BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Does each step carry me only further into empty space? Is that where I have been living?

What is the measure of all things. What is the measure by which I should measure myself? Is my ruler too long? Or is it my cock that is too short?

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Perhaps life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender to dreams--this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness. And, maddest of all, to see life as it is, and not as it should be.

Don Quixote

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

from Art Theil's sports column: ...(Kurt) Schilling's right ankle, soon to be the most celebrated baseball joint since Toots Shor's saloon in 1940s New York...

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com


There's little escape from her black hole of abulia. Abulia: the inability to make decisions.

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

I voted today along faster than most voters will, so my 7 minutes tells me to expect at least 700 minutes for a hundred voters. But remember, I think that I am faster than most voters will be.Prediction: long lines, shouting, accusations.. There was a very short line, three people before and plenty of voting machines to work with. I signed in, they found my registration, reminded me that I had an absentee ballot at home, asked me to destroy it, and passed me on to the "inspector" whose job it was to show me the machine and set me up for voting. It took her a few seconds and I finished voting about seven minutes later... The machine worked fairly well--of course, I am half-way smart and I could easily read the resolutions and already was familiar with them. I think I moved

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

We live in interesting times. Tomorrow I am going to vote early so that I can get a look at the new voting machine--new in the sense that we did use it for the primary on Aug 31--but then the ballot was only a page or two.

Now the ballot has expanded to ten pages. This means that people unfamiliar with computers will have to learn how to move from page to page, from candidate to candidate, will have to figure out which judge is running under what party's banner. Then they may want to check their votes which is a new thing to learn...Finally they will have to find the button marked "CAST YOUR BALLOT." Many people will forget to press this BLINKING RED LIGHT button necessitating the following procedure. Two people from different parties must go to the machine and press the button together. Then an affidavit must be filled out and signed by the two poll workers (Inspectors) of different parties and their Clerk.

As a paid poll worker (my only paying job) I think that we will have trouble getting everyone to vote by closing time. Anyone on line at 7:00 PM may vote--even if we have to stay until midnight. Under some circumstances Governor Bush can extend voting hours as long as he wants. Let's say that there is a thunderstorm or blizzard--he can extend the time at which people may get on line. Or perhaps a shortage of Republican voters.

I am imagining myself pushing seniors through the process, then helping the halt to get to the machine, then teaching others how to move through the electronic ballot. Of course, we also have the Provisional Ballot to deal with too. That is used when we think that a voter is unqualified, at the wrong polling place, or has no identification. That voter gets to uses a provisional ballot, after signing a paper attesting to his good heart and soul. This must be witnessed by two poll workers of different parties. Luckily there are a few Naderites at my poll.

Our polling place is in the Plumber's Local on Andrews Avenue. Three out of four faucets in the Men's Room were leaking on Primary Day.

There is supposed to be a post election party in our building--nonpartisan, of course--but I think I'll be home too late to attend.

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Reasoning often leads to desired, preferred conclusions.

Prescription for certainty.

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

The hard reality for many of us is that this is, essentially, a pretty conservative country. Norms that are taken for granted throughout the rest of the industrialized world are anathema to many Americans, including gay rights, universal health care, six-week vacations, gun control and the maintenance of a minimal social safety net.

SUSANNA RODELL is editorial page editor of the Charleston Gazette. (West Virginia)

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Re

The Plot Against America

Philip Roth.

From me to Gross:
It was hard for me to accept the tossing out of the hotel scene, and the overt anti-Semitism in the restaurant. I did not find it believable. I don't think that there has ever been another fiction that I found so unbelievable.

Why? It has something to do with my faith in America, and my lack of experience with anti-Semitism. Of course, I admit that my usual denseness makes me miss what others see; and my defense against anti-Semitic actions or words has always been to deny them--or to realize-rationalize that the remark came from a lowlife, not anyone whom I respected.

Elsewhere I have described the Ohio Wesleyan Sigma Chi incident, which was the only time in my life that I was ever directly affected in a meaningful way.

So what happened in the Katz household that protected me from knowing that anti-Semitism existed? Well, our parent's friends were mostly in mixed marriages like my father and mother. The families that weren't Jewish never expressed any overt indications of anti-Semitism. Dad never discussed the anti-Semitism issue--I don't think that it was an issue to him. His male friends were Jewish, Italian and a few Irishmen including one horse-playing priest and all other friends always were in our house or he was at theirs'.

Mother's side of the family seeemed fully accepting, as far as I could see.

It just didn't come up. When we went to Bermuda and he wanted to play mid-Ocean he found a way, although I think that later he did acknowledge that his Jewishness was a problem to be worked around. Mother and Dad vacationed at the Greenbriar, which later I learned was not a place to which Jews went--but....

and now to dinner, more later....

From Gross to me:

We are Jews by default. We are Jews because we are not Christians. We did not choose to be Jews, nor do we practice Judaism. Notwithstanding, we are not welcome in the society of our own country. That is humiliating, especially for a child. They long term effects of that exclusion are what we need to examine in order to understand ourselves.

From me to Gross:

Michael, something's wrong with your thought process here. The reverse is true also. Non-Jews are outsiders because they are not Jewish. Is that a tautology or what? We are Jews because we call ourselves Jews, we do not deny our Jewishness, and finally others call us Jews. The fact that some Jews insist that we are not Jews is irrelevant. That's their opinion.

"Notwithstanding, we are not welcome in the society of our own country."

Well, we are not welcome in some parts of our country. So? Do you welcome everyone, anyone into your home? the fear of the stranger is a part of the human dynamic. Some people overcome it. Others overcome their fear of the stranger to a small extent. The most fearful never overcome it.

"That is humiliating, especially for a child. They long term effects of that exclusion are what we need to examine in order to understand ourselves. "

I don't deny the sense of humiliation in others. I see it in X, and now, for the first time I see it you. I know it exists in me--but I do not relate it to being Jewish.

I was never accepted by groups--Malkin was asked to join a baseball team, the Spiders, long before I even knew him. Coincidentally, I knew other members of the team. they wouldn't have me--I was left out. Not unusual for me, but there was a sense of loss, of humiliation, yes. But it had nothing to do with being Jewish.

Boy, did I long for one of those Maroon rayon jackets with Spiders scrawled across its back.

But it was not to be. I had to peer through the cyclone fence and watch them practice. I was alone, only my trusty, loyal Schwin Phantom waiting patiently at my side.

Much later in life, when I received two luggage tags from Western Union as a prize for something or other, I put them on my luggage, proud to be a member of the Western Union team. At age 50 when Gary Miller gave me the HM letters that Coach Q. didn't give me, I still felt cheated, left out, and the falsity of my late award overwhelmed any proud or good feelings that Gary's gesture should have engendered. The fact that I knew I didn't deserve the letters from Coach Quinn made Gary's letters meaningless. But I wasn''t part of the team. Was that humiliating? It had nothing to do with being Jewish.

Humiliation, disappointment, loss each exist apart from being a Jew.

mek

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

What is wrong with Phillip Roth? -- two of his characters in his latest book: Louise Swing ( a singer with a big band) and her husband, the saxophonist, Sy Axman. Is this supposed to be funny?

And here's a great line from the book: "The pompous son of a bitch knows everything--it's too bad he doesn't know anything else."

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Expert Warns of “Ideological Leap” in Muslim FundamentalismStatements of Professor of Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies ROME, SEPT. 27, 2004 (Zenit.org).- According to a professor at the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, we are currently witnessing an "ideological leap" of "Muslim fundamentalism, of extremist groups and terrorists," who see the West as the enemy. Francesco Zannini explained to AsiaNews that the latest on-line decapitations of Western hostages in Iraq, is a way of bringing "the West to its knees." Although decapitation "exists in the history of Islam," the "cutting off of heads is not a punishment foreseen in Islamic rules." "It may have existed in the past, but it was not a specific punishment" and, "above all, it is not specified for use against enemies," he said. "There are texts that order the killing of enemies of Islam, but they do not order decapitations. The Koran does not mention it. Nor do the hadith (the Prophet's maxims)," Zannini continued. In his opinion, "the choice to decapitate and use the media to broadcast such killings are made precisely to attract attention and to intimidate" and "to bring the West to its knees," and affect "mass psychology." Including in cases like the slaughter of Beslan, Russia, or the recent kidnapping of two Italian volunteers, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, the terrorists are "going against every traditional rule." Zannini clarified that the "killing of women is explicitly condemned by Islamic texts. The most accredited hadith say that women, children, clergy and even farmers cannot be killed, nor can young men of military age who are not in the military." "But these terrorists have taken an ideological leap: they have redefined the figure of the 'enemy,'" he warned. "For fundamentalism, for extremist groups and terrorists, the enemy has become the whole of the West as such," so that every Westerner, even if a child, is someone who 'attacks Islam"" and who, therefore, "must be annihilated," he explained. According to Zannini, it "is an ideological framework that justifies total Jihad," although it is true that in Iraq, those who kill might be Muslims, but "there are also atheists that hide behind Islam, or some secret service or another." In face of this situation, Muslims themselves "are aghast," he said. "They find themselves faced with something new and unprecedented," and although they "have not forgotten past struggles," they are "left stunned by what is happening today." "A Muslim friend of mine from Bangladesh, an intellectual, confessed to me his concern: he feels that there is an urgent need to strengthen education in ideals among the young who are otherwise headed for a future of darkness," the professor added. "Even some members of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt have admitted their astonishment. The Muslim Brothers see that the Iraqi terrorists go partly by their ideology, but they themselves feel that ... 'they are giving Islam bad publicity,'" Zannini added. ZE04092706
posted by Ed at 9/28/2004 11:36:24 PM 0 comments

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Found on the net

Getting married to a Japanese Girl
Today lunch, I involved in a debate with a Japanese lady. She has a degree in literature, so well knowledge and she is capable to escape for every traps I told her. The topic is about getting married to Japanese girl. She began the conversation, are you single? "Yes, I'm single", I replied. "Why you didnt marry a Japanese lady?", she attacked. I explain to her, that my intention to married is not because of sex. I didn't think that I can be a good lover in the bed. I just need a friend to share, to talk and to learn. My wife should be someone who I can discuss, debate and fights in words. Someone who has strong minded. Someone who questioning many thing in life. I attacked back, "Is there any Japanese girl fall in that category?"She replied shortly, "It is many." I have never seen even one, excepts you. I didn't mean flattering her, but she is really smart. I didn't know how old she is, I guess it should be more than 40 or 50. She asked me to tell her about my self. I wanted a short answer, but it should be something that she familiar. About my self, "I like Kenzaburo writing." She surprised, but understand what I mean. "You have a pretty old mind set", she said. Our conversation goes far away. We discussed many things. One thing that so impressed me is that her thinking capability is really agile. Fergi

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Hurricane Frances

Thanks! for asking, Marcy--here's the story. Decision to leave or stay really had to be made on Thursday night in light of hotel reservation problems. Another alternative was to leave Thursday night or Friday morning and head north, probably to Virginia or further.

On Thursday there was already doubt as to the actual heading of the storm. We might have headed out to a place and had the hurricane overtake us. I decided to stay in the apartment, with the knowledge that we had windows that were hurricane proof--supposedly. Well, they were marked "safety glass" anyway, so if they would break, like the windshield in your car, they would break into small gravel like pieces and wouldn't kill us. That sounded okay to me. There are two buildings in our complex and during the summer they are about 40% full. That meant that there were 160 apartments occupied before the storm. The rest are owned by snow-birds or travelers.

Thursday afternoon, we were told that it would be a "mandatory evacuation." That means that the authorities will not assist you if you stay. People will not be forced out. But they are on their own.

The people in about 100 apartments decided to leave. That left about 60 apartments occupied, mostly by older couples. This was one time that youth was more prudent than age.

At four PM on Thursday we took a census at a meeting of the "dead enders." Everyone on the Board of Directors had chosen to stay, and several of the maintenance people had also decided to remain. The rest of us, were just the "little people," in Leona Helmsley's delightful phrase.

The wind came up on Friday, but we already knew that it was doubtful that we would be hit by the main force of the storm. The wind was strong enough to bend the trees and send palm fronds flying, but we lost only a few trees over the whole weekend.

There is a reef about five hundred yards out. Normally it is invisible, the lighter waves just pass over it. But now, white caps delineated it all along the shore. Later there was a strong wind from the west which pushed the spray from the reef-breakers about thirty or forty feet feet up into the air. Much of the night there was a moon, and there was light on the waves far out off shore breaking over the reef, the spray looked almost like white sparks, and then like showers of steam coming off the ocean.

To some extent, I think that the reef protects Ft. Lauderdale's beach. But we still lost sand.

As you must have heard, the storm remained over southern Florida from Friday night through early Sunday morning. During that time the ocean blew up, and the waves were larger than usual but still not really scary. I walked along the beach, my body bent into the wind and sand blasted at me, which sometimes felt like thousands of needles against my face and legs. There were hundreds of small holes where baby turtles had emerged from their eggs and dug themselves out of the sand covering the nests laid by females months previous.

Nearby I found some large pieces of coral that had been ripped from a reef about five hundred yards out. Later I brought a few upstairs and was instructed by the misses to bring them back. But as they were my found-treasure they remain in my shower.

On Saturday afternoon I looked down at the roiling ocean from my terrace and saw that the surf had attracted some teenaged surfers even though it was raining. I put on my suit and went down and I talked one of them into letting me try to push out into the sea on his board while he was trying to catch his breath on the beach.

It was almost impossible to get out past the surf line put after some effort and a little help I found myself just past the breakers and waited for a roller to take me in. As I looked around I noticed that the teenagers had circled my board, as though they were a pod of dolphins trying to protect the "old man." Embarrassed, I took the first roller in and returned the board to its eager owner. It was an express train.

Some of the private houses nearby on the beach lost sea walls, and huge buoy floated onto the beach, its light still darkened. I wondered where the power for the buoy lights comes from. batteries? A wire under the sea? A passel of 12 x 12's from some dock or pier came by, but the sea was moving north to south so fast that I saw them only for a short time.

The nights were great--lightning and thunder right over head, but we never really got any heavy driving rain. Maybe that's being saved for next time. One of the nights I almost lost the door to my terrace as I opened it into the wind. But, make no mistake, we only got the edge of the storm, and we never understood its full force.

When I went out to the street, A1A was deserted, the stores had all boarded up, the traffic lights had been re-set to flash only red. The red reflections on the wet highway went as far as I could see. Several signs had been knocked apart and pieces of sign material blew along the highway.

Ironically, many of our neighbors went to places out west where they lost electric and had to stay for two or three without a/c and in the dark. I am fine with darkling nights; but to have a series of hot nights--well. ... Of course, the air on the beach is always cooler so it might not have been so bad....

Now, the next question is Ivan....

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com



Ringing the Bell


In Paris, in 1924, Man Ray painted his favorite model, Kiki, and added an actual pushbutton on her breast. At the first show of this work, he attached electric wiring, a buzzer, and a battery to the frame of the painting, visible to the public. The wiring led to the button which, as I explained above, was attached to her breast.

Man Ray, however, decided that the buzzer would not buzz when the button was pressed.

When I read about this work in his autobiography I thought about the expression “pushing my button,” and realized that my buzzer usually buzzes, and sometimes very loudly. On the other hand, there are some people whose buttons do not ever set off their bell.

Maria has told me that in my old age my button isn't working as often as it used to, and she is worried about this—which interests me, because one might have thought that she would be relieved that I don't take on every fool who steps in my path anymore. -----Especially as she used to be very embarrassed by my outbursts.

By the way, Man Ray desired that his name be indexed as “Man Ray,” not “Ray, Man.” Most indexers either are ignorant of his desire or are ignoring it. In addition, you may be interested to know that as a child he lived a block from Katz Drug Store, and that he attended the same schools (grammar and high school) that my Dad did. They were two years apart in age so I imagine that if their paths did not actually cross they may have had the same very good Irish spinster teachers and mutual friends.

Certainly, Emmanuel Radnitsky must have wandered into my grandfather Aaron Katz’ drug store at least once wearing his knickers. At the time the Katz’ lived above the store. Manya, Emmanuel Radnitsky’s mother's father was a pharmacist in Minsk so, who knows, she may have pitched in and helped at the store too.

It is hard for me to believe that there was no contact between the families.

Talking about knickers, there was a boxing match at the Polo Grounds in 1916 when my Dad was 14 years old. He knew one of the fighters, Sailor Levitsky, and wanted to see the fight. He was denied entrance at the gate on the grounds that he was too young. He demanded admission asserting , “What'd you mean, too young? See, I'm wearing long pants.” -- Admission granted.

Later, in 1923, he saw Jack Dempsey floor Luis Firpo for the final time in the fourth round. But by then Dad was already wearing suits and Fedoras.

August 2004

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

If your body had a pushbutton would the bell ring when the button were pushed--or would it remain silent?

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

We live a life of indignation and outrage suppressed.

Your work is who you are. Choose it carefully.

Human fraility is a natural condition, accept it. Don't complain.

mek

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

"She was rendered stupid by easy wealth."

Jacques Prevert