Thanks, Mr. Greenwald - spot on.

It's indeed, "unfair to use the Goldfarb/Peretz pathology to impugn all supporters of the Israeli attack." But it's certainly fair to use it to impugn Mr. Goldfarb, a complacent cheerleader who won't look at the terrorizing effect of his own team's actions. That is the point, and it's well put.

Gotta say - anytime William Kristol (NYT op-ed yesterday) says your invasion strategy is sound and will probably succeed.......you SERIOUSLY need to get a new strategy.

My point precisely. If Kristol says invasion will work, it won't, like clockwork.

Thanks.

on this documentary. I'm glad for every bit of press about New Orleans - images, art reviews, movies, feel-good or bummed-out. It's all good at this point. The city will remain on a knife's edge for a long time - like 6th century, abandoned Rome, or 1755 post-quake/tsunami/fire Lisbon. Hopefully New Orleans's funeral-paced recovery will get it closer to those mythical urban rebirths, rather than Atlantis.

If the City can survive its own toxic lack of leadership, and get some marshes restored under Obama, it may have a chance to deal with rising sea-levels. Hey, Mumbai and Miami.....how're we doing!?

BTW, the best part of all 3 hours of Benjamin Button is the loving look at New Orleans, and especially its cypress-lake and piny-wood-adjacent setting. It's a lovely place, an important place, and a drifting place.

On New Year's Eve it was one fired-up phenomenally NOISY place too, thank you jeebus. They must have given out firecrackers (and guns) at the 7/11. It was fabulous.

And the proof is today's NYT op-ed by John Bolton and John Yoo arguing that the new president not get too far ahead of Congress in making treaties (or any other doings) with the rest of the world, AKA without their oversight.

You just can't make this shit up!!

In my dreams, he'll always be Patty McCormack as The Bad Seed, and I savor the moment at movie's end, as he hurries along the rainy pier in his little slicker, and receives his final Message From God - in a flash.

It plays over and over in my mind - the cartoon determination, the obliviousness, the banality and mean-spiritedness, the little pile of soot. Helps to take my mind off the mountain of pain he's engendered.

Cheap, I know, but effective.

"I will marry a dry cleaner from Lebanon. He will post an erotic proposal on my Facebook page and hypnotize me with his love patois. I will mistake his handlebar for a mullet.

"I will move into a trailer outside of Philadelphia and become an at-home computer tech support specialist for Agra grade-schoolers. I will also write Slash web stories about Lt. Uhuru and Counselor Troi, as performed by miniature life-size puppets (just like Johnny Quest). LU and CT are my favorite ST characters EVER.

"I will learn to ululate.

"I will have my ears wired shut (wait, that already happened).

"I will grow a horn somewhere on my body. (Actually it's pretty far along - does it show?) And have a wattle tuck.

"Someone will make me their bitch. (First name begins with Captain, second name begins with Janeway.) I will learn good manners, or else.

"I will visualize whirled peas. And go to Pluto!

"Everyday will be a good day. (Bolton told me to say that, wanker.) Peas out."

Annie

and doggone it, elected enough.

transcend class. Starbursts R4evR.

Stay as young and sweet as you are Sarah. And classy.

I nominate W. Or William Kristol, or Palin. Or the three of them.

End Times all over again.

"Like not appointing the most divisive and strictly partisan asshole on the planet - Karl Rove - to be in charge of dealing with the unfurling disaster......

"Like not turning the anguish of a major American City into an empty photo op for myself and the venal, cynical corruption called my 'administration'.....

"Like not routing a majority of funds to my Mississippi Repo buddy, and stymieing funds promised to Louisiana (and old blue New Orleans) wherever and whenever possible (atta boy Karl!)

"Like showing precisely zero leadership and real commitment to an American urban treasure which has STILL not received much of the funds promised by my lying mouth.....

"Like starting a fabulously expensive, needless war that siphons off EVERY OUNCE of our discretionary funds available for urban and ecological infrastructure, deep sixing all plans to restore vital Louisiana wetlands - especially those that have been sucked out by massive oil and gas retrieval in the last half century, all of which of course lined the pockets of my vampyric buddies in the vast business crypts of East Texas.

"Like just leaving the fiddle at home on the fly-by....."

Your Buttplug-in-Chief

A man who can break bread with 3-4 needlessly divisive people is stronger for it. The business of this nation has been hard-core public sniping for several decades. Meanwhile the country has deteriorated, physically and psychically, as the media fuels the non-stop punditry. I've got some eyework that needs to be done, a languishing business and I'm just not dressed for all the new wild temperatures. I don't care about artificially pumped-up "sides" anymore, just about rational, emergency action. Go figure.

I hate the article, it's slovenly, myopic and turgid. The letters are all correct if they agree with this, wrong in many, many ways if they don't. It's such a predictable circus!

Now I can go back and read the damn thing to see if I agree with myself. Probably yes.

I actually agree with Ms. P's response to the Jesus question, and she's more considered and less hiccupy tonight. Thank you CP for that.

But why not just say that solar phenomena drives homosexuality too, as well as climate change? It's got the same level of scientific justification. But I digress, which seems to work for CP pretty well. That's enough flappability for this month, oh oracle of the randomly inert. Adieu.