Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Monthly Archives: November 2005
Stamper’s paradise
This one’s for my sister. (For the rest of my readers, skim through to the end. I won’t disappoint you.)
I missed her birthday this week, which I would like to say is a rare occurrence, but my memory says otherwise. I remembered to call (see? there have been worse years) but it’s still rather slovenly to forget like this. I mean, she never forgets my birthday, or Jake’s. (more…)
Quick shout (politics)
. . . to Jeff Huber for a fine run-down of the Friday news. Thanks to NaNoWriMo and that other time-consuming November activity, MyDamnedJob-o, I don’t get to surf the news as much as I would like. Thanks to Jeff, I don’t have to!
High points:
*Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, a Vietnam vet and retired Marine colonel, has called for the withdrawal of all American troops within the next six months. Speaker Dennis Hastert’s response:
“They would prefer that the United States surrender to terrorists who would harm innocent Americans,” Mr. Hastert said.
Ah, the sweet, sweet sound of squawking chickenhawks. Read the NY Times story here. While you’re at it, check out Jurassic Pork’s commentary, too.
*Renewal of the Orwellian Patriot Act may not see smooth sailing, thanks to a possible Democratic filibuster. We have Russ Feingold to thank for this (from the NY Times story):
“This is worth the fight,” Senator Russell D. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who serves on the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview.
“I’ve cleared my schedule right up to Thanksgiving,” Mr. Feingold said, adding that he was making plans to read aloud from the Bill of Rights as part of a filibuster if necessary.
Go for it, Senator Feingold! Hell, make all the bastards miss Turkey Day. It’s worth it, all right.
***
Shout for my wife:
Karen has written an interesting post on her late father’s rather odd past. His life story seems like something out of Vonnegut (a la Mother Night) or John Irving. Check it out.
D.
Who’s my fugwy wittle Secwetawy of State, hmm?
Props to Pat for finding the Condoleeza Rice is Ugly blog. The goal of this site:
“Here at Condoleeza Rice Is Ugly, we feel that our Secretary of State has received far less parody and hostility than other major players in the Bush adminstration. The time has come to mock with equality.”
An honorable purpose indeed, and yet I fear this blog will bring out the trolls, racists, and misogynists of the ‘osphere. Condoleeza Rice is Ugly seems to invite the Least Common Denominator of humor. For that reason alone, I’m going to reserve judgment. As you all know, I like my humor to be witty to the point of erudition.
And that is why, for my contribution, I made a poopy joke.
D.
Technorati tag: Condoleeza Rice, humor
I’m the Daughter of a Traitor
Most of my family were thrown in internment camps during WWII by FDR for the “crime” of being Japanese-American. Of course, none of those internees ever committed even a slightly treasonous act but suffered the consequences of the loss of their civil rights.
On the other hand, my (now deceased) father’s story is a great deal more complicated. My great-grandfather was forced to leave Japan because he was a supporter of the old order. When the Meiji restoration occurred (the emperor seized control), he was on the losing side of the power struggle and emigrated to the U.S. where he was a successful farmer. He went back to Japan and bought real estate and lived quite comfortably. His daughter and her husband stayed in the U.S. and that was where my father was born.
He was sent to Japan at the age of seven to be educated. His parents stayed behind, so he was raised by his grandfather, a very strict but fair man. When the shit hit the fan in 1941, my great-grandfather publically stated that the Japanese government had their heads up their asses and would lose the war. The police questioned him but let him go. Actually, the Japanese government and military knew that it was a bad idea but, for extraordinarily stupid reasons, they went ahead and attacked Pearl Harbor anyway. Why would a government knowingly commit an idiotic and catastrophic mistake? (Sound familiar?)
In any case, my father, then 14, suffered beatings and abuse because he wasn’t a “patriotic Japanese citizen.” Determined to prove his loyalty, he ran away from home at 16 and found work making bombs in a Tokyo factory. I suppose he may have committed high treason for this activity. His bombmaking job didn’t last, however.
The U.S. firebombed residential sections of Toyko, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians who were NOT engaged in the war effort. People ran for the rivers but the heat was so intense, the water boiled and they were literally cooked to death. My father saw bloated bodies floating in the water with their skin peeling off their flesh. He escaped the same fate through sheer luck.
After Japan’s defeat and the subsequent economic dislocations perpetrated by Douglas MacArthur, my great-grandfather lost most of his money and had to sell his real estate holdings. My father eventually decided to go to the U.S. He was still a U.S. citizen.
When the Korean War broke out, my father was drafted by the U.S. Army. He served two years and was a model soldier. For the next 50 years, he worked hard, raised a family, and was a law-abiding, contributing member to society.
I believe that a rational person would forgive my father’s “treason.” He was young, his allegiance was to the country where he was raised, he was pressured as disloyal by his peer group, and he later served in the U.S. military (a rather ironic twist, imho).
This is my father’s odd history with bizarre twists and shifting patriotism (or lack thereof). FDR and the U.S. government are hardly the heroes in this story, but neither are the Japanese; atrocities abound for all.
So what country deserves the patriotism of its citizens? George Bush’s America? HAH! Not a goddamn one deserves my loyalty, but that’s a consequence of my family history and post Vietnam/Watergate cynicism.
Dream a little dream
Jona has been messing around with her dreams lately, trying her best to remember them. Sounds innocent enough, huh? BUT (cue scary organ music) that’s how it starts. Dreams are a risky business, but I’m not sure any of you will believe me. (more…)
A liberally dirty joke
Long O.R. day today, plus two trips to the ER, so I find myself short on energy, creativity, and time. Soon, I hope to write a post on this little feller,
the blue poison dart frog, Dendrobates azureus. Hard to believe I’ve been blogging since April and I’ve made scarcely a mention of our frogs.
Maybe later. For now, here’s a joke I heard in the O.R. today. Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
Um . . . any of you who are still in that 36%-who-still-like-George-Bush demographic might want to sit this one out. (more…)
Ox tail stew for the muse
How’s that for a book title? Forget chicken soup; even the best leaves me hungry. Ox tail stew, on the other hand, is the quintessential meal in a bowl. Give the muse a bit of metaphorical ox tail stew and she’ll be good for a week. (more…)
Alien psychology
In case you missed it, PBW had a wonderful post on the “don’ts” of writing fiction (Paperback Writer: How Not To). Pearls galore. Some time soon, I hope to blog on my own list of don’ts.
In the comments, one of F. O’Brien Andrew’s “don’ts” struck me. Paraphrasing: in science fiction, make your aliens physically bizarre but psychologically human. This is a don’t, mind you.
This is an interesting “don’t” because it gets at the root of an interesting dichotomy in the science fiction audience. Some folks read SF exclusively for the wow factor. These readers go into ecstasies over authors who can deliver extraterrestrials who are alien body and soul. (more…)
Jews to the right of me, Jews to the left of me
New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks might tick me off as an Op-Ed guy, but he writes a provocative book review. In the November 6 NYT Book Review, he looks at Jerome Karabel’s scholarly work, The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
Karabel’s book focuses on a quiet revolution which occurred on Ivy League campuses over the course of the 20th century. In the early 1900s, non-White Anglo-Saxon Protestants didn’t bother to apply to these schools; yet “Jews, for reasons that are not clear, never got the message. They applied to Harvard, Yale and Princeton even though they weren’t really wanted. And because many were so academically qualified, they increasingly got in.” (more…)