Sunday, June 24, 2007

Cottage Country


Mike Bloomberg defecting from the GOP, immigration reform dead, then rising again like Lazarus, and the lecherous Hillary Clinton leading in the polls. It's enough to make you want to shove thumb tacks in your eyes, or at the very least, head to a place where such extreme self mutilation is not necessary-the cottage.
My girlfriend's parents are the proud owners of a quaint and modest cottage in Pointe Au Cheine. It is cluttered with books and hand made crafts, fabricated from the shells and rocks of the seashore landscape that surrounds it. Some of the books date back to the late 19th century, many of them extremely rare and are the products of a collection started
many years ago by her Irish Grandfather.
There is nothing fancy about the cottage, at least not in the aesthetic shallowness
we have come to attach to the word, but is possessed with almost intoxicating charm,
whose memories are as real and as tangible as the walls themselves.

There are no tv's, something you would think, or at least I thought
at one time in my life, as necessary as food and toilet paper. But, even
for 48 straight hours, sitting peacefully in front of the soft glow of
a fire place, reading and laughing, smoking cigarettes on the patio,
and watching the other denizens of cottage country putter about
their yards, you are beset with a peace and serenity that I have
felt no where else.
Anyway, just a quick update on my weekend. Hope you all
enjoyed your own time as much as I did mine.
Cordially
Joe

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Hardbull


Chris Matthews, the once sensible Democrat, and former aide to speaker of the house Tipp O'Neil, was caught off guard and dropped an "S" bomb, live on
the air. Mathew's is the bombastic host of MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews".

Returning from a commercial break, Matthews, who was readying himself
to announce the breaking news that New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg
was preparing to renounce his ties with the Republican party to become in
independent.
Matthew's, displaying his trademark arrogance, muttered; "We're all reacting
here, and putting on shit".

Matthew's certainly is right. MSNBC is shit, and so is his show, which
at one time, was one of the few interesting and balanced programs
on the network.

As for Bloomberg, good riddance to that insidious little traitor.
Cordially
Joe

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Worst Movie Ever, and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!



It's father's day, so happy father's day to all the dads,
step-dads, grand dads, and cool cat, daddy-o's. Most
of all, my Dad, who taught me about courtesy, compassion,
and the dignity and value of human life. Thanks Dad.



Watched Children of Men yesterday, which was an
odd way to mark the occasion. It was a self-serving,
skull numbing, lefty piece of drivel. Director Alfanso
Cuaoron took P D James' novel, and destroyed her rather
thoughtful and provocative take on a world facing extinction
after a plague of infertilty, and turns into his own self-absorbed
diatribe against the inequity of Capitalism. In the director's
commentary, the fool even goes so far as to say the brutality
of communism, was far better than the "unfairness" of
Capitalism. Yeah. Communism has been responsible for
the deaths of 110,000,000 innocent people. Capitalism
has been responsible for creating opportunity and hope,
and the means for people like Mr Cuaoron to make his
silly drivel.

Mr Cuaonon's director's comments where so nauseating,
I had to stop watching the bonus features for fear he
would make yet another monumentally stupid statement, or
continue to ramble on about how important his movie was.



Sigh. I feel better.

Happy Father's Day.

Cordially

Joe

Thursday, June 14, 2007

WEEKEND UPDATE



Stop the presses. Time to take a break from the news and sit back
and relax from our womb to tomb full-tilt boogie to the rapture.
Anderson Cooper continues the wall to wall coverage with the rest
of the pod people at CNN, over the Paris Hilton revolving door jail
sentence. Cooper is trying to show he is above the fray, by making
it a point to never mention her by name, yet continuing the Paris,
non-stop orgasmo coverage none the less. If Anderson Cooper
had blood, I'm sure he'd be blushing.

Planning on being a home handy man this weekend, and stripping
down the hot-sick wall paper from my fixer upper apartment,
and re-painting. Now, me doing handy work, is like asking
Paris Hilton to conjugate verbs. My bedroom may look like
Courtney Love's hotel room after spending the night
free basing coke, and trying to paint her nails.

We shall see.

Cordially
Joe

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Border Disorder Redux/Libby in Limbo





President Bush, pardon the pun, is in a most curious Mexican stand-off.
The boldest of his domestic policy initiatives sits dead in the water.
Democrats who would otherwise be inclined to support the immigration
legislation are too delighted at seeing the President squirm, than to pass
a bill they actually feel strongly about.


Bush has little negotiating room with the few Republicans
who are rightly opposed to the bill, and righteously
annoyed with the President for his less than polished remarks aimed
at them as his frustration level reached the boiling point.

Immigration reform is perhaps the most important
domestic issue on the President's agenda, and failure to pass the
bill would send the media into a frenzy, tripping over each other
to ramble on about "legacy", and "lame duck Presidents. CNN has
already started beating the drum and it is taking me everything not
to travel down to Atlanta to personally Jap-slap Anderson Cooper.

Let me say this so there is no ambiguity. While I may support the
administration on the war, I am opposed to the immigration bill.
It is a flawed pipe dream, and a dangerous proposition. That being
said, were I advising the President, and knowing he is not going to
back off from this bill, I have one peice of advice. Pardon I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby Jr.

On March 6th, Mr Libby was unjustly convicted of perjury and obstruction
of Justice in connection with the Valerie Wilson leak. Odd, considering the
prosecutor could not even establish if and when the leak occurred, and
whether or not it constituted a crime. Well, perhaps not so odd when you
consider that this was a politically motivated prosecution to poke a
a thumb in the eye of the administration, when all other avenues had
failed.

Mr. Libby should never have been brought to trial, and those who
are opposed to the current immigration deal, are equally incensed
at the conviction of Mr Libby, and his subsequent 30 month
prison sentence.

Pardoning Mr. Libby may be the only political card Mr. Bush has
to play, and it may backfire if Democrats decide not to play ball
anymore after the pardon is granted. Either way, immigration
deal or not, Mr Libby deserves to be free.

President Bush. Pardon Mr. Libby, and let this good and honorable public

servant, reclaim his reputation.

Cordially

Joe

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Border Disorder




It looks like the immigration deal is dead in the water, at least for the time

being. This is good for conservatives overall, as the bill was deeply flawed,

but it is continuing to further alienate the only reliable allies President

Bush had on the right. Writing on NRO today, Katherine Lopez

wrote a polite, but firm piece, expressing her disappointment at the president.


"You’d think after conservatives forgave and forgot and fought hard for Samuel Alito the

White House would consider thinking twice before kicking its friends again. Instead, you’re

reminded that — back when the president was governor of Texas — he always prided

himself on working with Democrats rather than with his natural allies. "


Laura Ingraham was a bit less forgiving. Speaking from on her nationally syndicated

talk show, she lambasted her friend, claiming the President had;


"...taken his gloves off to punch us....he sure has a weird was of showing his love to his

political allies."


Oy. The mood is reminiscent of pre-9/11 when conservatives (including this one),

swallowed his big government tendencies, hoping that somewhere there lurked a

real leader with a genuine conservative heart...and we were not disappointed. From

the wreckage of 9/11 emerged a leader who found his confidence, and led the

nation with resolve through the months and years ahead.


President Bush is not the only one who will be feeling the ramifications of the

failure to pass the immigration reform bill. Presidential hopeful John McCain,

who made the bill one of the center pieces of his campaign, is wiping the

proverbial political egg from his face. As the bill sputtered it's last breath,

one of McCain's loyalest supporters and confidants, John Dowd, defected to

the burgeoning Thompson camp, in the anticipation of his expected candidacy

announcement. Dowd's defections is a double blow for McCain, as he is

one of the most savvy fund raisers on the hill.


I shall keep on my toes, like a midget at the urinal, and monitor any new

developments.


Cordially


Joe

Monday, June 04, 2007

Lost in the Labryinth


Hang on. This post will be rambling, large, and lacking in depth
and clarity - kind of like Rosie on The View.

I finally saw Pan's Labyrinth, which while visually
stunning, suffers from the fatal flaw that Guillermo Del Torro
had, until this point, avoided in previous films, and that is to
fall into the temptation of trying to reach profundity, and falling
very short of the mark.

The "Labyrinth", a term which was often used to describe Franco's
Spain, is the central theme throughout the movie, as a Labyrinth also
serves as the escape mechanism of the film's protagonist, Ofelia (Ivana
Banquero).

The fairy tale in which Ofelia immerses herself, runs as a sort
of allegorical parallel marking pre, present, and post Franco Spain.
The dilemma with Mr. Del Torro's weighty subject matter is that
it suffers from a certain post-modernist pretension that has run amok
in modern cinema - that being the tendency to sacrifice character
development, and/or plot, with audio and visual wizardry. We are
expected to accept the sacrifices of Ofelia's mother, (remarrying the
crazed Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), after the death of her husband,
a tailor whose death we are left no clues with), without any explanation
other than the overall implication that this is post civil war Spain, and
Franco's Spain is a rather brutal and bleak place.

So to, are we to accept the sociopathic cruelty of Captain Vidal, who
makes Ted Bundy look like a cuddly teddy bear.

And perhaps, this is not entirely, a bad thing. Hollywood buys heavily
into the mythology of moral relativism, and it was somewhat
refreshing to find a movie that was bold enough not to blur the lines
between good and evil, but still within the confines of fairly safe
subject matter for the left minded intelligentsia. If only Stephen
Spielberg had been so bold in Munich!

I won't spoil the plot, but the theme of fathers, and fatherlessness runs deep,
as well as some rather daft pot shots at the Catholic church, in the form
of an emaciated, eyeless monster, who sits at a table filled with a rich
feast from which no others can eat. The imagery is creepy and effective,
but also was somewhat offensive, given the monster is also afflicted with
stigmata.

I have to recommend Pan's Labyrinth for it's cinematic beauty, and
the haunting musical score composed by Javier Navarette. Just remember,
this is NOT a children's movie. It is graphically violent. If you show this to
your kids, be prepared to pay for 10 years of on going therapy!


Cordially

Joe


Sunday, June 03, 2007

He Came, He Conquered, He Ate 59 Hot Dogs


From Fox News;


A California man smashed the world record for hot dog eating at a contest Saturday, gobbling
up more than 59 franks in 12 minutes.
Joe Chestnut, 22, of San Jose, shattered the record held by Takeru Kobayashi of Japan by downing 59 1/2 "HBDs" — hot dogs and buns — during the Southwest Regional Hot Dog

Eating Championship at the Arizona Mills Mall in suburban Tempe.


Kobayashi's old record of 53 3/4 was set last year at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog

Eating Contest, held at Coney Island in New York, said George Costos, who helps runs the

regional contests for Nathan's.


Chestnut placed second in last year's world championships, consuming 52 hot dogs.


"He's unbelievable — he just keeps on going," said Ryan Nerz, who works for Major League

Eating, which he describes as "a world governing board for all stomach-centric sports."


"These guys' numbers have just been going up at a tremendous clip," Nerz said. "I always

thought there was a limit — a limit to the human stomach and a limit to human willpower

— but guess not."


Chestnut won a free trip to New York, a year's supply of hot dogs and a $250 gift card to the

mall.