Hillary -- Too Conservative?

Cindy Sheehan's main target just might be Hillary Clinton and not W. The grieving mother of a fallen Iraqi soldier has stepped to the head of the line of the anti-war movement and she could be the face for this growing and passionate crowd. And the people behind her -- Michael Moore, MoveOn.org, Air America, et al -- realize that for every person who agrees with them, three people are repelled. Cindy is the face of this movement, which could break big.

Why is this bad for Hil? Easy: the anti-war left won't vote for another Washington candidate who supports the war. Liberating 25 million citizens from a brutal dictator and building a democracy in a region that only knows theocrats and dictators isn't worth the lives of US soldiers to these people. If this movement gains momentum, the next Democratic candidate had better be against the war from the beginning. Paging Dr. Dean.

Sheehan has incredible stamina. She has turned her grief into a megaphone against this president, but so far, the mainstream media's coverage has been fawning. She will have to either stand by or explain her remarks that her son died for Israel, OBL is an alleged terrorist, and the war in Afghanistan was a mistake too. If she loses the loony left-speak -- seriously, can anyone stand next to Michael Moore and not spout this paranoid nonsense? -- she could be the Martin Luther King Jr of the antiwar crowd. With a book tour, a glowing documentary, honorary Ivy League degrees and the money of Lefties, she could win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Instead of the man who liberated the Iraqis and tried to bring democracy to the oppressed.

Not Very Christian

It's been a pretty bookish summer, so far. I've knocked off John Updike's Marry Me, Alana Feurst's The Polish Officer, Elmore Leonard's Toshamingo Blues, as well as Gore Vidal's Julian and Henry James' Daisy Miller. The last two were startling. Julian was terrific though not nearly as great as I, Claudius but as the young emperor who tried to bring back Hellenism while his nation was in the throes of Christianity, he made some strong arguments for his faith. I've made a point of not reading James and I don't feel bad about my decision at all. After finishing Daisy Miller, however, I can't wait to go onto Washington Square and then onto Portrait of a Lady. I also have my sights on The Wings of a Dove because I loved the film version with a rather nekkid and racktacular Helena Bonham Carter. Man, I am so deep.

For the Birds

Nora and I checked out March of the Penguins and had a nice time yesterday. Didn't love it but liked it enough. Some of the shots were gorgeous and I kept seeing the closeups of the emperor penguins in my dreams last night. It's amazing that this movie is the sleeper hit of the summer and is beating out flops like The Island, Bewitched and the Jessica Simpson Daisy Dukes film. Although the music and photography are fine enough, Penguins feels like a well-made documentary that would play in the multimedia room of a big city aquarium. You can imagine it playing on monitors while kids run from bench to bench and tired mothers change diapers and nurse their newborns.

After the movie I bought Nora a $4 slurpee and asked her what she thought of the movie.

"Short," she said.

That's my girl.

The Updike Summer Book: Marry Me

Every summer I read a novel or short story collection from John Updike. A new work usually appears in the fall so it's always nice to have a novel I haven't read for a decade back in my hands. I chose Marry Me, his romance from 1976, the year he married his second wife, I believe. This is a virtual companion piece to Couples, his sprawling book about affairs in tiny Tarbox. While Couples needed a scorecard to keep track of the, well, couples, Marry Me has only four people, Jerry sleeping with Sally while married to Ruth who has a brittle affair with Sally's Richard. Got that? It's set in 1962 but the people seem oddly ahead of our generation of adults. They sat down, hashed out the affair over drinks, went to partiesm etc. Today, there would be slashed tires, threatening emails and "no she didn'ts" yelled at the top of their lungs.

I've reread Couples, A Month of Sundays, The Centaur and the novel that actually improved the second time, the brilliant Rabbit Is Rich. Like that installment, Marry Me held up even better than the first time I read it.

On deck: Gore Vidal's Julian, Anne Tyler's When We Were Married, and James Salter's Light Years.

Matthew, On a Tear

It's been a good few weeks with Matthew, the four-year old master of his universe. His therapies are going nicely and he is responding more and more lately. He categorized some cards in a different colors and he is repeating more words. This morning he called me Dada to my face -- this might be the first time in more than a year that I heard this. Words cannot describe how much I missed that. Yesterday, he called Regina 'Mommy' when she asked him if he wanted to play downstairs. I may be supersitious but I woneder if this has to do with his diet. Getting an autistic child to eat anything substantial is a chore and he only likes chicken in the form of Wendy's chicken nuggets and from the local Chinese place. Everytime we have one of these boosts in word skills, it seems to coincide when he is enjoying protein. I'll never forget the week he ate scrambled eggs for an entire week -- it felt like he added a dozen new words to his language list.

Tim the one year-old is happy to prove that he is more like his older sister Nora than the Mighty Matthew. He can say dada, mama, baba for bottle and hi, which he does with a wave. Oh, and he clearly knows the meaning of the word No, especially when he hits he offswtich on the power strip for the TV. So far, he big trouble in a little package.

More Chainsaw Guitars, Please

Bob Mould is back with a new album Body of Song and he brought his guitars with him. I haven't bought a Mould record in ages and I always meant to pick up his electronica album although friends warned me off. Even in his so-so records, there's still some great fret work and plenty of painful lyrics for the morbid English major in me. Body of Song marries his buzzsaw guitar with some tasteful bloops and beeps and the result is quite warm. If I had a convertible, I'd blast this entire record while driving up Route 9 and over the Bear Mountain Bridge with a kid in the baby seat.

And for such a notorious sourpuss, Mould sounds happy these days. The titles aren't as dour as those from Beaster or Hubcap, and he has done a ton of radio interviews where he sounds like he's in a good space: out, happy, creative, and at peace with his place in rock history. Get Body of Song, play it loud.

And checkout his Boblog and also this killer interview on Minnesota Public Radio. Your computer's sub-woofers will appreciate the workout.

Growing On Me

The Will Farrell epic Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is all over HBO and it is growing on me. We rented it last fall and it was stupid and immediately forgettable. Now that I've seen it three times this weekend, it's becoming a better movie. Nora caught the anchorman rumble with cameos from Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller and a surprisingly un-annoying Tim Robbins. Wilson gets his arm lopped off in a fight and now Nora says, "Man, I didn't see that coming." It's good for a goof.

Mr. Roberts

Nothing to add to the commentary but isn't it funny that Bush's bold, thinking-outside-the box-choice was a 50-year old white guy?

He'll be approved with minimal fuss, if the Rove-hungry Dems are smart. Oh, and I love this picture. Man, have I been there, except for the President nominating me on TV and all.

London

It's been more than one week since the wave of bombings in London. I saw the reports on TV while dressing for work that morning and I immediately hoped that no one in the London office was hurt. When I made it into the office, the quiet and stillness was like a brick wall. Right, I thought, this could be very bad. I opened my e-mail and saw a message from the HR director in our London headquarters stating not to panic and all Incisive Media staffers were safe and accounted for. I then tried to call my co-worker, who was out that day but the lines were down. It was like the first week when I started at RiskWaters after 9/11: the sad blanket that covered us all. Thankfully, my reporter was safe and sound.

News reports now say that the bombers were not only suicides but were British-born. London is now the first European city to be the victim of suicide bombers. We can only hope that this does not become a trend there, here or anywhere else.

No Drama Queens

The press and the Libs want to get Karl Rove so bad that they are starting to get sloppy. Recently, NY Senator Chuck Schumer held a press conference attacking Rove and the White House for the leaking of Valerie Plame's name to the press. So far, so goo. The Dems are keeping the message clear and uncluttered. In other words, no John Kerry droning. But then Joe Wilson, Plame's blow-dried husband, took the podium to demand Rove's resignation. Uh boy. I hate this guy and Tucker Carlson nailed it when he called Wilson a drama queen.

If the Dems want to fail -- like they always seem to want to do -- they will keep Wilson on-camera yammering away about himself and his wife. Remember: This is not about them, although it kinda is. This is about the leaking on a CIA agent's identity for political payback. Keep the self-aggrandizing Wilson away from the cameras because he elicits no sympathy and wins no friends in the undecided column. He loves his victimhood too much to make things easy for the Dems.

Mickey Kaus, my favorite skeptic, asks one important question: Is Wilson partly to blame for his wife's outing? If you're married to a spook, should you accept an assignment to go to Africa and then blab about it in a New York Times Op Ed piece? The sooner the Dems realize that Wilson is a D lsit celebutante -- his memior is 528 pages long! -- and keep their message simple, the better.

Rove revealed the name of a secret agent -- YES!
Rove revealed the name of a CIA agent who was married to that whiny guy who loves to have his picture taken in Vanity Fair and goes on The Daily Show and Meet the Press and ...

Judith Miller in Chained Heat

This is a rude question to ask but is Judith Miller an ass? The reporter for the New York Times is going to jail - Jail! The big house. The stony lonesome -- to protect a source that she never called and never wrote about! It's pretty clear that the source is a member of the Bush White House -- my guess is Scooter Libby, the chief of staff for the vice president -- and this person tried to kill two birds with one stone: Take down whiny diplomatic asswipe Joe Wilson and someone from the media elite. And after all the heavy-lifting she did for the WMDs-littering-Iraq stories she wrote before the war.

Judy, Judy, Judy: liberal reporters hate you and conservatives all know you were set up. Speak, already!

If that weren't enough, "secret" agent Valerie Plame looks none-the-worse-for wear in the pages of Vanity Fair and at a recent book signing in Georgetown. I hope Plame and Wilson's smiles warm you during shower time.

Not On My Watch

A good if somber speech from the president last night from Fort Bragg. If you told George W. Bush on the deck of the aircraft carrier two years ago that he would have to convince his fellow Americans that the war is still – still! – worth fighting, he and his staff would be dumbfounded. Still, it was impressive when Bush ticked off the countries from which the insurgents are flowing: Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia. If only this president could bring down the boot on the Saudis to clean up their backyard or lose their pampered status but this is the tragic blind spot of this president. Although there is good news in Iraq, the carnage from the insurgency drowns it out. One part of the speech struck a wrong note: for some reason, I hate when politicians give out web site addresses. It seems jarring and not very presidential. And why does the America Supports You Web site seem like a Band-Aid on a major chest wound? Does this administration think that we need more yellow ribbons on the back of SUVs? Clearly, we need more troops, better armor, a secure Iraqi border and some better PR. And don’t forget luck.

Run, Katie, Run

Attention all People, US magazine and In Touch staffers: don't make any vacation plans for the last weekend of the summer.

With a psycho-boyfriend melting down before our very eyes, Katie Holmes is going to cancel her engagement to Tom Cruise and head for the hills. The bug-eyed Runaway Bride from Georgia can breathe easy as every tabloid and infotainment show calls the overwhelmed actress the New Runaway Bride when she comes to her senses and flees for her life. Her publicist will announce that the engagement is off on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend and although Katie and Tom remain friends, she is enjoying some quiet time in the Rain Forest or serving as a medic in Iraq.

You have been warned: Labor Day weekend. Get those photographers and cheesy headlines ready.

Must-Watch Character: Drama

There are quite a few pleasures on HBO's feather-light sitcom Entourage. Along with a never-ending parade of lithe LA beauties, Jeremy Piven's Raptor-like agent Ari, there is Kevin Dillon's Drama. Dillon plays the older and slightly more experienced actor brother to the main star's Vincent. Drama came to Hollywood sooner, landed some roles on a grade-C cop show and is now struggling to find work and not appear to glom off his red-hot younger brother. You can see the frustration and the sheer desperation in his eyes, his walk and hear it in his voice as he tries to revive a mediocre career that might be replaced with a new job that could easily be titled "trim coordinator." He is desperate and charming: during one episode he was convinced he wasn't getting roles because he has skinny calves. For the rest of the show, he checks out every waiter/surfer/gym trainer for their leg muscles.

Kevin Dillon's Drama. Funny and one character that makes me smile when he walks on screen. Check out Heaven Help Us from a billion years ago to see this guy in action.

Game Rover

Did Karl Rove play the Senate and House Dems like a piano with his speech in NYC the other day? He told the conservative audience that while conservatives wanted action after 9/11, some liberals wanted to offer therapy, self-reflection and lay the blame with the US. A sweeping generalization but not without a grain of truth, all in all.

Senate and House Dems responded with indignant fury at the Bush Mastermind's remarks and demand Rove's resignation. In their outrage, they remind journalists and their constituents that they voted for the war on terror, the liberation of Iraq and their support for the men and women in uniform.

Brilliant, Karl.

Got Clipboard?

Scene: Lafayette Street on a sunny spring day at lunchtime.

Characters: Phil, co-worker Rob, Environmental Guy and Cute Environmental Gal both holding clipboards.

Action: Phil and Rob walk down Lafayette Street to buy some lunch. Nice, earnest-looking Environmental Guy holding clipboard asks about our concerns for the environment.

Phil: I HATE the environment. Pave it right now.

Environment Guy: (Laughs and lets Phil and Rob pass by).

Phil and Rob buy their lunches at separate stores and Phil returns to the office alone.

Cute Environmental Gal: (Pointing to Environmental logo on her chest) Hi, can I ask you to --

Phil: Sorry, baby. I say pave the environment.

Cute Environmental Girl looks at Environmental Guy in disbelief.

Environmental Guy: That's the guy.

Now with More Gay Banter!

I have a gay co-worker who believed that after the 2004 election, he was a marked man. Chalk it up to a close race and disappointing results for his column, but he was genuinely scared for himself and all gays everywhere.

I have no fears for gays. If you compare the current state of gay-rights affairs with American history, this is 1962. Back then, it was a few months before Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, the religious right is working hard and fast because it realizes that time is not on their side. Older Americans with a distaste for gay rights are growing older and dying off while younger and more tolerant Americans, who have lived with the notion of gay rights, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Tom Cruise/Ricky Martin/Ellen Degeneres/Al Franken are no longer shocked by the sex lives of their fellow Americans. The Christian Right fully recognizes that the party is almost over.

Case in point: I read a workbook to my daughter during Black History Month about Rosa Parks. When I read the passage that black people weren't allowed to sit next to whites, Nora's face crinkled in disbelief. It made no sense to her at all.

In 10 years, the anti-gay rights foes will be geezers in their wheelchairs complaining about the air conditioning and the loud music in the nursing home. Trust me on this.

Can This -- or Any -- Marriage Be Saved?

The New York Times Magazine had an interesting and respectful profile of Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. If the same magazine ran this piece two years ago, he would have been photographed with the standard greenish, up-from-the-swamp lights the art directors usually reserve for religious, red state conservatives, that the same magazine has used in the past. I still remember one profile of a religious midwestern family the magazine profiled a decade ago -- the photographer shot them like freakish cadavers in a Diane Arbus portfolio.

One passage of the profile struck me of the Catholic senator. The author asked him about if his marriage was threatened by gay marriage and he immediately answered "yes." I was disappointed when then the reporter didn't use a simple follow-up question: why?

Why is Santorum's marriage and my marriage, for that matter, threatened if a gay couple are also joined in wedlock? Why? How is my 13-year union in any way diminished?

Perhaps it's because a club becomes less exclusive when anyone can join, but I am not so sure. I think marriage is a civilizing and settling institution and whether or not two men or two women get married, who the hell cares?

On the other extreme, I feel a couple who live together and have kids without getting married is far more destructive to my family and community than Steve and Jerry who might want to live next to us. The couple who shack up are far-more destructive to my family's sense of marriage, commitment and love than a pair of female gym teachers.

Now that that's settled, the pro-gay marriage folks have to answer one question: If gay men and women can marry, then why can't I marry another woman or my sister or my first cousin?

Two questions to think about...

Let's Get Clinical

Is a movie any good if you would rather watch it again with the sound off? We saw Kinsey last night and although it was quite good, I can't wait to re-watch it with the director's comments on. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney are quite good as Prock and Mac, the married couple who helped shepard post-war America into the sexual revolution. Some conservatives complained that the film didn't make any value judgments on Kinsey's research into sex offenders but the scene with William Sadler as a spectacularly repellant subject nailed it for me. Writer/director Bill Condon also helmed Gods and Monsters, a wonderful picture of 1950s Hollywood through the eyes of the director of The Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. Condon reminds me of Paul Schrader in that he creates these little worlds that we think we know and then shines a light on the people inside. Definitely check out Kinsey for the smart direction, Frederick Elmes' stirring cinematography, and the stellar performances from Neeson, Linney, Peter Sarsgaard, and a priggish John Lithgow, who sounds like a methodist Foghorn Leghorn. And keep an eye out for recovering actor Chris O'Connell and Tim Hutton, who borrows Sean Penn's mustache from The Falcon and the Snowman.

Armageddon Impatient

It looks like there might be a compromise in the Republican threat of using the nuclear option when it comes to the Senate filibuster. Damn those moderate Republicans and sane Democrats. They are hatching a plan where Dems will approve a vote for some conservative judges if the Republicans promise not to us the NucOp every again. What's going on, people? Shut the Senate down!

The only people who would notice a Senate-free country would be Chris Matthews, the senators themselves, and the liberals who think that the government needs to grow. (I am including the Bush White House in this group, who will go down in history as Big Government Conservatives.)

With the Senate shut down, the member of this august body (Ha!) will be free to explain why this move is such a sad day for the nation. But life will go on, people will wake up and go to work, movies will arrive and leave our local multiplexes, days will pass into months and no one will really notice. If there is another attack on US soil or the Social Security checks stop coming, the senators will have some hard questions to answer. They will have to explain why the Democrats fought to keep the rules as is (sounds conservative, no?), while the Republicans sought to bend the rules in their favor (a liberal notion, donchya think?).

If the senate shuts down in the summer, does it really matter?