Twenty-three years ago today, my Mother died of cancer. Just a few days ago, a character on TV asked another how she got over her mother’s death. “I didn’t,” she replied. I fought back tears. A few days before, in the movie, Millions, a mother returns from the dead to speak one last time with her youngest son. She explains that he is the miracle she brought into the world, a sentiment my Mother — like most mothers, I’d like to think — could have expressed to each of her children and grandchildren.
Grief is a crushing sorrow. I understand how it ruins so many lives and leads to suicide or revenge.
A few days ago, I pulled a box out of my closet and started working through the layers of paper that had accumulated. As I sorted through things, I wondered what had started this particular pile. Why have I been holding on to these things? The newspaper at the bottom was my answer: 7/3/07. The day Kitty died. Kitty was my friend for most of 20 years. Merri says Kitty was my daemon, in the sense of the Golden Compass.
Death is bad enough. But to suffer through the slow, painful death of someone you love is reason enough to doubt or curse god. It is the final reminder of Life’s utter indifference to all living things. mjh
UVa German Club
Tina Fey and I have some things in common. We are both graduates of the University of Virginia — Mr. Jefferson’s university. (Tina Fey graduated 15 years after I did.) We both speak German, as well. Which leads me to wonder/assume that Tina Fey studied German at UVa, as I did. Was she even in the UVa German Club, of which I was president at one time? I still have my brown T-shirt (yes, arguable taste) with “Mehr Licht” on the back.
Die Tina Fey is ja ganz toll, sogar ‘super’. Sie ist eine heutigen Lucille Ball. Friede, mjh
PS: Until the early 1900’s, German was America’s second language, more widely spoken than any other. (I grant that everyone may have been ignoring Spanish speakers at that point.) There were many native German speakers, immigrants and their descendants, and German was the most popular language in school. It is understandable that two world wars changed that. Deutsch is aber eine schöne Sprache, die klinkt so schön. Leide, dass so viele Leute erkennen das nicht.
PPS: “Mind providing some context for this cavedweller?,” a friend asks. Tina Fey is a comedian, even a comedienne, and a comic writer. I learned of her through her position as writer and weekend news anchor on Saturday Night Live, a popular late-night sketch-comedy show on Saturdays. As I said above, Tina Fey is reminiscent of Lucy Ball: She is hilarious, wickedly clever and beautiful. She currently writes, produces and stars in 30Rock, a must-see comedy on NBC Thursday nights. She co-stars with Alec Baldwin, whom I love nearly as much
as brilliantly funny. They are a dynamic duo — both are brilliantly funny. A recurring thread in the show is that, now and then, Liz Lemon (Tina) and Jack Dohnagy (Alec) speak German, with subtitles. (Now, we learn, Kenneth the Page also speaks German.) Last night’s episode involved 3 Germans. Part of the joke hinged on Fey misspeaking in German, selling NBC rather than buying the German cable network. I am so grateful that this twist was not translated as it happened. I feel it was a deep-inside joke. Vielen dank!
[tweaked 1/12/08]
Why I Believe Bush Must Go
Why I Believe Bush Must Go
Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse.
By George McGovern
Sunday, January 6, 2008; B01
As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president. …
Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly “high crimes and misdemeanors,” to use the constitutional standard. …
I have not been heavily involved in singing the praises of the Nixon administration. But the case for impeaching Bush and Cheney is far stronger than was the case against Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew after the 1972 election. The nation would be much more secure and productive under a Nixon presidency than with Bush. Indeed, has any administration in our national history been so damaging as the Bush-Cheney era?
How could a once-admired, great nation fall into such a quagmire of killing, immorality and lawlessness? …
The basic strategy of the administration has been to encourage a climate of fear, letting it exploit the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks not only to justify the invasion of Iraq but also to excuse such dangerous misbehavior as the illegal tapping of our telephones by government agents. The same fear-mongering has led government spokesmen and cooperative members of the press to imply that we are at war with the entire Arab and Muslim world — more than a billion people. …
Ironically, while Bush and Cheney made counterterrorism the battle cry of their administration, their policies — especially the war in Iraq — have increased the terrorist threat and reduced the security of the United States. …
Impeachment is unlikely, of course. But we must still urge Congress to act. Impeachment, quite simply, is the procedure written into the Constitution to deal with presidents who violate the Constitution and the laws of the land. It is also a way to signal to the American people and the world that some of us feel strongly enough about the present drift of our country to support the impeachment of the false prophets who have led us astray. This, I believe, is the rightful course for an American patriot.
As former representative Elizabeth Holtzman, who played a key role in the Nixon impeachment proceedings, wrote two years ago, “it wasn’t until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — and argued that, as Commander in Chief, he had the right in the interests of national security to override our country’s laws — that I felt the same sinking feeling in my stomach as I did during Watergate. . . . A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law — and repeatedly violates the law — thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors.” …
– – – – –
See also: mjh’s blog — John Dean says to censure Bush
Search edgewiseblog for impeach
http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/index.php?s=impeach
Let Them Eat Dogs
ABQjournal Opinion: Letters to the Editor
Bush Sends Parks to the Dogs
THE THEME of “White House Christmas 2007” was Holiday in the National Parks. As a prelude to the airing on HGTV of a tour of the White House, television stations aired segments of a program in which George and Laura Bush appointed their pet dogs as Junior National Park rangers.
According to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), “Our National Park system— the first and finest in the world— is in dire straits right now.” According to the NPCA, there is an estimated $4.9 billion backlog of park maintenance that needs to be done to preserve our national parks. …
Watching the program in which George and Laura appointed their dogs as junior rangers, I was reminded of the Roman Emperor who appointed his horse as a Roman senator to express the emperor’s contempt of the Roman Senate.
George Bush has been accused of trying to establish an imperial presidency. Judging from his contempt for the National Park system and its visitors, he obviously believes he has achieved his goal.
RONALD GRENKO
Albuquerque
[mjh: Amen, Ron. Note the irony that most National Parks don’t allow dogs (at least, on trails). One year and nine days until the End of the Bush Error.]
The New Hampshire Debates
[tweaked 1/12/08]
I hope you saw some of the two, back-to-back debates last Saturday. (And very little of the professional prattle of Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopolus).
The very best idea of the evening was to have all of the candidates (whom ABC deemed worthy) standing on the stage together, Democrats and Republicans. It was a little odd how they paired up, with Ron Paul and Richardson together, for example, but it was a good, symbolic gesture.
Another good thing about the debates was having everyone seated and allowing a longer period of free-form discussion. The classic Q&A that is usually called “debate” for candidates is woefully inadequate. Kudos to everyone.
On the negative side, it was weird to watch several Republican candidates snip and snipe at Romney, in between sneers of Hilarycare. They looked juvenile, though Romney sometimes looked a little too pompous and rigid. I was actually shocked the Huckabee was part of that — he’s not the nice guy he pretends to be.
I thought it was interesting that the Facebook (itself an innovation in this context, albeit a little silly for TV) poll asking what topic people wish Republicans spent more time discussing put immigration last and environment second — not even acknowledge by the media.The Facebook poll was an innovation in this context, albeit a little silly for TV. Immigration was last among the topics people wish Republicans spent more time discussing. The environment was second most important, though none of the commentators pointed that out. It appears McCain is the only one who believes in global warming, while all of the candidates believe immigration is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OF OUR TIME! Yeah, right.On the Democratic side, there were fewer candidates and less real fighting. Richardson seemed out of his league. He spends too much time reintroducing himself, repeating his platform. The others clearly don’t see the need to define themselves as Richardson does. On the other hand, Richardson got the most and best laughs, all intentional, I think.
Most weird/amusing is that every goddamn candidate believes in change and believes they are the best agent of change. Bullshit, unless the change is simply that of going from candidate to president. It is a sign of the total collapse of the Republican party that all of its candidates claim to embrace change: By definition, conservatism opposes change, unless rolling back the clock is considered change.
Question: How do you reconcile claiming to be for change while attacking anyone who has ever changed their position on anything even slightly? Blame the Republicans for making “flip-flopper” a bigger crime than Constitution-burner or war-monger.
It appears that for Democrats, the choice will be between Obama and Clinton, while the Republicans will remain deeply divided until they unite to oppose the newly elected Democratic president and majorities in both house of Congress. mjh
PS: Obama+Biden? Obama+Richardson? vs McCain+Huckabee?
PPS: A pox on Charlie Gibson for his horrible opening scenario to the Democrats: What would you do in the event of a terrorist nuclear attack? Please, Chuckie, try not to be a fear-monger (VOTE REPUBLICAN TO BE SAFE). The odds of a nuclear attack in the US, in spite of Chucky G’s statistics, are far lower than IEDs popping up in dozens of cities. Remember, we’ve trained the terrorists on two fronts how to succeed with IEDs. You can thank Duhbya for that.
EarlyLate Sunrise
Question: What do you call the period between the latest sunrise and the earliest sunset? Answer: I don’t know. If you said, “the shortest day of the year,” that is, paradoxically, not correct. Instead, the latest sunrise and the earliest sunset fall on separate days on either side of the winter solstice.
Tonight is the earliest sunset of the year.This morning was the latest sunrise of the year. Enjoyed it. It is also a new moon. mjh[Thanks for the correction, NewMexiKen. mjh]
My Back Pages
You probably already know no blog can contain me. Or is it, satisfy me. As a multi-faceted person, I have multiple blogs. Compartmentalizing my thoughts doesn’t always work, however, and I become conflicted about risking redundancy in cross-posts versus going unread, a fate worse than undead.
Here’s the overview:
- www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/ – You’re soaking in it now. Part political, personal without being icky.
- www.mjhinton.com/wild/ – Ah, Wilderness!, where I write about the wild.
- www.mjhinton.com/help/ – PC Training & Consulting (since 1984), where I write about computer topics.
- www.flickr.com/photos/mjhinton/ – My photoblog; my joy.
All of the above have RSS feeds for the nerds. The latest headlines from each can be found at www.edgewiseblog.com. (Scroll down for links to a few of my friends.)
Lately, I’ve started blogging at DukeCityFix. I’m tempted by the potential audience. (Not so much that I would abandon my loyal readers here. Remember, I’ve eschewed a citywide audience before.) Even on theFix, I have two trains of thought:
- www.dukecityfix.com/profile/mjh/ – I’ll write here occasionally about topics I feel warrant the attention of DCF readers who can’t drag themselves across the Web to this blog.
- www.dukecityfix.com/group/openspace/ – Less mine than ours, this is a place to extol Abq’s open space.
As you see, I’m really out there. You also see, I hope, that I enjoy all of this, but understand my enjoyment is deepened by your time and attention. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh
PS: Oh, yeah, I’m even on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/techeditor), but that’s so last year.