Stardust: A Fun Film

I'm going to put in another plug today for this fine movie, a "grown up fairytale" that opened in the US on August 10, and is probably about done with its initial run here. It opens in Europe in October. The film is a fun fantasy with a happy ending, which Dan thinks is the type of movie we'll be seeing more and more of as the real world is too horrible to contemplate. In fact, we saw previews for several new "fantasy" films in the mold of the Harry Potter series that will be opening this Fall. In the meantime go see this one before it leaves and enjoy, among lots of other things to like about this movie, Robert DeNiro's campy good guy gay pirate portrayal.

Jim

What Is Barney Frank Smoking?

From The News Observer (http://www.newsobserver.com/):

"Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, one of two openly gay
members
of Congress, chided Craig for hypocrisy but said there was no need for
him
to resign now.
"It's not an abuse of his office in the sense that he was
taking money for corrupt votes," said Frank, D-Mass. "I think people should
resign when they have clearly done the job in a way that is dishonest.'"

Barney, are you nuts? This closeted creep has voted against the interests of gays and lesbians every single time, all the while he has been out there soliciting men for sex in bathrooms. He is a CLOSETED BIGOT! He is DISHONEST TO HIS CORE! Are you ready to give him a pass just because you too were once closeted and got caught? You came clean, Barney, but this detestable low life is out there holding new conferences proclaiming "I AM NOT GAY!" No, you just like to suck cock, right, Senator? Come on Barney, this sad excuse for a human being has to go NOW.

PHOTO: Point O' Woods Railroad - they use it to carry goods back and forth from the ferry terminal and the downtown. I've never seen it actually running - maybe some day.

Jim

The Noise Problem In The Grove

Photo: Beachfront homes in Point 'O Woods.

The "Elephant In The Room" here in Cherry Grove is the perennial battle between residents and bars that play loud music sometimes all night long, seemingly, with the tacit approval of the Community Association, which has been loathe to approach the bar owners directly about the issue. Instead, residents bothered by noise late at night have been told to call the police. Some residents who live in the East end of town believe that the noise from one bay front establishment has been ignored for years because the officers of the Association live on the other end of town. Others feel that certain establishments get a pass on excessive noise because they are owned or managed by the the friends of certain factions within the community. So the undeclared war goes on with the Suffolk County Police called in on a regular basis as referees between the two camps who will not talk to each other directly about the problem. The bottom line is that the bar owners and managers could care less about community concerns relative to noise. They probably feel that, since they host charitable fund raisers and employ residents, they have a right to operate as they wish even if the excessive sound late at night creates a public nuisance. This is the way it's gone on here for years. It's too bad that some leadership and common sense has not been brought to bear on the situation. Instead, the police are kept busy responding to nuisance noise complaints.

Jim

Rose Levine Sings In Cherry Grove!

Something's Coming

Here are a couple of photos of the center of Point 'O Woods. Bicycles are popular as a means of transport, as can be seen by the number parked outside the tennis courts. In the center of the hamlet there is a store, but your dollars are no good there. All purchases are put on personal accounts, for homeowners only.

The "chatter" on the networks this morning is loud about the war in Iraq, the Iran problem, and the increasing probability of another terrorist attack. Some analysts are suggesting that Bush will soon attack military bases in Iran, and, after Iran retaliates, Bush will then use this as an excuse to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. There is also a lot of talk about the probability of another 9-11 type terrorist attack happening soon. Is this why Karl Rove is so confident that Bush's approval ratings will be much higher a year from now? The American people usually rally behind military action taken against our "adversaries," at least at first, before it sinks in that there are long term problems created by such actions. It does look increasingly likely that something serious will happen between now and the election next year that will serve to rally support for Bush and the Republicans. You can just see it coming. The Democrats are too weak and fragmented to stop it. All we can do it sit by and watch whatever it is develop and hope it's not yet another 9-11 or an Iraq style military misadventure.

Jim

A Cherry Grove Talent For Over 50 Years!

This is Cherry Grove's famous drag diva Rose Levine, who has been performing in the Grove for over 50 years. The occasion was a solo show at the Cherry Grove Community House under the auspices of the Arts Project Of Cherry Grove. Rose was terrific!

Jim

Summer Returns

Here's a pretty new house located in the community of Seaview, which is between Ocean Bay Park and Ocean Beach. Seaview is quiet by comparison to many other communities on Fire island (there are no bars!) Fire Island's only synagogue is located in Seaview.

This past week was most unusual with the unseasonable cold weather and rain. We turned on the house heater and wore long pants and sweaters. Today summer is supposed to return with temperatures around 90 degrees.

Jim

The Situation In Iraq Continues To Worsen

From Reuters:

After years in which Sunni Arab insurgents were their main enemies, U.S.
forces now say nearly three quarters of attacks on them come from the country's
newly empowered Shi'ite majority...."We demand the Iraqi government and
parliament stop the Americans interfering in Shula," local tribal elder Sabeeh
al-Sharji said. "As you can see, civilians sleep on the roofs. These random
attacks terrify women and children."

This is the latest news from Baghdad after US forces kill 18 in a raid. The side we're backing in the Iraqi civil war, the "democratically elected" Shi'ites, have turned on us. Meanwhile at home Republican Senator Warner says it's time to start bringing the troops home, the Joint Chiefs are set to insist upon a troop drawdown, and a grim major intelligence report is issued on Iraq.

The wheels have really come off this thing, George.

Jim

Point O' Woods, A Private Fire Island Community

Walking to the West from Cherry Grove, the first hamlet you encounter is Point O'Woods, founded in 1894 as a religious enclave. POW is a "gated" community as these signs indicate. We often walk through the hamlet on our way to Ocean Bay Park or Ocean Beach for dining or other events. The hamlet is fenced only on its Western border, which directly abuts Ocean Bay Park, so we have to go out to the beach to get around the fence. POW is a quiet community of large, shingled houses that remind one of something you might see in Maine or in the mountains. While it is a private community, they do have an art show every other year that is open to the public. Attending the show gives many people a rare opportunity to see the community.

Jim

Bush's Revisionist History Of The Vietnam War

Bush is now trying to use the Vietnam War as a case in point of why we should "stay the course" in Iraq. However, I'm old enough to remember what Vietnam was - a hard lesson on the reasons for NOT intervening in someone else's civil war. We were supposed to have learned from our mistakes there, and not to have repeated them - but that's exactly what Bush & Co. are doing in Iraq: repeating the mistakes of Vietnam. By invoking the Vietnam War, Bush is counting on the short memory span (or the outright stupidity) of much of the American populace. Unfortunately, this tactic might just work with some who don't know the history of the Vietnam experience.

Here's a photo of the "Burma Road," the unpaved path through many parts of the center of Fire Island. This stretch leads from the "Sunken Forest" to the Point O' Woods hamlet which can be seen in the distance (click on the photo to enlarge it. )

Jim

What's Wrong With The Democratic Party?

Here's one view:

Unfortunately, many of the Democratic Party’s leaders fail to defend
the four
pillars on which any just economic policy agenda must be built:
♦ Progressive
taxation and prudent military spending cuts to provide
necessary public
revenue;
♦ Universal social insurance programs and high-quality public
goods;
♦ Powerful, democratic labor and social movements capable of
achieving
equity in the labor market; and
♦ Global institutions that
advance labor and human rights and provide
for a sustainable environment.

This doesn't resemble what we hear from the leading Democratic presidential candidates, now does it?

(Source: "Toward An Economic Justice Agenda" - Democratic Socialists Of America draft version)

Jim

Smashing Capitalism?

Barbara Ehrenreich commenting on the recent financial meltdown and credit crunch:

Global capitalism will survive the current credit crisis; already, the
government has rushed in to soothe the feverish markets. But in the long term, a
system that depends on extracting every last cent from the poor cannot hope for
a healthy prognosis.

Capitalism has proven to be amazingly resilient. It's lasted a lot longer than Marx or anyone else would have predicted. The reason is that capitalists have been remarkably inventive in finding new ways to exploit the poorer classes, which nowadays includes just about everybody but the ultra-wealthy. However, as resources become scarcer, e.g., oil, the challenges facing the capitalist class will become more daunting. This is the unhealthy prognosis I see lying ahead for our system.

Jim

Rainy Day Fun

Today is another cool rainy day here in Cherry Grove, so I'm poking around the web and looking at a few new movie web sites. This new flick is on my must see list. It has a great cast, a wonderful score, and a charming story line. Go to the official web site here, and spend a few minutes reading about the movie and listening to the music. You will LOVE the special effects!

Also on my list: "Death At A Funeral." The website for this movie is here. Any movie directed by a man named "Frank Oz" should be good.

Jim

Fat Pets In the UK...

...can now get support on this website.

This is "Fat Boy Slim."

It's not heathy for the little furries (or for their human friends) to be too chunky.

Jim

Bob Schieffer: "I've Been Down This Old Rabbit Trail Before"

CBS "Face The Nation" host Schieffer commenting on the White House plan to prepare General Patreaus' September Iraq progress report for him. There's nothing like playing with a stacked deck, eh George?

Schieffer continued: "We won't get a straight answer and that's a shame."

Actually, it's criminal, like a lot of what Bush has done.

Jim

The War As We Saw It

Click onthe title of this post for a must read: seven U. S. servicemembers at the end of their tours in Iraq have written an opinion piece published in today's New York Times that won't sit well with the White House and the Pentagon. Here's a powerful excerpt:

In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis
from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their
self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to
call us what we are — an army of occupation — and force our withdrawal.
Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis
take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we
assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see
fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our
pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the
incongruities.

The "pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities"...sounds like Bush's entire presidency.

Jim

A Highly Recommended Film

"Imaginary Heroes" was the best film that Dan and I saw yesterday at the 5th Annual Golden Wagon Film Festival in Ocean Beach. It's a coming of age story, a profile of a seriously dysfunctional suburban family, an intimate portrait of a wife and mother dealing with her troubled marriage, the death of her eldest son, and much more. The script was written by then 22 year old Dan Harris, who at age 25 also directed the film. Apparently, it was never released into wide circulation, or we missed it if it was. I would highly recommend it.

Jim

Merv Griffin: A Failure As A Human Being

Dan captures a typical beach scene on Fire Island in this colorful painting.

Up until now, we've been fortunate so far this year in terms of tropical storms. "Dean," which is now threatening the Caribbean and the Gulf, is the first big storm of the season. Even though the storm is far away, the surf here on Fire Island is already rough.

In the news: Merv Griffin is outed posthumously by a Hollywood reporter. Griffin's sexuality was known for years in spite of his refusal to come out. He could have used his influence and his wealth, thought to be approaching a billion dollars, to help in the fight against AIDS and the struggle for gay civil rights. Instead, he chose to befriend the likes of Ronald Reagan and to remain firmly closeted. He was a collaborator in his own oppression, and his failure to join in the struggle for social justice for gays was a moral failure on his part. He stood by and did nothing when he could have helped immensely. As one observer puts it: he was a failure a a human being. I have to agree.

Jim

Using Torture Is Always Wrong

Tomorrow Dan and I will be attending the 5th Annual Golden Wagon Film Festival in Ocean Beach, a community about an hour and a half walk to the West of Cherry Grove. You can read about the festival here. We'll make a day of it, enjoying the films then having dinner in "OB."

Last night we had our delayed special 24th anniversary dinner at Le Soir, a fine French restaurant in Bayport, NY, which is on Long Island. Our good friend Ed Mallon accompanied us, and it was a most festive and enjoyable evening. The food is really great. You can read about the restaurant here.

I had a spirited discussion with Ed over dinner about, of all things, using torture against terrorists, and the Geneva Conventions. Ed feels that all bets are off when dealing with terrorists, and that the Geneva Conventions should be "changed." My position is that the terrorists only win if we sink to their level and use their tactics, including torture. I think we should abide by the Geneva Conventions, not change or ignore them. Our flouting of the Conventions and International Law are a large part of the reason that America has lost respect worldwide. 9-11 was an unspeakable horror, but it should not be used as a justification for torture, or for the wholesale gutting of our constitution, as has been done by the current administration.

Jim

Stock Market Jitters

Here's Dan with his paintings on display at the 2007 Pines Biennial Art Show.

From Wikipedia:

A market correction is sometimes defined as a drop of at least 10%, but not
more than 20% (25% on intraday trading) over a short period of time. The
major difference between a bear market and a correction is magnitude and
duration. Bear markets last much longer, and the magnitude of loss is
greater.

So, are we in a correction? We're down about eight or nine hundred points. Somewhere around fourteen hundred points would be ten percent off the high point of the recent market, so we probably have some additional downward movement to go before we get into official correction mode territory. How low will the market go? The housing market slump and the credit crunch seem to require some action on the part of the Federal Reserve, but some analysts seem to feel that the Fed's hands are tied thanks to the Bush Administration's reckless policies, most notably, the huge tax cuts for the rich. Could part of Dubbya's legacy be a stock market crash?

Jim

Dissappointing: Rudy Giuliani

One of the prettiest plants on our deck this year is this Mandevilla. It likes plenty of sun and lots of water, and rewards extra care with multiple blossoms. This is the first year I've tried this plant in a pot on the deck. Since this specimen has done so well, I'll definitely try one again next year in the same location.

In the news: Rudolph Giuliani continues to backtrack from his support for anything approaching gay marriage or civil unions. The latest comment from Giuliani was in reference to New Hampshire's civil unions law, which he now says is "to close to gay marriage." It's sad that Giuliani feels that he has to distance himself from the gay civil rights struggle in order to secure the Republican Party presidential nomination. But who is going to believe him or trust him when it's so clear that he is pandering. Everyone knows or will know his history as mayor of New York City during which tenure he was gay friendly. He isn't fooling anyone including the right wing Republican "base" that he is so obviously interested in courting. He's just another sorry excuse as a leader who has proven that his most important principle is what good for Rudy. He is NOT presidential material.

Jim

Hillary, Obama, And Gay Marriage

A must read on Andrew Sullivan's web site.

Jim

It looks Like Hillary Vs. Rudy

The two of them, our "children," are often seen together. Nikko will often show affection to Bradley by rubbing his head against the dog, while Bradley will often playfully chase or nip at the cat. Here they are sharing a restful moment on the back deck under the stairway to the roof deck.

Polls out this morning show Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani pulling away from the other candidates and opening up big leads. Ho, hum. Americans settle for, in fact seemingly want so very little in a candidate in terms of character.

Jim

Of Paintings And Stories

This fantastic painting by Dan titled "Into The Woods" was sold at the Pines Biennial on Saturday. Actually, it could have been sold at least twice because another buyer wanted it after it had already been sold. Dan has paintings remaining from the sale, so if anyone would like to purchase on of his works they are available for sale. Contact Dan if you're interested at rdeccp@yahoo.com

We had an old friend Charles Austin over yesterday afternoon for our weekly writer's group meeting. Charles has a story in the just published short story collection that also contains a work written by Dan. "Queer Collection" is available for purchase on Amazon.
Jim

Ford VS. Kos

The best thing on Sunday morning AM political shows this morning was the confrontation on Meet The Press between blogger Markos Moulitsas ("Kos") and Democratic Leadership Council head Harold Ford, the Democratic "centrist" and Imus crony who ran for senator from TN, and lost. Kos did a pretty good job of making Ford look like a has been while forcefully stating the need for Democrats to stand up proudly for their liberal principles rather than trying to out-Republican the Republicans. It was a good exchange.

Jim

Hillary's "Symbolic Insult" To Gays And Lesbians

Congratulations, Dan, on your successful participation in this year's Pines Biennial Art Exhibit. Dan sold four paintings, including this sensational beach scene.

I've been very critical of Hillary Clinton's refusal to call for the complete repeal of the hateful "Defense Of Marriage Act." Today I read that a respected advocate for gay rights, Professor Lawrence Tribe of Harvard, has also criticized Ms. Clinton for the same reason:

Sen. Hillary Clinton's, D-N.Y., opposition to completely repealing the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA) was painted as a "symbolic insult" to gays by a
top adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., presidential campaign during a
Friday interview with ABC News.
"The federal statute books shouldn't be
filled with symbolic insults to part of the population," said Harvard law
professor Laurence Tribe. "I guess Hillary Clinton may have a complicated set of
agendas here because many people were troubled when her husband as president
signed DOMA."

Read the full article here.

You bet I was "troubled" when Bill Clinton signed DOMA. And I'm troubled that Hillary still supports parts of it. There is no way she deserves the support of the gay community until she completely renounces this homophobic piece of legislation.

Jim

Busy Day!

We're off in a few minutes to the Pines with over 20 of Dan's paintings. Dan will join about two dozen other artists in the Pines Biennial art exhibit. I think he's going to sell a lot this year. It's a beautiful day and we're really looking forward to this fun event.

Jim

The Democrats On Gay Issues: The LOGO Forum

Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson, the top tier of Democratic Party presidential candidates, went on national TV last evening, on the LOGO gay network and on the Internet and tried to explain why they favor FULL EQUALITY for the gay and lesbian community but OPPOSE gay marriage. None of them succeeded in explaining this dichotomy. I think the explanation is simple: none of them have the COURAGE to LEAD and to TAKE A STAND in favor of full equality and equal justice for the gay community. They blew it, period.

The two long shot candidates, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich, are fully supportive of gay marriage and full gay equality and said so unequivocally. The may not win the nomination, but they sure set the bar high for the other candidates.

Bill Richardson, in an answer to a question from Melissa Ethridge, said that being gay is a choice. He later "clarified" that in a statement, but the damage has been done. One wonders where is he coming from?

Obama had trouble answering when he was asked if he understood why gays and lesbians see civil unions as separate and unequal.

Edwards basically said that he personally opposed gay marriage but wouldn't say why, except that he admitted that he should not have said that his opposition was due to his faith. I have an idea: it's your residual homophobia, Mr. Edwards.

Ah, and finally, Mrs. Clinton, who was patronizing at times and stuck to her policy talking points throughout. If you want four more years of Clinton-like triangulation, betrayal, and lip service, then Hillary is your girl.

The questions from the panel were better than I expected. As I've indicated, the responses from the "big four" were too often disappointing.

Joe Solomese, the head of the Human Rights Campaign and one of those posing the questions on LOGO, summed up the forum pretty well:

"Tonight was an important night in the fight for equality for GLBT
Americans. We pulled the curtain back a bit and gave all Americans a deeper look
inside the candidates' core beliefs about the issues that affect our community.
From repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, supporting equal employment rights,
providing full funding for HIV/AIDS epidemic, to eliminating the Defense of
Marriage Act, these candidates went on record and committed to fighting for
equality in all sectors of our society. Unfortunately, we have more work to
do. The overwhelming majority of the candidates do not support marriage
equality. While we heard very strong commitments to civil unions and equality in
federal rights and benefits, their reasons for opposing equality in civil
marriage tonight became even less clear. Over the course of the presidential
campaign, we will continue to ask these questions and demand real answers from
the candidates who were appeared tonight-and from those who didn't show up. The
next president must be committed to not only doing what's achievable, but also
what's right."

I'm off to look for a third party candidate to support.

Jim

Photo: One of Dan's new paintings, on sale this weekend at the Pines Biennial Art Show

Hillary And "The Defense Of Marriage Act"

Photo: Fine Art at the Pines Biennial.

Ms. Clinton still supports portions of the "Defense Of Marriage Act," that hateful, pandering piece of legislation signed into law by her husband under cover of darkness, legislation that prohibits the federal level recognition of legitimate marriages entered into legally by gays and lesbians. When asked about this last weekend at the "Yearly Kos" meeting this was her answer:

Secondly, DOMA, I believe that DOMA served a very important purpose. I was one of the architects in the strategy against the Marriage Amendment to the constitution, and DOMA gave us a bright line to be able to hold back the votes that were building up to do what I consider to be absolutely abominable and that would be to amend the constitution to enshrine discrimination. I believe marriage should be left to the states. I support civil unions as I've said many times with full equality of benefits and so I think that DOMA appropriately put the responsibility in the states where it has historically belonged and I think you're beginning to see states take action. I think it's, I think part three of DOMA needs to be repealed because part three stands in the way of the full extension of federal benefits and I support that. So that's the first.

Here is the major problem with this response: Civil marriage is a basic civil right and as such it is constitutionally protected on the federal level. This is what the Supreme Court found in "Loving vs. Virginia" when the Court outlawed ALL state level laws banning interracial marriage. Therefore, contrary to Ms. Clinton's answer, marriage has not been "left to the states." Someone ought to bring this up on tonight's LOGO presidential candidates forum.

Also, there's the bullshit quotient of this answer as pointed out by one observer on the Pam's House Blend blog: The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) was not proposed until 2003, years AFTER DOMA was signed into law, so DOMA was no "bright line" preventing votes from building up in favor of the FMA.

Jim

Time For A Viable Third Party Alternative

I'm supporting the Unity08 drive to put a third party ticket on the ballot in all 50 states in 2008. I agree with their basic assumptions as stated on their website:

Unity08 believes that neither of today’s major parties reflects the
aspirations, fears or will of the majority of Americans. Both have polarized and
alienated the people. Both are unduly influenced by single-issue groups. Both
are excessively dominated by money.
For most of the 20th Century, the contest for the U.S. presidency was waged over those “in the middle.” Recent Presidential elections, however, have not been focused on the middle but on the turnout of each party’s special interest groups — with each party’s “base” representing barely ten percent of the American people.
We believe that, while the leaders of both major parties are well intentioned people, they are trapped in a flawed system — and that the two major parties are today simply neither relevant to the issues and challenges of the 21st Century nor effective in addressing them.
As a result, most Americans have not been enthusiastic about the choices for President in recent elections, the key issues they ran on, or the manner in which the campaigns were conducted.
Therefore Unity08 will act to assure that an alternative ticket is presented to the American voters in 2008.

Now, this does not mean that I will necessarily support the ticket that they come up with, or vote for their slate for president and vice president. I may, or may not. However, I do agree with their assessment that the current two party system is hopelessly corrupt and does not present real choices to the American voter. I also agree with their goal of forcing reform of the two major parties by presenting a viable third party alternative.

Jim

A Great New Song

James Blunt sings "High"
I heard a great new song yesterday called "1973" written and performed by British singer James Blunt. In the new song Blunt really captures the sadness of a 50 something man who pines for his lost relationship with the love of his life "Simona." You can get the song or the song/video combination on I-Tunes. I predict that you'll be hearing this song a lot. The song is off Blunt's new album that will be released next month. This YouTube video is one of his earlier songs.

Jim

A Stormy Wednesday Morning

Photo: Glen Wielgus with some of his beautiful paintings at the last Pines Biennial. Glen is the organizer of this year's event.

It's a stormy morning here in Cherry Grove. The sky is dark and there's lots of heavy rain, thunder, and lightning. You know it's bad when the Direct TV isn't working.

The beach has been great lately. The water is warm and not too rough. We haven't been hearing about many tropical storms so far this season. It's been TOO quiet on that front.

Jim

Bush's Democrats

Aren't we happy to have a congress controlled by the Democratic Party? It's great they way they are standing up to George Bush, getting our soldiers out of Iraq, and restoring our civil liberties.

In our dreams!

Here's the Washington Post on the way the Democrats rolled over and gave Bush the authority to wire tap US citizens without a warrant:

"The Democratic-led Congress, more concerned with protecting its political
backside than with safeguarding the privacy of American citizens, left town
early yesterday after caving in to administration demands that it allow warrantless surveillance of the phone calls and e-mails of American citizens, with scant judicial
supervision and no reporting to Congress about how many communications are being intercepted. To call this legislation ill-considered is to give it too much
credit: It was scarcely considered at all. Instead, it was strong-armed through
both chambers by an administration that seized the opportunity to write its warrantless wiretapping program into law—or, more precisely, to write it out from under any real legal restrictions."

The Democrats: pretty useless, I'd say.

Jim

Olberman To Moderate Tonight's Democratic Debate

Here's another photo of the venue for the Pines Biennial Art Show, which will be held this Saturday afternoon. If you can make this event, don't miss it!

Tonight there is another presidential debate scheduled. This time it's the Democrats, but the attraction of this particular event for me will be the moderator, Keith Olberman, a modern day Edward R. Murrow, who has been an articulate critic of the Bush administration. His job will be to moderate, but I wouldn't be surprised if he presses some of the candidates hard on Iraq, particularly those who have some problems with their positions and votes on Iraq, e.g., HC. It should make for good watching!

Jim

Pines Biennial Art Show

The Pines Biennial Art Exhibit will be held this Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 PM. There will be about two dozen artists and sculptors exhibiting. Dan will have about 2o paintings in the show. The venue is a large double house compound on Seaview walk. Paintings are displayed on the walls of the houses and on the fencing. Sculptures are placed poolside or in open areas on the deck. It's really a spectacular show and the artwork looks great outdoors.

It's only early August but Fall was in the air out here on the island this past weekend. It got so cool the other night that I actually put a blanket on the bed. I'm sure it will get hot again, but we've been enjoying the beautiful cooler weather. The water is warm and yesterday it was so clear that you could see your toes while standing chest deep in the ocean. I saw a school of tiny fish as I was swimming and in past years I've even seem warm water tropical fish like Sergeant Majors while swimming here. When the winds are favorable we often get warm water currents that I suspect are offshoots from the Gulf Stream. The color of the water is a beautiful mint green. Today I'll wear my diving mask and snorkel and see if I can spot some special warm water visitors off shore.

Jim

Dollars For The Pentagon, Not Bridges

Here's one of Dan's recent paintings based upon photos taken during our adventures in Japan during the two tours that we enjoyed in that wonderful country. Dan will be exhibiting his paintings next week in the highly respected Pines biennial art exhibit. The date is next Saturday, August 11 during the afternoon hours.

Congress just passed a new Pentagon budget totalling $460 billion dollars. It is estimated that it would take about four times that much to repair the ageing infrastructure of this country - our roads, bridges, etc. We could use a new Roosevelt era-like program to get our infrastructure back into condition, but as was pointed out on one of the Sunday Am talk shows, all of the presidential candidates are internationalists - meaning they are concerned with other foreign affairs primarily. Bush is pushing for a $60 billion dollar arms program for Saudi Arabia, supposedly designed to "stabilize the Middle East.' Yea, sure. Again, our priorities as a nation are out of whack.

Jim

"Kos" Liberals Vs. Old Time Radicals

The "Yearly Kos" confab is in the blogosphere news currently. For those who don't follow the "liberal blogosphere" that closely, the "Daily Kos" is a liberal blog that has garnered a lot of influence in Democratic Party circles. Howard Dean, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, just gave the keynote address at the Yearly Kos convention, and there has been a lot of buzz about how well Hillary Clinton will do in a presidential candidates debate or forum in front of an audience composed of the liberal Daily Kos bloggers. Last year she was booed when she stated her opposition to a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Since then she has deftly modified (or blurred) her position on the war and now she is calling for an immediate partial troop withdrawal. She still has not apologized for her vote authorizing the war. It will be interesting to see how she does today at the debate.

Why is today's "Left" less radicalized than the Left of the 1960s? Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker sees it this way:

"I think the difference between today’s left and yesterday’s is partly
explained by the difference between the wars that have energized them. Vietnam
was, as Bob Dole might say, a “Democrat war.” You couldn't’t protest it just by
putting your energies into electing Democrats, and of course you couldn't’t do it
by trying to elect Republicans, who liked the war even more. You had to go to
the left of the Dems, and if you hadn’t happened to have already acquired a
moral/political compass, you might keep going till you ended up at the feet of
Chairman Mao. This war is an all-Republican affair. And this generation, thank
God, is perfectly content to stick with (Democratic Party) Chairman
Howard."

Well, I'm definitely NOT ready to "Thank God" that today's generation is content to stick with the Democratic Party. I see that 16 Democratic senators just joined the Republicans in the senate in passing a domestic spying bill that meets Bush's requirements. That's another Democratic Party sellout, pure and simple. The usual Democratic conservatives...Ben Nelson, etc. and the unreliables, like Diane Feinstein, and, of course, faux Democrat Joe Lieberman voted with the Republicans. Yes, the more liberal Democrats voted against the bill, but there is no Democratic Party discipline holding the party together in opposition to King George/Rove. Give me some of that old time political radicalism. I can't take any more of the Democrats.

Jim

Build Schools, Then Bridges, Not Bombs!

The annual Cherry Grove Art Show was held at the community house last weekend. This event gives local artists a chance to showcase their work and it is usually very well attended. Here's a photo of our friend Michael and his paintings on display at the show.

The horrific bridge collapse in Minneapolis is an indication of the deteriorating state of the infrastructure of this country, but it's not an isolated incident. Rather, it's just the latest example of how we're letting our own country disintegrate while spending billions of dollars every month in Iraq. The steam pipe explosion in New York City recently shed a lot of light on that city's aging infrastructure. Now we learn that we have 756 bridges in this country (truss bridges) that are similar to the one that collapsed in the Midwest. Bridges and pipes are important, but how will we ever get to them when we've let our children down with sub-standard schools? Our nation's priorities are dead wrong. Our oil driven greed is coming home to bite us. Look for more of these tragic incidents in the coming years.

Jim

A Cherry Grove Tradition Continues

The annual volleyball game held on the first Wednesday of August took place yesterday on the Ocean Walk game court. It's difficult to imagine how it could have been any hotter. The Grove team won two games in a row playing against a competative team that included police officers from Nassau County and the NYPD. While this year's event was smaller overall than in years past, there was a spirit of fun and comaraderie throughout the event and at the "Victory Party" held afterward around the Ice Palace pool. Here is a photo of emcee and announcer Sal and the 2007 Cherry Bowl Queen "Serrata Edge"

Game Action - a volley by Monica














A friendly handshake after a good game

Congress and Children's Healthcare

My disgust with our government grows even further. Now congress is attempting to tank (as in kill, deep six, nullify) healthcare for Children!

What?

Yep, you heard it. A government by the people for the corporations. The list goes on and on: congress wussed out on creating a paper trail for electronic voting machines.

And the government is getting ready to feed us some puke on how the fake troop rotation (aptly named by Karl Rove "the Surge" which I really believe is a metaphor for the amount of viagara that flows into the Republican Caucus) is working. Please. Let's not fool ourselves into believing our overworked national guard, Marines, Airforce, Army and Navy are"Surging". We're using Iraqis to fight each other. It's going about as well as our fight was going with Viet Nam in 1971. How did that turn out again?

I'm going to go read the daily Kos and Michael Moore's website and believe every last word of both. 1. Because I like both and 2. Because I dislike the other viewpoint as strong as a human possibly can. I can't wait for some of the Hannity's, O'Reilly's and Coulter's of the world to start falling into obscurity. If you want to see how scumbag nutjobs like these guys fall into obscurity, go Google a guy named Charles E. Coughlin.

Hey Bill, can you loofa reality a little more for us?

M

60s Sexual Liberation

The late 1960s was also a time of sexual liberation for many. The song of the period which best captured that sense for me was David Crosby's "Triad" written in 1968. While the "Stonewall Rebellion" of 1969 was a watershed event in the modern gay rights struggle, it would be another nine years before I would come out as a gay man. In 1969 I had a journey ahead of me before I would get to that point. In the meantime I could only listen to songs like "Triad," watch film clips of lovers romping naked at Woodstock, and dream of my own personal sexual liberation.

Jim


"Triad" - by David Crosby

You want to know how it will be
Me and him OR you and me
You both stand there your long hair flowing
Your eyes alive your mind still growing
Saying to me--"What can we do now that we both love you",
I love you too--
I don't really see
Why can't we go on as three

You are afraid--embarrassed too
No one has ever said such a thing to you
Your mother's ghost stands at your shoulder
Face like ice--a little bit colder
Saying to you--"you can not do that, it breaks
All the rules you learned in school"
I don't really see
Why can't we go on as three

We love each other--it's plain to see
There's just one answer comes to me--
Sister--lovers--water brothers
And in time--maybe others
So you see--what we can do--is to try something new--
If you're crazy too--
I don't really see
Why can't we go on as three.

Hear Crosby perform the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69s9giw5EoA

Enjoy!