Wishing you a hot time ( in a good way
) with kind strangers...
and warm friends. 
A toast to Biggles for giggles throughout the year.
Hoping the weather above improves. 
And let's encourage the real estate guy to always be looking out for your interests.
And here's hoping, too, you get yourself a little something to celebrate. After all, you've been very hard at work lately, haven't you?
Opals, My Ass!
black, white and fire opals
very strong black opal
white and black opals
boulder opal
"boulder" opal is just an opal surrounded by it's, oft times, ironrock matrix- they are a bit sturdier and have a particular appeal for me.....
another boulder opal
Ammolites are fossilized remains of ammonites- ancient shelled animals that went extinct with the dinosaurs. Their shimmering surface is comprised of the mineral aragonite- found in mollusk shells. They appear to be almost exclusive to the ancient sea beds in Canada. They have an iridescence similar to opal.
Fire agate is from the quartz family and is named due to its resemblence to fire.
It also is in colors of blue, green and purple, colors that do occur in flame but may not be as easily associated.
And lastly, here's a very beautiful cats eye chrysoberyl. Chrysoberyl is the third hardest natural gemstone in the world after diamond and sapphire-ruby. It doesn't go with this theme particularly but I've had this baby lying around as a desktop image at home and work:
Message to Biggles and Banyuls: Thanks guys- today, June 23rd is my 60th birthday.
Shhhhh!
Kidding.
It's kind of weird in that I took off from June 22 through July 4 from work to try to relax but I've got some pneumonia and I've spent the time just lying down trying to cough and I have to go back today for another inhalation thingy to help clear my lungs. I knew something wasn't right Saturday night but after two sleepless bed-ridden days Sunday and Monday I went back to work and then used my first morning of vacation to go to the urgent care place since my doctor is on vacation.
Vacations. I think I remember those from the distant past.
I'm all right, well, more or less, just a little down.
PLC has had a return of some of the worst auditory symptoms that make concentrating on anything else difficult and he is understadably depressed --as am I. He nonetheless had his home health guy drive him to a store and surprised me with a small chocolate cake last night.
I'm just sitting here in my small room in the back of our "modular unit" in my bathrobe aware that I haven't posted anything of any interest outside of personally important maladies and bummers except to leaven the output with the occasionally politically depressing malady or bummer.
Hey- no end to the good times when I'm hangin' around- there's always a lotta yuks!
Depending on what's happening PLC and I are planning to go to the East Bay Friday and see "My Morning Jacket" at the Fox theater in Oakland. We've never been there and it's supposed to be spectacular since it was saved from the scrap heap of the collateral damage of progress and restored. The next day my Mom wants us to come over for a dinner and I want to of course.
The pneumonia thing sounds from what the doctor said to be a drag but not a prevention from doing some things. Before this happened I managed to drag PLC with me to see our first Giants game in San Francisco's newish AT&T park a couple of weeks ago. We got to see our World Champs win but they got another in a seemingly endless string of their players hurt. Perhaps it's the infamous "Sophomore" jinx after this team finally became freshman winners last year.
The park was very nice and we had good views from our seats and I have to say the SF Giants are one of the better looking teams in baseball or sports in general. Not every guy is an Adonis but they have something for everyone it seems. PLC and I have been culling through the Giant's roster to discuss our latest heartthrobs. Ace pitcher Tim Lincecum has been an especial one for PLC- I always tell him "your boyfriend's pitching" when Mr. Lincecum's turn in the rotation arrives. We also have noticed new shortstop Brandon Crawford and another of their great young pitchers, Madison Bumgarner.
Tim
Brandon
Madison
Well, I will try to get back here as I do have a few days off. If they decide my initial treatments aren't working up to snuff I may have to check into the hospital but that seems unlikely to me right now. Even then maybe PLC can get our laptop to me so I have a means of entertainment till stuff settles down. Otherwise I'll try to get here for at least an episodic post or two about this or that.
If I could wave a wand and change things I'd love to prove that gettin' old IS for sissies.
Just for the hell of it I'll leave you with some web-steals of pictures of gemstones- I look at
and lust over. For me it's the web's geological porn.
The last one is a shot I actually took of the sky one morning before I went inside to my job.
When I was a little boy of 6 or 7 my Mom used to have to drive me and my sisters and brother to a steel quanset hut in San Bruno to pick up my Dad from work as a sheet metal worker. We'd park outside and my Mom would have the radio on. There are a few songs I remember vividly form those days but four of the ones that had the most impact on me were these. Bonnie Guitar's version of "Dark Moon" is from a poor source with what sounds like buffering pauses that stop the music in its tracks every time I sampled listening to it here, but alas, what can I do? Even so "Dark Moon" was the most simply romantic and melancholy of all the love songs I truly loved from pop music back in those days. "Love Letters In the Sand" I had all but given up on save for a cheesy live version that the copyright-wingers were willing to cede onto the nets- but I found a non-English-speaking source/site they hadn't gotten to yet. Some things are hard to glean from the world-wide web now that the Napster free lunch is long over. Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" was also one of my faves-I was crazy about it even with it's nearly incomprehensible lyrics about "dying" that both spooked and fascinated me. He's still one of the greatest popular singers I ever heard and that song was his masterpiece. And Buddy Holly truly rocked. "Mission Bell" also captivated me with it's sweet uplift in the key of bubblegum gospel as did Pat (ugh!) Boone's "Love Letters in the Sand". Face it friends, I was, and still am, a cornball at heart. Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That’ll be the Day" -1957 Donnie Brooks "Mission Bell" –1957 Pat Boone "Love Letters In the Sand" -1957 Bonnie Guitar "Dark Moon" -1957 ********************************** You'll probably note the year these tunes were hits. Even I was surprised to see them so close together in their vintage. I found this more extensive list of bestselling songs from that year. The songs in blue are the same as above though "Dark Moon" here is the more famous version by Gale Storm who was also "My Little Margie" on television. It may have been her version I heard- they were both hits that year actually- but I'm pretty sure it was Bonnie Guitar's. I've linked to the Gale Storm song below. The red highlighted songs are other songs I love from that time. The remaining ones in black contain a few that are also faves and almost all of them I rmember or would if you'll just hum a few bars to activate the AM radio still playing somewhere in the appropriate brain lobe. The Ames Brothers - Melodie D'Amour - 11-57 - RCA **************************************************** Speaking of tunes I saw a friend's blog in Facebook that asked folks to come up with the 15 singers they can't live without but take no longer than 10 or 15 minutes to do it. I took this to mean "favorite", "essential" - something like that. The first 15 are my list. The second 15 are those I felt bad about not spontaneously including so I just made up a second list for the hell of it. 1-15 john lennon barbra streisand jim morrison elvis presley judy garland patsy cline neil young roy orbison paul mccartney bob dylan tim buckley gene pitney wilson pickett joni mitchell frankie laine ******** 16-30 dinah washington sam cooke johnny mathis david bowie chrissie hynde bon scott ray charles willie nelson diana ross billie holliday nina simone doris day joan baez ella fitzgerald buddy holly **************************************************** 
Paul Anka - Diana - 08-57 - ABC Paramount
Harry Belafonte - Banana Boat (Day-O) - 01-57 - RCA
Harry Belafonte - Jamaica Farewell - 01-57 - RCA
Harry Belafonte - Mama Look At Bubu - 04-57 - RCA
Tony Bennett - In The Middle Of An Island/I Am - 09-57 - Columbia
Chuck Berry - School Days - 04-57 - Chess
Chuck Berry - Rock & Roll Music - 11-57 - Chess
The Bobbettes - Mr. Lee - 09-57 - Atlantic
Bonnie Guitar - Dark Moon - 05-57 - Dot
Pat Boone - Don't Forbid Me - 01-57 - Dot
Pat Boone - Why Baby Why - 03-57 - Dot
Pat Boone - Love Letters In The Sand - 05-57 - Dot
Pat Boone - Remember You're Mine/There's A Gold Mine In The Sky - 08-57 - Dot
Pat Boone - April Love/When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano - 11-57 - Dot
Jimmy Bowen - I'm Stickin' With You - 04-57 - Roulette
The Coasters - Searchin'/Young Blood - 06-57
Nat 'King' Cole - Send For Me/Personal Possesssion - 07-57 - Capitol
Perry Como - Round And Round - 03-57 - RCA
Perry Como - Just Born/Ivy Rose - 11-57 - RCA
Sam Cooke - You Send Me - 10-57 - Keen
Jill Corey - Love Me To Pieces - 08-57 - Columbia
The Crickets [with Buddy Holly] - That'll Be The Day - 08-57 - Brunswick
Danny & The Juniors - At The Hop - 12-57 - ABC Paramount
The Dell-Vikings - Come Go With Me - 03-57 - Dot
The Dell-Vikings - Whispering Bells - 08-57 - Dot
The Diamonds - Little Darlin' - 03-57 - Mercury
Fats Domino - Blue Monday - 01-57 - Imperial
Fats Domino - I'm Walkin' - 03-57 - Imperial
Fats Domino - Valley Of Tears/It's You I Love - 06-57 - Imperial
Jimmy Dorsey - So Rare - 04-57 - Fraternity
The Everly Brothers - Bye Bye Love - 06-57 - Cadence
The Everly Brothers - Wake Up Little Susie - 10-57 - Cadence
Ernie Freeman - Raunchy - 11-57 - Imperial
Terry Gilkyson & The Easy Riders - Marianne - 02-57 - Columbia
Will Glahe - Liechtensteiner Polka - 12-57 - London
Charlie Gracie - Butterfly - 03-57 - Cameo
Russ Hamilton - Rainbow - 08-57
Thurston Harris - Little Bitty Pretty One - 11-57 - Aladdin
Bobby Helms - My Special Angel - 11-57 - Decca
The Hilltoppers - Marianne - 03-57 - Dot
Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue - 12-57 - Coral
Tab Hunter - Young Love - 01-57 - Dot
Tab Hunter - Ninety-Nine Ways - 04-57 - Dot
Ferlin Husky - Gone - 04-57 - Capitol
Sonny James - Young Love - 01-57 - Capitol
Johnnie & Joe - Over The Mountain, Across The Sea - 07-57 - Chess
Bill Justis - Raunchy - 11-57 - Philips
Buddy Knox & The Rhythm Orchids - Party Doll - 03-57 - Roulette
Buddy Knox & The Rhythm Orchids - Hula Love - 10-57 - Roulette
Frankie Laine - Moonlight Gambler - 01-57 - Columbia
Steve Lawrence - Party Doll - 04-57 - Coral
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On - 08-57 - Sun
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls Of Fire - 12-57 - Sun
Little Richard - Jenny, Jenny/Miss Ann - 07-57 - Specialty
Little Richard - Keep A Knockin' - 10-57 - Specialty
Johnny Mathis - It's Not For Me To Say - 06-57 - Columbia
Johnny Mathis - Chances Are/The Twelfth Of Never - 09-57 - Columbia
Mickey & Sylvia - Love Is Strange - 02-57 - Groove
Sal Mineo - Start Movin' (In My Direction) - 06-57 - Epic
Guy Mitchell - Rock-A-Billy - 05-57 - Columbia
Jane Morgan - Fascination - 10-57 - Kapp
Ricky Nelson - A Teenager's Romance/I'm Walkin' - 05-57 - Verve
Ricky Nelson - Be-Bop Baby/Have I Told You Lately That I Love You - 10-57 - Imperial
Patti Page - Old Cape Cod - 06-57 - Mercury
Fess Parker - Wringle Wrangle - 02-57 - Disneyland
The Platters - I'm Sorry/He's Mine - 04-57 - Mercury
Elvis Presley - Too Much - 02-57 - RCA
Elvis Presley - All Shook Up - 04-57 - RCA
Elvis Presley - Teddy Bear - 07-57 - RCA
Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock - 10-57 - RCA
Johnnie Ray - You Don't Owe Me A Thing - 02-57 - Columbia
The Rays - Silhouettes - 10-57 - Cameo
Jim Reeves - Four Walls - 06-57 - RCA
Debbie Reynolds - Tammy - 08-57 - Dot
Marty Robbins - A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) - 05-57 - Columbia
Jimmie Rodgers - Honeycomb - 09-57 - Roulette
Jimmie Rodgers - Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - 12-57 - Roulette
Don Rondo - White Silver Sands - 08-57 - Jubilee
Tommy Sands - Teen-Age Crush - 03-57 - Capitol
Frank Sinatra - All The Way/Chicago - 12-57 - Capitol
Gale Storm - Dark Moon - 05-57 - Dot
Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps - Lotta Lovin'/Wear My Ring - 10-57 - Capitol
The Tune Weavers - Happy, Happy Birthday Baby - 09-57 - Checker
Billy Ward & His Dominoes - Stardust - 08-57 - Liberty
Andy Williams - Butterfly - 03-57 - Cadence
Andy Williams - I Like Your Kind Of Love - 06-57 - Cadence
Billy Williams - I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter - 07-57 - Coral
Larry Williams - Short Fat Fannie - 07-57 - Specialty
Larry Williams - Bonie Moronie/You Bug Me, Baby - 12-57 - Specialty
Chuck Willis - C.C. Rider - 07-57 – Atlantic
This morning I woke up after a dream in which I was watching these films the last of which takes place in an amusement park of some sort and was crystal clear in its resolution and in vivid color. This stands out against the other films which have the typically grainy, washed out
In this dream-movie I am at the top of what looks to be a slide or a stairway but is actually more of an escalator that takes me down a very steep and long ride. The ride is noisy and I am aware of other rides and people around me as I'm watching myself as about a six to eight year old on this steep, sloping conveyor belt of sorts. There are loud sounds but also spectacular visions of fire like a fog that rises up and spits around me terrifying me. As I am descending on this ride I am standing up and looking desperately around me trying to figure out if I can jump out of the ride without falling a number of feet and hurting myself or worse. I am also aware while watching this movie within the dream that I am furious- angry that I should be on this ride that presents such a fearful and alarming sense of danger. I recognize as I'm watching that I the feeling of being angry, very angry, often, as a child is familiar to me and I often tried to rebel or short circuit a force or situation I found terrifying in some way. Along with this recollection I am aware of being angry at my parents- or all people who are witness to these events but who don't or can't offer any help. They don't seem to think of my situation as anything other than an amusement of sorts. A child's growing pains if you will- coming to terms with the harsh realities
****************
(I know what you thought you saw. Editor's note: smoking causes emphysema.)
Before the second Iraq war PLC and I had been on the net debating and
arguing against the wisdom of invading Iraq- a country not implicated in any claims regarding 9-11. At that time PLC still had most of his health and neither of us suspected what lay ahead in familial, health and political troubles for the "oughts" decade of the new millennium.
PLC had, much more than I, engaged a number of people who had fiercely-held views on the necessity of invading Iraq. The seeming fact for both of us was that our government had not made a compelling or logical case as to why this had to be. I was old enough to remember the JFK administration at least offering the fuzzy-looking photographed documentation of what they were telling the public were Cuban nuclear weapons facilities and launch sites aimed at the United States in 1962. No such example was offered by the Bush administration. The preemptive nature and the blustery, even childish-sounding, rhetoric from our Chicken-hawkish executive branch as well as the disappointingly acquiescent manner of the Democrat-controlled Congress was depressing to say the least. It also seemed to justify what seemed to have been the paranoid fears of those who claimed the American government was out of control and had been for a number of decades.
This was preceded, of course, by the disputed 2000 election in which paid GOP operatives posing as "outraged" citizens slammed against the door of Florida precinct where votes were being re-counted and the September 11th event that left many questions a vigilant nation should assume it was entitled to examine.
PLC and I both remember the lead-up to the Iraq War II as a frustrating and bitter time and an eye-opener as to how far this country's drifted; to a place that can do us no earthy good.
So there was a certain irony in PLC and I attempting to watch the National Geographic Channel’s take on the alternate theories circulating about the actual events of the World Trade Center destruction of September 11 2001. I had taped it a couple of days earlier.
We made our way through about 20 minutes when I asked PLC what he thought and we both agreed that the woman narrator had a snotty manner in pronouncing those who were reluctant to accept the official government-sanctioned investigation into the event as "truthers". Her tone was pejorative throughout the show’s opening segments and soured us on watching any further.
The irony was made manifest when right before I went to bed I saw the first headline indicating Bin Laden had been killed.
While I wouldn’t expect anything to come from having Osama around to interrogate the fact of his death certainly puts that detail of this historic chapter to bed in some ways. Literally deep-sixed, in fact.
Even more suspicious was the speed with which Saddam Hussein was executed as he seemed to be a more likely source of data regarding our illustrious Busheviks and their minions and the government machinations throughout the eras spanning the time Saddam was "our man in Baghdad" through his later role as a kingpin in our new "Axis of Evil".
Why it’s not as though I’m looking to find revelations as to the saintly character of either Osama Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein to be revealed to the world, my country’s complicity in enabling the worst aspects credited to both men seems beyond argument at this point.
What I am, as I think many if not most Americans are, fearful of is what our recent history in the Mid East has done to shape or warp our character as a people.
**********************
TC Boyle
I’ve recently read two novels by a writer named T.C. Boyle. Boyle teaches writing at USC and has a flair for balancing the comedic, appalling and exciting in the two books I’ve finished so far.
The first book, 2011’s "When the Killing’s Over", concerns characters with some history around the Channel Islands off the Californian coasts of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. The book begins with a tension-filled telling of a doomed boat voyage to one of the islands.
The Channel Islands consist of the most famous- to us Cali Folk- Santa Catalina in the south along with San Clemente, Santa Barbara and San Nicholas. In the northern half of this group are Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel and Anacapa.
The book’s action takes place primarily around Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands and involves the competing forces of the rangers and researchers endeavoring to preserve or recreate the native fauna and flora of these islands and their opponents who are an animal rights group opposed to the elimination of non-native animal species on moral grounds.
Anacapa Isle with Santa Cruz Isle in the background
The book is serious, dark and wildly hilarious at some times and has the feel of many of today’s action mysteries but with an undeniably interesting theme that actually means something to all of us at large and it is told with masterful economy and wit.
That wit is copiously evident in Boyle’s 2001 novel, "Friend of the Earth". This book is a dystopian satire of the very near future, 2025-2026, with numerous flashbacks to a brighter if still stressful time before that’s yet also touched with foreshadowing tragedy.
The book is a hoot and genuinely laugh-out-loud fare I found but its story is played out in a world where resources are mostly a matter of memory. You may never want to order the catfish again after you read it.
T.C. Boyle is a great find for me. I said to PLC that he reminded me a bit of Kurt Vonnegut and PLC agreed. But Boyle is an original voice no doubt.
I highly recommend both or either as a worthy journey into contemporary literature where fiction and farce face the grim facts with a smile.
**************************
Santa Cruz's (city, not island)
American Idol candidate James Durbin
This year’s version of "American Idol" has a young Santa Cruz man among the last five remaining candidates. The show starts with so-called "cattle calls" of tens of thousands of prospective "idols" and over the succeeding weeks the field gets winnowed down in several ways with the biggest weeding coming from the three judges on the talent panel.
Now I know what I usually say about reality programs. Frankly the whole concept has an innate cruelty to it somehow whether it’s a singing and talent competition or it’s no more than people living their lives for the sheer spectacle or whatever makes their particular lives allegedly spectacular. But PLC and I have watched this show three years ago when Adam Lambert, famously suspected of being gay during the show and famously outing himself afterwards, was a lot of people’s choice to be the winner based on talent alone (he lost to a pretty but forgettable singer the young girls of the show's fans were thought to have the lion’s share of votes for). We tuned in again last year but it was a year which came off as rather dull by comparison and which we abandoned off and on frequently. And we have found ourselves dialing to this years show faithfully after skipping virtually all of the preliminary rounds. What we’ve found is that the two new judges, Jennifer Lopez (aka "J-Lo") and rock band lead singer of Aerosmith, Steven Tyler, must’ve done a superior job of honing in onto some genuinely talented people. Rather serendipitously among the very most talented is James Durbin from our local digs. We don’t know James personally but we have become ardent fans and vote multiple times after each broadcast to keep our local product in the display case that is "American Idol". Durbin was born with both Tourette’s Syndrome and Aspergers but has a booming, perfectly pitched voice that reminds a bit of Mr. Lambert. Perhaps it’s that they both share a love of stratospheric rock and roll warbling- especially in the higher octaves- but both have exceptional abilities and original takes with ballads as well.
Besides that he’s from Santa Cruz- and I’ve been learning - not to my surprise- that this is an area notoriously averse to all things "Idol". Except for this year. James Durbin is creating a stir in our town and it seems to be a delightful thing.
The only concession to his conditions seems to be a tendency to blink or squint a bit at the odd moment.
Among Durbin’s, oh let’s just call him James, among James’s highlights in his home town tour of duty over the years are his contributions to a band who performs from the Beatles’ repertoire called the "White Album Ensemble". James’s version of George Harrison’s "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is considered his signature song by many.
*****************************
Those bookends are really butt-ugly.
To Obama or not to Obama. That is A, if not exactly THE, question.
Why must we have to decide if supporting Obama invariably will give a green light to some of the very non-changing baggage that we DON’T believe in he has amassed since being the front-runner, then elected and then the Prez?
It’s really depressing and for every one or two things he can get some or most of done ten signals or regressive policies get wheeled out that seem to run counter to any sense of a progressive spirit or agenda.
The truth is unless something as phenomenal as what has transpired in the Mid East, however imperfectly (like there’s any other way), starts to grip the American nation and turn it onto it’s collective head there is only the Republican party again to bash our electoral angst on using a limp class of Democrats to do it with.
I believe this is current Speaker of the House in a scene from "The Jolson Story"
Saint George slays the dragon
A couple of things I want to mention to my "coalition of the willing" three readership.
***
First, about my Father.
Okay- one either has ambivalence, loathing or loves their father.
If we live more than one life in differing vessels that are the same soul- more or less- I really lucked out this time around. If we don't, then, shit!- what are the odds I should've been so lucky?!
Because of that- either of those "thats", as the case may be- I am really going to miss him.
I've actually been feeling fairly solid the last few days- but I've had moments when I know this is an illusion due to the fact that I have a few other things to preoccupy me.
My Dad would be the first to say that there's no point in dwelling on that which we can't change. And my Dad was even fairly specific about death being one of those things. Not that this awareness kept him from suffering, being misunderstood or allowed him a special dispensation to be congenial, generous and hilarious to the point of the more humble "silliness" we who were around him loved about him. In fact, without a doubt, the last few years have been very, very difficult to those around him.
But I think my Dad was a type of stoic- with a soft, sweet heart. He was a man's man in whatever might constitute a "true" sense of that term. Another term might be the Yiddishism, a "mensch". A man who was true to a code of honor, dignity and humility.
*
PLC and I were watching the Starz' networks new rendition of "Camelot" which we have been favorably impressed with. If for no other reason it's worth a look just to stare for a few at the newest young Arthur incarnation, an actor named Jamie Cambell Bower. The bar for the male "hubba hubba" factor for comely young blonde men has just been officially raised. But beyond a ravishing 21st century version of Arthur the writing and acting seem pretty decent. The romance, adventure and tragic fate of the Camelot legend deserves its place in Western storytelling in any format.
JAMIE CAMPBELL BOWER
But the other thing the Camelot story reminds me of is my father's love of heroes of yore, chainmailed or swashbuckling on behalf of the common man and virtue itself. He loved Robin Hood, Ivanhoe and in the comics, which along with radio and movies was much a part of the 30s and 40s culture of imaginative escapism and inspirational figures, Prince Valiant.
Of the latter my father loved the craftsmanship and elegance of the drawing style of Prince Valiant which was distinct from everything else at least in newspapers of the day as well as my day when I used to chance upon the comics section. (As for my youth I was strictly a "Mad Magazine", Archie-Veronica-Betty, Superman and The Flash kinda guy- but Dad and I both seemd equally amused with Popeye. The only thing better than being principled and chivalrous is being funny, principled and chivalrous.)
My father always preferred a more realistic slant to art, never an enthusiast of the avant garde or abstraction, he practised this same precision in his work with sheet metal and the objects he created in his spare time from metal and wood. My Mom has told me of the numerous times when she went to work wearing some of the earrings my father made for her that the other women always commented on them and asked where they could buy them. Copper and bronzes and brasses and enamels- especially in this era of sky high gold prices- are a wonderful alternative when properly crafted.
While my Dad could get his sensibilities affronted he was about as opposite of pretentious as you could imagine. My father had a sense of decorum and I later found out that he and I shared an interesting aspect in common, literally, if you were to talk to an astrologer : Venus in the sign of Leo at the time of birth.
Among the comments made regarding this planetary position are ; "Venus in Leo needs to feel that the person they have chosen has (a) special a destiny with them- and (they need) no matter how guarded- to feel the same for themselves. They are and must be proud of their love and those they love."
I suppose one way this might manifest might be the tendency to avoid anything that smacks of the "low" or "crass" in personal deportment and certainly in one's romantic interests or partner. There is even a tendency to put the beloved on the proverbial pedestal. And that may strike some as pretentious despite my protests to the contrary. But I guess I cut myself and my Dad some slack since I am hopelessly biased toward those who seem to value the "other" even at the risk of being more starry-eyed than pragmatic.
***
I've read a non-fiction book recently that seems about as meaningful and important as any I've read- ever.
This book has been out about 4 years and is called "The Shock Doctrine" and it's written by Naomi Klein. She is clearly a superb journalist, investigative reporter and a fine writer.
I left this thread snippet at another site where I had grown weary of the reflexive "humor" some folks seem to thrive on as to the differences between "liberals" and "conservatives".
"I don't usually say things like this but Naomi Klein's book is a revelation. It's not that many of the details haven't seen the light of day before- though I think a great many of those details and some essential facts have not- it's that the historical narrative has never been told with this exact linkage and causality. She has indicted the so-called "Chicago School" of unfettered marketplace economic theory, led by Milton Friedman, and posits that this philosophy has led to nothing less than rendering of human political and spiritual self-determination as superfluous and even detrimental to the "truths" of the marketplace- which, alone- must be the determinant in an allegedly "free" society. There is also a powerful linkage to the behavioristic psychological manifestation of the use of shock therapy in the 40s through the early 60s. Both Freidman's zealous advocates and the behaviorist accolytes of the post-World War II era share the naive desire to remake the human condition- individually and societally - from a "blank slate".
The essential fact from all of this is that there are no clear examples in which the supposedly unfettered virtues of the free market have been foisted upon cultures without an anti-democratic rationale and ultimately, means.
Klein has been criticised for making "facile" arguments by those who have an interest in seeing her version of our recent history not become a "talking point" of our current political discussion. I have yet to see any of them offer one serious critique she has not responded to with aplomb and an accuracy for the facts that none of them can match. There's a simple reason for that.
The right has long criticised the left- actually the Communist left- usually of Stalin or Mao- of attempting to assign a "scientific" measurement to its world view that is in contradiction to "human nature". "The Shock Doctrine" illustrates exactly how any inflexible political doctrine can lead to a similar or even more pervasive disaster. In the Friedman Free Market it has led to Corporate-military-bureaucratic facism. Right now that reality is imbedded in the American political fabric in undeniable fact and force.
Joe-bobcat sez, "go check it out". On that, I am not kidding. And I truly wish, for once, I were kidding."
As I read about the current budget maneuvering between the "liberals" and the "conservatives" in the US capitol as well as among the states, Wisconsin and Ohio for examples, the prominence of the "shock doctrine" as it has been practiced in the US on it's least wealthy citizens and on behalf of it's most prosperous couldn't be more obvious.
The Republican plan has been to gut the social welfare state in any form and to replace it with the Crapshoot of the Oligarchs that's continued to accelerate the impovershment of an ever-widening percentage of the world's peoples: bigger tax cuts yet for the corporations with allegiance to no one land and the richest 1-2% of the population, devolving successfully operated and funded entitlements like Social Security and Medicare into a sort of casino roulette of the so-called "Free Market".
The Democrats' plan has been, so far, to do the same but at a slightly slower pace with the occassional overt and outrageous betrayal that has allowed the mass consolidation of the largest banks, media empires and encouraged the ongoing collusion between the corporate and military revealing their hypocrisy in glaring highlight from time to time.
Bradley Manning
More evidence of the post-9/11 home grown "shock doctrine" is that Bradley Manning- alleged to be the source of some of the most damning Wikileaks reporting- has been held in captivity without legal recourse for a year while being intimidated and psychologically tortured, Guantanamo prison is still open amidst the myriad stories of many people who have been similarly detained- often for years without charges but with torture of the most extreme sort and without, obviously, any legal safeguards from "the land of the free" and the former head of Mubarak's secret police torturers in Egypt is now the head of state there.
The awful dilemma right now in America is that voting for a Republican is tantamount to encouraging this mass torture but is voting for a Democrat helping anyone? The thesis of the "shock doctrine" is alive and kicking in both major political parties and looks to thwart any actual alternative to what has clearly become a plan for disaster for every living thing on the planet.
Globalization. Guilty-until-proven-innocent. Greed. Gullibility.
These may as well be the current stand-ins for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Hopefully we don't need to consult a Mayan calendar to see what day we are in right now.
I've never been a big fan of conspiracy theories, but frankly you don't need a conspiracy when a basic philosophy is afoot that depends on imposing it's will on people in an anti-democratic fashion- and that is what "The Shock Doctrine" is really about.
Is there hope? Yes there is but it rests in the hands of all people who are doing something actively because they must and not necessarily because it's convenient. I'm as guilty as anyone else who feels daunted by that prospect and unfortunately a lot of those people in the Mid East who are compelled to expel their dictators and sever the ties to interested Western power brokers are about our best examples of this. Democracy is an event, or a series of events and it lives in those moments. The rest of our time is something else. We are witnessing what "something else" has led us to right now.
***
Naomi Klein
My father died on Saturday.
I was with him along with my brother and my oldest sister.
I wish he and we could have communicated better but the mask he was wearing to breathe made it close to impossible to understand what his last messages to us were. He was and we were very frustrated and we- especially my brother and myself- were especially unhappy not to have this last time to tell him how much we loved him and didn't want to lose him and hated everything taking him away from us.
My Mom is devastated. My Mom and Dad have had a very tough time the last couple of decades -especially with my Dad's illness making him increasingly more fragile and unhappy and unable to move for any distance or duration. My Mom and Dad knew each other as children and then again in high school. All told they were part of each other for 70 of their 80 years. That's a lot. That's rare from my experience. And that's also special and seems pretty close to any idea of a destiny anyone might reasonably have about anything.
Obviously it's going to be awhile for us to catch our breath. When you love someone this much there's about as much point of getting "over them" as chopping off one of your limbs.
By the time the doctor thought the mask wasn't doing him any good and they replaced it with two simple air tubes for oxygen he had been given morphine and ativan to assuage any panic at not getting enough air- which is what his fatal disease was all about anyway. Emphysema. Anyway the tubes were used at the time he had eyes closed and was no longer able to speak at all. I/we guess.
I hope he didn't feel any suffering- and God help him and us- I hope he didn't have any panic about not getting enough air. He spent the last fifteen years fighting increasingly harder for every breath he took.
My Dad was hilarious, and brave and unsentimental and then very sentimental and strong. His heart was incredibly strong at the end and we loved him because it was incredibly strong during his life without being overly demonstrative. But we knew it was there for us- always. He was both disdainful of arrogance and pride and pretension and a sentimental slob in his own way and also proud and stubborn. He had the heart of a lion and the stubborness of a mule. As with most of us I guess our weaknesses are also our strong points, too. Two sides of a coin. Hating in others what we hate about ourselves. A projection onto the outer world of the inner one we struggle to wake from every day with varying degrees of success.
His heart was strong till the very end. My brother said if he hadn't gotten sick he would've probably lived into his 90s. I agree. He worked in sheet metal, worked with duct work in buildings and electronic billboards and roofing materials and everything else they could throw at him and was probably exposed to asbestos and every other thing we now "know" shortens breath and life. A lot . He also smoked like a chimney from age 16 on. My Mom picked it up from him when they got married. Almost everyone seemed to smoke at the time they got married. It was glamourous and thoughtful. What was it, 1964?, when the U.S. Surgeon General came out with the news that smoking caused cancer? I remember my aunt Marilyn laughing that even the doctors on screen- one or two of them at the announcement, anyway- were smoking. You could still smoke on tee vee back then. And everywhere else
I think my Dad must have known our hearts were always there for him. In fact, I'm sure he did, but, still, it would have been better for us to be able to say that clearly to each other one last time as we had all these years before.
I'm okay- and I'm also not. I'll live. At least a bit longer I imagine. I'll always miss my Dad. He used to have to spank us- it was the way it was. PLC's family were non-spankers. I think they think it's barbaric. They're probably or at least maybe right about that.
Funny thing is I never remember my dad spanking us without remembering that he ALWAYS came to us and apologized for doing it and tried to explain the reason for it so we wouldn't misunderstand that it wasn't about not loving us. My sister Jan said he not only apologized- but that she always remembers he was crying when he explained that to us. Jan is always saying that she has a lousy memeory and then she proceeds to tell me/us things I had completely forgotten. If you want a witness ask my sister Jan. She'll say she doesn't remember but she does.
Speaking of my sister- and I have two- I am very, very lucky to have the family I have- even those who live in memory or the ethers of the unknown that surround us. I love them very much and I know they love me.
They say it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
I must be "better" then. I've lost and I still love.
There's a song by a young writer/singer named Paul Brill called "Love Survives Us All". I love that song. As long as we find a way to remember we're all very mortal humans that's true. At least it better be true. For all of our sakes.
PEACE
May You Live In Boring Times
There was a revolution happening.
And then there were several.
Whatever the final outcome- and final is probably not a well-advised word to use in the context of history, or of science, or of promises about the future- it looked like the "good guys" in that shaky fiction we call history were having their day. And it appeared to be happening in a way that didn't depend on the support of an arrogant, and insecure, Superpower.
An actual Peoples' series of revolutions.
And then the rebels of Libya seemed to be out in front at that moment when people might think their example would further inspire others to come forward and support them.
And then Japan had a massive, deep earthquake, and then a huge tidal wave and then a nuclear reactor site cracked like a soft boiled egg too long in the pot.
And then the attention of much of the world was riveted. Again.
Whatever is going to happen in Japan is already tragic and will be more so, but, now, to what degree?
It's relatively rare for one government, the US, to tell the public that the government of one of their closest allies, Japan, is not being as realistic and truthful with people as it ought to be.
A Chernobyl-like outcome- or worse- is still possible. That would mean broad areas of Japan and, really, several countries around it and throughout the world would suffer long-range effects of illness and genetic ruin beyond our ability- even 25 years after the last comparable disaster- to as yet come to terms with.
Meanwhile it looks like the Libyans' brave rebels have been waiting in vain as many of their advances have been reversed by the brutal forces of a government which has excelled at them for decades. And it's very hard not to get the feeling that you may have seen in a movie or read somewhere- or even experienced yourself- that you are busy incarnating a long-repressed need that it would follow others will become encouraged by and join you to win the day. But then as you turn to see who has joined - no one is there.
Our modern era is the Age of Distraction.
At least in the West and much of the so-called "First World" it's more than tempting to see things that way.
There's a lot going on. Too much, I guess.
PLC and I are hanging in there. But we both feel the weight of problems personal as well as "outwardly" in this time when the whole world is dotted with crucial circumstances. People are desperately trying to win and losing all at once in a dizzying array.
I'm making this short. I'm sorry I haven't been much of a presence here. There's a lot going on everywhere but there's an especially extraordinary amount going on in that realm I call the rest of the world.
Most of you- well, many of you, perhaps- have probably heard the folk wisdom attributed to the ancestors of the Chinese. There is a phrase attributed from that era that is supposed to be a "curse"- but it has more than a touch of irony in it, somewhat along the lines of what "be careful what you wish for" does in the West.
The saying is "May you live in interesting times."
This seems to be one mission accomplished in no uncertain terms.
We seem to be in the middle of a moment when it would be hard for all but the most soured to not feel that one wants to see a number of "happy endings" come to fruition. But our lack of attention and commitment to being an informed part of that is a burden most of us must admit in times like these. Whatever these time may truly be.
Here's a link to a thoughtful writer who I have a permanent link to, to your left, in a skinny panel on this site but I decided he says what I might say in many respects and so he gets center stage:
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