One of the most fragile books I possess is a poetry textbook from my mother's college days. Though it was published in 1946, it still carries a disclaimer about the conditions of the times:
"This book was printed during a period of unsurpassed demand for college textbooks and at a time of critical shortages in standard paper and cloth. These unusual conditions have frequently forced the use of substitute but no less expensive materials. Better materials will be used as soon as sufficient supplies are available"
Today is a sobering day for me. When you live in California, you have to decide for yourself when Autumn has arrived. And it did today, for me, in a very bad year.And the only verbal vehicle I could ride was a sentence I remembered from George Steiner's "In Bluebeard's Castle" (1971):
"In locating Hell above ground, we have passed out of the major order and symmetries of Western civilization."
Despite the fact that the most resonant theme in the upcoming elections is the overall trepidation about the conduct of the Iraq war/occupation, I get the sense that people are still a bit nervous about bush coming out and saying he, and republicans will better protect the American people.And that it might work.
There's a big chance that this diary title is misleading. There's also an even bigger chance I have no clue as to the finer points of being an attention whore.What is true is that bush appeared at a function on Friday night where Frankie Valli was present. Maybe even performing.
Staythecourse,the official adminstration hobbyhorse was banished to the glue factory this week. That pony simply would not ride to the finish line on November 7th.
One question that has never been asked, to my knowledge, is if anyone has ever answered "an open letter to.." I guess this is part of some kind of literary/journalistic baggage that has been instituted. To me, it always recalls the Emily Dickinson poem that begins:
-
"This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me...."
Putting my failure at snark under my belt with my diary of yesterday, I am fully embracing my destiny to narrow my identity down to possibly the most trivial feature to appear on this site (or a runner-up):the figure skating live blog.
Since the audition of the banner ads here--which I do not mind at all, despite the fact that several of the hamsters who power my computer have experienced cardiac arrest trying to load the page--I have become a wee bit more concious of ads, but also acutely aware of a relative dearth of diaries complaining them.
I do not normally watch Larry King, but often czech to see who his guests are, because they provide weird cultural hints. But it's Bono today, so I watch a bit more and discover some AIDS support thing he is involved with is utilizing a "red" theme.
Ok, the creepy little neighborhood markets where I buy my cigarettes, are doing a lot of advert against Prop. 86, which can potentially raise the price of cigarettes by $2.60.
"My mother said that babies come in bottles...but last week she said they grew on special baby bushes..."
Out of the corner of my ear I hear carlson motherfucker on the tube,raving about Babs responding to a heckler at her concert with one of our favorite acronyms.
Who would've known the day I call in sick (mental health day-as if that was an attainable goal)I'd wake up to threats of nuclear war? The next thing I expected was some nun from a past life posing the question: if the communists came in and asked you to give up your religion, how many of you would be willing to die for your religion?
On friday, when the news came out that susan ralston was resigning her "White House position", due to her abramoff links, a big cry went up about the Friday-at-5 newsdump. Well and good. My immediate reaction was--holy cow-(I am from Chicago) this is the woman who supposedly left her position in 2005 for the Commerce Dept. after her association with Plamegate in Rove's office.
Remember when there were rumors about condi eyeing the Baseball Commissioner position? And remember when "America's pasttime" wasn't so corrupt? Clemens going down on performance enhancers? However, there's a solution to "say it ain't so"; just go with the so, and get the republicans out of office and into baseball.
When I read the headline:Legislating Violations of the Constitution, I assumed the writer,Erwin Chemerinsky, was commenting upon the passage of the torture bill. But no, there's other parts of the Constitution the right wing is gleefully shredding before congressional recess.
