A Literary Reminder

Remember "The Hangman" by Ogden Nash? Read the excerpt (complete text here); feel the vibrations.

Into our town the hangman came,

smelling of gold and blood and flame.

He paced our bricks with a different air,

and built his frame on the courthouse square.



The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,

only as wide as the door was wide

with a frame as tall, or a little more,

than the capping sill of the courthouse door.



And we wondered whenever we had the time,

Who the criminal? What the crime?

The hangman judged with the yellow twist

of knotted hemp in his busy fist.



And innocent though we were with dread,

we passed those eyes of buckshot lead.

Till one cried, "Hangman, who is he,

for whom you raised the gallows-tree?"



Then a twinkle grew in his buckshot eye

and he gave a riddle instead of reply.

"He who serves me best," said he

"Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree."



And he stepped down and laid his hand

on a man who came from another land.

And we breathed again, for anothers grief

at the hangmans hand, was our relief.



And the gallows frame on the courthouse lawn

by tomorrow's sun would be struck and gone.

So we gave him way and no one spoke

out of respect for his hangmans cloak.



The next day's sun looked mildly down

on roof and street in our quiet town;

and stark and black in the morning air

the gallows-tree on the courthouse square.



And the hangman stood at his usual stand

with the yellow hemp in his busy hand.

With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike,

and his air so knowing and business-like.



And we cried, "Hangman, have you not done,

yesterday with the alien one?"

Then we fell silent and stood amazed.

"Oh, not for him was the gallows raised."

Late Edition

Better Late.... Thank you, Republicans for lambasting our dearly elected leader for labeling events in Honduras a coup, thereby aligning himself on the side not of angels but of Chavez, Ortega, Castro(2), et al. Secondly, designating the Honduran military action, undertaken under orders from the Honduran Supreme Court to the approbation of the Honduran legislature, as such obscures the illegal actions of the former Honduran President which brought about the crisis in the first place. Read it at Breitbart.

Lagging Indicators. Christian Solidarity Worldwide has mildly denounced the sentencing of Cuban Pastor Omar Gude Perez to six years imprisonment. The CSW sees the conviction as a result of his leadership position in a Christian movement, and not on either the original human trafficking charges, nor the "counterrevolutionary conduct and attitudes" on which he was convicted. Meanwhile, Pastors (Posers?) for peace continues their traveling show on the way to Cuba to support the same government that sentenced Gude Perez. Read about it.

Equine Arrears. According to Newsweek- which I predict will have to fold if it keeps printing this tripe- against President Obama's wishes, Ag Holder absolutely must investigate the Bush atrocities. (Psst. Wanna buy a bridge?) Coming as it does in the middle of a dismal news cycle and skidding approval ratings, the timing smells.

Arrested Development. Floored yesterday at this one. There is talk of banning tobacco in the military, even in combat situations. Yessirree, you can get blown to smithereens for your country, but don't light up. Kinda gives the lie to fighting for freedom. Ludicrous.

Left Behind. It's that time of year again. The ubiquitous summer reading lists. Here's the NRO version, ponderous in the main. I can confess that few of these titles will find their way into my beachbag. Of course, none of Oprah's are going to be in there either.

Heads Up: Article About Palin's Resignation

The Alaska governor's resignation seem to come out of nowhere. It was surprising that after enduring a brutal series of attacks during the campaign, Palin would cave now. A new article by Matthew Continetti over at The Weekly Standard provides an insight into what went in to her decision and makes it all more understandable:

The attacks did not stop when McCain and Palin lost the election. To the contrary: They shifted location and emphasis. Palin returned to a changed Alaska. Her first year in office had been remarkably successful because she governed with an ad hoc legislative coalition of Democrats and antiestablishment Republicans. That coalition broke down the moment Palin became a force in national politics and the most famous woman (probably the most famous person) in the Republican party. The Democrats in the legislature defected en masse. Compounding the problem: Because she had unseated it, the GOP establishment never liked Palin and wanted her to go away.

Suddenly "people were confronted with policy differences with the governor," Alaska state senator and Palin ally Gene Therriault told me. "The call went out from the national Democratic party to take her down. Some of the Democrats who worked with her previously took their marching orders." Gridlock ensued. Bipartisan comity was no more.

Anybody who had the opportunity to score political points against Palin took a shot. The Alaska judicial council, a body that recommends jurists to the governor, forced the pro-life Palin to appoint a pro-choice judge to the state supreme court. The legislature rejected Palin's choice for state attorney general. The governor and the legislature fought protracted battles over the replacement for Democratic state senator Kim Elton (appointed to the Obama administration) and stimulus money from the federal government. Civility with the legislature became untenable. John Coale, the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic lawyer who set up Palin's political action committee and legal defense fund, told me, "Something had to change."

Read the whole thing. It's worth it.

Read: Coming Soon

Some of my very favorite authors:

Rain Gods by James Lee Burke circa July 13. Just watched Electric Mist over the weekend, based on Burke's In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead. Hate to say it, but I wasn't crazy about Tommy Lee's portrayal. Best Burke-based movie I've seen starred Alec Baldwin(?) and Eric Roberts. Just my opinion.

The Defector by Daniel Silva on July 20 or so. This one is purportedly a sequel to Moscow Rules and also features Israeli operative/art restorer Gabriel Allon.

Also on July 20 comes Fire and Ice, the newest entry in the Joanna Brady series, the 14th. Rumor has it that it will also involve JA Jance's other sleuth, JP Beaumont.

South of Broad by Pat Conroy sometime in August. Excited about this one, his first in many years. To give you an idea, I once forced the family into vacationing on Daufuskie Island, SC, setting of The Water is Wide, or Conrack in the film version with Jon Voight. The daughter got food poisoning, insists she was cured by a ghostly witchy woman in a nightmare, and has never let me live it down.

Finally, one to keep an eye out for in August is Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. It's by Jon Krakauer who's written some good stuff. My favorite: Into Thin Air.

A Quote for Today

Right intention, transparency, and the search for positive results are mutually compatible and must never be detached from one another. If love is wise, it can find ways of working in accordance with provident and just expediency, as is illustrated in a significant way by much of the experience of credit unions.

from Charity in Truth by Pope Benedict

Another Quarter Heard From

Yesterday the Pope weighed in on the economic morass. On Fox Business, the encyclical was treated as if it inveighed against capitalism. Not true. Read the text. The Holy Father goes out of his way to establish that markets in and of themselves are not bad things. It is the lack of ethics, according to the prelate, which is the problem. I ask you, what is wrong with the head of a Church urging that we exercise morality in our commercial dealings? Nothing. It was an eminently reasonable argument. Reaction to it does expose the edges of a pervasive, usually hidden, prejudice against Catholicism that exists in many elite circles.

Meanderings: There ain't no winnin'

I started my day with a call to United Healthcare which runs the medical plan at my company.

"Hey," I said, "I'm calling because there's got to be some mistake here. I went for my annual Gyn exam, and it cost me six hundred dollars."

"It sure does sound like there's something off." the lady on the other end replies.

"Well, when I got to the doctor," I tell her, "I found out my doctor doesn't take your insurance. But heck, I'm really quite attached to her, so I figured I'd pay out of pocket. But then she sent me for a mammogram which was in network, but I get a bill from the hospital. So I figure that's that. But it's not, 'cause then I get another bill from the guy who read the mammogram."

"Did the hospital charge you the agreed upon amount?" she asks.

"What's that?"

"95 dollars. And I see the radiologist charged 54. But don't worry because it all goes to your 300 dollar deductible."

"Okay, but I'm not finished. Then I get a bill for 142 dollars for my pap smear. Lady, I am 51 years old. In all my life, I've never paid more than 25 dollars for a pap smear. I thought it was like a rule that a yearly mammogram and pap smear was part of a health insurance policy. You know, all that bullshit about preventative medicine and all. Are you telling me that 142 dollars is the discount price you negotiated? We're not talking about brain surgery here, you know."

"Well, that's the policy your company arranged. And as I said, it does go toward the deductible." Now she's not sounding quite as nice. You might even say she sounds a bit exasperated.

"All right," I counter. "That's why I sent in an out of network claim for the doctor."

"Oh, that's the one for 200 dollars. We were missing some information. Let me transfer you to someone who can help you with that."

My next customer service rep is Christina. "Oh," she tells me, "There was some information missing."

"What was missing?" I ask.

"The doctor's name, address..."

"Wait a minute, I attached her pre-printed receipt as instructed."

"Well, we need the codes."

"Ma'am, it was all on the receipt. I saw it."

"Was the the doctor's taxpayer ID on the receipt?" Christina's getting a little defensive. "We need it to pay the claim."

"Lady," now I'm losing it, " You don't need her number. You have to pay me, and you have my number."

"It's a federal law."

"It's federal law that you need her tax id to pay me? Okay, what do I need to do? After all, I should satisfy the 400 dollar out of network deductible and get some money back."

"Oh no," she informs me, "that's a separate deductible. You have to spend 400 dollars with the out of network doctor."

" You gotta be kidding. Well, I'm going to complain to my company. Better yet, I'm going to write to your CEO. Scams like this are exactly why we are going to wind up with Obamacare. And you know what, Christina you ain't gonna have a job."

The moral of the story: check your insurance before you go to the doctor.

My morning entertainment done, I spend the rest of my day off attempting to quit smoking. Of course, since I'm trying to quit for the umpteenth time, I smoke double. Here's a primer. Before the bleeding heart Democrats got in power, I paid 2.69 for a pack of cigarettes. Today, thanks to them and the other misbegotten offspring of randomly copulating camels who call themselves the Florida legislature, I pay $5.35. Let me 'splain. At a pack a day, that comes out roughly to $160.00 a month. At two packs, that's $320.00 So at my house that translates to about $600.00 a month. Since I can't afford that, but I can't quit, I am freaking.

But they don't care about me. Even worse the prating hypocrite Dems don't care about the poor. It is the poor who smoke. These cigarette increases represent what is surely the most regressive tax ever passed. What was that Mr. Obama about not raising taxes on those earning less than 200 thou? Unfuckingbelievable.

I console myself. As I was on the beach at Manatee County over the weekend, where I go because the upscale elitists who run Sarasota want the beach all to their nonsmoking selves, I was struck by a thought. It is an observation I first made as I sat in the waiting room at the hospital where my mother was dying and where smoking was not allowed on the grounds of the entire campus. If there were ever a time for a cigarette.... I was looking at the photos of the ladies who run the hospital, each more porcine than the other, as if vying for the Petunia Pig award.

Well, the beach yesterday was full of fat, white flesh. And they're coming for you next, baby. And you know what, I ain't gonna give a damn. What was that Shirley Jackson story? See ya.

Monday Briefs

The Honduras controversy continues. Despite the threats of real economic harm, the interim Honduran government has sent the OAS packing. They also sent the once and would be future President Zelayas packing again. Read about it here.

There is a second controversy here, namely the domestic response to our government's strident denunciations. Perhaps taking their cue from the numbers of Hondurans who have written the media in support of the military's actions, some major names have taken up the cudgels. First out of the lists is Patrick Buchanan who points out in addition to the hypocrisy of the OAS that there is something wrong when we find ourselves with such bedfellows as Hugo Chavez, the ruling military junta in Cuba, and Nicaragua's Ortega. Additional voices against the Obamian condemnations include Michelle Malkin and Mary Anastasia O'Grady here.

This week saw the dollar a pack increase for cigarettes imposed by the Florida Legislature. Sarasota Herald Tribune article here. The Herald also published a spot on column by Tom Lyons about the whole situation, most notably to me- how the move amounts to a shakedown of smokers.

Finally, in the once a teacher, always a teacher department. Bill O'Reilly complains of the hackneyed words and phrases that have taken over our public discourse. I say, "Keep on truckin', Bill!"

The Death of My America

It seems fitting somehow that this year there is no barbeque, no celebration around here, for I cannot remember a time when I have been so pessimistic. I was brought up to love this country. To my child eyes, it was a magical place, a place of wonder, of perfection even, a ready contrast to the long night of repression already falling on the country of my fathers.

The United States stood as a beacon of freedom and opportunity. I watched my parents, their friends, arrive with barely the clothes on their backs, wash dishes, bus tables, work in factories, start little businesses and rise- move out to the suburbs, send their children to college, and in essence achieve the American Dream. There was no affirmative action for them. No one provided scholarships to Yale or Harvard, which wouldn't have let them mow the lawn let alone enter their hallowed halls- no matter what intelligence or ability their maker had given them. No, they achieved what they did through the sweat of their brow, by dint of countless hours of work and careful use of their resources.

Although I long ago realized that my country is not faultless, I have never wavered in my belief that the United States represents the best that the government of men has to offer. So it is with a heavy heart that I see the country in which I grew up evaporating before my eyes. We grovel in front of those who would hurt us, apologize where no apology is required, align ourselves with the forces of repression in some cases and kowtow in others. Our Congress is pestilential, awash in a tide of corruption practiced with impunity; our ship of state is navigated by fools and scoundrels.

Soon we are to be told what we can ingest, what we can drive, when we can sell our homes. All of these fiats will be enforced with all the might and power, through legislation and tax policy, of the government. Candidate Obama once complained of the Constitution that it was a document of negatives when it came to the powers of the government, as if it were a failing on the part of the founding fathers and not an intentional omission. Those far-sighted men did not offer supplemental income, tuition, health insurance. They promised nothing but life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. One can only imagine what they would think of the nonsmoking, bran-eating, seatbelt wearing, New York Times reading public potentates who would decree how the rest of us should live.

On the Horns of a Honduran Dilemma

Yesterday practically dawned with news that the military in Honduras had staged a bloodless coup and exiled President Manuel Zelaya. Within 24 hours, the denunciations of the same came fast and furious. Demands for the deposed president's reinstatement came from the US, UN, and Venezuela among others, including ironically the OAS, that defender of democracy which just voted to reinstate an illegitimate regime in Cuba which has never been elected in a fair and open plebiscite, which has kept the jackboot solidly balanced on the Cuban population for half a century. It seems pretty obvious that the equation is "democratically elected, good; military coup, bad... although some coups are more equal than others."

But there are some pesky details here. It seems that Honduran Presidents are limited to a single term. Mr. Zelaya, who was on his way out, took a page from the Chavez playbook and attempted to hold a referendum to change the law. Unfortunately for Mr. Zelaya, the Honduran Supreme Court went against him. The military informed him that they would not support him. Undaunted, the once and wouldbe future president, proceeded with plans to hold the referendum anyway. It was this process the military stopped.

I cannot blame them. They have witnessed in Venezuela, somewhat in Bolivia, how antidemocratic forces have learned to use the machinery of democracy to quash it. Even as Hugo Chavez threatened to invade Honduras, crowds marched in Caracas in an attempt to save the lone opposition media voice. It is in order to avoid this fate, the military acted.

And how did they proceed after the coup? They announced that the elections scheduled for January would proceed. The leader of congress assumed the presidency. The former president was deposited in Costa Rica. The ruling of the Supreme Court upheld. And what should they have done? Stood idly by while Zelaya flouted the Supreme Court? The military? Congress? His own party? Who are we to demand that Zelaya be returned? Talk about American arrogance.

The lesson to be learned here is how the left has subverted the process. Chavez complained that you can't "change the rules of the game." The game is that you get yourself elected, then change the precise rules that allowed you to gain power with a witches brew of electoral machination, exercise of executive power, the threat of force, and most importantly the appearance of democracy.

I suggest that Mr Obama begin work on a new apology, one to the Honduran people for demanding they go meekly into night. If only the administration had shown the same reticence to get involved that they demonstrated toward Iran. Incredible.

Sunday People and Places

Clueless in Wichita. Back from a humanitarian mission, the author of this piece, is struck not by the suffering of the Cuban people- they're used to it- but by how hip it is to travel there. Hits some truths; misses the point altogether.

The Last Time I Read about Havana. Looking for some reading material? Here's a useful and exhaustive annotated bibliography of Cuba-themed books in English via the Simon Fraser University. The list ends at 2000. I have to say I've read quite a few. What about you?

Life Without Father. Roundabout Fathers' Day, NRO came up with a column on five myths about fatherhood to watch out for. No one needs to convince me about the importance of fathers, particularly for little girls. An interesting dynamic, indeed.

The Naked Politician. Included just for the scandal, no, not Sanford, Musselwhite. The headline here bruits Florida mayor arrested for public indecency. Apparently the onetime Gainseville mayor was arrested-in his birthday suit- at a Georgia campsite. Authorities suspect he was the naked man walking down the side of the road earlier. He denies. Of course.

Parallels and Possibilities

Recently Yoani posted on San Lazaro, a decaying street in Havana. In religious statuary, San Lazaro, the saint, whose feast day is December 17 (incidentally my wedding anniversary-no parallel there), is usually depicted on crutches, open sores running, dogs trailing. The gruesome nature of this last touch was one that eluded me as a child when I wondered why anyone would have a statue in their home of an ugly man and his pets. I didn't know about Santeria then, obviously. Also elusive was the American name of the saint. Could it be Lazarus, the one Jesus raised from the dead? But one would think, he would be in better shape. Then there is the notion I have that the statue Lazaro is a leper. Whatever the translation, whichever saint or former saint- let's not forget Barbara- the parallel Yoani draws is not lost, as the video glides by the ruins of the body civic festering in the sun. Watch it.

It's About Repression, Stupid

A Reuters article, based on a newly released Cuban government report, informs that Cuba lags in telecom, internet access. I won't get into the opener with the "doctor on every block" and a school for every child. Both deceptive: doctors in Venezuela, Angola? Schools with fourteen year old teachers. Nope. Not gonna go there.

I am going to point out that if you run a Stalinist state, of necessity you control information, curtail communication. Now that would seem a bit more newsworthy than the 12.8 telephones per hundred.

Meanderings: Morbidity and Mortality

The day began with the announcement of the death of Farah Fawcett, whose struggle to live we had witnessed just recently. Then came the bombshell: Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital; Michael Jackson was in a coma; no, he was dead.

Outside the hospital, a vigil developed. It was surprising given the tattered state of both his reputation and career. There were, after all, those allegations, the trial. Could he really have been that twisted, this man/child? I'd like to think that it was all innocent, that this stunted individual saw himself as a child, trying in vain to capture the childhood he never had. In any case, it was irrelevant to the numbers outside.

The truly sad note is that it is not about Jackson. It never was. It was always about those insatiable fans and those whose lives were set to the score of his music. So even in death, Jacko will get no privacy. It was a Faustian bargain- the stardom, the adulation, the money. In return he oozed his humanity across our screens. True, it was a bargain made for him when he was too young to choose otherwise. But it was a pact he kept...at great cost, it would seem. May he know the peace now that he never had in life.

Reel: Beverly Hills Chihuahua

I confess I was bullied into watching this one. A customer of my husband's having recommended it to him, I found myself, somewhat reluctantly, watching a movie about talking dogs, Beverly Hills talking dogs, that is. Ycch!

But then, a funny thing happened on the way to the end: the danged thing got good. I have to credit fellow Cuban Andy Garcia with injecting pathos into this bit of fluff with his nuanced and moving portrayal of the kindly but gruff German Shepherd. And Paul Rodriguez and Cheech Marin as a light-fingered(?) rat and iguana duo, are hysterical. Matter of fact, the entire cast is stellar, almost literally.

So if you're languishing in the middle of a heat wave like we are and looking for something to pass the time indoors, you could do much worse than find your inner bark. As they say in Chihuahua- No Mas!

Justice and the Media

I'd watched one of the news magazine programs about the young American woman, Amanda Knox, on trial in Italy for the murder of her roommate, purportedly as part of a sex game gone awry. I walked away from the segment pretty much convinced of her innocence. I mean, she didn't look guilty. She looked like such a nice American girl. Such a nice family.

Then last week, Anne Coulter's column raised NYT writer Timothy Egan's- surprise!- biased treatment of the case in a larger indictment of the same paper's coverage of criminal trials. Coulter's analysis of source bias etc. is not news to those of us who follow Cuba. Standards.

OOPS!

I missed noting Juneteenth on June 19. I guess it's not surprising, given that I only learned about it when reading a book review a few years ago. As celebrations go, it's a pretty significant one, if not that widely known. I'm indebted to the NBRA for an explanation of the day which marks when Texas slaves were made aware of their emancipation, two years after the fact. Over time it has resonated more generally. Read all about it here.

Mercantile Monday

Bill of Goods? Over at Townhall, Walter E Williams concludes his look at the current love affair with big government, which seems paradoxical at best given the distrust of congress and the results of prior meddling which he describes, with the proposition that it may be setting the stage for later more sinister effects. Note the Germany parallel.

***

Fire Sale. Recently, the Wall Street Journal featured a piece by Kris Hudson and Vanessa O'Connell on the struggles of the once thriving mall. Having witnessed the effects of same on Downtown areas, suburban sprawl, I won't shed too many tears. Gotta wonder about the generations of "mall rats."

***

Letter of Credit. Also at Townhall but of an earlier vintage, this piece by Paul Jacob which suggests that what Cuba needs is a new revolution. Jacob makes a clear and refreshing case that the hunger of Cubans has little to do with the embargo and much with its regime. Bravo! On the opposite side of the question, please take a gander at what our universities are teaching. From the University of South Florida's Oracle comes this stellar entry, which in addition to a cursory nod to how the embargo is hurting Cubans and quick bow to the China meme, really seems to center of the oodles of money to be made in Tampa.

***

Blue Light Specials. A veteran of many documentaries on the Komodo Dragon, I was interested to note that the odd coexistence between villagers and the beasts has been upset as of late with increased attacks on humans. No cause is suggested. Global warming, doubtless. Half a world away, a young German boy claims to have been hit by a pea-sized meteorite. Talk about your bad luck. For the story and a listing of past instances, read here.

The Mediterranean Rediscovered*

This article from the Christian Science Monitor about Cuba's lack of reciprocation toward Obama's loosening of restrictions reminded me of a Joseph Conrad quote:

The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside,enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.

In the article, Kristen Chick indicates the obvious- Cuba is not loosening its iron grip. Despite the Marlovian attempts of many to enshroud the issue in American recalcitrance, oppression, etc..., the truth of this situation lies like that of a sailor's yarn within the shell of the cracked nut: the regime cannot respond in like manner because to do so would threaten its illegitimate existence. What can it do? Loosen travel restrictions? Allow those Cubans fortunate enough to escape and suffer the humiliation of mass defection, or worse yet, have Cubans see how the rest of the world lives? Free political prisoners? What would happen if cowed citizens were to see that it was possible to dissent publicly without the threat of imprisonment, death by malign neglect? Or, better yet, what if they allowed a truly free election?

Truth is unless the ruling military junta is ready to commit collective seppuku, there can be no glasnost, no perestroika.

* Spanish saying, "He discovered the Mediterranean" to indicate the discovery of what is obvious fact.

You Know It's Gotta Be Bad...

...when even a unregenerate liberal like Charlie Rangel (sign of the cross), says that the price tag for the Obamacare down payment will exceed a trillion. More to the point, take a look at the package the Dems are putting together. Read it. Here's the money line:

Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.

Yup, that's tax increases, my friends. More importantly, take note of the cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, said payments already being quite low. Watch all the Medicare HMO's in unprofitable towns head for the hills and leave the codgers scrambling for the postage stamp coverage of traditional Medicare. Watch for fewer and fewer providers to accept these patients. As for the rest of us, we can read our future in their fate. Face it, folks, you're not gonna get Congressional style coverage. And forcing employers to provide insurance sounds marvelous until you factor in that these same employers might be more reluctant to hire.

On The Subject of Automobiles...

No, no, this time I made it to Tampa Airport with the same four tires with which I started. There was the one hour traffic jam on the H-F Bridge with the attendant "Are the newlyweds going to miss their flight?" excitement, which in turn was further heightened by the phone call to American Airlines during which the customer service rep informed the young bride that her reservation was cancelled because of a "do not honor the credit card" from the online provider which turned out to be untrue, but not until a few crying jags later. Anyway, all was well that ended well.

No, I was thinking of PJ O'Rourke's recent post-mortem on the death of the love affair with the car. If I've got it right, his premise is that familiarity bred contempt. As for me, I have never been able to fathom why the clunky boxlike Japanese cars of recent years have been so popular. It's not like they are particularly cheap. So says the proud owner of a Hyundai, Tiburon that is. At least it's not shapeless.

O'Rourke's piece reminded of the grandaddy of all automobile valedictions, EB White's essay, "Farewell, My Lovely." While White's effort was about the Model T, the passion he associates with the automobile is the one O'Rourke maintains has cooled. We are the more diminished by it. After all, can you picture the Dukes in a Nissan Altima?

Some Automatic Questions

The Federal Government steps in, abrogates the rights of pensioners, upends contract law, and the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case. If the Supremes won't, who will defend the rights of the individual against the government?

Secured bondholders are sent to the end of the payment line, but Fiat is apparently gaining 35% of the new Chrysler for...what exactly? It doesn't seem to be money.

And speaking of no money down, how exactly does the government have the right to take away the property, albeit near defunct, of shareholders and bondholders and buy the majority stake only to give it away to the union which helped bring the companies down in the first place? Smacks of the cigarette tax medical care giveaway.

What does union ownership mean anyway? Will they be running the joint? If there are ever profits, will they trickle down to the workers?

Unifying principle here: take from one group and give to another. Income redistribution at its highest form. He told you so.

If you ask me, these auto deals are a travesty and the beginning of the road to perdition.

I'm Baack

Update: I apologize my information was not quite correct. That's what I get for getting info when I'm feeling no pain and then passing it on. Let it be a lesson to me. So far, I have been able to confirm the loss of dental and vision and learned about cuts to those getting more than fifty four thou in pension, but more investigation needs to be done. More later.

My apologies, but the twenty people inhabiting my four room house kept me from the computer these past weeks. Memo: Force your children to elope. A funny thing happened at the wedding, however.

(Removed by author, pending confirmation. Let it be a lesson to same.)

What Happened to Global Warming?

His public schedule listed no official events, so President Obama had plenty of time to devote to being a weekend dad and spouse...

....For the evening, the first couple jetted to New York City for date night.
They dined a little more than two hours at Blue Hill, a West Village restaurant, then headed to the Belasco Theater to make it in time for "Joe Turner's Come and Gone."

Could be some animals are more equal than others. Read it here.

Did He Just Say That?

"On the other hand, Cuba's our neighbor, they're here, they ought to be part of this hemisphere, they ought to be part of our future. They have done a lot of good things,"

If you needed further proof of just how misinformed Americans are, take this from the recent "conversation" between former Presidents Clinton and Bush. The speaker is none other than Bubba. With the island in ruins and fear the only ready currency, such a statement suggests that Mr. Clinton suffers from PreCastro Cuba Delusion. Talk about your sensitivity. You might as stand in the ruins of Berlin, proclaiming that the Germans provided good health care. As me good old Dad used to say, "Manda madre!"

Story here. Boldface mine.

Don't Miss:

A Russian Perspective on the state of the Union. Straight from Pravda.ru here. A new wrinkle on the Russians dissing us, gotta love it!
(Although it uses the name, as a cheesy fellow reminded me, it is not the old official Soviet news organ.)

Read: Fidel's Last Days

With that title, I couldn't pass it by. Surprisingly, I'm not sorry I didn't. The novel by Roland Merullo is eminently readable as a suspense story. Here is a labyrinthine plot, a storyline layered with tissue upon tissue of deception, much of which rings true. The odd thing is that the succession of power is never mentioned, nor the extended putrescence of the maximum leader. No, I can only surmise that the novel was written at an earlier time unmarked by the dictator's extended illness, but by the time the novel was published, 2008, circumstances had changed considerably, because Merullo's Fidel is functioning on all cylinders.

Still, I enjoyed it. There were few places where the truth teller radar went off. My biggest gripe is that it all ended too abruptly, left some major questions and characters suspended in the ether. In any case, you could do much worse than spend an afternoon between Miami and Havana. From the author's title to God's ears...

Meanderings: Not Again!

Part of the spotty posting lately is the result of the overlap between mourning my mother's death and impending nuptials of the daughter, known affectionately since her infancy as "La Nana." It was in this last context that I found myself once again on the 75 hurtling toward Tampa to retrieve the aforementioned offspring.

The last time I made the same trek, I wound up fish-tailing across three lanes of an interstate with nary a scratch. My psyche, however, was scarred. I no longer trust my midlife crisis car and would have traded it in if it weren't for the aforesaid wedding. So this time, I decided that to be safe I would take Mom's sedate Chevy. Although I haven't been able to change the registration and such, the insurance is up to date. The way I figured it, safety trumped legal nicety.

So I get on the highway. The car is riding a bit rough, but I figure it's the pavement. After all the front tires are new, right? But since I'm traumatized anyway, I'm going pretty slow, to the chagrin of the drivers behind me. Still, it don't feel quite right, so I decide I'll get out at the rest stop by the Skyway Bridge and check it out. Just about that time, I hit something on the road. Correction: it feels like I hit something on the road because there is nothing on the road. The car starts swerving. Fortunately I'm in the right lane this time and going slow. Unfortunately, I'm also in the middle of a substantially large bridge over the Manatee River with a four foot wide shoulder. All the time, I'm automatically wrestling the car into submission, my brain is saying, "This can't be happening again!" Alas, it was. Climbing over the shift, preferable to getting my door blown off, I scoot out the passenger side. There is essentially no right front tire. All that remains is a rubbery fringe around the rim. Yessiree.

Now I'm thinking, "What am I going to do?" I have no cell phone, refusing to carry one. The Little One is at the airport. She won't know what happened. The registration and insurance is at home with the packet of stuff for Motor Vehicles. The wind is battering me; traffic is fast and furious; my perch, narrow and precarious. I debate whether I should leave the car and walk off the bridge. It does seem the only way to get help, but I have visions of a codger seeing me on the edge of the road and following his line of vision with his motor vehicle. Then a huge, and I mean huge, flatbed pulls onto the shoulder about a block in front of me and proceeds to back up. Salvation or serial killer, I wonder?

This incredibly wonderful human being in a blue uniform with an Irish lilt to his speech and Irish gold in his heart proceeds to change my tire. Incredible that there are still such people. Despite some trouble with my newfangled jack which I unearthed from all the Mom memorabilia in the trunk, he did it one-two-three. Miraculously, I actually have cash in the pocketbook. I try to give him a present, because nothing can repay what the man just did for me, but he will not take a penny. His only request that I do someone else a favor. Reminds me of a country song.

I make it to the airport almost in time. My first words: "Next time fly to Sarasota. I don't care how much it costs." Amen.

Truth Be Told Updated

From Babalu comes this well-reasoned and informed NPR piece via NRO online. In reference to the embargo lifting, Duncan Currie nails it. Of particular note is his treatment of the Democratizing-Cuba-one-mojito-at-a-time rationale. I'll leave you with a snippet:

As for tourism, European and Canadian tourists have been enjoying Cuba's beaches and hotels for years. Has this sparked internal reforms? "European and Canadian governments would like to make that case, but I don't believe there is any evidence to support it," Peter Orr, a retired Foreign Service officer who served as Cuba coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under President Clinton, told me in an e-mail. No surprise there: The Cuban tourism industry is dominated by the armed forces, and foreign tourists are generally isolated from ordinary Cubans. Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer, a shrewd observer of Cuban and Latin American affairs, dismisses the "U.S. tourists will bring democracy" claim as "wishful thinking." He writes that the millions of European, Canadian, and Latin American tourists who have come to Cuba during the past decade have not had "any visible impact on the island's totalitarian system."

Update: I was researching Mr. Currie when I stumbled onto this he wrote about the ALA and their improbable stance on Cuban censorship as an intern in 2003.

Cheney's Remarks: You Go

Although I didn't agree with some of his reputed foreign policy views, I am one of the five people who actually liked the former VP. Anyway, the Republican Party sent me a link to the full text of his foreign policy speech, really more of a defense. Trust me, it's worthy of a read. Bravo!

Clearing Out The Cobwebs

From my personal closet of journalistic curiosities...

Another George Will column over at the Washington Post makes the cut this week. Mr. Will points out the obvious here: the administration is acting as if it is above the law. He cites arm twisting of states, threats to corporate financing, and breaches of contract law. Besides, Will actually uses the word ukase in a sentence. After reading the general treatment he affords the Chrysler situation, turn to a letter from the American Thinker cited at Babalu in which one unfortunate dealer makes clear just what devils lurk in the details of this deal. This is America? Unconscionable.

Here's another gov't disgrace. In an ironic twist, AFP informs us via BreitBart that the US Attorney and the FBI are investigating insider trading at the SEC. You know, the guys who prosecute everyone else for financial malfeasance in the market. You gotta be kidding me.

According to this report over at Foxnews the happiest people are old, male, and Republican. Of course, I could have told you that the ill-mannered shrillness of the left indicated very unhappy people with unresolved issues from adolescence. But, heck, I'm no expert, being middle-aged, female, and Republican. Actually, I have grossly oversimplified the Pew Research. Read it for yourself.

In another peripherally related CBS report, it seems you really can die of a broken heart, of Broken Heart Syndrome, to be exact. Seems the stress of emotional upheaval, sudden fear and the like really can give you a heart attack. Whoddathunkit?

Finally, I'll share a rather puzzling report from the UK's Times Online, via How Green. Seems there is no global honeybee crisis after all. Still the report lacks a bit of clarity. What is going on in the States? Is it the two syndromes cited or that people don't keep bees? And what about the demand? I'm confoosed.

A Graduation is no Place for Tantrums or Catholics have Manners

The commencement speaker at my daughter's graduation from Boston College a few years ago was Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. For weeks prior to the event, controversy raged across the campus. On the appointed day, much to our relief, there was little evidence of the same. Of course, some of the faculty did stand and give her their backs to her while she spoke. This feeble and ill-mannered demonstration, however, was more than countered by the warm welcome and rousing response of the crowd.

This week at Notre Dame, the other side was afforded a similar treatment. Despite the attendant hoopla, when the President spoke, he was welcomed heartily. This was as it should be. I do not agree with the man on many things, but I do believe that as a guest of the school, he was due the hospitality of the entire place. There is never an excuse for bad manners... almost never anyway.

It stikes me that these people, whether the professors at BC or the odd heckler at Notre Dame, share in the notion that their views trump those of the assembled multitudes. Graduation is not about the speaker, or the administration, or even them. Graduation is a celebration of the hard work of students and parents, a milestone in the development of young minds. Who are they to impose their will?

The beef, if any, is not with the speaker but with those who invited him or her. The speaker also bears the burden of not prosletyzing about his or her own brand of politics. In my experience, most are cognizant of the same and present a pretty catholic message. Anyway, we have reached a pretty sad state of affairs when we cannot listen to each other, when we cannot at least pretend to be gracious. Upshot: save your tantrums for your parents or spouses. You have no right to inflict them on us. There is a time and a place for disagreements of all stripes. Graduation is not it.

Wordless

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will keep
the military tribunal system for trying some terrorism suspects held at the U.S.
prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with expanded legal protections for
defendants.

Here.

and

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - U.S. military judges
dropped all war crimes charges on Monday against the only two Guantanamo
captives facing trial, rulings that could preclude trying any of the 380
prisoners held at the U.S. base in Cuba any time soon.

The judges said they lacked jurisdiction under the strict
definition of those eligible for trial by military tribunal under a law the U.S.
Congress enacted last year.
Here.

Boldface mine

Last Week's Follies

Soft Shoe. Kudo's to Michelle Malkin for pointing out the "double standard" when it comes to political couture. Check out Michelle Obama's Lanvin footgear in question. A Sneaker by any other name would still be as odiferous. Glad she devoted herself to public service and not to pursuing filthy lucre. Read it at Townhall.

Burlesque. I'm listening to the TV in the other room, so I figure I missed something. "What is Fiat giving Chrysler for the stock?" I ask the hubster. "I'm not sure," he replies. Doesn't seem to be much as far as I can see. Better question: what's the UAW putting into the kitty? Talk about your misbegotten creatures. Read the Barone column in the Washington Examiner and get the gory details. The very fabric of our economic system, my friends.

Pantomime. The ruling military junta celebrated May Day with a mute Raul, perhaps because even though they are masters of the demonstration on demand, the message that repression and misery will continue was a tad unpopular. Read all about it here in a Miami Herald article co-written by an undercover reporter. You go, Herald.

Stand Up. How about a week in swinging Nazareth? Very interesting article at Fox News about the contemporary city where Jesus grew up and that believers won't recognize.

Can-Can. Although the swine flu has thankfully turned into a bust, Mexican neighbors think it originated at a plant co-owned by Smithfield farms. With all the pig joints South of the Border, it had to be a partially American-owned one. Believe it? Who knows?

Guess What Travel Company I Won't Be Using

Greed Fuels Clamor to Ease Cuba Restrictions

I fantasize that one day, I'll open the paper and read that headline. It is, after all, essentially the case. Aside from idealogues, the greatest chearleaders for ending the embargo and attendant travel restrictions, are almost invariably ranchers, farmers, wouldbe investors. The latest entity- doubtless fueled by the desire to democratize Cuba one tourist at a time- to enter the lists is none other than Orbitz. Yup, of Orbitz.com fame. Seems they wanted to throw their weight behind a social cause and apparently decided that bailing out a totalitarian dictatorship while lining their pockets fit the bill better than, say, ending world hunger.

It would seem that some sort of campaign of our own might be called for. Suggestions? Read the Seattle Times article about their orchestrated campaign here, complete with link to online petition. Sign up and they'll give you a one hundred dollar coupon toward travel in Cuba. Bajate del asiento, Ñiquito. (Allusion to old Alvarez Guedes joke about a father and his son dreaming of the new family car they will someday buy.)

Cross-posted at Babalublog

Canaries in the Political Mine?

If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, maybe we should be looking at some recent developments. I'm driving along in me vehicle when I hear an ad condemning a proposed radio tax. So I go here. Maybe I don't see things as a free speech sort of thing- it seems to apply to music- but I take note.

Then one day, I open my email and find an empassioned plea from a conservative magazine. I've reproduced the text below:

You may recall that, just over a year ago, the federal government's taxpayer-subsidized mail-delivery monopoly -- aka the United States Postal Service -- hit us with a whopping 20 percent rate increase that drove up our annual delivery costs by more than $120,000.

Well, believe it or not, they've just done it again.

That's right: the USPS is hitting us with yet another postal increase that will jack up our annual delivery costs by an additional $51,568.

Together, this one-two punch of rate hikes amounts to more than $170,000 in increased annual delivery costs -- a staggering sum that we simply can't afford.

Now, it's outrageous enough that the USPS can continually jack up our rates without fearing any loss of our business to more cost-efficient competitors -- something it can do ONLY because federal law effectively protects it from private competition.

But what really burns me up is that these increases are part of a new rate system that was designed in part by lobbyists for liberal media giant Time Warner and other large publishers to benefit themselves at the expense of smaller competitors such as [ ].So instead of Time Warner's mailing costs ratcheting up like ours, the cost of delivering liberal Time magazine and other Big Media publications will increase at about half the rate hike forced on [ ] (and that's after some of those publications actually had a decrease in postage costs last year!).

Talk on radio is mostly conservative; large media publications are almost inveterately liberal. Co-incidence? Who was it that said there are no co-incidences. There is more than one way to shut up the Right. In the meantime, keep an eye on the bouncing ball.

Meanderings: A Death, A Wedding, And An Estate

I've been distracted as of late by the recent death of my mother, the impending wedding of my daughter, and the interminable process of settling an estate. Of the three, the estate has been the worst. My mother was very ill. By the time she died, she had left a five year old Chevy on which she owed money, a modest condo worth less than a luxury car in today's market, and a small amount of money in the bank, co-incidentally just over what she owed in debts. So I was not particularly perturbed about settling it. I knew the estate was not big enough for probate in Florida, so I never anticipated the hoops through which I would need to jump.

Now, if you're rich, you hire an attorney, pay lots of money, and forget about the thing. If you're not so rich, you impose on an attorney friend and do the legwork yourself. If you're poor, I have no idea what you do, as I can't conceive you would have to go through the whole rigmarole. All I know is that when Mom died, I began to pay her bills off with the account that we'd always used. The crematory notified Social Security, so that was done. I paid off her car. Check. When I went to pay off her bank credit card, I found that the same bank she owed the money to had frozen her funds. It was just as well, because just about that time, I discovered that I wasn't allowed to do it. I had to file some probate variant with the court. Filing fees, Ka-ching. Advertising in the paper for three months, Ka-ching. By the way, keep paying the maintenance fees on the condo, the insurance on the car, they're yours. Ka-ching.

Oh, my lawyer informs me a month later, we'll need an inventory of her belongings. What belongings?, I reply. Lets see, an extensive wardrobe I've donated to Goodwill. Some furniture my husband had scrounged for her, also donated to Goodwill. She did have quite a costume jewelry collection I didn't have the heart to donate. And I still have her bottle collection. Don't get excited. They're just ordinary bottles. My mother, the folk artist, collected bottles she liked. Sum total: dismal. I realized that she had been shedding possessions for years. She had very little left. She had, however, traveled extensively, eaten her way across Sarasota, and generally enjoyed herself. That doesn't count.

The bank she owes the money to, which has frozen the funds to pay them, now sics a collection agency on her. I get a phone call. I tell them, "She's dead." I guess a lot of people must use that excuse, because she says, "Oh, I'll tell them not to call you for like three or four days."

"You gotta be kidding me," I reply. "You guys froze the funds. Now you gotta wait three months like everyone else."

Then begins the reign of terror. They call me every day. If I don't answer they call twice a day. Finally, I do what I should have done in the first place but was too peeved to do. I call this TARP bank. After giving them the name of my much put upon lawyer, it subsides.

Now this poor fellow informs me that I need proof that I paid the car. On that hangs another tale. This but the beginning of my adventures in nonprobate land.

RIP: Jack Kemp

It is with great sadness that I mark the passing of a man who inspired me greatly, Jack Kemp. Mr. Kemp was truly a compassionate conservative. He was a man who demonstrated that adhering to principles of small government, low taxes, etc. did not preclude concern for those less fortunate. He will be sorely missed. Read here.

Apoplectic Fit Inducing Quote of the Day...

...comes from this in USA Today:

But the facilities — save for some up-to-date resorts and a few contemporary Havana hotels — pose challenges for demanding Americans, experts say.

Cubans own the hotel real estate, "and (foreign) hoteliers don't have free rein to manage as they wish," Baker [ "author of the Moon travel guide to Cuba, who has visited the country more than 30 times"] says. Bad service and food are common. "Communism and good service don't go together," he says. Cuba does not get a high percentage of repeat visitors, he says.

So many aspects of this quote are so vile that it is difficult to keep from spluttering over the keys. First, there is the overt bigotry. The accommodations are not up to snuff because they are owned by the natives. You know them; they're the little brown "sensual" types. Then there is the ignorance or dishonesty of that very misleading statement. The hotel real estate is not owned by Cuban landowners, as the article, penned by Kitty Bean Yancey, implies. It is owned, as is just about everything else, by the ruling military junta. Forgive me, if I feel no compassion for those foreign hoteliers who want to line up behind the khaki clad caudillos to ravish the Cuban population. Tourism diplomacy in action.

H/T Babalublog

Cosa Mas Grande, Chico!

Thoroughly enjoyed Manny Perez's reminscence over at Cubanology of a surreptitious jaunt into Manhattan when he was a young man during which he met Tres Patines. I was trying to remember those television shows of the late 70's, early 80's, shows that featured celebrities who had fled Cuba. I remember Popa and her ever present pocketbook, and then I remember a Mexican singer whose trademark was uttering "Mucho gusto, mucho gusto, mucho gusto!" My memory fails me. There was no Spanish TV when I was young, and these programs- watched by my grandparents much later- I caught in passing.

In Which One Resigns Himself

freedigitalphotos.net

As Mom used to say, "Eramos pocos y pario la mula," or "There weren't enough of us already and the mule gave birth.

Semi-Literary Interlude

I was so taken with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency that I've quickly read the next four books in the series. So there I am enjoying my Friday afternoon with the sun shining all around me, feet up, when I come across this musing by Precious Ramotswe:

Most morality, thought Mma Ramotswe, was about doing the right thing
because it had been identified as such by a long process of acceptance and
observance. You simply could not create your own morality because your
experience would never be enough to do do. What gives you the right to say
that you know better than your ancestors? Morality is for everybody and
this means that the views of more than one person are needed to create it.
That was what made the modern morality with its emphasis on individuals and the
working out of an individual position, so weak. If you gave people the
chance to work out their morality, then they would work out the version which
was easiest for them and which allowed them to do what suited them for as much
of the time as possible. That, in Mma Ramotswe's view, was simple
selfishness, whatever grand name one gave to it.

from Morality For Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith

Failed Policy: Successful Semantics

Although the men who run the Cuban dictatorship have essentially destroyed the island economy and turned the nation into the great mendicant of the Caribbean, they have been successful in maintaining power long after most Communist regimes have crumbled. This is their, pardon the pun, crowning achievement. An almost equally notable success has been their triumph in the propaganda wars. Face it, it is their verbiage that has won the day.

Those in this country who have the most at stake in the freedom of their countrymen and who are in the best position to know what is transpiring on the island, since there is no such thing as a free press or freedom of speech in the island gulag, are routinely dismissed or vilified as "hard-liners," "intransigents," "dead enders," and even the "Miami Mafia" in the mainstream media. This last in particular is clearly evidence of the success of the castroite mix of propaganda, bribery, blackmail and infiltration that have won the day.

So as I stumbled across the term blockade to describe the embargo the other day, I had a thought. It is time that we get a bit more deliberate in our passionate opposition to those who wield the jackboot. As a movement we need to develop a terminology of our own and use it until it, too, wends its way to the mainstream media.

I offer my own humble contribution. Since the practical Raul has loaded his government with military types, at every opportunity I use "the ruling military junta" to denote the Havana regime. So what, if it's not completely accurate, Cuba being a more familial fiefdom. It's close enough. Americans, particularly liberals, have a knee jerk dislike of such bodies, associating them with right wing, Latin American dictatorships. Who knows? Use it enough, and it might stick. The possibilities are endless.

Re-education, Please!

Though economically weak, the Castro government has kept the broad support of its people by responding to economic shocks and providing universal access to health care and education. There will be no counter-revolution any time soon.

-from a letter by twelve retired military military officers urging President Obama to lift the travel ban. I'm sure the 11 million or so Cubans on the island will be heartened to know that they do not live in a totalitarian dictatorship. It is only their slavish devotion to free health care that keeps the jack boot on their necks.

The School of No Choice

Having once attended a public middle school in a good neighborhood where walking the hallways was, nonetheless, an occasion for fear, I am passionate in my support for school choice. As such, I am equally contemptuous of those elected officials who prate about weakening the public school system. In an incisive column over at Townhall, Ed Feulner takes on the hypocrisy of these

same officials, many of whom send their own children to private schools.

I suspect the support of the teachers' unions or the noble principle of public education is of more import than the fate of inner city children who have no other means of escape from dangerous, overcrowded, substandard schools. Until these same politicos can make inner city schools safe beacons of learning, the least they can do is continue the voucher system as in Washington DC. It will not save everyone, but it might provide some much needed stimulus for reforming the public school system.

Sunday Cinelarities

It's Alive. Let's start with Austin Hill over at Townhall who sees Obama as "Awakening the Welfare Recipient Within," a metaphor for the growing divide between those who believe in entitlements of all stripes and those who adhere to the traditional values of independence and self-reliance. Read it here.

12 Angry Men. Okay, more than that and women, too, at the GE shareholders meeting. Seems some of the aforementioned are not too happy at what the Immelt/Zucker regime has wrought over at MSNBC/NBC, at the increasingly left wing tenor of the reportage. Heck, I wrote to the parent company the first time Olbermann went off the reservation. You see what a difference that made. Read all about it.

Stone Cold. Here's a bit of interest from the Cold War via Commentary. Seems respected journalist, I.F. Stone was, at least for part of his career, in league with the Soviets. It's of particular interest to me because I look forward to the day when we find out exactly why certain notables are so ready to defend the ruling military junta in Cuba.

The Front Page. Senator Kerry, concerned that the Boston Globe might fail, sent them a letter lamenting what their loss would mean. You know, all that stuff about a "diversity of opinion" and an informed public. Memo: Perhaps if these journalistic behemoths had been presenting a diversity of opinion and truly informing the public, they would not be on the ropes. Washington Times article by Jennifer Harper here.

They Came from Beyond Space. In the science corner, Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, disclosed that they truly are out there, at least, according to this on Fox News. At bit closer to home, there is apparently a tome devoted to soap. Don't laugh. Hygiene has extended human life span more that medical developments, at least according to some documentary or other. Review of the Kathleen Brown book by David Aikman at the Weekly Standard. Final thought, keep an eye on the Mexican Swine Flu, but don't panic...yet.

Taxation Without Representation

Up until now I have been decrying the Democrat Congress for raising cigarette taxes on me to fund healthcare insurance for the children of families making up to $84,000 dollars a year. You can imagine my shock to find that not only Senator Bill Nelson, expected, but also Senator Mel Martinez voted for the bill. This was topped off by Rep. Vern Buchanan voting for it in the House. Essentially then, if you are a smoker who lives in my part of South Florida, there is no one who represents your interests.

And don't give me the bullshit about quitting. If the threat of dying is not enough to get people to quit, your shitty little taxes won't. I also don't want to hear about costs. As a collective we fund healthcare for illegal aliens, whole classes of people who wouldn't know a job if it bit them on the ass, but in society's eyes it is apparently better to copulate with every Tom Dick and Harry, endowing each of them with a child to be supported by the general weal than to be a smoker.
Frankly, it sucks.

If you'd like to know how your senators voted, here. If you'd like to know how your representative voted, here. I would suggest to my fellow smokers that we remember come election time. I intend to do so.

Literary Allusion for Today

Gotta love the title of this Forbes piece about the now infamous Latin American summit: "Obama in Lilliput." The diction in this piece by Tunku Varadarajan is outstanding. Take a gander at the first sentence:

Reading of the manner in which Barack Obama has been harangued by a motley assortment of caciques and panjandrums at the summit meeting of the Organization of American States, I am put in mind of Gulliver in Lilliput.

Oh, harangued, most excellent word for Ortega's diatribe. My favorites for flair and accuracy-
caciques and panjandrums. Surgical strike there, not to mention the whole concept. Bravo!

There's Money to be Made: He's Not My Brother

I guess one should not expect morality from a business publication, but one would expect some business savvy. First off, this piece from Businessweek would seem to be designed to appeal to the angels of our basest nature. It's all there: how Americans' rights are curtailed by the restrictions, how the rest of the world has beaten us to the Caribbean trough, yada, yada, yada. Oh, and the "experts" quoted are expert apologists for the ruling military junta. The answer here: Mr Obama should just short circuit the legislative process and do an end run around the congress, and, one might hazard, the constitution.

The biggest stupidity, however, is the lament that American ability to do business with Cuba is limited by the inability to extend credit. The suggestion: give them ninety days. Considering that Cuba is essentially a scofflaw nation, and the next-to-the-worst debtor at that, the suggestion would be laughable, if the continued repression of 11 million souls were not at stake. Talk about your unfunded bailouts. Stupidity.

Is It the Pandemic?

It looks like the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico is spreading. To read Drudge is enough to raise the hair on the back of your neck. So far there have been no deaths in the US. In Mexico, however, the dead were between 25 and 45 years old, not a good sign. It seems there's a bit of media hysteria already. Still, the situation bears watching. A pretty informative report here.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare

Almost forgot for a moment there. Don't know how. In my earlier incarnation as a teacher, I would have the students celebrate with costumes, quotes, and grub. To help you celebrate the occasion, go over to the National Review where they have contributors offering their favorites.
Gotta say, I'm hard pressed to pick one.

How about a question: In what play is there more to a pie than meets the eye?

Clueless or Callous?

In this must read column, Nat Hentoff seizes on a moment which crystallizes the seemingly wilful blindness of the Congressional Black Caucus on their Cuban jaunt. These notables laid a wreath at a memorial to Martin Luther King, even as a follower of King lay imprisoned not so many miles away.

As Hentoff writes,

In a cruel irony, the Caucus visitors laying flowers at the King memorial appear utterly unaware of this inspiration to many silenced Cubans in Castroland, although Biscet has been internationally covered by reporters, including myself. Nor were these visiting admirers of Fidel and Raul seemingly aware that a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. – seized during the 2003 crackdown raids on independent libraries – was, among other subversive books, ordered burned by Castro's judges in one-day trials.

Talk About Insult to Injury

As a child, one of the men at my father’s factory was given to wearing fatigues, was rumored to carry a machete around during the overnight shift, and was something of an eccentric. The other workers, Cubans also, would shrug and whisper, “He was never the same after he was taken prisoner at Bahia de Cochinos.” So I asked Mom what a Bahia de Cochinos was. I didn’t quite see what pigs had to do with somebody’s behavior. So Mom told me about the Bay of Pigs. In her version, John F. Kennedy was not the man the sisters at my school idolized. Instead, he was the president who left the men on the beaches. He had changed his mind about providing air cover on the advice of his brother Robert. Later at school, I was taught that the airplanes didn’t materialize because there was a problem with time zones and watches. I kid you not.

Of course, the truth came out, as it always does. I learned then that maybe Mom knew something the historians didn’t. So you can imagine my reaction when I read this today.
Manda madre. If there’s something we don’t need, it’s advice from a Kennedy.

Meanderings: Cigarette Complaints and Automotive Reveries

So I'm standing outside in the beautiful weather enoying my rationed cigarette.... What? There is no rationing here, you might say. Ah, but there is. There is de jure and de facto rationing. It is to the latter I refer, the price of indulging having ballooned to the point where an expensive addiction has become prohibitive.

Now, there is no one past the age of reason who doesn't realize how bad smoking is for the health, so smokers tend to have feelings of inferiority, inadequacy, guilt over their inability to quit. This guilt coupled with the open contempt of the politically correct.... reminds me of the time I was on line at the post office when the woman two people behind me demanded to know if I smoked, whereupon she launched into a spiel about how allergic she was, sped directly to the front of the line which snaked around the room twice, all the time full-throatedly declaiming what a source of pollution I was. While I did not begrudge her her health, she really could have been a tad more discreet, particularly since there was no open hole in the ground where I could crawl.

Harsh experiences like this.... Oh, that reminds me of little Miss Microwave, one of the local flakes at my last job, who also had an aversion to the smell of smoke so strong that she launched herself into the middle of the street in front of an oncoming car. Note: I was around the corner of the building on the smoking side where no one need venture. For a while I fantasized about coming up with a rejoinder for just such occasions. But then I read Miss Manners who points out that there is never an excuse for rudeness. I guess I can't mention John Travolta's bubble. So I have learned. I now smoke in plein air at quite a distance from any building, where I will, doubtless, one day be accosted.

Leaning on the railing gives me access to the sun, the breeze, and an excellent view of the parking lot where today I spotted a Gordini. Yes, a Renault Gordini. I think the actual number was the 17. When I was young and foolish, my then boyfriend, now husband of thirty years, and I tooled around town in the purple sports car. I remember it had a funny kind of roof, not a convertible top, not a T, not your typical sun roof. You would push a button and most of the roof overhead would disappear. I think it may have been a moon roof. Of course, the association could be because I remember riding at night and looking up at the stars and the aforementioned moon. We once saw a UFO, at least that's what hubby swears. The Renault went the way of the Fiat, and the Peugeot (We had one of those, too).

Beautiful as it was, it was a pretty ill-fated automobile. I remember once following him on the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) when he swerved off the road. I pulled off and looked only to see him open the hood and throw handfuls of that kind of gray urban snow that lingers along the side of the road onto the smoking engine, stifling the flames. We had it repaired, but not long after I woke one morning, having borrowed the car the day before, and looked out upon a small river where the street once was. Of the Gordini, there was no trace, probably because it was completely immersed. The introduction of muddy water into its fuel injectors sealed its fate.

Now my father-in-law who has that old world inventiveness inherited the hulk. He devised the strategem of adding a carbuerator- remember those- and bypassing the injectors. Since there wasn't enough room for such under the hood, he cut an approximate square in the same. Alas, the newly tricked out Gordini had a penchant for popping off the carburetor, sending it flying, which it once did on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at rush hour. But enough. The Gordini sparked its last in a parking lot, where he returned one night to find the inside of the car noticeably dark and the visibility out of front windshield considerably diminished. Sometime in the week he was working, the dashboard- in a burst of seemingly spontaneous combustion- had ignited. The Gordini had defeated even him.

Sunday Specials

Bittersweet Meats. Marking this year's anniversary of the attempt to liberate Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, I was doing a bit of research and came across this site. I have no information about the organization, but there is an interesting duo of interactive maps in addition to some other information here. Just scroll down.

Jellied Tripe. Although I can't quite remember why, I know I've been miffed at the Financial Times, or is that The Economist, or both? Still this discussion of an idea raised by an MITite in The Atlantic Monthly is pretty intriguing. The central question, seemingly, is whether the US at the moment parallels the state of post Communist collapse Russia? I leave it to the reader to decide the relative ideological grounds of each. Start here.

Roti de Boeuf. Leaks from the Sarkozy administration intimate that the intrepid French prez saved the day, and the glib American one is full of hot air. Not too far from my own estimation. Still, the article in the Brit Times Online goes on to cast it as a case of sour grapes originating from the wine capital, more of a fit of pique on Sarkozy's part.

Canned Fruit. In this, USA Today labels them "economic survivalists," and the more extreme might well be. The report is of interest because it notes a beneficial aspect of the current downturn, namely, the examination of our values.

Cooked Goose. In ongoing stories, the latest threat of a pre emerging pandemic is an outbreak of Bird Flu in Egypt chronicled over at the Independent. And we round off the week with some wacky product warnings courtesy of Foxnews.

An Apology Too Far

In reference to Cuba, I have been hitherto surprised and somewhat relieved by the Presidential palaver that has talked nicely while Presidential action, it could be argued, has wielded the same big stick, mayhap clad in a bit of fleece. Until this moment, this same President has plucked the low-hanging fruit of familial remittances- throwing a bone to his constituents on the left, as well as pleasing elements of the Cuban American Miami voting bloc. Talk about your political win-win situations.

Still the pressure to rip off the suit, don love beads, and start strumming kum-ba-ya on the man are enormous. Yet, Mr. Obama has not only kept in place the embargo and travel restrictions on the masses, he has also raised the issue of human rights in Cuba. Sad that our country has reached the point at which one should have to be elated that an American administration raises the specter of half a century of Stalinist repression on the island.

Although he was true to form in his opening remarks to the Summit of the Americas- Every one of our nations has a right to follow its own path. But we all have a responsibility to see that the people of the Americans [sic] have the ability to pursue their own dreams in democratic societies- speaking out of both sides of his gob, the overall tenor of the speech really left a metallic taste in mine.

Perhaps as result of the mea culpas throughout the European progress, I confess that for the first time in my life I have felt shame for my country to see my President (whether I agree with him or not, he is such) groveling before such as Hugo Chavez, and Daniel Ortega and the like. Perhaps if he had not just sat through a 50 minute diatribe by this last before this address, it would not have been quite as bad. I doubt it.

While the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms.
-We have been naughty

There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values.
-The three hundred pound gorilla in the room is the same as the howler monkey.

And we've heard all these arguments before, these debates that would have us make a false choice between rigid, state-run economies or unbridled and unregulated capitalism; between blame for right-wing paramilitaries or left-wing insurgents; between sticking to inflexible policies with regard to Cuba or denying the full human rights that are owed to the Cuban people.
-We've been naughty, again.

We will now allow Cuban Americans to visit the islands whenever they choose and provide resources to their families -- the same way that so many people in my country send money back to their families in your countries to pay for everyday needs.
-Cubans are just Mexicans by another name.

I think it's important to recognize, given historic suspicions, that the United States' policy should not be interference in other countries, but that also means that we can't blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere. That's part of the bargain.
-We've been naughty, revisited.

The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made. We will be partners in helping to alleviate poverty.
-We've been naughty, a fourth time. And we haven't tried to alleviate poverty before the advent of the Obama?

Every nation has been on its own journey.
- The same could have been said of Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, Cambodia, etc., but are they equivalent?

To be fair, he did remind these countries of their own responsibilities. And, yes, our behavior toward the lower part of our hemisphere has been less than stellar. Yet nothing we have done equals what these countries have done to themselves, to what the very men in that room, as well as the elephant in the living room, are presently engaged in doing to their countries. To see the President of the United States, equating the United States, Costa Rica, and others to such as Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia is not only specious but shameful.