SATURDAY POEM I ADMIRE

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
__________
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) had a lifelong love affair with Maud Gonne, whom he met when he was 23. She was an Irish revolutionary, famous for her nationalist politics and her beauty. They each married someone else, but she was his Muse. He was very political too, but though his poetry became more modern in later years he never left traditional verse forms. He became a senator of the Irish Free State at 57, won the Nobel Prize at 58, and was one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

Deep Thought: “I hope I never do anything to bring shame on myself, my family or my other family.”
Today I am grateful for: Perspective
Guess the Movie: “What do you know about stock car racing?” “Well… watched it on television, of course.” “You’ve seen it on television?” “ESPN. The coverage is excellent, you’d be surprised at how much you can pick up.” “I’m sure I would.” Answer: Days of Thunder, 1990.
For Many Vermonters, Iraq is on the Ballot
Towns to Vote on Antiwar Resolution
by Sarah Schweitzer
Vermont’s town meetings next week will offer the nation one of the first popular referendums on the Iraq war.
In one-fifth of the state’s 251 towns, residents on Tuesday will be asked to vote on a resolution that calls upon President Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq and urges the state’s elected leaders to reconsider the use of Vermont’s National Guard in the war. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:52 pm
+ = Vermont rocks!
- = Feelings hurt.

FRIDAY FIVE

Appetizer – Name something that makes you scream.
I never scream if I can help it because my vocal cords just won’t take it. I forget when this started to happen. Also, because I’ve had this premonition for years (even before my mother died of it) that I’ll eventually die of stroke, apoplexy, the ultimate flipping out. Plus screaming is about rage and at my age I just can’t afford to nurture anger in any of its levels or forms. I do kvetch fairly regularly in my head though about minor annoyances like people getting on the up elevator I’m riding and pushing the down button or one of my cats backing up to something in that way that says “I’m going to spray here and just try and stop me.”
Soup – Who is a musician you enjoy listening to when you want to relax?
I don’t listen to music to relax much because it tends to make me feel sad and lonely if I’m alone. I go through phases in the car of listening to my favorite music I’ve burned on CDs or National Public Radio, depending on my mood. I guess if I had to pick something that epitomized serenity to me it would be Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major.
Salad – What was the last book you purchased?
I don’t buy books much cuz I’m a library person, but I got a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble for Xmas and bought Dylan’s Chronicles – Volume I with it. Sunday I’m going to head back over there and spend the last $8 I have left on the card on something or other.
Main Course – If you could live one day as any historical figure, who would it be, and what would you do?
It would be George W. Bush and I would resign and get the hell ouf of Dodge and back to my ranch where I would start drawing the Social Security I didn’t manage to destroy in time and never be heard from again.
Dessert – Tell about a time when you were lost. Where did you end up? How long did it take you to get back to where you were going?
In grade school I was sent to camp twice. The first time it was a church camp and on the first night a kid put a dead crawdad in the bottom of my sleeping bag. I went home early from that one after lots of begging. The second time it was 4-H. We slept in 3-sided cabins with upper and lower bunks made out of logs. During the night, in my upper bunk, I dreamed I was at the end of a dock climbing over the edge and trying to reach the water with my toes. I woke up in the middle of the woods in the pitch dark. I could hear the river that ran in front of our cabins and headed towards it, finally seeing the sparks from the campfire in front of my cabin. It took me about a half hour, I guess, to get back. I never went to camp again.

Deep Thought: “Love is not something that you can put chains on and throw into a lake. That’s called Houdini. Love is liking someone a lot.”
Today I am grateful for: A close-by vet I can call to take one of my cats in to that I think something is wrong with
Guess the Movie: “How long was it we had, honey?” “I didn’t count the days.” “Well, I did. Every one of them. Mostly, I remember the last one, the wild finish. A guy standing on a station platform in the rain, with a comical look on his face, because his insides have been kicked out.” Answer: Casablanca, 1942. Winner: Kdcakes.
Peace Movement Gears Up for Global Protests on War Anniversary
by Katherine Stapp
NEW YORK – At Fort Bragg, the largest U.S. army installation in the world and home to the famed 82nd Airborne Division, the mood is not exactly buoyant.
”There are people here who are being deployed for the third time,” said Lou Plummer, a veteran with a son on active duty. ”At least 50 people from the base have been killed in Iraq.”
The total U.S. death toll since the start of the war is now 1,480, according to Pentagon officials. As for the number of civilians killed, the British group Iraq Body Count estimates a figure between 16,000 and 18,000.
In a sign of mounting discontent, the military also concedes that about 5,500 servicemen have deserted, although Plummer believes the real number is probably much higher.
This picture is somewhat bleaker than the one painted a year ago by Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack, Jr., commander of the 82nd Airborne — also known as ”America’s Guard of Honor” — who brightly told reporters in Baghdad that ”we’re on a glide-path toward success.”
”We have turned the corner, and now we can accelerate down the straight-away,” he said in a Jan. 6, 2004 briefing. ”There’s still a long way to go before the finish line, but the final outcome is known.”
Not so fast, say anti-war activists like Plummer, who is helping to organize a mass protest rally near the base in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Mar. 19 to coincide with the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:06 pm
+ = Got whole house cleaned.
- = Had to take kitty to vet to tune of $250+.

THURSDAY WHATEVER

Rap

When I gave my beloved Talented and Gifted 13-year-old grandson an iPod for Christmas, I vaguely knew what kind of music he listened to but until he asked me to download a few songs for him I didn’t actually look any closer. I did notice right away on iTunes that many of his choices had two different versions, one called “explicit.” So I was browsing on the Yahoo Music page yesterday and I saw a list called Top 10 Videos. First on the list was Candy Shop – Featuring Olivia by 50 Cent (see photo). I was so hopeful that somehow I would find something I could relate to in the lyrics, but here’s one verse of what I found:

Give it to me baby, nice and slow
Climb on top, ride like you in the rodeo
You ain’t never heard a sound like this before
Cause I ain’t never put it down like this
Soon as I come through the door she get to pullin on my zipper
It’s like it’s a race who can get undressed quicker
Isn’t it ironic how erotic it is to watch em in thongs
Had me thinking ’bout that ass after I’m gone
I touch the right spot at the right time
Lights on or lights off, she like it from behind
So seductive, you should see the way she wind
Her hips in slow-mo on the floor when we grind
As Long as she ain’t stoppin, homie I aint stoppin
Drippin wet with sweat man its on and popping
All my champagne campaign, bottle after bottle its on
And we gon’ sip til every bubble in every bottle is gone

Click on the link above and you can read the whole thing. Okay, if you’ve read what I’ve written so far of my life story you’ll know I’m no prude, I’m not even old at heart, and I get it that by about age 13 hormones begin to give you tunnel vision, but I kind of feel like sending a swat team to retrieve the iPod. Of course, I know that would do zip good. I never let good sense stand in my way in my formative years (which seemed to go on much longer than average). So I delved a bit further. Who is 50 cent, for example? To put it in one sentence, out of a broken home in Queens (real name Curtis Jackson), he lost his mother at 8 and his father soon after, entered the crack trade, was in and out of prison, began rapping, began to record in 1996 but because in his debut album he talked about how to rob big-name rappers was stabbed and shot, lost his label, floundered, got picked up by the infamous Eminem in 2002 on his own label, producing the album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’ “(now there’s a spiritual concept), and has continued since as he’s risen to #1 on the charts to be tied to shootings, gun possession, and other criminal pursuits. Delving on, I learned that rap music appears to have originated around 1970 when DJ Kool Herc (real name Clive Campbell) immigrated from Kingston, Jamaica bringing with him the tradition of “toasting” (reciting rhymes over instrumental sections of reggae records). At this point, the rather complex terminology of rap overwhelms me – DJing, Breaking, Graf Artists, MCing, scratch, hip-hop, it’s wearing me out just to think about it. You can read the history of rap here if you want to press on. I have to catch my breath and meditate on whether to kidnap my grandson and escape to Canada, thereby avoiding both the coming draft and rap together. Oh, they probably have rap in Canada too. Maybe the North Pole?
(Update: Okay okay, in August 1969 which is where I am in writing my story at the moment, the #1 hit song was this:

Hello, I love you
Won’t you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you
Let me jump in your game
Hello, I love you
Won’t you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you
Let me jump in your game
She’s walking down the street
Blind to every eye she meets
Do you think you’ll be the guy
To make the queen of the angels sigh?
Hello, I love you
Won’t you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you
Let me jump in your game
Hello, I love you
Won’t you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you
Let me jump in your game
She holds her head so high
Like a statue in the sky
Her arms are wicked, and her legs are long
When she moves my brain screams out this song
Sidewalk crouches at her feet
Like a dog that begs for something sweet
Do you hope to make her see, you fool?
Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?
Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello
I want you
Hello
I need my baby
Hello, hello, hello, hello

Anybody know which pre-rapper sang that? He wasn’t Mr. Clean either in his shiny leather pants.)

Deep Thought: “As the evening sun faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint.”
Today I am grateful for: Earphones
Guess the Movie: “Don’t worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely eighty-eight miles per hour the instant the lightning strikes the tower… everything will be fine.” Answer: Back to the Future, 1988. Winner: GracePrince.
Canada Will Not Join U.S. Missile Defense System
by David Ljunggren
OTTAWA – After a political uproar, Canadian officials made clear on Tuesday the country will not sign on to a controversial U.S. missile defense system, a decision likely to be seen as a snub to President Bush.
The move represents an about face for Prime Minister Paul Martin, who in the run-up to a federal election last June said he thought Canada should be part of a system designed to protect the North American continent.
But Martin lost his parliamentary majority in that election and is now struggling to keep his minority government afloat with the support of a smaller left-leaning party which is strongly opposed to missile defense. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:39 pm
+ = Really enjoyed everyone’s comments today and have ceased hyperventilating.
- = Wish the day when all humans could be safe in their skins was not taking so long in coming.

WEDNESDAY MOVIE

Million Dollar Baby

I saw both this film and Hotel Rwanda this week, but I chose this one this morning to review because it will probably win Best Picture Sunday night. I’ll get to Hotel Rwanda next week. I’m not a boxing fan – serial killers and assassins yes, boxing no – because bludgeoning people’s faces just doesn’t do it for me. And you see just as much of that in this movie as any men’s boxing flick. If you can just get around that and the very tragic ending (sorry at least I’m not giving details), you’ve got a stunning experience ahead of you. It’s really a character study, not an action tale. Hilary Swank did a serious beef-up physically for the role and the contrast between her psychological vulnerability and the tank who charges straight into her opponents is dramatic. Eastwood is like one of those scarred-barked trees that keeps growing older and stronger and closer to the sky. His repartee with Morgan Freeman, his boxing manager sidekick, is delightful. It’s hard to recall he was once Rowdy Yates, young and fine on a TV horse. All together the ensemble tells a story of deep love between two lonely people – well three I guess. I’m glad I went – boxing fan or no.

Deep Thought: “As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.”
Today I am grateful for: Running water.
Guess the Movie: “Well I ain’t sorry for you no more, ya crazy, psalm-singing, skinny old maid!” Answer: The African Queen, 1951. Winner: strawberry14.
Americans and Rebels Begin Talks on Timetable for Withdrawal from Iraq
by Patrick Cockburn
American officials are talking to negotiators from the anti-US resistance in Iraq, whom they have denounced in the past as foreign fighters and remnants of Saddam Hussein’s regime. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:52 pm
+ = Spring in February!
- = Where is Howard Dean?

TUESDAY POLITICS

Wag the Dog

Who is this guy, Paul Krugman of the New York Times, who every time I turn around is being quoted and linked to around here by the political xangans. Well, I looked him up and when I saw his photo realized I’ve seen him occasionally being harassed by types like Bill O’Reilly on the rightwing TV media. Today his op-ed piece in the Times is called Wag the Dog Protection (click here). The gist of it is (in case you’re sailing through on Fast Xanga speed) that we can expect to see the Bush gang switch to another national security freakout push soon to divert attention from the generally crappy response to their Social Security privatization plans. Let’s all watch and see.

Deep Thought: “If there was a big gardening convention, and you got up and gave a speech in favor of fast-motion gardening, I bet you would get booed right off the stage. They’re just not ready.”
Today I am grateful for:  Fast-thinking co-workers
Guess the Movie: “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.” Answer: Zoolander, 2001. Winner: merrow_mistral.
Bush Goes From Alarmist To Pollyanna With Ease
by Harley Sorensen
In 1978, when he was running for the House of Representatives, George Bush told a reporter that Social Security would go broke within 10 years. He was wrong. It went “broke” in four years. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:50 pm
+ = Plumbing done thank god.
- = Now I have to take on the water bureau.

MONDAY BOOK

Grace and Grit – Ken Wilber

This was the original book I was reading when I started doing Monday Book reports. I’d made my way about halfway through when I put it down – partly because it’s an intense story of the experience of events leading up to a death by cancer and partly because it’s so chockfull of deep insights to digest. But I finally finished reading the book about the frozen north (This Cold Heaven) and decided to return to where I’d left off months ago. And on the very first pages this morning I found such a nice discussion of forgiveness I thought I would share it. In light of the daily violence in the world between people who cannot forgive each other days, weeks, months, and years of transgressions, it seems all the more important to keep reminding oneself of the other options.

And so the simple lessons started coming home to us, beginning with acceptance and forgiveness…the theory behind forgiveness is simple. The ego, the separate self-sense, is…propped up not just by concepts, but by emotions. And the primal emotion of the ego…is fear followed by resentment…In other words, whenever we split seamless awareness into a subject versus an object, into a self versus an other, than that self feels fear, simply because there are now so many “others” out there that can harm it. Out of this fear grows resentment…The ego then, is kept in existence by a collection of emotional insults; it carries its personal bruises as the fabric of its very existence. It actively collects hurts and insults, even while resenting them, because without its bruises, it would be, literally, nothing…What the ego doesn’t try is forgiveness, because that would undermine its very existence. To forgive others for insults, real or imagined, is to weaken the boundary between self and other, to dissolve the sense of separation between subject and object. And thus, with forgiveness, awareness tends to let go of the ego and its insults, and revert instead to the Witness, the Self, which view both subject and object equally. And thus…forgiveness is the way I let go of my self and remember my Self.

If it seems too exhausting to imagine countries far away laying down their fears and forgiving each other, try to imagine it for just one day in one’s own life. How much that happens in our day is fear or anger driven? What can be forgiven? How much does one forgiveness on one given day by one given person count?

Deep Thought: “If you’re an ant, and you’re walking along across the top of a cup of pudding, you probably have no idea that the only thing between you and disaster is the strength of that pudding skin.”
Today I am grateful for: Semi-retirement
Guess the Movie: “Where were you?” “I had dinner with my boss.” “Kind of a late dinner.” “I guess. The plumber came?” “Yes, the fucking plumber came.” “Hey, can you just give me a break?” “What’s the matter with you?” “I don’t know, I’m stressed out.” “You wanna smoke some pot?” “No I don’t wanna smoke some pot… why, you got some?” Answer: You Can Count on Me, 2000. Winner: skrawler.
Knocking on the Nuclear Door
by Lynda Hurst
In 1992, in the warm glow of the Cold War’s end, the United States stopped making and testing nuclear arms, halting its arsenal at 10,000 warheads and pledging to cut back further still.
Four years later, it was the first country to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty. But though committed to it in principle – certainly in regard to other nations – the U.S. wanted to keep its options open and, in 1999, to universal dismay, refused to ratify the treaty.
What happened on 9/11 could mean America never will ratify – or not, at least, while President George W. Bush holds office and the Republicans hold Congress. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day
+ = Plumbing underway.
- = Dreading inevitable water bill on top of the plumbing bill.

PEOPLE WHO KNOCK ME OUT

Alan Turing

This week Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn won the 2004 Turing Award for inventing TCP/IP, the basic protocol behind the internet. If you’re a geek, you’ll know what it is and if you’re not just know it’s bottom line. But this is not about them…Alan Turing was born in 1912 in London and lived only 41 years. In that time, he discovered the central limit theorem (math geeks will know about this one) at age 23; invented the Turing Machine (a forerunner of the modern computer); helped to develop the Bombe, which from late 1940 was decoding all messages sent by the Enigma machines of the Luftwaffe during World War II; at age 34 designed the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) which was not built because of the size of storage it would take up but was the first computer in the modern sense; became a prize-winning distance runner; and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London at age 39. Two years later he was dead by cyanide poisoning. This man – who was essentially abandoned by his parents, who had fought his way through early schooling where he was criticised for his handwriting, struggled at English, and even in mathematics was too interested with his own ideas to produce solutions to problems using the methods taught by his teachers, whose only close friend died during his adolescent years – happened to be homosexual and in the ‘50’s in England this was illegal. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and given the choice of prison or estrogen injections. He chose the latter and proceeded with his work. But then came a second blow – his security clearance, obtained when he helped break the Enigma code and save the battle of the Atlantic, was taken away and he was continually harassed. The cyanide was found on a half-eaten apple beside him in his laboratory. His mother maintained it was an accident but his death was pronounced a suicide. It would be another 13 years before same-sex relationships were decriminalized in England in 1967. Alan Turing would have been only 55 by then. Who knows what else he might have given us had he lived.

Deep Thought: “You might think that the favorite plant of the porcupine is the cactus, but it’s thinking like that that has almost ruined this country.”
Today I am grateful for: Myntz
Guess the Movie: “The richest one percent of this country owns half our country’s wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It’s bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own.” Answer: Wall Street, 1987. Winner: NickyJett.
Three-Card Maestro
Alan Greenspan has betrayed the trust placed in Fed chairmen and deserves to be treated as just another partisan hack
by Paul Krugman
Alan Greenspan just did it again.
Four years ago, the Fed chairman lent crucial political support to the Bush tax cuts. He didn’t specifically endorse the administration’s plan, and if you read his testimony carefully, it contained caveats and cautions. But that didn’t matter; the headlines trumpeted Mr. Greenspan’s support, and legislation whose prospects had previously seemed dubious sailed through Congress.
On Wednesday Mr. Greenspan endorsed Social Security privatization. But there’s a difference between 2001 and 2005. In 2001, Mr. Greenspan offered a convoluted, implausible justification for supporting everything the Bush administration wanted. This time, he offered no justification at all. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:41 pm
+ = Getting over cold fast thanks to Zicam.
- = Plumbing drama starts tomorrow.

SATURDAY POEM

Kindergartner

Bless the child

who holds the covenant

of your lifelong dreams.

Such is your bargain.

Author – Me, 2005 (and in kindergarten)

Deep Thought: “Let’s be honest: isn’t a lot of what we call tap-dancing really just nerves?”
Today I am grateful for: Luden’s Honey Licorice Coughdrops
Guess the Movie: “So much has been said about the girls over the years. But we have never found an answer. It didn’t matter in the end how old they were, or that they were girls… but only that we had loved them… and that they hadn’t heard us calling. Still do not hear us calling them from out of those rooms… where they went to be alone for all time… and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.” Answer: The Virgin Suicides, 1999. Winner: merrow_mistral.
Groups Preparing New Push Against Iraq War
Invasion Anniversary Next Month Is Date Of Campaign Kickoff
by Evelyn Nieves
On Feb. 15, 2003, as millions of people worldwide took to the streets to protest the imminent U.S. invasion of Iraq, Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Hoffman was in Kuwait, awaiting deployment to Baghdad.
Two years later, Hoffman, 25, is a civilian on the lecture circuit, introducing himself as an Iraq Veteran Against the War. On March 19, when war opponents plan to converge near Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., to mark the date of the invasion, Hoffman, who co-founded the Iraq veterans group, will be one of the lead speakers. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:32 pm
+ = Get to have grandchildren overnight tonight.
- = Think there’s yet another leak behind my dishwasher where mice are probably chewing on the hoses.

THURSDAY WHATEVER

Just when you thought it was safe……another hot button issue. Recognize either of those women? Know the names Norma McCorvey or Sarah Weddington? Back around this time of year in 1973 they were both young and famous. Sarah Weddington was 26 and had just argued successfully the case of Roe vs. Wade (see her interesting lecture about this here. Norma McCorvey was unmarried, pregnant and seeking an abortion in the state of Texas where it was illegal. She became known as Jane Roe. The upshot was history. Today Chief Justice William Rehnquist is 80 and suffering from thyroid cancer. Soon Bush will have the opportunity to replace him with a judge who will vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Norma McCorvey was converted to evangelical Christianity in 1995 and has completely reversed her position. There could hardly be a more emotional issue. Try googling on this subject and you’ll see how many angry and scared people are posting on both sides of the line. Here’s Norma McCorvey’s own site. And here’s what the other side has to offer where you can find out what your own state is up to. We live in perilous times. Which way will the future take us?

Deep Thought: “I think the monkeys at the zoo should have to wear sunglasses so they can’t hypnotize you.”
Today I am grateful for: Voice mail
Guess the Movie: “Take off your clothes.” Answer: The Unbearable Lightness of Being, 1988.
For Democrats, Rethinking Abortion Runs Risks
by David D. Kirkpatrick
WASHINGTON – In their search for middle ground on the subject of abortion, Democrats are encountering a mixture of resistance and retreat from abortion rights advocates in their own party.
Since its defeats in the November elections, nothing has put the fractured soul of the Democratic Party on display more vividly than abortion. Party leaders, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and the new chairman, Howard Dean, have repeatedly signaled an effort to recalibrate the party’s thinking about new restrictions on abortion. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:09 pm
+ = Saw Hotel Rwanda today and liked it.
- = Plumber found water leak under house (besides toilet leak) to start fixing Monday for almost $1000.

WEDNESDAY MOVIE

Hero

It was one of those weeks when there weren’t any new serial killer/assassin movies in English when I picked this up because I knew it was supposed to be good. Heck, it was #12 on the Rotten Tomatoes list of best 100 films for 2004. I’d been putting it off, after all you’ve seen one Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you’ve seen them all. So really all I knew about it was it would have subtitles and there would be those flying-in-the-air martial arts battles that have become so In. It turned out those things were true, but there was more. The main characters ARE assassins (oh joy) named Broken Sword, Flying Snow, Sky, and Nameless. And then there is Broken Sword’s servant, Moon. And finally the King of Qin, (who became the first Emperor of China) whom at one point or another they are all trying to kill. The famous Jet Li plays Nameless, who is at the center of the tale and for whom it is named Hero. The King of Qin was bent on conquering all China back in the Warring States period in China’s history, and because of years of death and suffering caused by his obsession, he was hunted by legendary assassins. The story of Nameless is an intricate unfolding plot to come within killing distance of the king, whch includes doing away with Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Sky. In the end, like a story within a story within a story you discover what it truly means to be a hero. The filming, the music, the martial arts, the romance, the heroism – it doesn’t get much better. Enjoy.

Deep Thought: “If I could be any kind of dog, I think I’d be one of those little yappy dogs, because while you’re sitting there on the couch trying to sound real smart, I’m just yapping away. Just yappin’ and yappin’, and there’s nothing you can do about it, because I live here.”
Today I am grateful for: My mother
Guess the Movie: “Who are you? Huh? Some third class mooch? Who are you? Who are you to say anything to me? Who are you to tell me anything? Actually I really, really don’t want to be on this boat with you. I can’t move without you moving. Gives me the creeps. You give me the creeps!” Answer: The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999.
Ward Churchill Has Rights, and He’s Right
by Robert Jensen
Ward Churchill has a right to speak about 9/11.
And Ward Churchill is right about 9/11.
I state that bluntly, even though I disagree with some aspects of the University of Colorado professor’s now-infamous essay, because so many (including some on the left) have defended his First Amendment rights while either remaining silent about, or condemning, the article’s analysis.
So, for the record: The main thesis Churchill put forward in “’Some People Push Back’: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens” is an accurate account of the depravity of U.S. foreign policy and its relationship to terrorism. Later I’ll return to my disagreements, but at a moment when right-wing forces have targeted not only Churchill but academic freedom and the left in general, it is more important than ever to stand firm on that point.
Malcolm X was correct, and it was appropriate for Churchill to quote him: Chickens do, indeed, come home to roost. And whether U.S. citizens want to acknowledge it or not, there likely will be chickens heading our way for years to come. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:44 pm
+ = My son got some good financial news.
- = Freaked out about water leak – figuring the damn plumbers will try to heist thousands of bucks out of me before it’s all over.