Et Tu, Muntadar?

By now, I suppose everyone around the world has seen the images: 

George Bush, in Baghdad, at the Green Zone, standing at the podium with Iraqi PM Maliki, both ready to field questions from the world's press. Surprise. Bush soon finds himself engaged in a new sport invented right there on the spot called "Dodge Shoes." Thrown by an outraged Arab journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, the shoes--first one, then another--narrowly miss the president's noggin. The would-be shoe assassin was quickly "wrestled to the ground" (as they used to say back in the days of Gerald Ford), but really! Facing beatings, torture and death--and yet this young reporter still had to make that largely symbolic gesture.

A wise man (perhaps on drugs) once said that the history of the world could be told in a grain of sand. If so, then several large books could be written about this little incident in the seemingly safe and secure Green Zone. I won't go into all the obvious--and all the not-so-obvious--elements of this affair (I am not being paid enough to do that), but will note a couple of thoughts:

1) Not sure if I was as startled by shoes flying at Bush's head as I was at how quickly that head dodged those shoes. Either Bush had advance warning that an attempt would be made on his head by the thrown shoes, or that is surely one quick head. Not once, but twice, that empty coconut avoided the leather missiles as if this was its standard operating procedure five times a day.

2) Equally surprising was PM Maliki. I guess it comes with the territory. Maliki stands there during the barrage as if little or nothing has happened. "What, me duck from flying shoes when RPG's, rockets and bullets have been filling the air here for five years," he seems to be saying. "You've got to be kidding!"

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With temperatures ranging from five to ten below out in far western Kansas, our + 7 degrees here in Topeka feels mighty toasty. May just try and slip out this afternoon, find a shade tree, and enjoy the weather while it lasts. Right! Hell or Texas (take your pick) is looking better and better.

For two hours yesterday, I watched "BookTV." Our friend and late house guest, Michael Burlingame, held forth on his new book, Abraham Lincoln--A Life. And a masterful job Michael did, too. I'm not ever surprised; but I'm always amazed. It is one thing to sit around in our living room, cupping wine, smoking cigarettes I bummed off our good neighbor (another Michael), chatting about this and that and just shooting the breeze in general; quite another thing to be grilled for two hours on LIVE television and never lose a beat. From start to finish, Michael's depth of knowledge and eloquence were constants. Next month, I believe--or it is February?--Michael will honor us with another visit as he speaks here in Kansas.

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Future Car of the Day

The Wild Bunch

Last night, for the dozenth time, watched that great classic, The Wild Bunch. 

Starring William Holden, Robert Ryan, and Ernest Borgnine, I think the movie can truly be called, The Last Great Western. I say this not because there were no more good cowboy-type shoot-em-ups made after this Sam Peckinpah opus of 1969 (Tombstone comes to mind), but because the film takes place when the Wild West was winding down in American history. There is a "horseless carriage" in the movie; mention is made of "one of these things with wings that can fly;" the Mexican Revolution of 1913 forms a back drop of the film. Won't get into the plot. Will mention some actors. As good as Holden, Ryan, and Borgnine are--and they are superb--the three are pretty much overshadowed by the supporting cast. Dub Taylor as the gnarly prohibitionist preacher; Ben Johnson and Warren Oats as the brothers and gang members, "Tector and Lyle Gorch (above, two on the left)." Struther Martin and his motley crew as the ragged and ghoulish bounty hunters. But the best support of all comes from Emilio Fernandez as the greasy Mexican general, "Mapache." One can hardly take their eyes off this drunken, dangerous, deceptive character. I have the good luck of owning the uncut CD. Unlike the theater version, this version shows Mapache as all the above, but also as a pretty brave fellow as he stands defiantly while revolutionistas bullets fly all around. He is even considerate of children. 

Check out the old trailer of the movie:http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3371958553/

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Read in the local paper today that the city will be handing out $500 fines for those homeowners who do not keep their curb sides free of leaves. Forget murders, rapes and drugs; seems clogged gutters are causing Topeka fits. Taking at peek at our own curb, I was surprised to see that ours was probably the home they had in mind when the city began leaf threatening. Thus, I spent a couple hours tonight raking up what God showered down. Cities! Pick up your leaves, can't start fires, can't relieve yourself at night in your own back yard--well, one out of three is not so bad, I guess.


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My little friend and companion of 20+ years, Pepper, is still hanging in there. Although he is very gimpy and his spine sticks up like a picket fence, he seems fairly happy. I suppose some folks would have "put him down" by now as an inconvenience, but I don't plan on ever doing that unless something far worse than age bothers him. If he loses use of his rear legs--which seems likely--I will just carry him in an out. He is a Peke and weighs only 10 pounds or so and that would be no problem for a 250 pound human, I guess.