October 31:  Happy Halloween!  Hope you set your clocks back.

John Keats' birthday. (1795)  "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be"

HEN I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,

Before high-pilèd books, in charact'ry,

Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain;

When I behold, upon the night's starred face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace,

Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour

That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,

Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

Dick "Fuck Yourself" Cheney headlines Saturday's Doonesbury: 

Kurt Vonnegut on the Skull & Bones Election.

Better off under Saddam:

First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.  Then they came for the Communists, and I

did not speak out because I was not a Communist.  Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because

I was not a trade unionist.  Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me. Pastor Martin Niemöller

October 30: : From an interview with George W.'s professor: 

    T: In thirty years you always remember the two kinds of students. One is really good. The other is a George Bush kind.

Terrible. Intellectually very shallow. But more importantly immature, but lacking the sense of responsibility, compassion,

always indulging in denials when he is called on in his lies.  And lies came very easily to him.

    S: What kind of lies would he tell?
       
    T: Lots of times the students, just the eh. For example. One statement that he made still stuck with me. We were

discussing how the United States Government should help the lower income group or people on the fixed pension to adjust

themselves to the high energy costs during the oil crisis, to bring in the fairness into the US economic policies. And he raised

the issues and he said, “People are poor because they are lazy.” Those are the lies. And he goes into ranting and all kinds of

things that there are no racial discriminations in the United States because at the times the civil rights movement was still

smoldering. Read the rest.  (Thanks to Donny in Worcester.)

It's Ezra Pound's birthday. (1895)  He wrote, "The whole Jew part of the Bible is black evil." (ABC of Economics).  And this:

". . . better keep out the jews or yr/grand children will curse you jews, real jews, chazims, and neschek also super-neschek

or the international racket." (Canto 52)  I suppose that just about says it all.  "The Jew Part of the Bible?"  D'oh!  A real

scholar. 

It's also Paul Valery's birthday.  (1871)  "God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through. "  He

also said, "Our most important thoughts are those that contradict our emotions."

Dick "Fuck Yourself" Cheney caught with his fat little fist in the Halliburton cookie jar.  "Among the evidence cited in the

complaint was an internal 2003 Pentagon e-mail that says the Iraq contract 'has been coordinated' with Cheney’s White

House office."  In a related story, the FBI is investigating Halliburton.  Do you suppose the GOP fogramites have stopped

reading the newspapers until next Wednesday?  What does Cheney's boss have to say about the Fuck Yourself's  latest

shenanigans?                               
               

Hey, George W., you churlish, motley-minded codpiece, here's the man you were looking for, the man that could run but

couldn't hide, the man you wanted dead or alive: 

He's got a message for you.   Please see video! 

October 29: James Boswell's birthday. (1791)  "Dr Johnson had for many years given me hopes that we should go together,

and visit the Hebrides. Martin's Account of those islands had impressed us with a notion that we might there contemplate a

system of life almost totally different from what we had been ccustomed to see; and, to find simplicity and wildness, and all

the circumstances of remote time or place, so near to our native great island, was

an object within the reach of reasonable curiosity.  Dr Johnson has said in his

Journey, 'that he scarcely remembered how the wish to visit the Hebrides was

excited'; but he told me, in summer, 1763, that his father put Martin's Account into

his hands when he was very young, and that he was much pleased with it. We

reckoned there would be some inconveniencies and hardships, and perhaps a little

danger; but these we were persuaded were magnified in the imagination of every

body." 

A deserted house in the north of the Hebrides.  Photo by Sam Maynard.

Shopping in the No-Spin Zone:

Vibrator O'Reilly settled his case.  Can't wait for the tapes to hit the Internet. 

"The best defense against voter suppression is to flood the polls. As Jim Hightower says, 'There are only so many votes they

can prevent or steal -- a massive turnout will overwhelm their perfidy." -- Katrina vanden Heuvel

This takes a little edge off the Red Sox celebration.  No surprise, I suppose.  Most millionaires are Republicans.  Plus the

guy's a self-described Christian, didn't believe in "the curse."  Oh, really, Curt?  You didn't realize the curse was a

manufactured hype campaign?  But you believe in angels!  Dope-slap time!  Red Sox fans in New England should

greet this troglodyte with Kerry banners.  At least he won't be around when we win it all again in 2090. 

Better off under Saddam:

LONDON (Reuters) - Deaths of Iraqis have soared to 100,000 above normal since the Iraq war mainly due to violence and

many of the victims have been women and children, public health experts from the United States said Thursday.

    Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess deaths, or more have happened since the 2003

invasion of Iraq," researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland said in a report

published online by The Lancet medical journal.

    "Violence accounted for most of the excess death and air strikes from (U.S.-led) coalition forces accounted for the most

violent deaths," the report added.

Bush Administration resorts to a Tommy Flanagan explanation of the whereabouts of all those tons of explosives now in the

hands of the evil-doers:  "The bombs were, ah, they were gone, yeah, that's the ticket, gone, long before we got there.  We

never saw them. Yeah!  That's right, gone."  From The Daily Mislead: Bush administration is pushing the theory that the

380 tons of explosives were missing from the Al Qaqaa storage facility before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Administration

spokesman Dan Senor said on CNN that "there's a very high probability that those weapons weren't even there before the

war."  For days, this theory has been in direct conflict with a Pentagon official, who told the Associate Press on Monday,

"US-led coalition troops had searched Al Qagaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that

the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact."  Now, video shot in Iraq by a Minneapolis news

team provides further proof that the administration's theory is bogus. After the invasion - on April 18, 2003 - the Minneapolis

ABC news crew was stationed just south of the Al Qaqaa facility.  That day, they drove 2 to 3 miles north with the 101st

http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1154906&l=65509.  These people cannot not lie. 

George W(inston) Bush:

The Guardian's ten worst cover songs ever.  Sid's "My Way" doesn't make the cut.   

October 28: Is this the end of Tom DeLay?  If not, why not?   How much of a lowlife and criminal do you have to be before

some Texans will fire your ass? 

Better off under Saddam:

Here's a new book you might want to take a look at.  Blessings of Hard-Used Angels.   Brilliant stories from the American

South.  

Mark Twain, a long time ago:  "O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover

their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of

their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the

hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to

wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and

the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it."

Got this e-mail just now from Timothy Gktou:  "My pills is an all natural herbaceous pills containing a assortment of grasses

known for advancing intimate desire with discharge. By victimisation this lozenge you should undergo an increase in

intimate longing, an amelioration in your size and fulfilment, likewise as increased power and joy during sexual activity." 

I'm wondering about that victimisation. 

Sox win!  Sox win!  In the least exciting Series in my life.  But they win! 

The film villain of the year beat a shortlist that included the nefarious Doctor Octopus, played by Alfred Molina, in

Spider-Man 2; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"s cannibalistic Leatherface; Andy Serkis' creepy Gollum from Lord of the

Ring trilogy; and Elle Driver, the eyepatch-wearing assassin played by Daryl Hannah in Kill Bill.  Three guesses

who.  The first two don't count. 
 

George Bush has a word for American voters: 

October 27:  Just how brain-dead the fogramites voting for Bush really are:  Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer

to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq

had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe

Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. . . .

Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63%

believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the

conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission.  Read the

rest from Jim Hightower and weep, gnash your teeth.  How do you reason with intransigent ignorance? 

Billy Buckner and quantum mechanics.  Dennis Overbye speaks for Red Sox Nation.  And this year there will be no collapse

of the wavepacket.  "My gloominess got me banished from watching at my girlfriend's house. So it was that I was alone in my

house on the night of Oct. 25, 1986, when I switched on the television to find Boston ahead in the 10th inning of Game 6

and one strike from victory.  And I succumbed and said the magic fatal words.

    "That instant of belief, of course, was what the universe was waiting for. It was as if a circuit suddenly closed and a signal

had flashed instantaneously across space-time and into Shea Stadium."

Sox win!  Sox win!   By the way if you were wondering where Bill Buckner is these days, he's in Idaho and he's not watching

the Sox. 

Go to the movies:  http://homepage.mac.com/duffyb/nobush/iMovieTheater231.html   Hysterical stuff.  John Stewart on

Crossfire!  Triumph the Insult Dog in the Spin Zone!  And lots more.  Thanks to Blythe in Miami Beach. 

Is it time to rethink the Electoral College?  Or do you like minority presidents? 

I told you we'd fuck it up--Florida can't vote.  Broward County, my county, is the biggest Democratic stronghold in the state,

but they've lost 58,000 absentee ballots!  The lines here for early voting are an hour and a half long.  Will they lose those

too?  My students, who registered in August and September when they showed up, have not received their voter ID's. 

It's Sylvia Plath's birthday.  (1932)   "Poppies in October"

Even the sun-clouds this morning cannot manage such skirts.
Nor the woman in the ambulance
Whose red heart blooms through her coat so astoundingly --

O my God, what am I
That these late mouths should cry open
In a forest of frost, in a dawn of cornflowers.

Better off under Saddam:

October 26:  Back from the FIU/Seaside Writers' Conference.  Trying to catch up with what went neglected. 

For the guy who can't chew gum and copulate at the same time.

Bush Wins Florida?  Click on the video to see how it's done: http://www.boomchicago.nl/Section/Videos

World's oldest man is rooting for the Red Sox!   I don't want to be at the nursing home if they lose. 

Susan Larson writes about the upcoming Louisiana Book Festival in the Times-Picayune. 

Bush Administration incompetence reaches new heights.  Thanks to them the world is now a much scarier place.  We

went to Iraq, they said, to secure weapons of possible mass destruction.  Whoops!  (Thanks to Wayne in Manhattan.)

Kerry Statement on Bush’s Failure to Secure Explosives in Iraq

Dover, NH – Senator John Kerry released the following statement on the Bush administration’s failure to secure nearly

380 tons of high-grade explosives in Iraq:

    “George W. Bush who talks tough and brags about making America safer has once again failed to deliver. After being

warned about the danger of major stockpiles of explosives in Iraq, this administration failed to guard those stockpiles–where

nearly 380 tons of highly explosive weapons were kept. Today we learned that these explosives are missing, unaccounted for

and could be in the hands of terrorists.

    “Terrorists could use this material to kill our troops and our people, blow up airplanes and level buildings.

    “In May of this year, the administration was warned that terrorists may be helping themselves to ‘the greatest explosives

bonanza in history.’ And now we know that our country and our troops are less safe because this president failed to do the

basics. This is one of the great blunders of the Bush policy in Iraq.

    “The unbelievable incompetence of this president and his administration has put our troops at risk. George W. Bush has

failed the essential test of any commander in chief to keep America safe.

    “Every step of the way this administration has miscalculated – miscalculated about how many troops we need. Secretary

Rumsfeld cavalierly dismissed the danger of looting -- and now we know the impact.

    “Make no mistake: our troops are the best-trained and best-led forces in the world, and they have been doing their job

honorably and bravely. The problem is the Commander-in-Chief has not being doing his.

    “If President Bush can’t recognize his failures in Iraq, he can’t fix them. And he’s doomed to repeat the same mistakes

there and elsewhere. We can’t afford to risk four more years of George W. Bush.

    “With President Bush, we face the prospect of a war that’s spiraling out of control in Iraq. As president, I will succeed in

Iraq and bring our troops home.”

 

Another Republican for Kerry.   Former Minnesota Governor Elmer Anderson: "Sen. John Kerry was correct when he said

that seemingly it is only Bush and Dick Cheney who still believe their own spin. Both men spew outright untruths with

evangelistic fervor. For Bush -- a man who chose to have his father help him duck service in the military during the Vietnam

War -- to disparage and cast doubt on the medals Kerry won bravely and legitimately in the conflict of battle is a travesty." 

(Thanks to Nancy in Coral Springs.)

The Chicago Sun-Times, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Orlando Sentinel and The Commercial-Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.,

were among the 24 papers that backed Bush in 2000 but today chose Kerry.  Endorsements! 
 

The New York Times Magazine has a piece on Alice Munro.  The article doesn't offer anything new, really.  But it's Alice.

Runaway released today! 

Jonathan Yardley is not a J. D. Salinger fan.

Better off under Saddam:

See Fahrenheit 9/11 for free!  Rent it for your GOP friends (if that's not an oxymoron).   You won't find it at Nutbuster's.

Support your independent video store! 

October 19:  Civil liberties?  Not on our watch.   Fogramites squash freedom of speech. 

Blocking the vote.  Paul Krugman continues documenting the sound of democracy swirling down the toilet.  Brother Jeb, our

plump little shithead in Tallahassee, smiles, bats his eyes, looks demure as he steals another one for the party.  (Now,

Johnny, you didn't have to call him a "shithead."  He's just an arrogant aristocrat with a decided contempt for the democratic

process and a total disregard for the lives of the poor and the disenfranchised.  On second thought, maybe "shithead" does fit.

He's pretty much destroyed public education in Florida, after all.  Of course he didn't do it alone--had the GOP senate and

house to help.  Still, maybe he deserves our sympathy.  His wife's got the smuggling problem, after all; his daughter, the

drug problem; one brother's a thief and swindler; another's, well, you know, a snarling disgrace to humanity.  Thank god,

though, only the little people have to obey the law.  And I bet all the Bush's sleep well at night.)

Off to the Seaside Writers' Conference.  Cindy's taking her computer.  I may or may not be able to blog.  If not, I'll be back

next Monday.

Another reprehensible and brain-dead Republican running for re-election this one in Colorado's Fourth Congressional

District.  Marilyn Musgrave.  Here's a letter she sent to her constituents: 

Dear friend of the family,

    Radical homosexual-agenda leaders have declared me Public Enemy #1 and are spending over a million dollars on vicious,

false TV ads to defeat me.  I need your help.  You may know that I have been the U.S. House leader to protect traditional

marriage from the radical agenda of the homosexual lobby by sponsoring the Marriage Protection Amendment.  What you

may not know is that the last sponsor of the Amendment was defeated for re-election, and now the bull's eye is on my back.

Leaders of the homosexual lobby know if they can take me out, no one will stand against them in the future.  I have no

other choice but to ask for urgent help from pro-family Americans like you.

    I’m also worried that if I don’t raise enough money for our ad campaign, I will be powerless to respond to these vicious

attacks against me.  Unlike the homosexual lobbies’ ads, my ad campaign will be based on truth and compare my solid record

to that of my opponent, liberal Democrat Stan Matsunaka. 

    Stan Matsunaka fears the truth because he knows his record in the State Senate shows he supports homosexual

marriage and will promote it as a U.S. Congressman.  If we allow these vicious ads to go unanswered then Stan Matsunaka

and the radical homosexual lobby could succeed by deceiving the voters, and win on Election Day.

    (Thanks to Donny for the lead.) 

And we have our own Bush Administration sleazebag running for the U. S. Senate.  Mel Martinez is so contemptible that the

St. Petersburg Times rescinded its endorsement of the lowlife saying the Martinez "took his campaign into the gutter with

hateful and dishonest attacks on his strongest [Republican primary] opponent, former U. S. Rep. Bill McCollum."  Martinez

called McCollum "the darling of the homosexual extremists," because he supported a hate-crime law and labeled him

"antifamily" for his support of stem-cell research.  This is what our country has come to? 

Yoshi Tsurumi, professor at Harvard Business School, on his student George W.:  "[Bush] showed pathological lying habits

and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30

seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him."  Sound familiar? 

William Trevor review in the SF Chronicle.

Better off under Saddam:

"This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to

kill them all."  Bruce Bartlett, Bush advisor, as quoted by Ron Suskind
 

October 18:  Kerry for President:  the Boston Globe; New York Times;  our own Sun-Sentinel; even the Miami Herald; the

San Francisco Chronicle; Dayton Daily News;  Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  And here's a further run-down of endorsements to

date from Editor and Publisher.   Of particular interest:  "Among Kerry's new supporters were five papers that had backed

Bush in 2000: the Bradenton Herald in Florida, the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, the Columbia Tribune Missouri, the

Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and the Muskegon (MI) Chronicle."

Things fall apart. Novelist Chinua Achebe rejects Nigerian award.

The Sox did not go gentle into that good night.  Live to play another day.  Way past my bedtime.  

Another scintillating prose passage from Bill "Snorkel Man" O'Reilly's novel:  "Ashley was now wearing only brief white

panties. She had signaled her desire by removing her shirt and skirt, and by leaning back on the couch. She closed her eyes,

concentrating on nothing but Shannon's tongue and lips. He gently teased her by licking the areas around her most sensitive

erogenous zone. Then he slipped her panties down her legs and, within seconds, his tongue was inside her, moving rapidly."
 

It's Chuck Berry's birthday.  (1926) 

Yeah 'n' I'm doin' all right in school.
They ain't said I broke no rule.
I ain't never been in Dutch.
I don't browse around too much
Don't bother me, leave me alone
Anyway, I'm almost grown

I don't run around with no mob.
Got myself a little job
I'm gonna buy me a little car,
Drive my girl in the park
Don't bother, leave us alone
Anyway, we almost grown


Got my eye on a little girl.
Ah, she's really out of this world.
When I take her to a dance,
She's got to talk about romance.
Don't bother, leave us alone
Anyway, we almost grown


You know I'm still livin' in town.
But I done married and settled down.
Now I really have a ball
So I don't browse around at all
Don't bother, leave us alone
Anyway, we almost grown
 

How do you feel about Bush now?  Bush lied, children died.  On November 2, you can say, That's enough.

October 17:  From the NYT Magazine.  Ron Suskind on Bush.  Pretty scary.  Some excerpts.  Quoting a Fogramite

functionary:  ". . . if Bush wins, there will be civil war in the Republican Party on Nov 3." 

    Same guy: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He

believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands

them, because he's just like them. . . ."

    "A cluster of particularly vivid qualities was shaping George W. Bush's White House through the summer of 2001: a

disdain for contemplation or deliberation, an embrace of decisiveness, a retreat from empiricism, a sometimes bullying

impatience with doubters and even friendly questioners."

    Rev. Wallis: ''When I was first with Bush in Austin, what I saw was a self-help Methodist, very open, seeking.  What I

started to see at this point was the man that would emerge over the next year -- a messianic American Calvinist. He doesn't

want to hear from anyone who doubts him.''

    Bush senior advisor:  ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that

reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things

will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

    "I'm going to be real positive, while I keep my foot on John Kerry's throat.'' --George W. Bush

Fox News strikes back at . . . no not at Bill "Snorkel Man" O'Reilly, but at his accuser. 

Kurt Vonnegut and Kilgore Trout talk for the last time. 

Once we defeat Bush, we go after the Congress.  Look what these thieves have been up to.  Thank god for Bill Moyers.

U.S. rejects U. N. women's rights plan.  Bush objects to the phrase in the plan "sexual rights."  How pathetic are these

people?  If you know any women voting for Bush (and I hope you are not so cursed), please direct them to this article. 

October 16:  The word of the day Friday was fogram or fogrum (FO-gruhm) noun; a person with old-fashioned or overly

conservative attitudes; adj. antiquated, old-fashioned, out-of-date.  Couldn't find it in the American Heritage, but there it

was in the OED, along with this fogramite, a fogy; fogramity, and antiquated thing.  And then this quote: "The fogramites, a

supposed club of imbeciles."  I think we've found a new old word for Republicans.  Those fogies.  George W., the fogyish

 Lord of Fogeydom. 

Blogactive disagrees with Lynne Cheney, et. al., who think

daughter Mary's lesbianism should not ever be mentioned in

public or in a campaign.  She runs her daddy's campaign for

starters--she's a public figure.  And she was a very public shill for

Coors, where her job was to convince gay men and women to end

their years-long boycott of Coors, which is run by homophobic

magnate, Heritage Foundation underwriter, and Senate candidate

 Pete Coors.  Don't they know it's okay to be lesbian?  Afraid of offending the Fogramites? 

Fall must be coming.  Four new birds at the feeders yesterday--a female painted bunting, gray catbird, a black-throated blue

warbler and a yellow-throated warbler. 

Transcript of Jon Stewart on Crossfire.  STEWART: Now, this is theater. It's obvious. How old are you?  CARLSON:

Thirty-five. STEWART: And you wear a bow tie. 

What's wrong with being liberal?  Helen Thomas. 

Smashing the Pumpkin.  Billy Corgan's poetry?  Not so good. 

The novel is dead (once again)!   Long live the novel! 

 Bill O"Reilly's so-called life imitates his so-called art.  From Riffle.   Here's O"Reilly's prose from Those Who Trespass: 

Stripping off her bathing-suit [sic], she walked into the huge shower.  She pulled the lime green curtain across the

entrance and then set the water for a tepid 75-degrees[sic]. The spray felt great against her skin as she ducked her

head underneath the nozzle. Closing her eyes she concentrated on the tingling sensation of water flowing against her

body.  Suddenly another sensation entered, [sic] Ashley felt two large hands wrap themselves around her breasts and

hot breathe [sic] on the back of her neck. She opened her eyes wide and giggled, [sic] "I thought you drowned out

there [sic] snorkel man."

    Tommy O'Malley was naked and at attention. "Drowning is not an option", [sic] he said, "unless of course you beg

me to perform unnatural acts – right here in this shower."

(I'm not sure if the errors are from the transcription by Riffle or are in the novel itself.  The dog ate my copy.) 

Snorkel Man? 

October 15:  Getting dizzy in the no-spin zone.  O'Reilly's sexual harassment law suit.  The Smoking Gun, God bless them,

has posted the complaint filed by the (allegedly) harassed producer.  It doesn't get much creepier than this.  I sure hope she

got it all on tape.  O'Reilly responds on Fox site.   And O"Reilly wouldn't lie.   Or would he?  Well, maybe about where he

grew up, but who doesn't?   About his party affiliation--he was a registered Republican when he claimed to be an

Independent.  He forgot!  All right he lied about his book sales too, but that's marketing.  Anyway, I'm sure he's telling the

truth this time.  My goodness, in his book, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids, Bill writes, "Sex is best when you combine sensible

behavior with sincere affection."  Masturbating on the phone with your producer is not sensible.  Ergo: Bill is innocent. 

End of story.  Let's give Bill the last word:   “Even though I am now famous and successful, I still keep my old friends. And

believe me, none of them looks like Jennifer Aniston. It would not be hard being her friend.”

National Book Award finalists.

What the world is thinking, hoping. 

October 14:  Who won?  Kerry.  Kerry.  Kerry.  Kerry.  Kerry.  Kerry.  Kerry even wins on the Fox Fake News poll!  And

the realigned bulge is back.

Vote in Online Polls

National and local news organizations will be conducting online polls during and after the debate asking for readers'

opinions. Look for online polls at these news websites, and make sure to vote in every one of them:

• CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/
• CNN: http://www.cnn.com/
• Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/
• MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
• Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/
• Akron Beacon-Journal: http://www.ohio.com/
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: http://www.ajc.com/
• Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/
• Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/
• Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/
• Orlando Sentinel: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
• Philadelphia Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/
• South Florida Sun-Sentinel: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/

And be sure to check the websites of your local newspapers and TV stations for online polls. It is crucial that you do this in

the minutes immediately following the debate.

Make sure swing voters know why you support John Kerry by sharing your thoughts on message boards in target states.

Visit our 2004 Debate Center after the debate for a list of message boards where you can fight the Republican spin. If you

visit chat rooms on AOL, MSN,

A musical interlude and multi-media show sent by Richard in the Keys.  http://filmstripinternational.com/

Voter fraud isn't just for Florida anymore:

Jimmy Carter said we all need to be vigilant about voter fraud in Florida again this year and scrutinize the process. Looks like

that applies to the rest of the country, too. In Nevada, employees of a GOP-funded voter registration company say they

watched their supervisors rip up Democrats' registration forms -- and that hundreds and maybe thousands of Democrats'

forms have been trashed.

Geraldine Sealy in Salon  (thanks to Mike!)

And more on that story from Vegas via The Pessimist.

The liberation of Iraq. 

October 13:  From Doonesbury's  "Honest Voices Reading List."  Letter home from a Wall Street Journal reporter.  A little

sunshine in Bush's dark closet. 

Another compassionate conservative runs for the House.  Raw Story breaks the news on NY State Rep John "Randy" Kuhl, a

gent who threatened to shoot his wife at a dinner party with one or both of the shotguns he was wielding, who, according to

court documents, was guilty of cruel and inhuman treatment of his wife, who solicited other women in front of his wife, who

has a history of spousal and alcohol abuse, who was arrested for DUI and convicted, who has continually refused treatment

for his alcoholism, and who now sees the publication of his loathsome personal history as "orchestrated political sabotage." 

These Republican reprobates are stunning in their arrogance, aren't they?  Meanwhile, newspapers including the illustrious

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, were sent the public documents but failed to report them--the D&C  did report  Kuhl's

lame retort.  Fair and balanced reporting in Western New York.  Tell your friends in the Finger Lakes about this monster. 

Mystery of the bulge solved:

Steve Bell in the Guardian.

Democracy Saudi-style.   In a related story, Bush demands democracy in the Middle East.  And by democracy he means the

men in the Saudi royal family can vote for each other.  Gets tough on Iran:  ". . . the regime in Tehran must heed the

democratic demands of the Iranian people, or lose its last claim to legitimacy." 

Homeland Security makes America safe from breasts.   John Ashcroft breathes a sigh of relief. 

Paul Krugman checking the facts: 

It's not hard to predict what President Bush, who sounds increasingly desperate, will say tomorrow. Here are eight lies or

distortions you'll hear, and the truth about each:

Jobs:  Mr. Bush will talk about the 1.7 million jobs created since the summer of 2003, and will say that the economy is

"strong and getting stronger." That's like boasting about getting a D on your final exam, when you flunked the midterm and

needed at least a C to pass the course.  Mr. Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a

decline in payroll employment. That's worse than it sounds because the economy needs around 1.6 million new jobs

each year just to keep up with population growth. The past year's job gains, while better news than earlier job losses, barely

met this requirement, and they did little to close the huge gap between the number of jobs the country needs and the

number actually available.

Unemployment: Mr. Bush will boast about the decline in the unemployment rate from its June 2003 peak. But the

employed fraction of the population didn't rise at all; unemployment declined only because some of those without jobs

stopped actively looking for work, and therefore dropped out of the unemployment statistics. The labor force participation rate

- the fraction of the population either working or actively looking for work - has fallen sharply under Mr. Bush; if it had

stayed at its January 2001 level, the official unemployment rate would be 7.4 percent.

The deficit: Mr. Bush will claim that the recession and 9/11 caused record budget deficits. Congressional Budget Office

estimates show that tax cuts caused about two-thirds of the 2004 deficit.

The tax cuts: Mr. Bush will claim that Senator John Kerry opposed "middle class" tax cuts. But budget office numbers show

that most of Mr. Bush's tax cuts went to the best-off 10 percent of families, and more than a third went to

the top 1 percent, whose average income is more than $1 million.

The Kerry tax plan: Mr. Bush will claim, once again, that Mr. Kerry plans to raise taxes on many small businesses. In fact,

only a tiny percentage would be affected. Moreover, as Mr. Kerry correctly pointed out last week, the administration's

definition of a small-business owner is so broad that in 2001 it included Mr. Bush, who does indeed have a stake

in a timber company - a business he's so little involved with that he apparently forgot about it.

Fiscal responsibility: Mr. Bush will claim that Mr. Kerry proposes $2 trillion in new spending. That's a partisan number and

is much higher than independent estimates. Meanwhile, as The Washington Post pointed out after the Republican convention,

the administration's own numbers show that the cost of the agenda Mr. Bush laid out "is likely to be well in excess

of $3 trillion" and "far eclipses that of the Kerry plan."

Spending: On Friday, Mr. Bush claimed that he had increased nondefense discretionary spending by only 1 percent per year.

The actual number is 8 percent, even after adjusting for inflation. Mr. Bush seems to have confused his budget promises - which

he keeps on breaking - with reality.

Health care: Mr. Bush will claim that Mr. Kerry wants to take medical decisions away from individuals. The Kerry plan would

expand Medicaid (which works like Medicare), ensuring that children, in particular, have health insurance. It would protect

everyone against catastrophic medical expenses, a particular help to the chronically ill. It would do nothing to restrict patients'

choices.

    By singling out Mr. Bush's lies and misrepresentations, am I saying that Mr. Kerry isn't equally at fault? Yes.  Mr.

Kerry sometimes uses verbal shorthand that offers nitpickers things to complain about. He talks of 1.6 million lost jobs; that's

the private-sector loss, partly offset by increased government employment. But the job record is indeed awful. He talks of the

is correct. Mr. Bush's statements, on the other hand, are fundamentally dishonest. He is insisting that black is white, and that

failure is success. Journalists who play it safe by spending equal time exposing his lies and parsing Mr. Kerry's choice of words

are betraying their readers.

October 12:  From Doonesbury's "Honest Voices Reading List."  John Eisenhower on George W., that spleeny, sqint-eyed

lout.

CNN, Fair and Unbalanced News! (Not!)  Tampering with its own V-P poll.  Playing with the polls again. 

Nation's largest TV chain to air anti-Kerry show in prime time.   Here are the names and bios of the directors.   Here are

the stations and the cities they're in.  Drop them a line. 

"I've lost my entire family.  Why should I trust this government?  Why should I vote at all?"  Raad Rahim Ahmed, a

resident of Samarra, commenting on the Iraqi nationwide elections scheduled for January.  As reported in the Times. 

The Gospel according to George W. Christ. 

Dick "Fuck Yourself" Cheney's voting record.  Thanks to Donny in Worcester for this. 

Windblown World.  Review of the new Kerouac journals. 

Anne Rice bites back.  Here's Anne's review of Anne's book or more correctly her review of her Amazon reviewers.  Posted on

Amazon: Reviewer: Anne Obrien Rice (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews

Seldom do I really answer those who criticize my work. In fact, the entire development of my career has been fueled by my

ability to ignore denigrating and trivializing criticism as I realize my dreams and my goals. However there is something

compelling about Amazon's willingness to publish just about anything, and the sheer outrageous stupidity of many things

you've said here that actually touches my proletarian and Democratic soul. Also I use and enjoy Amazon and I do read the

reviews of other people's books in many fields. In sum, I believe in what happens here. And so, I speak. First off, let me say

that this is addressed only to some of you, who have posted outrageously negative comments here, and not to all. You are

interrogating this text from the wrong perspective. Indeed, you aren't even reading it. You are projecting your own

limitations on it. And you are giving a whole new meaning to the words "wide readership." And you have strained my

Dickensean principles to the max. I'm justifiably proud of being read by intellectual giants and waitresses in trailer parks, in

fact, I love it, but who in the world are you? Now to the book. Allow me to point out: nowhere in this text are you told that

this is the last of the chronicles, nowhere are you promised curtain calls or a finale, nowhere are you told there will be a

wrap-up of all the earlier material. The text tells you exactly what to expect. And it warns you specifically that if you did not

enjoy Memnoch the Devil, you may not enjoy this book. This book is by and about a hero whom many of you have already

rejected. And he tells you that you are likely to reject him again. And this book is most certainly written -- every word of it --

by me. If and when I can't write a book on my own, you'll know about it. And no, I have no intention of allowing any

editor ever to distort, cut, or otherwise mutilate sentences that I have edited and re-edited, and organized

and polished myself. I fought a great battle to achieve a status where I did not have to put up with editors

making demands on me, and I will never relinquish that status. For me, novel writing is a virtuoso performance. It

is not a collaborative art.  Back to the novel itself: the character who tells the tale is my Lestat. I was with him more closely

than I have ever been in this novel; his voice was as powerful for me as I've ever heard it. I experienced break through after

break through as I walked with him, moved with him, saw through his eyes. What I ask of Lestat, Lestat unfailingly gives. For

me, three hunting scenes, two which take place in hotels -- the lone woman waiting for the hit man, the slaughter at the

pimp's party -- and the late night foray into the slums --stand with any similar scenes in all of the chronicles. They can be read

aloud without a single hitch. Every word is in perfect place. The short chapter in which Lestat describes his love for

Rowan Mayfair was for me a totally realized poem.  There are other such scenes in this book. You don't get all this? Fine. But

I experienced an intimacy with the character in those scenes that shattered all prior restraints, and when one is writing one

does have to continuously and courageously fight a destructive tendency to inhibition and restraint. Getting really close to

the subject matter is the achievement of only great art. Now, if it doesn't appeal to you, fine. You don't enjoy it? Read

somebody else. But your stupid arrogant assumptions about me and what I am doing are slander. And you have

used this site as if it were a public urinal to publish falsehood and lies. I'll never challenge your democratic freedom

 to do so, and yes, I'm answering you, but for what it's worth, be assured of the utter contempt I feel for you, especially

those of you who post anonymously (and perhaps repeatedly?) and how glad I am that this book is the last one in a series that

has invited your hateful and ugly responses. Now, to return to the narrative in question: Lestat's wanting to be a saint is a

vision larded through and through with his characteristic vanity. It connects perfectly with his earlier ambitions to be an actor

in Paris, a rock star in the modern age. If you can't see that, you aren't reading my work. In his conversation with the Pope he

makes observations on the times which are in continuity with his observations on the late twentieth century in The Vampire

Lestat, and in continuity with Marius' observations in that book and later in Queen of the Damned. The state of the world has

always been an important theme in the chronicles. Lestat's comments matter. Every word he speaks is part of the achievement

of thisbook. That Lestat renounced this saintly ambition within a matter of pages is plain enough for you to see. That he reverts

to his old self is obvious, and that he intends to complete the tale of Blackwood Farm is also quite clear. There are many other

themes and patterns in this work that I might mention -- the interplay between St. Juan Diago and Lestat, the invisible

creature who doesn't "exist" in the eyes of the world is a case in point. There is also the theme of the snare of Blackwood Farm,

the place where a human existence becomes so beguiling that Lestat relinquishes his power as if to a spell. The entire

relationship between Lestat and Uncle Julien is carefully worked out. But I leave it to readers to discover how this

complex and intricate novel establishes itself within a unique, if not unrivalled series of book. There are things

to be said. And there is pleasure to be had. And readers will say wonderful things about Blood Canticle and they already are.

There are readers out there and plenty of them who cherish the individuality of each of the chronicles which you so flippantly

condemn. They can and do talk circles around you. And I am warmed by their response. Their letters, the papers they write in

school, our face to face exchanges on the road -- these things sustain me when I read the utter trash that you post. But I feel I

have said enough. If this reaches one reader who is curious about my work and shocked by the ugly reviews here, I've served

my goals. And Yo, you dude, the slang police! Lestat talks like I do. He always has and he always will. You really wouldn't much

like being around either one of us. And you don't have to be. If any of you want to say anything about all this by all means Email

me at [email protected]. And if you want your money back for the book, send it to 1239 First Street, New Orleans, La,

70130. I'm not a coward about my real name or where I live. And yes, the Chronicles are no more! Thank God!  

    [Emphasis mine.  This is the first Anne Rice I've read.  Not sure this was a good idea, though I understand the impulse. 

Here's a piece in the Times concerning L'Affaire Lestat.  Thanks to Ray in Asheville for the story.]

October 11: A new Jib Jab spoof.   Here's the home page.  Click on Good to Be in D.C.

On the fate of Petrarch's bones. 

I'm a big fan of stand-up comedy, and there's no one funnier than Eddie Izzard.   The Guardian catches up with Eddie in

this piece.  He's got a boxed-set DVD due out tomorrow in the UK, if not here. 

George W.  He has no idea what he's saying.  Was the radio receiver turned off?  Listen to the man:  "I made a decision not

to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is where our troops could be brought to - brought in front of a

judge, an unaccounted judge."  "You looked at me like my clock was up."  And this little rant:  "I wouldn't pick a judge who

said that the Pledge of Allegiance couldn't be said in a school because it had the words "under God" in it. I think that's an

example of a judge allowing personal opinion to enter into the decision-making process as opposed to a strict interpretation

of the Constitution.  Another example would be the Dred Scott case, which is where judges, years ago, said that the

Constitution allowed slavery because of personal property rights.  That's a personal opinion. That's not what the Constitution

says. The Constitution of the United States says we're all - you know, it doesn't say that. It doesn't speak to the equality of

America."  This, of course, from a man who's never read a history book evidently or a civics book.  Books are Laura's thing. 

Anyway, here's the whole transcript if you missed it.   Stole that Laura line from Sunday's Doonesbury.

War Records:  Who served and who did not serve.

My favorite October poem:

"Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio"

In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home.
Their women cluck like starved pullets,
Dying for love.

Therefore,
Their sons grow suicidally beautiful
At the beginning of October,
And gallop terribly against each other's bodies.

			--James Wright

October 10:  Become a character in Biff Mitchell's novel.  Thanks to Tracey for the link.

Bush's bulge.  Is he getting messages from Rove or is he just happy to see us?  Is this why the GOP didn't want any

cameras behind the candidates?   I know a pucker when I see one and that's no pucker.   Thanks to Marlene. 

"Bush was every inch the angry man on Friday night, which is dangerous enough. But to witness anger combined with

belligerent ignorance, with a willful denial of basic facts, to witness a man utterly incapable of admitting to any mistakes

while his clear errors in judgment are costing his country in blood, to see that combination roiling within the man who is

in charge of the most awesome military arsenal in the history of the planet, is more than dangerous. It is flatly terrifying."

William Rivers Pitt on the blithtering, idle-headed nit.

It's good to be a congressional staffer.  What better way to see the world on the taxpayer's tab. 

George W. at rest.  "I own a timber company?  That's news to me.  Need some wood?"

Florida tries to vote: it's a mess down here.   Many of us are going to vote early and see that the votes are on paper.  That

doesn't mean they won't lose the paper. 

Jacques Derrida est mort. 

You seem a little angry, Doctor.  Would you like to go with that feeling? 

October 9:  Hot and Ready!  Krispy Kalashnikovs!

John Lennon's Birthday.  (1940)

    When I get older losing my hair,
    Many years from now.
    Will you still be sending me a valentine
    Birthday greetings bottle of wine.
    If I'd been out till quarter to three
    Would you lock the door,
    Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
    When I'm sixty-four.

If you live in Monroe, Louisiana, you know that Enoch's is celebrating the birthday with its 25th annual

reunion and bash.  If you go, say hi to Doyle for me.   For info: [email protected]   It's also the birthday

of Jackson Browne who lives in the same building as my friend Doris Bartlett in Santa Monica.  Jackson's my

age.  Doris is eighty-eight.  I'll be giving her a call.  

Next year's trip to St. Petersburg won't be the same.  Russia to ban beer drinking in public.  I'm not sure how

they'll enforce it.  
 

Alice Munro short-listed for the Giller Prize. 

Watched the debate with Cindy, John, Jeremy and Kimberley.  If anyone's still voting for Bush, I give up! 

The man is a feckin idjit and a puking, idle-headed malt-worm.   This was no contest.  Spin it till you're dizzy,

the inarticulate Bush shot himself in the head.

One of the misspelled names in Maria Alguilar's botched mosaic.  See yesterday's log.  Now she's saying she

won't correct her mistakes.  "There seems to be so much hatred within certain people. They continuously look

for a scapegoat. I guess I am the sacrificial goat."  This woman's arrogance knows no bounds. 

October 8:  Tom "Chemical" DeLay in trouble again.   The GOP response predictable.  "Tom DeLay is a good

man and a strong leader . . ."   Three strikes and you're out, right?   Judicial Watch calls for his resignation. 

"These are the facts. The facts are the vice president's company that he was CEO of, that did business with

sworn enemies of the United States, paid millions of dollars in fines for providing false financial information, it's

 under investigation for bribing foreign officials. The same company that got a $7.5 billion no-bid contract, the

rule is that part of their money is supposed to be withheld when they're under investigation, as they are now,

for having overcharged the American taxpayer, but they're getting every dime of their money."  John Edwards

Read William Rivers Pitt's take on the debate. 

Nobel winner Elfriede Jelinek above and her homepage.   Mostly auf Deutsch, but a few essays in English and

an English version of "Bambiland." 

Kerry leads in the AP poll. 

Miami artist botches mural at a library!  For $40 grand she can't bother to check her spelling.  She's charging

the town another $6 grand (plus expenses) to fix it.  [Apparently as an "outsider artist" she doesn't have a lot

of discretionary income.]  It's not her fault, of course.  "They [the philistines and spell-checkers] are

denigrating my work and the purpose of this work."  And what does it matter?  She doesn't apologize.  And

then she says, "The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are

not looking at the words.  In their mind [they share one evidently], the words register correctly."

Get the whole deck of Republican Chickenhawk playing cards--they make  great stocking stuffers.

October 7:  Austrian poet Elfriede Jelinek wins the Nobel literature prize.   Another story. 

What it's all about for the GOP.  Spinning the debate before it's over. 

This is pretty funny--Billy Bob takes on Will. 

Even Fox News knows that Dick "Fuck Yourself" Cheney is a petty and pathological liar. 

"The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight"--Dick "Fuck Yourself" Cheney to John

Edwards.  (By the way, if my eyes don't deceive me, that curvesome creature on the right is Lynne Cheney,

author of the steamy lesbian romance novel, Sisters.)

Cheney drops a dot.bomb!  Heads will roll.   Here's where he told us to go.  Factcheck.com

Diebald and Jeb make it easy for us to vote in Florida.  Go ahead and cast your vote.   Thanks to Bev in D.C. 

On this day in 1955, Allen Ginsberg read "Howl" for the first time in public at the Six Gallery in San Francisco.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery

    of night . . .

Read the rest. 

Rush Limbaugh:  "Compassion is no substitute for justice."   As he's about to find out. 

For Catcher in the Rye  fans. 

 The U.K.'s top ten poetry books. 

The Slogonator--lots of the above--plus Green Day.   Thanks to Nancy, Morgan, whatever her name is today,

in deepest, darkest Coral Springs.

October 6: "Major combat operations have ended."  George W. Bush, that surly, milk-livered dewberry, on May

5, 2003.  Hear what the rest of the incompetents have also said. 

Rummy tells the truth then lies about it.   Must be time to Impeach Bush.  (Thanks to Sue in Sacramento.) 

The Nobel watch.

Bahuvrihi

"The loss of experience is a major 20^th-century theme. One makes love with The Joy of Sex hanging over one’s

head, and so on. . . . Unmediated experience is hard to come by, is probably reserved, in our time, to as yet

undiscovered tribes sweltering in the jungles of Bahuvrihi." – Donald Barthelme

October 5:  Two Faces. One Public, One Private. One Phony, One Real.  Read about the two faces of Bush, that

dissembling, fool-born hedge pig, at Hullabalo.

Neither compassionate nor conservative.  Washington Monthly. 

The Guardian is launching a series of online poetry workshops with writing exercises. A chance to write and

perhaps get a response from an established poet.  First poet-in-residence is Ruth Fainlight.

Place a bet on your favorite to win this week's Nobel Prize for Literature.   Time for a woman, some say.
 

Gwen Ifill, listen up!  Ten questions for Dick "Fuck Yourself" Cheney. 

My friend Jeannie just saw Timon of Athens in Stratford, Ontario.  She's now seen (and read) every

Shakespeare play!  Or so she thought: a new Hamlet has surfaced. 

October 4:  ". . . we see that the ideas, the inspiration, that will drive a novel, however succinctly expressed,

have to be capable of endless augmentation and elaboration. The essence of almost every short story, by

contrast, is one of distillation, of reduction. It's not a simple question of length, either: there are 20-page short

stories that are far more charged and gravid with meaning than 400-page novels. We are talking about a

different category of prose fiction altogether."  William Boyd in a fascinating essay on the short story.  He

mentions William Gerhardie's 1924 book on Chekhov.  I just finished The Polyglots.  Brilliant!  And now I see

that William Trevor wrote an essay on Gerhardie called "Old Fusty" in Excursions in the Real World.  So I just

ordered the book.  Trevor and Gerhardie--I'm in heaven. 

“. . . if anyone is ready to celebrate the eventual reelection of Bush, it’s al Qaeda.”  --British Ambassador Sir Ivor

Roberts.  Read the rest. 

Frank Rich on The Passion of the Bush.

Nina sent me this quote:  "The dead weep with joy when their books are reprinted."  Alexander Sokurnov,

The Russian Ark

Volcano Cam--keep your eye on Mount St. Helens. 

October 3: Pick your president.  Where they stand on the issues. 

Stealing the vote in Florida.   The Butterfly-Ballot Queen still in charge. 

George W. ambushed by thought.

"Surely there are officials in the present administration who recognize that the United States has been misled

into a war in Iraq, but who have so far kept their silence -- as I long did about the war in Vietnam. To them I

have a personal message: don't repeat my mistakes."  -- Daniel Ellsberg

It's never too early for holiday shopping--Mormon Action Figures!  Would I make that up? 

Fox News lies (no news there) but this time admits it. 

Me and Amazon.  Cindy told me about a bad review on Amazon, so I decided to read what was there.  Here's

one:

Dr. B. M. Thorne:

First of all, let me say that I liked the book and highly recommend it. That said, the problem I had with it is

that I'm from Louisiana, Shreveport, to be exact, which is due west of Monroe, where Dufresne's novel is set.

I've been to and through Monroe several times, and, to my knowledge, it is nothing like what Dufresne has

described. Dufresne should have set his story in Gonzales or Napoleonville or some other small town in

southwest Louisiana, where the bayous are and Cajuns live. People who are not from Louisiana tend to think

of the state in terms of either New Orleans (a country all its own) or Cajun (coonass) country, which is really

in the southwest part of the state. Monroe is in the northeast corner.

The book is funny, and having read almost everything John Irving has written, I can see some parallels there.

I would just hope Dufresne, an excellent writer, would do his homework a little better--go visit the locale,

John! Of course, if Monroe has bayous and Cajuns that I haven't seen in my admittedly brief visits, then I

 apologize for this review.   Well, B. M., I lived in Monroe.  Not far from Bayou DeSiard.  And the book isn't

about Cajuns.  But I thank you for your otherwise kind words.
 

Another: 

    The story of the folks of the fictional town of Limoges, Louisiana, a place where one family's pre-destined ill

fate stirs up drama after drama. The characters DuFresne  (okay, he can't spell my name) creates are so true to

life in their matter-of-fact emotional extremes and absurdities that we are pulled into each and every one of

their lives. With unforgettable characters like Moonpie and the tragic family lineage he has shouldered, the

book is the quickest most well-written prose I have read  in a long time. Laughing and crying through

countless dramatic encounters the story's characters go through, I found myself a resident of Limoges for three

months after I finished reading the book. . . . Reminiscent of Nabokov with a dash of John Irving and

Tennesse Williams with the surreal literary quality of Paul Auster, "Louisiana Power & Light" should be a most

enjoyable read for all of you that still believe in literature and its inherent love of life.  Thanks so much, reader,

but it's not set in Limoges, and I'm not sure how you got the name.  Thinking of the fine china? 

The one Cindy mentioned (entitled "Totally Worthless"):

"The paper used to print this worthless screed was wasted. This is a typical geographical put down [sic] based

on regional stereotyping. Drufresne  [sic] (okay, he can't spell my name) assumes everyone in a given location

is totally ignorant and comical. What an insult! How did this manuscript ever get accepted for publication? "

Yikes!  This opinion was written by  William G. Covington, Ph.D. He describes himself: "Dr. William G. Covington,

Jr. has written books on motivation and goal-setting, television and cable TV management, along with numerous

articles.  [I won't go into the faulty parallelism in that sentence.]  He conducts seminars throughout the U.S.,

Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.  [And I won't say anything about the Middle East being in Asia.]  He also

frequently presents research at professional conferences and is often interviewed on radio, TV, and for [sic]

print media."  He teaches at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania.  He wrote Individual Achievement in Social

Systems from a Christian Perspective and  Thoughts.  He's from West Monroe and went to NLU.  Maybe he was

in one of my comp classes!  (Where did I put those grade books?)  His books are published by Universal

Publishers, where he only has to pay $495 to get one in print and at University Press Of America, another

self-described "co-publishing" outfit.  But I suppose it all looks good on the resume come tenure and promotion

time if the Dean's not paying attention.  (All right, you caught me being snotty.  Sorry.  Forget I said anything.) 

 

October 2:  This week's New Yorker has a brilliant story by William Trevor.   "The Dressmaker's Child."   He

writes these lines that stop you in your tracks.   "That was the beginning; there was no end." 

It's Wallace Stevens' birthday.  (1879) 

"They said, You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.
The man replied, Things as they are
Are changed upon a blue guitar."

Graham Greene's 100th birthday.  

Greene on Brighton Rock:  "...The Pinkies are the real Peter Pans – doomed to be juvenile for a lifetime. They

have something of a fallen angel about them, a morality which once belonged to another place. The outlaw of

justice always keeps in his heart the sense of justice outraged – his crimes have an excuse and yet he is

pursued by the Others. The Others have committed worse crimes and flourish. The world is full of Others who

wear the masks of Success, of a Happy Family. Whatever crime he may be driven to commit the child who

doesn't grow up remains the great champion of justice. "An eye for an eye." "Give them a dose of their own

medicine." As children we have all suffered punishments for faults we have not committed, but the wound has

soon healed. With Raven and Pinkie the wound never heals."

Richard Avedon has died.   Here's a look at some of his photographs. 
 

What's wrong with sports in America?  The joke that is the University of Colorado, for starters. 


 

October 1:  Sylvia's take on the Republicans. 

Flight was delayed but I got back to see most of the debate.   Kerry cleaned W.'s clock.  Love hearing the

GOP spinmeisters this morning, talking about Bush's heart.  Oh, please.  They'll be releasing the attack dogs

later today.  And foreign policy was Bush's strong suit, they say.  Here's how the Guardian saw it.    

A little hypocrisy down in Virginia.  A little more conservative news from the commonwealth.  Academic

freedom?   

We lost a what!  Radiation levels five times higher than background levels--this can't be good. 

The IgNobels: suicide and country music linked (like we didn't know already), and more. 

In Tallhassee I stayed at the Calhoun Street Inn, a B&B.  Large spacious room and a walk to downtown. 

Kerry stickers on the owners' car.  A shy golden retriever named Cassie.  At breakfast Gail, my host, and I got

to talking about books.  She'd read Louisiana Power & Light, it turns out.   She keeps a data base of the books

she's read and consulted it.  There I was.  She'd also read Love Warps the Mind a Little and Naked Came the

Manatee.  We talked books.  She loves Trevor but didn't know about the new collection.  I suggested

Alice Munro, of course, whom she hadn't read.  When in Tallahassee, stay on Calhoun St.  Nathan and I

had oysters at Calico Jack's and fried dills at Po' Boys, got a chance to talk about college life and family.  Eleven

Florida writers will soon find out they got $5,000 fellowships.  I like giving money away.