there.

WSJ?OTD

"Do you support smoking bans in restaurants and bars?"

The perrennial question.

How far will we push the smokers back this time?

I grew up with smoke. My dad smoked. I smoked.

Most of the people that I worked with smoked.

It is not that smoking was thought to be safe. I remember as early as 1954 that they started filters.

Kent.

Micronite.

But the news did little to deter us.

We smoked everywhere.

Well, there were some 'no smoking' places. Schools. Churches. Museums.

I started smoking when I was 19 because my best friend Paul came back from a Co-op summer as a smoker.

It took awhile to learn how.

I was hardly into it when they started hammering at us to quit. I quit many times.

On the public space angle, I thought that it was OK for places to designate smoking and no smoking areas. But that is not realistic.

I remember going to meetings in the early 80s where one side of the room would be smoking and the other non-smoking.

Well, the smoke didn't see the barrier.

I remember a non-smoking friend saying to me that the day that they started banning smoking and doing all the stuff to make it more difficult to smoke was a dark one. He felt that, after they were done with smoking, they would start on other social engineering projects.

He was right.

I am now almost ten years without a cigarette.

I don't miss smoking. I seldom crave a smoke. This picture does grab me a little, I must say. See how pretty the smoke is?

I don't mind being around it. I am not one of those asshole ex-smokers who carry on against it now. Live and let live.

I am not sure that I believe in the danger of second hand smoke even today.

But, as a smoker and ex-smoker, I lost my right to argue.

No one wants to hear it. They just figure I am defending my smoking habit. Addiction.

I quit smoking because I had prostate cancer and was going to get radiation and they asked me to do it. I used the patch.

And I had a book that I had given to John's mother. It was about the craving aspect and it was very helpful.

I still have smoking dreams.

So. I am not qualified to answer this WSJ?OTD objectively but since when is that a problem?

I voted NO just to be a bastard about it.

Of course, I am in the minority. 77% voted YES.

Oh well.

FIRST OF THE LAST

We are into a string of films whose titles begin with 'The Last'.

I don't know about the rest of the 'Lasts' but François Truffaut's

Le Dernier métro / The Last Metro (1980)

is a great film and we really enjoyed it.

The reviewer at the link complains that it is not groundbreaking. To me, it establishes Truffaut's credentials as a skillful film maker in all genrés.

It is a straight on great story and very enjoyable.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

I would watch it again tomorrow.

But, I won't. I have to get on with the rest of the 'Lasts'.

AHHHH! I GET IT

The reason for the evidence from torture question is that the bushers have now said (in a reversal) that they will NOT use evidence obtained in torture.

Voila!

So there was torture!

These guys are incredible.

GOING TO THE DOGS

And the other thing about the dog handler thing is 'what about the dogs'?

What kind of inhumane shit did they do or do they do to the dogs to make them attack like that.

Some nasty corrupting business.

WSJ?OTD

"Should evidence obtained through torture be admissible in military commission trials?"

My answer is a little more complicated than the YES/NO choice.

I want to know why the perpetrators of the torture aren't on trial and what that hell is going on that it took place in the first instance?

We shouldn't even be at this question.

So, I think that there is a deeper implication here; that we all agree there has been torture and a lot of it. Period.

And that we are going to have to deal with this question sooner or later.

The old theory is that information obtained during torture is unreliable in the first place. In addition, it can always be recanted. And would be.

In fact, the question does not make sense. It is a 'when did you quit beating your wife' type of question.

I voted NO of course as did 65% of the other respondents.

One can only assume that the 35% who voted YES are the same hard core of kool-aid drinkers who persist in supporting bush.

At least they convicted one of the dog guys yesterday.

EXCALIBUR!

Thank you Hal!!!

I took today to finish Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles today.

It is the story of Arthur as seen through the experience of his closest warlords, Derfel ap Aelle.

In fact, it is Derfel's story with Arthur in the background as foreground kind of thing.

These are wonderful stories. The ending is so fine.

Words cannot convey.

Well, they can. They are in these books.

I think you can order them as a threesome, but if not, look for The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur.

You know, there is very little historical data on Arthur. So we get a very fresh view of the old standard characters. They are all there; Gweneviere, Lancelot, Gallehad, Merlin.

The writing is masterful and the satisfaction level is very very high.

I am not sure where I will go next, but more of Cornwell's work has to be on the list.

Cornwell is a born Brit who lives on Cape Cod.

VOICE OVER

While we are at it, see if you cannot get this one too. It is pretty good. Old (1997) but good.

Voice Over (and over and over)

Or, if that doesn't work try this one.

CAN'T HACKETT

I have been following Ohio's Paul Hackett for quite a while.

The latest chapter has The Daily Show taking on the Democratic Party for dumping him.

Take a look at this great video.

The Neutered Donkey

Not only is Paul Hackett a good sport he is right!

The Democrats have to pull out of their organizational malaise or miss the chance of a decade of rooting the GoOPers out of office.

This is on Salon so you may have to endure ads to see it. I don't think you have to be a paying customer.

GORE TECHS

This is a great article on the resurrection (possibly) of Al Gore.

American Prospect: The New New Gore

It is a bit long but worth the time to at least scan through.

Can he be thinking 2008?

He sure has some scores to settle even if he is walking the high road here.

I don't know.

They say that he has dropped the consultants and pro-polls who did him so much internal damage.

I hope so.

I am so tired of seeing that awful Donna Brazile still shooting her mouth off.

BETTE

Bette Davis in today's NYTimes Best 1176 films.

The Letter (1940)

is based on a Somerset Maugham story and comes on like gangbusters with Ms. Davis emptying her sixshooter into a man who turns out to have been her boyfriend.

Tasty.

The rest of the film is about, well, an incriminating letter which makes the shooting more homicidal than mere self defense.

See, no one knows it is her boyfriend; least of all Herbert Marshall who happens to be her husband. All that is in the letter.

William Wyler directed this and it is fully restored so that we can see the sometimes breathtaking black and white cinematography 'come to life'.

It is hard to imagine how they knew to use light and angles to produce these images. I suppose it is in the art of it.

Why this is so much more dramatic in b&w than color I do not know; but it is. Somewhere there must be a treatise on this.

The film moves right along and skirts the issues of race and culture as well as fidelity in a stiff upper lift expat colony in Singapore.

It is fun to watch Ms. Davis work. She is beginning to show the signs and mannerisms that made female impersonators a lot of money later on. Here, she is not a caricature of herself. Just solid Bette.

I liked it and will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

It is not great cinema but a good time will be had by all.

WSJ?OTD

"Have you filed your 2005 taxes yet?"

NO

But the info is in the hands of my accountant.

Same thing as far as I am concerned.

The filing is a formality.

The psychological pain comes in the process of compiling the data.

As I get older, my tax returns get simpler. But, they never get painless.

The pain is one of guilt. I have never been able to cut corners as I get nervous at just doing it the right way.

I would be a lousy evader.

When we ran the business, we never ran the company by the tax law as many people do; seeking ins and outs around profits and losses. We just followed the regulations.

We got audited once.

Because it was a closely held company, one of us had to get audited as well.

That was me.

A 'no fault' finding. That is rare.

So, I never ran my life by it either.

Pay what I owe. No more, no less. And no wild twists and turns to avoid payment. Just get on with it.

Actually, I feel good paying taxes. It is my rite of participation.

Even when they are wildly wasting it, as I believe they are doing now, I feel good about paying up.

I like to think that my money is going for the good, efficient things that government does.

What else? Taxes. Something to think about. But, not something to get all wrought over. Like death.

Inevitable.

Lie back and enjoy it.

No, that was rape wasn't it? An old bad joke. But still.

The results so far today in the WSJ are YES 34% and NO 66%. I am with the majority.

APOSTACY

I have some favorite conservatives who are or or not republicans.

I don't know.

I have just respected their opinions and ways of presenting them.

One would be Andrew Sullivan who can drive me nuts but not drive me away.

Another is Kevin Phillips.

Phillips has a new book and it is a stunner.

'American Theocracy,' by Kevin Phillips: Clear and Present Dangers

Here he reveals the extent of failure in the conservative movement and its cooptation by the religious right.

As he presaged the great conservative wave 40 years ago, he may now be prophesying (and playing a part in) its decline and fall.

Unless he and others like Bruce Bartlett are too late.

I remember that I didn't want his first book to be true.

Now, I am hoping that the bushers et al. do not want this one to be true.

WHOOOSH!

Today's NYTimes 1176 Film is a Hitchcock Classic that many people haven't heard about.

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

This film (it says) was filmed on a low budget and sometimes that is apparent. The effects that were effective in 1938 look a bit amateurish today but there is still some thrill watching Michael Redgrave climb out one train window and into another as another train goes by. I ducked!

The story starts slowly and seems to be more of a comedy than a mystery. But, the mystery takes over and morphs into a thriller.

All is explained in the end.

Margaret Atwood sees the lady vanish. Wonderful Dame May Whitty is the lady herself and does a great job. Here, she has returned from her vanishing act.

I liked it a lot.

In its time, it is a five. In our time, a three.

I will split the difference and give it a 4 our of Netflix5.

FINE GOLD

It has taken me awhile to digest the Feingold effort to censure bushie.

Of course, I am for it.

Of course, I am dismayed at his relative lack of support from other Demos.

I stand proud of my one Senator Boxer for stepping forward. That is what she does.

But, I have been a little confused about the political wisdom.

I love the action but I worry about fallout.

But then, see, I am doing the Demo brainwash thing. Don't rock the boat. Fox News will call us on our 'anger'. That kind of shit.

And I am one of the noisy ones. Howard Dean and all.

OK

So look at this.

It makes sense to me.

Feingold: Political Play of the Week.

With the poll results (and these are the more conservative results) in hand, I can see that us rank and filers don't give a shit for comity. We want blood. And we are sick and tired of being on the wimp bus.

I like it.

Maybe Feingold deserves a second look in my early runner play book.

22 to 52 percent! Wow.

And this is just the beginning.

EAR RING

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Vincente Minnelli's

Lust for Life (1956)

It wasn't too cheesy. Kirk Douglas did OK as Vincent.

How can you put a whole life into two hours?

What you can do is show rather than tell and this film does that extraordinarily well.

The paintings and the places he painted are the film's backdrop. The entire production is painterly.

I really liked that aspect of it.

I went to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and there is no comparison between any print or reproduction you have seen and the actual work. Of course.

But, the film is lively and has motion and power in a way that even these reproductions come alive in a different way.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. It is lousy drama. Besides, we all know the story.

CHANGE

I have spent a lot of time in Cincinnati over the years.

I was super aware that the city was one of the toughest on its gay and lesbian citizens.

I didn't lurk around corners but you could catch the whiff of anti-gay attitudes.

It is a right wing, deep red state town.

But this is quite a turnaround and good to see. Almost unprecedented.

Cincinnati moves to stop anti-gay bias

A happy result of the changes going down everywhere else.

Good tidings.

Another good thing: it has about the gayest fountain in the world at the aptly named Fountain Square.

Now, all is in synch.

BOAT RIDE

I finished Herman Melville's Mardi.

It has been a long haul. Well, a long boat ride.

The scheme of the novel/commentary is to get a guy onto an island and then take him to many other islands where various cultures exist. It is a bit Swiftian. The comments about the politics, culture, and foibles of the people make up a lot of the 'novel'.

Such plot, as there is, finds him leaving a ship on a small craft with a particular friend—sure sounded gay to me—a viking-type sea daddy. He arrives on the said island where he is thought to be a demi-god and then to take a tour with the king/demi-god of the archipelago to which the island belongs.

Along the way, my gay fantasy implodes as he finds a princess captive on a pirate craft and liberates her. He bcomes 'romantically' attached. Then, she disappears.

The journey through the archipelago includes a search for the princess and escape from the pirates who continue to chase him.

So it is part story and part tract. The story is OK and I wish for more of it. The tract part is full of 19th century humor with a lot that is topical to the day so we are left out some.

I am moving on to a more storied novel, again a sea tale; Redburn

INTRO/EXTRO

I have talked before about the most popular article Atlantic Magazine has ever published:

Caring For Your Introvert

As a card carrying example of the breed I was and am deeply grateful for this article. I keep it on my desktop for instant emailing to other members of the club.

The author John Rauch now talks about the reaction to the article and his own life since it was written.

Introverts of the World Unite

Of course, this is tongue in cheek.

The last thing any introvert wants to do is fucking unite with someone else! Think of all the small talk.

98

My Dad will be 98 tomorrow.

He is not here to celebrate with us but he is very much alive in my heart.

Today my chiropractor remarked on my non-70 looks and condition. (He meant that I seem a lot younger!).

I told him that I thought a lot of it was genes.

He said that was for sure but our families also gave us something else that led to our longevity; the way that they brought us up.

I know that I am very close to my dad in temperament and beliefs.

What a gift.

I am sure that I did not think so at the time. I did not thank him enough for all his lessons and ideas.

But they are alive in me and, I think, in his grandkids.

So, tomorrow, my Dad will be 98.

WSJ?OTD

"Do you think Eliot Spitzer would make a good governor for New York?"

They do not have "I don't care" as an option.

I will say YES because I think he has the ego power to make a good big-timey politician and I also think that his reform heart is in the right place. He is, at least for now, a liberal progressive.

All I know is what I read in the papers.

The more informed WSJ readers say 30%YES 70%NO.

I guess the prophet is without honor—or votes—in his own country.

Business people do not like him, period. He has laid waste to the upper echelons of the investor class.

He is a looker though.

NASTY

Here is a little piece of film work that is irredeemably nasty:

L.A. Confidential (1997)

That doesn't mean it is a bad picture.

It takes rotten cops and show business scandal and wraps it together. It also satisfies the need to see Los Angeles as a shitty place to be; under the tinsel.

It is thrilling and a bit satisfying to see the virtuous get slimed.

On the other hand, it brings up the current discussion of the film Crash, another. supposedly realistic, look at the LA underbelly.

But we don't want to see the good stuff, only the seamy and evil.

That said, I have to admit that I had a good time looking at Russell Crowe play to type as a hair trigger angry brute cop.

Guy Pierce, always welcome, was virtue doomed to be spoiled.

Kevin Spacey played Kevin Spacey.

Kim Basinger got an Oscar for support and I guess that is OK.

What else?

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 because it looks so good and because Kevin Spacey gets drilled earlier than anyone could have expected.

The story is wrapped around a gossip magazine. There was a real counterpart at the time of the film.

You have to be old enough to remember the brief but florid life of Confidential Magazine.

It was the scandal sheet of the day; the checkout reading.

It lost a few defamation suits; most famously by Liberace. It ruined them.

But in its time it scared the bejeezus out of a lot of public figures.

There is also reference to Mickey Cohen and other hoods. Johnny Stampanato who was Lana Turner's boyfriend made the film as well as Lana. A lot of headlines and crime pictures of the time are used as well.

I remember a lot of it. Stampanato got time for beating Turner up.

DEBACLE

I'm sorry. Well, not really.

This stuff just makes me laugh out loud.

Hussein Testimony Prompts Closure of Court to Public

More censorship.

You knew that this would happen, right?

With their usual cluelessness, the bushies embraced the idea of a show trial.

Well, they are getting a show. Death and destruction for the judges--what? two so far?-- and a crazy (maybe not) Saddam ranting on about the insurgency.

One more PR debacle for the bushies who, I am sure, thought that this would burnish their warrior image somehow.

WSJ?OTD

"Should Google be required to give the Justice Department data on users' searches?"

Categorically, NO!

I am shocked that Yahoo, MSN and others knuckled under. I am proud of the Google guys for fighting it.

They have lost but also won because the data now asked by the government is much less.

On the other hand, this is just another inch in opening the door to what used to be 'illegal search and seizure' in the name of 'national security'.

There is not a lot to talk about here.

Cut and dried as far as I am concerned.

They can't open my snail mail; can they? Yes, I guess so; with a warrant.

But the internet is free of this shit except for all the illegal spying that they are already doing.

Yes. Yes. I know. This is only about 'pornography'. Which should not be monitored either!!!

Bastards.

The results so far this morning are 27% YES and 73% NO.

Good.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

We know a lot of people in our neighborhood.

We are not reclusive.

On the other hand, there are a lot of houses that have no tenants! How could we know?

These are the people who show only occasionally; maybe weekends, Some are rarely seen. A small minority are seen but not appreciated for some reason and, therefore, are unknown to us other than sight.

A typical Palm Springs neighborhood.

For the unknowns, we cannot say "Bill and Marlene's house is getting a paint job". We need another designation.

So we go by a series of intricate nicknames based on events or even the people when we last saw them.

There is the 'bartenders' house' on Mesa, for example.

When we moved here, someone told us that two bartenders lived there. We never saw them but, three owners later, it is still 'the bartenders' house'. We even know the name of one of the present occupants but that hasn't made a dent in the naming.

Sometimes, a house name can change.

Consider 'the bathroom house'. That used to be 'the GP's house' because the guy who lived there had a license plate that said JUSTAGP—neat!.

But he died. And we never met him.

Three owners later have redone the house—badly. Most egregiously, they have built a huge jutting cube over the driveway.

It turns out that this addition is all bathroom; hence, of course, 'the bathroom house'. The addition trumps the GP all to hell.

There is some confusion around a few of the names. I have one house that I call 'the modern house'; John another. Now we have the 'ugly modern house', 'the blue tile modern house', and 'the gargantuan modern house'.

Gotta get new names.

'Randy's house' is a vacant, derelict teardown that our friend Randy (somehow) likes a lot.

Some houses are personality driven.

There is the 'bathing suit lady's house' where the owner wears an extraordinary variety of halter tops that look like the bra part of old fashioned two piece bathing suits. This one is a little arcane, I admit.

We have 'the leg weight guy's house' (he has very long legs and we fear for his sacroiliac) and so on.

It all makes for lively conversation as we not only tell the story of today's dog walk and, at the same time, relate all the new data about the neighborhood; who is doing what, where.

But the juiciest part is often just trying to figure out which house is being nicknamed and why.

History. Geography. With a smile.

BLEAK

Today's NYTimes Best Film was Luchino Visconti's

Terra trema: Episodio del mare, La / The World Trembles (1948)

In a way, the film is a stunt, if a successful one.

An entire Sicilian fishing village is enlisted as actors to tell a simple story of their life.

A rebel tries to beat the system and loses.

The story is less important than the scenes of daily life and the little sub-dramas that support the main story.

The 'acting' is quite good. And the cinematography (b&w) is gorgeous.

I was held pretty close to it as it all unwound.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

It loses a point for being too long and having an annoying 'narrator' who, at times, even tells us what is happening when it is obvious.

WSJ?OTD

"How do you grade Bush's leadership of the Iraq war so far this year?"

Whooo Hoooooo! A question that is a no brainer AND a chance to vote again on the asshole.

No brainer at an F!

I do not even need to discuss it.

Let's look at what the others say--remember--these are readers of the Wall Street Journal

A=12%; B=12%; C=7%; D=13%; Now get this! F=56%

Enough said.

BEST

Today's Best Film is from the golden age of movies. Alan Pacula's

Klute (1971)

stars Donald Sutherland in the title role and Jane Fonda as the whore without a heart of gold.

I disagree with Ebert. He says it should be called 'Bree' (Fonda's name) but it is Klute who has the heart of gold.

Actually he has a lot of it wrong but that is OK. It is still the best of the best.

Fonda should have never married Ted Turner. We lost a wonderful actress as a result.

I am not going into the details of the film. It is all good. A thriller.

Besides everyone has seen it.

A definite 5 out of Netflix5.

WSJ?OTD

"Do you plan to enter an NCAA basketball pool?"

It's nolo contendere on this one.

Like I mentioned, basketball is terra incognito to me.

Wow. That is two latin phrases in two lines!

When I was a kid, I had no tutelage in the subject. Bball was the unifying king of games at our school but it was not for me.

I never really did understand any of it.

That may be because I didn't play at all. Well, gym class. But you can fake it there. Run up and down and hope that you are on the skins team. Or that the lookers are.

I would pray that they not pass (is that the right word?) the ball to me because I would probably drop it and if I didn't drop it I would have to dribble which I never learned how to do either.

It was a disaster. But so was gym class for the most part.

As I grew up, I was interested in pep rallies and all and cheering for the home team but that was all social stuff. I had no idea how the plays worked or what fouling was or how to guard. I do know there was zone or man on man. Or something.

So, I guess you can see why I am not going to join any basket ball pool.

I will vote NO.

But, somehow, I want to be able to explain why.

On the other hand, I guess it is a good thing that I don't have to. It isn't a written exam.

The other respondents said YES 45%; NO 55%.

I guess there are more clueless people than me.

Is it just me or does the drawing of the bball court look like two penises pointing at one another?

DON'T BE

It has been awhile since the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy started.

I remember being part of the Harvard graduation audience that turned our backs to Colin Powell the year it came out; so to speak. It was Dave's PhD graduation. We were just innocent bystanders. But we stood and then walked out.

Now there are new ripples:

Advocates Hope Ruling Renews Focus on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

You might remember that almost all the Arabic translators the army had were dumped because they were faggots. Just when we needed them most.

It is amusing to consider how translation became a gay profession on a par with decorating and hair work. Maybe it has to do with the show business aspect of translating.

It is a funny side story to the whole sorry mess.

But, now the military needs more than a few good men and when you need good men where else do you go? To the manliest men of all! The gay military.

In a time that presumably straight soldiers in the 82d Division were getting paid to do gay-sex porno, there is hardly a reason to believe that gay life has no place in the military. It is a moonlighting job!

But there are many sad stories of men and women drummed out of the service; who were hunted down and harrassed, shamed. Many attacked. A few killed.

What is shameful is this bigoted regulation that has persisted as other nations embrace gay and lesbian service members. We, the land of the free, still shackle and torture our own.

WHO'S WHO?

This mighty samurai film,

Kagemusha / The Shadow Warrior (1980)

by Akira Kurosawa is wonderful to watch and it is very long; three hours. I once held all films to the old 90 minute standard. I have relaxed some on this issue but this film pushes boundaries.

The story is simple. The samurai Lord needs a double. The Lord is unexpectedly killed. As he is dying he orders his people to set the double up as his standin for at least three years.

It is great to see the transformation of this simple man (he had been a petty thief) in the Lord's role.

They touch all the bases as far as making the scheme work. It is almost excruciating to watch the process. But, the office makes the man and he makes the grade, almost.

On the outside of this small drama there are great battles and incredible scenes of armies going to and fro.

Sometimes we are lost in the fog of war.

It is a monumental filming effort; costumes, scenery, extras. All of it.

The issue of identity and how it ties to leadership is thoroughly explored. When the double is in the Lord's clothing he is the Lord and men will die for him.

Out of those clothes, he is an outcast.

It is an old theme and a good one or it would not have lasted so long. It explains the power that dubious leaders hold even in the face of exposure as incompetents and criminals. We will not name names here.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5 when asked but it is hard work and a little more help with the various 'enemies' would have helped.

CUSTODY

Today I watched

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

It is a Best Film.

I missed it the first time around. I guess I thought it would be a lot nastier than it really is.

Both sides are apparent, the people act humanely (except the lawyers, just like in real life) and the resolve is nicely done.

There is a lot of nice father/son stuff along the way and Jane Alexander is a great friend to both Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

It was good to see Howard Duff and old timey lesser light starish actor as Hoffman's lawyer.

I liked it.

Even though it won Oscars and is considered a great film, I want to give it only a 4 and somehow I can't justify it to myself.

Maybe it is that I think the Streep character, as usual, gets away with a lot. But maybe that is real life too. Moms tend to win in court I guess.

Somehow it doesn't sit right. We will see when they ask me about my rating. I don't want my 'politics' to get in the way of my judgement about the picture. But, then, why not.

It's a 4 out of Netflix5.

LOW SNOW

We are having an unusual storm surge coming over from the Pacific with record lows for this date.

There is snow down to about a thousand feet which we really cannot see because the mountains are also enwrapped in rain cloud.

It is a two day, two storm package deal.

It is good for us because it will help the surge of spring flowers in the desert next month.

And, it cleans everything off. Dust. No one told us about the dust.

We are usually OK with it as we are in a 'cove' against the mountains but there is enough to see when we get a prolonged dry spell.

I would like to see the snow though.

I have some pictures from when this happened, hmmmmm? Last year? Year before?

Ahhhh, there it is. Taken from about a mile out and only of the 'low' mile high peaks south of our house.The current storm has snow on the peak in the foreground as well.

Did I mention that the forecast has us back to 77 degrees on Wednesday?

OOPS

I went through yesterday without a post at all. I was busy and it was raining. How is that for an excuse?

Other than regurgitate more news we all saw I thought I would give it a rest.

So bushie is down to 37% approval in the AP/IPSOS poll. Norton resigned from burns contracted from being too close to Abramoff. Yawn. Show me something really big.

NESTING

You might remember that I am a regular viewer of the web page of the NYC red tailed eagles who caused such a stir when their nest was removed from a ritzy apartment building in NYC.

The nest was put back again and last year the eagles eggs did not hatch.

Stress.

But we are in the new nesting season and Pale Male and Lola have been at their mating business on a regular basis. Today or yesterday there is an egg in the nest.

So, I am watching again. I can't quit.

You can watch too at this link.

Here Pale Male is bringing some structural material (a branch) to the nest.

HEAT

Take a look at this commercial. It should help get you wound up for the 2006 bi-election process:

Vernon Marshall's Sick Commercial

WSJ?OTD

There hasn't been a 'question' in the Wall Street Journal for a few days.

So, I guess they made this poser for us to make up:

"Do you expect the Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision by 2010?"

I said YES

But, it is a qualified yes.

This one is very hard for me to think about.

I have to remember that the question is a yes or no estimate and is not based on my opinion about the laws themselves.

Obviously, the so-called 'right-to-life' movement has been encouraged by the recent busher appointments to the court. South Dakota has already made its move. It is regarded as a strategic error by many.

It goes too far, too fast, and opens up a whole new area which has to do with the penalties to be associated with the law. Will it imprison teenage girls for getting an abortion? Doctors? What about the fathers?

Can of worms over here!

Nevertheless, I do think that there will be chipping away at Roe; perhaps overturning with a new perspective on the whole matter.

On the other hand, as they used to say about presidents (pre-bush), the office makes the man and perhaps sitting on the bench will change some of the views of the newbies.

I am waffling all over here.

OK.

The other respondents said NO (65%); YES (35%)

SPEED BUMPS

I got behind someone traveling at the speed limit today.

I all but honked my horn. I certainly tried to crawl up their ass to let them know they were slowing me down.

Not a safe practice, actually. This driver also tends to be skittish when upset and to make sudden inappropriate moves; like hitting the brakes.

I thought of blinking my headlights but did not. They were visitors to the valley and didn't know any better.

And the lights would have startled them out of their doze.

In the winter time there is an abundance of law-abiders who feel it their duty to keep to the posted speeds no matter what. Many, just to be safe, will travel at a few clicks under the posted speed so they won't be caught with a faulty speedometer.

This is an out and out road hazard.

I don't know how things are run in Canada or Oregon or Washington or some other candy ass territory but we go about 5, sometimes 10 mph, above the posted speed, if any, and go hell bent when there are no signs visible 'for awhile'.

I know this is a loose parameter to go by but if there are no cop cars in the area you have sufficient support for making up your own limit.

I am not unusual in my observance of these 'enhanced speed' practices. Almost everyone does it.

In fact, California is the home of the 'stay with the flow of traffic' guideline for appropriate speed. This goes hand in hand with the famed 'California stop' at an unlighted intersection.

In the early morning when all the construction workers (undocumented, see below) are on the roads, the intuitive speed limit is high. Everyone is doing their best to be the standard setter for 'the flow'.

As the day comes on, there is more of a sheep like adherence to group-think that slows things down.

Even if there are cops, they adhere to this 5-10 or 'with the flow' system of measurement. Except for the ones with the radar guns in their hands. They have been given a quota for the day and will do what they must including break the informal code of 'fast but not too fast'. They are not bad at heart. If the city records need some fluffing, so be it.

I wonder about these temperate drivers. When they were kids, they were probably the ones who were teachers' pets and tattled.

I imagine them to be tsk-tsk-ers and finger pointers. They probably love to be on jury duty.

They are, in their own minds, setting a better, moral standard for the rest of us to emulate.

I suspect that more than a few are christers. I notice a lot of fish on the backs of the cars.

In any case, we only have them here for a few more months.

May, actually.

Then they will be gone; being good examples to all the people around their own native driving grounds.

BROKEBACK TODAY

There are a lot of people who believe that the events depicted in Brokeback Mountain (2005) are a matter of history; that in the sixties, things were this way but now it has changed.

These men would go and find a gay life; move to San Francisco and have at it.

Not so fast. That ain't the case.

The world is still a lot more complicated place.

Take a look at this article

Couples Must Negotiate Terms of 'Brokeback' Marriages

It is a new world for gay people but it takes a while for the news to get around; even to gay men and lesbians themselves.

All gay men and lesbians are raised to be heterosexuals and it takes awhile to get to the kernel of truth.

BOATER

A man and a woman pickup a hitchhiker.

They are headed for a boating overnight and invite the guy along (this is early 60's Poland).

They have the time together. The men posture and perform and play out the timeless bull of the woods antler butting thing.

Things get a little out of hand.

It is Roman Polanski's

Nóz w wodzie / Knife in the Water (1962)

It is his first film and is notable in that it uses the said knife as a source of tension throughout (like the loaded gun in the Jack Nicholson flic the other day) and the cliché hitchhiker who might be a psychopath.

Both invite a number of fantasies about what will happen.

Let me say only that you will be surprised.

Yeh, the boat looks like a knife slicing through the water too. There is a lot of that but it is not heavy handed. Just fun.

It is also interesting in that almost all the action is on the boat. In that respect, the tension is also heightened but, at the same time, you get a reasonable feeling of what a boating overnight is like. The relaxing pull of the wind and the water gliding by is fully captured.

It is quite a film.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

HANDI WIPES

There is a new thing in my supermarket.

At the entrance is a dispenser for sanitary wipes.

They are 'placed for your safety and convenience'.

I am not sure whether it is meant to protect me (wipe the handle of the cart that I am pushing) or to protect other customers from me and my germ laden hands; my filthiness.

There is something about this that irks me. It is like the big daddy social engineering bullshit we see all over today. Taking care of people because they cannot take care of themselves.

Maybe it is a response to the impending pandemic. I have news for them. There is a virus there and the little sanitary stuff won't kick it.

Anyway, I am not going to use them.

My question is 'what is in the wipes?'; 'some chemical that will penetrate my body and make me sick?'

See, paranoia is contagious.

It is like the sunscreen thing.

I live in a high uv environment. One thing to do is to be careful about exposure. That is why desert rats always head to the shade when the stop to talk.

Others swab these chemicals on their bodies to protect them from the sun without a single thought about what the swab creams and oils are doing to their skin.

I don't get it.

I believe that there is altogether too much attention to sanitation. You need to build up antibodies and if everything is germ free that ain't going to happen.

WSJ?OTD

Should Congress ban Internet gambling?

Here we have one of those 'sin questions' again.

If the net could serve booze, the question would be "Should Congress ban drinking on the web?".

Or sex. "Should Congress ban fucking on the web?

Well, that one is not too far fetched as they dearly want to ban pornography to a high water mark.

So. Gambling.

Let's start wide. First of all, gambling is a social problem to the extent that it is commercialized and run as 'gaming' and available widely to most people in the country. The big money involved attracts crime and fraud.

We have the so called indian casinos in our town.

I don't gamble, but I have been there for the buffet. It is just like Vegas.

I know people who gamble. They seem to enjoy it.

Just because I think that it is stupid, mind numbing, and sure to induce poverty doesn't make them wrong. They win enough, occasionally, to justify it to themselves.

Then there is the state-sponsored lottery. Lottsa people pissing away their money there and getting in my way as I try to check out the groceries.

If that is OK, then what? The internet? At least they would stay home and leave me to my produce.

Yes there are addicts. But, as there is AA for alcoholics, there is GA for gamblers.

Prohibition does not work. We saw that with alcohol.

I believe, in fact, that it is the quasi-legal aspect of gambling that energizes the social problem aspect. We all love to be a little bad. Gambling is just a little bad. No one gets drunk and pukes on the floor. No one gets high and kills someone on the freeway.

Now, narrower.

What about the internet?

Well, everything is on the internet that is out there in the real world. There are scams galore. It is a jungle.

Gambling?

They always mention little kids. Well, try to collect $$$ from a little kid. It is pre-screened by the site managers.

Again, no one else is harmed.

I am not too big on the notion that government should protect us from our own impulses and the impulse to gamble is ancient. How we act on the impulse and what we do with our money is a basic part of being free.

Social regulation sucks.

So. I will vote NO.

Let's see what the others did.

It is 63% NO and 37% YES.

Even the church ladies read the WSJ.

MINDING THEIR OWN BUSINESS

The other day, the majority of respondents to the WSJ?OTD said that they would want all illegal immigrants shipped out of the country or something like that.

I said that it was obvious that those people did not live in Southern California; or, for that matter, Arizona or Texas.

Or, maybe they were just a little naive about their own local economies.

And now we can say that none of the respondents were in the government either.

The Search for Illegal Immigrants Stops at the Workplace

And look at this one. The present system sucks!

If you try to obey the laws and regulations you just bring trouble on yourself.

Employers of Illegal Workers in a Catch-22

I am violating the law every time I get my house cleaned, the yard straightened up or if and when we do any construction that involves 'workers'. Even if the people are legal, I am not asking and they are not telling. I will just not get into it.

So does everyone else.

We had the same problem in Boston, sort of. Sylvia who cleaned and helped us in the houses for many years got married to become a citizen and they tried to bust her anyway. And now it is actually illegal to do it for the paperwork.

In the meantime, these people are denied the benefits of the larger economy as it intersects with government.

For example, many of them drive. I am not sure whether that is lawful now in this state or not. Many have licenses, nonetheless.

It is a bollix.

And the irony is that they are not taking any jobs away from 'amercans'. Very few, if any, of these jobs are fillable by welfare people which is where the bodies would come from.

Did I mention that I think it is fucked up?

Oh, and by the way, did you have any fresh produce harvested in the USA today? If so, you are a co-conspirator.

BACK BREAK IN

I went to my chiropractor for the first of 6 adjustments and electric stimulus therapy sessions. It seems like way too much to me but I follow the Doc's orders.

Or, go to someone else. And I am not inclined to do that.

Anyway, I arrived just in time to see the place raided by cops. There had been a breakin.

"Don't touch nothin'" they said.

Well that is hard to do in a chiropractic office.

But, it turned out the thieves were a bit misinformed. They were after drugs and there aren't any in a chiro-office. That is the point!

So things quieted down and I don't know what happened after that. The cops were gone when I came out 30 minutes later.

The monitors were ripped off though. No one could tell what I owed.

Next time.

A little vicarious thrill in the morning.