Notes from the Cafe Fiasco

Marcel Marceau Dies at 84

And what I have to say about this is:

Economics

And just when my small portfolio managed to recover from the last month, George Bush came out today and said everything is fine with the economy ....

Today's Bumpersticker

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons
For you are crunchy and go well with ketchup.

MLTD - 9/6 - Today's Quote

"Before I got cancer no one ever told me I looked good."  - David White

The Good Old Days

It was a little hard to listen to Ben Stein cry on CBS Sunday Morning this week about how the Republicans were treating Larry Craig so shabbily by throwing him overboard at the hint of a scandal (unlike how they would have done it during the kinder and gentler Nixon Administration of which Stein was a part, no doubt).

The fact is that Craig is a major part of the right wing movement of hate toward gay people over the past few years (he was a main engine on Capitol Hill around the idea of a constitutional amendment against gay marriage) and gained a great deal of power by fostering a climate that whips up activities like stings directed toward gays that he, rightly or wrongly, got caught up in earlier in the summer. It's hard not to see the poetic justice in all this.

For some reason, those who trade on hate never think that they will be caught in the social processes of hate that they promote. Larry, who knows that he's not gay, never thought that he would be brought down by police actions designed to affect gay people. But once the rabid dog is off the leash you can't really control who it's going to go after next. It might be you. In Larry's case, it was. I find it hard to get upset about this.

And, come to think of it, you could make a case that Richard Nixon's carelessness about the rule of law came back to bite him too. But it's still hard to listen to Stein moan about the Good Old Days since he's watched and supported the activities of his party for the past six years. These changes in "civility" (even if it is relative civility) didn't happen overnight. Why did Ben recognize these changes just when the Republicans seem to be losing? Or are things okay when the dog is firmly on the leash and you can direct who it's going to attack?

Cafe Fiasco - The Original

Seems that the inspiration for NCF has put up a new website . I used to drink (and write) over at the end of the bar.