Off the rails

Rachel Maddow on the Keith Olberman show said we should have known when Republicans wore band aids mocking Kerry's Purple Heart that they'd come "off the rails." They were speaking of the Republicans current scurrilous attack on a 12 year old boy who chose to speak out in favor of universal medical care. They are, indeed, far off the rails. There seems to be nothing so low, so slimy, so filthy, so disgusting they will not employ to support the madman in the White House and his all-out attack on the citizens of this country, to say nothing of his absurd ideas about medical care. What they are currently doing to this boy and his family is so shameful it makes you wonder if they have any decency or sanity left whatsoever.

God bless Jimmy Carter for having the courage to come out and speak the truth about Dick Cheney who has been truly a disaster for our country. There is no doubt Carter will be attacked by the right wing loonies that are attacking the abovemention boy, just as he was attacked for speaking the truth about Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. They can attack all they wish, Carter is absolutely right about Cheney as most people already know. He has no credibility anymore, none whatsoever, and yet he still apparently has the ear of our dimwitted President. I never thought I could speak kindly of Condi Rice but I sincerely hope she will win out in her ongoing battle with this disastrous Rasputin that spews his evil ideas into the head of our apparently mindless President.

Lynn Cheney was a guest on the Daily Show tonight. Both she and Jon Stewart managed to keep their cool. I find the fact that she appeared at all to be quite incredible.

It cannot have come as a surprise to anyone that Jim Risch has announced he will run for Craig's Senate seat, obviously with the blessing of Otter and the rest of the Republican establishment. So ho-hum, another conservative Republican insider who will do nothing but maintain the Republican status-quo and look out for business at the expense of everyone else. At least he's not a complete loony-tunes like Sali. But vote LaRocco (in spite of his unconscionable support of nuclear energy).

In the latest Saturday Review of Books there is a review of Felix Feneon's, Novels in Three Lines. This is a collection of 1,220 news items Feneon published over the years in the Paris newspaper, Le Matin. These are unusual in that they are what is called in French faits-divers, and represent a kind of item found in many European newspapers. Faits-divers translates as "sundry events." These can be about most anything but are done in an extremely condensed style, something like Haiku. Feneon was an absolute master of this form. Here are a couple of examples:

"There was a gas explosion at the
home of Larrieux in Bordeaux.
He was injured. His mother-in
law's hair caught on fire. The ceil-
ing caved in."

On the bowling lawn a stroke lev-
eled M. Andre, 75, of Levallois.
While his ball was still rolling he
was no more."

I love this form so much I have ordered the book and I intend to offer an item on this blog called "Sundry Events" in honor of Felix Feneon (who I confess I had never heard of before). Here is my first (somewhat feeble) attempt:

A tuesday morning joy ride ended badly
for three teenagers, an SUV driver,
a motorcyclist and the motoring public.
They are very young, said the State
Patrol.

LKBIQ:
"...fundamentalists have become increasingly influential in both religion and government, and have managed to change the nuances and subtleties of historic debate into black-and-white rigidities and the personal derogation of those who dare to disagree."
Jimmy Carter