Les Voisins

The War of Fog

Last Night I dreamt of war. It was the early 1970's and I was in the home of Richard Nixon. He lived in a multi-storied apartment/manor. There was trouble with the Soviet Union and World War III was impending. A group of us were ushered to the bottom level of the complex. We must have gone down twenty floors. I was thinking that we were going to a subterranean bomb shelter but each floor had windows and when we finally got to the bottom floor there was a window that looked out onto street level. The complex was built on a cliff-side so even though we were passing into the earth we had no more protection from bombing than anyone else.

A hostess served me my last meal: Berries, tomatoes, grapes and french fries.
She turned off the lights and left me there. I poured myself a large glass of water and went into the backroom. There was a TV set behind a panel in the wall. I tried to operate but couldn't get it to work. Nixon and his wife came in the room.

"What is happening?" I asked, "Is this war?"
"It's already started." He said.
He picked up the control unit and the panel in wall slid back to reveal televised scene of the aerial bombing of the city we were in. I saw shiny WWII era propeller engine bombers in the sky and buildings exploding beneath them.

"Why don't you do something?" I asked.
"There's nothing we can do."
Nixon was resigned to doom.
"They are telling us," he said, "that they won't use their nuclear arsenal first. The only way we can retaliate is to nuke them. Then they will return the favor. It will be the end of the world."
That's all I remember.

We All Make Mistakes

Archaeologists mistake 1940s patio for Viking village

"I Spin, You Spin, We All Spin... Hey, I said We all Spin"

I have the impression that Bush and the gang in the White House are so engaged in spin and deceit that they have forgotten that there is a thing called the truth. It's one explanation as to their reaction to Richard Clarke's recent statement's concerning Bush's obsession with Iraq at the expense of actual terrorist threats. The White House challenges the veracity of Clarke's statements and attempt to attack his character. So what does Clarke do? He asks the White House to produce the documentation that back his claims. Please go ahead bring out the e-mails, the transcripts, the memos and minutes, he says. He has third party insiders such as, Tom Maertens, who was National Security Council under Bush and Clinton,who back up his claims. "Damn it Karl Rove! What do we do now? The enemy is talking facts and issues, and they are Republicans."

Fog of War

I went to see "the Fog of War" the Errol Morris (Thin Blue Line) documentary about Robert McNamara. He served under JFK during the October Crisis. I've always known that this was a time when the US and the USSR were within a hairs breadth of all out nuclear war, but it's one thing to read about it in a history book and quite another to see a man who was making decisions about it say it, in effect to your face. It was also terrifying to realize how lost everyone in charge was at the time. They were men. Humans like you and I and our neighbours but with nuclear arsenals at their disposal. McNamara said something very scary about how nuclear war was avoided: Luck. Dumb luck.

By the Railroad Tracks

I took this series of photos by the railroad tracks on the way to get groceries. I love the way the lines of the branches intersect.

When I Grow Up and the Moon is Full

There was a time when I wished to be half man, half wolf, but I was only a child. I saw the moon shining in the darkness. I saw that her friends were stars. She was not afraid of the clawing silhouettes of trees or the cold shadows that sheltered things with no names. If I were a were-wolf the moon would be my mistress and when she called you would see her reflection in my eyes. I would have a coat of chestnut fur that would keep me warm in the dead of night. I would be a beast with ivory fangs and pin sharp claws. From rooftop to rooftop I would leap, through alleys I would creep. While you and all the others lay asleep, I would wander alone through the fields and forests and never dream of daylight.

The attraction was not to harm others, but to be free of the responsibilities that being a member of society demands of us. The attraction was the freedom to be anti-social, to be impulsive and natural like an animal, to live in shadows, to know no fear, to be self-reliant, and to be furry of course.

Scenes From Parc Baldwin

This series of photos was taken after the snowstorm last week in a small park near my house.
I used a SONY Cyber-shot DSC-P92. I cropped them, adjusted the dark/light levels and the color-balance in Adobe Photoshop 7.0.

Persona

Changing Tradition

There was an interesting program on PBS the other night "The Kidnapped Bride" about the practice of bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan. Apparently there has been a revival of this traditional practice since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kyrgyzstan life has developed out of a nomadic tradition and a carryover of this is the practice of stealing a woman from a village to be taken as a bride. Once done on horseback it is now done by car, even by taxi.
The woman is taken to the home of the groom where the women of the family prepare the captured woman to undergo her transition to bride. They convince her that this her fate and tell her that this is how each of them came to be wed.
What surprised me most was the range of experiences and reactions that women
Had. One woman screamed and cried and struggled but finally accepted her "fate". Another resisted and was released to return to her home. These were both recorded on camera. A third hung herself. This was told anecdotally and a fourth again shown on camera who now had two children seemed extremely and genuinely happy with her husband and family.
The kidnappings sometimes were negotiated with the woman's parents, but at other times were more spontaneous. Women of marrying age lived in fear of being kidnapped and were constantly on their guard. It's an illegal practice in Kyrgyzstan, but is practiced openly. People defend it as tradition. "It is in our blood". This being said, there appears to be a number of contemporary issues of ethnic identity, concepts of masculinity and income, that shape the practice, as noted in the Strait Times:

...since the Soviet Union's collapse, kidnapping has been revived in a way that is harmful to women, as a mark of Kyrgyz ethnicity and a defining act of masculinity, she said.

Now the kidnap ritual will typically begin with a man getting drunk and deciding it is time for him to have a wife.

He will drive to another village, cruise up and down the main street until he finds a suitably nubile target whom he will then drag or deceive into his car.

The concept of "Tradition" is often used to brace otherwise unjustifiable practices. Tradition is presented in terms of the eternal. It is 'blood', or in the earth, it is conflated with nature. This is a strategy consciously employed or not, to deflect criticism. When scrutinized however tradition can be seen for the maleable thing it is. Within any society there can be found contradicting sets of traditions and values and people will pick and choose among them. They will soften an edge here, sharpen a point there until it serves their purposes.

Plateau Tour

Snow turns to rain


Local hangout


Depanneur

Where I lived in the married years


Pine Beer!


Another local hangout


I bought grapefruit here

History Ninja Says

The Good: (March 26, 1979) Israel-Egyptian peace agreement signed.

The Bad: (March 26, 1668) England takes control of Bombay India.

The Ugly: (March 26, 1997) Heaven's Gate cult members found dead.

The Odd: (March 26, 1971) "Benny Hill Show" tops TV ratings

TV Scares Me

After a long evening of hob-nobbing at Cavalli, I come home flake out on the couch and unwind to the Daily Show with John Stewart. Then I turn the channel and I see my first girl-friend, my first real love, being interviewed on E-Talk Daily. I haven't seen her for 15 years and there she is walking the red carpet and being interviewed as Editor in Chief of FASHION18. Turns out she's now a high profile Toronto Fashionista. She looked pretty much like the 18 year old girl I fell in love/lust with but with better clothes. At least more expensive clothes. When we went out she didn't shave. Anything. She was an earth goddess from Salt Spring Island. One never knows what paths people will take. It was an absolutely surreal experience.
It was like she walked into my living room, but she couldn't see me. All the inflections, the facial quirks, the body language, I hadn't seen in years were there bolder than life.
It feels unfair like I got only half a visit. Weird.

Blogged Out

I've been blogging like a fiend for the past few days. Tomorrow I'm back in the world.
Goodnight.

Sitting on the Clock

I'm waiting to hear about the outcome of about 5 proposals now. So I'm a bit edgy. That's why I can't stop blogging. I have to keep busy. Today I busted a dude breaking into a basement apartment on Iberville. I had mixed feelings. Sort of. He was clearly a street person. However, I wouldn't want him coming into my apartment for the "grand tour".

There's a cartoon crescent moon out tonight. Fantastic. It was warm today. The birds were literally singing and the buds are plumping on the branches. Tomorrow I have to go to a meeting/networking event. Biz Ness. It's as fun as you are. i.e don't expect to be entertained, but be prepard to entertain.

Here's today's Snow Report:

Bedard Boldly Blasts Bureaucratic Bedlam and Bad Bookkeeping!

Photo: Andre Pichette/CP

"They are involved in drug trafficking,"

Dreams

This is for high speed only. GO-->

It Never Ends

Okay, just when I think my opinion of the Bush administration can't get any lower I come across something new. Now I find out, thanks to Jon Stewart at the Daily Show, that the Bush people have been planting fake news items on TV. Why the Hell anyone believes a word that comes out of the White House is beyond me.

Here's what happened. They hired actors to pose as reporters and created fake news stories favorable to the administrations position on medicare. They then sent them to various news rooms where they were then broadcast as if they were actual news items.

Lest you think I'm beating on Bush to much , well yes I am, but honestly what else is he good for. We have the same problem here in Canada. Crooked , deceitful, self-interested, conniving, immoral politicians.

I think I've had my fill of this topic for a while so more pretty pictures and poetry is probably called for. I have too much time on my hands this week.

Yesterdays Storm

Don't Disturb My Beautiful Mind

''Why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's gonna happen?'' Mrs. Bush declared. ''It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?''
Barbara Bush, March 18, 2003

Whatever your politics, whatever your sense of beauty, these are some people who came home in body bags.

Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham

Writing For Love of the Word

Another blog entry I wrote has been added to a link data-base. This one on the marketer behind Sea Monkeys.

In Like a Lamb out Like a Lion

Outside my front door just moments ago. A lovely March snowfall.

Hypnogogic Defence

There is night
when the wind whines
and the ice is blue
again

Pink sleeping gas
memories
numb my lips
and tongue

Stars frozen in
sheets of green
tingle tinkle
twinkle buzz

Scratching wounds
of raw fish swimming
in ochre
soup

Richard Clarke

Richard Clarke has been a member of the upper echelons of American Security activities since he served as the second-ranking intelligence officer in the State Department under Ronald Reagan. More recently he has been a member of the National Security Council in the Bush administration. He has recently released a book titled "Against All Enemies" in which he claims that the Bush administration was after Iraq from day one of it's governance, that warnings of imminent terrorist attacks on American soil were down-played and that the events of 9/11 were used as an excuse to enact a pre-determined plan to usurp Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq.

After presenting findings to the White House that al Qaeda and not Iraq were behind the destruction of the World Trade Center, his memo was returned stating "Wrong answer. Do it again."

Last night he appeared on 60 minutes and this evening on Charlie Rose, where he presented his case. What struck me was his dispassionate presence. Here is a man who is as well informed about American National Security as anyone on the planet, who is verifying everything that has been said about the Bush administrations agenda in regards to Iraq as a ploy.

Some articles:
CBS: 60 Minutes

ABC online

Minneapolis Tribune

BBC

New York Times

Must be March Madness

The mysterious and most malevolent Madame Mafalda is making much masterfully merry and menacing musings more militantly. Many more messages mighty mistress of mirth and mayhem!!

Really?

I took another one of Jack's Quizzes and am pleased to say I am not Forest Gump

Fight Club!


What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Everyone's a Winner

If you're ever feeling down on yourself, if you ever think you haven't achieved anything special, if you go around wondering why your always dealt the losing hand, think of this: Of all the millions of sperm racing towards the egg you are the one who made it. You are the one in a million winner. (yeah I know it's anthrocentric but you get the idea).

Gematriculator Results

I took it upon myself on this lazy Sunday to feed some of my friends blogs through the gemitriculator. Here are the rigourously, so-scientific as to be beyond refutation, results. Congratulations Anzo you're blog is almost pure evil!:

1000 Words


Mafalda


Filbert


One-Eyed Jack


MM


Cacao


The Thing That


Stump(ed)
"Sorry, an error occurred"