esrosedotblog

CUT UPS

I know I am late for the party but I finally made it.

For folks who

Don't Feel Like Dancin'

Those

Scissor Sisters

can sure shake their asses.

I have been singing it in my head all day.

They have a great web site.

Take a trip through the Scissorhood.

NASTY MOOD

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Robert Altman's

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

This is such a famous film and so much has been said about it that it defies further commentary.

I have seen it a number of times and each time there is a new revelation.

It has the bones of a Western but none of the flesh.

Here, the whores are relatively happy but not pretty (well, maybe Shelley Duval but she is a widow forced into the business), the men lack heroic proportions, and there is a lot of dirt everywhere. And mud.

In its time, this was a revolutionary take. Not now. This is the parent of series like Deadwood.

I take it as a 'mood' film and the mood is nasty.

You cannot hear all that is said, it is an Altman film after all, but you know the meaning. And, the meaning is ominous.

There are many sweet, funny, sad, and amazing bits of business along the way.

I don't think that I got how, in each jump forward, the town grows before our eyes; the money that is being earned at the tubs and whorehouse are being plowed back into the business.

This film does not have Julie Christie and Warren Beattie in it. It has two human beings on the make. Their problem is mostly that they are caught in alcoholism and opium addiction.

When it is time to get up and act they are down and disabled.

At the end, the church catches on fire and the whole town turns out to put the fire out.

It is pretty obvious that this is the town that will survive. A black couple holds hands and returns to their small business. The whores gaggle their way back to the village. The miners, both anglo and chinese, whoop it up together as they return to work.

Optimism. Life.

It gets a 5 out of Netflix5.

It even earned a second review by Ebert, thirty years later!

UNLINKED

My internet access had a meltdown yesterday. It turns out that it was our ISP; Earthlink.

I did the usual things—restart the software, restart the computer, re-boot to the cable. Call the cable. Nothing wrong there. The guy tested us. He was in San Diego.

He then put me through to Earthlink. We have to go through our cable supplier. Can't dial direct.

It was a 27 minute wait.

One of the nice things about a cell phone is that you can carry it around, set on speakerphone, and do other shit while you wait for a human to answer the 'service' line.

Eventually someone anwered and I was able to quickly cajole him off his script.

I love doing that. It makes the wait worthwhile.

The guy said he was in the Philippines.

It is all explainable. They are repairing and upgrading in California for three days. There will be disruptions. OK.

He said we would be back by 6AM. I didn't ask which time zone but it was only a couple of hours, if that.

I went to the site and they actually do say that this is happening (for three days) and that it will improve the service. I would never normally look at the 'network status' reports but I used to, in the old days. They would be down a lot when I was on dialup.

It is interesting that as long as I did not know what was wrong I was anxious. The second I found out the reason things were wrong, I became relaxed.

I guess, at bottom, I don't mind that stuff is fucked up but I gotta know WHY!

TORTURE DEFINED

Senate Wins Fight To Lower Allowable Amperage Levels On Detainees' Testicles

Laugh or cry.

TRIFLE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Jonathan Demme's

Married to the Mob (1988)

This is a trifle, a little weird; almost magical realism but not quite. But don't forget; a trifle is a great treat of a dessert.

The film has great performances by a host of 'beginning' actors—Matthew Modine, Michelle Pfieffer, Mercedes Ruehl, Oliver Platt, Alec Baldwin, Joan Cusack—and some of old timey ones—Dean Stockwell, Al Lewis. It is a lot of fun.

There is no point in discussing it. You just put the disc in and let it go. Take it away.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 and be very happy that I saw it (again).

TRADITION

Of course, screwing around with

habeus corpus

is nothing new.

During WWI and in WWII, unnaturalized Germans and even German-Americans were incarcerated and held.

My two family names (moms and pops') are both altered to draw attention from their germanic source; 'americanized'.

The Japanese-American Internment during WWII is another shameful period in our history.

There are many others. The roundup of commies in the 50s, the harrassment and imprisonment of protesters in the 60s were accepted as routine but they were not.

Black Americans have always been subject to 'special rules'.

This shit they are passing is nothing new.

It is as American as apple pie.

It has always been beaten back.

The same will happen this time. If not in the courts, then in the polling booth.

GEORGE THE FIRST SAID

Hillary Clinton on the torture bill via Andrew Sullivan (who doesn't even like Hillary a little bit but loved the speech)

The Goldwater Girl

TORTURE ME TWO

So here is one extra step.

I heard a guy say we ought to apply the 'golden rule' to this torture thing.

Would we want THEM to do unto us what we are apparently doing to them?

Well, of course, fuck no!

These people are gooks! We are Americans!

I have a second level question.

Would you want to be the guy who is doing the torturing?

Really.

Think about it.

You have heard about waterboarding. Would you do it to somebody? Would you be the guy asking the questions or the brute who dips the board?

How about the cattle prod? How far would you go?

A touch to the ass? How about up the ass?

Fingernails?

Where would you start and where would you stop?

Maybe I am hitting it too hard here.

How about the guy who sets the A/C on 55 and then every once in a while you hit the perp with a shot of cold water?

Or maybe you could be the one who puts them into the rig that makes them stand there for 36 hours. 72?

I think this kind of question is a lot more powerful than the golden rule one.

It skips the metaphysics.

Of course, there are those who would say yes. They are always with us.

But, I bet that there are a whole lot of us who would vote for someone else to do the dirty work but, in no way, would we want to do it ourselves.

Believe me. The bushies rely on the people who would not have the balls or stomach for it but wouldn't stop someone else. The sadist by proxy.

That is it.

I have had enough of this myself.

TORTURED THOUGHTS updated three hours later

I am totally confused by the 'torture bill'.

I am sure that there is some other name for it. The bushies have a gift for covering over evil shit with benign names.

I didn't fall for the McCain compromise thing. We have had that act before.

But with all the compromises and add ons and the two Houses having different bills, it is mental torture to to untangle it all.

I find that I am, at times, sort of sliding/edging into favor of the bill.

I think that 'maybe it is OK'. Surely all these people voting for it do not really want to shove a cattle prod up someone's ass. Do they?

In the middle of all this confusion I am surprised to find that there is a small part of me that thinks that non-Geneva torture might actually work; that there are circumstances when tougher tactics could or should be used.

It is like the fact that a small part of me is racist. Always was an always will be.

A small part of me wants to inflict some pain on others.

But, if I take my inner torturer and subject him to the facts, I have to admit that the kind of torture I am thinking of seldom works. Experts in the craft of interrogation use far more subtle mind-games to pull out their information and always have.

I have just read a thoroughly researched novel about espionage and spy work prior to WWII. The good stuff always comes from 'friendly' interrogations.

Are there nasty interrogations in the novel?

Yup.

But they are for a different purpose. These 'wet' interrogations are to extract information the way you want it. You want your victim to implicate someone or you want a confession to justify their own conviction. It is all manipulated.

There is also the revenge factor. We want to hurt someone. We need propaganda. These guys on the fringe are hurtable with some rationalization because they are Muslims, because they are brown, and because they took the field against us. They are not 'us'. Xenophobia.

So.

Do I think that there ought to be a special class of interrogation where you get to hurt people to extract faux info that you can use to get someone else?

Or do you want to use interrogation as a tool of revenge.

Or, try this one. Do you want to use torture as a means of terrorizing the victim's friends or peer group? Are you perpetrating a terroist act by torturing?

I think that these are good questions to ask myself when I feel 'me' sliding toward thinking the 'compromise' is OK.

It puts me on the right moral ground.

The legalities are mind boggling.

The morality is not.

I get a strong NO to all of the moral questions.

Enough said.

HACKS, CRONIES, AND CROOKS cont'd

Heralded Iraq Police Academy a 'Disaster'

'The rain forest', indeed.

Is there no end to it?

WSJ?OTD

"Would you support a ban on use of trans fats in restaurants in your city?"

I answered YES and then changed my mind but it was too late because they only give you one vote and you can't screw with the algorithm.

I said YES because it is a poison that you cannot see.

Some national restaurants provide ingredients and nutritional data but, come on, who is going to go looking for that?

On the other hand, this is the same kind of thing as the anti-smoking movement. More regulations. More work for the idle legislative hands who usually create unforeseen consequences.

The fact is that trans-fats were invented as a lower cost substitute substitute for far better, but still lethal, natural fats like butter and lard.

The other fact is that certain food products and certain foods (most bakery items) cannot be made without some kind of saturated fat.

This is all under the heading of trying to protect people from themselves. It is the mainspring of both the left and right extremists.

I know.

I consider myself a progressive but I also think that people ought to be left alone.

Keerist! If we cannot figure out how to vote on a question like this, how do we unsnarl the torture legislation that is now up for a vote.

I hope that I have not lost any of my readers who live out there in Crisco-land by my ambivalence here. I don't want to interrupt their cash flow. But, they have gotten into a lot more lucrative businesses and could take a hit on this one, eh?

AD INFINITUM

I love campaign ads.

I look at every one I can.

Today at the Kos fundraising site there are several which are quite different and very good:

Nag Nag Nag

PLAIN PEOPLE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Marty (1955)

with Ernest Borgnine in the title role.

There is a little of Marty in all of us; the part that feels homely, unwanted and has experienced too much rejection.

It is a simple story; a character study.

It is a very fine film and a wonderful performance by Borgnine.

I liked it a lot and will give it a 5 out of Netflix5 because I don't want to create any more rejection for Marty.

DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS

In the last week or so there has been a noise in the running gear at the back of our Jeep Cherokee.

Thrum, thrum, thrum. Not very loud, but persistent.

I was taking the vehicle in for new seat belts (chewed through in the early days of Franklin's aggresssive teething phase) and casually told the service rep guy about the noise.

He said he would look into it. Or listen. Whatever.

Later in the day, a call. Bad news. The noise was from a bad bearing and other stuff in the differential. And we should really get the whole differential upgraded if we were going to do part of it.

2000 dollars.

Boom.

Now, the Cherokee is ten years old. It has not so many miles as you would think but enough. I love it. It is my vehicle when I am not in love with our Woody Le Baron.

But, this was the first time I said to myself (and John said at the same time) 'would it be better to get a new truck?'.

Now, this is not an uncommon place for us to be. Any of us. You!

We have something we love. It is getting on in years. Do we put money into keeping it upgraded? Or do we cut and run. Become part of the throw-away-culture.

I have made decisions both ways.

But there is no way to know for sure that I have made or am making the right decision.

Part of it is that while I know the Cherokee will continue to need repairs I do not know how much and how bad.

I do know that if I get a new car I will lose 5000 dollars at the same minute I drive off the dealer's lot.

And so on.

So, we are at a tipping point. Now is when we start saying 'well, we spent 2000 for the differential and they just took the dash off and cleaned everything for 750 and you just bought a new serpentine belt. It is like new! You can't sell it now'.

At the bottom line, there is no other truck that we like right now and I love my Jeep.

We keep it.

MEAN TO ME

Today I had to sit through a long tedious exploration of sub-mob life in Little Italy.

I think that I saw it before.

It is a NYTimes Best 1176 Film; Martin Scorcese's

Mean Streets (1973)

I don't get all the gush about Scorcese. I find the work mostly boring and without a lot of merit artistically.

This one is not as violent as later films but it still has this patina of the violent life—not so tough guys talking and acting tough.

I find little redeeming social value.

Some scenes are sorta funny—the famous 'don't call me a mook' 'what's a mook?'.

Mostly it is Harvey Keitel trying to make Robert De Niro straighten up and play the game nice.

Sorry.

It is a 2 out of Netflix5.

Yeh, I know. I am going to have to watch a bunch of other Scorcese films in this Best list. I already have seen some.

I made the commitment. I am just serving my time.

SIT DOWN STRIKE

Today we learn that the Army will not submit its budget until Rummy recognizes that they are underfunded.

Army Warns Rumsfeld It's Billions Short

And they have made sure that it made headlines.

A few days ago, we learned that ALL the intelligence services had concluded that Iraq was actually producing terrorists and serving as a training ground for them.

Not that any of us were surprised.

This leak was not by 'someone'. It was by all the services together.

The report is not public but the conclusions are.

Bureaucrats fighting back.

I think that there has been a lot of this and it is unfolding every day.

A growing insurgency in our own government! Wonderful.

WELL HONED

I sharpened my knives today.

They really needed it. Or, I really needed it.

I was beginning to saw through some meat with my boning knife. Not good.

I have used the same sharpener for almost twenty years now. I think I got it when we moved to Warren Avenue in Boston in 1988.

That is the year I started taking cooking more seriously than I had. There was a new kitchen with two ovens; one convection. I had a stove top grill and a big stainless refrigerator. I was at my culinary zenith.

I got a great set of knives and, at the same time, I got a Chef's Choice sharpener. I have seen no better in all the time I have owned it.

You cannot fuck it up. Well, I suppose you could but you would have to try.

Today, I am down to one oven again. No stainless refrigerator. Not even an outside grill.

My cuisine has gone from haute to kool. Tonight we are having hamburgers.

But I still use my Chef's Choice sharpener.

MORALITY

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Eric Rohmer's

My Night At Maud's (1970)

This is one of the

Six Moral Tales.

It is the third one and was made fourth. We have seen some of the others.

Each Tale's protagonist faces a life situation that confronts his own particular moral code; in this case Catholicism.

The person has to navigate the situation and apply the code for better or worse.

There is a lot of talk. You have to pay attention.

But there is a payoff if you do and, often, it is quite surprising.

This Tale involves a set of lovers' triangles that intersect. You don't really know how until the end.

The star is Jean-Louis Trintignant who makes this tight ass catholic (who lies his way through life) a very attractive blank slate upon which to project one's own moral codes. Well not blank. He is a looker. It is just a figure of speech.

I liked it.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

ACCELERATION

A lot of news starts as a sort of rumor; anecdotal evidence.

Then, the drumbeats start. More people get into the story; build it up.

Finally, there is a tipping point. Enough people ask questions so that the conventional wisdom gets some real study.

Then, what became obvious to almost everyone during this acceleration of awareness, becomes a matter of 'official scrutiny' and, lo and behold, what we thought was true is not only true but the perpetrators themselves admit to the now obvious fact.

It even makes it as a headline in the NYTimes!

It takes one fuck of a long time for this all to happen though.

I thought this was true years ago.

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terror Threat

No shit Sherlock!

Of course, I am sure that bushie ain't having any.

NOT HALF BAD

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Moonraker (1979)

I am not a James Bond fan and this is the 11th one that I did not see when it came around; the Roger Moore period. He can't act and they cannot show any of his bare body except the shoulders and lower legs.

The first half (of the film, not Roger) is a slog. Boring beyond belief. Wooden performances. Bullshit plot.

The second half, the one where they have the set-piece in a huge set that gets blown up, is actually, very good. Or, at least I thought so.

It uses the space shuttle. Was there a space shuttle in 1979? And a space station. And the effects are spectacular.

There is not a thing to say about the plot or characters in these pictures. They are mostly the same.

This one is good when it gets down—or upto the space stuff when it gets down to it—or up—it is a 4 out of Netflix5.

The rest is a 1.

So I will give it a 2 or 3 when I get to rate it.

We are in a downward spiral on Best Films.

I don't like the M's so much.

BAD DAY AT THE CINEMA

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

My Man Godfrey (1936)

A lot of people like this film. It is rated highly by the IMDb users.

I hated it.

It is one of those thirties things that has it both ways.

The rich and elite get to eat a little humble pie and do good for some down and outers. We who watch it get to feel good at all of their expense because they are all kind of unfortunate.

It is hard to figure.

Carole Lombard is so annoying that you want to see the worst thing happen to her. William Powell is debonair and heroic. He is also way to old for Lombard. There is zero chemistry there.

There are some neat character actors to watch; Grady Sutton, Mischa Auer, Franklin Pangborn and some others.

A washout.

I will give it a 2 out of Netflix 5 because of the wonderful opening credits; all art deco buildings and signs flashing the names. Wonderful.

ABRAHAMS KIDS

There is a thoughtful comment and link under "Wake up and smell the sulfur" posted 9/21/06.

The point is made that all three religions provide ample basis for death and destruction in the guise of 'good works'. And so on.

I just didn't want you to miss it.

STONED

Today is the autumnal equinox.

This is the Watchstone.

We are familiar with the 'henges' but there are other standing stones that point to the changing position of the sun.

YEH AND I WANT TO SELL YOU A NICE BRIDGE

Bush Bows to Senators on Detainees

Don't you believe it for a minute.

They were already rewinding it yesterday afternoon and the next thing that will happen (if it gets passed at all) is that there will be a 'signing statement' disavowing the whole thing or saying that he can do what he wants to anyway.

In fact, the 'compromise' allows him to do anything he wants to. It is one of those phony middle-of-the-road head-fakes that McCain and the others are so good at.

It covers their asses with their constituency and, at the same time, lets them stay in the bushie trough line.

WELL, MAYBE NOT NEVER

I aroused some comment with my remarks about movie remakes of Broadway hits. I have to step back.

There are some good movie transfers. One mentioned in the comment is How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

OK.

Also, maybe West Side Story.

My own list would include Damn Yankees.

Interesting that these transported almost all the elements of the original show; cast, directors, music.

Another thing. If you never saw or heard the original show (on record or DVD) then there is no point discussing it. And, it is all subjective.

Usually the transfer problems are the same: substitution of stars for box office purposes, over production of the music from the pit band arrangements to stringy echo chambered full orchestras, dubbing, taking the show 'outside' off a stage which strains the suspension of disbelief even more.

Incidentally, there are some movie musicals that did not successfully move to Broadway!

Singing in the Rain comes to mind. And most recently a Disney transfer flopped; Tarzan with an American Idol guy who was really something to look at.

NEVER IS A LONG TIME

I had to think about whether I have ever seen a successful screen adaptation of a stage musical.

Nothing comes to mind.

GENIUS GRANT

I am always interested to see who the recipients of the

MacArthur Fellowships

will be.

I always expect to see someone I know.

I have come close; two degrees of separation. But no 'bingo's.

It is probably too late for me to make it.

I did play the saxophone in high school.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE SULFUR

I have to admit that I was amused to see that Chavez used the 'devil' line yesterday at the UN. He did not name bush. He only said that the devil was at the same podium the day before and that he could still smell the sulfur.

Come on. If you had been in the audience you would have chuckled too.

Today, Pelosi repudiates Chavez for what he said and did and calls him a thug and a pretender to the mantle of Simon Bolivar.

Well, she has to do that. To do otherwise would give some strength to bush politically.

But, as I understand it, the 'devil' is understood to come in many guises to those who believe in him.

The christists talk about him all the time and have no problem assigning him to all manner of people and activities. For example, present company, me—a homo-commie symp-traitor.

In the reading that I have done about the devil, he actually seems to disguise himself; to come in sheep's clothing. He wants to deceive as well as destroy.

An example of what I mean. If you were going to hide and do your evil thing, what better cover than to wrap yourself in the American flag? You would hide out in the 'enemy's' camp; find someone who has people believing that he is in contact with god himself. A 'good' christian—as opposed to the bad Christians who voted against him.

Or, if you were the devil, you might take another course. Find someone who is doing your work but turns it around to make it look like he is doing good; torture to protect innocent women and children. Or takes from the poor and gives to the rich. Someone who doesn't believe that we are destroying the environment; who puts facts aside to pursue personal 'belief'.

Anyone smell sulfur?

I do.

Chavez may be a thug and a poseur but he has more than a grain of truth in his diatribe. All demagogues do.

LADY FARES POORLY

A little more than fifty years ago, George Ives and I stood in line for SRO seats to see the original Broadway production of today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film

My Fair Lady (1964)

It just shows that you can take a show out of Broadway but you can't necessarily get that show into the film can.

Sure it is good. The material is first rate and Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway bring some of the original charisma. But it is so overstuffed with Hollywood overproduction and direction that the thing is just smothered.

The orchestration and chorus are syrupy and over-arranged and the scenes are dragged out to make them dramatic. I assume this is because the leading lady cannot sing or, for that matter, lip synch very well. And she is hardly credible as the guttersnipe original.

That Julie Andrews was not given this part was and is a scandal.

George Cukor directed and all the scenes have an element of that sort of smarmy Hollywood 'let us tell you what is going on' which this show does not need.

I guess you can see that I didn't like it much.

George Ives and I had a good time though. It was in 1955, between my 1st and 2d year at MIT and I had been bitten by the show-bug during that first year.

In those days, Boston got almost all the shows before they got to NYC (along with New Haven and Philadelphia). But MFL had not played there.

We stood in the back for the matinee after being in line since about 6AM. The BO opened at 8 I think.

I don't think that I am punishing the movie for not coming up to the 1954 experience. It really is a big fluffy overproduced animal. A good one, but not that good.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 because of that awful Hepburn woman.

IDLE MOMENTS

If you find yourself taking yourself all to seriously to yourself, then take yourself

here

to get a bit of perspective for yourself.

A little Eric Idle to idle away the angst.

I had one of those mornings and here, a friend had sent me this!

It worked miracles on taking myself ............... well you get it.

REAL PATRIOTISM

You can tell all the poseurs that, if they want to do something for the troops, they can take positive human direct action and ditch the rhetoric along with the loops and flags on their SUVs.

Saying Thank You to Those Who Answered the Call of Duty

I heard about these people a long while ago.

They are still at it.

RECOVERY

Franklin emerged from the vet at 4PM yesterday with some sturdy looking stitches along his ear and very clean teeth.

The cyst was benign and is now, gone.

You do the tartar removal anytime you have a pup under the gas.

We did pretty well during the day. It was not a big deal really. But there was a hole in the house. A presence was missing.

It was good to be back together again.

He gets the stitches out in two weeks.

I'VE HAD ENOUGH

BARACK OBAMA:

Speaking in Louisville 9/14/06 (source: americablog).

CONFLICTS

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was an old favorite

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Stephen Frears directs an ensemble cast in a non-story film that highlights conflicts of race, class, age, gender, sexual orientation, tradition, business ethics, and probably four other things. This all takes place within a large Pakistani family in London. There is one outsider, Daniel Day-Lewis as the prodigious son's lover.

Taking all this into account, the film is very simple and sweet. We can see right though it. It is a wonderful walk through a strange land.

The people and events are all interesting and revealing.

You just have to see it.

Captivating.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

I have always thought it one of the best films I have ever seen; it is in my top hundred for sure. Maybe top ten.

HUNGRY DOG

Franklin has a date with the vet today.

There is a cyst kind of thing on his ear and we want to take it off before it gets 'ahead' of us and him.

That means that he has to be anesthetized and, if he is anethsetized, he has to skip breakfast before the operation.

We have a routine to breakfast.

We go out to pee (well, he does), and then we come in and get the bowls set up; water and kibble.

The next part is sort of unofficial. I have some fruit and yogurt and, well, he gets to share a bit of it. On his kibble. Sort of like a sundae or parfait. Just a little.

Today, the bowl setup has water, no kibble (his last drink will be right before his 6AM walk).

My morning appetizer was yogurt on raspberries. I thought I might get away with eating it without being 'caught'. Franklin was outside still chasing mysterious 'intruders'.

I no more than got started on my first course than I felt a presence behind me and the presence started to do the airedale talk/groan/growl/whine that is so familiar.

He followed me from room to room. He was patient but persistent.

And then he was gone.

Franklin has a healthy ability to detach and move on.

Now, he is out there chasing and hunting again.

It will be a stretch until 8AM when we take him in but I think he will make it. He has a history. Every so often he will decide to put off breakfast until later or to skip it entirely.

Today is just involuntary.

While he is 'under', we will take advantage and get his teeth de-tartered.

They are not too bad but we want to take the opportunity. Did you know that tartar contributes indirectly to an early dog death? Bad teeth, poor mastication, infection. All that.

We are doing the preventive step.

I think we have found a good doc again. We have been in vet purgatory for awhile. All the vets at the hospital are good. We have never had a problem but we have never gotten over our first vet, Dr. Leonard.

He up and left because he really didn't like living in the desert. He went back to Chicago.

Imagine.

But now we have Dr. Burbank. He is good with us and with Franklin. He has a lot of good bedside manners. Franklin likes him. We like him. Bingo!

SOPHOMORE DORM

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

My Dinner With André (1981)

This appears to be a spontaneous bull session between friends who have not met for five years. Actually, it is a carefully crafted script based on weeks of discussion between the late André Gregory and Wallace Shawn. It is not filmed in a restaurant but on a studio set. And, the director, Louis Malle, took weeks to film it with extreme, exacting care so that it would look spontaneous and real.

On the surface it seems like a super-grown-up version of a late night bull session in a sophomore dormitory room.

Reality and non reality are discussed as though the participants had a clue. Of course, underneath the whole exercise is totally artificial. And, it is based on some realities.

A lot of the talk is just absurd mumbo-jumbo. André is that refugee from the alternative life-style wars that we all know and, perhaps, have been. Tibetan farmers, organic communes, experimental theater are all brought out as examples of the authentic life.

The other guy, Wally, is at the other end of the scale. A guy who only wants to get by and enjoy his day to day humdrum life as a playwright whom no one produces. His days are spent on chores connected with submitting his plays to producers and directors; buying stamps, going to the post office. All that.

The whole thing is quite original and unique and a mirror back to us; our pretentions and all. To help us get this insight, there is a beveled mirror behind these guys and it plays with their images as they play with us.

I dozed off a few times but mostly stayed with it.

It is an admirable experiment but not one that I would want to look at much any time soon.

It is one of those things that many 'intellectuals' will say that they like because they are afraid to say how boring it all is. This is because it reflects (the mirror) on them.

Therefore, I will be brave. I will be the common guy.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

GOOD DEEDS

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Frank Capra's

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur.

This film was made three years before the one about Smith who goes to Washington with Jimmy Stewart and Arthur. The stories follow the same arc; innocence goes walking with the sharks. We went to Washington first.

I liked Deeds better mostly because of Cooper. It seems, somehow, more believable although it isn't. It takes you in more smoothly.

These are 'madcap' films with a serious center. It is like biting on a chocolate expecting a cream and getting a nut. The common man has a very rough time and the unfairness mounts to an excruciating degree until we get the final payoff (OK, OK. I will say it—catharsis).

Cooper is so fine to look at that when the going gets tough we get to watch him. Much more of a smoothy than James Stewart. Arthur is more of a bitch here and hard to like. I believed the happy ending though.

I gave Smith a 3 but this one will get a 4 out of Netflix5.

I don't like showing this colorized picture. The film is b/w. It is a great shot of Cooper, colored or not, that they have on Google. Very sexy.

CRONYISM

Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq

Read it and weep. We knew that it was bad but not this bad.

It is so fucking frustrating to see these bastards screw it all up.

I am a partisan. First to say it.

But, in my book, competence trumps partisanship any day.

There are a lot of old line GOP professionals that I admire professionally.

I wonder what guys like Kissinger or Baker think about all this.

Sure, we bashed them but they had the goods. They professionalized foreign affairs and brought new thinking into it.

We know how Poppy's national security guru Brent Scowcroft feels. (What a great name; especially for a diplomat type.).

These guys are all politics all the time and that means all money all the time.

It is sickening.

PLAYING TAG

The current scourge in SFO:

In San Francisco, a Plague of Stickers Opens a New Front in the Graffiti War

Let's get one thing straight. The headline is misleading. We are really talking about 'tagging' here.

Graffiti is/are those little messages that are written here and there in public places; toilet stalls, places like that.

Tagging is the big, non-literate, picture drawings. They are letters but there is no message.

I love graffiti and am always ready to read it and even contribute to it.

I am quite ambivalent about tagging.

I would not want any on my home's stucco wall or in my neighborhood.

On the other hand I am quite amused and captivated by tags that appear elsewhere.

Sort of your basic NIMBY attitude.

It was like an art gallery. I had my favorites and I looked for new intallations.

I love the big ballooning letters. The colors. The outrageousness of it. I am drawn to the transgressive.

We don't have any good tagging here. No plague. It is all pretty small potatoes. I don't think that I have ever seen graffiti either.

Both are urban, I think.

The local anti-tagging effort is pretty simple. The 'art' just gets painted over; fast!

The other thing is that we have few places to hide. You need locations that are public and, at the same time, private. That is why train-ways and subway cars are so vulnerable. Thousands see them during the day but at night there is no one around them.

We are in the wide open spaces.

You also need some talent. Urban locations have a large pool of talented artists.

I fantasize myself as a tagger sometimes.

I am at a time in my life where a lot of folks try 'hobbies'. Maybe tagging would be fun. The problem is that it is night work. I would have to get it done before 8 PM or, first thing when I get up at 3-4 AM.

Maybe our stucco walls would be OK.

REUNION

The biggest thing happening this weekend is not really about me.

John's cousin, who lives in Phoenix, came to see him. They last saw each other over 50 years ago.

It is amazing to watch them. Time dissolved from the first seconds. The jabber has gone on since her arrival. It is a closed universe. You had to be there.

The initial moments were a revelation to me as well. She is a first cousin on the mom side; a huge family. She 'looks' and acts so much like John's mother Jeanne; it is astounding.

I had some pre-visit paranoia. I asked John how he knew this was his cousin and not some impostor. (Yes, the thought crossed my mind. That is how twisted I am). But the first several minutes resolved that one. I didn't even have to ask to see her ID.

They are deep into it which is fine with me. I am not good at 'visiting'; a southern art form. I am cooking dinner and making sure that they remember to get breakfast and lunch and, otherwise, staying out of the way.

I can pick up a little though. A lot of the yakking is about family history; the ins and outs and who did what when and how.There is a lot to discuss. Southern Gothic. I know a lot of it from past visits by and with other cousins.

I admire his ability to fit it in. I would not want it myself. But it is good for him and he is good at it.

I am not one to dredge the past. I come from a family who lived all its dramas out loud; vividly and publicly. I don't know which is best; the silent, repressed thing or the get it out now as loud as you can approach

I left the home town when I was 18 and never went back except to visit my parents. I have had no contact with my extended family for fifty years except at my parents' funerals with a few people for a few minutes.

I stayed close to one cousin who was my 'lifeline' to the rest of them. But she was sort of an outsider too so we didn't get into particulars. Now, she is gone.

I suppose, talking like this, that it is time for someone to show up from my family. Jesus.

I hope not.

If it happens, I will just let John handle them.

Gotta go. It is time for me to start fixing dinner.

They are out now touring Palm Springs and will be back soon. I want to have some pots and pans to bang around.

CELLULITIS

Here is how to deal with the mobile phone plague:

Angry Professor

I wonder what grade the phoner will get.

I know. It might be a fake. But I like it anyway.

Got it from Andrew Sullivan

CHILLING

Here it goes.

IRS Orders All Saints to Yield Documents on '04 Political Races

Well, here it comes again.

The IRS is going after 'political' speech in churches.

They have hit over 200 organizations with this initiative.

The LATimes is too delicate to mention that there is a predominance of 'liberal' origanizations in the sweep. The NAACP is one.

The First Ammendment continues to take a beating under this administration.

ANN R.

Ann R. — Alcoholic

“I like to tell people that alcoholism is one of my strengths".

YOUNG ENOUGH

This is a great story.

New mayor Luke Ravenstahl confident he is ready to lead city

He has had a lot of interviews and even appeared on Letterman.

He is mint-fresh enthusiastic and, at the same time, humbled by his position.

I love when this kind of thing happens.

He has pol-blood in him. His dad is in city government.

Pittsburgh is in a lot of trouble. It is the hallmark rust-belt city.

Youthful energy could serve it well.

MESS IN A DRESS

It looks like the kraut stepped on his own dick:

Muslim Anger Over Papal Comments Grows

or maybe it is exactly what he was hoping for.

I read some of the things he said and I have to admit that I agree with some of it.

The islamists do go way over the top and it is in the Koran.

And they are just making his point. They are going over the top.

Nonetheless, in this age of PR and worldwide instant news it looks like he has some 'splainin' to do.

On the other hand Hans' good book says a lot of the same stuff about sinners and the unfaithful and he, himself, has had his twirls of hate speech.

So what else is new?

The religionists are all about right and wrong. I am right and you are wrong.

WHEN POLITICIANS DID THINGS

The Texan who actually governed:

Karl Rove's cutthroat tactics eventually defeated her, but not before Ann Richards made a huge impact on American politics.

WELL GROOMED

So we took Franklin to the new groomer's today.

His name is Will and the assistant is Angie.

It went well. I think, actually, that Franklin did better with it than we did.

It is too early to get a full haircut. He needs to grow out some more.

He did get a bath and all went well as far as we could tell.

There were no complaints when we came home.

Now, we will have to see if he perks up at the names Will and Angie.

We could always get him going with the names of the last place.

It is like taking your kid to school for the first time.

Well, not really. But there is a lot of anxiety to it.

All is well that ends well.

Franklin is exhausted. He ate an extra half cup of kibble. He asked for it which he never does.

Of course, this guy doesn't give a lot of treats at the end. Zero.

This is a good thing.

BIG HAIR / BIG HEART

Ann Richards was bigger than life.

She was an old style politician who didn't mince words.

I remember listening to the convention broadcast (photo) where she made the remark about bushie's dad; that we shouldn't blame him, he was just born with a silver foot in his mouth.

She was also one of those public figures who found recovery from alcoholism and, while she kept her anonymity as far as any Program is concerned, worked to help others through the governmental channels she operated in.

She was a gravel voiced, funny, good ol' Texas gal.

Her gift for telling 'how the cows ate the cabbage' would be wasted on today's wimpish pols.

Ann Richards, Flamboyant Ex-Governor of Texas, Dies at 73

OFFICIALLY AUTUMN

It is a week until the equinox but I have jumped the gun.

Today I put down fertilizer on the roses and potted plants.

We don't encourage them to grow in the hot summer so I have not fed them since, maybe, May.

Soon I will be getting geraniums for the pots.

I lost one whole pot to the heat. Usually the plants will perrenialize and come back another season. Only one has done it so far.

I also cut down the Mexican bird of paradise the other day. It had gotten all rangy and out of control.

It will soon go into hibernation anyway. They 'die' back to the hard stems and then come back again in late May or June.

The Mexican bird is not to be confused with the bird that everyone buys in florist shops. We have some of those too but they are likely to flower most anytime. It is hard to figure out.

TRIAGE

This is pretty rich

Senate Panel Sends a Mixed Message on Wiretapping

The bills are conradictory!

One is a joint bill with Feinstein.

I have a guess.

It is a 'fuck you' from the Judiciary Committee to the bushers who pushed to get king george's bill through. Rather than bow to the pressure directly, they passed all three.

This way they all get to fly under the electoral radar in the 2006 cycle.

Ball-less but clever.

Now the three bills will float through the halls of the Senate and Frist will exercise his usual maladroit leadership to it and nothing will be done.

Three stones to kill one bird.

MORE SURVIVAL

After writing all that about survival I went to check our reserve bottled water.

All of the 'disasters' that the survivalist writes about 'require' about three months of supplies on hand.

We have about 40 gallons--what? Ten days? I wish.

It is all outdated.

I once looked into a survival ration thing. What I found out was that most of it would have to be replaced at least on a two year cycle if not faster. Even the freeze dried food. Which takes, you got it, water!

Someone said you could survive on Power Bars. I went and looked at those.

I would have to recycle them every two months. That's how they are shelf dated.

Throw them away or eat them.

No eating. I would weigh 500 pounds.

So, I will replace the water two gallons at a time from the super market.

I do think that is important.

You can live on cereal and canned goods in the house for a couple of weeks but water? No way.

Forty gallons out to be enough, I would say.

Even the way Franklin drinks. He walks away and there is a waterfall coming out of his mouth.

How did I get on this anyway?

SURVIVAL GUIDE

Well, the question about surviving The Apocalypse below was prompted by this article series in Slate:

The Survivalist

In the series, we have the bird flu, we have our dirty bomb, there will be earthquakes and so on.

All of it involves three months of food.

I grew up with this. Bomb shelters.

No way.

There is a house in our neighborhood that sports a dome shaped bomb shelter which will withstand some megatons right over the house. I guess in case they miss LA and hit the desert by mistake.

Three months of supplies.

Keeerist! I can't store half the shit we have now to just go day to day.

As earthquake guys we do have water which you have to keep replacing. The same with food.

Three days.

Of course, the resistance is easy for me. I have had a long and happy life. Well not long enough.

But I am not sure I would want to be living in a world of dirty bomb fallout or half the population dead from the flu.

All depends actually.

Which half?

MATT ATTACK

I really admire the way that

Matt Lauer hangs tough

with the bushie on torture.

Watch the body language.

It is like two boxers sparring. Watch the body language.

Bush has all the canned answers but no answers about torture.

In short? We torture and he knows we do and doesn't give a shit about it.

WAKEUP CALL

Our Torturer in Chief is going spiritual again.

Bush Tells Group He Sees a 'Third Awakening'

What a pile of horse shit.

Even if it is true, which I doubt, there being a huge difference between religious zealotry and spirituality, the idea the the busher is in on it is ludicrous.

ARE YOU READY?

First the bird flu, then the terrorists, and earthquakes. But this!

Report: Majority Of Americans Unprepared For Apocalypse

CONGRESSIONAL

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Frank Capra's

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

with James Stewart and Jean Arthur.

It is on everyone's best list and was made in Capra's prime.

It is OK. Somewhat over the top.

Simplistic.

Come to think of it, I didn't like it very much.

The chemistry between Stewart and Arthur is non-existent.

I also think that the anti-corruption theme is apt still today but even now, no one has the power that the political machine guy has.

There are a host of character actors in this who are fun to watch. There was even a glimpse of the young Jack Carson who I really liked when he became a quasi-star.

I wouldn't want to see it again.

I haven't mentioned it but there is a newish measure of my like or dislike; the number of times I looked at my watch. Too many in this case.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

I don't much like any of Capra's pictures to tell the truth.

They are highly manipulative and full of cartoonish situations.

He had a formula and he stuck by it. Nuance was not in the picture.

I think that it is a matter of taste.

There is no question that this movie is a beautiful piece of cinematic work (as well as a great restoration) but it has no insides.

We are not done with Capra. The next film will be the precursor to this one; Deeds/Town with Gary Cooper.

We shall see what we shall see.

WSJ?OTD

Does Wikipedia's open-editing approach yield better results than traditional encyclopedias?

I said YES.

I have a simple reason.

Proof of the pudding is in the eatin'.

I rarely, if ever, go to the encyclopedia that came with my computer.

I go to Wikipedia almost daily.

I am familiar with the problems with Wikipedia as far as vandalism is concerned. I used to vandalize it.

Also, the possibility of error is there but I am not going for microaccuracy most of the time.

In recent history Wikipedia has noted this problem and has taken steps to correct and rewrite where necessary. You can even look at the on going discussion.

I was surprised to see that other scored it 49% YES, 35% NO, and 16% THE SAME.

FDR

I thought of this. GWB could have become FDR.

He didn't.

It is a pity.

Bush and 9/11

by Kevin Drum.

THAT'S AMORE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Norman Jewison's

Moonstruck (1986)

with Cher, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, and Nicolas Cage before he got spoiled. He is 22 in this picture.

One might call this a family comedy or a comedy about love or a serious reflection on family and love that has a lot of light and wonderful moments.

I will go for the latter.

While the large Italian family we are spending 48 hours with is loaded for sitcom gags and over the top boffo, it never comes to that.

It is a gentle and deeply moving portrait of serious people who behave in unorthodox ways.

The detail of the production is beautifully done. It is interesting to see this one day after the luxe work of Merchant-Ivory. Jewison keeps it simple but nonetheless rich.

The film is so good that it has a second Ebert review.

It was our second viewing as well.

We all get a little moonstruck just watching it.

This is a must if you have not seen it; a high 5 out of Netflix5.

SURROUNDED

Today's anniversary blitz is pretty much what I expected.

Surrounded with 9-11 souvenirs; in the papers and on the web.

We don't have TV. So I am spared that.

I scanned most of what I did get.

I have also been thinking about the WSJ?OTD about whether 'everything' changed on that day.

I said 'no' and still say 'no' but for a different, I believe stronger, reason.

That is that change happens all the time and we are powerless in determining what and when it will happen and how and how much it will affect us and the world.

How about WWI; the day they shot the Archduke or whatever? WWII? Pearl Harbor Day.

How about the day they killed Kennedy? Pick either one; Jack or Bobby.

Let's get bigger. The first day that they started adding CO2 to the atmosphere? How about Global Warming. You can't get any bigger than that.

And there is no 'day' for that even though it sure trumps Al Queda for causing a lot of shit to happen.

There is this need, somehow, to isolate events and make them determinate.

And only the bad ones. What about the good things?

OK. I will pick a day. How about the day my first kid was born and I became a father?

That was a big one for me.

Nothing was the same after that.

There are thousands of items like that.

What about the invention of antibiotics? The discovery of DNA?

The internet?

What about the Wright Brothers.

Big things.

It is all changing all the time.

Get with the Program.

Terrorism didn't start with 9-11 either. It has been everywhere always.

It is not even the first US experience. Go back to Pearl Harbor.

More recent? Islamist radicals? The USS Cole. The Iranian hostages. Other bombs other places overseas that got our guys.

Our guys.

That is another thing.

This so called terror war is not against the US alone.

It is against unorthodox non-islamist secular civilized and democratic (or other) culture.

The next attack after the WTC was in Spain. Another in London. It could be Russia.

So spare me the angst.

Sure, we should mourn and surely we should try to prevent such and action again. But it will happen.

Will that be another day to wrap yourself in the flag and rant and rave?

While the polar bears are taking a dive and many other species are totally disappearing, what do we do? Dwell on the micro-past?

Are we so self centered that we cannot see the disappearing forest for the immediate tree?

OK. Now I have done my 9-11 thing. Just like all the rest.

EXPECTATIONS

I know that a lot of well informed people think that the Democrats can take back the House of Representatives in November but I have never been in that class. I am not 'well informed' and I am not optimistic.

Look at this:

For Democrats’ Hopes, Less Promise in New York

One of the incumbent GOoPers who is ahead points out that all House contests are local and many people fear the loss of government largesse with the change of a Rep.

I have thought this as well.

Not only that; incumbents have the built-in advantage of inertia.

They have name recognition.

They aim to please.

And they are not george bush who the Demos are making the issue in this election.

So, I am not optimisitic.

I already believe that the Senate will stay Republican.

But, I am always wrong and perhaps, for once, my unusual pessimism will be the basis for being wrong again in an optimistic way.

UPTIGHT

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)

This is a Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala project. Therefore, it is lush and beautiful and exquisitely accurate to the time; 1935-45.

One of the lush, beautiful and exquisite features of the film is the performance of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward as Mr. and Mrs.

These are real people of the time. The uptight upper middle class patriarch and his conforming inappropriate wife.

The kids rebel. Two out of three make it out of the orbit.

There is no plot as such. It is a series of vignettes which show the situation rather than tell it.

Some work better than others.

The trouble with these Merchant-Ivory things is that the actors are all caught in the amber of the scenery and set decoration and lighting and all that.

As a result they have to struggle to be seen in the midst of the visual richness.

Many of the people in this film succeed quite well because, I think, Newman and Woodward lead the way. Blythe Danner and Simon Callow stand out.

I liked it a lot but not enough to give it a 5. More like a 4 out of Netflix5.

One of the tough things about this movie is the absence of any sympathetic characters. It is exhausting to experience the arc of this repressed family.

At the same time, it is hard not to identify with some of it from one's own life.

These people are a generation and a half ahead of me. And in another class. And in Kansas City.

KC is a lot further to run away from. I only had a three hour bus ride and I was in NYC.

But some of the stuff is there. It is a bit chilling to see my mother in Ms. Bridge.

I made it out.

But, you can never really get completely away. Some part of it is always there.

That's OK. It is life.

I am still working with it.

M-O-T-H-E-R

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Albert Brooks'

Mother (1996)

with, of course, Albert Brooks as well as Debbie Reynolds and Rob Morrow.

Most of Brooks' carefully crafted films are in the Best 1176 list and deservedly so. (4 out of 6-there is one more postlist)

This one is my all time Albert Brooks best.

The whole idea of the film, how the mother/son relationship touches both lives absolutely, is frought with traps.

It could go wham-bam sitcom or slide off into psychobabble or even turn nasty and rancid.

None of this happens here.

There is a clear line through the script that is followed to a 'T'. There is careful, quiet, natural dialogue. There is the need for us to pay attention.

Brooks always demands thought and attention and we are well rewarded for it. There are no cheap shots.

Well, a few, but those are placed as comic relief.

I do not always like Brooks. It is tense. Almost all his work studies insecurity and isolation; paranoia and personal pain.

In this film, those themes are there but there is love and, most of all, there is Debbie Reynolds in an unexpectedly touching and winning performance as the mother. This was her first film role in 27 years!

Rob Morrow is Brooks' brother who has life all sewed up.

Somewhere in the second third there is a tipping point where you get that 'sewed up' is not all that great place to be.

There is no life there.

So it is a big 5 out of Netflix5.

DOCUCRAP

There is a lot of upset over the Disney/ABC docudrama of events leading up to 9-11.

(No, we aren't done with the fifth year stuff yet)

I got upset over it for awhile. No, I haven't seen it either.

And then I thought "Well, hell, how is this different from any other network news?"

With rare exceptions, the teevee news has degenerated into docudrama and distortion for some time.

When they don't get their facts right they do not correct and when they do get their facts right they try for what they call 'balance'. I call it abdication of their responsibilities to society.

The lowest of the low has now been achieved with the Couric coronation at CBS.

I haven't seen that either.

I have read about it though.

Evidently the show is going to continue Couric's obsession with 'the get'. Bit names softballed and ass kissed.

First Rosemary's -- oops -- Tom and Katie's baby. Then the busher wandering around in his cowboy prose contradicting himself.

And Rush Limbaugh. A cameo.

I don't know that it matters. I don't think that many people listen to it anyhow.

So.

Are we going to get all bent over a slanted and then badly managed promotion of a misshapen docudrama? Yes.

Is it important?

I am not sure that it is.

Truth has a way of coming out. Didn't someone say that? "Truth will out". Yes.

The network suits notwithstanding.

TEMPS PLUMMET

Suddenly, we are cold!

Days are in the 90s and nights have fallen to the 70s. Farenheit, of course.

Sliders open before bedtime; AC off.

Closing up around noon each day.

I had to put a sweatshirt on this morning.

Soon, I will have to be inching up the solar heating time for the pool. Keepin' it in the high 80s.

I know. I know. We are cold sensitive.

But, I am glad to see it.

I am tired of the summer.

There will be a time, probably in February, when I will long for the summer to return. That is when the nights will be in the forties—some of them anyway. Days in the 70s. Maybe 60s.

Icicles.

GRIEVING

One of the best sum-up lefty blogs is War Room by Tim Grieve in Salon.

Here, for example, is a rundown of bushie setbacks for the week:

For Bush, a week of friendly fire

Grieve runs from Monday through Friday and I read him first thing Tuesday through Saturday.

The strength of this blog is not 'breaking news' but the thoughtful summarization of news that just broke; tight, concise, to the point, relevant, all that. There are lottsa links.

You do not have to buy Premium Salon to read Grieve. You might have to watch some ads. Click 'em off and Grieve along with me.

SMILE?

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Neil Jordan's

Mona Lisa (1986)

with Bob Hoskins in his breakout role.

Robbie Coltraine is Hoskin's faithful sidekick. I love him. I think that he is in all Jordan's movies.

Michael Caine also turns in a terrific performance as a crime boss; sleaze overlaid with slime in a nice suit.

The plot is convoluted but you always know where you are.

Hoskins is a tough ex-con with a soft heart. Sure, it is a cliché but it is a winning one here.

I was quite touched emotionally at the end.

This is one of the best we have seen in a while.

I do wish that they did not assume we can understand Brit though. Subtitles would have helped this gorgeous Criterion restoration.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

DECADE-NT

We bought this house in Palm Springs ten years ago this week.

We didn't move right away.

People lived in the house so we 'let them stay' and pay rent until May of the next year.

So, the move was decided but not quite done a decade ago.

Time flies when you are having fun.

There is not one thing that we would do differently.

But then that is the theme of my life. I think everything had and has a purpose and it is my job to live it out happily and spiritually fit.

This house has made it easy.

We love it.

WSJ?OTD

Do you agree with the oft-repeated line that "9/11 changed everything"?

Hell, no.

It hasn't changed much of our life. And, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, it hasn't changed much of how the government operates either.

The latter first. Special interests still reign, the politically expediency trumps real action.

Plane cargo still unchecked, ports are vulnerable/porous, industrial plants go unprotected--but we can't take drinks into the secured area in airports.

The former second. My life has changed in one respect. That is that I will not fly unless it is the direst emergency that I do so. And this is a secondary effect. It is because they have so hystericized the security process that air travel has been reduced to the lowest possible denominator.

Otherwise, nothing.

I am not afraid for myself or for my family and friends.

I do not believe that we have to abandon our values for the supposed terror war and I do not believe that our rights or anyone else's rights should be abridged for it.

So, I will not succumb to the fear mongers who seek to make it so that 'everything has changed'.

The results are about even so far in the poll. Half and half. Yes and No. And these are (I presume) mostly New Yorkers.

I yearn for September 12 to arrive so that all this anniversary nonsense can be over.

END OF AN ERA

We got home from the ambulance service and found a whole section of my half of the closet collapsed.

The coats and stuff had pulled the brackets out of the wall and ended up on the floor.

My first reaction was to see that almost all of the shit that had fallen was from back east.

I had kept my overcoat, my snow suit with the fleece lining, the heavy gym pants I used to run/walk to the gym from Dartmouth Street and so on.

It all went in big black plastic bags and is now at our local equivalent of Good Will.

Time to finally be here and not there.

I don't know why I held onto it. I am not a holder-on-to, as a rule.

But this stuff was different.

It was my hold on another time and place I guess.

I just let it go.

YESTERDAY

Was a long day.

Franklin and I took John out to the other end of the valley for a medical 'procedure'.

It was one of those that you cannot drive home for; all groggy coming out. Franklin and I were doing ambulance duty.

The deal was that J would be in the Doc's for three hours.

What to do?

I wasn't going to leave Franklin home in his crate that long.

Yes. I know dogs stay by themselves that long all the time. Ours does not.

We have the time and resources to keep him with us practically all the time.

So, we set out and had a fine time.

I think this might be the longest wall to wall time period I have spent with Franklin.

We kept busy.

First we went to the Indio City Park and visited the homeless. I had forgotten that this was their home in every desert city.

It was OK. But not someplace you would want to loft a frisbee or sit for a long time.

We proceeded on south for a ride into the desert and then a get-out-and-look-around; which means sniff every creosote bush and pee on the other flora.

Then back to the car and onward to a carwash I had spotted. Franklin's first time.

Lots of people, even kids. Gold.

A woman gave him a potato chip.

Then, off to buy gas.

Another desert walk.

By this time, it was time to go back and be 'around' awaiting the cell phone call.

We walked some more at the John Kennedy Hospital; a one story conglomerate of buildings that look like a school campus.

Then, at last, John.

High adventure.

UPDATE

Now that we know what is going on with the Zoroastrians

Zoroastrians Keep the Faith, and Keep Dwindling

I wonder whassup with the Rosicrucians?

Their old ads were a lot spookier.

They were in all the magazines. Even comic books!

I haven't seen one for awhile.

Or maybe there were so many I got saturated and 'can't' see them anymore.

Egyptian stuff.

TRICKY SURFIN'

So it is a trick.

At the same time they are writing the 'new' interrogation manual without waterboarding and all, they are trying to get it put into a bill to be passed by Congress.

Shits.

Double dealers.

Legalizing Waterboarding.

PRE-EMPTING

The bushies have figured out that their secret shit is not going to fly and so they are letting it go a piece at a time.

Today, he admitted that the secret CIA prisons exist off shore.

The Pentagon has issued its new interrogation guidelines without the off-Geneva conditions for 'special cases'.

He has said that they would close Guantanamo.

This is all progress. Except that they should never have done this shit in the first place.

They are criminally culpable.

It is too bad that they are forced to do the right thing so cynically and in the face of political setbacks.

They should pay at the polls for it. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

I suspect this is all part of a larger strategy for gaining ground on the 'war on terror' or whatever new name they have for it.

They pre-empt criticism and then go back to the same stuff after November.

Why don't I trust them to keep doing the right thing?

RATRICIDE

Two mornings running now I have found a dead rat out behind the pool equipment pad.

To be accurate, I have found one and one half rats out there. Today's rat had its front third removed. Only the belly and ass remained.

Something (cat, owl, coyote, or other) is leaving them there.

I once found a hawk eating a dove out in the same spot. It is sort of hidden from the rest of the yard. But, I don't think that hawks eat at night. They sleep.

I don't want Franklin getting into the dead rat thing. So far, he has shown no interest except to sniff all around the area; I think for the animal or bird that ate the rat.

So now there is something else to take a look after.

I don't mind. I take the dead thing by the tail and loft it over the fence into 'no mans land'.

There is a pocket here that borders between three neighbors' walls. It belongs to someone but we are not too sure who it is. No one cares.

I assume that the predator whose rats these are can find their work on the other side of the fence as well as on this one.

Maybe it will take the hint and start eating the rats over there where no human will bother it.

I like that something is killing the rats. There are a lot of them in the trees up the hill. They are not a problem for us but they drive Franklin nuts with their scurrying noises. All that dry palm.

Not a reason to exterminate them which I would not do in any case.

But, now. Letting nature take its course.

That is OK.

I just wish it would take its course a little more completely and let the thing eat all the rat.

No leavings.

A clean plate.

LOPEZ: LA LA THIS!

As transplants from the Northeast Corridor, we are keenly sensitive to the slings and arrows of those who chose to remain 'back east' in the winter cold and tight closed places (as opposed to the wide open ones).

It seems when easterners, particularly the New York City breed—always more outspoken—come out here they break into two camps; the complainers and the converted.

The battle rages.

Today, in the LATimes, Steve Lopez takes aim at the ones who stayed behind (as represented by the NYTimes), the ones who came here to complain, and those of us who became instant LA/SoCal boosters.

They Still Actually Like Clichés?

Lopez is a prolific columnist and has the habit of getting right up the nose of a lot of people in public life. He has been hilariously funny and insightful about our governator.

He goes from sad to serious to hilariously funny; a wide range guy.

Not to miss him.