Wow.  It's been awhile.  Haven't even gotten around to welcoming the new Pope, Francesco Primo.  Well, it's been a little busy around here.  I've been knocked flat a couple of times by the aftermath of dental surgeries (me, who can fall asleep during a root canal -- this was brutal stuff).  All the while trying to work on a play with the small-fry, and preparing for the wedding in So-Cal, now just about ten days away.

And, to no great surprise, I'm not hanging around today to write anything profound or even playful -- too much to do.  Just stopping by to say this, as I munch on a carrot pulled out of the red Georgia clay:

If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill -- as God is my witness, I'll never let my blog go hungry again!

And then there's this:

Heh.

AVE ATQUE VALE

Effective today, Pope Benedict XVI descends the throne of Peter and leaves the Catholic Church with the task of praying itself into a new era, a new Pope, a man with the fortitude to guide the Barque of Peter through the treacherous waters of the present day.  No one will pray more fervently for the triumph of the Holy Spirit than the retired Bishop Emeritus of Rome, who will live in peaceful seclusion on the fringes of the struggles, intrigues, and majesties of the Holy See.  And we your children pray and give thanksgiving for the strength, wisdom, and love that you have lavished upon us these eight years, dear Papa.  Ave, ave, ave.

Thumpthin' sthpecial? Nah.

Is it BLOGGER, or just the Blogger?

[I say this because the new Blogger set-up irritates the bejeebers out of me -- because, being a good conservative, I believe that all change is bad, even change for the better.]

I continue to be bloggily flabby these days, putting my random thoughts up on Facebook, where my 50-odd friends can read them, rather than on my blog where they might reach my 8 or 10 regular readers (!) -- it's just so much quicker and easier, and that's what it's all about these days, right?

Very Busy doing Mother of the Groom stuff for a wedding just 6 weeks away on the opposite side of the continent.  (Long-distance preparations for that just came back to bite me in the arse -- see below...)  Also, I am ducking more serious thoughts, expressed at considerable length, until Cincinnatus is wheels-down on CONUS (Continental United States) soil, back from the 'Stan and all the hijinks (Haji-nks?) of Camp Bastion, just a short dusty ride from beautiful downtown Kandahar.  When we have achieved that little maneuver within the next [REDACTED!!!!] I will breathe again, and then perhaps start breathing fire about all that sucks in the Cosmos.

Till then I will be content to say:

Oh crap -- just got a call from the bank (WAS IT THE BANK?????) telling me of three mysterious charges for $1.00, 78 cents, and $500 worth of Lego.  Think it was a kid?!  Grandson?  Was that you?  Yet another VISA card on its way to me.  At least this time I didn't leave it at a cash register somewhere.  (Or under a luggage cart at De Gaulle airport...)  This time I just left it hanging out on the freakin' INTERNET!!!  Mostly I love the modern world.  Other times I think we should still be conducting all purchases via the Wells Fargo Wagon.

NEWSFLASH!!!!

MY MAN RUBIO
SCHOOLS RUSH LIMBAUGH
INTO SILENCE!

IT CAN BE DONE!

Now, I suspect that things were working out exactly as Limbaugh hoped, with Rubio dominating the conversation, getting all his arguments out to the widest conservative audience in the country, without Rush having to accept any responsibility for taking a position he essentially supports, or at least would be content with, if executed as planned.  But the overall impression is that Rubio steam-rolled the master.

And returning to the air from the break, Limbaugh can only say, "IS THAT GUY GOOD, OR WHAT?!"

I believe we have our candidate -- and he's only gonna get better.  Let's just hope the premature hair loss doesn't accelerate.....

El Presidente d'Estados Unidos 2016, El Boo-jah!

HELLO BLOG

Bless me, Oprah, for I have sinned.  I have been unfaithful to my blog with that cheap and easy tramp, Facebook.  Can't help it -- I am weak and selfish, and FB satisfies my urge to pontificate quickly and without prescription medication.



THE LEMON IS IN PLAY

Mine favourite actroid of late, Balancebeam Cabbagepatch, has taken it upon himself to portray a first-class sh#t, in the form of Wikileaker and professional misanthrope Julian Assange, Ecuador's "Man Who Came to Dinner", in some Dreamworks (no great surprise) flick due out in the fall.  Can't imagine what would drive anybody to identify his own face with that of the self-sodden creep who cares not a whit whose lives he may ruin, or even cause to be lost, by making government documents indiscriminately public.  Fortunately, he deals in wholesale bulk product, most of which is such a bore that even the world's homicidal bad-boys probably can't be bothered to sift through it all -- but you never know when our strange world may produce a terrorist with as many personality disorders as the Ass-hat himself, who decides to plough through the files and find a way to kill off one of my kids or his military brethren. 

Julian Ass-hat is a scourge and a curse upon civilization, and I wonder how many of those involved in bringing him unmerited cinematic attention would appreciate having their addresses, phone numbers, bank accounts, incomes, family members' homes, and private email exchanges published just because Julian knows that he can.  He's apparently quite pissed off about the film, so if I were Cumberbatch and Co., I'd be sniffing out a witness protection program.

The Cumberboy is now one of the highest-demand talents in his profession, and seems to be accepting as much work as a human bean can handle.  This is a two-fold problem:  (a) he is in serious risk of being over-exposed, and if the Assange pic is a genuine lemon (which is entirely possible, since Ass-hat is well past his best-before date for his 15 minutes of ill-gotten fame), there will be the sound of a massive dull thud just as his star is in ascendancy; and (b) if he doesn't take a break he'll never meet a nice girl and settle down and have lots of lovely children, which he's always saying he wants to do. 

[See what happens when there's Too Much Information floating around the inter-webs?]

Far better to apply one's long face and cupid's bow lips to a more fitting biography. 

Anyone thought about Mr. Clusterbomb for a life of Albrecht Dürer?

Can you see it?  Huh?  Huh?

MY FACEBOOK IS WORTH READING!

BACK WHEN THERE WERE HEROES...

Meet Irena Sendler

This turned up on my Facebook page today:

REMEMBER THIS LADY!!!

The prize doesn't always go to the most deserving.

Irena Sendler

Died 12 May 2008 (aged 98)

Warsaw, Poland

During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist.  She had an 'ulterior motive'.

She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews (being German).

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of t

he tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids).

She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.  The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids'/infants' noises.

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.

She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.  After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family.

Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.  She was not selected.

President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN, and Al Gore won also --- for a slide show on Global Warming.

In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER

This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated!

Now, more than ever, with Iran, and others, claiming the HOLOCAUST to be 'a myth', it's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again.

Interestingly, a bunch of Kansas high school students seem to have done as much as anyone to preserve Irena's memory in the U.S.  http://www.irenasendler.org/default.asp

THE BEST WAY TO WATCH DOWNTON ABBEY.

Saves a lot of wasted time and trouble.








And yes, we agree with Benadryl Cuddlepups (in an unguarded moment, since "clarified") that the close of Series 2 (which we watched out of sheer morbid curiosity) was "sentimental, clichéd, and effing atrocious".

Speaking of Beenabroad Cameacropper, when absolutely everything SUCKS, as it does just now and will for the next, oh, four years, it is so TOTALLY time for THIS! (Can you hardly wait??????)




Bring on fantasy.      Reality reeks.

Bring on the stealth Catholic novel.      Reality....could change?

WEDNESDAY

FOUR MORE YEARS


Winefred's Well has been closed for business since September's attempt by the Taliban (that's "Tah-lee-bahn") to take out my kid in the attack on Camp Leatherneck.  That was the high point of my sheer panic in the event of another Obama term as Leader of the Free World [an office now ceded to Benjamin Netanyahu].  I guess I should be grateful that, at that particular moment, I switched all my internet activity over to Facebook, where posting one's fleeting thoughts and fears is so much faster and easier, and the feedback is immediate.  Thus, here at the Well, there is no evidence tracing my trajectory from panic to confidence that, November 6, we would be hailing the imminent arrival of President Romney.

To say that I was gob-smacked, shell-shocked, dazed and confused by the re-election of the most incompetent, disengaged, mendacious, nasty, anti-Semitic, juvenile slacker-president in American history is to have words completely FAIL.  I purposely did not include the words "uneducated, Marxist, America-loathing, anti-Christian" in my list of adjectives above, because I was comparing this specimen to his predecessors, some of whom have no doubt exhibited one or more of the first-listed traits in one degree or another. 

But I do think it is safe to say that never, in the 223-year history of having Presidents, have the people elected even one solitary example of an anti-Christian, or Marxist, or America-loathing man, or one so pathetically ignorant of the most basic facts of American and world history and economics.  Mr. Obama is one for the books.  And he's BA-A-A-A-CK!!!!!

So, in these days since zero-dark-thirty last Wednesday, I have searched for something appropriate with which to launch my return to the Well (of Despond?) -- some image, video, article, or quotation which would sum it all up very neatly.  At some point in the process I hit upon the music of Beethoven -- his 7th Symphony, 2nd movement -- and the brief scene from the 1981 Brideshead Revisited series in which Lady Marchmain's coffin is conveyed to the family plot in a full-bore funeral cortège with black horses wearing black plumes drawing a black hearse carriage draped in black crepe.  I couldn't find the image, and I wasn't satisfied with any of the musical arrangements.  But the hunt went on.

By happy accident, I lit upon a blog called Gem of the Ocean, and its posting from some years back with the picture of Charles Ryder genuflecting in the Brideshead chapel where the Sanctuary lamp had been re-lit even as the house surrendered its glories to the rough and rude forces of the British army, making camp to engage in training exercises in preparation for taking on the Nazis. 

All the melancholy of ages lost, beauty turned turned drab and ugly, time wasted in folly, culture repressed in quest of mere survival -- all the horrors, large and small, of the Age of Hooper, are summed up and put in their place in the closing paragraphs of the book, and the final frames of the film.  And I thank another American Catholic woman, resident across an ocean, for reminding me in the best possible way, of how we rebuild where we can, and accept when we must, taking courage from the small light in the Sanctuary. 

The builders did not know the uses to which their work would descend; they made a new house with the stones of the old castle; year by year, generation after generation, they enriched and extended it; year by year the great harvest of timber in the park grew to ripeness; until, in sudden frost, came the age of Hooper; the place was desolate and the work all brought to nothing; Quomodo sedet sola civitas. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

'And yet,' I thought, stepping out more briskly towards the camp, where the bugles after a pause had taken up the second call and were sounding “Pick-em-up, pick-em-up, hot potatoes”, 'and yet that is not the last word; it is not even an apt word; it is a dead word from ten years back.’

Something quite remote from anything the builders intended, has come out of their work, and out of the fierce little human tragedy in which I played; something none of us thought about at the time; a small red flame - a beaten-copper lamp of deplorable design relit before the beaten-copper doors of a tabernacle; the flame which the old knights saw from their tombs, which they saw put out; that flame burns again for other soldiers, far from home, farther, in heart, than Acre or Jerusalem. It could not have been lit but for the builders and the tragedians, and there I found it this morning, burning anew among the old stones.

PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS LA MEME CHOSE

i just discovered, to my surprise, that I have quite a number of draft posts in my files that never made it to the surface.  They date back several years.  But, interestingly, even as the universe (or mine, anyway) has experienced some techtonic shifts, certain things repeat themselves.  Put your minds, dear readers, to the crisis now being faced by the residents of lower Manhattan, Staten Island, and New Jersey [even as Mayor Nanny Bloomberg has outlawed unlicensed Samaritans from giving food to the homeless].  Substitute these recent victims for their southern neighbours in past years, in Georgia or Louisianna.  Add snow and freezing temperatures.  Rinse and Repeat.  Here's a classic from the hit-parade of 2009:


SOUTHEAST FLOODING --
STUFF FLOATING AWAY --
PEOPLE DYING

PRESIDENT OBAMA PLAYS BASKETBALL

PRESIDENT OBAMA DOES LETTERMAN FOR AN HOUR

Kanye West apparently had no comment. He seems to have felt no compulsion to go on TV and display his extraodinary eloquence, as he once did in this memorable testimonial to the usefulness of writers.



This time Kanye was quiet. Chris Rock was strangely silent (unlike back in 2007 when he savaged Bush about Katrina at an Obama campaign event).

HELL WEEK ISN'T JUST FOR FRAT HOUSES

Last Friday night I had missed my usual Special Report with Bret Baier, so turned on the Shep Smith Fox Report at 7:00.  First words out of smarmy Shep's mouth:  "Attack at Leatherneck -- two Marines killed and more wounded...."

Seven hours later (spent in an armchair reading the same news report over and over again from every corner of the globe), our Cincinnatus weighed in via email that he was among the living and intact.  He had been in country for all of three weeks, long enough to get sunburned and form an unfavourable opinion of people who murder American ambassadors.  Then it all went Kaboom.

I haven't anything more to say about that at the moment.  I'll just highlight a couple of grim assessments of the Leatherneck situation from intrepid self-embed Michael Yon (saints preserve him), here and here.


INSURRECTIONS WELCOME

...as long as they are instigated by a wise law professor from Ithaca, mastermind at Legal Insurrection.  New contributor Joel Engel weighs in with his assessment of an American turning point embodied in this photograph.

I guess I should 'splain that the original photo has been, uh, tampered with.  Go to Quickmeme Defend the Constitution and enjoy all 1600 variations.

BETTER ARMED THAN U.S. MARINES 
AT THE EGYPTIAN EMBASSY

British soldiers in Afghanistan show their support for the Naked Prince's antics in Las Vegas prior to his deployment

It's all over the interwebs, friends:

US Marines Guarding Embassy in Cairo Not Allowed to Carry Live Ammo
Update: There seems to be some question as to whether this report is true, but the jury's still out on that one.  Actually, the jury's been out on the news media as a whole for over four years now, because those of the 'mainstream' have not had one micro-particle of credibility since the dawn of the Obama candidacy.  I reserve judgement on the live ammo story.  Also -- no Marines killed, as was (and still is) reported.  The two security guys were former SEALs under private contract.  If that made any significant difference to the course of events, it has yet to be determined.

 
In other news:

Security outside embassies is the responsibility of the host country, and it’s “entirely possible” that U.S. officials asked for but didn’t receive help to push back the attackers that ultimately killed Stevens and the other staffers, said Fred Burton, a Stratfor analyst and former State Department counterterrorism agent.

“The question will be, once the dominoes fell in Cairo and protests started to occur, what was requested and what was done,” he said.
No U.S. Marines were guarding the consulate at the time of the attack, according to U.S. officials. But that is not necessarily unusual, Burton said.

“Having the Marines can be viewed as politically sensitive at times,” Burton said.

 
Meanwhile, back at the Yemeni ranch:

Protesters storm U.S. embassy in Sanaa

ALL COMING APART?

GATEWAY PUNDIT 
COVERS THE GREAT UNRAVELLING

...with several important articles about all the places that are currently on fire.

Be warned: they feature graphic images -----LIKE THIS!

Inbred moron terrorists desecrate dead body of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens

Two Marines were also killed in this attack -- maybe the only two guards at the consulate?  Who knows.  But, naturally, to let the world know that the Obama administration is riddled with tough guys, some wobbly-lipped "officials", who "spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly" have now announced that 50 Marines from some elite task force are on their way to Tripoli [not Benghazi -- make sure everybody hears that] to shut the barn door after the horse has been stolen and put down.

"Several officials said the U.S. military was making no other moves to deploy troops, ships or aircraft in response to Tuesdays attack. A second Marine FAST element was standing by in Spain but had no orders to move, officials said."  [Ya gotta love those "officials".]  Thanks for the heads-up, guys -- now the inbred moron terrorists will be ready for them.

Of note:  Daily Caller has the trailer for the video which has supplied the excuse Islamofascists needed to mob and burn the embassies and kill people.  It apparently cost $5 million to make, though for the life of me I can't figure out what they spent the money on.  It's a total POS, not to put too fine a point on it.  But good sense and good taste never put the brakes on a mass of inbred morons with God on their side, did it?

Many other worthwhile pieces at Daily Caller too.

Wikipedia has been quick to update Stevens' short biography with the story of his death as we know it:  he had been taken to a second building, deemed safer, and he, his guards, and embassy employee Sean Smith died of smoke inhalation after a grenade was launched into the complex setting the buildings on fire.

No biography that I can find gives any personal information about Stevens, so apparently he had no wife and kids.  The website of the embassy in Tripoli has not yet caught up with the news, and still shows his smiling face, ending with these chilling niceties:

When he’s not meeting with government officials or foreign diplomats, you can find Ambassador Stevens meeting with Libyan academics, business people, and civil society activists, exploring Libya’s rich archaeological sites, and enjoying Libya’s varied cuisine.

After several diplomatic assignments in the Middle East and North Africa, Ambassador Stevens understands and speaks Arabic and French. He likes the Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and hopes you will, too.

Update:  The home page of the Tripoli embassy has caught up, to the extent that they have four or five STERNLY WORDED WARNINGS and deplorings from the President and Sec-State.  But the travel advisories are anywhere from two weeks to one year out of date.  So go for it, world travellers -- could be exciting.


Amb. J. Christopher Stevens Requiescat in pace.

September 11 reflections

CINCINNATUS WEIGHS IN FROM 
THE MIDDLE OF AFGHANISTANIAN NOWHERE



 [I've got nothing to add.]



Day of fire, from the devil's den

 

SURFACING

HELLO, BLOG

I've been away so long (committing regular infidelities with my Facebook page), even the following paragraph, which has been waiting on ice, is now out of date:

Having been virtually underground for a couple of months, your Intrepid Reporter is back in Newfoundland to finish out what was supposed to have been an entire summer ensconced among the rural wonders of the Rock.  Not to be.  Have just come off three weeks in So-Cal (that's southern California to all who don't live in southern California), first in charge of, and then just visiting, the wee grandchildren who lost their maternal Grandpa and said goodbye to their deploying Daddy within a very short time.  (Made longer, however, by the fact that the military had trouble exchanging the proper papers to get Daddy to Afghanistan, taking another two weeks after granting him a week's bereavement leave.)

Had the also unscheduled thrill of laying eyes on all four grandkiddies within a 24-hour period, since the nearer ones were making a stopover at our place when we got home.  They all grow and thrive, and increase in their Unsurpassable Cuteness, each in his or her own inimitable way.  Life is good.

Well, the week in Newfoundland turned out rushed and insufficient to wind down the summer.  So we're back in the stinky heat and haze of Toronto, looking ahead to another busy year, with many serious concerns, not least of which is the coming election.  That's the sort of thing I would usually be covering here in detail, but somehow it's been too exhausting a prospect -- and spitting out mini-thoughts on Facebook has been the easier, lazier way out.

I tried to feel hopeful as the candidate became inevitable, one whom I did not much support but who ended up being "the guy" in default, since better men or women chose not to enter an increasingly unseemly fray.  I've met Mitt, shaken his hand, and been left unwarmed.  I have no doubt of his competence as a manager and executive.  But he doesn't move me.

My man Rubio would have been a great VP, but the choice of Ryan has worked out well, and let us hope he has saved the American bacon.  The ultra-choreographed kabuki of the conventions is coming to an end.  The Tango in Tampa was pretty upbeat and impressive, and made me feel confident about the deep conservative bench.  The Charade in Charlotte has been less edifying on every scale -- chock full of deception and mean-spiritedness -- and despite any grandstanding to the contrary, the backstage movers of the party know that they are in deep doo-doo.

At this moment, Joe Biden is unrolling a colossal tissue of whoppers in his ordinary way from within the deep reaches of his alternate universe.  Can't wait to see the roll-out of facts checked tomorrow.  The only comfort is that fewer and fewer people actually watch this kabuki.  Some new program about child beauty pageants called Honey Boo-Boo rivalled the convention in viewership.

Biden is about to tell us how brilliant Obama has been as Commander-in-Chief.  The Bin Laden story is being lavishly embroidered in senile rapture -- "LITERALLY!!!!!"

On that subject, let me just reference this brief report from Sunni tribal leader Ahmad Abu-Risha, one of the courageous Iraqis who turned the tide in his own country as part of the Anbar awakening.  The headline says it all:

Iraqi leader to Obama: 
'Why did you leave Iraq to Iran?'

During the troop surge of 2007, the group had several meetings with General David Patraeus, President George W. Bush and military officials to strategize against al-Qaida and help set the foundation for a new government.

Communication has since fizzled. Although then-Senator Obama met with the group for 90 minutes in 2008 and committed to continuing cooperation, Abu-Risha says he hasn’t met with any American officials since U.S. troops left Iraq.

“Why did you give up the many sacrifices that Americans made? You can still have a partnership with us. If you are going to be president for the next four years, bring Iraq back into a strategic partnership with the United States and remember the people who fought against al Qaeda with you.”

Biden just stated "the only truly sacred obligation we have" [then what the hell are all the entitlements, stimuli, and programs for?????????] is to prepare those we send to war, and care for them when they come back.  Not a bad idea.  Democrats should try trimming their agenda in just such a fashion some time.

POST UPDATE

This post re-mounted after some sort of copyright fracas.  We aim to please.

TODAY IN HISTORY

Oh, nothing much...


• 64, the Great Fire of Rome began

• 1290, King Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, banishing all Jews (numbering about 16,000) from England; this was Tisha B'Av on the Hebrew calendar, a day that commemorates many Jewish calamities

• 1536, the English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England

• 1870, the First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility

• 1914, the U.S. Congress forms the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, giving definite status to aircraft within the U.S. Army for the first time

• 1925, Adolf Hitler, ym"sh, publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf

• 1939, after a sneak preview of "The Wizard of Oz," producers debated about removing one of the songs because it seemed to slow things down. They finally decided to leave it in. The song: "Over the Rainbow"

• 1942, during World War II: the Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jet engines for the first time

• 1955, Disneyland theme park, in Anaheim, California, officially opens to the public


• 1969, after a party on Chappaquiddick Island, a drunk Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a bridge and leaves his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, to die. He escapes prosecution and survives with career intact

• 1976, Nadia Comaneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at that year's Summer Olympics

• 1977, Vietnam was admitted to the United Nations


• 2002, accused 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui tried to plead guilty to charges that could have brought the death penalty, but a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., insisted he take time to think about it

• 2008, Israeli authorities confirmed they had arrested six people in an alleged al-Qaida plot to kill U.S. President George W. Bush during a visit to Israel

SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT....admission is free now?

THIS JUST IN:  HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR 
NO LONGER WANTS TO MAKE MONEY

According to Box Office Mojo, Marvel's The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, cost $220 million to make, and has so far grossed $1.5 billion -- that's BILLION -- worldwide.  But for some reason, Whedon doesn't consider himself to be a man involved in the workings of "big bid'ness".  He recently went on an extended rant against capitalism -- you know, that economic process by which you invest $220 million and make back $1.5 billion and distribute the earnings, in varying proportions, to those who contributed to the enterprise.

Finding out what the director earned isn't an easy Google, but let's figure he had a percentage deal not entirely unlike that of star Robert Downey Jr., whose paycheck is estimated at $50 million or more for the picture.  No details on whether Scarlett Johanssen had a similar arrangement, but if she signs on for Avengers 2 the buzz is that she'll get at least $20 million.  [No sex discrimination there, Hollywood!]

Over at the always enlightening Breitbart (pbuh) site, John Nolte wonders aloud what kind of compensation the other contributors got -- and one must wonder indeed whether even Robert or Scarlett would have been worth their paychecks (or even their paycheques, Canada) without the good offices of costume, make-up, and digital effects specialists -- think any of them earned eight figures for their efforts?

But the more important question is, will Mr. Whedon be offering free admission to his next film for all members of the so-called 99%? 

Or would he perhaps even refund the admission already paid by my son and his wife, who dutifully shelled out their hard-earned bucks to see the first damn movie -- bucks hard-earned by being a serving member of the United States military and a serving member of the grit-and-guts home front, living on a salary you'd have multiply exponentially just to bounce them anywhere near the famous 1% -- that anonymous group of vilified capitalist pigs whom you can join if you earn more than (wait for it)... $250,000 per annum.  [That represents a significant crash since Mr. Obama took office, btw:  in 2007 you had to earn at least $425K to get into that top 1% bracket.]

Wonder how many zeroes there are after the decimal point to measure the percentage wealth bracket in which we'd find Mr. Whedon and his stable of stars?  And will they work for nothing next time in order to, as Mr. Obama once said to a certain midwestern plumber, "spread the wealth around"?  These and other questions will most certainly go unanswered.

Appropos of absolutely nothing:

Scarlett Johanssen is one of the most beautiful women in the Hollywood sphere, by the way, mostly because she has a face that doesn't look like everybody else's, but also because the lady has some curves on her -- actual flesh with actual smooth contours. One is reminded of that standard of beauty when one lays eyes (far too often, in my view) on the likes of Keira Knightley, whom I saw the other night in Atonement.  Both the film and the actress were far too light-weight for their own good.

Knightley is a bag of bones who (in this film) struts around striking poses reminiscent of Bette Davis or Katherine Hepburn in high gear, without achieving anything like their weight as an actress, and nor the old-style glamour she is trying to evoke.  There is no glamour in emaciation, and the shimmering green backless evening gown hangs on her like wet seaweed.  It's downright icky.  Top that with her gaunt and conventional pretty face, and she is losing the magnetism race to the heftier Johanssen by miles.

I've never thought Knightley was much of an actress, and I've heard others say the same of Johanssen, but I can't be objective in the latter case.  She was the luminous, perfect Girl with a Pearl Earring (okay, so maybe she'd had her lips fluffed) -- and I was smitten with the painting long before the movie came out, so it's a done deal.

Unexpected bonus:  I've had the vid of Atonement for more than a year and just got around to watching it.  Cast listed on the cover did not include Candlewick Bumbershoot, who suddenly entered in a highly symbolic yellow jacket (couldn't keep his stinger in), telegraphing his role as a perfectly diz-ghusting rapist and pivotal-to-the-plot (such as it was) sleezebag.

James McAvoy, however, was just precious.  Isn't he always?
[Read the link -- he kind of sounds like a decent guy too, not that it's any of our business.  Or even bid'ness.]


Right now my bid'ness is to go out and photograph more of glorious Newfoundland [UNBELIEVABLE good weather these days].  And then to go buy some flowers to enhance the chances of our burg winning another "Tidy Towns" award.  Life is good.

Heh.

THIS WAS INEVITABLE.

Heh.

in~de~pend~ence:

freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others


Under our roof, first we celebrate 'Judicial Independence Day' (June 12) marking the promulgation of one small article ["quamdiu se bene gesserint"] within the otherwise execrable, anti-Catholic Act of Settlement of 1701;

Then on July 1st we celebrate Canada (formerly 'Dominion') Day, commemorating the establishment of the Dominion of Canada under the British North America Act of the British Parliament in 1867.

And then, wheresoe'er we may be, we remember the 4th of July, American Independence Day, this year the 236th anniversary of the founding of the Great Experiment which is the United States of America -- the place that, for all its faults and streaks of crassness, is still the first and last and best bastion of real freedom for the mind and the ambition and the wandering feet of its citizens.


Apparently it can look like this in New York City:

'Round here in Newfoundland, it looked like this.  The locals don't mind -- they're friendlier than most Canadians toward the country many of them would have preferred to join in 1949.  Nice to have friends.

Let freedom ring.

PARTING SHOTS

Parting words to eldest son, who ships off to the 'Stan in a month:

"Remember:  the Taliban aren't evil -- they're just misunderstood."

He replies:  "I think I'll return fire anyway."


Background:  (in case he missed it)





MOVIES

Watched in the air between here and San Diego:

Mirror Mirror -- mildly funny, not for children.  Writers probably felt they were extremely clever.

Crazy Stupid Love -- Steve Carell hits another home run on behalf of families and marriage, while illustrating the devastating effects of modern amorality and family breakdown.  As an indictment of easy-outs from marriage and the ease with which post-sixties parents eat their young, it rates with Mrs. Doubtfire and 'Spanglish.  Cry for the children.

Also, in the documentary department:  God is the Bigger Elvis, a profile of Mother Prioress Delores Hart, the young screen goddess who opted for God at the pinnacle of a hot career, having starred opposite numerous screen gods (Elvis among them), but chose to join America's (then) only cloistered Benedictine female monastery in 1963.  I remember it because my mother talked about it with amazement, and I always did wonder what happened to her.  Now we know.  There's something slightly hippie-dippy about the convent, but they do appear to keep the rule and sing the songs with dedication.  What's amazing, and a little sad and creepy, is that the man Hart romanced for five years and was engaged to when she bolted, never married, and remained in love with her and a regular convent visitor until his death last November.

The late Patricia Neal is buried at the abbey, having been a long-time friend of Hart's, and a convert to Catholicism just prior to her death in 2010.

The film was nominated for an Oscar and brought Mother Prioress and her abbey into the news, which is a good thing, because these days hardly anybody believes that anything other than unbridled sex can possibly provide one with a happy life.  (Buy some stuff from the shop.)

IT BEGINS

US PLANS SIGNIFICANT MILITARY PRESENCE IN KUWAIT

Told ya so.

These are the facts [if you ask Michael Yon, Michael Totten, Bill Roggio, J.D. Johannes]:

By summer of 2008 the Iraq war was essentially over.   Under President G.W. Bush and Gen David Petraeus, the Iraqi/American alliance had won.

The next step was to win the peace.  Under President Barack Obama and an incoherent foreign policy based on publicly trumpeted premature evacuation, the Iraqi/skedaddling-American alliance is in the process of losing.

Everyone who was actually there knows that the job was left unfinished.  And it takes no great crystal balls to predict that we may well have to return and clean up our mess.

Told ya so.

Unnecessary Factoid Report 
[results of further internet dumpster diving]:

"Operation Demographic Balance" gets an even bigger boost from Sherlock's detective inspectoriffic.  Dreamy actor Rupert Graves has 5, count 'em, FIVE children!  Dude!  What an excellent investment of DNA.  (And I don't know about you, ladies, but I am diggin' the silver-streaked glory of his Lestradean middle years.)

Apropos of  absolutely nothing:  you win the refrigerator, the knife set, and Jeopardy Home Game if you can guess the identity of this fair damsel:

[hint:  Oooooh, some sharp looker, eh, old bean?]

MORE CANADIAN CONTENT

"TCH-TCH....C'MON, YA DEAF MULE, I'M DOIN' THAT CLICKING THING!"

said the man to the horse.

Just watched a movie last night, from 2010, the classically Canadian take on Wild West adventure, fittingly called Gunless (how Canadian is that?).  Starring Paul Gross, who was terrific and is his own man, but was also channelling his inner Viggo (gruff charm, looks great wearing mud, smaller eyes but whiter teeth -- bad wig, though -- should have borrowed Viggo's from LOTR).  Check out the trailer HERE.  It's a keeper.

JUNE 6, 1944

WE REMEMBER

 

Remembering all of it, through the real Band of Brothers and The Boys of Pointe du Hoc [nobody said it better than RR -- ever. Well, maybe Winnie -- then again, maybe not].   

This was their finest hour.   May they, may all of us, some day be worthy again.

THIS JUST IN....

QUEEN'S JUBILEE CONCERT -- OH MY, SHAKE AND RATTLE THAT THRONE -- IT'S A WHOLE NEW MONARCHY


Everyone seems to be having fun and enjoying the whole royal deal, but the staid fountain in front of Buck House may never recover from being so garishly covered,

...and the Palace itself (always a bit of an architectural yawn, except for the fence) got the tarting up of its life with delightfully clever projected images below the rooftop performance of Our House by the band Madness (whose name I had never heard until tonight, but at least the song was familiar to this old fart).

H.R.M. meets some of the artists backstage after the concert.  Check out the two people with the white hair -- at least they know how to age gracefully!  How many collective quarts of hair-dye and hours of eye-lifts do the other four represent???   [Update:  I took a closer look at 50% of the white-haired crowd, and I stand corrected -- Sir Tom Jones' face is a road-map of surgical possibilities.  Or, as Dylan Thomas scripted it for Mrs. Dai Bread Two in Under Milk Wood, "He got a wall eye."]

 [And at least Elton John can still sing, as best I can tell -- can't say as much for the Sirs Cliff and Paul.  Cliff Richard's performance was valiant but rather pathetic to watch.  I actually remember his 1961 movie -- why does he think he shouldn't have changed since then?  Oh well, at least he knows how to behave -- a good example for Sir Paul Macaw, who spared his audience snotty comments about the alleged stupidity of previous monarchs, of the sort he couldn't contain in  his display of appalling bad manners when entertaining the Obamas at the White House.  Paul, to his credit, stuck to the good old Beatle stuff and didn't perform any songs from his mediocre solo career, other than his Bond theme.  All the lasers and flame-jets show that he has learned from his musical descendants how to use visual crap to distract from the fact that his voice is SHOT.  Time to retire and count your billions, Paul.]

Best of the concert was saved for last, with the appearance of the small royal circle, remarks by the heir (apparent?) and the singing of her anthem by the assembled thousands upon thousands.  And then classic music [some Handel Zadok, a bit of Holst vows, and a swath of Hope and Glory] provided the background for truly magnificent fireworks.  God save her.  And save us from the troglodytes who don't see the point.

I haven't seen a whole lot of the celebrations, so must start digging around for the videos.  But I have the impression that Britain (or most of it) has enjoyed a monster injection of the kind of national pride that has been absent and unfashionable in recent decades.

Or maybe they're just drunker than usual.  But I think not -- it looks very genuine from here.


BACK THIS SIDE THE POND...

Granddaughter finds the selection of latte flavours for the Tassimo machine not up to her usual standards.

















Grandson completes the next phase of his Jedi training.












Life is good.