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A Man In Transition

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Helen Thomas, Lynne Stewart, a vat of anchovies and me ... indeed!
-Glenn Reynolds

The Return of Poetry

Have you missed it?  Have you missed the Friday Poetry?  Of course you haven't.  Poetry is as dead as Latin these days.  Nevertheless, I soldier on, bringing you another edition of Friday Poetry, which I have sadly neglected over these past several weeks.  Here's a depressing, if true, little piece by Sara Teasedale: 

Posted by: Jheka at August 05, 2005 13:18 | link | comments (16) |
poetry

Some People Are Just Evil

I remember a day in the summer of 1997 when I was walking near City Hall in San Francisco.  This was around noon and a bunch of construction workers, who were working on retrofitting City Hall, were sitting around having lunch.  As I passed one of these guys, who was sitting on a curb, he reached out suddenly, grabbed a pigeon that was walking by, and twisted its head off.  The body ran for a few steps, spurting blood from the neck, until it fell over.  The construction worker tossed the head aside, looked around furtively, and then walked quickly across the street, away from the pigeon carcass.  He was across the street within five seconds of first reaching for that bird.  It happened that fast.  Now, I'm no lover of pigeons, but I was in shock.  Seriously, I'd seen some pretty violent things between people, but there was usually some kind of rational explanation for that.  This was just brutal and nasty and gratuitous.  It was just pure sadism.  I remember walking away, because I didn't know quite what to do, and then calling the ASPCA or animal control or somebody to report what I saw.  To this day I am sorry that I did not confront him immediately, though I don't know what good it would have done.  I doubt that anything was ultimately done, even if they could have identified the guy, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that, after sticking his toe into the sadism pool that day, he's moved on to more sentient creatures.

I say all this in relation to a story that I just read about another sadist.  I really, really hope that this sadist serves each and every minute of the five year maximum.  I hope that it's a very, very unpleasant experience.

Posted by: Jheka at August 02, 2005 22:00 | link | comments (11) |
miscellaneous musings, schmucks

Democratic Underground Wants Your Vote

But they're having trouble figuring out why they keep losing elections.  Really, what could the voters possibly not like about all of those good folks?  Why, every American should be eager to support them after reading that, right?

Posted by: Jheka at August 02, 2005 13:30 | link | comments (9) |
schmucks, politics, leftist idiocy

Thoughts From Baghdad - On Zimbabwe

Before we get to my friend's musings, a note from me.  My friend should, if my calculations are correct, be back in the U.S. and with his family now.  Welcome home, buddy.  In a part of his journal that is not quoted here, he wrote about his convoy stopping because of an IED (improvised explosive device ... roadside bomb) that was defused.  Not a safe place, Iraq ... though I understand that he'll be in Washington D.C. for a while, so the hazardous duty continues.  I particularly thought of my friend when I recently flew into Jacksonville.  As the plane landed, the pilot announced that we had some very special passengers.  A major returning from Iraq and two specialists returning from their tour of duty in Afghanistan.  The plane was immediately filled with very enthusiastic applause.  My first thought was, I wonder if the reaction would have been the same flying into SFO.  Well, maybe it would have ... I mean, people flying into San Francisco aren't necessarily from San Francisco and hell, even some of the natives are ok.  Still, I got a warm, fuzzy feeling for red state America ... I better enjoy it before I move to DC.  Anyway, here is another excerpt from the journal of an officer who had been serving in Baghdad: 

Posted by: Jheka at August 01, 2005 21:58 | link | comments (2) |
miscellaneous musings, politics

I'm Trying to Be More Sensitive

But there are some issues that are just ... well ... prickly.  Weight, for instance.  How do you delicately suggest to someone that perhaps they should forego that third pint of Ben & Jerry's and that pepperoni pizza and cheeseburgers are not health foods, even if they do have all four food groups.  Fortunately, the helpful folks at The Weekly World News have you covered.  Thank God for pragmatic advice.

Posted by: Jheka at August 01, 2005 20:39 | link | comments (4) |
humor

Random Monday Afternoon Art

Sometimes what the world needs is colorful, sweet, oversized fruits and vegetables.  If that's what you need, Russian painter Konstantin Titov has you covered with "Market." which was painted in 1971:

Posted by: Jheka at August 01, 2005 18:45 | link | comments (1) |
art