Reno 911
The Monday, July 5th trip to Reno was pretty disastrous, but what was stranger was the peculiar illness that took hold of me on Wednesday. It felt much like a hangover and pretty-much debilitated me for a day (but I had just one glass of wine!) Science News suggests that hangovers may be a form of inflammation. And I do have a shin splint (either a tear or a form of inflammation, which arose inexplicably, given that I've been idle since the weekend, at the same time as the hangover). It's strange that there was such a lag between drinking the wine and the hangover, but it may have been precipitated by the cumulative effect of several nights of poor sleep. In any event, with the help of aspirin, I hope I can reassemble myself in time for 'Damn Yankees' this weekend.
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Nostradamus
Keith over at Subway is involved in an interesting project: using numerology to interpret the writings of Nostradamus. Keith is using the writings of Nostradamus like a Web Page, and using the various quatrains as hyperlinks. So far, he has discerned that there are at least two texts hidden within the the writings of Nostradamus, one in first-person and one in third-person.
I wonder if Keith will eventually conclude, as others have, that George W. Bush is the Anti-Christ?
Keith over at Subway is involved in an interesting project: using numerology to interpret the writings of Nostradamus. Keith is using the writings of Nostradamus like a Web Page, and using the various quatrains as hyperlinks. So far, he has discerned that there are at least two texts hidden within the the writings of Nostradamus, one in first-person and one in third-person.
I wonder if Keith will eventually conclude, as others have, that George W. Bush is the Anti-Christ?
Useful Links
Stories of a list of compliant reporters who parroted Ahmad Chalabi's lies
Eerie parallels between the price of gas and Bush's popularity
Evil NASA administrators plan to ditch a satellite in perfect working order, just because they think it costs too much
Mubarak's battle against the Muslim Brotherhood
Is the Bush administration trying to spring a July surprise?
The Palms of California
and lastly, but not least:
Flesh-Eating Bacteria
(important, since Chavo actually suffered from this horrible disease last year, and lost part of his abdomen as a result.....)
Stories of a list of compliant reporters who parroted Ahmad Chalabi's lies
Eerie parallels between the price of gas and Bush's popularity
Evil NASA administrators plan to ditch a satellite in perfect working order, just because they think it costs too much
Mubarak's battle against the Muslim Brotherhood
Is the Bush administration trying to spring a July surprise?
The Palms of California
and lastly, but not least:
Flesh-Eating Bacteria
(important, since Chavo actually suffered from this horrible disease last year, and lost part of his abdomen as a result.....)
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Damn Yankees
The Davis Enterprise review came out regarding DMTC's "Damn Yankees." The reviewer wrote: "'Whatever Lola Wants' is fine, but - again - could use a bit more oomph to make it sizzle." I thought this critique was a bit odd...Megan Soto does an admirable job with her dancing. How much more oomph would be required? I thought maybe it was a matter of interpretation: Megan's cold and manipulative, vs., say, someone else's angry and fiery. A friend then pointed out that Megan's interpretation didn't have enough levels, and so the character couldn't evolve sufficiently during the show. Hmmm.... So maybe Megan had too much oomph at the beginning, and not enough at the end? I don't know, acting is all such a mystery!
The Davis Enterprise review came out regarding DMTC's "Damn Yankees." The reviewer wrote: "'Whatever Lola Wants' is fine, but - again - could use a bit more oomph to make it sizzle." I thought this critique was a bit odd...Megan Soto does an admirable job with her dancing. How much more oomph would be required? I thought maybe it was a matter of interpretation: Megan's cold and manipulative, vs., say, someone else's angry and fiery. A friend then pointed out that Megan's interpretation didn't have enough levels, and so the character couldn't evolve sufficiently during the show. Hmmm.... So maybe Megan had too much oomph at the beginning, and not enough at the end? I don't know, acting is all such a mystery!
The Producers
With Katherine Arthur, I saw the travelling Broadway show, "The Producers", on Thursday July 1st, at Sacramento's Community Center Theater. As expected, a very, very funny show! "If your intention was to shoot an arrow through my heart.....Bullseye!"
Mary Young and Peter Baldridge also saw the Thursday performance.
With Katherine Arthur, I saw the travelling Broadway show, "The Producers", on Thursday July 1st, at Sacramento's Community Center Theater. As expected, a very, very funny show! "If your intention was to shoot an arrow through my heart.....Bullseye!"
Mary Young and Peter Baldridge also saw the Thursday performance.
Fahrenheit 911
I missed the opening of F911 on the weekend, but I did catch it on Monday, June 28th. The Tower Theater was remarkably crowded for a Monday, and I had to settle for an inferior seat.
There was only one part of the movie that I considered a stretch: just prior to the recent war, Baghdad wasn't all happiness and light, and the Iraqis DID have American blood on their hands, if not so much recently, then from Gulf War I.
Nevertheless, the movie is a triumph and many of its points have needed a public audience for too long. Once again, Moore's critics are going to miss the point and go after secondary matters.
For example, immediately after I got home, I caught Joe Scarborough on MSNBC declaiming against Michael Moore. Scarborough repeatedly insisted that Moore had stated that the U.S. had gone to war in Afghanistan to safeguard UNOCAL's pipeline project: having just seen the movie a few minutes before, I knew that what Moore had said was that the Bush Administration had continued negotiating with the Taliban over the pipeline even after the African embassy bombings and the Cole incident had given us ample reason to shelve the pipeline project, and that the new leadership of Afghanistan contains former UNOCAL advisors (people like belabored President Karzai).
Scarborough's desperate efforts to punch holes in F911 continued on Tuesday night (fact-checking is an unfamiliar burden to right-wing pundits, who usually just make up stuff, and doubly frustrating too, since its so easy to get their own facts wrong...all you have to do is casually watch F911 to see how badly Scarborough screws up his own analysis).
Then there are the professional fact-checkers, people at Spin-Sanity.org, who often miss the forest for all the trees. SpinSanity chastizes Moore for using Jeffrey Toobin's point about Gore winning the 2000 election if overvotes were counted statewide in Florida, and not clarifying that this was the only scenario by which Gore would have won, when the real crime is that the overvotes WEREN'T counted because of the U.S. Supreme Court intervention. Once again, as with 'Bowling for Columbine', Moore's crime was he oversimplified the matter under consideration, in order to make his point. Gosh, flay Moore's hide for that! It's not like anyone else ever oversimplified - Rush Limbaugh, for example, or shall we say, George W. Bush and his certainty concerning Saddam's WMD?
The Saudi flights out the country after 9/11 are another point: the fact of the flights, with the need for special permission, is not nearly as important as the absence of FBI questioning of bin Laden's closest relatives and what they might have known of the plot.
Moore is right to focus attention on business connections between the Taliban, oil companies, and the Bush Administration. After all, it wasn't until recently I learned California's right-wing Republican Dana Rohrbacher lobbied on behalf of the Taliban. These connections need to be understood.
I'm thinking of following the advice of Andrew Sullivan (A Blogosphere Challenge) and taking a tape-recorder into the movie, so I can get a solid transcript of the movie so as to counter the critics more easily (and not, as Sullivan wants, so as to criticize Moore more easily). Moore has done the nation a service. We should all applaud his efforts!
I missed the opening of F911 on the weekend, but I did catch it on Monday, June 28th. The Tower Theater was remarkably crowded for a Monday, and I had to settle for an inferior seat.
There was only one part of the movie that I considered a stretch: just prior to the recent war, Baghdad wasn't all happiness and light, and the Iraqis DID have American blood on their hands, if not so much recently, then from Gulf War I.
Nevertheless, the movie is a triumph and many of its points have needed a public audience for too long. Once again, Moore's critics are going to miss the point and go after secondary matters.
For example, immediately after I got home, I caught Joe Scarborough on MSNBC declaiming against Michael Moore. Scarborough repeatedly insisted that Moore had stated that the U.S. had gone to war in Afghanistan to safeguard UNOCAL's pipeline project: having just seen the movie a few minutes before, I knew that what Moore had said was that the Bush Administration had continued negotiating with the Taliban over the pipeline even after the African embassy bombings and the Cole incident had given us ample reason to shelve the pipeline project, and that the new leadership of Afghanistan contains former UNOCAL advisors (people like belabored President Karzai).
Scarborough's desperate efforts to punch holes in F911 continued on Tuesday night (fact-checking is an unfamiliar burden to right-wing pundits, who usually just make up stuff, and doubly frustrating too, since its so easy to get their own facts wrong...all you have to do is casually watch F911 to see how badly Scarborough screws up his own analysis).
Then there are the professional fact-checkers, people at Spin-Sanity.org, who often miss the forest for all the trees. SpinSanity chastizes Moore for using Jeffrey Toobin's point about Gore winning the 2000 election if overvotes were counted statewide in Florida, and not clarifying that this was the only scenario by which Gore would have won, when the real crime is that the overvotes WEREN'T counted because of the U.S. Supreme Court intervention. Once again, as with 'Bowling for Columbine', Moore's crime was he oversimplified the matter under consideration, in order to make his point. Gosh, flay Moore's hide for that! It's not like anyone else ever oversimplified - Rush Limbaugh, for example, or shall we say, George W. Bush and his certainty concerning Saddam's WMD?
The Saudi flights out the country after 9/11 are another point: the fact of the flights, with the need for special permission, is not nearly as important as the absence of FBI questioning of bin Laden's closest relatives and what they might have known of the plot.
Moore is right to focus attention on business connections between the Taliban, oil companies, and the Bush Administration. After all, it wasn't until recently I learned California's right-wing Republican Dana Rohrbacher lobbied on behalf of the Taliban. These connections need to be understood.
I'm thinking of following the advice of Andrew Sullivan (A Blogosphere Challenge) and taking a tape-recorder into the movie, so I can get a solid transcript of the movie so as to counter the critics more easily (and not, as Sullivan wants, so as to criticize Moore more easily). Moore has done the nation a service. We should all applaud his efforts!
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Ned Roscoe Wonders About Voting
(from last to first, a Gubernatorial Candidate E-Mail Thread)
(Marc Valdez)
I think of American democracy like the Space Shuttle Columbia, accelerating into space, with chunks of foam blowing off the external fuel tank. It's hard to tell which little piece of foam might blow a hole into the wing. When voter participation is high and the know-how to run the democracy is widespread, America's flight possesses legitimacy and is safer as a result. When voter participation is low, and people become alienated from the business of government, America's flight becomes vulnerable to events.
Was September 11th the chunk of foam that blew a hole in the wing of American democracy? Many shields of secrecy fell on September 11th that stripped the electorate of proper knowledge and understanding of what our government is up to. The more-involved electorate of the 1850's or the 1910's wouldn't have stood for it without a fight, but we are more alienated these days (as we have been since WW II, actually), and easier to control as a result. We are now reaping the result (the Edmonds affair, with an apparent coverup by the government of a terrorist group recruiting within the FBI; the Halabi spy investigation, led by an overzealous alleged child molester; the disastrous Plame affair, which sowed distrust between the White House and the CIA, to the point where the CIA has to use serious muscle to bust up Ahmad Chalabi's Pentagon-approved Iranian spy ring; and the attorney-general-who-cries-wolf, whose terror warnings apparently have the sole purpose of distracting public attention when bad news regarding his department's inattentiveness dominates public discussion, such as when Saudi terrorists were learning how to fly).
"America is stable and prosperous enough that we can take it for granted that election results will be accepted peacefully by almost everyone." Remember, this did not happen in 2000! The clarification of ambiguous Florida results was stopped by judicial fiat. We have been living under a government of uncertain legitimacy ever since. How far will we go before, like Venzeuela in 2002, we start experimenting with troops in the palace and mobs in the street? Voter participation helps preserve the American experiment and helps preserve public safety. A safer public, after all, means less demand for blood products!
(Lawrence Steven Strauss)
Considering all of the people who have sacrificed and gave their lives so that we can live in a democratic society, I believe everybody should exercise his/her right to vote.
(Ned Roscoe)
Should I deregister? Should you? What do you think of this argument, you who are so passionately active?
If I was even more cranky than I already am, I’d ask the Registrar to remove me from the voting rolls. I am not disaffected because of my experience as a candidate. Running was fun. Nor did my experience as a proponent of a ballot initiative puts me off. I knew most people disagreed with me before I registered or petitioned. It’s not personal.
Napa’s election troubles are also not a factor. Compared with what I know of other counties, Napa’s election bureaucracy is a model of efficiency and John Tuteur is a stickler for proper procedures. Those who make their living from elections say that if people knew how their votes are handled, they wouldn’t bother to vote. Minor mistakes don’t bother me.
I can predict the election results but that won’t keep me from the polls. I enjoy the pageantry of democracy. Relatively rational people get seized with delusions of grandeur. When the system works well, money and power gravitate towards two poles which may not be very far from each other. The two camps bid for marginal positions without alienating their core supporters. It’s a great game, but I don’t have to play it.
America is stable and prosperous enough that we can take it for granted that election results will be accepted peacefully by almost everyone. We can argue about how decisions are made in Napa, California and the United States, but we know that elections play a smaller part than ballyhooed by editorial writers. As long as government has such tremendous power, the money will find a path to the power.
Duty to God, family, friends, employers, neighbors, regulators, and tax collectors keep me pretty darn busy. People ask me to register to vote and then to vote their way. I wish they’d get their priorities straight. I might vote Libertarian, because I like those people. They need every vote they can get to maintain their position as the 3rd largest political party. And, touch screen voting is fun like a cheap version of Vegas. But first, I ought to donate blood.
(from last to first, a Gubernatorial Candidate E-Mail Thread)
(Marc Valdez)
I think of American democracy like the Space Shuttle Columbia, accelerating into space, with chunks of foam blowing off the external fuel tank. It's hard to tell which little piece of foam might blow a hole into the wing. When voter participation is high and the know-how to run the democracy is widespread, America's flight possesses legitimacy and is safer as a result. When voter participation is low, and people become alienated from the business of government, America's flight becomes vulnerable to events.
Was September 11th the chunk of foam that blew a hole in the wing of American democracy? Many shields of secrecy fell on September 11th that stripped the electorate of proper knowledge and understanding of what our government is up to. The more-involved electorate of the 1850's or the 1910's wouldn't have stood for it without a fight, but we are more alienated these days (as we have been since WW II, actually), and easier to control as a result. We are now reaping the result (the Edmonds affair, with an apparent coverup by the government of a terrorist group recruiting within the FBI; the Halabi spy investigation, led by an overzealous alleged child molester; the disastrous Plame affair, which sowed distrust between the White House and the CIA, to the point where the CIA has to use serious muscle to bust up Ahmad Chalabi's Pentagon-approved Iranian spy ring; and the attorney-general-who-cries-wolf, whose terror warnings apparently have the sole purpose of distracting public attention when bad news regarding his department's inattentiveness dominates public discussion, such as when Saudi terrorists were learning how to fly).
"America is stable and prosperous enough that we can take it for granted that election results will be accepted peacefully by almost everyone." Remember, this did not happen in 2000! The clarification of ambiguous Florida results was stopped by judicial fiat. We have been living under a government of uncertain legitimacy ever since. How far will we go before, like Venzeuela in 2002, we start experimenting with troops in the palace and mobs in the street? Voter participation helps preserve the American experiment and helps preserve public safety. A safer public, after all, means less demand for blood products!
(Lawrence Steven Strauss)
Considering all of the people who have sacrificed and gave their lives so that we can live in a democratic society, I believe everybody should exercise his/her right to vote.
(Ned Roscoe)
Should I deregister? Should you? What do you think of this argument, you who are so passionately active?
If I was even more cranky than I already am, I’d ask the Registrar to remove me from the voting rolls. I am not disaffected because of my experience as a candidate. Running was fun. Nor did my experience as a proponent of a ballot initiative puts me off. I knew most people disagreed with me before I registered or petitioned. It’s not personal.
Napa’s election troubles are also not a factor. Compared with what I know of other counties, Napa’s election bureaucracy is a model of efficiency and John Tuteur is a stickler for proper procedures. Those who make their living from elections say that if people knew how their votes are handled, they wouldn’t bother to vote. Minor mistakes don’t bother me.
I can predict the election results but that won’t keep me from the polls. I enjoy the pageantry of democracy. Relatively rational people get seized with delusions of grandeur. When the system works well, money and power gravitate towards two poles which may not be very far from each other. The two camps bid for marginal positions without alienating their core supporters. It’s a great game, but I don’t have to play it.
America is stable and prosperous enough that we can take it for granted that election results will be accepted peacefully by almost everyone. We can argue about how decisions are made in Napa, California and the United States, but we know that elections play a smaller part than ballyhooed by editorial writers. As long as government has such tremendous power, the money will find a path to the power.
Duty to God, family, friends, employers, neighbors, regulators, and tax collectors keep me pretty darn busy. People ask me to register to vote and then to vote their way. I wish they’d get their priorities straight. I might vote Libertarian, because I like those people. They need every vote they can get to maintain their position as the 3rd largest political party. And, touch screen voting is fun like a cheap version of Vegas. But first, I ought to donate blood.
Back to the Future
Movies of late have been a disappointment. I was disheartened by the way the promising start at that international congress of 'The Day After Tomorrow' was ruined, by riding roughshod over the Arab delegate's request for clarification of the counterintuitive information he was being fed. Angered, with no outlet, I decided instead to start a fight with the people sitting behind me who wouldn't shut up. Maybe when theaters dissolve into shouting and mayhem from annoyed fans who just wasted their money, moviemakers will spend $50 or $100 from their $100 million budgets and ask technical folks how to improve their screenplays. After all, those LA tornadoes in 'The Day After Tomorrow' could have looked so much cooler if the cinematographers understood that tornado funnels in close proximity dance around each other in whirling circles! Moviemakers are fools - we don't have to be fools. Rent more technically-exact movies, like 1953's "The War of the Worlds" instead!
Movies of late have been a disappointment. I was disheartened by the way the promising start at that international congress of 'The Day After Tomorrow' was ruined, by riding roughshod over the Arab delegate's request for clarification of the counterintuitive information he was being fed. Angered, with no outlet, I decided instead to start a fight with the people sitting behind me who wouldn't shut up. Maybe when theaters dissolve into shouting and mayhem from annoyed fans who just wasted their money, moviemakers will spend $50 or $100 from their $100 million budgets and ask technical folks how to improve their screenplays. After all, those LA tornadoes in 'The Day After Tomorrow' could have looked so much cooler if the cinematographers understood that tornado funnels in close proximity dance around each other in whirling circles! Moviemakers are fools - we don't have to be fools. Rent more technically-exact movies, like 1953's "The War of the Worlds" instead!
Monday, June 14, 2004
Dear Russo, Marsh & Rogers
Last year, with the recall effort against Governor Gray Davis, many of us appreciated your leadership role in the state GOP in promoting healthy political debate. This year, I'm appalled to learn you are taking a leadership role in trying to get theaters from showing Michael Moore's new movie, "Fahrenheit 911." How hypocritical is that? That's a decision for theater management to make, based on what they believe audience interest is, without pressure from you. It's time you jokers back off!
Marc Valdez
(Former) Candidate for California Governor
http://marcvaldezcalgov.blogspot.com
Last year, with the recall effort against Governor Gray Davis, many of us appreciated your leadership role in the state GOP in promoting healthy political debate. This year, I'm appalled to learn you are taking a leadership role in trying to get theaters from showing Michael Moore's new movie, "Fahrenheit 911." How hypocritical is that? That's a decision for theater management to make, based on what they believe audience interest is, without pressure from you. It's time you jokers back off!
Marc Valdez
(Former) Candidate for California Governor
http://marcvaldezcalgov.blogspot.com
Sunday, June 13, 2004
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
On Friday, I saw the documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," an Irish production about the coup attempt that nearly overthrew Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. The film had a refreshing lack of nuance: Hugo Chavez good, his enemies (the globalization goons called neo-liberals...basically what we call conservatives in the States) bad. The left-right divide is so sharp in Venezuela: like a heightened red-blue U.S. divide! There was a lot of talk on the Right about the corrupt values of the Left: all that was needed was the appropriate "wedge" issue to exploit!
Coup attempts really cause a lot of tension and chaos: In the absence of Chavez, who had surrendered and been jailed incommunicado, the struggling government swore in the Vice President. I liked the attempt at solemnity during the swearing-in ceremony, on recently restored National TV, while an idiotic ringtone interrupted the Oath of Office and people scrambled to find the stupid cell phone. Solemnity was so hard to reach, even though the situation could not have been more grave: instead, with all the endangered lives, people were overwrought with emotion. The twelve or so of us in the theater had a good time, pumping fists in the air. I wish I understood more about the political background, but that would have just complicated things.
Feels like we are in the 60's again! Throw away all that heavy baggage about how things are more complicated than they seem. Be gone, shades of gray! No more malaise! That must mean Michael Moore's new movie is approaching release. They had a trailer for that too, and it looked pretty good, with little irony, and many opportunities to cheer for the good guys.
On Friday, I saw the documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," an Irish production about the coup attempt that nearly overthrew Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. The film had a refreshing lack of nuance: Hugo Chavez good, his enemies (the globalization goons called neo-liberals...basically what we call conservatives in the States) bad. The left-right divide is so sharp in Venezuela: like a heightened red-blue U.S. divide! There was a lot of talk on the Right about the corrupt values of the Left: all that was needed was the appropriate "wedge" issue to exploit!
Coup attempts really cause a lot of tension and chaos: In the absence of Chavez, who had surrendered and been jailed incommunicado, the struggling government swore in the Vice President. I liked the attempt at solemnity during the swearing-in ceremony, on recently restored National TV, while an idiotic ringtone interrupted the Oath of Office and people scrambled to find the stupid cell phone. Solemnity was so hard to reach, even though the situation could not have been more grave: instead, with all the endangered lives, people were overwrought with emotion. The twelve or so of us in the theater had a good time, pumping fists in the air. I wish I understood more about the political background, but that would have just complicated things.
Feels like we are in the 60's again! Throw away all that heavy baggage about how things are more complicated than they seem. Be gone, shades of gray! No more malaise! That must mean Michael Moore's new movie is approaching release. They had a trailer for that too, and it looked pretty good, with little irony, and many opportunities to cheer for the good guys.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Inhumanity
This post made me think.... I remember once looking up the Life Magazine that covered the Hiroshima bombing, just to see what people in 1945 thought about it. There is a charming article, with color photos, showing two American soldiers using flamethrowers to successfully set afire a Japanese soldier hiding behind some tropical foliage. It was pretty clear that Americans, of the settled sort that routinely read Life Magazine, considered Japs to be no more than infuriating animate insects. War does terrible things to one's fraternal sense of humanity. In 1945, however, we had a more robust sense of honesty about what we were doing than we do now. We didn't lie as much then, although people like George Orwell could sense the shape of the future to come. Long live Big Brother! (sorry, Little Brother - I wasn't talking about Jeb!)
This post made me think.... I remember once looking up the Life Magazine that covered the Hiroshima bombing, just to see what people in 1945 thought about it. There is a charming article, with color photos, showing two American soldiers using flamethrowers to successfully set afire a Japanese soldier hiding behind some tropical foliage. It was pretty clear that Americans, of the settled sort that routinely read Life Magazine, considered Japs to be no more than infuriating animate insects. War does terrible things to one's fraternal sense of humanity. In 1945, however, we had a more robust sense of honesty about what we were doing than we do now. We didn't lie as much then, although people like George Orwell could sense the shape of the future to come. Long live Big Brother! (sorry, Little Brother - I wasn't talking about Jeb!)
Sistani the Big Winner
Juan Cole sees Ayatollah Sistani as a big winner in recent Iraqi negotiations, the Kurds as potential losers, and the Americans and British as quite weak. Sistani's determination is beginning to yield results. But will a civil war with the Kurds result?
Juan Cole sees Ayatollah Sistani as a big winner in recent Iraqi negotiations, the Kurds as potential losers, and the Americans and British as quite weak. Sistani's determination is beginning to yield results. But will a civil war with the Kurds result?
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Mexican Munchies
This story is fun:
Taco Bell patron in Iowa charged in chalupa assault
Associated Press
June 8, 2004
DES MOINES, Iowa -- A man who claimed he didn't get the taco he paid for has been charged with assault for allegedly pelting a Taco Bell clerk in the face with a chalupa.
Nancy Harrison told police she was working the drive-through Thursday night when Christopher Lame, 24, ordered some food.
He later came into the store, complaining he didn't get the taco he had ordered, police records say. Harrison said that when she asked for a receipt, he went back to his car and brought back the bag.
Harrison said she told him the store was closing, and as she turned away, a chalupa hit her in the face near her right eye. She said she ran into the parking lot and took down the license number as the motorist was driving away.
Lame was identified through the license number.
He is scheduled to appear in court June 15.
-----------
Friend Gene says:
Taco Bell has become a Midwestern institution--there would be mass chaos without it. It's the only place open at 2:30 am after a long night of partying. And that's just where you should be after a long night of drinking--in your car, navigating the narrow drive-thru lane whilst fumbling for loose change.
I say:
It's the strange nomenclature that causes problems. Never having ordered one, I must admit I don't know what a chalupa is. We're not very sophisticated in our Mexican food tastes, even in New Mexico. We just keep adding chili powder, hoping no one asks us to identify what we are eating. How much farther behind they must be in Iowa? That's what comes from that belligerent culinary Mexico City style they've got going on. In the 1980's, in Tucson, the big rave was the restaurant chain (2 restaurants in Tucson and 1 in Mexico City) called 'La Parrilla Suiza' (The Swiss Grill). They don't even have chili at all there. Just big gooey masses of cheese on steaks, in a faux European manner, but with mariachis. Everybody loved it, but most importantly, no one understood it.
Friend Tony says:
one of Tucson's best Mexican restaurants, going back to the 1970s, was a place out on the west side called, i think, Karichimaka. i had my first chimichanga there, and they had mariachis on weekends, but the food was damned good.
I say:
I had my first chimichanga in Tucson: they arrived in NM only after I moved to Tucson, in 1980. That's when I realized that there were regional Mexican food cuisines....although I should have realized that when I visited Tijuana in 1977 and saw shark tacos, which struck me at the time as really bizarre, but then, there's the Pacific so close!
This story is fun:
Taco Bell patron in Iowa charged in chalupa assault
Associated Press
June 8, 2004
DES MOINES, Iowa -- A man who claimed he didn't get the taco he paid for has been charged with assault for allegedly pelting a Taco Bell clerk in the face with a chalupa.
Nancy Harrison told police she was working the drive-through Thursday night when Christopher Lame, 24, ordered some food.
He later came into the store, complaining he didn't get the taco he had ordered, police records say. Harrison said that when she asked for a receipt, he went back to his car and brought back the bag.
Harrison said she told him the store was closing, and as she turned away, a chalupa hit her in the face near her right eye. She said she ran into the parking lot and took down the license number as the motorist was driving away.
Lame was identified through the license number.
He is scheduled to appear in court June 15.
-----------
Friend Gene says:
Taco Bell has become a Midwestern institution--there would be mass chaos without it. It's the only place open at 2:30 am after a long night of partying. And that's just where you should be after a long night of drinking--in your car, navigating the narrow drive-thru lane whilst fumbling for loose change.
I say:
It's the strange nomenclature that causes problems. Never having ordered one, I must admit I don't know what a chalupa is. We're not very sophisticated in our Mexican food tastes, even in New Mexico. We just keep adding chili powder, hoping no one asks us to identify what we are eating. How much farther behind they must be in Iowa? That's what comes from that belligerent culinary Mexico City style they've got going on. In the 1980's, in Tucson, the big rave was the restaurant chain (2 restaurants in Tucson and 1 in Mexico City) called 'La Parrilla Suiza' (The Swiss Grill). They don't even have chili at all there. Just big gooey masses of cheese on steaks, in a faux European manner, but with mariachis. Everybody loved it, but most importantly, no one understood it.
Friend Tony says:
one of Tucson's best Mexican restaurants, going back to the 1970s, was a place out on the west side called, i think, Karichimaka. i had my first chimichanga there, and they had mariachis on weekends, but the food was damned good.
I say:
I had my first chimichanga in Tucson: they arrived in NM only after I moved to Tucson, in 1980. That's when I realized that there were regional Mexican food cuisines....although I should have realized that when I visited Tijuana in 1977 and saw shark tacos, which struck me at the time as really bizarre, but then, there's the Pacific so close!
Steyn on Saudi Arabia
I like conservative Mark Steyn less and less as time goes on (same with blogger Andrew Sullivan, for similar reasons), but Steyn hits the nail on the head here.
I like conservative Mark Steyn less and less as time goes on (same with blogger Andrew Sullivan, for similar reasons), but Steyn hits the nail on the head here.
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Thirtieth Anniversary Song for Jan & Steve
(Words by Tim O'Laughlin)
At the vow renewal party at the Vet Memorial, Saturday, June 5th.
Doug Ackermann and Tim O'Laughlin
To the tune of "Worlds Apart" by Roger Miller (from Big River)
Steve:
I see a vision of glory when I cast a show, here at DMTC, DMTC
You keep composure in crisis while my temper blows, here at DMTC, DMTC
We had a dream, we made it grow
We're co-producers, so on with the show
Jan:
We felt the music inside us, it had to come out, here at DMTC, DMTC
But we'll never make it to Broadway, of that, there's no doubt, here at DMTC, DMTC
Both (in harmony)
We took a dream, we made it grow
So people just like us could be in the show!
It's thirty years and we're still here...you and me...here at DMTC, DMTC
Together, at DMTC
Steve:
And if you build me a theater, I'll give you the lead!
Jan:
Twaddle-ee ah dee dee dah dee dee dee
(Words by Tim O'Laughlin)
At the vow renewal party at the Vet Memorial, Saturday, June 5th.
Doug Ackermann and Tim O'Laughlin
To the tune of "Worlds Apart" by Roger Miller (from Big River)
Steve:
I see a vision of glory when I cast a show, here at DMTC, DMTC
You keep composure in crisis while my temper blows, here at DMTC, DMTC
We had a dream, we made it grow
We're co-producers, so on with the show
Jan:
We felt the music inside us, it had to come out, here at DMTC, DMTC
But we'll never make it to Broadway, of that, there's no doubt, here at DMTC, DMTC
Both (in harmony)
We took a dream, we made it grow
So people just like us could be in the show!
It's thirty years and we're still here...you and me...here at DMTC, DMTC
Together, at DMTC
Steve:
And if you build me a theater, I'll give you the lead!
Jan:
Twaddle-ee ah dee dee dah dee dee dee
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