Nobody 837

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Nobody # 837

Nobody Asked Me But:

The picture above was taken at the Simon Pearce restaurant in Vermont where your author is about to turn water into wine.<<<

“Marijuana kills brain cells.” Police spokesman opposing Prop 19.

Ah, Mr. Policeman, perhaps you don’t know (or are avoiding the subject). Alcohol also kills brain cells. Why don’t I see you crusading for a new age of prohibition? In fact, I am willing to bet that you have lost a few brain cells by taking an occasional drink.

After much thought, I am going to vote yes on Prop 19, the measure to legalize marijuana in my state. Hypocrisy undermines a society’s values, and it is hypocritical to allow and promote the use of alcohol and tobacco, while creating criminals out of pot users. So I say, let us legalize, regulate and tax the stuff.

Personal note: I don’t use marijuana. I have used it fewer than a dozen times, all in my distant past. I never liked the process or the high.<<<

The Social Network

I haven’t seen a movie this good all year and I doubt that I will see a better one. The story of Mark Zukerberg, the man who started Facebook, and the country’s youngest billionaire, is told mostly in flashback, but its pace never slackens nor did my fascination ever fade. Zuckerberg is a brilliant egotist with a small ruthless streak, but I saw him as primarily an innocent – a young man who wants to be famous and popular and doesn’t quite know how to pull it off. That’s the great irony of his story. Zuckerberg is a social zephyr who creates the most widely used socialization tool of all time.<<<

When I see pictures of the Chrystal Cathedral, (picture) now bankrupt, in all its ostentatious grandeur, I remember fondly all the simple white, wooden churches of New England. If I were religious I would want to worship in a building like these. (picture)

If there were a God, I somehow think She would feel the same.<<<

I don’t care what the Vatican claims - Homer Simpson is no Catholic.<<<

It is a shame that in a D.C. filled with incompetents and political hacks, a senator who is neither, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, is going to lose. It is both surprising and sad, because the Dairy State has such a history of great Senators - Joe, “der Fuhrer” McCarthy being the obvious exception.<<<

And on the subject of Senator Joe, I knew he was an evil man, but listening to Hayes Johnson’s excellent book, “The Age of Anxiety,” makes me realize that an American demagogue can fool too many of the people for far too long.<<<

“Do not speak evil of the dead.” Dean Acheson, upon the death of Joe McCarthy, a man who had reviled him.

Sorry Dean, I don’t buy it. Any person who spent his life being evil, and Joe was just one of many, deserves to be remembered publically for his misdeeds.<<<

It was interesting to read last week that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that the attempt at a multicultural society has “utterly failed” in her country. I admit that I wonder if the same result is going to happen in America. In a land of multi-language ballots and multi-national identities, is it pluribus unum becoming e pluribus pluribus?<<<

THE WALL OF SHAME

Shame on President Obama’s Justice Department - for its courtroom defense of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell.” Doing what’s right doesn’t need time and studies. Harry Truman didn’t need them to desegregate the military in 1947.

Shame on Nevada voters - for even giving Sharon Engle a shot at winning its Senate seat. The argument that she will only be one out of 100 and can’t do very much damage lowers the value of her seat to zero.

Shame on Virginia Thomas – for, after all these years, trying to pressure Anita Hill into an apology for telling the truth.

Shame on The Boy Scouts – for telling a gay leader to take a hike.

Shame on the U.S. for not exercising better control over its Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq and for not punishing their excesses.

Shame on National Public Radio for terminating the contract of one of its news analysts, Juan Williams, after he said on a Fox News show that he gets nervous when he sees people with Muslim garb on planes. Any of us can know that it was not Muslims but Muslim terrorists who acted on 9/11, but since terrorists do not wear a scarlet T, it is natural to worry a bit.<<<

BUT WORRY OR NOT, IT IS WRONG TO ACT WITHOUT JUST CAUSE!

I love it – Kim Severson, a four-time James Beard award-winning food writer, has an article entitled "An extensive collection of vinegars for all occasions.”<<<

Will someone please explain this? The NBA denies banning a new basketball shoe from Athletic Propulsion labs but says they will not be allowed on the court.<<<

Tom Bosley, number 9 on TV Guide’s list of 50 Greatest TV Dads, died this past week. He would be much higher than 9 on my list. After all, he not only fathered Richie and Joanie through their difficult teen years but also father-figured the Fonz, and that was no easy parenting. So I would place Howard Cunningham (Bosley) in the number 3 spot, trailing only the Yin, Archie Bunker (Carol O’Conner) and the Yang, Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby).<<<

Dumbing down in Delaware - "Where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?" - Christine O’Donnell. It is not just the Constitution that confuses Christine. She still maintains that there are 11 commandments in her bible – the 11^th being Thou shalt not masturbate unless you use a catcher’s mitt.

You know how much I loved “the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” but when the Barry Awards named it the Best Mystery/Crime Novel of a Decade in which one of the nominees was Dennis Lehane’s superb “Mystic River,” they messed up royally. And speaking of Lehane, my most anticipated novel of the Fall is “Moonlight Mile,” his sequel to “Gone, Baby Gone” due out on November 2.<<<

Conservatives love unregulated capitalism and hate anarchy, which, when you stop and think about it, is strange, because unregulated capitalism is economic anarchy.<<<

Most Americans still think that the bailouts of the banks, the auto companies and American International Group will wind up costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, when, in fact, the latest guess is that the government will come out even on the deal, and may even turn a profit.

Many Americans think that the economic stimulus package has been a failure, when, in fact, the estimates from a wide range of experts say the stimulus has saved or created more than 3 million jobs. – both by Steven Pearlstein business columnist for the Washington Post.

I think the mistake here is in the first three words of each paragraph – Most Americans think.<<<

Here’s another reason why Meg Whitman shouldn’t be elected governor. She went to the Black Bear Diner in Redding and did not order a blackberry malt.<<<

Another of life’s great philosophical questions:

Why do the readers of all my audio books that take place in Norway and Sweden use a British accent?