Naturally VA Tech: Unfortunate. And has been discussed in the media from all angles. I thought a bit of compassion for the shooter's family, and less demonization of the shooter could have been expressed. Surprisingly Time Mag had an article that, I think, was on the mark. The killings were brought about by narcissism. Maybe in future the media might forgo the front page spreads and video clips of other similarly afflicted people. I won't hold my breath.

Inside Edition aired another installment in the Trump/O'Donnell smackdown: Trump, foxily, sent Barbara Walters Rosie's leather bustier from the movie Exit to Eden. Items he claimed to find disgusting, and which were went to him by a "friend" framed. I call Trump's move foxy because this would upset Walters who has probably never been embroiled in a feud of this tawdry. What was the Donald suggesting? That Walters would enjoy having Rosie's underwear? He did manage to cause a minor on air rift between R and B, while befuddling the studio audience who didn't know what had happened. Well played, Donald, you classless ass.

I read somewhere that Hillary Clinton ought not be President because she is a hypocrite. I'm still laughing. Only a consummate hypocrite could possibly be President in today's world arena where leaders are forced to negotiate with people with whom they do not necessarily agree, or even like. I think Mrs Clinton would be a godsend in that she could negotiate without it becoming a pissing contest. I also think Clinton is the smartest of the candidates and would make an excellent president given her political savvy and southern manners. We could use a bit of civility in our dealings with other world leaders.

Politics: Mark Foley. Where to begin? By which I mean whether with Foley or with Republican pols: The troubled Mr. Foley will do the time honored entering rehab bit, after attributing his behavior to alcoholism, then to having been molested by a priest when he was 13, or 15. An alcoholic once told me that when you have a drunken asshole who goes to rehab what you end up with is a sober asshole.

His fellow pols are the time honored shocked and dismayed, though that he was hitting on pages has been an open secret for at least a year. Further, Foley is gay. The media has referred to him as a pedophile, but aren't these House pages young adults, teenagers? What is the cutoff age? If Foley had been hitting on teenage female pages would he be called a pedophile? I doubt it.

I'm not going to bash President Bush, the media are doing a fine job. I do think it's unfair to say that he's acting like a spoiled child. He isn't acting.


MURDER: Foley's dissembling has nothing on the man in Amish country who killed the schoolgirls, as distinguished from the man in Colorado who killed the schoolgirls. First his reason was unknown, then it was the culmination of a 20-year grudge. Ultimately, it was claimed that he had molested young female family members some 20 years ago and was now having the urge to molest again. Adding to his stress, his young daughter had died some time ago. Naturally, he went to the schoolhouse, sent the boys and adult females out of the bldg. and shot the girls he'd kept, most of whom, if not all, I believe, died. My question: Is it possible he held the girls responsible for tempting him? Was this an act of an anguished father, denied his own in-house molestee when his daughter died? Or was this just the action of a confused man unable to deal with his feelings, and God forbid he see a therapist. (Let's hope it isn't the latter, since there are so many men unable to deal with their feelings who are also therapy averse.)

Sept. 5, 2006

Read an interesting mystery, Desert Wives by Betty Webb, set in a polygamist community near the Arizona/Utah border. This is significant because it is a way the sect ties the law up in jurisdictional sleight-of-hand.

The mystery itself was good, but the details of the sect were fascinating. Did you know that when a man takes a new wife he divorces the current wife, and some men have lots and lots of wives. The fascinating part comes in when you learn that the reason for this is because as a divorced woman with no income and probably kids (more about this in a moment) the woman is eligible for welfare payments, even though she still lives with the exhusband and the new wife. And, worse, the men in the community know when the women are most fertile and make sure to sleep with them during that time; the more kids, the more money coming in. Our tax dollars at work. Yes sirree.

Betty Webb is a former award winning journalist, so the research is reliable.

She also has a sense of humor. At one point when a disgruntled polygamist husband who is helping the detective and needs to speak with her alone, he tells the wife that "God just spoke to me and He wants you to do the dishes while I take Mable here (not the real name) into town to buy groceries." Reminds me of the Taliban, and Christian fundamentalists in general. All of whom purport to know what God wants.

Check out Betty Webb's books. I went on to read all of them (4, so far) and wasn't disappointed in one of them. And I'm not easy to please when it comes to books.

On Terrorism: Am I the only person in America sick of hearing Beltway blowhards blather on about protecting us? Surely we are all adult enough to know they can't protect us and all they're doing is wasting money in order to be seen as doing something, which has more to do with photo ops and coming elections than it has to do with protecting us. They can't protect us. Let's all say that together. They can't protect us.

We'll get hit, or we won't. Anyone in America can be part of a terrorist cell, or even one lone nut with a grudge and a weapon can wreak havoc. We'd better get smart and learn that it's the reasons people do these things that we can eradicate, not the people already disaffected. Think, people, think.

The war in Iraq costs $8 billion/mo, not the $1 billion I posted 8/26. Sorry.

If you're interested in historical background, by which I mean the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, read the book Charlie Wilson's War. The book details how an alcoholic senator serving on the powerful Intelligence committee managed to get millions in U.S. money for a covert campaign in Afghanistan to help the, then called, Freedom Fighters (later warlords) defeat the Russians.

The U.S. bought arms on the black market that were not U.S. made in order to conceal our participation. They taught the "FFs" to use sophisticated technology (rocket launchers, IEDs). See where I'm going with this? The CIA advised the Afghanistans and one analyst described the conflict as "a football game where no one knew who was on which team." The U.S. was aided in its efforts by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Israel (yes) and others. But read the book. It's fascinating. It also makes you wonder why we ever got involved in Iraq, knowing what we knew about jihadists. That ten would take the place of each we killed ought not to have come as a surprise. The Arabs did not credit the U.S. for helping them when the Soviets withdrew. No. It was Allah's will. Soon after this costly, in terms of money and men, was the Soviet Union collapsed. If one superpower could be brought down, why not another? was asked by another CIA analyst.

Interesting reading also: House of Bush/House of Saud (self explanatory). Could it be advice to Baby Bush from his good Saudi prince pal that got us into Iraq? Read the book First Son, a bio of Baby Bush that lays out what a flyweight Dubya has always been intellectually: while at Yale Georgie couldn't wait to get back to West Texas (not Crawford, where he moved shortly before becoming President (how it pains me to type that) because his fellow Yalies (of whom Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury) was one) felt guilty about their privileged lives. His complaint: "They think everyone should have what we have." That quote does give credence to Molly Ivins's quip that Dubya was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Great observation.

Here is my take on the "terrorists." Men who are smart enough to know that America's help comes with a huge price. The U.S. corporations will set up businesses in the Middle East and the home boys, and eventually girls?, will become hourly wage slaves just like those of us here in America. Do we really want to export the opportunity to work all your life then have your pension withdrawn, or stolen by CEOs. Maybe the terrorists aren't so much full of hate as full of knowledge of how America operates: we call the shots. By we I mean our govt.

Well, I'm all ranted out. I have read a few good books: Intuition by Allegra Goodman, Jennifer Vandever's The Bronte Project, Cormac MacCarthy's (McCarthy's?) No Country For Old Men, an interesting mystery Kill Me by _____? White (Frank, maybe), the new political thriller from Vince Flynn Consent To Kill.

We need to change tactics.

War in the Middle East is not working. I say Middle East, because we may be in Iran and/or Syria next. Take the billion a month we're spending destroying cities and use it to improve conditions for the people affected. We'll still need the military unfortunately. But perhaps we can slow terrorist recruitment by helping the Arab people.

Too simplistic? What do you think?