As the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.

-Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?  I’ve been a little occupied I guess.  Sorry.  I know some of you can barely choke down your morning cuppa joe without metaphor to read.  

Friday night was my folks’ 50th wedding anniversary.  Congratulations, Mom & Dad!  Can any of you believe 50 years?  What’s the secret of their protracted connubial bliss?  It’ simple: they’re not finished raising me.  

Bro Joe and his family came to town.  We had a nice, quiet dinner at a restaurant.  I’m working on pictures of that.

I’ve started working out, strength training with a personal trainer. I’ve been way too tired and sore for blogging.  I’m kidding, I feel fine.  More energetic, if anything.  But I do not have pictures of that.  

Didja watch the game yesterday?  I did.  It was pretty good.  My favorite part?  The Bud commercials, especially the one where the little Clydesdale wants to pull the wagon.  And I don’t drink, but if I did I’d be in a mood for Bud today, by golly.  Did you miss any of the ads?  You can see them all on their Web site.  

I have been reading, and listening to, a speech in 1953 by President Eisenhower, in those times before evil men sent scuttling minions forth from the crypts of power to speak to us as though we were cowards and fools. If you want to see the elegance and depth with which the president used to speak, follow this link.

What can the world, or any nation in it, hope for if no turning is found on this dread road?

The worst to be feared and the best to be expected can be simply stated.

The worst is atomic war.

The best would be this: a life of perpetual fear and tension; a burden of arms draining the wealth and the labor of all peoples; a wasting of strength that defies the American system or the Soviet system or any system to achieve true abundance and happiness for the peoples of this earth.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.

Bono Pushes U.S. to Increase Aid to Poor – Yahoo! News

This man is pretty amazing. I think he should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Well, the Capital Police have apologized for arresting Cindy Sheehan last night, at the president’s annual Trust Me, I’m Not A Megalomaniac speech. Which is nice. What would’ve been better? A little training day for the officers, on the fundamentals of the US Constitution.

I really think somebody needs to lose a job over this one, as a matter of principle. Though I’ll bet Ms. Sheehan isn’t entirely sorry. She went there to make a statement, not to hear the speech, and damned if she didn’t. A lot more so than if her shirt had been on camera once or twice.

Just for yucks, read the article. You don’t want to miss the part about the other woman who got tossed out.

US News Article Reuters.com

Never judge a book by its movie.
  – JW Eagan

ABC News: Newspapers Republish Muhammad Caricatures

I don’t like seeing mockery of God. I don’t like seeing Jesus depicted as an effette talkshow host on South Park. But I agree that dogma has no right to impose itself on others. In fact, I maintain that no one has the right not to be offended.

Happy Birthday, Galway. I have loved your poems for over twenty years. I remember sitting with your book in the university library, reading strange, dark New England flavored lines, again and again. I remember your vapor trails, mystical trees, your small fires of thought.

Do you remember the reading you gave in Santa Barbara, the year you published Imperfect Thirst? And the cake in the likeness of your book? I was the guy who carried it eight blocks in the rain. I couldn’t find a closer place to park, and sometimes I’m an idiot. I recall you had a cold.

I have been in love with your love of words and people I will never meet, so come again. I’ve grown this wise: I’m not afraid to double park.

CNN.com – Sheehan arrested in House gallery – Jan 31, 2006

She refused to cover up a shirt with an anti-war slogan, so in a refreshing tribute to the First Amendment, the Bush Administration arrested her… In in the US Capital. Unfarkingbelievable.

For you pet lovers – especially cat people – out there, metaphor recommends:

My Four-Legged Heart Specialists
By Carol Smith

Although I didn’t know how deathly ill I was, my two cats did–and became my ‘pacemakers.’

The New York Times has this article about Harper Lee, and her gracious appearance at an annual event in Alabama.  

Sometimes I wish she’d written another book after To Kill a Mockingbird, but what would one write after that?  And I can always read it again.