Round Hill View

2011-12-10T08:41:00.002-05:00

How Small Were We?

Last evening on the way home from the movie theatre my wife and I chose to stop at the Leesburg outlet center to see if Gymboree had restocked its shelves. The day before she had been to Gymboree hoping to find something for her two nieces (aged five and two) and two nephews (ten and eight years old). What she found were nearly empty shelves.

We found stocked shelves and only a few patrons – precisely what my mental health needs while Christmas shopping.

Not being a parent, children’s clothing has never been a priority for me. And though my varied travels have brought me in contact with a wide range of people, never among them anyone involved in designing children’s clothing. In fact, aside from recognizing that children usually don’t run around naked I’ve hardly thought of children's clothing over the fifty years since I stopped wearing it.

It turns out some of it is cute: little girls’ t-shirts that say “Sweet & SASSY” and chest-covering depictions of T-Rex on shirts for boys for instance. Now my mother would have died before letting my sister wear a “Sweet & SASSY” shirt even if “sassy” were in lower case or merely a footnote. And Hiroko wasn’t at all convinced that her ten-year old nephew would like a giant dinosaur on his clothes. I know she is wrong about this, but Christmas is no time to declaim that men come from Mars at a very young age.

But the real eye-opening discovery of my first ever trip to Gymboree was finding such small clothes. At one point I stood thunderstruck that a boy’s shoulders could fit in the narrow gap between the sleeves. Fold one of the little girl’s shirts once or twice and it would fit in a pocket. My hands, nothing noteworthy in my keyboard-using profession, looked huge over the seat of those empty blue jeans.

The young people wearing those little clothes are literally in our huge hands whether we be parents or Uncle and Auntie. Juxtaposing the power in our hands against the delicacy of those tiny bodies reinforces the responsibility to treat them with reverence. For within each of those small frames God has placed a delicate spirit depending upon us and preparing to shape our unfolding world.

2011-06-15T09:15:00.002-04:00

Cell Phone Sanity
Would this work?

I understand greed. I'm just not sure why we are so supportive of it.

We all want to talk on mobile phones. Many of us want to surf and do email on mobile devices. Some want to use Droids, some iPhones, some Blackberries. All of that is cool.

But why do we put up with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc, using our airwaves to provide competing services when we could have one system on which any manufacturer's phone could work. The carriers subsidize the phone purchase price to get us stuck with their service contracts, virtually none of which are understandable.

I'd rather have our taxes provide the service and let each of us choose which device suits our need - much the way we choose which cars to drive down the common highway.

Of course without Verizon Wireless and the others advertising heavily some other industry would have to pick up the tab for our TV shows. Maybe we can't win.

2011-04-24T13:43:00.002-04:00

The Prize Is Mine!

This year's award for the last yard mowed on our Street goes to me. I will spend the rest of this Easter Sunday basking in the good life that awaits me.

Even though I now work at home most days I have been assiduously avoiding yard work during the normal working hours. Do you think this was because I don't want anyone to see me working on the lawn when I should be in the office on the second floor? Nah, not really. It's because I just didn't want to do lawn work - perhaps a gift from Poe's imp of the perverse.

Over the past several weeks I've been in my office listening as a retired neighbor drove his lawn tractor around his yard cutting grass. The professional lawn service companies would come to other yards and work their magic. I'd hear their high-powered equipment droning. I'd give them a look through my street-facing window, and wonder if there was a chance in hell that they would come over and do my lawn also. That hasn't happened yet.

Finally on Wednesday evening the last neighbor with long over-the-winter grass got home early enough to ride his tractor over all of his yard. That meant that the prize was mine. All I had to do was mow my own lawn so that people would know that I wasn't dead or uninterested in the competition.

Today, Easter 2011, I rolled the Honda self-propelled mower from the garage, filled the tank and cut the grass.

My prize? You may be wondering what I won. A free at-home service call for my lawn mower? An azalea for that needs-something spot along the west side of the driveway? A glass of Gatorade?

No. There is no prize. In fact, there was no competition. I didn't attempt to win anything by taking so long to mow my lawn. I have just been too tired and lazy.

But having mown once in the season the next time will be (or at least seem to be) much less of an ordeal. Isn't that so often the case with those chores we put off over and over?

2011-01-13T16:16:00.007-05:00

Turkey Infestation in Round Hill

An odd sight for a couple of ex-New Yorkers

Some guests strutted into our backyard - a little too late for Thanksgiving dinner.

2010-12-30T00:28:00.004-05:00

Poetry and Song Writing Workshop for Young People
January 17 at Shamrock Music in Purcellville

The Young Voices Foundation will be presenting a poetry and song writing workshop for middle and high school students at Shamrock Music in Purcellville, Virginia. The workshop will run from 8:30 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon on January 17, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.

Bobbi Carducci, co-founder of the Young Voices Foundation, says this is the third of five workshops the foundation has planned to coincide with school holidays this academic year. Bobbi and her husband Mike established the foundation to provide opportunities through which young people might find encouragement for written expression.

In addition to the workshop series the Young Voices Foundation sponsors writing contests for writers from elementary through high school. More information about the foundation can be found at their website: www.youngvoicesfoundation.org/.

Tuition for the Poetry and Song Writing workshop is $60. Interested parents should contact Bobbi at (540) 338-5064.

2010-12-13T17:54:00.002-05:00

Facebook Blending with Blogs
An early experiment

I am trying to see if I can get a Facebook LikeIt gadget into this blog.

2010-11-18T15:08:00.002-05:00

NaNoWriMo on the Mend
Division of Labor Rebalanced

My characters and I have gotten back on the same page. We have decided that they will still compose the novel, and that I will do the typing. As you can see from the numbers to the right this arrangement has been working out pretty well for the past several days.

We still have a lot of ground to make up, but we're running at a rate that will get us to the finish line (50,000 words) just on time.

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes and monetary help.

2010-11-16T12:46:00.006-05:00

What a disaster!
I should have seen this coming.

How many times have you been talking with other writers and you've heard someone say about their short story or novel, "Oh, the characters just took over and wrote themselves." Must have been hundreds of times, right?

We should all be so lucky to have characters like that.

This is November, National Novel Writing Month, although not through some act of congress or anything like that. And I'm writing a novel. The working title has been "The Glitch." Anyway, things were going pretty well for a few days. It's a sort of Sci-Fi thing with nice characters, a few really cordial people.

So, a few days into this, maybe around the 5th or 7th of the month, one of them, Rod, says to me, "Hey, man, you are really on to something here. The story is slammin' and the guys, and Tabby, and I are having a really good time. It's like I've known these people for years."

Well, actually he has, because they have all been working in the same lab for a long time. Not the brother nor the guy who lives on the hill. Not Earl Weaver, either. But there are a bunch of lab rats who do get a lot of face time in the book. Rod is one of them.

"We've been talking," he said to me, "and we all sort of agree that we could actually write this thing ourselves."

What? This really happens where characters take over a story? I thought it was a metaphor or something, but it's real.

So I say, "This is so cool. I'm glad you're all getting along and I'd be glad to 'step back and let the story take on a life of its own' as writers like to say."

And that's what I did.

This weekend I started getting curious about where things were headed. My wife was sleeping and I had to find something to do, you know? I turn on the computer and take a look at the file.

Nothing had been written! I couldn't believe my eyes. These clowns, the characters who were going to write this on their own hadn't written a single word!

Now I'm way behind and have to work like a motherfucker to get up to 50,000 words by the end of the month.

If you ever in your life hear an author say that her characters wrote their own story, tell her and everyone else in the room that she's full of shit.

2010-11-03T22:03:00.002-04:00

NaNoWriMo Marches On
Productivity on pace for completion

Here I am at the end of NaNoWriMo Day Three with 5164 words in the bank.

My characters are having a good time chatting among themselves. They don't have any idea what kind of clothes to wear - other than motorcycle jackets and lab coats. Some lamb stew has been eaten. And without giving too much away I can say that two of them enjoy playing "Jutland."

A one dollar prize has been posted and will be snared by the most unlikely of winners.

Other than that, I'm keeping things to myself.

2010-11-01T21:08:00.002-04:00

National Novel Writing Month Starts
Good Start

November is National Novel Writing Month, a month during which thousands of novelists across the nation will forsake bathing, returning calls, walking the dog and raking leaves, just so that they can string together 50,000 words they will call a novel.

That's a lot of word stringing in 30 days.

Sixteen hundred and seventy words each day will get that done.

Those of us taking the challenge look forward to entering December with a pile of characters, situations, and actions that might eventually turn into something that others will eventually read.

Day one comes to a close and I've got a three hundred word cushion.

2010-09-03T12:34:00.002-04:00

Long Autumn Journey
Can a theatre critic read a play?

Today I picked up a copy of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" with the plan of actually reading it. The particular edition I found at the Blue Ridge Hospice thrift shop has a foreword by Harold Bloom.

Over the next several weeks I will be reading the play and commentary as an experiment in play reading - something I've rarely done in spite of having seen many plays. Through this blog I'll be keeping track of my progress and impressions as this new activity unfolds.

2010-06-24T13:43:00.002-04:00

Driven in by The Heat

Seeking cool refuge in the Barnes & Noble reminds me of the summer of 1970. Many July and August days found me in the air-conditioned comfort of the Silver Spring library reading Hemingway and thinking about a woman in France.

Both she and autumn returned. Cooler.

I've recovered, mostly.

2010-03-20T22:22:00.003-04:00

Whites Ferry On The Loose
Ferry Drifts on Potomac's Strong Current

On scene report from Whites Ferry, March 20, 2010.

On Saturday, March 20, at 4:09 pm the Gen. Jubal Early came loose from its cable and drifted downstream from the course between Virginia and Maryland at Whites Ferry.

Shortly after the boat left the Virginia side workers on board could be seen working to free the craft and its cable from a piece of floating debris that appeared to be a log. After coming to a complete standstill in the Potomac the ferry proceeded toward Maryland for a very short while before beginning to drift with the current, still stronger than usual.

Within a few minutes the boat had drifted several hundred meters downstream while continuing to make way to the Maryland shore. Workers on shore quickly launched a small blue tug boat that helped pull the ferry upstream to the ramp. Eventually the ferry's bow was secured.

The full load of cars on board could still not disembark because the boat remained out of alignment with the ramp. Workers on land used a tractor to pull the stern upstream, finally allowing the autos to drive off. The ferry was secured and emptied by 5:12 pm.

Ferry service had just restarted several hours earlier after a protracted outage due in part to debris on the river.

It was unknown when service would resume after this latest incident.

2009-09-09T23:24:00.002-04:00

Ghosts
Still haunting us

This week I completed an article dealing with haunted places in the Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia area. When I got the assignment I told the editor that I was not a believer, to which she said okay, that doesn't matter.

It has been at least 50 years since I could say that ghosts in the poltergeist fashion exist. I'm not sure what convinced me way back then that there was no need to bother myself with the possibility of ghosts. Most likely, an evening of gentle kindness in the arms of my loving father eased me into a life without ghosts.

Later, but not too much later, the religious side of my intellect rejected the whole notion of ghosts on new grounds: Jesus freed humans of ghosts. That notion evolved over time, eventually becoming: Christ's life - in spite of the possession story in the Gospels - makes ghostly spirits meaningless. Sometime in my early twenties I blended my understanding of Christianity with my understanding of Whitman's "oversoul" and realized that there was no place on Earth (or elsewhere in the universe) for ghosts, again, of the poltergeist fashion.

Of course, a very good reason for having a world view that does not include ghosts lies in the fact that there are no haunted physics laboratories. No physics experiment in a laboratory has ever been influenced by the action of ghosts. That would be enough, even if I hadn't experienced the love of my father and the Christ.

So, here I am: not just a skeptic but one who knows that ghosts do not move things around or glow or create chill drafts in old houses.

Having read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance I cannot get into this discussion without recalling the passage in that book in which Robert Pirsig and his son ride through the Dakotas, I believe, and Pirsig says something about the Indian ghosts. The son thinks he has caught his father in the untenable position of having told the son there are no ghosts and now speaking of the Indian ghosts as though they are real. What I don't recall is the exact way that Pirsig explained this apparent internal contradiction to his son, so I suggest to my readers that they read the book and find out from the original source.*

Anyway, I know there are no ghosts such as the ones that inhabit our European-dominated American ghost stories. And I just assume that anyone would agree with me. Now, I am learning that I assume incorrectly.

At my writers group meeting tonight each of the other three in attendance said that she does believe in ghosts. This astounded me. I was asked, as if my disbelief in ghosts needed to be explained rather than the opposite, if I hadn't ever been in a bad place - not referring to the wacky relationship that I endured far too long many moons ago. My fellow writers told me of places where people had died and that since we are energy the energy of the dead must still be there. I heard them speak of places that generated eerie feelings, strange sensations, discomfort, as though that might convince a reasonable person of the presence of lingering spirits.

All of a sudden I felt like I had followed Alice down the rabbit hole. Why was it up to me to accept the absolute lack of evidence of supposed phenomena as evidence of those phenomena? Why was I supposed to abandon the scientific method so that I might rejoin others clinging to notions that I had discarded in my first decade?

Are there any answers out there? Please post if you have one.

*Should one of my readers know how Pirsig responded (either at this time or after reading the book) I would be pleased to see an explanatory comment here.

2009-08-30T23:16:00.002-04:00

Mountain Stage Revisited
A second try pays off

This morning my bike carried me to the end of the pavement on Mountain Orchard Lane, a hill that defeated me during my pseudo-tour in July. The difference between the two attempts probably was the air quality. Back in July the air was hot and hazy. Today's weather brought cooler and cleaner air.

As to strategy, this morning I decided to use the small chain ring and the big rear gear almost entirely. After all, I am not really racing. I just wanted to see if I could make it to the top of the hill - however long it took. New strategy, new air, new legs - who knows what made the difference. All I know is that I made it.

Following my ride up the hill - an almost 10 km round trip from home - I tacked on the 38.6 km round trip to the end of the pavement on Airmont road. I managed to cover the distance of this little impromptu ride in 1 hr and 30 minutes for an average speed a little better than 24 kph. My speed on Mountain Orchard Lane, of course was much slower. I hadn't even bothered to time it.

2009-07-23T10:16:00.002-04:00

Slo-Mo Time Trial

While the competitors in le Tour were in their 40 Km time trial I took a 48 Km ride here in Round Hill. I averaged 23.8 kpm with a time of 2:05:18.

By slightly over one kilometer this was my longest stage in my pseudo-tour, and the fifth fastest average speed. Probably none of the days I've ridden a previous stage has had humidity as high as today's.

2009-07-19T16:03:00.002-04:00

Success on the Hills At Last
No flat this week

This morning I started my ride at about the time that the competitors in France were half way through their stage. My pseudostage included four ascents of Stoneleigh, just west of Round Hill.

Total distance for the ride was 26 Km which I finished in one hour and 26 minutes for an average speed of 18.1 kph.

The real riders covered 207.5 Km. Alberto Contador won the stage in a time of 5 hours, 3 minutes and 58 seconds. His finish blew away the competition. Lance Armstrong, for whom I have been rooting, is now a super-domestique.

2009-07-18T23:31:00.002-04:00

On the Road Again
Two days of rest were just what I needed

Did I not ride Thursday and Friday because all my bike shorts were in the laundry? Don't be silly! I just didn't feel like riding. But I did today.

In the interest of taking advantage of a chance to do something together Hiroko and I took a ride to King Street in Leesburg by way of the W&OD trail. The distance covered was 32 Km. Due to the fact that Hiroko's bike has flat pedals we took our sweet time and spent a lovely 2 hours and 50 minutes enroute. The average speed was 11.2 kpm - certainly not my fasted time, but at least I got to ride with my sweetie.

And regardless of how slowly I went, I did pass the 300 Km threshold today.

In France the boys rode 199 Km in not much more time than it took us to ride 32 Km.

2009-07-15T07:23:00.002-04:00

Sunrise Ride
Up before dawn for a quick ride

My stage today began at 5:36 AM. What was I thinking?

Maybe I was thinking that the sky would be beautiful as the darkness over the Blue Ridge began picking up pink tones from the eastern sky. Perhaps I was anticipating the cool still air. Or it might have been that I hoped to watch a hawk carrying its breakfast across the road and into the woods by the pond.

No matter the reason for my early morning insanity, I logged 20.8 Km in 56 minutes. That's an average speed of 22.3 kpm.

Later today the boys in France will be riding 192 Km at considerably more than 22 kpm.

2009-07-14T19:16:00.002-04:00

Back In The Saddle Again
Tire fixed and rolling

During the rest day yesterday I bought an inner tube to replace the one that failed on Sunday. The failure was at the point where the valve merged to the inner tube proper. Installing the new tube presented no problems at all.

Today my ride was delayed by a job interview - one of the best reasons for delaying a ride, I must say! My ride didn't start until after 4 PM.

One hour, 59 minutes later I had completed 46.4 Km in rather breezy conditions on a one mile lap. My average speed for this run was 23.2 kpm.

2009-07-12T22:50:00.002-04:00

Mountain Stage 3 - Mountain of Disappointment!

A short and slow trip over Stoneleigh

Today marked the third and final day in the Pyrenees for the real riders, and marked the third day for me to be a pseudo-climber here in Virginia. I had planned to make four climbs to the top of the Stoneleigh development, a tough ride over safe residential streets. An alternative would have been riding from Round Hill over the Blue Ridge and down to the Shenandoah River. I received so many negative comments on my sanity the last time I did that I haven't attempted it again.*

However...

After huffing and puffing myself to the top of the hill and coming down the other side, my return climb came to an abrupt end after 200 meters with a flat rear tire. A kind couple gave my bike and me a ride all the way home.

Bottom line for the day: 6.4 Km in 25 minutes for a speed of 15.2 kpm. This isn't my slowest performance, but it surely is my shortest of this tour.

As disappointing as it was, my bike and I did attain the 200 Km level in just nine stages. With 12 stages still to go I need only 100 Km.

Tomorrow is a rest day, thank goodness, so I'll have time to get the tire back in order before riding again on Tuesday. But since I have a job interview on Tuesday I'll probably be taking a short ride even then.

The boys in France logged 160.5 Km over a Cat One and an HC climb today with the leader finishing in 4 hours, 5 minutes and 31 seconds - without a flat tire. That's pretty impressive.

* I have to admit it was sort of stupid to be riding a bike on a steep highway with 55 mph speed limits and almost unridable shoulders.

2009-07-11T22:45:00.002-04:00

Mountain Stage - Again
Feeling a Bit Better on a Hill

Today's stage in France (and it really is in France) was a significant mountain stage with two Cat 1 and one HC. We all know that means I should do a bit of climbing in my own mock tour. You might think that since I live in a town named Round Hill I'd have an advantage in climbs, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way.

Whereas yesterday I put my legs to work in an attempt to scale the Blue Ridge only reaching about half way, today I tried a less aggressive climb. The actual elevation was unknown but it was low enough for me to climb twice in about 12 minutes - obviously it couldn't have been too much of a hill. I added about 23 Km of relatively flat riding to the climb and descent for a total of 25 Km in a little over one hour and 10 minutes for an average speed of 20.6 kph.

For tomorrow's mountain stage I've selected a ride somewhere between yesterday's embarrassment and today's success.

Oh, yeah. The real riders completed their ride of 176.5 Km in just over 4 hours and 30 minutes. They are remarkable.

2009-07-10T20:41:00.002-04:00

Stage 7 - Mountain Day #1
Not really a good showing by Mr. Sackrider

Because today's stage in France (actually in Spain and Andorra) is a mountain stage I am duty bound to ride a hill. My choice for hill today is a rather obscure piece of pavement. Judging by the condition of the pavement I guess that even the highway department has trouble finding it.

I found the hill without difficulty. I just couldn't find the energy to make it all the way to the top. How far I climbed I don't really know, but it was perhaps halfway. Look for me to try this hill again on Stage 20 - the final mountain stage of le tour.

But let's get back to specifics. The distance that I know I covered today is 25.6 Km. That took 1:53:00 for a pathetic 13.6 kpm.

The professional riders in Europe are riding 224 Km and climbing a five major ascents: one Cat 4, a pair of Cat 3's, a Cat one and finish with a hors-category. What does all of that mean? I'm not sure. I've never ridden - or even seen - a hill for which the category has been established. But I have seen the professionals riding catagory climbs on the TV coverage of le Tour and know that my effort on the hill this afternoon would have been rather insignificant to them.

Well, tomorrow is another day - another mountain day.

2009-07-09T17:40:00.002-04:00

Cool Morning - Easy Ride
Rest day over, back in the saddle

This morning the air temperature was probably 60 F when I started out at just about six o'clock - too early for the wind which was still resting quietly in the hollows and over the pond. For riding after a rest day this was a perfect beginning. I truly felt wonderful when I finished my ride.

I covered 29.6 Km in 1:07:31 for an average speed of 26.3 kph, my second highest of this little experiment in cycling.

Riders on le tour were enlisted to cover 181 Km which leaves me well back again. Although I will not cover the 2,200 Km of the tour, it looks like I have completely blown through Hiroko's prediction of 112 Km and am well on my way to my predicted accumulated distance of 300 Km.

The more challenging part of le tour is coming up with the mountain stages. It should be clear to one and all that I will not be pedling up any Category 1 hills during my mock-tour. In fact, I will not be riding on any Category climbs. In further fact, I don't know the category of any of the hills in my neighborhood so measurements like that are out of the question. However, I will include more hills on days when the boys in France tackle the mountain stages.

2009-07-08T22:26:00.003-04:00

Stage 5 - Rider's Option
The benefit of not being in le Tour

Okay, I'll admit it - I'm not a professional bike racer. And that's a good thing, because I get to take extra days off. Today is one of those days for me.

Instead of riding I had a 2 1/2 mile run with Hiroko this morning, which was a wonderful workout in its own way. There was a lot of huffing and puffing on my part. Running is so much slower than riding! It takes a lot of patience to get to back to the house. Of course, the alternative is not getting back to the house. That really isn't an alternative, I guess.

Over there in France the boys completed the longest stage so far, 196.5 Km. Hey, it's not like I was going to catch them anyway.

2009-07-07T18:22:00.004-04:00

Good and Bad Day on the Trail
Distance Up, Speed Down

Today's ride was 43.2 Km on the W&OD trail from Purcellville to the 30.0 mile marker and back. Outbound, that is away from Purcellville, the trail has a slight slope down, which steepens slightly before arriving at Leesburg.

After a short time on the trail I realized that the wind was going to be helping me on the outbound leg. As a result I was zipping along at better than 24 kpm, then up to 32 kpm for the steeper downhill run into Leesburg. My enjoyment of the brisk pace was moderated slightly by the knowledge that both wind and hill would be working against me after I turn around.

Certainly that proved to be the case. At the turn I took a several minute break for a snack and some Gatorade, and have a chat with one of the Loudoun County Sheriff Deputies who ride the trail "to make people feel safe." I had arrived at the turn around about 53 minutes after leaving Purcellville. The return trip took about an hour and eighteen minutes with the labor of bucking the wind and climbing back from Leesburg. Altogether it led to an overall speed of 19.6 kpm. As a result my average speed for the four stages (such as they are) dropped to 20.4 kpm.

Over in France the boys had their Team Time Trial today - first since le tour 2005 - and logged only 39 Km. So, I decreased their distance lead by 4 Km, a nearly insignificant gain. And completely meaningless when we take speed into account.

2009-07-06T08:12:00.004-04:00

Stage 3
Dave Falls Farther Behind

Today my distance was 27.2 Km, for a total of 74.4 Km. Time on today's stage was 1:07:30, which results in an average speed of about 24 kpm.

The boys in France finished at 5:01:24. About 30 Km before the end there was a 27 rider break away - if you can call such a crowd a break away. That lead group, which included Lance Armstrong, but neither Alberto Contador nor David Sackrider, beat the next group - the peleton had pretty much shattered into four groups - by 39 seconds. A very exciting sprint finish went to Cavendish, the second consecutive stage win by Cavendish.

Quite a wonderful stage.

Tomorrow don't expect me to lose too much distance since the team time trial (TTT) is only 39 or 40 Km.

2009-07-05T13:10:00.002-04:00

Stage 2
The peleton leaves me in the dust

Today Hiroko and I took a mild little ride around town, logging 20.8 Km in one hour and 25 minutes.

The boys in France piled up 187 Km - catapulting past my two stage total of 47.2. I won't be seeing them again until they are enjoying a good meal back in Paris.

2009-07-04T09:42:00.003-04:00

le Tour Begins
Here we go! le Tour de France begins today and concludes in Paris on the 26th of July after the riders have logged about 2,200 kilometers.

It has never been my dream to ride le tour. I've come to enjoy the sport of team bicycle racing too late in life for that. By the time I figured out how interesting this sport can be I had matured into a degree of realism that kept me from having the ultimate dream.

However, I had enough dream left in me that I asked Hiroko a few days ago how far she thought I could ride on the 21 days of le tour's stages. She quickly replied, "70 miles."

I was stunned! Only 70 miles! Had she forgotten who she was talking with? I've ridden that far in one day just four years ago.

"I'll go at least 300 Km," I told her. And now I've told you.

So we will keep track of my accumulated distance over the next three weeks or so and see if I can meet my goal of 300 Km in 21 days of riding.

This morning, the day of Stage 1, my distance was 26.4 Km, which took 1 hour and 6 seconds. The riders on the tour will ride only a 15.5 Km today, but they'll do it at much faster paces than I did mine.

Update: The Swiss rider Fabian Cancellera won Stage 1 in Monaco with a time of 19:32, at an average speed of about 46 kph - considerably better than my 26 kph.

2009-06-02T16:59:00.007-04:00

Trainwreck 2009
Once again, no casualties

The Winchester Little Theatre Trainwreck 2009 pulled into the old depot right on schedule Saturday.

Once again my sister Ann and I participated as a directing/writing team. On the drive from my house in Round Hill to the theatre for the auditions I told Ann very truthfully that I had no, absolutely no idea what I would write. This was in part because the spirit of 24-hour theatre would dictate no advanced preparation: and in another part because I had spent the previous night with a toothache unmatched by anything in my experience. Sleepless and still in considerable pain throughout Friday I hadn't had one coherent thought about the upcoming show.

Following the post audition dickering Ann and I joined up with the following cast members:

Brittany Rathman, John Chesek, Theo Ollison, and Michael Cordero.

We had worked with Michael in last year's production. The other three were, I believe, total newcomers to the Winchester Littler Theatre world.

After abbreviated greetings and goodbyes we writers (myself and four others) were left to our devices (laptop computers and lots of donuts and cookies) to see what we could craft in the next twelve hours. My first attempt took me two hours to get just about nowhere. About 11 PM I scrapped that and started over.

Surrendering at last to my discomfort I let my toothache have its way and the result was "Four: A Play." In this absurd little three-act for four actors we watch the boundaries between imagination, rehearsal, stage and life wobble then shift, disappear and realign. Under it I hoped to point to an awareness of intentionality's source - the actor, the director, the author, as they represent the overlapping roles we play in our non-staged world.

As was the case last year, when the casts and directors returned to the theatre on Saturday morning the real magic began. Ann maneuvered my script and our actors into something that became worthy of presentation on a stage. Probably the biggest reason I went into this crazy endeavor again was to watch her do this, hoping to learn what goes on in such an amazing process. I don't think I learned much this time either. My awe at her ability, however, has grown.

Throughout the day Brittany, John, Theo and Michael came closer and closer to the Millie, Ed, Martin, and Bob my toothache channeled for me the night before. They all worked hard, for which I am very grateful. While writing is very much a part of my everyday life, acting is something that these four adventurers do only rarely. The dedication they poured into giving flesh and voice to my ideas makes me feel exceptionally fortunate.

Finally, at about 8:30 PM our little play took to an audience.

And ten minutes later is was all over. Except for the happy memories.

I want to thank Pat Markland and all of the rest at Winchester Little Theatre for opening their stage to our band of actors, directors and writers. There is also a debt of gratitude to be paid by mentioning the other writer/director pairs: Jessica Coleman & Becca Parker; Aaron Trompeter & Joey Thorne; Jerry Tracy & Roxie Orndorff; Jan Kirby & Paul Bailey. Without the commitment of these eight there would have been no place for the two Sackriders to do what we enjoy so much.

And of course, all of us are lucky to have found an audience still hungry for the excitement that live theatre provides as nothing else can.

During my participation in this event I learned something - in addition to the importance of flossing - that I'd like to share with you:

Whatever it might be, put something in your life through which you can find as much fulfillment, excitement and joy as we have found in our adventures in 24-hour theatre.

2009-05-23T23:17:00.002-04:00

A Question for You
I am not saying this would have been a good thing, or not, but if we had elected Mike Tyson instead of George W. Bush in 2002 (not that we will ever know if we actually elected George W. Bush in 2000) would he have bitten the ear off Osama bin Laden?

I actually don't think that he would have. And I base this on my belief that Tyson would not have been more successful than Bush in leading the capture of bin Laden. I think that Tyson's response to the CIA briefing about bin Laden wanting to hit the American homeland would have been quite close to Bush's.

On the other hand, I think that after a meeting between Putin and Tyson it would have been Putin who would have said, "I looked into Tyson's tattoo and I'm scared."

2009-05-22T09:37:00.003-04:00

Andrew McCarthy is Torturing Me
On May 19 Andrew C. McCarthy wrote a piece for National Review Online in which he asserts that two Republican congresspersons made a fool of Attorney General Holder in a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Holder, according to McCarthy, does not know the definition of torture or he does not mind misstating it.

Figuring prominently in the questioning cited by McCarthy was the issue of whether the Attorney General's assertion that "water boarding is torture" means that the people conducting water boarding demonstrations on certain groups of military trainees are committing torture. Holder said this was not torture in response to the matter being raised by the congressperson. He pointed out that the intent was for training purposes and not to inflict serious bodily or mental harm.

McCarthy jumped on this point, emphasizing that the legal definition of torture is completely based upon intent. In the article he gets into the legal technicalities of general intent and specific intent (a judge quoted by McCarthy made much of this specific v. general intent in a torture case) which may or may not be the significant point that McCarthy makes it out to be. To be torture in the legal sense, the article states, the person performing the act must have the specific intent to cause significant physical or mental harm.

Apparently we should think that regardless of what the torturer does, if his or her intent was to get information rather than to cause harm to the source of the information, the acts which result in harm are not torture. This kind of thinking is sickening.

Regardless how the law and subsequent judicial opinions might define intent and mental harm, the crux of the matter lies in the fact that the victim of torture faces his or her treatment involuntarily. A sailor volunteers to become a SEAL. When made aware of the impending water boarding demonstration the would-be SEAL can opt out or volunteer to continue. What the trainers do in such a case is then not torture and they are not torturers - dangerously sadistic perhaps, but not torturers.

The situation faced by someone water boarded by the CIA or its henchpersons does not have a voluntary aspect. At this point the McCarthy and others willing to spend our tax dollars on torture might say that the victims can opt out of torture by giving up the information that they hold. We are to believe that water boarding or other torturous techniques are never applied when probing for information. The water boarders somehow know the victim has the information in every instance. So in effect this line of thinking would claim that in spite of the documented failures of the CIA in so many other cases, when it comes to knowing who has information that will save lives the CIA never makes a mistake.

And as to intent, the actual intent of the water boarder is to get the victim to say to herself, "This time I am going to die if I don't get them to stop this now." How could this not be mental harm? And what of the several prisoners who died while under CIA or other United States government control? Do possible murderers involved in deaths get a get-out-of-jail-free card because they didn't intend to do harm, regardless of the outcome?

The excuses and disgusting justifications promulgated by the pro-torture crowd are torturing me. And killing our reputation in the world.

2009-05-21T00:24:00.002-04:00

Does this ever happen to you?
Brushing my teeth I felt something not quite right in my mouth. No surprise there. I had sort of expected an oddity, and I got it.

I spit into the sink. Out came dozens if not hundreds of tiny balls of metal which I recognized as material from old fillings. Spitting again, two teeth clattered into the basin. Rubbing my tongue around my mouth caused a couple more to loosen and tumble to the sink which was now frothy with bloodstained foam.

It was quite disconcerting.

Fortunately I awoke before calling a dentist.

I assume that my dentist appointment for the following morning triggered this dream.

2009-01-08T23:10:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year?

Well, why not?

My initial plan for ringing in the New Year included running withHiroko in the Midnight Run through New York's beautiful Central Park.* Hiroko and I made the trip to Brooklyn for a very enjoyable visit with my sister and her son (read into the exclusion of all other Brooklynites what you will).

Unfortunately the old year ended with an incredible cold snap. At about 7 pm on New Years Eve Hiroko, Ann and I caucused and arrived at the decision to stay in Ann's snug coop instead of freeze our sweaty selves on the return trip from Manhattan. In lieu of the run, we watched the odd spectacle of Dick Clark tell us that Time Square and New Years Eve can't be beat. Can't someone close to him convince him that millions, billions, of people will have a Rockin' New Years Eve even if he stayed home.

Risk - The game of world domination

Say, what?

Ah, I can see that was a rather abrupt transition - almost no transition at all. I'll make up for that now.

Back in my high school days I somehow learned to play Risk, perhaps at Jim Maruniak's house at Grand Forks Air Force Base. And somehow, I got to be pretty good at it, and therefore enjoyed playing it every chance I could. Probably I enjoyed it much more than my siblings, who according to family legend almost never beat me.

My nephew, now in high school, has recently become an avid Risk player with a high win percentage. He enticed us into a game during the afternoon of New Years Eve. The players were Hiroko, my nephew Hudson, his buddy Jake, and me. Fortunately we didn't finish the game. Time was called before any players were eliminated. Hudson and I will have to play again to determine family domination.

What does all of this mean?

Happy New Year

*Rarely do I compose a sentence with such a high ratio of capitalized words.

2008-12-03T23:47:00.002-05:00

No Answers Today

I've taken pictures published in The Purcellville Gazette and the Washington Post Loudoun Extra. And yet, I didn't take pictures of the subject of this blog entry. Go figure.

But, the topic of the blog today is not photographs or my camera work or even the Post or the Gazette. It is leaf raking.

So, now down to the business at hand - Leaf Raking

The home I share with Hiroko has lots of grass - lawn grass, of course - about an acre of it. The rest of our two acre property is almost all trees. The fifty acre property behind our house is all trees. Most of the property across the street is, you guessed it, trees. Lots and lots of trees in our neighborhood.

As most of you know, except our readers from the treeless sand dunes of Saharan Africa or Arizona, lawn grass acts as a magnet for tree leaves. It's a well established scientific fact. Thus, our lawn of one acre draws leaves from the surrounding sixty or so acres.

Changing the subject only slightly, today was a beautiful day for being outside, once the temperature rose above freezing. And now getting back to our subject, since I wanted to be outside enjoying the day I thought I'd better rake some of the million or billion leaves still on the lawn.

Out I went, carrying my leaf blower, my rake, my can of gas for the leaf blower and my can of gas for the lawn mower, which I was pushing. I had well used appendages, let me assure you.

I began all of this as the clock struck ten and the frost had almost given up its grasp on our leaves and grass. The grass, by the way, hasn't been mowed since about September and is too long to go into winter safely*. Raking and mowing seemed to be in order, in that order**.

But here's another thing that we non-Saharans know: It's much easier to rake or blow leaves across short grass than it is across long grass. Remember, now, the lawn I had to rake was long. What was I to do?

Here's the plan I came up with: rake a small patch of lawn adjacent to the place where I want the leaves to spend the winter - in other words, some of the wooded part of our community. Once that area is raked clean, mow it. The idea in my mind was that when I move the leaves from the next little area of lawn onto the mowed area it will be easier to move them the last leg of their journey into the woods. So, I spent about six and a half hours raking and mowing and raking and mowing little patches of my yard.

I did a lot of little patches this way, raking or blowing the leaves from a small patch of lawn onto a patch with shorter grass, then mowing the newly cleared patch.

And I would have been among those of you who think, that's the way to get the job done.

However, what I learned is that many many little patches of grass is only a tiny portion of our one acre of lawn. My guess is that I was able to clear and mow about a tenth of an acre in those six hours. I need to do many many many little patches of lawn.

It looks to me as if I've only got about another 54 hours to go on this project. A great reason to hope that I stay unemployed for at least another week and a half.

* I have heard that if blades of grass are too long during the winter the grass is more likely to enter spring with some kind of mold or fungus. I don't know if this is really true, but I am haunted by images of a hyperfungal lawn. This fear keeps me awake at night. Really.

** Why would raking come before mowing? Another thing that I've heard, but can't say I know for a fact, is that if leaves are left on a lawn over the winter the chemicals in the rotting leaves will make the soil too acidic for the wellbeing of the grass. I assume this holds true for tiny fragments of leaves left behind from mowing a leaf strewn lawn. This does not rob me of sleep, but I do get jittery between Thanksgiving and New Year when I drive past leaf-covered front yards.

2008-10-16T12:45:00.002-04:00

At Last, Almost

Last night Bob Schieffer came closer than either of the other Presidential Debate moderators to actually moderating a debate. However, even he couldn't eliminate all of the rehearsed talking points*.

I was very glad that John McCain had a chance to bring up the issue of class warfare as he pandered to Joe the Plumber. Seems Joe has worked his way from not being able to buy a business to having access to the amount of capital that could buy a business. McCain has decided to champion Joe's quest to own the plumbing business for which he has worked for many years. McCain says that by "spreading the wealth around" and perhaps increasing the taxes on some businesses, Barack Obama engages in class warfare.

McCain expects us to assume a few things here: 1) that the business Joe wants to buy has profits of over a quarter of a million dollars per year (otherwise the tax increase Obama recommends would have no effect on the business), and; 2) that Joe has labored for the money to buy the company.

How much does it cost to buy a company that has over $250,000 in profits per year? It must be a heck of a lot more than a million dollars. If Joe is a regular plumber, as he was portrayed in McCain's touching "Ode to Joe", how does he come up with that kind of money?

If McCain champions folk like Joe, wage earners who have somehow been able to amass a million or more dollars, and leave the rest of us potential voters to select the Obama-Biden ticket, then I'll be a happy American as November 5th dawns.

But I digress. I had been writing of class warfare.

What McCain didn't mention during the evening at Hofstra is that the class war is over. The rich people won. All Barack Obama is trying to do on behalf of the mass of working people is renegotiate the terms of surrender.

*This phrase, "talking points", must be one of the dumbest things to come out of politics in recent years. I'm not saying that a candidate is dumb for having a list of concepts to discuss or mention whenever a topic nearing one of those concepts has been mentioned. I'm saying the phrase itself is dumb.

2008-09-24T13:37:00.002-04:00

The New Age - Dawning Still

My sister told me today about encountering last week a woman, a self-proclaimed born-again Lexus-driving rabbi, who said she doesn't want to vote for Obama because he is "Muslim," a fact that she just has to believe.

I replied to my sister in some flippant manner, because that's the kind of person I am.

And a moment later I told her, in seriousness, this is probably a basis for optimism. Racial bigotry, while still a serious concern, is on its last legs. Many of the people willing to grasp at the straw of Obama's "Muslim" religion are aware that the anti-black prejudice that ultimately dictates their vote is now something shameful that must be hidden. They are the children of a population that couldn't feel shame about disliking blacks; the parents of people who will begrudgingly vote for Obama. And they are grandparents of people who will not even remember who the first non-white president was.

2008-09-07T09:01:00.002-04:00

The Winning Lie

Last week the GOP gave us a number of speakers drawing attention to the fact that Sen. McCain supported the Iraq war strategy known as "the surge", and that Sen. Obama did not. At times their criticism of Obama based on spurning the surge sank to the level of mockery.

Typically the speaker would say something about Obama declaring the war as lost and refusing to support the surge, at which point the crowd would boo loudly. They would follow this up and receive even louder cheers by saying that McCain supported the surge and now we are winning. There we find the lie.

The claim that we are winning in Iraq is a wonderful example of political misuse of our language. Winning, you understand, means being better off in some way, than you were before entering the competition.

About nine months ago, I had a serious car crash. The Ford Explorer I was driving (not too well, apparently) was totaled when I drove it into a tree. That impact got its start about one hundred meters away, where I drove over some ice covered by a thin layer of snow at the beginning of a left turn. At that point I lost control of where the car was going. My attempts at correction were either futile or over compensating. The car and I crossed the left lane of the two lane road and nearly hit a fence on that side of the road, but continuing in a nearly straight line we crossed the road and went head on into a tree on the right side. After the jolt, I was nearly overwhelmed by the sound of the horn blaring and the gunpowdery smell of the airbag propellant. I was alive and relatively uninjured ~ no hospital visit was required.

Our nation's experience in Iraq since 2003 has been like my adventure in the Explorer: poorly planned; an ineffective reaction to a precipitating event; involving unexpected results; loud; smoky; and, not fatal (except to the 4100 soldiers who have died in Iraq, and whom we are trained to ignore).

There is no way to win a car wreck. And there is no way to win a war. When you drop the first bomb, you are merely admitting that you have lost.

Oh, the one difference between the car crash and the war in Iraq: the tree survived my assault without any apparent harm.

2008-09-03T10:14:00.001-04:00

Seen This Movie Before

USAToday has a story in its September 3 online edition about McCain's vice-president pick. In one interesting line, it says, "Palin, 44 and the mother of five, has energy, poise, a down-to-earth manner and a compelling personal story: from the PTA to the statehouse."

Something about that brought to mind another vice-presidential pick who used the PTA as a springboard to political prominence and ultimately disgrace: Spiro Agnew who had run as a reformer in a generally corrupt county prior to being selected by Richard Nixon in 1968.

Of course, Ms. Palin was only four years old at that time and probably does not remember that. And since John McCain was out of the country for all of Agnew's time as vice-president he might not remember it either.

Good luck, Sarah. As you return to private life, I hope you don't carry the stigma of having accepted punishment stemming from bribery allegations as did Spiro.

2008-09-02T20:56:00.004-04:00

What?! Eagleton Cost McGovern the Election?

Here I am, watching the Republican Convention in the comfort of my living room, and Jim Lehrer asked Mark Shields to weigh in on the importance of the person selected by a presidential nominee to fill the vice-president slot one the ticket.

Shields blathered on for a while about what a problem Eagleton was for George McGovern. He mentioned that the number of days that Eagleton stayed on the ticket didn't leave the McGovern campaign enough time to recover from the selection faux pas. He spoke as though McGovern's choice of Eagleton was the nail in the coffin of his presidential hopes.

David Brooks and Jim Lehrer just nodded along as though nothing Shields said was substantially wrong.

Have they forgotten that Richard Nixon and his staff and supporters, many of them later to serve time in prison, made sure that the fix was in before the primaries were over? Nixon wasn't going to allow anything to get in the way of a second term. Eagleton had nothing to do with it. Had McGovern been able to get Abraham Lincoln to come back from the grave to run with him, John Mitchell and his criminal gang would have prevented even that from having a favorable impact.

Richard Nixon, not Thomas Eagleton, harmed McGovern's campaign.

But even more, and this is what should be mentioned every time anyone speaks of that election, Richard Nixon harmed the people of the United States of America.

2008-07-16T14:01:00.002-04:00

Ko-Ru-La Report #1

Is this report tardy? Certainly!

Which excuse will I use?

a) The seagull ate it.

b) I was sick.

c) I'm on vacation and didn't have to finish my report.

d) Was the report due this week?

Hmmm. I'm going to go with "b".

On the drive to the beach last Saturday I got sick, threw up on my computer and found the keyboard entirely too icky to touch. Because it needed a good cleaning I took it to the beach for a dip in the world's wash basin. It was there that I saw happy young people fairly skimming across the vast face of the ocean, darting before the crest of each wave. Their glee, perhaps directed by Satan solely for this purpose, filled my being with a need to join them. At that point I began using my aging Mac as a boogie board.*

With the conclusion of one splendid ride, my computer, by now vomit-free but soaking wet, was driven by the wave and my exceptional weight into the frothy sand at the ocean's margin.** At that point, my fever much reduced by the cool salt water pushed southward under the effect Bertha's exhalations, I came to my senses. I realized in a split second that not only my computer was most likely ruined in this foolish attempt to wash it in the sea, but the entire reason for washing it - a sticky, fetid keyboard - had been one imaginary product of the hallucinatory delirium accompanying my fever.

Yet all was not lost. The silicon of the sand recognized the silicon of the computer's chips. In something akin to a professional courtesy the sand bowed out, taking all its briny water and small organism associates with it, leaving my computer as dry and clean as it had always been. More than could be expected, to be sure, and I am so grateful I won't even attempt to put words to my appreciation.

Naturally, I was not completely cured of the disease that set this whole chain of unlikely events in motion. Barely had I enough sense to return to the rented villa to which my Hiroko and I had repaired from the muggy atmosphere of the Virginia summer. Presently I will be released from the Currituck County Jail at which time I must post bond and blog, the latter with the continued explanation of its own tardiness.

I thank you in advance for the patience with which you, my dear readers, will receive the blog, once it becomes available.

*Advice to my readers: Do not wash your computer in the Atlantic when still suffering from fever.

**Physicians of note have commented that phrasing of a peculiarly archaic nature might be a lifelasting reminder of my recent illness.

2008-06-02T12:07:00.006-04:00

24-Hour Theatre - Finished
Winchester Little Theater's experiment with 24-hour theatre ran successfully this past weekend: 5 playwrights each wrote a play, starting at about 8 pm on Friday night. Each of those plays was on stage just 24 hours later.

My sister, Ann, and I had a great time casting, writing and directing "My Job Went Where?" We are both so happy with our cast of three - Sylvia, Michael and Som (pronounced as if it were "Shome") - and all of the technical crew who helped get things set up. Playwriting was my assignment, which did take me through the night until about 6 am Saturday. Friday night was the first time I sat down with the intention of writing a play, a fact that would have been more obvious except for my sister. As the director, Ann did a wonderful job of finding and highlighting the good parts of my script and downplaying its faults. She is a darned good director, and a terrific sister.

The three actors in our group did justice to my words. Never have I heard so many of my words spoken by other people, and heard by about 100 people at the same time. Hearing the words spoken by people bringing them to life really made the sleepless night and long day of rehearsal worthwhile for me.

Pat Markland, the production coordinator of the program, couldn't have been more attentive to the needs of the performance teams. He deserves a lot of credit for the success of the evening.

I hope that the other playwrights, if they happened to see me in the audience Saturday evening, can excuse my occasional moments of sleep ~ I was, just like them, totally exhausted by that time.

And most of all, I want to express my appreciation to my dear Hiroko, whose enthusiasm for, and patience with my writing are boundless. I adore her.

2008-05-30T09:07:00.003-04:00

Highway 51

Yesterday afternoon the clear sky and warm dry air amplified the call of the highway. Who could resist? The day was perfect for opening the windows and the throttle, enjoying gas while we can still afford it, to take a look at the West Virginia countryside.

Beautiful.

Until you give yourself license to spend a few seconds tuning the radio, lighting a cigarette, picking up a phone call.

Driving a car is not as easy as we have convinced ourselves it is.

Just ask the medical examiner ~ yes, she was needed because of this accident. Sure, three out of the four people in these two cars made it to the hospital. But I heard the EMS tech tell a young man's mother, "He didn't make it." Moments later, after the father arrived, mother and father sobbing in each other's embrace, two women - strangers until today - stroked the backs of grieving parents. The beautiful summer had lost its sun.

Be careful, please. Let the phone ring. Listen to that ad one more time. Let the CD changer do its job. You've got your own job to do.

You are driving a car - and you could ruin a beautiful sunny day.

2008-05-28T10:09:00.003-04:00

WINC - 1400 AM
This morning, along with Jerry Tracy, I had the privilege of sitting in with Mike Hamon as he ran his Winchester Morning Magazine from the studios at AM 1400 WINC. Mike was kind enough to let Jerry and me talk about the upcoming Train Wreck at the Winchester Little Theatre.

Mike is a very cordial host - for both his listeners and the guests in his compact studio on North Pleasant Valley Road. He helped this first-time radio guest feel quite comfortable, and he gave Jerry and me a wonderful opportunity to plug the Train Wreck.

Train Wreck, the brainchild of Pat Markland, will be WLT's first foray into the adventurous world of 24-hour theatre. The goal is to create five plays within 24 hours. We will hold auditions, write plays, rehearse, and then perform the plays 24 hours after we started.

Jerry and I are among the five playwrights willing to write through the night of May 30th - each of us attempting to create, before rehearsal starts at 8 am on the 31st, a play that runs ten to twenty minutes . Of course, Friday night I don't expect to get any sleep, but already I've spent a few nights tossing and turning, unsettled by what I've gotten myself into.

One thing gives me confidence: On Saturday morning I'll be handing off my script to my sister Ann, who is coming to Winchester from Brooklyn to direct my play. I can be reasonably sure that the relative superiority of her theatrical training (hers: extensive; mine: zero) will save my bacon come Saturday night when the lights come up on our part of the Train Wreck.

But just in case, I hope that some EMTs will be standing by.

2008-05-05T11:45:00.003-04:00

Ouch!
As brief as this clip it, it shows the entire duration of my friend Mike's career as a cowboy.

After this event Mike was able to walk around in a reasonable way for about an hour before requiring an ambulance ride to the emergency room. Fortunately, he got to play out his Cowboy dream without destroying anything too serious.

2008-03-17T16:15:00.003-04:00

Obama, the Preacher, and the Man

Okay, enough is enough.

I've had it up to here (the top of my head – for those of you not watching me) with this tempest in a teapot about Barack Obama and his church. Basically what people are shouting is that a preacher said something stupid, perhaps more than once, and his parishioner is thereafter not to be trusted. Talk about saying stupid things!

Let's get this part straight: America is basically run by rich white men. That's just the way it has been. And disputing that is foolish. So, if this is what the preacher said then it's not really so stupid after all. Of course what the predominantly conservative people creating this fuss don't like is that the preacher wasn't a nice calm white man like myself making the observation. No, this preacher was damned angry and black when he said it.

Of course he was angry. He's been putting up with the hypocrisy of our rich white male dominated culture for all his life. A black man near the end of his life must be feed up with it, and rightly so. I can afford to be calm about my observation because I'm so close to the rich white male power structure I can barely wash off the stink of it.

Do you think that Bush's preacher has ever said something stupid? I bet he has. I'll even bet that from time to time he's been angry in the pulpit.

I do not trust Bush.

But it has nothing to do with any stupid or angry statements from his pastor.

2008-02-05T13:28:00.000-05:00

How Sweet It Is

A few months ago Hiroko and I were invited, along with just about anyone in Round Hill, to tap our maple trees and have the sap converted to syrup.

On the next to last day of January we tapped (with assistance from Carter, the person responsible for getting the whole maple syrup program started) two of our maple trees. To our delight, as soon as the holes were drilled sap started running from the holes and into our buckets.

By the morning of Super Bowl Sunday we had collected about two gallons of sap. We toted our sap to home of the syrupy ringleader where he was preparing for a big boil. Carter told us that he expected a total of about twenty gallons of sap from the various people participating in the syrup making. A few hours later we stopped by again to see how things were going. The patio was crowded with neighbors talking about the upcoming game of course, but mostly about maple trees, our collective thirty gallons of sap, our neighborhood and the promise of syrup to come. A very congenial gathering on a chilly February afternoon.

When we returned from work the next day we found a jar of syrup on our front porch. How wonderful it was to have in our hands some food that came from the aged maple trees in and around Round Hill.

Now we know that maple trees produce more than the leaves we rake on autumn afternoons.

2008-01-22T11:17:00.000-05:00

"Impotent Economic Stimulus"

Sometime soon an itsy-bitsy sliver of economic stimulus will appear in your mailbox. Like most economic stimulus packages this serves one main purpose, and it isn't economic stimulus.

The biggest benefit to come from any economic stimulus package from the federal government is that it gives a whiff of validity to claims by the White House and legislators that they have been doing good things for the voters. Beyond the whiff there will be no validity to such claims.

The myth behind this package (backed, apparently, by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress) is that by putting another $800 in the pockets of taxpayers the resulting spending will pull our economy from the brink of recession. Fine and dandy. But what are we going to do with those extra $800 which the government is going to borrow for each of us?

I'd say that the vast majority of it will be rushed over to Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy for the next pile of junk made in China. Won't the Chinese businessmen be glad to see that money coming? They will be so glad to get their hands on the money that they'll even lend our government the 150 billion dollars needed for us to buy more clothes, shoes, game boxes, televisions, telephones, computers, and MP3 players from them.

Ironically, it is borrowing, both as a government and as individuals, that has brought us to the brink of this recession to begin with. Somehow, the so-called leaders in Washington figure that borrowing yet another 150 billion is just what the doctor ordered.

What we need to do right now, as a government, is to collect more taxes and payoff some of the debt that our last seven years of reckless spending has made so much worse. We need to say to the rich people of this country that we who are not so rich are taking back some of the money that we have been giving them in the form of our labor. The rich have manipulated our taxes for so long that they are able to make money from the borrowing that has been costing the majority of Americans our jobs and our level of living.

Taxing the rich, for a change, would be a real economic stimulus.

The other thing we can do to stimulate the economy is bring our troops back from Iraq today. The billions of dollars we squander in Iraq produce absolutely nothing – except heartache and ill will. The time is well past for putting an end to the folly that will be President Bush's legacy. This is President Bush's failure. America's failure is that we allowed him to do this. We will be paying for this failure for several generations to come.

2008-01-09T11:47:00.000-05:00

What Price Honesty?

Last night I tried to put a dollar value on honesty. This issue came to mind not because of New Hampshire's extravaganza of presidential politics in which it is much easier to find dollars than honesty, but because of a situation at lunch yesterday.

After a pleasant discussion that included lip service, at least, to the importance of honesty, my companion paid for his lunch with a twenty dollar bill. The cashier returned to him about twenty-three dollars, having mistakenly handing over a twenty dollar bill instead of a ten. My friend immediately saw the mistake and said, "As much as I'd like to walk out of here with this [the twenty] I think you meant to give me a ten." The cashier gratefully made the correction. As we walked to the car my friend commented that most people are honest, at least for ten dollars.

I hope that at this stage in my life and under similar circumstances I would have behaved the same way for ten dollars. But what if the amount was different?

What if in purchasing a house I realized that the washer and dryer included were an unrequested upgrade for which I was not being charged the difference, let's say $200? Should I point this out at closing or save myself the money and save the builder the embarrassment of having the mistake make public?

If an insider told you that due to a programming glitch in a large city's parking fine payment system any fine would be wiped clean for a payment of one dollar, would you take advantage of the information? I learned about this from the programmer who created the glitch, someone I trusted, oddly enough, to be telling the truth. I never shared this with anyone who could have benefited, nor did I ever put myself to the test: after learning about this glitch I made sure never to get a parking ticket in that city. I guess I didn't trust myself.

One evening while buying gas in New Jersey about twenty-five years ago a pump jockey in a hurry gave me an extra dollar with my change then dashed off to take care of another customer. Already on my motorcycle and ready to go I took the windfall and zipped out of the station in a hurry, hoping to be gone by the time the mistake was discovered. For One Dollar! I still recall both the ecstasy at the gain and the dread of being discovered. For One Dollar!

On another occasion, years before that, I found fifty dollars on the sidewalk after a date. I did nothing to find the person who had lost the money. Merrily I blew the money on movies and popcorn – a lot of movies and popcorn back in the era of $4.50 tickets.

Then there was that late late night driving along University Boulevard in College Park when I noticed a little gym bag sitting in the middle of the right lane. "This might be interesting," I thought as I pulled to the side of the road. I retrieved the bag and motored on home.

Once home I discovered that the bag contained some loose marijuana and a couple of joints in a Baggie™, along with about thirty-five dollars in cash and some form of ID card. Now here was an interesting dilemma. Should I have called the person so that I could return the controlled substance and money? Should I have dropped the whole bag on the steps of the police station a couple of blocks from my apartment? This time I don't remember what I blew the cash on, and surely the statute of limitations has by now expired on the disposition of the dope.

As I write this I realize that all of my adventures in keeping other people's money have occurred after sundown. Had these events happened at lunch time, would I have behaved more like my friend did yesterday?

After dark, what would he have done with the ten spot?

2007-12-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Ooops!

Oh, boy. Here's a darned good reason for being late to the office.

The icy road got the better of my good intentions this morning. Fortunately the oncoming traffic on this little two lane road was far enough away to avoid any problem. The tree that creased the bumper, grill, radiator and hood will live to kill again.

Fully half of the people who drove past slowed down - some even stopped - to see if I needed help.

Then there were others who just walked over to take a look. These critters apparently live across the street from the accident site and are frequently treated to the sight of cars or trucks sliding into the woods. They seem very familiar with, and not at all timid about, accident victims.

As kind and gentle as the llamas were, they provided no real assistance. I was sort of hoping that they'd scamper back to the stable or manger or where ever they spend the night to fetch a thermos of coffee. No such luck.

Don't they look nice and warm in their Andes-capable furs? Not so well prepared, myself, I had started thinking about how to unzip one of these beasts from its coat.

Before too long Hiroko came along and chatted with the llamas. I don't know what they were saying, but I bet it had something to do with "man drivers." Eventually their little gabfest ended and Hiroko took me home.

Insurance Related Update: On the day after the crash the insurance claim adjuster called, telling me that the car was officially totaled. This was not surprising news.

There was no significant damage to the tree, nor was there any to me. So one less Explorer on the road is the only lasting outcome of this bit of off-roading.

Note to Impressionable Readers: If you read my profile all the way to the end you will see my tribute to the high-speed work of Mario Andretti. I truely respect his work on the track. And I understand that driving with Andretti-like speed is meant only for the track, not for snowy two-lane roads. Rather than excessive speed, a snow covered stretch of ice did me in this morning. No matter how fast you might wish you could drive, always keep road conditions (surface, weather, traffic, pedestrians, deer, and llamas) on your mind. In other words, don't speed on the public roads.

2007-11-29T00:11:00.000-05:00

"Expelled" for a good reason

I just saw the "supertrailer" for "Expelled" (Ben Stein's soon-to-be-released documentary) and a followup presentation by Todd Norquist. I did not find this impressive in the least. Mr Norquist was a very engaging, entertaining speaker, but not convincing at all. That he garnered applause as his presentation ended was a function of the bias and fundamentalist leaning of the audience rather than of the quality of his comments.

In his comments and the slide presentation (each slide was labeled "Discovery Institute", which is Mr. Norquist's employer) there was an implication that scientists who accept the general notions underlying evolutionary theory are related in some sympathetic way with German National Socialism and the Stalinist purges in Russia and the Ukraine. As a Christian with a scientific approach to studying the natural world I find such innuendoes very insulting.

2007-10-23T10:32:00.000-04:00

They're At It Again

The politics of fear has once again taken center stage in Loudoun and Prince William counties. Prince William's board's recent vote to withhold as many services as possible from those who cannot prove they are "legal" residents of the county reflects a growing willingness to put a mean face on Uncle Sam. However, a scared and cowering face would be more appropriate.

As our nation staggers across the world stage in a rampage of fury we claim the right to change governments and plant democracy where ever we wish. We assert that as the last superpower (an assertion I will dispute at a later time) it is our responsibility to lead the world into battle for the sake of making the world safe for the United States ~ and as an afterthought, for the rest of the freedom loving people of the world. We're a superpower that is afraid of littler countries.

Here at home, the biggest economic engine in the world - willing to squander 12 Billion dollars per month on the twin wars in Iraq and Afghanistan according to Bush's most recent request - is frightened of the economic drain caused by about 12 million people who are here illegally (a distinction that I will dispute at a later time.) No one knows how many of this supposed 12 million are in Prince William County, but you'd think from the words of the politicians they are accountable for most of the problems in the county.

Here in Loudoun County one of the candidates for Sheriff in the upcoming election claims that illegal immigration is the biggest problem we face. Mr. Ahlermann, a former Loudoun County deputy, runs largely on an anti-immigrant platform. Ahlermann might protest that he is not against immigration as long as it is legal immigration. But can we really believe that if a sheriff runs on a platform of combatting illegal immigrants and all the problems they bring (poorly substantiated at best) his duputies will not treat anyone they encounter who has that south-of-the-border look as a potential illegal immigrant?

Immigration issues facing the Unites States cannot be solved by preventing non-citizens without visas from using our libraries. The issues are complex and largely the result of our generally selfish foreign and economic policies. When we citizens decide to look for true solutions instead of political slight of hand we will have to confront the degree to which this is a situation of our own making.

The only scary thing about solving our immigration issues is that manditory look in the mirror.

2007-10-16T14:54:00.000-04:00

Two Plays

This weekend I saw two plays, each a mystery.

Aurora Studio Theatre put on Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap".
Wayside Theatre presented the world premier of "Shadow of the Raven".

Reviews should be coming out in the Purcellville Gazette on October 19.

2007-07-11T13:28:00.000-04:00

Lee Deal
Today I learned that an acquaintance, a collaborator from long ago, died in May.

I met Lee Deal when we were both in a production of "Murder Among Friends" twenty-five years ago. At that time Lee was a young red haired exuberant. He would have been a difficult man to hide - large of body and loud of laugh. Perhaps if he didn't laugh so much you could have hidden him, but he probably would have found the idea laughable. He was not to be hidden. He belonged on stage.

Lee had been on stage many times before that production. It was my first. People in Huntsville knew him, and would come to see him in a play. No one knew me. Yet Lee helped me feel welcome on his stage, helped me feel that my lines were as important as his, helped me feel that the people sitting in the dark wanted to hear my voice as much as his.

In the twenty-five years since that show closed Lee has done many more turns on stage. I have done none. Lee became a fixture in the theatre life of Huntsville, and I have wandered widely. From time to time during my travels I have met others who have, like Lee, allowed me to feel welcome, important, and wanted.

To all of those, and especially to Lee, I tender my gratitude for the generous way in which you have shared your stage with a stranger.

Perhaps there is yet another stage we may share. Until then, Goodbye, Lee.

2007-04-17T20:49:00.000-04:00

Missed Opportunity At Virginia Tech

I cannot fathom how news delivery is any more meaningful when the overpaid anchor of a network news program leaves the well equipped studio in New York to do a remote broadcast. I know for a fact that there are lots of able field reporters already mobile, ready to cover any story anywhere in the world.

Our only hope is that a great number of the news people would register for a journalism refresher course while they are on campus. Those hopes will be dashed, I'm sure.

2007-04-16T21:17:00.000-04:00

Quick and to the Point

A lot of people were killed at Virginia Tech today. They weren't killed with pornography. They weren't killed by the Quran. They weren't killed with condoms. They weren't killed by an open and free exchange of ideas. They were not killed by hearing a dissenting voice. They weren't killed by hiphop music.

They were killed by guns.

When will we learn that freedom and guns do not play well together?

2007-02-15T17:13:00.000-05:00

On a Warmer Day
Because it is so darned cold out today I was wandering through my scrapbook of warmer days and found this scene from along life's highway.
It was one of those days when you don't get a chance to open up the old V-8.
But at least it was warmer.

2007-02-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

Whooeeee! It's Super-Bowl Sunday!

In truth I don't get quite that excited about Super-Bowl Sunday. I like watching the game, even when it is not a good game. The commercials almost always have my attention.

But the all-day hoopla is way over the top. Does anyone have any real need to know how the players slept? Or where they slept? I don't think so.

We have a lot of things going on in the world besides football. There is a lot of healing and cleaning up that we need to get busy with where the big storms hit Friday just a short distance from where the Super-Bowl players either slept or didn't sleep. We still have lots of trouble to straighten out in the mid-east.

And I still have to figure out how to review "Gem of the Ocean."

More Web Wackiness

2007-02-03T23:42:00.000-05:00

How can I thank the people at Blogger.com, or Google - whichever outfit runs this thing now - for giving me another way to compose and publish my Round Hill View posts.
This particular post, for instance, will get to the Round Hill View by way of email.
The brevity of the post derives from the fact that I'm about to leave the computer to join Hiroko in the enjoyment of a late snack.
Ciao!

2007-02-03T23:08:00.000-05:00

A Bit of Relief

Our friend, His Excellency William Clarke, has been in hospitals or treatment facilities of one sort or another for almost one continuous month. He was home for about five days a week or so after having back surgery. For most of this time he has been looking pretty sick - pale, listless, drowsy.

When we visited him today at the Kerner Orthopeadic Hospital he looked much better and had much more energy than previously. To our untrained eyes it seems as though he has turned a corner and will be recovering swiftly now.

Allah be praised.

2007-01-30T17:05:00.000-05:00

Not Much of a January
I am aghast that here it is nearly the end of January and I've posted not a word!
Where did the month go? At least there is no record here of a New Years Resolution committing me to daily posts.
Will next month find me more prolific? No doubt I'll begin to lose my loyal readers if I don't pick up the pace. That alone will spur me on to greater production.
Don't give up on me. Check back again in a few days - maybe Friday night.

2006-12-11T16:33:00.000-05:00

Annan Targets Bush, and Hits the Mark

Kofi Annan spoke pointedly against the policies of the Bush administration today. Already many of our countrymen are railing against the outgoing Secretary General and renewing calls to expel the UN from New York City. No-Child-Left-Behind is supposed to make us smarter, but I guess it hasn't kicked in yet.

Regardless of whether I like or dislike the messenger does not detract from the truth in Annan's remarks. President Bush has led the world further into dangerous waters and has precipitated the deaths of 40,000 or more human beings.

Sec. Annan, given a platform, made a speech that upsets some in our country. Some of us have invested too much of our identity in this president. When someone lays out the truth that our idol has feet of clay it hurts very personally, deeply. If faults can be found in the critic we jump all over that, in this case by launching personal attacks against Annan.

Is it ever dangerous to disregard the harsh words of one we don't like?

I am not equating Annan to the Christ by any means, but let us keep in mind that many people whose lives were rebuked by the words of the Christ had nothing but animosity for him. Just because they didn't like what they heard didn't make it any less true.

Perhaps Annan is guilty of mistakes of judgment, greed, or outright theft. I don't know.

I do know that the charges he leveled against our current administration are valid. To the extent that we continue to embrace the president and his policies his crimes are also ours.

If we heed not criticism because we don't like the source, we are doomed.

2006-12-08T15:44:00.000-05:00

Poor Ted

Today USAToday ran a story about Ted Haggard going under the healing hand of his recovery team. I wish him well.

Many people commented on Haggard's situation, his history, his prospects. Most posts in the USAToday OnDeadline discussion fall into a couple of categories. One group would be those saying, "Oh, here we go again! A hypocrite still clinging to the trappings of ministry will redeem himself and get back into preaching and judging people again." Another big group basically say, "Oh, here we go again! Liberal hypocrates will tell us we can't judge people, but they sure will judge a Christian when he proves to be human." A third group wonder why we are reading last month's news. There were some posts that refer to the immutabililty of sexuality, and others that suggest it is somehow subject to "correction."

Without getting into anything about Haggard himself I will take this opportunity to put forward my own two cents about sexuality.

I think that heterosexuality and homosexuality together describe a continuum. At any point in our lives we occupy a place on that continuum, and where we are can change over time. Most people are generally more heterosexual than they are homosexual. Some people, I think, change rather dramatically during certain phases of their lives. To my way of thinking it doesn't make much sense to ask people to put themselves into a gay box or a straight box. We are people and therefore we can't be boxed quite that directly, definitively.

Why do we even care? Sure, some will say they care because their religious tradition dictates that one must be straight to have spiritual integrity. Okay, but still, why would we care? Sexuality is not the only stumbling block, if indeed it is one, on the road to spiritual integrity. I don't know of anyone who has not found his or her own stumbling blocks. And most of us never get over them, thus leaving the longer part of that road untraveled.

So, to all of you, whether you cling to straightness or gayness as an identity, or whether you wake up every day and have to decide whether you'll try for a date with Brenda or Bob, to all of you I say: Love yourself and find someone you can love today. If today is a day you need to try loving someone new, do that. The main thing is love and recognition that tomorrow is promised to no one.

2006-11-09T12:31:00.000-05:00

Some you win, some you lose

The election of 2006 is over. For the most part the outcome pleases me -- the Congress will no longer be a rubber stamp for our president. On the otherhand, what used to be called the Virginia Bill of Rights now excludes some people from certain rights. I am glad that out in Cousin Dale's new home they had the wisdom to reject a similar measure. Way To Go, Arizona!

Impeachment of George W. Bush? Hmmm. A tastey prospect, I must say. But I hope the newly Democratic Congress will get some nutritious work done first -- realigning the tax code with the real world in which most Americans live, raising the minimum wage, making sure that senior citizens rather than drug manufacturers receive the MediCare Prescription Benefit, and of course, get the US troops out of Iraq. Once we take care of our nutritional needs, maybe then we could have impeachment for dessert.

2006-10-30T13:47:00.000-05:00

Dilemma Over

My attempts to find a local group working to vote down the anti-gay marriage amendment in Virginia did not bear fruit, so there will be no story by me about the PHC students efforts to keep gay Virginians from being married. The amendment also says the state "shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effects of marriage."

I did write a decidedly opion-based piece for the Gazette in which I voice my disapproval of the amendment and the thinking behind it. I don't know yet whether the piece will be published.

2006-10-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

A Dilemma

I received a press release from the Patrick Henry College regarding the efforts of some PHC students to promote what I call the Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment that Virginia voters will deal with on November 7. Mike Farris, the founder, former president and current chancellor of PHC, participated in drafting the amendment, according to the press release. Therefore, it's not really surprising that some students at the small college are actively engaged in propagandizing on its behalf.

As a writer for the Purcellville Gazette I should do something with this press release. My options are:

Sit on it.
Write an article about it.
Find a group with the opposing view and write an article about the two groups.
Forward it to my editor and let her decide what to do.

If I sit on it and do nothing I will disappoint myself as a journalist. It is not my responsibility to provide press coverage to everyone with a cause to promote or story to tell. Yet I believe that doing nothing in this case is inappropriate.

I could write an article about the contents of the press release. One approach would be to try straight reportage -- contact the students involved, clarify any questions in the press release, etc. Another angle might be to editorialize on one of several topics: Young people taking an interest in political action; Out of state students trying to affect Virginia's constitution; Shameful attempt to exclude homosexual citizens from the pleasures (and pains) of marriage.

At this point I don't have much opportunity to locate and access a person or group opposed to the amendment, so the third option is going to be difficult. As a journalist, this is my preferred choice. Although I have very strong feelings about this amendment -- I am strenuously opposed to it -- I wish that I had time to write a good profile of people on both sides of the issue. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen.

If I send the press release on to my editor it is likely that it would appear in the paper without much modification. This would not be satisfying to me, as it lets the college call the tune.

I will post here when I reach a decision on my course of action.

2006-10-02T10:43:00.000-04:00

A Good Weekend Amidst a Good Life

This weekend Hiroko and I enjoyed the company of my cousin Jeff and his wife Meg. The picture is of Jeff, Meg, and me. As is usually the case when I get together with Jeff or one of his brothers there were a lot of laughs and heated political discussion – but since Jeff and I agree on most things political the heat was warming, not scorching.

The cousin relationship carries a very special attribute: we are close enough to be family and at the same time far enough apart that we aren’t in each other’s stuff. My interest in his life and his in mine are genuine. We each care enough to listen to whatever the other has to say about problems, achievements, beliefs, doubts. And wonderfully, there is no expectation that my responses to him will change his life or the way he does anything at all. Similarly, if I completely ignore some advice or opinion he gives me it seems not to hurt him in the slightest. And to make things even better, Meg and Hiroko fit right into this pairing of cousins.

We had a very good weekend.

If it turns out the economy will ever let us join Jeff and Meg in the retired life they enjoy, we look forward to making our times together more frequent.

2006-08-11T11:22:00.000-04:00

Anti-War Success Is Not Failure

Thank goodness Charles Krauthammer is willing to share his wisdom with the Democrats, particularly to show those from Connecticut the error of their way. In Friday’s commentary he wrote that voters who tried to apply the lessons of the Vietnam War to the military orgy in Iraq and Afghanistan were dooming the Democratic party to another forty years in the political wilderness, not laying the groundwork for long term success.

Krauthammer suggests that it was the anti-war left wing of the Democratic party that ruined the Johnson presidency, spoiled the presidential chances of Humphrey, and put the party far outside the mainstream on foreign policy, ultimately preventing any national success (except the “idiosyncratic post-Watergate” accidental election of Jimmy Carter) until the Cold War had been won.

First, the Johnson presidency. The anti-war wing of the Democratic party did not make Johnson continue waging war. Perhaps if LBJ had succumbed more quickly to the anti-war members of his own party he would have been reelected, leaving behind a far different legacy. Johnson, like no president since, expressed a desire that the government actively better the lives of its citizens, especially those who had been least touched by the benefits of a Great Society. Johnson’s personal tragedy, his inability to get out of Vietnam, ruined his presidency, not the heart felt beliefs of many sincere Democrats that war in general must be avoided and the one in Vietnam must be ended.

Hubert Humphrey’s candidacy faced two major problems which when combined resulted in Nixon’s incredibly narrow victory. His first problem, of his own making, was his failure to say, “The war policy is Lyndon’s, not mine.” This cost him support from many people who liked his plans for America, but could see nothing but disaster in the war. Nixon’s “secret plan to end the war” was Humphrey’s other problem. If Nixon had a plan, it certainly was a secret – so secret that he couldn’t locate it after the election. If Nixon’s so-called plan to end the war wasn’t pandering to the anti-war sentiments of middle-America, I don’t know what it could be. Mr. Krauthammer seems to have forgotten that it was Nixon’s Republicans that benefited from its own anti-war electioneering – as unscrupulous as it was.

Unscrupulous? Perhaps I should have saved that word for the next Nixon campaign. The 1972 campaign proved to be, based on the indictments, resignations, and pardons that ensued, the most crooked of the modern era – up to that point. Nixonian tampering with the campaigns of the Democrats during the primary phase and then in the election itself leave wide open the question of who would have been inaugurated in 1973 had the election been honestly pursued. Krauthammer writes of a “newly reshaped McGovernite party” unable to deal with the post-Vietnam Cold War. Well, isn’t that something? The war Nixon had said he had a plan to end still had two and a half tragic years to go, strong Democratic candidates had been sabotaged, and Krauthammer puts the blame on anti-war Democrats.

The problem with Democrats lay not with an anti-war conscience, but with a Republican party led by a man without a conscience.

That seems familiar.

2006-07-07T09:45:00.000-04:00

My Momma Says, Colonialist Is as Colonialist Does

In the news this morning I read that yesterday our president was briefed by our ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. According to the president, Khalilzad delivered information about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's recent trip to several Persian Gulf nations. Khalilzad was in position to give this information because he had accompanied al-Maliki on the trip.

I had to read that part again. The leader of a country, making a three nation tour to neighboring heads of state took along the ambassador from a nation thousands of miles away. How likely is it that when Bush goes to Mexico he will take with him the ambassador from China?

Looked at in this light, one might get the impression that the people al-Maliki visited had greater interest in a little face time with the U.S ambassador to Baghdad than with the leader of Baghdad. Yet, we are not to believe that Iraq is a colony of the United States.

We should be realistic about it. Not long ago our president had a weekend of meetings with his brain trust, so to speak, at Camp David. We were told the principal topic was the Iraq situation – the war, the insurgency, the blossoming of freedom. [My guess is that the principal topic was actually how to cover up our total incompetence in fighting the war, overcoming the insurgency, and planting democratic freedom. But that’s just my opinion.] According to the stories released by the White House, Bush cleverly retired early (if only) on the last evening of the meeting, only to sneak out of the compound and hop a flight to Baghdad.

The story goes on that he flew without incident through Iraqi airspace, arrived unannounced at Bagdad’s airport, was whisked by chopper to the American embassy in the Green Zone, and from there telephoned al-Maliki to announce his arrival and tell al-Maliki to come over to the embassy for a meeting, and to bring his cabinet. I should not have been as surprised as I was that al-Maliki complied. My surprise arose from the notion that a head of state would fly unannounced in to the airspace of a sovereign nation and make a demand that the host head of state come to the visitor’s embassy, along with the cabinet.

Could we imagine Putin, for instance, getting into Russia’s embassy in Washington by helicopter from Dulles airport without NORAD and the air traffic controllers knowing about it, and then demanding that Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld an the gang, come over to the embassy for a sit down? No, probably not. But then, we are not a colony of a superpower.

Iraq is.

Community Theatre

2006-07-06T16:35:00.001-04:00

Support for community theatre in Loudoun County should not slip.

What can you do? Make it a point to attend "The Odd Couple" at Old Stone School in Hillsboro for one of the performances July 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30.

And above all, read the reviews of local theatrical performances in The Purcellville Gazette.