esrosedotblog

VINDICATION PLUS

I had watched this rather closely. I am not surprised.

U.S. Will Pay $2 Million to Lawyer Wrongly Jailed

and he will be allowed to continue his lawsuit which challenges the provisions of the so called 'patriot' act that allowed them to do this to him and his family.

He is a lawyer, and evidently a very good one.

Very significant.

ACTS OF COMMISSION

I had downsized my expectations so I am not disappointed

Iraq Panel to Recommend Pullback of Combat Troops

Well, as far as it goes. They pulled out the parts about a timetable and the working with Syria and Iran.

I am reminded of the old saying that 'a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee'.

Bushie has already said he won't follow the recommendations anyway. What did they have to lose if they threw a few elbows?

How many dead so far?

But look. It is a GOP crowd. Lee Hamilton and Tom Daschle were neutered a long time ago.

All this fiddling while Iraq burns.

WORKERS ARISE!

Rebellion at the EPA

METAPHOR

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Milos Forman's

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

It won 5 Oscars.

It has one of the highest ratings on IMDb that I have seen—8.8.

Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher fight it out.

There is a tension throughout. Is this a story? Is this a metaphor? How large should I be taking this?

The answer, I think, is to let it take you where it takes you.

Somewhere in here there is a personal message. Take it. Each of the principals represent a part of our life or our experiences.

Today, I got how imprisoned the people who run the asylum are. How pitiful Nurse Ratched is as a human being.

Another time, another message.

There is a lot in here to laugh and cry about.

At the very basic least we get a message about freedom.

And like all great movies, there is a second Ebert review in which Ebert notices the extremely long take of McMurphy right before it all goes to hell. You can see the thing working out in his face. Great Jack Nicholson.

Also in this film, a young Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd to say nothing of the wonderful Scatman Crothers.

A definite 5 out of Netflix5 and then some.

KILLER TESTS

Here is why I won't walk blindly into any 'test' or 'procedure':

Screen Alert: How an ounce of Rx prevention can cause a pound of hurt.

WALKS THE TALK

I really liked seeing Jim Webb campaign; the new Senator from Virginia.

Now, I am liking him as a Senator and he is just getting started.

In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate's Limits

I understand comity and all, but I don't get why Senators will kiss bush' ass when they are face to face with him.

Not Webb.

At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.

"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

Nice.

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

It is nice to see the 'boobgeoisie' getting its ears pinned back and by a whole community.

Pro-Peace Symbol Forces Win Battle in Colorado Town

I used to wear one of those on a pendant.

Those were the golden years. Anti-war folks walked the land militantly.

Now, we sort of cower and hide and only come out at the election.

It is nice to see people getting some social courage again.

The peace symbol is not an easy insignia to wear. There is a good percentage of people who consider it a sign of the devil or some damn thing.

I got verbally attacked back then about it. Never physical. Most of the right wing bastards are cowards as are the status quo gang.

They would always run with any defense whatsoever.

Still do.

Chicken hawks.

Send someone else to do their dirty work.

I feel a rant coming on. This was just about the wreath and those nice folks in Colorado.

GAY MONEY

We used to talk, in the old days, about marking all our money with purple triangles or just writing 'gay money' or something on the bill.

That way, the hetero-inclined would 'get' how much 'the gays' contributed or participated in the economy and in their lives.

This method was used during WWII in cities that had 'trouble' with sailors and discriminated against them. They paid in script stamped as 'Navy money'.

The gay initiative worked for a time and then the novelty wore off and it was on to the next thing.

Now, there is a different way to use money to leverage gay rights.

Here is an example:

There is a Gay agenda.......Winning Elections

They figure that gay money had to do with upsetting at least 5 of the GOP-ers who thought it was OK to pander to the christists.

Back in the day, we ended up giving all our charitable donations to GLAD, a gay legal services group in Boston.

Some of our money found its way toward the initiative that ended up in the Massachusetts gay marriage bill.

Money talks. Bullshit walks.

GOOD EXCUSE

Blogger has been down all day so I could not post.

Sucks.

A lot of people consider this to be the worst, whatever you call it, in blogdom.

Mostly I am happy.

I didn't have all that much compulsion to write today anyway.

But, since they are back in business here are two interesting links.

Troop Morale Boosted By Surprise Visit From First Dog

and

The One Hundred Most Influential People in American History

I don't much like lists but this one is rather interesting. They manage to capture the paradox of some of the contributions.

Take a look at Number 96.

They obviously have made the usual mistake and that is that they have tried to make it inclusive; enough women, blacks and so on. There are even a few homosexuals.

They have also decided to recognize various categories; sports, music, poetry.

This has made the list irrelevant. By the time you cut the pie into various slices you only have so many pieces to go around.

Not a great analogy but you get my drift.

How can you compare Walt Whitman to Ralph Nader?

Huh?

Well, they are both homos. Or neuters.

The biggest category of sexual preference that exists: "none of the above".

People that aren't getting any or not so much are more creative. Bingo. Sublimation.

I am riffing here. Anyone want to join me?

I didn't even think about who I would add to the list.

Well, Bill Clinton. But that is in ten years from now.

APOCOLYPSE THEN?

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Stanley Kramers' version of the Nevil Shute book

On the Beach (1959)

This film hypothesizes a nuclear war where radiation is the universal killer (not nuclear winter or other theoretical results).

In its time it was one of several movies which had a believable 'end of the world' scenario. In fact, it is still quite believable.

It is the last days in Australia to which the radiation cloud is drifting.

Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins face the end.

It is a slow mover with a focus on individual characters who are quite stoic, actually. No riots, no freakouts, no fallout shelters that people protect with shotguns. It is all sane and inevitable.

It is quite good actually, if a bit somnolent.

The moral is still clear but the action is not as straightforward. Back then, it was us and them. Now, it is us and a hundred others, some unkown.

Does anyone care anymore? Dunno.

You can hardly find any reference to this film in the standard canon. Yet, here it is in the Best list.

There is one fringe benefit in this film; watching Ava Gardner at her peak. She did not have a long career and here she plays to type as a boozy woman of a certain age who finds love at last in the winding down times. Very good.

I can't give this a 5 as it is too slow, too long, and too improbable.

Maybe a 4 because of its urgent message. Kramer was never subtle. Maybe a 3.

ARTIFACT

I just finished addressing 50 Holiday Cards. We assiduously avoid buying 'christmas' cards; areligious as we are.

The number dwindles from year to year. Like snowflakes (holiday simile), the names drop off one by one.

The reason for this, primo, is that we decided when we came here, ten years ago, that we would not send cards locally. And we have stuck with that except for one guy who moved here. We used to send him a card when he lived in North California so we keep it up.

If we did send cards to 'our' people here, then there would be at least as many as the invitations I just finished addressing for my birthday party plus the 50 I did today; 200 or so.

I know. All this counting is in bad taste but there it is.

Then the list grows smaller because of other factors. People die. People don't send us one (for three years—we are like puppy dogs looking for a pat). People move and we can't find them anymore.

When we arrived here, the list was chock full of folks from Boston and other cold eastern places.

We found a card which was perfect for us; a fat Santa with fat reindeer, all in bathing suits, lolling around a pool. It is part of a long running series designed for just this purpose. Gloating to the snow blower crowd.

Since then, we have found some version of this card to send back East.

This year, Santa and one of the deer are tooling towards us down a street lined with palms. It looks just like our Palm Canyon Drive.

This series of cards is one of the reasons we keep the cards going. People expect it. We like it; both the card series and the gloating.

Another reason is, let's face it, we are afraid to give up the list entirely. What will people think?

But, fundamentally, we send them because there are a few people who we still think about and care about and have precious little contact with and this gives us an opportunity to say hello.

Hello!

ANITA

More Anita O'Day

Thanks for the Boogie Ride With Gene Krupa

WRITER'S CRAMP

I just finished addressing 110 invitations to my birthday party.

It is a chore to ask people to come celebrate something that I cannot even comprehend.

I am happy that I am going to be 70. Can you believe it?

There is not one birthday that I have felt bad about. Not one.

I am happy to be who and how I am as I am.

I can't ask for much more than that as a birthday gift, now, can I?

ONE MORE THING

I have also added, to my daily reading, the pithy paragraphs of one Marcus Aurelius; late the emperor of Rome.

I have read his meditations before.

I like them.

I even think that I try to live by them but not because I particularly got them from him.

His point of view is consistent with the other philosophies I have adopted.

He would say that one's philosophy is really the only thing one has.

The life of the mind can regulate all of life. Discipline it. Clarify the soul. And so on.

I am reading a new translation. The Emperor's Handbook. I can't tell the difference but I am sure that it is more accessible somehow. I am not going to do a line by line. I am just happy to have it.

BOOK REPORT

I haven't updated my reading list in awhile.

I suppose that is because I have been on a cycle of reading all the work by William Gibson and Alan Furst.

I've interspersed with the Bernard Cornwell series of 25 Richard Sharpe novels.

I have the intent of reading all of Cornwell's stuff. It will take me a long while.

I broke the cycle recently and, at Jim's suggestion, am reading Black Swan Green by David Mitchell.

It is a book from Britain and quite good.

A 13 year old boy tells his story over the period of a year.

He is a smart combination of Holden Caulfield and the kid in that book about the Dog in the Night.

Very very good.

I have thoroughly praised the Alan Furst books before but have a new pleasure to report.

They all cover the same period; the late thirties and the runup to the War in Europe; there is a lot of history being learned.

They also have, sometimes subtle and often blatant, cross references. Characters appear who we have read about in other books; places and events are referred to that we learned about before.

I have said that I intend to read them again and soon. They are so good.

And this cross reference stuff is another reason to support such a project.

Another writer has returned to my awareness. I have always enjoyed the work of Ward Just and he has a new novel which I haven't cracked yet. This suggests that I might want to go to read all of Just when Furst and Gibson run out.

It will be some time before I am done with the Sharpe novels. I think I have 8 to go.

I notice that this posting is a bit disjointed but then that is the way the reading goes. I go from the 30's to the cyberpunk period twenty or thirty years from now and then back to 1812 with Richard Sharpe in the British Army.

Currently with the 13 year old in 1982.

Time warps.

LIGHTEN UP

Go light a candle.

Light to Unite

Bristol Meyers Squibb (an old client by the way) will donate 1.00 for you; up to 100,000 dollars.

Play with the site. Read the 'stories'.

It is very worthwhile.

It is an ad.

But a good ad.

A LITTLE DICKENS

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was David Lean's version of Charles Dickens'

Oliver Twist (1948)

I counted no less than 26 versions of this story on IMDb not including the musical!

This is considered the very definitive version.

Starring Alec Guiness as Fagin and Robert Newton as Bill Sykes, this film is so incredible to watch that the actors have to be good to stand out from the fine, often abstract, cinematography.

Sykes' dog is great too. A pit bull; he is the key to the resolution at the end and he does his job heroically.

I enjoyed this throughout. Lean underlines the humor of the characters to help ward off the tedium and banality of evil and also to give this sad tale momentum and purpose.

The villains more than get their just deserts and we can relish in the misfortune of their ends. The crowd scenes at their demise are incredibly well done.

It was also good to see old favorites like Peter Bull (the future Russian ambassador in Stangelove and the enormous Frances L. Sullivan as Mr. Bumble the Beadle.

The beautiful score is by Sir Arnold Bax; another long time favorite. I had not known of it.

I will be giving this a 5 out of Netflix5.

THE UNSAVABLE

David Ignatius writes a right-on column about the Middle East's suicidal/homicidal bent.

The Politics of Murder

Here is a sample:

The idea that America is going to save the Arab world from itself is seductive, but it's wrong. We have watched in Iraq an excruciating demonstration of our inability to stop the killers. We aren't tough enough for it or smart enough -- and in the end it isn't our problem. The hard work of building a new Middle East will be done by the Arabs, or it won't happen. What would be unforgivable would be to assume that, in this part of the world, the rule of law is inherently impossible.

It is not about oil. The oil will be there or not whether we engage with the problem or not.

WHO IS BETTY COMDEN?

Keeerist!

Here. For the young who missed the best.

Yeh. I know it's a geezer remark.

Patti Lupone Sings Comden and Green

These are the better and, hence, least known.

Enjoy.

END OF AN ERA

Betty Comden, Lyricist for Musicals, Dies at 89

I saw so many of her shows and movies.

I once saw her in the lobby of the Colonial Theater in Boston; maybe the Schubert.

She was with Adolf Green; pacing, pacing, pacing.

They were opening their wonderful On The 20th Century with Madeline Kahn, Kevin Kline and Imogene Coca!

ANITA O'DAY

A long life with a lot of happiness brought to her audience.

A wonderful singer with a great sense of humor.

This is a nice retrospective film clip Anita O'Day clip on Nighmusic

And the famous O'Day version of Tea for Two

She had a lot of trouble with drugs and alcohol but she trouped through it all and died yesterday at 87.

GAS

You can hate lobbyists all you want but they are what make the machine run.

And now the machine is running on different fuel.

Democrats' Victory Is Felt On K Street

HOMICIDE AND SUICIDE

A vital part of bush policy in the Mideast was the stabilization of Lebanon, the one real democracy in the bud.

Then the stupid bastards allowed the Jews to come over the border and gave them bombs to destroy the entire Lebanese infrastructure. The Jews went on a rampage. Would not stop. Even their own people are against what the government did.

Our hands, as usual, are full of blood as well as our puppets.

I have gone on and on about this in the past as the bombs were falling.

I read that it would take decades to get rid of the unexploded bomblets and the rest of the war wreckage.

Now, it is all falling apart. The democracy. The progress that was made.

See here.

Lebanon crisis reflects fading U.S. clout

MOB RULE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was William Wellman's

Oxbow Incident (1943)

with Henry Fonda and Henry Morgan along with Dana Andrews and a gorgeous Anthony Quinn. Incredible. In his 20's.

I digress. This is a serious film.

It is about the lynching (wrongfully) of three men who are in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong posse.

The point is not so much the fact that mob rule rules but that there are all kinds of equivocation that support it.

The screenplay is almost allegorical in that respect. There is the coward, the drunk, the military nut hiding his own shit, there is the honest storekeeper who tries to work with the other side and so on.

Nothing stops the inevitable.

Fonda plays a guy who has no responsibility in life at all. He and his partner Morgan have no role in this town or in the lynching. Their intervention is, in a way, too late. But they do the one thing men can do in the face of injustice that has been done.

Restitution.

This all sounds ponderous and treatise-like but it does not come off that way.

The film is a short, tight, dramatic thriller that has a moral to tell and it manages to do both jobs very well.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

GIVING THANKS

Thanksgiving has not always been my best holiday.

Well, I don't do any holiday very well.

I start with the negative; no mail. I go on from there.

This year I am a bit mellower on the day.

Thursday is our house cleaning day and that all got done yesterday. So there is a wide open day for..................well, what?

No football in this house. Not in our league.

Macy's? Noooooooooo.

None of the traditional thing except dinner.

I will make a pumpkin pie mostly because we don't usually (never) have dessert and this is as good as any rationale to have a day off from that rule.

There will be turkey from a breast that I roasted a few weeks ago when Randy was here; an early run at Thanksgiving (without the pie) because he will not be here this weekend as he often is.

Then there will be the usual other stuff. But no more of it than a normal dinner.

No feast.

We do have one holiday feature.

John suggested last night that we do the 'Sunday threesome dogwalk' today as a special holiday event. That sounded good. No bike ride today. We will go out as a family; our own parade.

Franklin goes nuts when we do that. It will be a lot of fun.

Then there is the one thing that the day is set up for.

Giving thanks.

I sure have a lot to give thanks for.

I think, in my idle moments, I will do a 'gratitude list'. It will be long.

So.

Quiet time.

Thankfulness.

ADMIT IT'S OVER

This is pretty good from Richard Clarke in TNR.

FOLLY

I read Tuchman's book The March of Folly. It is a cautionary tale for all times.

I just was foolish enough to think we wouldn't have those kind of times again.

DEEP NOIR

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Out of the Past (1947)

with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas and various designing women; Jane Greer and Rhonda Fleming.

Robert Mitchum is so watchable. Read about him at the link. He has a wonderful story.

This film is just complicated enough to challenge but it never leaves you behind. There is some great action. I think that there are hundreds of scenes.

It is one of those stories that starts in the middle, reverses into the past and then comes back to the middle again to go into the future.

There is no telling the story and reciting the lines. It would all be one big spoiler.

Just watch it and be fascinated for an hour and a half; the ideal film length, now forgotten.

This is a 5 out of Netflix5 just for the lines alone. And you will be able to hear them all on this excellent restoration.

HEADACHE

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Hitchcock's

Notorious (1946)

with Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains.

We have been seeing a lot of him lately. Hitchcock. Well, Grant too.

I think all AH's films are on the Best list. Well, maybe not the execrable Rope.

This one is not one of my favorites although it is considered a masterpiece (see the link at Ebert).

There is far too much smooching for me and a crucial part of this film involves Bergman reeling around early from being drunk and later from being slowly poisoned.

I get a bit queasy in all these scenes and actually have a sympathetic headache of sorts.

No doubt there is a lot to be seen in the cinematography and all.

We have to give it a 5 for that but then a 3 for queasiness and smooching and you have a 4 out of Netflix5.

MR. FIXIT HOLDS A REFRIGERATION SEMINAR

We had a noise emanating from the grill of our refrigerator.

I gave it time to 'go away' but it did not.

I pulled the fridge out a bit and pushed it back again.

Nope.

I actually kicked it.

No dice.

Finally, I called the Authorized Service outfit for Whirlpool. Actually they are the authorized fixers for just about everything in the valley and they are very, very good. We have had them before.

The guy came and set to work and said he knew what it was but he would act as though he did not so he could 'check the whole thing out' while he was here.

I asked him a few times what the problem was but he didn't really answer. I figured there would be a grand finale. There was.

He pulled it out and found a pool of water from the ice maker supply hose.

We didn't know about that.

He fixed both connections. Two? Yes.

Then he cleaned out the back.

Filthy.

He tested the amperage. It as about 2. He had predicted 5 pr 6. New ones are 1. We are doing pretty good. Not much power to be saved.

He cleaned it out from behind. Said it was nothing serious.

Pushed it back in, took off the front plate and pulled out a little card we used to have held to the side of the unit.

Our Jesus card.

It is a handout of the christers showing Jesus holding a hunky man from behind; scripture on the back.

I am not sure where he is taking him. The guy looks passed out. The savior looks like maybe he is going to do a bit of date rape on the guy.

Where did this come from? It is so homoerotic.

The card was stuck near the fan and 'whirring'. End of noise.

I asked him how he knew that the problem was our Jesus card. Well, he didn't know it was that card, actually.

He knew it was a foreign object stuck on a belt or something.

He said he pulls all kinds of shit out of refrigerators; homework, household articles; even cadavers—snakes and rats,

He did seem amused by our scripture card. In the right way.

We learned a lot.

I found out that you really want the refrigerator to cycle off and on frequently. I thought not.

Also, the air goes in and comes out from the compressor through the bottom grate.

If you are losing cooling in the refrigerator, you should put a fan at the intake side and it will help hold your valuable innards until the repair man comes.

He told us the refrigerator is about 20 years old and is the best we could buy at this time. Meaning we could not buy better at this time.

No whole refrigerator is made in this country anymore; the global economy. None last more than 7-10 years.

Brands of appliances mean nothing today. Not even the 'high price' alternatives. All the same except for looks and some cabinetry.

Even Sub-fucking-Zero. Imagine.

This will last us the rest of our lives and if we repair it when it is in bad shape (the worst cost would be 500 dollars for a new compressor) we could not do as well.

He will fix our neighbors' year or two old refrigerators while ours keeps chugging along.

Wow.

This guy is one of those people who loves his work. He has been doing this for thirty years.

He is a happy person.

I meet these kinds of people all the time. They are great.

A good time had by all.

And it only cost us 110 dollars.

Service. Imagine. What a way to make your living and have a happy day.

TWO FATHERS

A friend sent us this great video.

Imagine. When will we see this on American teevee?

Kinderen voor Kinderen song - Two Fathers

DEFECTOR

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Ernst Lubitsch'

Ninotchka (1939)

Written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch, this great romantic comedy stars Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.

I saw the musical version, Silk Stockings, in its tryouts. Cole Porter music; his last show.

It had Gretchen Wyler and Don Ameche (don't laugh he was great—I can still hear him sing).

Then the musical became a film which we will see with the S's.

So, I have come full circle.

It is a great story and it still reads, at least for those who remember the Soviet Union and all its quirks.

The back bone of it is really the three Marx Brothers types who create problems for Ninotchka that require her presence. They are a great comic relief in what could be somewhat tedious territory; a wan and sober apparatchik and a emigré noble trying to get it on.

I will give it a high 5 out of Netflix5.

The restoration is brilliant.

A TALE OF TWO PRESIDENTS

I know.

Comparisons are odious.

But comparisons can be very instructive.

Take a look at this. What I've been saying all this time! My bumper sticker; "I miss Bill".

Unlike Clinton, Bush Sees Hanoi in Bit of a Hurry

The comparison is simple.

One was a President. The other is not.

It is so fucking simple to see.

Public diplomacy is very important.

It may be the key to our national pride and purpose. Never mind the bumper stickers.

But this guy cannot even be 'public' in his own country. Years of managed photo opp campaign oriented appearances have even insulated him from his own people.

How the hell could the NYT writers expect that he would even deign to see the real world.

He want to see what he believes in. And that, apparently, is the space about two feet in front of his smirking, know it all face.

What a failure.

I just hope that we can recover from it.

FIFTY YEARS

We went to a party last night. It was quite a turnout.

Friends were celebrating their golden 'wedding' anniversary.

Two men who met and got together in 1956!

Can you imagine?

I was a sophomore in college.

Those were tough times for gay men. Actually, we weren't gay then. There were names for it but we didn't use them.

Also, it is not a 'wedding' anniversary.

Have you heard? We can't have one of those wedding type things.

We have to go for something like the day we met or the day we first 'did it' together or the day we committed to one another. Something like that.

Actually, these turning points are just as good as a wedding but I thought I would jam the point in a bit.

I can tell you, wedding or not, we are a far way ahead of where we were in 1956.

It must have taken enormous courage to bond, to stay together. So many pressures.

I came out around 1973. Twenty years later. Things were different then. Still difficult but managable.

I have to hand it to these guys.

They had a lot of old photos and snapshots pinned up. It was pretty nice to see.

John and I are working on the 50th anniversary. We will be 32 this year. Not too long to go.

We got a late start. But, thank heavens, we got the start.

Now we are working on the finish. A grand finale or two. Maybe even some encores.

We can surely be inspired by the 50-guys.

MIDDLE AGED

Today we watched the latest installment of a very long documentary series

49 UP.

42 years ago, Michael Apted interviewed and filmed a group of 7 year olds to get an idea of the 'future of Great Britain'. The premise was the quote "give me a child until he is 7 and I will give you the man".

He called the program 7 Up

Since that original program, Apted has gone back to the same people every 7 years. The consequence is a series of seven programs of which this is the latest.

We watched the first six last year and now have seen the latest.

It is an astounding series. To watch these kids grow up and change is really a rare experience.

The interviews are well done and include some tough comments about the impact of the program on the lives of the people involved.

There are no tragedies with any of them but there are some near misses. A few dropped out along the way but most have stayed with it.

It is like seeing time lapse photography in the changes that take place as well as those that do not take place.

I will put 56 Up on my perpetual calendar.

NO SURPRISE

99.5% Like a Neanderthal

I am not at all surprised to learn that humans and Neanderthals could have mated.

I have actually met some of their offspring!

Some knuckle-draggers have been around my life's path. The people who bull ahead in line. The ones who doggedly (no that's another species) push ahead with their own ideas without regard to anyone elses'.

Mouthbreathers.

The term 'neanderthal' is thrown around quite regularly in political discourse. Well, 'discourse' is a nice name for the down and dirty.

What this tells me is that there is nothing inherently 'wrong' about being a neanderthal.

It is not a moral issue.

The folks just can't help it.

Their gene pool forked off and attenuated and, while the original did not survive, his or her humanoid offspring did.

I don't think that they need to go stirring around the genes to find this out.

Just look around!

BUSHIT

On what he/we can learn about Iraq from Viet Nam?

"It's just going to take a long period of time for the ideology that is hopeful -- and that is an ideology of freedom -- to overcome an ideology of hate . . . . We'll succeed -- unless we quit."

Dildo.

HUNTING

Have I written about Franklin's (and our) new game?

We are in the business of fly hunting!

I don't know how it started. He does hate flies. Houseflies. Big ones. Small ones.

He dodges and leaps to catch them. Antics.

Sometime in the distant past, one of us 'helped' him by going with the fly swatter and smacking the fly; probably to get the chasing over with. Possibly to save a window or slider from getting slicked with dog spit. The flies almost always head for the glass only to get trapped and much more easily caught.

Stupid flies.

As these things happen, one swat turned into another and a routine was established.

Who can resist an expert assist? Not Franklin.

He will come to us, all perked up ears and toes high, groaning. He has his quarry in sight.

The deal is that we are supposed to get the swatter and come to assist.

Like the hunter has the gun to down the bird, we stand by while Franklin stalks and points.

If the fly is in reach, he will snag it. He is very good at this. We have seen him catch flies on the wing with one snap of his head.

If the flies are against the window or elsewhere above his head, we are expected to hit it and bring it down or, at least, herd the fly to an area within his reach.

This is a sort of variation on the old standard hunter-dog partnership.

It gets played out now at least once a day. Sometimes more.

Is it bothersome? Sometimes. Especially if I am reading or working at the computer.

Is it fun? Yes.

Once I get into it, the adrenalin rush of the hunt takes over. Man and dog are bonded in the most primitive way.

Where is it?

I can't see it!

It is always there. He has never sent a false alarm.

Just as I doubt his sincerity, I see the fly myself.

Whap!!

Whapppp! Again.

Even when I miss, it helps. The fly goes into airedale range and is gone.

If I kill the fly and it falls, Franklin is right there to grab it. He takes over.

I don't even get credit for the kill. He is on the scene grunting and puffing and 'eating' the fly (sorry—I don't want to get too graphic) and marches off in victory.

I take the fly swatter back and hang it in its place until the next time.

We keep the swatter fully loaded; ready for game.

FINALLY

We finally got our flu shots today.

People who went to the supermarkets (who buy in bulk) have had theirs for weeks.

We signed up with the Senior Center here.

Prepaid.

Stuck.

They didn't get their allotment on time. Postponed.

But, no one here caught the flu and it was certainly easy to do with the prepaid 'tickets'.

So who is to complain.

Me.

My arm is sore.

SOUVENIR PHOTOS

This guy has a great idea.

See the slide show.

Michael Hughes' Souvenir Slideshow on Flicker

Actually, I think that I have done this at some time and place; held up the photo and put it 'in place'.

But it is hard to do and I can't imagine the patience required to get the hand and the thing and the camera right.

It is a little like Matt the dancing guy. You get so involved with the pictures that you forget this person has been to all of these places and done this that many times!

Hang with the first few. His technique improves as the slides roll on.

TEEVEE

I got a sales call from TimeWarner last night.

It is OK. They are my vendor for on-line access. So they get to call me.

They had a two hundred television channel deal for me.

I told the guy that we only had the internet service. No teevee.

There was a moment of silence.

"You don't have television"? he asked.

"No", I said.

He laughed. One to tell his co-workers I guess. I laughed. We both found it quite amusing.

Then we signed off with a happy goodnight.

He got to check off my name without having to work for anything and I didn't have to listen to a mind numbing sales pitch.

A deal.

NOT SO BAD

There is a lot of ya-ya about Pelosi not getting her choice for the number two position:

House Democrats Name Hoyer

I think it is a good thing when any leader has limits to his or her power.

The last thing we need is another DeLay on our side.

I am also of good cheer when I see that bushie's bi-partisanship lasted about as long as the press conferences last week. He came up with the same list of right wing judge nominations and insists that Bolton stay at the UN.

This means that there will be a degree of stalemate here.

For the most part, a do-nothing government would be a relief for awhile.

They gotta do something about Iraq but that is really up to the bushies and Robert Gates.

There will be some Democratic bills for the prez to veto.

I predict a time of quiet.

Not so bad.

TIME WARP

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Vincente Minnelli's production of Lerner and Loewe's (breath)

Gigi (1958)

Lesley Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold provide the muscle in this extremely thin story about a young girl coming of age and the predators that are waiting for them to 'hatch'.

It is hard not to get a bit of a squeamish feeling from all this. It is certainly pre-women's-lib.

Nonetheless, the songs are great and the best parts are from the oldsters Chevalier and Gingold. They get the best songs and the best lines and steal all the scenes.

The Lerner and Loewe score is very near My Fair Lady in tone and idea. The story is much the same. So is the music and song. But it is of the best of the time.

I don't think I saw it in 1958. It was a remake of the stage musical and at the time I thought such things to be second rate. The Broadway version didn't last very long.

Anyway it was great to see the older stars. Caron was dubbed. Jourdan was very good. They did the patter thing with him but he has a good singing voice.

Blah blah. Enough trivia.

It was pretty good but not good enough for a 5; more like a 4 out of Netflix5.

A FEAST FOR THE EYES

The Senate Leadership

CLIFFHANGER

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Alfred Hitchcock's

North by Northwest (1959)

starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason.

It is still one of the best comedy/drama/thrillers I have ever seen.

It does not pale with time or with the number of viewings. It was still as exciting and pleasing to watch as it ever was; fresh!

The scenes at Mount Ranier and the crop dusting plane are still as scary as they were the first time, maybe more.

It is seamless.

I had forgotten the wonderful ending; an editing triumph.

You also get to watch some of Hollywood's most interesting character actors in this film. Hitchcock used the finest; the nameless artists who made the scene work with the star.

This will be a 5 out of Netflix5. Unquestionably one of the best of the best.

PILL BOX

Every Monday I fill up my big pillbox with the week's supply of supplements.

These are not drugs. They are not prescribed. They are 'folk remedies' or 'preventive' applications of non-medical research.

I used to take none of these.

I figured that a good balanced diet would be enough and I think that I was right and would still be right.

Nevertheless, there is a literature that suggests otherwise and if you can be Hippocratic to yourself and do no harm, why not pay attention to it.

For years I read the magazine Mens Health. This was before it became a sex manual for insecure straight men. It was once even gay friendly. No more. Except for the pictures.

I still wonder if the straight men who need all the sex advice are having their troubles because they enjoy the buff man pictures a 'little bit too much'.

I digress.

In the old days there were a lot of articles in the magazine about supplements; the good, the bad, and the ugly. They were peppered with a healthy dose of skepticism

But some supplements made it past the screening and I took some of them on.

Now, I fill up the box once a week with a daily dose of Fish Oil Capsules (3) because we really do not eat enough fish; once a week instead of thrice. This way we get enough omega oils or whatever it is.

I put in one Calcium with Vitamin D pill for each day. I don't want to get matron's hump!

I know, it is only for the girls but still, men have a lot of bone fragility in old age as well.

Calcium is no good unless you get it with Vitamin D. Like milk, which we drink a lot of too. Maybe I am taking too much calcium but you almost cannot take too much.

Into the box for each day goes an Aspirin. Not a half a one. I think that is bunk. One Aspirin is good for a lot of things; thinning the blood, the skeezix, and the lumbago. Besides, buying a half of anything goes against my principles.

Once a day I take a Biotin for my splitting nails. The jury is out on this one but I think it makes a difference. I don't know. I have been taking them for 5 years and my nails seem stronger and I am afraid to stop. I also use man nail polish to give them some more strength. I don't know if that works either.

But neither one hurts me.

I also take a daily Vitamin pill. Centrum. The gray kind (grey?) with some thing that zips you along a bit more.

I never took a daily vitamin pill but when you get to my age you begin to look at the margins and the margins say "why not give yourself one more bit of an edge?".

How many is that? 9 pills counting all the fish oil caps. A big mouthful.

Do they work? Well I am still typing.

BULLIES LOSE

I like this article.

Bye Bye Bullies

It is something that I have often thought about myself; this style of macho bashing of others; so uniquely republican. Bullying. A culture of 'swift-boaters'.

As the chief bully, bush has been a style setter. Watch the nicknames he makes up for people. Watch the clothes comments in the press conferences. Bullying.

He gathered bullies around him and praised and pandered to them.

These frat boys in cowboy boots. Loud. Nasty. Swaggering.

I hope that they have had their brief hour.

But the type does not take to chastening. I suspect that the inner black hat cowboy will continue to work its way to the surface. We will have to watch the bush smirk and snark his way through the next two years.

YAWN

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Julius Caesar (1953)

with a host of Hollywood stars headed by Marlon Brando.

I find Shakespeare to be difficult and inaccessible. So, I begin in a hole that I have to be dragged out of.

It is like listening to classical music with the old instruments; interesting but unengaging.

I think that is why only the best actors can play him. It takes such energy to pull life out of the ancient text that only the most skillful can carry it out.

This production was marked by the presence of John Gielgud playing Cassius. I have not seen this great actor in his prime. We are more familiar with his late-in-life cameos. That certainly got me going. He was very good.

Then, there is Brando. Will he be Stanley or go legit? He does his best to be a classic actor. They say that Gielgud helped him out; coached him.

He does shine and a lot of that is his natural charisma.

The rest of it is just so much Hollywood stuff. OK but not thrilling.

I know that it is a Best Film. They told me so. I think because it is the best Shakespeare film out of Hollywood. But that is a limited pool.

I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5. It was OK. I feel like I fulfilled my obligation to see it and it is another notch in my plan to see them all. Like a dose of medicine though.

ELDEST

Ford to be President Who Has Lived Longest

Gerald and Betty live just down the road from us.

The Thunderbird Estates in Rancho Mirage.

I don't know that I ever supported Ford politically but I support him as a type of politician.

He understood the need to maintain good relationships in the middle of the differing. He is a typical member of what used to be called the Grand Old Party.

Today, he will have lived longer than any other president.

Longevity is not a virtue but I do believe that living a good life of being a good person helps make it happen. Being a young athlete must have helped. Of course, we all know, that it starts in the genes but then aren't some people genetically predisposed to be good?

Ford pardoned Nixon. He has been held up to ridicule and harsh criticism over that. And yet, I think, he did it out of goodness.

Now, I do not know Gerald Ford. I have never even seen him, even though he does live down the road.

He may be a right bastard in his private life. Maybe he beats Betty up regularly and is surly to the Secret Service men.

But, I have seen him be an elder statesman and I can sense his benevolence in the public sphere.

I would even vote for him under the right circumstances.

Ford is as far away from today's GOoPers as the next galaxy is from us.

And now he is the oldest of the whole bunch.

Best wishes and many more days.

Here is a picture of Ford with another good guy.

PARTY PLANNER

I told you that I had acquiesced to having a party for my 70th birthday and the 10th year of our life in the desert.

Well, we are knee deep in preparation and it may actually be a good thing to do!

Amazing.

I am into it.

When we started, I had the idea that there weren't but 10-20 people who would be interested in coming. Then I got the idea that it was not about their interest in me but about my interest in them!

I decided that I would invite people who had pleased me or made a contribution to my life out here or had some part in my personal development. Or something like that.

I would look around and see someone who I know and like a lot and I would put them on the list.

Judas Priest!

The list grew and grew.

I think that maybe there are 122. And John is going to ask some of his friends that I sort of know but do not see that often.

What? 150 people with partners and spouses?

We are into the prep.

We have seen caterers.

We have seen menus.

We have run the gamut between doing a Costco thing—buy the raw materials and get some people to help us lay them out—to a caterer whose menu was so esoteric I could not fucking decipher it let alone imagine the taste of things.

Now, we are in the middle. A caterer who is well known, has great middle of the road food and asks all the right questions.

I will not say what the final choices will be but they will suit me and not some hyper image of me that I might want to project if I was off on some ego trip.

Then, I was able to ask some people for help.

I don't have the last names for some of these people let alone their home addresses. So I have asked three of my friends to help. Do you have any idea how hard that is to do?

Ask for help? ME?

But these guys are really into it. We run in the same circles and they know 'everybody' if we take them all together. I only had a few unknowns on the list and I can do those.

One of my friends has dated half of them! He wishes. But the claim is probably half true.

So they are getting the addresses. And, I suppose, warming people up for the actual invitations.

This being mostly a party for me, John is doing a lot of the work. I do what I am asked to do nearly when I am asked to do it.

It feels really good. It is stirring the pot mightily.

Old pictures have been brought out. Old friends remembered.

I am seeing my world in an entirely different light.

I don't think of myself as having friends actually. I am an introvert. By nature a loner.

But, as it turns out, I have this coterie that I don't often consider en masse. Yes. Coterie. They know each other and sort of hang out together too. Loosely.

A revelation.

OK.

That is it.

All of life is a process; a journey not a destination.

But, if you give a big party the process and the journey get very vivid.

VETERANS DAY

John was going through old photos and such today.

In the pile I saw my Dad's American Legion cap.

That is what Veterans' Day means to me.

My Dad volunteered in WWII. He was too old to be drafted and he was in a critical industry but he wanted in and he went.

It was a horrendous experience and the best experience of his life.

A paradox. The worst and the best in one span of two years.

He served in the Navy on a 'tin can' destroyer escort across the North Atlantic. These were the guys who stayed outside the fleet crossing and used depth charges to get the subs.

They also screened with radar. My dad was a radar man.

When the European campaign was over, the shipped out to the Pacific. Same deal.

They got hit with a kamikaze and my Dad had a piece of it in his neck for the rest of his life.

He also had the war under his skin for the rest of his life but, by the end, he came to grips with it and the 'noise' in his head and soul got quieted.

There is no preparation for the actual experience of war. None.

I was in the Army but I had a chicken shit assignment that lasted 6 months. I was an ROTC wonder. My main thing was to get out of it as best I could. There was no war.

I don't feel bad that I missed my war.

I have had my own worst/best experiences.

The difference is that my Dad played a role in 'saving democracy' when it really needed saving. Not like now where a lot of the warrior goals are made up.

I love the troops and hate the politicians who never served using them to satisfy their misplaced sense of patriotism.

I won't get into that one today.

For my Veteran's Day meditation, I will stay on my Dad's Legion hat and the photos we have of him as a proud radarman.

AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Wes Craven's

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

which was surprisingly good and sorta scary.

I was not bothered by the attacks on my ability to suspend disbelief. They rather worked to make this a bit camp and funny.

It is hard to tell with Craven's early work when he is having you on or taking you in or both.

This is a combo-teen-horror-ghoul-slasher film. The first of the Freddy Krueger movies.

John Saxon stars in a minor role. And this is Johnny Depp's film debut. With baby fat.

I liked it. It seemed very very loud. I had to work the remote to get the sound to my liking. Franklin slept through the whole thing though.

There is a 'sequel' ending to this which we can choose to ignore. This is what happens when the film turns out pretty good and they think they might have another one in them, so they make a quick add on to let you know that the villain still rides the airwaves.

You could quit while you are ahead. One ending is quite enough and the second one is not very scary or even disturbing.

What can I say? I have never ever gone to a film like this.

It is a bona fide B and yet, with some serendipity, they made a pretty good movie out of it.

Why are basements creepy?

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 because the adult actors were so wooden. I know the Mom is an alcoholic but usually alkies are more fun than that. Well, we think we are. Maybe that is how it is.

JACKED UP

This is a great appreciation piece:

Jack Palance—The Best of the Bad Guys

THE SNAKE

So who are the ones with the recriminations?

The fucking Democrats.

James Carville, that superannuated talking head who actually sleeps with the opposition (his wife is Cheney's monster) is at it again.

He is attacking Howard Dean the winning chairman!

It didn't take long.

Christ, Jim, get off the stage and quit mucking things up.

Worse then John Kerry.

OK. OK.

I will go back to my non-political mode now.

He does look like a snake though doesn't he?

NORMALITY

It has finally quieted down.

The election is over.

The analysis is dying down.

The recriminations are being made more selectively and out of our hearing.

Here, at my home, I am just about ready to let it all go and move on.

There is no denying that I have been in the grip of an irrational exuberance over the election results.

I had rushes of elation that I have not had for quite awhile and certainly not about anything political.

It is nice to just quietly let it go and be a good winner.

Gloating is a temporary pleasure.

Back to work for 2008.

And who really believes that John McCain has a chance at being nominated?

Ooops.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Jack Palance (1919 or 1921-2006)

Palance was quite a guy. Not surprising that they don't know how old he was. He probably shaved the two years that AP thinks he has on himself.

I saw him in many, many films. He was often the villain but he had a nice way about being nasty! And he was very sexy.

Not many villains were. Nice. Or sexy.

I saw the Oscar broadcast where he did the one armed pushups. It brought down the house.

LETHAL CLOSETS

The Foley affair and the Haggard incident reveals a truth about conservative organizations; both political and religious.

That is the large number of men and women who staff these organizations are gay!

There is believed to be a high percentage of gay people staffing republican congressional staffs.

Many executive workers in evangelical church organizations are gay.

And all of this in secret. The closet walls are thick and the doors are very heavy.

These people hang out together and protect themselves.

Sometimes, a rumor breaks through the collective wall but this is quickly squashed.

Last week, Bill Maher outed Ken Mehlman, the retiring RNC chairman, on the Larry King show.

Not only did King refuse to believe it, CNN edited that portion out of the west coast edition and had YouTube remove the segments containing it.

Now, I do not know if Mehlman is gay or not but a lot of people in the blogosphere do. It has been a well known 'fact' for some time.

What does all this inner sanctum stuff do to the people involved?

Well, for one thing, it drives them to sublimate their desires.

I don't mean they don't have sex. I mean that they sublimate their desires to be free, open, proud gay men and women.

This leads to bizarre cries for help like the Foley thing with the pages; instant messaging for God's sake. When I was in college, an assistant Dean of Men was known to enjoy late night nude swims with various young men at the campus pool. A friend of mine went once. Nothing happened during the swim but there were more invitations and asides and unwarranted attention. He was a stalker.

The other manifestation of the closet is what Truman Capote called 'the killer fags'; the ones who used their power to punish other gay men or use homosexuality as a blackmail tool or, as in recent times, use homosexuals as political fodder.

Take a look at all those priests, bishops and (gulp) popes.

In political life, J. Edgar Hoover would be the exemplar. Roy Cohn, who died (secretly) of AIDS (and his own denial), another.

And we have the same thing today. Doing the same dance.

The closet kills the soul and as the soul dies, it reaches out to injure others.

A sad business.

DEAN'S LIST

Howard Dean has had to eat a lot of shit from the pols this year.

He wanted to build a national infrastructure. Well, rebuild it. The Dems used to have one of the best.

But Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schirmer, chairs of the party caucuses, wanted the money to go to 'hot' contests. And, of course, so did the candidates.

Dean stuck to his guns and, actually, did not eat the shit. He kept building.

After all, he had the money. Money talks. Bullshit walks.

Howard Dean Vindicated

FANTASY WORLD

tip of the hat to Bill in Exile

OUT GAYING

I know that the news cycle has passed this by but still.....................

The Collapsing Closet

THE BIGGER THEY ARE DEPARTMENT

Senior staffer: Allen 'not emboldened to fight this'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As the canvassing continues in Virginia, Sen. George Allen, R-Virginia, is sequestered in his home, "shell shocked," and going through "a nightmare," during this period of limbo, a senior Allen staffer tells CNN.

In a conference call with his senate staff and regional representatives Wednesday afternoon, the Virginia senator "didn't concede but he was clearly not emboldened to fight this," according to the staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

An Allen loss to his Democratic challenger James Webb, would give Democrats a one seat majority in the Senate.--CNN Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel

This one is not from The Onion

THIS JUST IN

Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrats

November 7, 2006 | Issue 42•45

WASHINGTON, DC—Republican officials are blaming tonight's GOP losses on Democrats, who they claim have engaged in a wide variety of "aggressive, premeditated, anti-Republican campaigns" over the past six-to-18 months. "We have evidence of a well-organized, well-funded series of operations designed specifically to undermine our message, depict our past performance in a negative light, and drive Republicans out of office," said Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who accused an organization called the Democratic National Committee of spearheading the nationwide effort. "There are reports of television spots, print ads, even volunteers going door-to-door encouraging citizens to vote against us." Acknowledging that the "damage has already been done," Mehlman is seeking a promise from Democrats to never again engage in similar practices.

MR. FIXIT

Exit polls say that 'corruption' was a driving force in the recent election.

Well, sure.

That is what I would say too. Also motherhood and apple pie.

Few are even going to mention some other hot buttons. Iraq. Medical problems. Too contentious.

Some reformers are already thinking that the new Democratic leadership should do something to deal with ethics and all that.

I have to use the NRA analogy again.

Rules don't make people good; personal integrity does.

I really think that there are fucking enough rules.

Corruption is timeless.

Power leads to corruption. But you can't do anything about it.

Term limits help but term limits hurt in other places.

So let it alone.

Get us out of Iraq.

Retract the bad environmental laws and deal with global warming.

Reset the minimum wage.

Take away the tax favoritism.

Stuff like that.

You can't legislate ethics. Besides, it just encourages the lawyers and accountants and they don't need any encouragement.

Lobbyists? They are like roaches. They will be here after all of the rest of us are gone.

Besides they do some good. I give money to the gay lobbies and the Nature Conservatory and a few others. All have lobbying operations.

What they mean is our lobbyists are OK but yours are crooks.

OFF THE TABLE

Pelosi said yesterday that 'impeachment is off the table'.

To me, that is a powerful statement.

It means that she has the power to say whether it is on or off.

I think it is a great decision.

We do not have to be like them.

The payback was in the campaign and in the ballot box.

FAT SLIM

Bushie said yesterday that the margins were slim locally but the results added up.

Here is how slim the margin was in the total voting: Senate Ballots cast: 31,591,495 (D) 25,054,569 (R)

That's a 20% margin!

Looks pretty good to me.

If anything the results are thin and the vote very fat.

THE PIE HOLES

So where does this election leave the blabbers and bleaters and hate mongers like Limbaugh and Drudge?

You would think them chastened, eh?

Here is Rush:

Now, I mentioned to you at the conclusion of the previous hour that people have been asking me how I feel all night long. I got, "Boy, Rush, I wouldn't want to be you tomorrow! Boy, I wouldn't want to have to do your show! Oh-ho. I'm so glad I'm not you." Well, folks, I love being me. (I can't be anybody else, so I'm stuck with it.) The way I feel is this: I feel liberated, and I'm going to tell you as plainly as I can why. I no longer am going to have to carry the water for people who I don't think deserve having their water carried. Now, you might say, "Well, why have you been doing it?" Because the stakes are high. Even though the Republican Party let us down, to me they represent a far better future for my beliefs and therefore the country's than the Democrat Party and liberalism does.

Unrepentant..

Well, of course. Now he can beat at both parties. His whole schtick is outrage.

Here go look at the stream of consciousness.

He just blows.

It is his stock and trade.

Drudge? Seems to be lying low for now. Just headlines no innuendo.

They are such assholes. Why am I writing about them? An unrecovered drug addict and a closet case.

See? I can do it too. But I feel dirty so I will quit.

AND, VERILY, HE WILL STILL BE QUEER

Haggard Begins Spiritual 'Restoration'

I notice that there is a lot of laying on of hands.

I knew a management trainer that was a 'born again' christer. He would get female course members, who were so inclined, into prayer sessions.

We always figured that the 'laying on of hands' would be a big part of it.

Not in any of my programs though!

GATES

Who is this guy?

This is yet another guy from the past; Poppy's regime.

I suppose by this time there is no one who is willing to sign onto the sinking ship.

More power to him. The head of the Aggies can't be all bad.

I knew a lot of people from Texas A&M in the Army and they were all solid guys. Hard to say about any other place. Well, except MIT.

On the other hand, he has the taint of the Iran-Contra about him.

Talk about what goes around coming around.

Just the week that Ortega comes back to Nicaragua. We can do it all over again!

No. We can't. Nancy won't let them.

SCOTUS

I just realized.

No more righties on the Supreme Court. They won't pass muster with the new legislative branch.

Same for all the other judicial seats.

SHOCK WAVE

I can't get used to the feeling.

It is a gut shock.

But, a good one.

We have been out in the bleachers for so long!

The bastards have got their comeuppance.

I am full of a weird kind of joy. It is almost uncomfortable. A little teary.

Now the work starts.

I liked Pelosi's startup presser.

Then lunch at the White House!

Indeed.

She is two heartbeats from the Presidency. Think of it.

And that is just the beginning of it.

The reorganization of the House is just so major.

Wow. This feels so GOOD.

WEEPER

Today's NYTimes Best Film was

Now Voyager (1942)

with Bette Davis and Paul Henried.

This is the one where he lights two cigarettes and hands one to her.

But, beyond that, we have the uber-girl-in-glasses takes them off, lets down her hair and plucks her eyebrows to become a real woman.

I am not cynical here.

The surprise is that when I watch the film I buy it. Davis' performance is that convincing throughout. You don't question the story. Well, not so much.

Bette flutters between dowdy and glamorous. When she has little flashbacks of her terrible life as the dutiful youngest daughter of a harridan Bostonian you can see it in the subtle fluttering of the eyes. A pause.

In other words, Davis does not overplay. It is expert.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5 in the hope that I don't skew the recommendation algorithm toward some of the other two or three hanky 40's pictures of which this is a classic! It is on everyone's best film list.

HEY RUMMY!!! DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOUR ASS ON THE WAY OUT!!!

HOW THE CLOSET CRUMBLES

This is a great article by Dan Savage on the Haggard callboy scandal and what it means for the closeted famous

The Code of the Callboy

Dan Savage has been one of the most successful sex advisors. We used to read his original column, Savage Love, weekly.

We still catch it from time to time.

Savage is also the author of two great books on gay adoptions and gay marriage.

Both are written from the perspective of having done both with his lover Terry.

Today, Savage continues his advice column (which, by the way, has always been for both homo and hetero people), is the editor of the outstanding weekly, The Stranger, and is a national spokesperson and voice in the continued drama America is playing out with its gay citizens.

WAVE GOODBYE

I had to go to bed before the best news was in. I had already seen that the KY and IN seats for the House were going Demo in a big way. Those were the bellwethers.

When I got up to pee I was drawn to the computer to see what was what and as I turned it on a huge wave burst out of the screen. It was very exciting to see CNN and Fox as well as Yahoo and some of the papers tell the good news.

Several headlines used the word 'repudiation' for Bush. Another said 'rebuke'.

Fucking A!

I am pretty happy this morning.

SMALLER WAVE

I am really pleased to see some turning on the issues

Gay Marriage Ban Rejected in Arizona

Also stem cells and abortion rights won in other states.

People are beginning to listen to the facts and getting some balance in the way that they see some of these 'inflammatory' issues which should not be inflammatory at all.

They are the issues that are run by the cynics who think that they can manipulate the 'base'.

UNION MAID

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Martin Ritt's

Norma Rae (1979).

What a great film to see on an election day. Just the thing to brace up one's anti-establishment attitude.

All performers are great.

I saw it before and would be willing to see it again sometime.

It has a lot of good spirits lurking in every scene.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

I belonged to a union and so did my Dad. I never got over it.

DONE

So, I did my part this morning.

I voted early (and often—an old Boston remark and often true).

There were a lot of people; more, I think, than usual. No wait. There are a lot of machines.

We have voted electronically for years and I have no qualms about it.

The machines are fast and do the job better, I think, on a complicated ballot.

Cheating? Probably. But they cheated with the old mechanical machines and even the paper ballots. It is like the NRA slogan. Machines don't screw with the vote, people do.

I broke two rules this time.

I voted for a Republican for State Insurance Commission. The Demo is a known hack.

I also voted for five bond initiatives that the Governor and the Legislature worked out together. I feel they need our support.

All the rest? No, no, no, no, no, no, and more no's. I do not believe in the initiative form of government. Period. Bad laws made by special interests with unforseen consequences.

So I have my little 'I voted' sticker with the Flag on it.

Now I will sit back and await results. They seem to think that we will 'know' early as many of the close races are in the East. Dunno. I can wait until tomorrow or even next week if it comes to that.

And I am willing to accept the will of the electorate even if the people in power may not.

WISE ASS

Today's NYTimes Best Film was

Nobody's Fool (1994)

with Paul Newman and just about the best supporting cast you could have. Everyone shines.

This is a wonderfully simple story about a ne'er do well townie in a small (very snowy) town in upper NY state.

Things happen slowly and we get to watch people.

It is really an extra-ordinary film and worth watching several times.

I especially enjoyed Pruitt Taylor Vince, Melanie Griffith, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bruce Willis in an un-credited (main) role, and a whole bunch of people who you have seen over and over and wouldn't remember the name but, ohhhhhhhhhh, the face and the acting.

It is Jessica Tandy's last film.

Gotta see it. Laugh and cry and in between.

A 5 out of Netflix5!

ELECTION TENSION

I seem to be avoiding the deep anxiety about tomorrow's election.

I am nervous and jump whenever I read a poll summary that says 'the race is tightening' but, at the same time, I am optimistic that whatever happens, we will have seen a sea change in the political climate in this country.

The political point has already been made that the prez and his policies are deeply unpopular. While he and his gang of political thugs may continue to 'stay the course', in all their right wing fervor, they will not get the support that they need from the legislative branch.

They have lost the majority of their own party.

Even if the GOoPers maintain a majority, the incumbents will not want to have this kind of grueling campaign slog to go through again.

The fracture of the republican party is inevitable.

Of course, I would like to see the bastards really wiped out and I will be ecstatic if that is the case, but I can take a 'grueling campaign' and record low approval numbers for the head thug.

DEAN'S LIST

I have always liked Howard Dean. I was an early supporter in the 2000 election.

I was upset at the opposition he has had in his role as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

I think that time has shown his initiatives to be correct. The Dems have an infrastructure in all the States and a pretty good (more work to do) GOTV operation.

He has supported candidates who can win. He has helped fund important contests.

Here he is making a final pitch for the mid-terms. He has a list of differences for the voters to consider; a list of Democratic Party principles.

Howard Dean National Address

And see? There are no horns on his head!

TIME OUT

We have company this weekend so there isn't much time for blogging.

This is Gay Pride Weekend in Palm Springs.

It is also the beginning of the 'season'.

The synchronicity is well thought out. Every one else has 'pride' in June.

We stay away from it. It is totally commercial. Real estate offices march in the parade!

We are quietly sitting and enjoying our friends' visits.

RATS

The neo-conservative rats are jumping ship in Vanity Fair of all places.

Boy. Vanity, They got that right.

Kevin Drum says that this is like the Trotskyites blaming all who came after for botching the theory.

It makes for nice link-a-liscious reading. We get VF so I look forward to seeing it all laid out.

THE NEOCON REHABILITATION PROJECT

I especially like Richard Perle's recantation.

We have had to deal with this burdensome theorist for far too long. Even the righties couldn't take him anymore and cast him out.

Now, it is payback time.

This issue of The Economist shows the vultures hanging outside the White House trees. Here are a few of them.

MAD AS HELL

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was

Network (1976)

Everyone else has seen this but me.

The part that is most quoted, Howard Beale's rant, is not the backbone of the film (Peter Finch).

William Holden's portrayal of an old guard TV newsman is front and center. His battle (including sex) with Faye Dunaway, the new teevee minded producer, is the most compelling part of the film.

William Holden was a great actor and this role provided him with a rare opportunity to shine in his post-matinee idol years; not that he was really that kind of actor. You get my drift.

He holds the screen in all his scenes. He is great. The old lion in winter.

It is a good movie. Some of it is anachronistic but the theme still holds thirty years later.

No one ever accused Paddy Chayevsky of understatement. There are lots of rants and diatribes.

That is OK. There is truth in all of it. Loud truth is important.

But the quiet drama with a man coming in touch with his mortality is the abiding image of the film.

Sidney Lumet directed. The thing looks almost documentary-ish. Very nicely done.

This is a classic and it holds the classification.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

ANOTHER JESUS GUY OUTED

So another evangelical gets caught with his sexual orientation showing; a bona fide hypocrite.

And this one is a big fish:

The president, the preacher and the prostitute

I never heard of Ted Haggard. I just saw him on tape. He is one of the mesmerizer good guys; not a bubba. A stemwinder.

Look at this from the article:

"Ted Haggard may not just be the most important evangelical you've never heard of, but the most important evangelical, period."

Can you imagine what is like to hide out like this? What degree of self hatred demands such a life?

The plain vanilla closet is sorry enough but to become a gay basher as well. Beyond sad.

There is a special place in hell for these people; self created.

Oh yeh. I know. He didn't do it and he will never do it again.

BREATHTAKING

One Breath

A great mid-term election ad.

POWER

We can spend all week counting how many seats the Democratic Party will gain in the mid-term.

It would be nice to have an avalanche.

But, do you realize? They only need enough to elect the Speaker and to set up the Committee Chairmen. One extra seat could do that.

Once that is done, the rest is all discussion. The majority party rules. Period. End of discussion.

The minority party, in the words of a Speaker long ago, shuts up and collects their paycheck. They do not introduce bills, they do not conduct the hearings, the do not control the considerable patronage.

Of course, the more seats the more power. Sure.

But the powers of the Speakership and the Chairs are absolute. The GoOpers will eat shit for two years.

JOY TO THE WORLD

We are about to see the new old Joy of Cooking

I won't be buying it. I have the old one and I am sticking with it.

It is well known and admitted by the publisher that the last revision was a travesty.

Slate says that the new one is a near miss.

What Joy is Missing

I have used up a lot of cookbooks in my time. Only Joy (the 1975 revision by the daughter) and The Better Homes New Cookbook looseleaf remain.

I did James Beard American Cookery which is still in print. I enjoyed it but tired with the complexities of it.

And there was Craig Claiborne (tight assed) to say nothing of his protegé whose name I forget who had his recipes on cards—ahhhh—Pierre Franey, the 60 minute gourmet. Some said they were lovers. I hope so.

I had a long run with Franey and I must admit that he helped me learn to cook at a new level of technique and understanding.

I did Julia too but found her a bit too complex and, well, French! Franey did a lot better job in less time.

At one time I even had the La Rouse in my kitchen but rarely used it to look anything up.

There were others but I have never 'collected' cookbooks. I figure that once I have something down that is it.

I do not look around for 'new ideas' either.

We get Sunset magazine which is chock full of 'ideas' and I never, ever am even tempted to try any of them.

Actually, I don't know why we get the magazine at all. I don't travel to its travel places and the gardening stuff is way over my head.

But, I digress.

I want to put in a word for the Better Homes. I have the Tenth Edition.

My mother had this cookbook. My friend Alex put me on it way back (1989) and I got it.

I probably use it as often as the Joy.

It is reliably American. It does not have frills. It has the basics but doesn't turn it into a 'for Idiots' writeup.

The fact is that I do not use the recipe books much. I do everything, even measuring, sort of extemporaneously.

I do need to look up some baked items but I even tweak those recipes.

But still, one cannot fly without an occasional peek at the flight manual.

So,'joy' to you.

See if you can find the original in an old book store. They are almost impossible to find.

No one gives them up. If they do, it is because they are worn out and almost unreadable. Mine, for example, is the second one I have owned.

Alas, there will not be a third.