A Fairway View, but the Window Is Often Broken

When she moved into her retirement condominium on a golf course, Eleanor Weiner admired the lush, pristine views of the fairways and greens, a landscape she never had to mow or maintain. Not long after, as she prepared dinner, a golf ball shattered the kitchen window, whistled past her head and crashed through the glass on her oven door. Ms. Weiner retrieved the ball from her oven and stalked outside to confront the golfer who had launched the missile.

“He told me that’s what I get for living on a golf course,” said Ms. Weiner, who has lived for a dozen years alongside Rancho Las Palmas Country Club near Palm Springs, Calif. “That was the first time I heard that, but it surely hasn’t been the last.”

The New York Times

Nor is it necessarily the law. Read the article to see that some homeowners are suing — and winning — including the one who “collected 1,800 golf balls from her property … then lugged them into court when she sued the club.”

And this: “The one time I did catch the guy, he gave me an address and phone number that turned out to be phony. He was playing in a church outing.”

Well and faithfully

A good summary from Talking Points Memo:

The background details are surprisingly straightforward. In 1995, the Clinton White House issued an executive order establishing uniform rules for protecting classified information. In 2003, the Bush White House revised it. The order plainly includes any executive-branch agency, any military department, and “any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information.” The entire branch of government, the order said, is subject to oversight.
. . .

Look, I can appreciate the fact that the White House is in a jam here. Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the gang repeatedly mishandled classified materials during a time of war, got caught, ignored their own rules, and is now struggling to rationalize their conduct. When the federal agency responsible for oversight tried to do its job, the Vice President reportedly tried to abolish the agency. This isn’t a fact-pattern that’s easy to spin.

But the explanations thus far have been transparently ridiculous, up to and including the notion that the Vice President, as defined in Article II of the Constitution, isn’t actually part of the executive branch of government.

The Executive Orders go back well before Clinton. NewMexiKen was first hired by the National Archives more than 30 years ago as a result of the Nixon classified materials order (E.O. 11652). (It frightens the hell out of me that I remembered that number without looking it up.)

Richard Cheney does not believe in the American system of government despite the oath that he has taken many times (as did I, as does every federal employee except the president, whose oath is in the Constitution):

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Well and faithfully. The least we can ask is “faithfully.”

Update: Rep. Rahm Emanuel has introduced an amendment to an Executive branch appropriations bill which would omit funding for the Office of the Vice President. Either the Vice President is part of the Executive branch — and subject to its regulations — or not.

Friday

NewMexiKen returned to Albuquerque Friday. Instead of taking the quickest route, I-25, I took the shortest, pretty much U.S. 285 from Denver to Santa Fe, then I-25 on into the Duke City. It’s a beautiful almost exhilarating tour across South Park, past the Collegiate Range, and down the San Luis Valley.

I kept to the speed limits, which at various times thanks to the wisdom of Colorado and New Mexico were 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 and 75. It took just a little bit more than an hour longer than the interstate (it’s 30 miles shorter).

But I got 25½ miles to the gallon, about 20% better than the trip up at freeway speeds. Not bad for a SUV, eh?

Last evening it was Jake Shimabukuro and The Greencards at the Rio Grande Zoo, part of the summer Zoo Music series. (Saw the baby giraffes, which were just as cute as you might imagine. The youngest one is just a few weeks old.)

We’d seen Jake in Honolulu. He is fun and can play any kind of music on a ukulele — Led Zeppelin’s “Gone to California,” Franz Shubert’s “Ave Maria,” George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” I even have an autographed CD of his. Terrific to see him again.

Except, that while Jake was playing, the folks near us discussed the South Beach diet, whom one of them might room with next, their day at work, bears attacking kids — well you get the idea. It is an outdoor concert, and one expects a certain amount of commotion, BUT IT IS A CONCERT. When the music picks up that is not a cue to talk even louder!

The Greencards, a bluegrass quartet, two of whom are from Australia and one from England — green cards, get it? — were quite good. Blue Grass is almost always infectious (though not to the yakkers around us). The group seemed genuinely fascinated with the venue (the zoo, the ancient cottonwoods I suppose) and put on a good show, with a rousing encore (“Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover” bluegrass style). See them if you get the chance.

Most people in the general audience are such simpletons that if I managed a relatively unknown band I would encourage them to open with covers of songs everybody knows. Get the audience engaged up front, clapping, singing, whatever, then do your thing. Good as they were, The Greencards opened with a lot of their own music, excellent but not familiar. And, when the band said that they were pleased that people were dancing, it seemed strange to me that they then played three consecutive slower songs that no one danced to. But what do I know?

June 23rd is the birthday

… of Justice Clarence Thomas. He’s 59.

… of American Idol’s Randy Jackson. He’s 51.

… of Oscar-winner Frances McDormand. She’s 50. Miss McDormand has had three Oscar nominations for best supporting actress in addition to her winning best actress performance in Fargo.

… of K.T. Tunstall. Kate is 32.

Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she’s a beautiful girl
She’s a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

… of LaDainian Tomlinson. He’s 28.

Choreographer Bob Fosse was born on this date in 1927.

According to many sources, Killer Angels author Michael Shaara was born on this date in 1929. According to his biography at son Jeff Shaara’s web site, the father was born in 1928. The Killer Angels, which won the Pulitzer Prize and is regarded by many as the best Civil War novel, “was rejected by the first fifteen publishers who saw the manuscript.”

Alfred Charles Kinsey was born on this date in 1894. And so was Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who, at age 42, gave up his throne for the woman he loved. After just 10 months as king, Edward VIII defied the British establishment to marry Mrs. Bessie Wallis Warfield Simpson, a twice-divorced American. One wonders what Henry VIII would have thought of the fuss. (The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was renamed the House of Windsor in 1917.)

Tonight is Midsummer Night’s Eve.

Summer Solstice in the High Country

As NewMexiKen mentioned, at noon Thursday Mountain Time (the Solstice was 12:06) I was in Rocky Mountain National Park. Here are a few photos. Click each for a larger version.

Summer Snow Looking west from the Tundra Communities Trail at about 12,000 feet above sea level.
Tundra Flowers The landscape was covered in small, close-to-the-ground flowers. The blooms were about the size of a dime. It can drop below freezing at this altitude (and snow) any day of the year. The flowers have a natural antifreeze. The pika gather the flowers and the same chemical helps protect their forage from cold. Nature just never ceases to amaze.
Marker The Tundra Communities Trail is asphalt and accessible by just about any healthy person. But, not everyone can climb to the top of the rock formation at the highest point in order to get this documentary proof of being there.
Break Time The elk have a good union and get plenty of break time.

All 20 photos taken that day, unedited. Click image to move to next photo.

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Reading Judas

The beginning of the review of Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity by Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King in The New York Times:

As anyone who has read Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked” or seen the subsequent Broadway show can attest, the Wicked Witch of the West was framed. Elphaba, as Maguire calls her, wasn’t really wicked at all. She was a good girl set up by the powers that be (in this case, the Wizard) for, among other things, the green color of her skin. So it goes with the recently unveiled Gospel of Judas, which posits a theory as impertinent as Maguire’s about the wickedest character in Christendom.

Any Day Now…

AwfulAnnoucing has posted YouTube videos of a vintage Cosby routine. Here’s the background and the link:

Ever since my wife and I spent a whole Saturday learning to breathe properly and relax through contractions, I have been meaning to pick up Bill Cosby’s comedy album “Himself”, which includes the classic “Natural Child Birth” routine. I bought it the other day and enjoyed it so much that finding the clips on YouTube and posting them here became an absolute necessity.

Awful Announcing

June 22nd is the birthday

… of Ralph Waite. Papa Walton is 79.

… of Kris Kristofferson, 71.

… of Meryl Streep. The 14-time Oscar nominee is 58. She has been nominated 11 times for leading actress, winning for Sophie’s Choice, and three times for supporting actress, winning for Kramer vs. Kramer. She’s been married nearly 29 years and has four children.

… of Graham Greene. He’s 55. Greene was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for Dances with Wolves.

… of Cyndi Lauper. A girl of 54, just wanting to have fun.

… of Dan Brown. The author of The Da Vinci Code is 43. The book has sold an estimated 60 million copies.

Lowering Flag for War’s Dead Brings New Rift

Since the start of the Iraq war, more than half the states have decided to lower their flags for 24 hours or more when a local soldier dies in combat.

Opponents of lowering the flag see it as a subtle antiwar gesture that may run counter to federal guidelines, which reserve the action for “officials,” not soldiers.

Others say that governors have the authority to order such tributes and that fallen soldiers are at least as deserving as politicians.
…

Last week, federal lawmakers passed a measure that would give governors the authority to order all officials in their states, including federal authorities, to lower the flag. President Bush has until next week to sign or veto the measure.

Although Congressional staff members involved with the measure say Mr. Bush may want to sign it for patriotic reasons, he may also be reluctant to appear to be ceding power over federal officials to the states.

…

In states where flags are lowered, the extent of the governors’ orders varies.

Each time a soldier from California is killed, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, orders American and state flags lowered at the Capitol. In Wisconsin, Gov. James E. Doyle, a Democrat, lowers the flag at all state buildings in such cases. Virginia and New Mexico, both with Democratic governors, lower just state flags.

In Michigan, Ms. Granholm has ordered the lowering of all flags at all state buildings, and urged the same for rest of the state, each time a soldier from the state was killed, or 127 times since December 2003, when she began the practice.

The New York Times

June 21st

Summer began today at 12:06 PM MDT. NewMexiKen was at about 12,000 feet on a short hike in Rocky Mountain National Park around then. It was in the low 60s and blustery, with snow fields still all about.

Jane Russell

Jane Russell is 86 today. She was 36D when she made The Outlaw for Howard Hughes. He discovered her at his dentist, where she was a receptionist.

Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross, the wife and husband on the TV sitcom Family Ties, are both 60 today. Alex, their son on the show, was played by Michael J. Fox, who was 45 on June 9th.

Novelist Ian McEwan is 59.

Juliette Lewis is 34 today. She was 18 when she played the daughter in Cape Fear, and received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination.

Prince William is 25.

It doesn’t really matter but existentialist philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre was born on this date in 1905.

New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution on this date in 1788, thereby becoming the ninth state. Nine was the necessary number to put the Constitution into effect. Live Free or Die.

How fast are you?

NewMexiKen drove from Albuquerque to Denver Wednesday, 447 miles on I-25 (almost exactly half each in New Mexico and Colorado). As I sped along reasonably close to the speed limit (though I did average 72 mph for the first six hours including one pit stop), I asked myself, how fast would I go if I wasn’t concerned about the legal ramifications of speeding? How fast would you?

{democracy:15}

June 20th is the birthday

… of Olympia Dukakis. She’s 76. Miss Dukakis won the Oscar for best supporting actress for Moonstruck.

… of Danny Aiello. He’s 74. Mr. Aiello was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for Do The Right Thing.

… of John Mahoney. This retired Seattle cop, the father of two psychiatrists, is 67. You know, Frasier’s dad, Martin Crane.

… of Brian Wilson; he’s 65. Perhaps the greatest American composer of popular music of the past 40+ years, Wilson is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the self-destructive, yet creative genius behind the Beach Boys.

… of Anne Murray, 62.

Canada Post has announced that Anne will be honoured on a Canadian postage stamp, to be issued June 29, 2007. Anne is being recognized along with three other iconic Canadian recording artists – Paul Anka, Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell.

… of Bob Vila. He’s 61, so it’s not just “This Old House” that’s old anymore.

… of John Goodman. He’s 55. Goodman has been nominated for eight Emmys without a victory. He did win a Golden Globe for playing Roseanne’s husband Dan.

… of Nicole Kidman. She’s 40. Nominated for best actress twice, Miss Kidman won the Oscar for The Hours.

Chet Atkins was born on June 20th in 1924. He died of lung cancer in 2001.

Few guitarists have had more influence on the instrument than Chet Atkins. In Atkins’ case, his influence extends from the country-music realm into rock and roll, as well. As a studio musician, he appeared on records by Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, and countless country musicians. Atkins’ thumb-and-fingerpicking style influenced George Harrison, Duane Eddy, the Ventures, Eddie Cochran, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, as well as innumerable country pickers. Even the likes of Ted Nugent has credited Atkins with inspiring him to take up the instrument. ”I think he influenced everybody who picked up a guitar,” said Duane Eddy. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

NewMexiKen will be away for a couple of days.

Lizzie Borden took an ax — or not

It was on this day in 1893 that the verdict was announced in the trial of Lizzie Borden, who had been accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an ax. It was one of the first murder trials in American history that got covered by the national press, not because it involved anybody famous, but just because of the sensational nature of the crime.

The case against Lizzie was entirely circumstantial. No one had witnessed the murders, no weapon was found, and there was no physical evidence linking her to the crime. All the police could prove was that Lizzie had been in the house at the time of the murders, she had a lot of money to gain, and she had recently tried to buy poison at the local pharmacy.

The trial lasted for two weeks, and Lizzie was found innocent on this day in 1893. No one else was ever tried for the murder. She told the press on the day of her acquittal that it was the happiest day of her life, but she refused to say anything else. After the trial, she bought herself a three-story mansion, where she had running water for the first time in her life. She never spoke about the murders in public again.

Most newspapers, including The New York Times, wrote at the time that the trial of Lizzie Borden had been an unjust and cruel persecution of an innocent woman. But a journalist named Edwin H. Porter wrote the first book about the trial, The Fall River Tragedy (1893), in which he distorted much of the evidence and testimony at the trial, in order to make Lizzie look guilty. There have been dozens of books written about the murders since then, most of which implicate Lizzie as the murderer. So even though she was acquitted, she’s become the most famous murderess in American history.

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

Now Would Be a Good Time

McSweeney’s is holding a big sale and auction to make up for $130,000 lost in a distributor bankruptcy; click here for the full story. A thousand thanks to everyone who has helped out the past few days. The sale is going great, and we are humbled by all the encouragement and support. We’ve just added one-of-a-kind pieces from John Hodgman, Miranda July, Sarah Vowell, and Marcel Dzama, and gems from Michael Chabon, Art Spiegelman, and David Foster Wallace are coming soon. Meanwhile, every single thing we’ve got is on sale, cheap.

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency

Thanks to Veronica for reminding me I meant to link to this.

June 19th is the birthday

… of Gena Rowlands. She’s 77. Miss Rowlands has been nominated for the best actress Oscar twice — Gloria (1980) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974).

… of Salman Rushdie. He’s 60.

Working at the advertising company just two days a week, he took five years to produce Midnight’s Children (1981), about the India that he missed so much. It’s the story of a group of 1,001 children all born in the hour after midnight on the day that India gained independence. In the novel, each of those children gains magical powers. The novel is told from the point of view of a boy who receives the power to read minds, and who attempts to draw together all the other midnight’s children, even as India and Pakistan are sliding toward war.

The book won the Booker Prize and became a huge success, among both Westerners and Indians. Only Rushdie’s family hated the book, because he had incorporated a lot of family secrets into the storyline.
. . .

Salman Rushdie said, “A poet’s work is to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.”

The Writer’s Almanac

… of Phylicia Rashad. Clair Hanks Huxtable is 59. (Bill Cosby, Dr. Huxtable, is 11 years older.)

… of Kathleen Turner. She’s 53. Miss Turner was nominated for the best actress Oscar for Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).

… of Paula Abdul. She’s 45. A former Lakers cheerleader, Miss Abdul had six number one records 1988-1991. She topped the charts for 15 weeks altogether.

Lou Gehrig was born on June 19 in 1903.

Lou Gehrig plaqueLou Gehrig teamed with Babe Ruth to form baseball’s most devastating hitting tandem ever. “The Iron Horse” had 13 consecutive seasons with both 100 runs scored and 100 RBI, averaging 139 runs and 148 RBI; set an American League mark with 184 RBI in 1931; hit a record 23 grand slams; and won the 1934 Triple Crown. His .361 batting average in seven World Series led the Yankees to six titles. A true gentleman and a tragic figure, Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak ended at 2,130 when he was felled by a disease that later carried his own name. (National Baseball Hall of Fame)

Gehrig died in 1941. As Christopher Moltisanti of The Sopranos put it, “You ever think what a coincidence it is that Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig’s disease?”

Moses Horwitz was born on June 19th 110 years ago. That’s the boss stooge, Moe Howard. “I’ll squeeze the cider out of your Adam’s apple.”

The Statue of Liberty arrived at Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor on June 19, 1885.

The statue is constructed of hand-shaped copper sheets, assembled on a framework of steel supports designed by engineers Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. For transit to America, the figure was broken down into 350 separate pieces and packed in 214 crates. The Statue of Liberty sits within the star-shaped walls of the former Fort Wood, rising to a height of 305 feet on a pedestal designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt.

Library of Congress

Stupidest remark ever made, so far

This is not an entirely trivial matter since government officials should not lie to grand juries, but neither should they be called to account for practicing the dark art of politics. As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.

Richard Cohen

Glenn Greenwald suggests Cohen’s column — “which grieves over the grave and tragic injustice brought down upon Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby — should be immediately laminated and placed into the Smithsonian History Museum as an exhibit which, standing alone, will explain so much about what happened to our country over the last six years.”

Money quote by Greenwald:

When it comes to the behavior of our highest and most powerful government officials, our Beltway media preaches, “it is often best to keep the lights off.” If that isn’t the perfect motto for our bold, intrepid, hard-nosed political press, then nothing is.

Best line of the day, so far

“When police make a traffic stop, a passenger in the car, like the driver, is seized for Fourth Amendment purposes and so may challenge the stop’s constitutionality.”

Justice David Souter writing for a unanimous Supreme Court as reported in The New York Times.

The Washington Post has the better summary of the case and decision.

California had argued that during a traffic stop only the driver was the target of the stop and a passenger “would feel free to depart or otherwise to conduct his or her affairs as though the police were not present.”

[NewMexiKen is trying to picture a car pulled over by the police and the passenger getting out and strolling off. My imagination isn’t up to that challenge.]

“Writing for a unanimous court, Justice David H. Souter ruled that ‘a traffic stop necessarily curtails the travel a passenger has chosen just as much as it halts the driver. . . .’ He said a ‘a sensible person would not expect a police officer to allow people to come and go freely’ from the scene of a stop.”

June 18th

Worldwide about 16½ million people have their birthday today, among them …

Lou Brock plaque

Lou Brock, who’s 68.

Recognized as one of the most gifted base runners in baseball, Lou Brock helped to revolutionize the art and science of this element of the game as he totaled 938 stolen bases during his 19-year career. A six-time All-Star selection, Brock also accumulated more than 3,000 hits to help lead the St. Louis Cardinals to three National League pennants and two World Series championships. Although his stolen base records have been eclipsed, the National League honors each year’s stolen base leader with the Lou Brock Award.

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Paul McCartney. He’s 65.

So’s Roger Ebert.

Best actress Oscar nominee Carol Kane is 55.

Not eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame until 2009, Bruce Smith is 44 today. Smith was Virginia Tech’s first great football player.

Abdul-Jabbar Shaq MikanGeorge Mikan was born on June 18 in 1924. At 6-10 Mikan was the first “big man” in basketball leading the Minneapolis Lakers to five NBA titles in six years. The widening of the lane, the NBA shot clock and the rule against defensive goaltending were brought about by Mikan’s dominance. He was named one of the 50 best ever in the NBA in 1996. George Mikan died in 2005.

That’s Mikan with Abdul-Jabbar and Shaq.

Emmy-award winning actor E.G. Marshall was born on June 18 in 1914. Marshall appeared in more than 100 television programs, most famously for The Defenders.

The famed oil firefighter Red Adair was born on June 18 in 1915. A generation ago Adair’s feats were well-known enough to inspire a John Wayne movie, Hellfighters.

Bud Collyer was born on June 18 in 1908. Collyer was the voice of Superman on the radio 1940-1951, but known better now as one of the first TV game show hosts, in particular for Beat the Clock.

And last, where and when will you meet your Waterloo? Napoleon met his Waterloo at Waterloo (Belgium) on June 18, 1815.