A motto as good as any standard to bear

"Ad astra per aspera"

-To the stars, through troubles

"North South East West" by The Church

(It's neither here nor there) It's neither here nor there
North and south and east and west
(It has to be somewhere) It oughta be somewhere
North and south and east and west
I take my payment, I catch my flight,
And don't wait up for me tonight
(And you might find me there) and you might find me there
North and south and east and west

"Soul Drifter" by Lindsey Buckingham

I'm a soul
drifter
And I'm out of this town
Ain't no use hangin' 'round
You see

My heart was broken
My part was spoken
Now the ground has opened
All around me

I'm a soul
lifter
And it's out of my hands
So it's off to other lands
You see

It's a new dawn
So it's so long
For the soul
lifter
The soul
drifter
That's me

Untitled

Not a sound on the pavement...

12 Boulevard de Denain, Paris, France

Bumper stickers

Original poetry

Untitled

I’ve been at this for so long
It can hardly be conceived
Why the holder of a key
Is unusually aggrieved

But I’d rather come up wrong
Than never be believed
For a fear of being right
Is worse than foolishly perceived

I’d rather be right than wrong
Than be wrong and well-believed
Because so long as you choose unaware
Then undoing is what you weave

And it wouldn’t be very long
Until your undoing you’ve achieved.

- by Cagey
from a dream

Best editorial on the Michael Jackson pomp and circumstance

"The whole thing concluded the only way it could - in a resounding blast of grotesque but compelling publicity for a figure who had become all that he had become - the king and the imprisoned, the adored and the humiliated, the accused and the indulged - because of publicity. Jackson had been publicised to death. As soon as he died, the response came in the form of pure publicity, an almost relieved acceptance that finally the damned thing had at last been resolved."

"He was no good to us alive, falling apart physically and mentally, making repeated attempts to repair his image and reputation, reminding us again and again that the neurotic energy, dangerous perfectionism and desperate ambition he'd turned into dazzling, video-age show business had eventually turned back on him and started to eat him up."

"There was only one real way to rescue Jackson from the enduring pain of decline and reclusiveness."

Excerpted from "The untimely, Shady death of Michael Jackson" by Paul Morley

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/28/michael-jackson-death

...useful information from the Forum today

Quotes on the imported drywall problem which is suspected of contaminating homes:

First we put a Wal-Mart in every town and suckled at the teat. Little people who stood up to Teh Wal-Mart would be destroyed like the little guy in a bad Steven Segal movie or any episode of the A-Team. We bulldozed historic Civil War sites to put up more, nothing would stop in the way. That was not enough.

Short term thinking/profits - ignore any long term consequences. It's been the U.S. mantra for 3 decades now.../ still lovin that cheap crap you can buy from countries run by dictatorships?// Americans ... self-destructing, by our own greed

Quotes on TSA airline security issues (screener left post and snuck through security):

"TSA is in a no win situation and someone has to draw lines in many grays. It's largely a matter of liability and reactive policy that you see some of the restrictions being enforced.That said, I can't believe that TSA brain trust is anymore, or for that matter, any less inept than any other fed. agency."

"Ok, since you asked. 1)Militarize it.13 weeks of basic training for all TSA employees, including discipline and respect. I've never seen a soldier sailor or marine on duty behave as anything less than professional when dealing with the public, even in a disaster (I've vol'd witht he red cross). It also engenders more respect from the public, elicits more trust, and hopefully, would make anybody trying something suspicious think twice about messing with a solider than a rent-a-cop. In addition, recruit, train and deploy 75,000 new air marshalls, randomly deployed on all flights throughout the united states. Run the whole thing like the Coast Guard, answerable to the Joint Chiefs."

"The flight was held up for over an hour as every passenger was taken off the plane and screened again, TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said. The plane took off at 10:15 a.m. without Weems, who was questioned and taken into custody, Davis said.Because ONE PERSON got on without screening, they subject the entire passenger list AGAIN to another tedious time-wasting screening. Jackasses. There's actually decent logic behind that practice.If they had smuggled a bomb or a gun on the plane, they could have passed it to an accomplice prior to being removed from the plane. If they only searched that one person, the contraband would not be found.Of course in this situation, its pretty clear they weren't dealing with a terrorist just an idiot, but the policy must be followed because it does not allow any room for judgment calls. And when you are dealing with a bunch of uneducated workers in positions of implied authority, I think taking away their ability to make judgment calls is the wise thing to do."

Review of the movie "Transformers 2"

In the grand tradition of other sparse but substantive reviews here (Sopranos, etc.), "Transfomers 2 - don't bother - it sucked." Links provided for your benefit.

Cagey hates it.
"A summer crockbuster."
"Accelerating American down its downward spiral of intellectual iconoclasm."

Ebert hates it.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/07/i_am_a_brainiac.html



Topless Robot hates it: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/06/bonus_robs_transformers_2_faqs.php

Life imitates art, or vice-versa?

These two pictured icons of the 1980s, Panama Jack and Archangel (Airwolf t.v. series), represent part of the high watermark ('84-'85) of the style-concious, jet-setting decade. With respect to the latter in fact, it's the 25th anniversary of Airwolf, and we see the influences of the decade from the Cold War enemy to the duds.  The creator of this video did well in his saxxy song selection and tribute to one of the great t.v. code heroes. What I'd like to know is: who came first?  For Panama Jack it all starts with a hat and an eyepiece - and for Archangel, well, assuming he works in the Beltway, is that what he'd really be wearing too?  Dammit, metaphysics! Someone is copying - these both didn't just emerge spontaneously. 

If you didn't know, Airwolf was an epic action series from the '80s fitting right in with Knight Rider, the A-Team and Miami Vice as one of the best known.  Most of these series displayed their characters with a trademark article of clothing:  B.A. Baracus' gold chains, Michael Knight's afro and leather jacket, Sonny Crockett's blazer and pastels.  In Airwolf, the good guys didn't wear a menacing black ("M.I.B." was associated with spooks long before the movie), they wore white.  Maybe with no M.I.B. on-scene, the presence of these off-putting white duds G-men implied even more serious trouble for the bad guys than in the case of the former??  Why white?  Purity?  The white hat/black hat kind of thing from cowboyThe white-clad and debonair Archangel made a deal with "the sensitive, reclusive loner Hawke (age 34)" for Airwolf's resustainment in exchange for running an occasional errand for a quasi-secret agency, "The Firm".  Archangel hung out in a white limousine, carried a white pimp cane, and had an o.k. looking executive secretary who wore white '80s jumpers with the futuristic shoulders as seen in the BMX boogie scene in Rad (1986).  The Firm's security forces ALSO all wore all-white, but only the man at the top wore the eyepatch and the trademark hat.  Eyepatches also are associated with concealment and a scarred past, some of my favorite things. 

The also monocled and similarly suited Panama Jack made suntan lotion. His frequent appearances in ramshackle, bayouesque stores decorated with old fishing nets, his origins and intent are shrouded in mystery.  Compounding the hunt for information is his being steeped in the pre-internet era.  There is just very little knowledge being kicked around on this savvy traveler in the off-white safari suit, but he is impeccably clean, grease-free, and has presumably good skin, an anachronism of a more elegant time and place.

When I lived on the Gulf Coast in the '80s, his trademark was all over the place.  His company says, "Panama Jack is a time and a place; a state of mind in a state of being."  Maybe his elusiveness is what was intended, for what we're left with is nothing more than his cool hat and sunscreen, and something highly connotative.  For me, he's a well presented beach guy with stamps all over his luggage who travels 90% of the time and sets up shop in the tropics.  Everything he owns smells like last night's rum or coconut and you never get a good look at him.  If you find anything else turns up, let us know.  I'm satisfied in almighty unknowing.  And now I'm headed back out - to find my piña type mixers. 

Original poetry

Untitled


It is but the steadfast man
On boundless feet
Whose assurances I - would like to meet


- by Cagey

Quote of the day

"Another poll showed that while 40 percent of Americans identify themselves as conservative, only 21 percent think of themselves as liberal. The American people voted for change. They didn't vote for a liberal orthodoxy that promises more government, higher taxes, slower growth, more pork and a liberal social agenda."

- John Feehery
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/01/feehery.franken/index.html?iref=newssearch

Untitled

Gov. Palin rejects entitlement mentality

The subject today is the journo-clown Matt Lauer recently sitting down with Gov. Palin over the Letterman remarks and other topics. Gov. Palin gave a telling response to a question about whether she should have first dibs at chairing the GOP.

"Oh, heck no. No. Nobody's entitled to that right of approval. There's no entitlement that's accepted, I believe, in our party and that's another nice thing about the principles of the GOP," Palin said.

"You have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Your actions have to speak louder than words. Your accomplishments have to speak for what it is that you stand for and no, nobody's entitled to any kind of front-running position in the GOP."

Other extremely telling points: 1) In this era of the apology as the genuflection of choice (it got its start in the p.c. crowd), Palin didn't succumb to being drawn into the victim game. Instead, she said, "I connect the dots to a degrading statement made about young women and that does contribute to some acceptance of abuse of young women. He doesn't have to apologize to me. I would like to see him apologize to young women across the country for contributing to that thread that is throughout our culture that makes it sound like it's ok to talk about young girls that way."

2) She also highlighted the double standard that allows her family to be fair game in the hopelessly info-tainment skewered media, when then candidate-Obama "the candidate who must be obeyed" said that "Family's were off-limits" during the campaign.

Per an ABC News article by David Chalian and Rick Klein, "Palin went on to describe a second double standard as the 'acceptance of a celebrity being able to get away with a disparaging comment that does erode a young girl's self esteem and does contribute to some of the problems we have in society.' "

For more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/Story?id=7822673&page=3

Quote of the day

"700,000 people called the FCC digital switch over hot line this week to find out why the Matlock box was not working."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g8kb0RNYgCXh4dAayGNOlHZtIaqgD98PT2K80

Here's to you, hippies

Quote of the day

"Because of our powers of observation and capacity for abstract thought, human beings are meaning-making creatures. We experience the world, draw conclusions about it, and establish value systems based on these conclusions. Our interpretations thus determine our actions and ultimately shape our character."

"The goals are to increase awareness of how much individual interpretations of experience are constitutive of reality, to sharpen critical thinking, and to enlarge understanding and appreciation of the multifoliate world."

At last: the full text of the introduction to one of my favorite classes is found, and serves as a very concise ode to the promise literature offers our lives!

Tonight Show turns over reins

Late nite regime change! We otherworlders who stay up past Eleven O'Clock know well who the pictured kings of late nite t.v. are. I started watching Carson at eight on an old black and white t.v.; truly a different type of comedy, a different era. Maybe more debonair.

Saw Jay Leno's last show last Friday. Good guy!

My main observation: Jay had ~ 1 1/2 min. standing ovation and said something like, "We need to get the show started!" Johnny Carson had ~ 8 min. ovation was speechless and in tears.

To what would you account this vast difference? A more malleable crowd? Cultural ennui? Everything ennui? Johnny's crowd refused to sit and be quiet; Jay's seemed to be "Meh." "Generation Whatever."

Each generation will have its heroes.

Quote of the day

"There is no shame in failure -

only in quitting."

A: "This political action committee calls itself 'The Race.'

Q: "Alex, what is La Raza? The group that Obama's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ms. Sotomayor claims affiliation with."

Just a little nefarious, don't you think? Doesn't it make you want to upchuck in the back of your throat... just a little? I thought we were all supposed to be colorblind now.

"Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a latina woman,'" blogged former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. "Wouldn't they have to withdraw? New racism is no better than old racism. A white man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw."

The point to draw from all this is that identity politics are alive and well, thriving in fact, and by the choice this president made, don't abandon hope for common sense to prevail.

Let's begin a national dialogue on unity and stop trumpeting our differences.

Additional reading:

"Sonia Sotomayor 'La Raza member'American Bar Association lists Obama choice as part of group." Kovacs, Joe. Online periodical: World Net Daily. 27 May 2009.

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=99420