Swing day

It was so good not to have to work this morning.
I climbed up on the roof and cleaned gutters this morning.

Friends got me moving early on with a walk in the woods.
After that I hardly moved all day.

We were to eat at Greenbush, the old basement Italian place on Regent.
It was too crowded, we couldn’t get a table.

We ate at Nattspil instead. I’d never been there. It’s a cool, homey bar with food.
The food was slow in coming.

We caught the last showing of Vera Drake.
One of us was a doctor who saw this as an ominous and timely movie.*

* The movie is about a backstreet abortionist in post-war London. The acting, combining improvisation and script, is unimpeachable. I’m still shaking.

Now that I’m done guest-posting (for a while), am I a changed blogger?

Yes I am. It was great fun to react to the good, the bad and the ugly too. Like in politics, you can never be as clever pushing your own agenda as you can knocking someone else’s, or defending your choices against the attacks of others. [The blog where I guest-posted invites anonymous as well as registered comments and the commentators are sometimes thoughtful and sometimes, shall we say, quick and dirty in their responses]

Of course, banter without slander is even more fun, but I have yet to figure out how to get that without also getting the gratuitous nastiness that often makes people say and write things that are mean-spirited rather than sumptuously witty.

I do think that blog-versations are just in their infancy. Within a year, we’ll have fashioned more options and formats that fit our great desire to create something out of the mess of thoughts thrashing about inside our skulls. And when these blog-versations come out sounding intelligently funny or sardonic, or even poignant, or pensive, whew! they can be a thrill to read.

Adrift

This is the first Saturday morning at home for me since early April. [For those who are new to Ocean, I occasionally moonlight at the restaurant, L’Etoile, and this past season I did Market shopping for them every Saturday.]

I cannot get myself to look at the news. I’m sure I’ll read something like "Can Bush Deliver a Conservative Supreme Court?" and I’ll wish I were talking to the farmers instead of sitting with a computer perched on my lap.

Maybe I should revisit old allies (that word!) over at the Progressive. Here we go – Molly Ivins has posted her December piece in which she writes:

Of course, I'm devastated by the news John Ashcroft is leaving. Do you think we'll see tits on statues in Washington once more? [referring to Ashcroft’s prudish request to not be photographed by a statue that had a certain degree of nakedness about it]

Unfortunately, Ivins gets graphic in her speculations on what the next years will feel like for Americans. Consider this excerpt:

My friend John Henry Faulk always said the way to break a dog of that habit [of chasing and killing chickens in the yard] is to take one of the chickens the dog has killed and wire the thing around the dog's neck, good and strong. And leave it there until that dead chicken stinks so bad the dog won't be able to stand himself. You leave it on there until the last little bit of flesh rots and falls off, and that dog won't kill chickens again.

The Bush Administration is going to be wired around the neck of the American people for four more years, long enough for the stench to sicken everybody. It should cure the country of electing Republicans.

That’s a tough one to take with your breakfast granola and café au lait.

Maybe I could just go outside and shut the yard down for the winter. Good idea.

Where in the world is this?

I’ve written that I spent this morning in the Dells. And I’ve reminisced about a winter sun gently touching Polish river banks. So where are these photos from? Can you guess?

river banks... 

...and winter light 

Correct, it’s Madison. This afternoon I took a long walk with someone I hadn’t seen for a long time. We hiked along the Wingra creek – just a short stroll from downtown Madison. Lovely. And so peaceful after another uncomfortably stressful week.

Board of Directors is Stumped

I attended a meeting of a Board of Directors of the State Bar. It was brought to our attention that Wisconsin will also have a referendum (either this April, or, strategically, when Doyle runs for reelection) on the same sex/civil union issue. It is believed that the 11 states that have already passed measures prohibiting same sex unions have created a momentum and that there is a good chance that Wisconsin may join the pack of blood-thirsty wolverine states.

We were asked for our input on this. It was clear that just about everyone in the room wanted to give a resounding “no!” to the ban. But we are elected representatives within the Bar and so we must weigh all arguments.

Our charge was to come up with ways in which these unions may affect families and in particular, children. The pro (union and/or marriage) side was easy: if you give a legal standing to relationships where children are being raised and cared for, then the couples will have tangible benefits available to them and their children. Moreover, the highest courts in Hawaii, Vermont and Massachusetts have already rejected state arguments that such unions are detrimental to the child’s well being, finding that children are better off living in stable, state-sanctioned family units.

Okay, but what’s on the other side? In what way are children hurt by these unions? Come on, Camic, the directors implored (more formally of course). You teach the stuff, give us some reasons to weigh here. No one, Camic included, could come up with any.

We agreed to have a special meeting where a lawyer from “the other side” will be invited to educate us. Then we will be able to issue a statement acknowledging that we will have fully considered both sides before reaching a decision.

Sadness, one person at a time

Thursday conversation with a guy who was holding something sharp over my head:

So, have people been talking about the elections here?
Not much. People talk about odd things when they get their hair cut.

How about you, did you watch them with your partner?
Yes, we stayed up half the night...

And?
And at the end of it, I called my mother, of all people, and cried, really hard.

The gentler Dells, as seen in November

When I wrote earlier about the pleasures of “escaping” for a while in times of stress, I did not exactly count the little sojourn to the Wisconsin Dells that I had on my calendar for today. But I am glad I came (there is a State Bar meeting at the Kalahari Resort that I have to attend). Not only did I get to see a large formation of geese heading south on my way up, but I also saw something that so reminds me of the Polish countryside in the winter that I had to choke back on nostalgia: hoarfrost. I think that is the correct English word for it. It’s not unique to Poland, I know. But it is something I have woken up to repeatedly, because Poland has moist winters and the freezing layer of wetness creates a beautiful landscape on a snowless winter morning. Picture it: farmsteads, narrow strips of farmland and meadows, a birch forest, a riverbank, all muted by a white veil, to be dispensed with when the sun approaches the eleventh hour. So beautiful.

“They don’t think like we do”

European commentators are scrambling to interpret the American elections. Unfortunately, the sobering reality is that many are skeptical about finding common ground with us in the immediate future. Jonathan Steele (at the Guardian) has this to say about us (emphases are my own]:

In the wake of the huge support given to George Bush last week, it's time we realised how different America's majority culture is, and changed our policies accordingly. ...

American majority's social and moral values differ enormously from those which guide most Europeans.

Its dangerous ignorance of the world, a mixture of intellectual isolationism [ouch!] and imperial intervention abroad, is equally alien. In the United States more people have guns than have passports. Is there one European nation of which the same is true?...

Of course, millions of US citizens do share "European" values. But to believe that this minority amounts to 48% and that America is deeply polarised is incorrect. It encourages the illusion that things may improve when Bush is gone. In fact, most Kerry voters are as conservative as the Bush majority on the issues which worry Europeans. Kerry never came out for US even-handedness on the Israel-Palestine conflict, or for a withdrawal from Iraq.

With this assessment comes a call for an end to NATO:

Many commentators now argue for Europe to distance itself.

We must go all the way, up to the termination of Nato. An alliance which should have wound up when the Soviet Union collapsed now serves almost entirely as a device for giving the US an unfair and unreciprocated droit de regard over European foreign policy.

In fact, a handful of European states never saw the need to join NATO in the first place. Holding themselves out as “neutral” during the Cold War, Austria, Finland, Ireland and Sweden declined the invitation to find security in an alignment with the US. [These countries were also the most lenient toward Poland at a time of tremendous travel restrictions faced by Poles; they permitted visa-less travel even at the height of Communist Party rule. Interestingly, the US continues to refuse even tourist entry to Poles without a visa, a source of great bitterness among many of my friends who refuse to subject themselves to the indignity of begging for permission to visit.] These days many Europeans are wondering why the stronger nations (the troika: France, Germany, Great Britain) continue to keep the pretence of a unified front alive, given the increasing chasm between what is perceived to be the American worldview and the European one. Unfortunately, from their point of view, I have to agree. From ours, here in the States, I can only hope that countries across the ocean will fight and challenge our isolationism. Ours is a dangerous path and we need friends to put as many obstacles in our way as possible.

Speaking of politics…

I was at a dinner tonight where early into the election-politics discussion, one of the guests said “I would prefer not to talk about politics.” Now, I am not certain, but I assume that he was a Kerry supporter (one can get some indication by looking at the subject matter of the research, can’t one?). As were the three others. Where then was the glitch?

It is amazing how many topics these days suddenly hinge on the mention of politics and/or the election. The minute someone says “let’s not speak of xx” you right away find that every subject you can bring forth leads you back immediately to xx. Thus, with the imposed restriction, I found myself tongue-tied and incapable of saying anything sensible for the better part of the evening. In my head, I sifted through all possible conversational insiprations and came up with nothing.

I have not become a mouthpiece for political blogs, no I have not. But I do think that now, more than ever, it is impossible to step outside the political box and fein interests in matters that have no connection to the events of the day. We don’t begin, nor do we end the day with a clean slate. I wish we did, but some things have been just too damn difficult to erase.

Overheard, pt.1

Quote of the day:

GWB: “The cost of reforming [social security] is insignificant compared to, err much greater than leaving it…”

Which one now?

Overheard, pt.2

November 10, 2004 -- SEN. Zell Miller (D- Ga.) laced into New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd yesterday on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show, saying, "The more Maureen Loud [sic] gets on 'Meet the Press' and writes those columns, the redder these states get. I mean, they don't want some high brow hussy from New York City explaining to them that they're idiots and telling them that they're stupid." Miller also suggested "that red-headed woman at the New York Times" should not mock anyone's religion: "You can see horns just sprouting up through that Technicolor hair." Dowd responds: "I'm not a highbrow hussy from New York. I'm a highbrow hussy from Washington. Senator, pistols or swords?"

Word choices

So you’re blogging elsewhere as well?
It’s temporary – maybe for a couple of days or so.

Are you liking it?
You could say that it is like jumping into a steamy bathtub and finding out that sharks are swimming in it, ready to nip at your ankles and work their way up to your derriere.

Steamy bathtub? A curious choice of words.
Don’t you start in on me! On a blog where there are open comments, you are held accountable for every word you utter. It sucks. I can say it sucks here and nothing will happen. On the host blog, I say it sucks and thirty people can be rolling with laughter at my inopportune word selection. On the Internet. Communal glee.

Why don’t you quit then?
Because life is a challenge and I love the challenge writing presents. Besides, I can, at the end of the day, retreat to my safe little Ocean, where the only threat comes not from sharks in the warm, steamy tub, but from a weapon-promoting website pointing its menacing rifles at me. I mean, it’s like coming home! Mmmmmm, I love it here in my own little Ocean.

And while I am at it – thank-yous are again in order. To the Milwaukee reader who wrote that extremely nice email about wit and women writers – so wonderful. To the Republican-voting reader who called a recent post *endearing* – thank you. To those who wrote the *cool* comments to my posts on the other blog, I know you are Ocean loyalists who are helping me out over there –thank you. To those who read this blog regularly and let me know it – thank you. Your words mean a lot to me. Especially now when I am concurrently tredding the perilous waters of another blog.

Why, Madison, why?

Last night, weary and hungry, I revived considerably after a friend suggested we dash out for a quick bite to eat. Big Bowl! I offered. Closed, said he.

Why cannot we sustain a fresh and original Asian eatery in this town – one that wont break the budget and will reliably deliver ingredients in wonderfully simple, crisp and appealing presentations?

I am tired of people responding “what’s wrong with Imperial Gardens?” Plenty, and I’ll say this much here: I have a menu that I picked up (for take-out eating) at Imperial Gardens some twenty years ago. I am going to bet that absolutely nothing has changed on it since then. And the limp broccoli remains limp, and the waiters still have to scribble on the order form “customer requests no MSG.”

Having eaten frequently at Big Bowl off of Rush Street in Chicago, I looked forward for months to its arrival on the restaurant desert that is the west side of Madison. It is no more. Shame on us for flooding turkey eateries with our business and scorning places that offer fresh and healthy alternatives to the standard fare.

The curious definition of torture

A morning would not be complete anymore without at least one story to set you spinning.
In reviewing some of the press clippings on Gonzalez (Bush’s choice for attorney general) it is impossible to bypass references to a memo written by Gonzalez in 2002 where he states that laws prohibiting torture do "not apply to the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants."

But even if we (gulp) had to abide by the Geneva Convention and not resort to the use of torture, not to worry, because it’s a long way, according to Gonzalez, before we cross the line and enter the world of the pain caused by torture. Thus, according to an approved by Gonzalez memo:
pain caused by an interrogation must include "injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions—in order to constitute torture.” (from the NYT and Newsweek, June 2004, via Center for American Progress)

I’m relieved.

Boutique guest blogging

I remember the day Ann was asked to guest-blog for Instapundit. We applauded her success and cheered her on. Posting on such a high-readership blog was a coup.

Me, I run a small little sailboat here on the vast blogger ocean. I think I would look the other way if a big tanker came my way. But I was honored to be invited tonight to do a guest post on JFW (here). True, it was an act of desperation on the part of Jeremy (the author), but one takes these little gigs as they come.

If you haven’t read JFW, do so. You’re not going to find anything as addictive and invigorating as a read through some of his posts within miles of here (yes, like Katy Couric this morning, Jeremy can have a bad hair day, though please don’t mention that I said so, since he is obsessed about his hair or lack thereof). And I might add that being asked to post on JFW is like having your professor ask you to speak in his/her class, since Jeremy’s blog was the impetus for Ocean and then shortly after, Althouse. It makes you sweat, really it does.

Let them eat Euros

With the ballooning trade deficit, the dollar slumped past the 1.30 mark against the Euro today. Bad news for American travelers abroad. Bad news for Asian economies (which are dependent on the value of foreign reserves, mostly held in dollars). Bad news for European exports. Bad news for those wanting love and respect from our overseas ‘allies.’

A country ripped in two. Wait a minute, who is kicking out whom?

Following the elections, the email and blog worlds became jammed with bitter descriptions of a northern-coastal political unity, split geographically and ideologically from a burning-red south and mountain-state region. I alone must have received a dozen emails with the word secession embedded somewhere in the text. And I played into the dark humor of it as well (with a post of a popular among left-leaning blogs cartoonish map of a country split into a southern Jesusland and a northern US of Canada), as a consequence of which I got placed on the hit list of an assault weapon website (hi, fellas, I know you’re still readin’ – move on already!).

I assumed that the impetus for a breakaway came from the frustrated Kerry supporters who saw no chance EVER of appealing to the Red states with reasoned arguments about social policy issues and economic agendas.

But then I came across the Human Events – a national conservative weekly (via Europhobia.blogspot.com, of all things). The former chairman of the Florida Conservative Union quotes Barry Goldwater --" Sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the eastern seaboard and let it float out to sea," and then has this to say about divisions within the US (emphases are my own):

Instead of wedge issues like slavery, federal subsidies for regional business, and high tariffs, society today is sundered by profound, insoluble Culture War conflicts (such as abortion and gay marriage), and debate about our role abroad (shall we remain the world's leader, or become an unprincipled chump for the cabal of globalist sybarites who play endless word-games inside the United Nations and European Union sanctuaries?).

Can we ever hope for unity? According to the article, not so long as the country has to deal with the likes of these:

As a class, liberals no longer are merely the vigorous opponents of the Right; they are spiteful enemies of civilization's core decency and traditions.

The conclusion?

The truth is, America is not just broken--it is becoming irreparable. … That is why the unthinkable must become thinkable. If the so-called "Red States" (those that voted for George W. Bush) cannot be respected or at least tolerated by the "Blue States" (those that voted for Al Gore and John Kerry), then the most disparate of them must live apart--not by secession of the former (a majority), but by expulsion of the latter.

How do the conservatives view the lay of the land?

The demographics revealed by the two most recent presidential elections are radically different and have resulted in "Two Americas" (but not the simplistic "Two Americas" [one rich, one poor] envisioned by Kerry'sMarxist-tongued running mate, John Edwards):

BUSH USA is predominantly white; devoutly Christian (mostly Protestant); openly, vigorously heterosexual; an open land of single-family homes and ranches; economically sound (except for a few farms), but not drunk with cyberworld business development, and mainly English-speaking, with a predilection for respectfully uttering "yes, ma'am" and "yes, sir."

GORE/KERRY USA is ethnically diverse; multi-religious, irreligious or nastily antireligious; more sexually liberated (if not in actual practice, certainly in attitude); awash with condo canyons and other high-end real estate bordered by sprawling, squalid public housing or neglected private homes, decidedly short of middle-class neighborhoods; both high tech and oddly primitive in its commerce; very artsy, and Babelesque, with abnormally loud speakers.

An interesting perspective. As liberals take heat for casting aspersions on the motivations behind the red vote, some right of the right conservatives are having a fine old time posting their thoughts on where the superior beings reside. Though in truth, if these were at all accurate portrayals, isn't it slam-dunk obvious that the choice place to set your roots in would be Gore/Kerry land? Of course, that's just me and my spiteful liberal take on things.