Verona

Finally I see why a person might travel far from home. The photos I see from Verona are amateur, but stunning. This is a place to visit and to study, especially if you won't stay too long, and you have an eleven year old with you.

Book Time: Showdown

This is the first thing by David Corn I've ever read. Even at the start, I see he's a versatile writer. His
dedication is from an Ernest Hemingway novel, then the title of chapter one seems to allude to the 19th century abolitionist, Theodore Parker- who as it turns out was right about North American slavery.
The book advertises itself as the story of how our president fought the tea party and its allies after the
2010 mid-term elections.
The chapters' names then include many words used in fighting; shellacking, win, victory, strategy,battle, etc. etc.
I love the set up, right out of the gate.

I Am Reminded of The Movies

Who saw  Charles Laughton in The Big Clock ?
I could see many presidential candidates ( except for our current POTUS)  who could be the villain in this movie.
The Big Clock was later mad over into a Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young movie- No Way Out.
Both films were riveting. 
Who saw Charles Laughton in Witness For The Prosecution? W.M. Romney -not Marlena Dietrich is
the person I'd love to see on the witness stand when Laughton says: "...were you lying then,or are you lying now, are you not as a matter of fact a chronic, habitual LIAR?'
I'm just sayin'- I learned 'word is bond'.
Did you sign SEC forms or didn't you, Mr. Romney? Did you sign for a truth, or didn't you?
If some are confused about how W.M.Romney made his money, rent the movie Bonfire Of The Vanities, and look for the cake scene where the character Tom Hanks plays has his money sources
and his work products reduced to a degrading metaphor.
Happy popcorn!

Mixed

If Morgan Freeman would look a bit more closely at history, he could see that nearly all black people
who are the descendants of west African slaves are mixed.
POTUS is not one of those black people, but he is a black man.
Is he more mixed than Mr. Freeman? I guess so. What difference does that make, though. This is America. When people ask us our racial origin here, they are not normally asking us for our DNA
heritage.
I love Morgan Freeman, or what I know of him. Yet I wonder what point he could be making by
referring to the President as a man whose mom was white. The President has no
slave ancestry except that his babies do.  Is there meaning to what Mr. Freeman asserts?

TV In The A.M.

This morning John Fulgelsang hosted Stephanie Miller's show on the Al Gore network, Current TV.
He used the phrase, "self-loathing black folks" when describing some black Republicans.
He couldn't have been much funnier. I laughed my head off that he described this political group that
way. Why? Shouldn't I be insulted? No. He wasn't calling names when he said, "black folks". He was
being "folksy". Hilarious. He should not be fired; even though he is not actually a Current employee.

Enemies Of Health Care

Those of you who have wonderful health care, don't worry so much. There may be enough of you to
keep your regular doctor as pleased as punch. I doubt you will have to sit next to a minority in his
waiting room. He will do what he has been doing. He will continue to move.
Many of you have lost that battle anyway, however, because doctors choose metropolitan centers
in which to practice. Metropolitan centers are gaining minorities. Sorry.
Perhaps you could take example from one of my favorite actors, and one of America's too. Mr. Andy Griffith. He passed away today, but not before he stood up or President Obama's Affordable Care Act. He was born and lived in North Carolina,a state he seemed to dearly love; and he was rich. But he didn't look for any excuses to live unevolved. He left a great example for us all.

American Freedom

Of course a British bank has raised a million dollars for Mr. Romney's presidential bid. Did we ever doubt foreigners were being invited into American interests by 'citizens united'? Have we asked the
SCOTUS and John Roberts which citizens are to be united? Didn't the British banks have that very
close relationship with Leohman Brothers?
What most real citizens tend to forget about American history is that we really do live in a capitalistically free society. Capitalists not only make money in this country, they run rough-shod
over any and every decent work-a-day citizen in our country. And our government? Well our
government stands up for citizens only at the very last moment, after we attempt to get up off the
pavement or out of the mud. The uber-capitalists insist on mowing us down ... in wholesale fashion,
uninhibited and unimpeded. That is the government we have chosen. That is the government we
believe in now. We have what we want, I guess. And the closer we get to slavery, the better that sort
of government works.
We have to admit, though, that slavery did not work then, and is not going to work now.
If capitalists love the freedoms they enjoy at everyone else's expense, and the rest of us are determined to admire them, then that's the reality. My only complaint is that I am sick and so tired
of wiping the tread marks off my behind.