October 31, 2005

• Chapter 9 – War (cont.)
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  We struggled on through another winter in that house in San Rafael. Out in the world Vice-President Agnew resigned amidst scandal to be replaced by Gerald Ford, and Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army), a tiny group of terrorists bent on extracting $6 million worth of food for the poor from her wealthy father and exchanging her for SLA members who were in jail. By the time I turned 35, Jane had been gone for a month of her second summer visit to Oregon, and I was beginning to plan a daring attempt to ramp up my life. My country’s involvement in the Vietnam War had officially ended, and my own battle was about to shift gears.

  fall, fall
  to the bottom of grief
  at the end of weeping
  there is sleep

  sleep with the hand of god
  beneath your head
  and wake to know it is
  your own

  (end of chapter)

  ---

  Deep Thought: “”The tiger can’t change his spots. No, wait, he did! Good for him!”
  Today I am grateful for: Antifreeze
  Guess the Movie: “I know you’re out there. I can feel you now. I know that you’re afraid… you’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin. I’m going to hang up this phone, and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.”
  Vietnam Study, Casting Doubts, Remains Secret
  by Scott Shane
  WASHINGTON – The National Security Agency (N.S.A.) has kept secret since 2001 a finding by an agency historian that during the Tonkin Gulf episode, which helped precipitate the Vietnam War, N.S.A. officers deliberately distorted critical intelligence to cover up their mistakes, two people familiar with the historian’s work say. (Rest of article here.)

  • 12:25 pm
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