My creepy dream from last night

For some reason Genny and I were at Vons (the local grocery near the house) and there was the lower half of a severed woman in the refrigerated meat section. Upon examining this, I saw that it wasn’t really a human body but a kind of roast done up to look exactly like the pelvis and legs of an adult woman. It had fishnet stockings and red high heels on. Genny thought it was gross but didn’t seem otherwise bothered with it. She moved on to continue her shopping, which, as usual, was voluminous. I stuck around and talked to some customers about it. The girl behind the meat counter was on her cell calling people and saying “you’ve gotta come see this”.

A foreign woman showed up and interrupted the girl. “Hi, I’m <some russian name which I don't remember>”. The girl, appearing to know who she was, said, “Oh hi! It’s over there!” and then went back to her conversation. I turned to the woman and said…”you’re from Russia?” She said, “no, Ukraine”. On a hunch, I asked “did you come all the way from Ukraine to see this?” which she answered in the affirmative. She was dressed in kind of goth clothes. I figured she was some sort of cultist.

She said “I don’t see it…can you show me?” For some reason, I took her hand and led her urgently over to the meat case where I had seen the severed body, but it was gone. We couldn’t figure out where it had gone. Had some fiend bought it? How could such a heavy object disappear so quickly? We couldn't guess. I felt bad that she had traveled so far without seeing what she came to see.

Returning to the meat counter, in the case in front of it, there was a kind of bath, half ice, half water. A fat guy was sitting in there bobbing up and down, dunking his head under and then coming up for air. He seemed very happy. I turned to the Ukrainian girl and said, feeling somehow this would impress her, “want me to hold his head under water until he stops moving? Then you’d have your meat corpse. Ha ha ha.” She laughed, apparently genuinely.

I noticed my cell vibrating and realized I had felt it vibrating a couple times before. It was Genny. Somehow I sensed that she had seen me holding the Ukrainian girl’s hand and gotten the wrong idea. She had left the store pissed (why I don’t know, since we’re no longer together) and said she was at … some intersection … and blah blah blah (I couldn’t hear her cuz her voice is so soft).

That’s it.

Death at a Funeral

This looked like it was going to be a dreary British black comedy, but I ended up liking it so much I ordered it to keep on Amazon. I circled the two actors responsible for really making this movie for me. Two pants-pissing hilarious moments: when Andy Nyman's character Howard clumsily tries to console the widow by telling her of his "friend who died" by being stabbed in the neck. And Howard's attempt to distract the clergyman with anything he can think of, which turns out to be, among other things, the theological question of whether wine is sweeter on Sundays and what to do about his shameful desire to "push a pen up his bum". But the comedy doesn't come across in print. You should see for yourself. I was crying with laughter.

A poem by Emily Dickinson

I watched the Moon around the House
Until upon a Pane --
She stopped -- a Traveller's privilege -- for Rest --
And there upon

I gazed -- as at a stranger --
The Lady in the Town
Doth think no incivility
To lift her Glass -- upon --

But never Stranger justified
The Curiosity
Like Mine -- for not a foot -- nor Hand --
Nor Formula -- had she --

But like a Head -- a Guillotine
Slid carelessly away --
Did independent, Amber --
Sustain her in the sky --

Or like a Stemless Flower --
Upheld in rolling Air
By finer Gravitations --
Than bind Philosopher --

No Hunger -- had she -- nor an Inn --
Her Toilette -- to suffice --
Nor Avocation -- nor concern
For little Mysteries

As harass us -- like Life -- and Death --
And Afterward -- or Nay --
But seemed engrossed to Absolute --
With Shining -- and the Sky --

The privilege to scrutinize
Was scarce upon my Eyes
When, with a Silver practise --
She vaulted out of Gaze --

And next -- I met her on a Cloud --
Myself too far below
To follow her superior Road --
Or it's advantage -- Blue --

Sam Harris on our national litmus test

"We live in a country in which a person cannot get elected president if he openly doubts the existence of heaven and hell. This is truly remarkable, given that there is no other body of 'knowledge' that we require our political leaders to master. Even a hairstylist must pass a licensing exam before plying his trade in the United States, and yet those given the power to make war and national policy--those whose decisions will inevitably affect human life for generations--are not expected to know anything in particular before setting to work. They do not have to be political scientists, economists, or even lawyers; they need not have studied international relations, military history, resource management, civil engineering, or any other field of knowledge that might be brought to bear in the governance of a modern superpower; they need only be expert fund-raisers, comport themselves well on television, and be indulgent of certain myths. In our next presidential election, an actor who reads his Bible would almost certainly defeat a rocket scientist who does not." From The End of Faith by Sam Harris

Not one cent for your health...billions for Iraq

I tell people I'm not a Democrat. I'm an anti-republican. There are so many reasons why. Here's one.

Among the many concessions Obama has had to make to Congressional republicans is that health care reform not add a single penny to the budget deficit.

When republicans say things like this, they are playing to their base, who are somehow persuaded that republicans are fiscally prudent. Fiscally prudent means that they will not raise their taxes or expand the budget deficit. Yet republican presidents have signed into law more taxes and spending than Democrats, by far, expanding both the taxation of the middle class and our ballooning debt.

When Obama enacted the (as it turned out, wildly successful and ameliorative) "Cash for Clunkers" program, republicans nationwide had a conniption. That was a $2B program.

The Congressional Budget Office has determined that the Iraq war of aggression costs the US taxpayer 2.6B per WEEK. The Iraq war has done nothing for American's security. Indeed, according to our own intelligence estimates, it has increased the threat from terrorism, not to mention made us a pariah in the eyes of the world and indebted generations. And it has killed over a million human beings for all that.

In the meantime, more Americans die from lack of health care each month than died on September 11th, 2001. And the Congressional republican response? NOT ONE RED CENT.