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Those who know me would swear I'm not the type to wish others harm. Yet, after reading this sickening report, I avow that the members of the Westboro Baptist church deserve to die fiery deaths for peddling the hatred they do with such fervor. So, Phelps and his minions think God is punishing American soldiers because the U.S. harbors gay people? Hmmm... I wish I could be there to witness the kind of punishment they'll receive from their beloved God when they have to answer for the bigotry and prejudice they've spewed in His name. They are truly the lowest of the low.
And speaking of low, who do you think said this?:
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
That would be none other than former Texas gov and current White House puppet G.W. Bush, yammering about Clinton's plans to commit troops to Bosnia. There is no limit to Dubya's hypocrisy; it's nothing short of astonishing.
How about some more utterly mind-boggling remarks Clinton's detractors made regarding his plans for Bosnia? Can you say duplicity, boys and girls?
"You can support the troops but not the president." --Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)"I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years." --Joe Scarborough (R-FL)
"Explain to the [parents] of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?" --Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99
"[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy." --Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
"American foreign policy is now one huge mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy." --Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy." --Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush
"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area." --Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today." --Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
Keep in mind we accomplished our mission in Bosnia without a single soldier killed in action. Thank you, President Clinton. You were far from perfect but at least you were human.
A few weeks back, I received an email from a darling childhood friend with whom I'd lost touch after high school. We'd reconnected briefly around the time of our 10-year reunion in 1999, then slipped out of touch again.
Well, I was thrilled to hear from Brandie again in July and have enjoyed spending the past month getting reacquainted and catching up on each others' lives. You can imagine the lengthy emails back and forth between two childhood friends with limitless memories of 5th grade class trips, sleepovers, crushes and swapping chicken pox (which we both acquired from my younger brother, Brandie playfully recalled).
Amidst all the reminiscing and getting caught up on the eventful years that have passed since our last correspondence, Brandie wrote something that truly uplifted me:
"I loved your dad, he was always so warm and welcoming, typical of an Israeli Jewish family, always welcoming people to their homes.... And that is a major reason I always used to think of you- you have a very unique family who are very loving people..."
I've been remembered for many things by different people throughout my lifetime, most of them positive, I'm happy to report (unless it's just a matter of no one telling me the bad stuff!). But that comment from Brandie filled me with a sense of pride for the fact that, 20+ years later, someone still recalled the warmth my family showed her.
Over the years, other friends have shared recollections with me about quality time they spent in our family's house, gathered around the kitchen table or splayed out on the floor, chillin' in the backyard, shooting hoops in the driveway, chatting late into the night in one of our bedrooms. My sister, brother and I have loads of mutual friends from our younger years, all of whom have spent considerable time in our house and have been regarded as one of the family.
Ironically, while certain friends remain for years, there are times when real family members must sadly go their separate ways. Two weeks ago, I said goodbye to my now ex-sister-in-law, as she packed up and returned to her hometown of San Diego after splitting from my brother. In the brief time she was legally part of our family, Erin became a warmly-received member of the clan. My parents, sister and extended family welcomed her and treated her thoughtfully from the beginning, in keeping with our family's long-practiced tradition of embracing friends with open arms. (And not just friends. I recall one evening in my high school years when my father rose from the dinner table to answer our ringing doorbell. Faced with a young black man selling brooms or something to raise money for some school event or another, my father listened to his pitch, politely declined his offer and then invited the complete stranger on our doorstep to join us for dinner. That's my family.)
I forged a deeper bond with Erin than most of my family had, simply due to my location and our common interests (which were fewer than one would think two people could have and still get along so famously). We enjoyed each other's company immensely and shared countless laughs as well as quite a few weighty conversations. Erin became a cherished friend, which will not change. But while I mourn the loss of her as my sister, I also feel sad for her loss--the profound loss of my family's kind and caring embrace.
Spotted today at Long's drugstore: Halloween candy. In freakin' August! Who cares that it's 60 degrees here and we're all wearing fleece? The Day of the Dead is two freakin' months away!
Wait... that's it! I've single-handedly uncovered the reason so many Americans are obese. Slow metabolism, my ass! It's because holiday candy goes on sale so effing early that people have months upon months in which to stock up, eat up and then be forced to stock up again repeatedly before the actual holiday dawns! How do you like that? I've cracked the case! Here's a handy breakdown to help you grasp the compelling scientific evidence supporting my theory:
Valentine's Day candy = on sale immediately after the heaps of Christmas candy are cleared from store shelves
Easter candy = on sale immediately after sickeningly sweet, oft-powdery Valentine's Day candy is cleared
4th of July candy (red, white & blue M&Ms and such) = on sale soon after the pastel remnants of Easter are cleared
Halloween candy = on sale the very minute summer candy sales start slipping
Christmas candy = on sale immediately after the drastically marked-down Halloween candy is cleared
Oh, science, thou art so dim not to have thus far unearthed this most simple of hypotheses! Want to keep Americans thinner? Clearly, all we must do to thwart the obesity epidemic is to pass a law making it a crime to sell candy (or other such holiday foodstuffs) more than two weeks before its associated occasion*. No one needs to buy shit for a holiday more than two weeks in advance, particularly food products. You want to shop early for your Christmas decorations or Halloween costume? Hey, go wild. But I can think of no conceivable reason one should have that colossal bowl of Halloween candy perched by the front door, awaiting eager trick-or-treaters who won't be showing up for another two freakin' months. Can you?
* It is OK to sell candy corns early because they are rad.
I'm still fiddling a bit with the site design, but I must thank Jackie for the lovely banner she created around the very fitting quote I found. In the world of rocking web designers, she is the rockingest. She is Paul to my Ringo. Um... Meryl Streep to my Marisa Tomei... um... majestic mountain lion to my scrawny house cat? You get the picture. Thanks, Jackie.
In light of the outrageous shit going down these days, I just had to share this ridiculous image that made me giggle out loud for some strange reason:
It's just so absurd and silly, this cheerful little cannabis leaf taking a stroll through town, perhaps on his way to take part in some merrymaking at a nearby frat house?
I'm sure I'd laugh even harder if it were waving.
Saturday night, I was carded when attempting to buy a harmless little bottle of red wine. Ha! It had been so long since I was carded that I had started to believe my youth had finally, irretrievably left me. But one wonderful cashier changed all of that with a quick pass of my Syrah over the scanner and one simple question, "Can I see your I.D.?" Oh youth, it's nice to know you've not vanished completely! Thanks for sticking around a while longer. I'm sure the Corn Pops in my pantry had something to do with it.
Later that same evening, my friend Josh was thumbing through my vastly whittled-down but apparently still-impressive CD collection and asked about Elliott Smith, with whom he's only vaguely familiar. I could only blather like an over-enthusiastic parent and when Josh asked which of Smith's CDs he should borrow as a primer on the genius and beauty of the late singer, I swiftly thrust X/O into his eager hands.
Today at the gym, I listened to X/O as if it were my first time (a rather messy attempt to try and gauge what Josh might be thinking as he listened). Am I the only who constantly pretends I haven't heard a song before, tricking myself in a lame attempt to get that initial emotion from it, to relive my virginity with that particular song? Someone please assure me I'm not crazy. A simple, "No, I do that, too!" will suffice.
Anyway, listening to X/O in full took me instantly back -- in a way only music can -- to a very specific time in my life.
I had been in New York only a few months, and had just recently moved into my first NYC apartment, an uptown, first-floor flat along the East River. I was thrilled to have escaped the confines of my aunt's house in Brooklyn and to finally have my first Manhattan address. The album came to me in the form of a cassette tape from my brother, with whom I'd discussed how much I liked the songs Smith did for Good Will Hunting. I'd also heard "Waltz #2" on WFUV and was absolutely floored by it.
Those days, I spent a great deal of time on the M31 bus, which crossed 57th Street and traveled north-south on York Avenue. Listening to X/O now takes me back there in a flash. Back to the days of riding along York, passing by Sotheby's auction house, long a curiosity of mine; passing the gates of Rockefeller University and wondering what the hell went on there; passing beneath the Roosevelt Island Tram. X/O was my constant companion throughout the winter months I dated Adam and tried to convert him to a Smith fan. X/O was one of only a handful of tapes I had to keep me company when I attempted to fly west for the holidays in 1998, only to be sidelined by the TWA airlines strike that left me stranded on a St. Louis runway for 4 hours that snowy Christmas Eve, while flight attendants served up free booze and my fellow passengers accepted the delay with surprising jolliness. The music moved and soothed me, even amid the inescapable chaos of holiday travel. That's a mammoth feat in itself.
Music is the only medium, the only art form, that has the power to immediately and effortlessly transport me back to another place and time in my life and elicit the memory so completely and so powerfully that it's often too hard to handle. Hence, the select number of CDs in my collection that have gone unlistened to for years. The emotion certain songs awaken are too raw to face and lie dormant only so long as the music stays out of my head. Only music has that power, at least over me.
From the Hebrew phrase "ayelet hashachar," literally "gazelle of dawn," which is a name of the morning star. In case anyone was dying to know what my name means or how to write it in Hebrew. Useful!
A fellow writer who happens to be married to one of my favorite authors, Michael Chabon (and who's penned several novels of her own while getting a fair amount of press for her short-lived blog).
AyeleDance (Who knew there was such a thing? I never consented to this!)
Ayelet Rose Gottlieb - Best Debut of 2004, All About Jazz
Ayelet Harpaz (Why so many singers named Ayelet? We rock, that's why!)
Ayelet, the Kosher Komic!, the only strictly kosher professional comedienne in the world.
Ayelet Ohayon, Olympic women's fencing champion!
Ayelet Carmi, awesome abstract artist.
The Ayelet Project, providing mentoring by trained volunteers to Israeli women starting a new life outside the cycle of violence (impressive!).
For all your Hebrew Irish music review needs.
Ayelet Yagil, editor of Mooma.com music encyclopedia. Yet another chick with a cool name.
Kibbutz Ayelet Hashachar, Israel
I'm sure John Kerry is absolutely thrilled to hear this news.
Meanwhile, my friend James commented yesterday that he'd like to hear my thoughts on Cindy Sheehan's crusade. My response, in a nutshell: I commend her for having done what no one who's firmly against this war has been able to do: make an honest, powerful statement that causes some presidental squirming. Michael Goodwin's excellent editorial in today's NY Daily News articulated it nicely:
"There is a chance that Sheehan is just the media flavor of the month. But I wouldn't bet on it. This feels like a turning point. It's happened before.Abraham Lincoln, when he met Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the anti-slavery tract Uncle Tom's Cabin, said: 'So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!'
Perhaps someday a President will greet Cindy Sheehan this way: 'So you're the little woman who stopped the Iraq war.'"
Meanwhile, Dubya attending a Veterans of Foreign Wars Conference? That just may be the single biggest insult to veterans ever cooked up. Of course, the conference will be so stressful for poor GW he'll need to take yet another vacation* to recover from the scorn he's bound to face from the real men of this country whom he disrespects with every breath.
*Bush's recent 5-week escape to Crawford was the longest presidential vacation in nearly 40 years. According to the August 4 Washington Post : "[This] getaway is Bush's 49th trip to his cherished ranch since taking office and Tuesday was the 319th day Bush has spent... in Crawford -- roughly 20 percent of his presidency to date."
Goodwin, in the editorial I mentioned above, takes it even further:
"Bush's decision to spend a full month in Texas was stunningly stupid. With Americans turning solidly against the war... the President looks callous when the nation needs reassuring."
Callous? Understatement.
We are inching toward 2,000 U.S. soldiers (plus thousands of Iraqis) DEAD for no comprehensible reason while the actual perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks (the ones Bush so earnestly promised would "hear from all of us soon") are living and breathing with Bush's blessing and Dubya himself is chowing down on Texas BBQ while refusing to deign to even speak to dead soldiers' families, let alone acknowledge that we haven't a clue how to clean up our mess. Motherfucker. Take that "Support Our Troops" ribbon off of your fucking presidential limo, you champion of hypocrisy.
Making some changes to the site today. It may look a tad freakish for a while, considering my painfully limited techno-savviness. Perhaps when I finish tinkering with the design, I'll actually... oh, I don't know... write something?
Sad: Peter Jennings Dies (despite his numerous slip-ups, the man was a class act)
Sadder: Dukes of Hazzard Tops Box Office (thereby confirming to the world just how easily millions of dim-witted Americans can be parted from their money)
Saddest: Two Jackson Jurors Regret Acquittal (effectively proving why people with the I.Q. of a toilet brush should NOT be permitted to serve on juries)
Also, Perez Hilton made one of my favorite tributes to Ibrahim Ferrer of Buena Vista Social Club, who also died this past weekend: "Here's hoping he's drinking some mojitos with Celia Cruz." Claro!
Heading out of town on another road trip later this week, so posts will be sporadic for a while. Just make sure to refill your meds and I'm almost certain you'll survive the lull.
"It's sad that even while the president preaches democracy around the world, he bends the rules and circumvents the will of Congress in appointing our representative to the United Nations." — Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J
I couldn't have said it better myself. Yes, I understand it's his right as president to appoint whomever he wants but has our dear leader learned nothing from his past mistakes with respect to what happens when you flagrantly do as you choose without the crucial support of the majority?
Though I'm somewhat saddened by the relatively slight nature of my own response to today's announcement, I recognize it's simply because, in light of all the deviance and deception perpetrated by our government of late, there's little they could do to disgust me any more than they already have.
Hmmm... perhaps I shouldn't say that out loud? (Knocks on wood.) Because, who knows what sinister orders Dubya could be giving at this very moment?
