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Some pics are a little blurry, but hey, these are action shots. Plus a still life or two.

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How Deb described her feelings after investigating the current financial market implosion.

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Here are two movies I recently loved:

In Bruges (on DVD):






















Burn after Reading (in theatres):











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Okay, seriously. Seriously, folks.

You know that hackers broke into Sarah Palin's email, right? Here's the part I didn't know, reported by my friend Jerf:

"Did you hear how they did it? Apparently Cerberus's password is her ANNIVERSARY AND BIRTHDAY. And America wants this woman to be vice president?"

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Jay, 3 weeks ago: "Honey, should we get rid of this buttermilk?"
Lynn: "No, let's hang onto it a bit longer."

Jay, 2 weeks ago: "Honey, should we get rid of this buttermilk?"
Lynn: "No, let's hang onto it a bit longer."

Jay, 1 week ago: "Honey, should we get rid of this buttermilk?"
Lynn: "No, let's hang onto it a bit longer."

Jay, this morning: "I'd better get rid of this buttermilk before somebody sells it to al Qaeda."

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Here is a list of the medical procedures Jay and I have had this summer:

1 MRI
2 CAT scans
1 endoscopy
2 lithotripsies
1 trip to emergency room
1 emergency eye surgery

This does not include all the various doctor appts. that surrounded these procedures. Also, I counted, and I now take 11 medications daily. This includes everything from my multivitamin to glucosamine for joints to the eye drops for high pressure. One kitchen cabinet now looks exactly like my grandparents' did when I was growing up.

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My brother and I have reminisced about the role that our family's set of World Book encyclopedias played in our early imagination. My parents had bought a set early in their marriage, and it was a fixture at the top of our stairs for our entire childhood and youth. We'd pick out a volume here and there and browse, looking especially at the maps and cities. I remember thinking that "Buenos Aires, Argentina" was the most beautiful city name in the world. And Ed says that he was fascinated with the countries of Eastern Europe, which were under Soviet domination at the time and had a whiff of taboo and mystery to them. Looking through those volumes, the world seemed full of far-off adventure, just out of reach.

As I got into college, my idea of the world began to change. Air travel became commonplace. We were told that there was a McDonald's in every country on earth. Grad school professors emphasized (with disdain) that the US and Europe were cultural centers and the rest of the world was forced to hop along in step. Peers began to yawn at the mention of once revered sites like Stonehenge and Venice. More and more, we thought of the world as a vast Disneyland: Americanized, accessible, overtrod.

That all began to change when I went to Europe for the first time. We spent two weeks in Spain, and did not see anything approaching a McDonald's till we reached Madrid. I saw vast, open spaces, right in the heart of Europe. Then we went to England and saw Stonehenge, and not even the freezing February weather could dim my awe. And then we went to Italy and saw Venice, and I cringe at the readers who listed it as one of the most overrated sites in a recent chat. How jaded do you have to be to look at Venice and say, "Meh"?

My sense of re-enchantment has grown too because of the art magazines that Jay has starting taking in the last few years. There are photos of new art museums the world over, new hot spots, where life is churning with change and activity, places I'll likely never go: Dubai, Beijing, Macau. I like the realization that Americans are, after all, provincial. And that the world is wider than we'll ever be able to take in.



Macau at Night


















The Guggenheim Bilbao















Proposed Opera House, Dubai




















Petra, Jordan


























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I have come to the conclusion that brownies are not, and could never be, bad for you.

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I can't spend the next eight weeks obsessed with politics, so . . . here. Here's something nice, a shot from Ed and Tim's trip to Switzerland. Breathe in, breathe out . . .






























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I don't know who came up with the myth that the media is liberal, but they are genius. Forthwith:

THE SPIN:

Black teen pregnancies? A crisis in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A blessed event.

If you grow up in Hawaii you're weird.
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers you're the quintessential American story.

Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're unpatriotic.
Name your kids Trig and Track, you're colorful.

If you spend three years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of one to thirteen and your budget from $70,000 to 400,000, then become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African American voters, spend twelve years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly eight more years as a state Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly four years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly thirteen million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.
If you spend four years on the city council and six years as the mayor of a town with less than 6,000 people, then spend twenty months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the commander in chief of the Alaska military, and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.

If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an arrogant celebrity.
If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are energizing the base.

If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are presumptuous.
If you are an older male candidate who makes last-minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a shoot-from-the-hip maverick.

If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are an elitist, out of touch with the real America.
If you are a legacy graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions, you are mainstream.

If you manage a multimillion-dollar nationwide campaign, you are an empty suit.
If you are a part time mayor of a town of seven thousand people, you are an experienced executive.

If you go to a black south-side Chicago church, your beliefs are extremist.
If you believe in creationism, you are strongly principled.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month you're a Christian.
If you have been married to the same woman for nineteen years with whom you are raising two beautiful daughters you're risky.

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Ike from space:

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"You don't need experience when God is your co-pilot. You just follow your God-given instincts, and it all works out. That's what Bush did with Brownie at FEMA and Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court, and looked how that worked out."
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Frankly, I'm sick of Democrats wringing their hands over Sarah Palin. Matt Damon's smart critique of her is dead-on, but here's the thing: It's typical of the way Democrats react to this kind of threat. It's earnest, it's intelligent, but above all it's scared.

A certain percentage of Democrats really do believe that most Americans are stupid. And they fear the power of Stupid Charisma. Sarah Palin is spunky! She's cute! She's all down-to-earth and confident. She's Kentucky Fried Chicken---not at all arugula and pine nuts! She's a right-wing nut-job with no experience, but we know that lots of Americans will parrot back the Republican line that she has "more executive experience than Joe Biden and Barack Obama together," just as they parroted back the Republican line that John Kerry was a "flip-flopper."

Maybe this kind of Stupid Charisma is unbeatable, but we can't really say because the Democrats have never tried. We're always trying to be all rational and taking the high ground. But this DOESN'T WORK. Let's try something different this time. Let's treat Sarah Palin as the obviously stupid choice she is. Let's be confident not only that we are right but that others will recgonize what's right. Let's treat the Republicans the way Ann Coulter would if the shoe were on the other foot.

I'll start.

Regarding Sarah Palin's support of book censorship in schools (I've only heard rumors of this, but remember, we're acting like Republican strategists now). I can only imagine that she's one of that contingent that wanted to ban Harry Potter for promoting sorcery. Here's my tag-line:

"Maybe if her daughter had spent more time reading Harry Potter and less time sleeping with the hockey team, she wouldn't be knocked up at age seventeen."

Okay, you next. Here are some possible topics:

1. The family values/out-of-control ambition of a woman who runs for the vice-presidency when she has a 4-month-old with Down syndrome and a pregnant teenager.

2. The success rate of the Republicans' "abstinence only" birth-control policy.

3. The Republicans' support of pharmacists who refuse to provide birth control TO ANYONE.

4. Palin's belief that dinosaurs roamed the earth 4,000 years ago.

5. How being a "rock star" disqualifies you for office.

6. The historical success rate of governance by prayer and divine revelation (see: Iraq, New Orleans, the continued existence of Osama bin Laden).

Nobody likes a nebbish. You and I and Matt Damon all love "actuarial tables" but nobody votes for an accountant. There's a reason that the GOP has flourished in the age of O'Reilly, and it ain't his incisive analysis. We need a James Carville. We need to be James Carvilles. We need, in fact, to be pitbulls.
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You can read Mark's Baltimore Sun obituary here and also see the many, many comments that friends and family have left.

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Mark with his girls, Jessie and Katy, Christmas, early 2000s:

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Here's a site that has all sorts of trivia quizzes about books:

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/literature/index.html

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Up until about a week ago, I was feeling pretty good about the presidential election. Even though McCain wouldn't be my first choice, I thought, if he did win, he would be a decent president. He's leagues away from Bush in experience, wisdom, and outlook, and I still am extremely grateful to him for speaking out against Bush's torture policy.

All that changed, however, with his vice presidential pick. And it only got worse listening to Sarah Palin speak at the convention this evening. When she proclaimed, A good American is ALWAYS proud of America! the crowd went wild and my heart sank. I feel like the Republican Party is almost pathological. They have this sick need to constantly reassure themselves that we are GREAT, and we're always RIGHT, and we're POWERFUL, but we have every reason to be PROUD. It makes my stomach turn.

Here's the heart of the matter. Republicans want to think of America as good. Democrats want America to actually be good.
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Debbie has been offline for some time, and now that she's back, she's posted a bunch of our back correspondence. I read them and actually thought to myself, "I'm funny as hell." But the truth is I think Deb just rubs off on me. The longer I was out of her sphere of influence, the dumber I got. But check out her blog to get a taste of our epistolary life.
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"I read with great amusement the blog of a certain youngest sister of the family about the speculation over my aging. While I appreciate all of Lynn's concern, you have nothing to fear. My temporary relapse might have been due to something I ate. Some undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. All is well here, and after a relaxing weekend, I am feeling fit as ever."

I think he's quoting Dickens just to flaunt his lack of senility.



Ed last Easter:


























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Today's post brought to you by Deborah Justice (unbeknownst to her because I'm copying her email exchange with a friend):

Jerf (aka Friend):
ack! I just spat out a bunch of half-masticated sushi when I read that. Hoooooo....
E-mail me if either of you know how to get sticky rice out from inside a keyboard!

Deb:
oh, sure. i know how.
*clears throat*
*screams* TECH SUPPORT!!!


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Labor Day

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Wimp that I am, I am forever grateful that---at least so far in life, knock on wood---I have lived in a time and place that hasn't required great things of me. I've always had all the love, money, peace, and justice that I need in life. Never seen a loved one go to war. Never had to put myself in danger for justice's sake. Never had to work 12-hour days at a back-breaking job.

So I've always been in awe of those who lived in difficult times, times that required harrowing moral choices. The Freedom Riders who went to the South to register black voters during the Civil Rights movement. The Europeans who hid Jews during WWII. The northerners who made up the Underground Railroad. With justice did these people earn a moniker in capitalized letters.

And the labor unions. The people who faced brutal consequences in the early twentieth century to get people living wages, to end child labor, to limit daily working hours, and get the occasional day off. We owe each anonymous worker an incredible debt of gratitude for risking it all, for making the brave choice, to create a more just world.

I know there are lots of movies about these themes, but one recent one is The Great Debaters, which is mainly about a black college debate team but also touches on the labor movement. These movies always make me feel how scary it was to rebel and grateful that there were people who faced down their fears.
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