THURSDAY WHATEVER

Okay, this Thursday turns out to be the day when most of us huddle up with our families in all their weird and wonderful formations. Happy Thanksgiving to all my Xanga Family. You cannot believe how nourishing it’s been for me to check in with you and share what comes up in my own corner of the world, as well as hear all the wonderful adventures and thoughts and creations you all bring here. I’m hosting my little group today in my tiny house – my daughter driving down from Hood River and spending the night, my son and his lady and the three children they have (two his, one hers). They are still in shock from having their house burglarized this week and dealing with the identify theft issues that came up (computer and various papers taken), as well as the sense of violation that comes with such an event. It’s such an example of the contradictions in this life we live – warm gatherings like today’s against a background of war, crime, poverty for so many. I am so thankful today that my family has health, roofs over their heads, jobs, love, and each other. Give at least one person a Big Old Crushing Hug today. See you tomorrow – got to go start cooking.

Deep Thought: “As I walked through the woods, I looked up and saw a squirrel. I smiled and he smiled. At least I think it was a smile. My teeth were showing and my cheeks were pulled up. That’s a smile, isn’t it? (The squirrel was definitely smiling.)”
Today I am grateful for: Everything that’s nailed down and lots of what isn’t
Guess the Movie: “She’s my sister AND my daughter!” Answer: Chinatown, 1974. Winner: swawg.
John Murtha: An Eagle Amid the Turkeys
by Susan Lenfestey
Having just watched both houses of congress pass their reverse-Robin Hood budget bills while preserving their home-state funding projects, I started to think that pork was more in season than turkey this Thanksgiving. (Rest of article here.)

WEDNESDAY MOVIE

Equilibrium (2002)

This film is a few years old, not sure how I missed it at the time, but ranks right up there with any Life in the Grim Future flicks I’ve seen. Human beings have decided (and made it a punishable offence by death to transgress) to outlaw feelings. This is accomplished by major brainwashing but also by injecting some kind of drug into the neck with a little gun each morning. The idea is that feelings caused war and various other bad outcomes so the solution is this rigidly enforced status quo scenario. Of course, the irony is that to regulate all this there must be soldiers and the elite of the elite of the soldiers are called “clerics.” They are highly trained with weapons and their task is to root out resistance and “intuit” when people are feeling illegally.Christian Bale is a cleric whose own wife has been executed. One morning he accidentally breaks the vial his dose of the drug comes in and this begins his own return to feeling. Once he has started down this road he cannot turn back, especially when he begins to meet members of the resistance. The plot moves along quickly, rest of the cast is good (especially Taye Diggs who becomes his new partner). But the best part is the choreographed sequences of Bale kicking butt. This guy kicks major butt. Wearing stylish black or white silk suit costumes he slashes and shoots his way through battles like some kind of inspired dervish. Christian Bale has been a most interesting actor since he began his career way back at age of 13 in Empire of the Sun. Just this past year or so he made The Machinist and Batman Begins – how divergent are those! You never hear much about his personal life but I’ll share he is Welsh, has 3 older sisters, a wife named Sibi Blazic, and a one-year-old daughter. His star is rising.

Deep Thought: “Probably one of the worst things about being a genie in a magic lamp is a little thing called “lamp stench.”
Today I am grateful for: Bird beaks
Guess the Movie: “Short people have long faces, and long people have short faces. Big people have little humor, and little people have no humor at all.” Answer: Singin’ in the Rain, 1952. Winner: tearsign.
Hillary, You’re Not Listening
by Jeff Cohen
“Part of my job is being a good listener,” Hillary Clinton wrote, in the first line of her letter received today. As a New Yorker, I’m represented by Hillary in the U.S. Senate. Along with her two-page fundraising letter, I received a four-page “2005 Critical National Issues Survey.”
But something was missing — something Hillary obviously doesn’t want to hear about: IRAQ. Nowhere in the letter or the questionnaire was that four-letter word. (Rest of article here.)

TUESDAY POLITICS

Totally
coincidentally I had just watched a film on DVD called Redemption, in
which Jamie Foxx plays a real person, Stanley “Tookie” Williams,
convicted in 1979 of killing four people in two robberies in
California, when I learned that unless Gov.  Arnold Schwarzenegger
grants clemency, Williams will be executed Dec. 13 at San Quentin State
Prison.  But wait, there’s more to the story…on the down side,
Williams was a co-founder of the Crips street gang, and today we can
see that gang violence is still live and well in Los Angeles and
elsewhere.  The movie makes the case that has been made by many
others that gangs are a form of survival for street kids who have
little else.  On the up side, about 10 years ago Williams decided
to begin to make a difference.  He has written nine  books
for children about the dangers of gang life and been nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize as a result.  Take a look. 
He has never confessed to the crimes from almost 30 years ago. 
The evidence against him was circumstantial, and his jury was all
white.  It’s going to be a tough call for the Terminator (no pun
intended).  On the one hand, clemency is almost never granted any
more – the last time in California was 1967 when Reagan did it. 
On the other hand, could we expect Arnold’s liberal wife to influence
him towards it?  Or does he need the support of the
African-American community in his currently shaky political
position?  All I know is that I despise the whole idea of the
death penalty.  If we as human beings put our incredible minds and
souls into creating resources for human life instead of stamping it
out, we might not even need to agonize over this issue, or abortion, or
war – or any of the other hideous corners we’ve driven ourselves
into.  But hey, what do I know?  Well, that I’m pretty damn
sure I’ll wake up on December 14 and Stanley “Tookie” Williams won’t.
___________________________________________________________
Deep Thought: 
“The first time I ever saw the ocean, I was real disappointed. “That’s
the ocean?!” I said. No, said Mom and Dad, that’s just the parking lot.
When we pulled into the lot, I was real disappointed in it. It was hard
to find a spot, and the spaces seemed way too narrow, in my book. The
ocean was okay, I guess, but I still can’t get over how disappointing
that parking lot was.”
Today I am grateful for:  My car battery
Guess the Movie:  “Ma? Ya on uppers?” Answer: Requiem for a Dream, 2000. Winner: tikhead.
Governor Dreading Decision on Life or Death
Without clemency, Williams’ execution is weeks away
by Mark Martin
It
was 1976, according to Stanley Tookie Williams, when he met a young
Austrian bodybuilder along the Venice Beach boardwalk, then the
epicenter of the Southern California muscle culture.
Williams, who
was a hard-bodied weight lifter as well as a notorious gang member,
recounted the brief encounter in a book published last year: Arnold
Schwarzenegger was so impressed with Williams’ physique, he noted that
Williams’ biceps were as big as thighs.
Nearly 30 years later, the two men are again crossing paths.  (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:33 pm
+ = Pretty much on track in turkeyday preparations.
- = Birds and squirrels in back yard freezing their buns off.

MONDAY READING

(Poem by me, 2000)

Deep Thought: “One Thanksgiving my parents did something I don’t know if I can ever forgive them for. We were eating our turkey dinner when suddenly I realized I hadn’t seen my pet turkey all day. “Where’s Mister Gobble?” I asked. Dad seemed confused. “Mister Gobble?” “Yes,” I said. “My turkey. The one I picked out at the supermarket, and then after he thawed out I made him do a funny little turkey dance. Mister Gobble.” Dad’s silence said it all. We were eating Mister Gobble! I ran crying from the table and locked myself in my room. Later, Dad knocked on the door and said he had some dessert for me. When I opened the door, I couldn’t believe it. It was a slice of Pumpkie, my pet pie!”
Today I am grateful for: Big fluffy bathtowels
Guess the Movie: “They’ve committed a murder and it’s not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops. They’re stuck with each other and they’ve got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it’s a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery.” Answer: Double Indemnity, 1944.
Parallels to Vietnam Seen in Iraq War
by Tim Harper
WASHINGTON — It was the summer of 1970, the Baltimore Orioles were headed to a World Series victory, four Kent State University war protestors had been shot dead and the Jackson 5 topped the pop charts.
And Americans decided they had had enough of a futile war in Vietnam. (Rest of article here.)

SUNDAY GOOD NEWS

Out of nowhere last Thursday, a champion worth rallying behind. And it would have to be out of nowhere, because none of the Big Players has had the scrap to step up and say it. Bring the troops home NOW. Not Hillary Clinton, most likely Democratic candidate for President next time around, not John Kerry, candidate last time around. Surprisingly, it was the
vice-presidential candidate, John Edwards, who ran an article in the Washington Post last Sunday who kind of started the ball rolling when at least he announced he was mistaken to vote to go to war in Iraq. But the big hoo-ha happened on Thursday, when Representative John
Murtha, Democrat from Pennsylvania, decorated ex-Marine Vietnam and Korean War veteran stunned everybody by calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, giving all the reasons we’ve been hearing pundits gabble about for weeks now but having the brass to come right out and say let’s quit talking and do something about it. What followed was pandemonium. Before you could say “freakout,” Republican leaders were
accusing Democrats of siding with terrorists. Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) declared: “Murtha and Democratic leaders have adopted a policy of cut and run. They would prefer that the United States surrender to the terrorists who would harm innocent Americans. To add insult to injury, this is done while the president is on foreign soil.” I watched
on C-Span as some Republican got up and called Murtha a “coward”, which apparently is forbidden by House etiquette, and there were loud shouts from angry Democrats in the background. However, what I’m seeing in the aftermath is that nobody who counts is going to step up and really support Murtha’s salvo. It wasn’t a hallucination though – it really did happen. I saw it with my own eyes, heard it with my own ears. Just for a moment the invisible elephant in the middle of all our living rooms materialized and could be touched from head to tail and identified. I never heard of this guy before – Murtha. No matter what happens next, today he’s my Sunday Good News.

Deep Thought: “I’ll never forget the time the president came to our town. When I saw
him go by, he looked so much older and sadder than I thought he was. Also, why was he driving an ice cream truck?”
Today I am grateful for: Banks, I think
Guess the Movie: “It’s there all the time, driving me out to wander the streets,
following me, silently, but I can feel it there. It’s me, pursuing myself! I want to escape, to escape from myself! But it’s impossible. I can’t escape, I have to obey it. I have to run, run… endless streets. I want to escape, to get away! And I’m pursued by ghosts. Ghosts of mothers and of those children… they never leave me. They are always there… always, always, always!, except when I do it, when I… Then I can’t remember anything. And afterwards I see those posters and read what I’ve done, and read, and read… did I do that? But I can’t remember anything about it! But who will believe me? Who knows what it’s like to be me? How I’m forced to act… how I must, must… don’t want to, must! Don’t want to, but must! And then a voice screams! I can’t bear to hear it! I can’t go on! I can’t… I can’t…” Answer: M, 1931. Winner: sherab_zangmo.
Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout
by Eric Schmitt
WASHINGTON – Republicans and Democrats shouted, howled and slung insults on the
House floor on Friday as a debate over whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq descended into a fury over President Bush’s handling of the war and a leading Democrat’s call to bring the troops home. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 7:32 pm
+ = Stunning fall weather.
- = But cold, damn cold.

FRIDAY FIVE

Appetizer – When do you feel impatient?
I feel impatient with this question because patience is one of the “virtues” I most lack. For example, in the last few seconds one of my cats, who just finished getting me to feed him, headed for the door like usual, I opened the door for him to go out and he just stood there and then turned his back and walked away without going out. I think it’s a new trick they’re learning just to pick on me because one of my other cats has started doing the same thing. You’d think this would be such a tiny thing that I’d just shrug and maybe even laugh, but Life presents probably 10,834 of these moments a day. Can you imagine how hard it must be to be a Saint? Peace of mind is probably the condition I most want to achieve before I die. At this rate, I’m running so far behind I don’t know if I’ll ever get there.
Salad – How many times in your life have you had a broken heart?
My heart probably looks like the turkey carcass after Thanksgiving dinner. Thing is, once it’s been broken the first few Really Heavy Duty Times, it develops callouses, and the trouble with that is, you never quite let yourself be totally vulnerable again and so you probably miss certain depths of feeling reserved for those same Saints that can do patience (see above).
Soup – Name a book you would like to see made into a movie.
The Catcher in the Rye – by J.D. Salinger. Haven’t read it in 40 years but remember thinking it was wonderful at the time. Apparently lots of other folks did too. Don’t think there’s ever been a movie made. Maybe the author wouldn’t permit it. He was a strange cuss. Hasn’t given an interview, published anything new, or made a public appearance since. He’d be 86 about now.
Main Course – If you could thank one teacher for what they taught you, who would it be and what would you thank them for?
Oh so long ago. Hmmm……Actually, now that I think about it, my first sponsor in Recovery would qualify. Ten years younger than I and a foot shorter, she kept me on task during those first harrowing months, learning how to live in a chemical-free world with deep spiritual balance. On December 5, that first jump start will have worked for 21 years.
Dessert – What is your favorite kind of pie?
Not much of a pie eater – never have been – but I guess pumpkin. I’ve been looking for a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving. Haven’t found it yet, but I know it’s out there.

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: Balance wherever I can find it
Guess the Movie: “They made us all train for this day. “To be fearless and proud and alone. To need no one, just sacrifice. All for the Fatherland.” Oh God, all just empty words. It’s not the way they said it was, is it? I just want someone to be with. The only thing I feel is afraid.” Answer: Das Boot, 1981.
Bush in ‘Nosedive’ as Murtha Urges Iraq Retreat
by Josh Gerstein
President Bush’s power appears to have reached a nadir in Washington, with important legislative measures stalled in Congress, top administration officials shadowed by a leak scandal, and mainstream politicians launching strident critiques of America’s strategy in Iraq.
The administration’s current impotence was on clear display yesterday as a bipartisan group of senators tripped up a White House-backed reauthorization of the Patriot Act, a major appropriations bill was voted down on the House floor, and a moderate Democratic congressman, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, called for an immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. (Rest of article here.)

THURSDAY WHATEVER
Published on Thursday, November 17, 2005  by CommonDreams.org
Open Letter to George’s Mama
by Cindy Sheeha

Dear Barbara,

On April 04, 2004, your oldest child killed my oldest child, Casey Austin Sheehan.

Unlike your oldest child, my son was a marvelous person who joined the military to serve his country and to try and make the world a better place. Casey didn’t want to go to Iraq, but he knew his duty. Your son went AWOL from a glamour unit. George couldn’t even handle the Alabama Air National Guard. Casey joined the Army before your son became commander in chief. We all know that your son was thinking of invading Iraq as early as 1999. Casey was a dead man before George even became president and before he even joined the Army in May of 2000.

I raised Casey and my other children to use their words to solve problems and conflicts. I told my four children from the time that they were small that it is ALWAYS wrong to kick, bite, hit, scratch, pull hair, etc. If the smaller children couldn’t find the words to solve their conflicts without violence, I always encouraged them to find a mediator like a parent, older sibling, or teacher to help them find the words.

Did you teach George to use his words and not his violence to solve problems? It doesn’t appear so. Did you teach him that killing other people for profits and oil is ALWAYS wrong? Obviously you did not.  He has lied and he is still lying. Saddam did not have WMDs or ties with al-Qaeda and the Downing Street Memos prove that your son knew this before he invaded Iraq.

On August 3rd, 2005, your son said that he killed my son and the other brave and honorable Americans for a “noble cause.” Well, Barbara, mother to mother, that angered me. I don’t consider invading and occupying another country that was proven not to be a threat to the USA is a noble cause. I don’t think invading a country, killing its innocent citizens, and ruining the infrastructure to make your family and your family-friendly war profiteers rich is a noble cause.

So I went down to Crawford in August to ask your son what noble cause did he kill my son for. He wouldn’t speak with me. I think that showed incredibly bad manners. Do you think a president, even if it is your son, should be so inaccessible to his employers? Especially one of his bosses whose life George has devastated so completely?

I have been to the White House several times since August to try and meet with George and I am going back to Crawford next week. Do you think you can call him and ask him to do the right thing and bring the troops home from this illegal and immoral war in Iraq that he carelessly started? I hear you are one of the few people he still talks to. He won’t speak to his father, who knew the difficulties and impossibilities of going into Iraq and that’s why he didn’t go there in the first Gulf War. If you won’t tell him to bring the troops home, can you at least urge him to meet with me?

You said this in 2003, a little over a year before my dear, sweet Casey was killed by your son’s policies:

“Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?” (Good Morning America, March 18, 2003)

Now I have something to tell you, Barbara. I didn’t want to hear about deaths or body bags either. On April 04, 2004, three Army officers came to my house to tell me that Casey was killed in Iraq. I fell on the floor screaming and begging the cruel Angel of Death to take me too. But the Angel of Death that took my son is your son.

Casey came home in a flag draped coffin on April 10th. I used to have a beautiful mind too. Now my mind is filled with images of seeing his beautiful body in his casket and memories of burying my brave and honest boy before his life really began. Casey’s beautiful mind was ended by an insurgent’s bullet to his brain, but your son might as well have pulled the trigger.

Besides encouraging your son to have some honesty and courage and to finally do the right thing, don’t you think you owe me and every other Gold Star parent an apology for that cruel and careless remark you made?

Your son’s amazingly ignorant, arrogant, and reckless policies in Iraq are responsible for so much sorrow and trouble in this world.

Can you make him stop? Do it before more mothers’ lives are needlessly and cruelly harmed. There have been too many worldwide already.

Sincerely,

Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Casey Sheehan
Founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace
Founder of Camp Casey Peace Foundation

---

Deep Thought:  “Before a mad scientist goes mad, there’s probably a time when he’s only partially mad. And this is the time when he’s going to throw his best parties.”
Today I am grateful for:  The ability to back up
Guess the Movie:  “California, tell your people to stay away. Stay away now, don’t – don’t come in here. Whatever you hear, stay away! John Doe has the upper hand!” Answer: Se7en, 1995. Winner: tearsign.
 Leading House Democrat Urges Withdrawal From Iraq
“It is Time to Bring Them Home”
 WASHINGTON – A leading pro-defense Democrat in the House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Bush administration to start the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Senior Democrat Rep. John Murtha is calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
“The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It is time to bring them home,” said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a senior Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees military spending.   (Rest of article here.)