French films cross over so well, don't they? I know I'm late to the party, but I have an addition for the French Collection. Maybe I'm overdosing on Le Tour right now, but I must have The Triplets of Belleville. No dialogue--hence no irksome sub-titles, great soundtrack, gripping plot, fun characters, and an introduction to bicycle racing, sort of.

For older kids I would toss in an Italian film, The Bicycle Thief.

And don't forget Breaking Away for your t(w)eenagers.

Indeed, a portion of my check did go to groceries, gas and my mortgage (my only debt). The rest I invested in our future; I contributed to progressive candidates' campaign coffers. I'll know after November what the return will be on that investment.

I haven't heard anyone else use this yet, so I'm claiming credit for a new word. (It seems so obvious, how could it not have occured to anyone yet? Correct me if I'm wrong.)

"Palindrone"

http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis2/ezekiel.html

"Ezekiel saw the wheel."

Then it was a prophetic vision; today it's aliens.

The problem with unidentified flying objects is our need to identify them.

Just enjoy them. They haven't hurt us yet.

Elected officials should earn the same as other public employees, such as public school teachers, law enforcement officers, or enlisted military. They might come to understand more the meaning of a living wage at that point. They might. I suspect public employees wages would rise then, too, if not the minimum wage. If Congress votes itself a raise then all public employees get a raise. They should also have the same pension and insurance plans.

The electorate might vote in higher percentages if this were implemented. It's win-win.

Having now read Naomi Klein's The Shock doctrine, I think Milton Friedman should have been tried for war crimes. Too bad he's dead; we finally have an administration that might be inclined to do that.

Might be.

On a tour of the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin onetime, the tour guide was telling us about the portrait of Queen Charlotte that was hanging in one of the rooms. He said not to call her "fat"; what they used to call that was having a "baroque figure." The wealthy were expected to have meat on their bones, as opposed to the poor who couldn't afford it.

Let's hope we can find a happy medium between poverty and excess in both our fiscal and our physical health.

Perhaps someone should remind these naysayers that health care also affords women access to birth control. Uninsured women who can not afford doctors visits or prescriptions for contraceptives would have coverage under the government option. That would certainly reduce the numbers of unwanted pregnancies. If that's what these people want, what's the problem? (That's a rhetorical question.)

As silly as this topic is, I still have to get my two cents in.

The flip side of this story is that those folks with "flawed genes" will still find mates, but those mates, too, might be unattractive (EGADS!) So by underhandedly luring attractive mates--with desirable genes--they have the chance of conceiving "improved" offspring, levelling the playing field a bit for the next generation.

Heck, that title alone merits a spot here. It's your column, you can write what you want to. Purists who don't want to read about music can click out.

Probably because I'm a bit older, I've always been partial to Roxy Music's cover of 8MH on the Flesh + Blood album.

I do enjoy reading about the flying and travel stuff, but I spend a lot more time with music than I do in the air.

We already have a non-violent "solution to the Obama problem." It's called an "election." You get another chance in three and a half years. Deal with it.

It is frustrating that this question exists. I circle "Ms." everytime as there still isn't one designating "no longer Mrs."

But "Ms." is somehow still unsatisfactory for me, mostly because it stands for nothing. What I mean is this: "Miss" is a real word--we all know what it means (and there used to be the male equivalent of "Master" for the boys, but that is now rarely used); then we have "Mrs." which is an abbreviation for Missus, as "Mr." is for Mister. But Ms. is a made-up abbreviation for a word that doesn't exist. "Mizz?"

I would gladly dispense with all of them, but if we persist on using titles I'm in favor of abandoning these for something along the Italian lines of Don and Dona. They are titular and gender specific, yet not indicative of marital or social status. To whom should I direct that request?