A Year Later

A year ago I started this blog as a way of venting my anxiety and frustration at the discourse of American politics. Frankly I was a mess. I didn't believe enough in the electoral process, in the intelligence of the American people, or in the integrity of the media, to believe that a smart bi-racial, youthful, energetic man with an extraordinary wife and a vision for our country and the world could ever be elected president. Thankfully I was wrong.

Although I am still anxious about the content and intensity of our public debate, especially around health care, race, and the role of government, see a gaping hole in our democracy as to who runs, who votes, and whose votes get counted, and watch with trepidation the disintegration of the media, I've decided to stop blogging.

I woke up this morning to the sound of a bird singing. There are many voices out there, and mine hopefully didn't just add to the noise, but helped find a path through it for those who found Ascension at the Stove. Words come easily to me, and perhaps there will be a time when I blog again, but today seemed like the perfect occasion to say "goodbye."

Michael Steele, Can You Believe Him?

The Republicans might have gotten to the point where even my dad's old friend Nat, the most right-wing crazy, gun-toting, racist asshole I've ever met, would say: Huh? He was interviewed this morning on NPR, and he made no sense. While screaming that government shouldn't be in the business of health care, he was trying to protect Medicare. Medicare is government-run health care. Listen or read and tell me, does this make sense to you?

With Ted Kennedy dead, perhaps the Democrats might get their act together and pass health care reform just as the Civil Rights Act was passed in the wake of his brother JFK's death. Read Josh Marshall's post on talkingpointsmemo.com.

George Lakoff, the linguist who has been trying to get the Democrats to counter the language of the right, has an interesting article on how to frame health care on truthout.org.

On Ted Kennedy and the Pursuit of Character

For someone of my generation, there were always lingering doubts about the character of Ted Kennedy, because like other younger men from families of privilege, when confronted with his own stupidity, yes, another member of the Brotherhood of the Wandering Dick, he bolted. I'm talking about that incident back in 1969 in Chappaquiddick, when Mary Jo Kopechne, a young woman staffer for his brother, Bobby Kennedy, died. Here is the text of Kennedy's speech to the people of Massachusetts trying to explain his cowardice by leaving her to die in a car that had been drunkenly driven off of a bridge.

Leaving the scene of the car accident where Ms. Kopechne died, destroyed Ted Kennedy's presidential aspirations, although he did run for the Democratic nomination in its wake. How he repented was becoming one of the most effective legislators in recent American history. His lion voice, his determination to seek justice, his opposition to the Bush administration after being cajoled into co-sponsoring the No Child Left Behind debacle, his courageous votes all pointed to his maturation as a man, as a public figure, and as a scion worthy of our trust.

There are many beautiful obituaries, including this pictorial one in the Times and there will be many others because Ted Kennedy grew into his role as the liberal senator from Massachusetts after a disaster that blew holes in his arrogance. That he didn't make it to president is a good thing, because America should not be a place of dynasties, as we have witnessed most recently with the Bush family. We should be a meritocracy, which we aren't, and probably never will aspire to becoming, not with billionaire politicians, I don't care how smart they are, Mr. Bloomberg.

So let's take a moment to understand Ted Kennedy, the most flawed of the Kennedy brothers, but the only survivor, and the only one who has left his mark on the remarkable institution of the Senate. Thank you for your service to our country, and I am sorry for your suffering.

Asperger's Syndrome and the Nazis

OK, those two things don't seem to connect, but they did yesterday, because in the afternoon when the clouds were merely threatening, my daughter and I went to see Adam. This isn't a film for everyone. It's an indy film with such fine acting by Hugh Dancy that the flaws in the script might be worth it. Dancy plays Adam, a young man suddenly alone when his father dies and his Asperger's Syndrome keeps him thoroughly isolated. Hugh Dancy was the Earl of Essex in the HBO Elizabeth I, and we saw him on Broadway in Journey's End, which didn't quite capture his charisma that the big screen manages.

The trailers to Adam pretty much tell the story: a young man with Asperger's Syndrome befriends Beth, a beautiful young teacher who moves in next door in Manhattan. Beth has a much-too-close relationship with her father and is licking her wounds from a failed romance with an investment banker that her father wants her to marry. OK, why would she fall for Adam? That is a big flaw in the film unless the phrase "co-dependent" comes up. And this is another film with the "all knowing" Black man who is the only human being who understands Adam. However, for a Saturday afternoon with my twenty-year old daughter, it was perfect. And we didn't get any popcorn.

Later last evening we went to see Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's new film. Now I admit to being obsessed with the Holocaust. It began when I sneaked reading Meyer Levin's Eva and then Leon Uris' Exodus and Mila 18 when I was still a kid. My grandmother used to go through her family album, pointing out with tears in her eyes, who didn't make it through the war in Roumania. I couldn't have enough of Anne Frank, the abridged and unabridged versions as well as the play (and one of my favorite David Sedaris essays is about his coveting Anne Frank's hideout as the perfect apartment for him and Hugh). There are those who believe I should be hosting a site of Holocaust-based films, because I've seen them all, except I couldn't bring myself to see Woman in Berlin.

Inglourious Basterds is perhaps Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction, which had been my personal favorite despite its self-indulgence and sheer insanity. (Part one with Uma Thurman and John Travolta, well I have no idea how many times I've seen it!) There is less violence, minutes go by without any murder, which seems incongruous for a film about Nazi-occupied France, especially as portrayed by Tarantino. And there are great moments of subtle directing, something I've never seen before in his oeuvre. Watch for the "milk" and "strudel" scenes, where great acting, timing, and cinematography all combine into perfect moments.

Christoph Waltz is the star of the film, not Brad Pitt. He plays the most adept Nazi Gestapo officer ever. And remember, I know the films of this genre. He is likable almost, because he is so good at what he does, and so seamless in his manipulations. Extraordinary. Then there is Melanie Laurent who plays the runaway Jewess, Shosanna. Her beauty, courage, her determined intentionality make her into the unexpected hero of this film.

And then there is Brad Pitt. Our friend Ginger thought he was utterly miscast, but I didn't. I believe the film needs a character who is thoroughly American with that exuberance and optimism, and that is what Pitt delivered. He is funny; his portrayal is up there with his character in Snatch. He is over the top in his Americanism, and that is what the film needs, because much of it is in French, German, and Italian. And afterall, it is Tarantino.

The High Line

Rarely does New York get it right. There is something too traditional about this great city, so that when "new" happens, it's usually in the form of capitalism--restaurants, boutiques, and clubs--not public spaces.

So last night, after a fabulous meal at the Spice Market with Jim and Kathy, and our children who are about to set off back to college, we walked The High Line, the urban park that was built on the former railroad line that ran down the western spine of lower Manhattan.

And they got it right.

It took ten years to conceive and to construct, which in New York time, isn't so bad. Remember there is still a pit at the site of the Twin Towers.

The High Line is located on Manhattan's West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. Section 1 of the High Line, which opened to the public on June 9, 2009, runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street. Section One is owned and operated by the NYC Parks Department. There are young people in uniform throughout the park, politely giving out information, and as it neared 10:00, closing time, nudged us out of this environment.

It's beauty is that the plantings are all indigenous, grasses and thistle, and there are seats along the route, some made from railroad ties, others benches, and Section One ends in a theater that overlooks the street so that you can just sit and watch traffic.

Here is a link to the design. Here is another link to the image gallery.

Much of the financing came from Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, and as one walks uptown, towards Hell's Kitchen, there it is: the Diller Building, the first Frank Gehry structure to be completed in Manhattan.

This is a gem, a real gift to the people of New York City. Walk it, bring a book, sit, and enjoy the last days of summer.

A Debate About Accountability

John Yoo, a tenured faculty member at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, took leave from his teaching to join the Bush administration, working at the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department. While there he authored some of the most heinous rationalizations for the use of torture on detainees in the "war on terror" in the wake of 911. Many have called for his firing, claiming that he was intellectually dishonest in his legal analysis that for the first time attempted to justify torture despite America's public commitment to the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties as well as domestic law that prohibits such behaviors.

Does tenure protect John Yoo's job?

There is an interesting debate going on at Room for Debate blog in the New York Times on-line. Check it out.

And Just What Planet Do You Come From?

Watch Barney Frank address a "constituent" at a town hall meeting on health care.

Nothing else need be said. Just how do people end up equating Obama with Hitler?