President Kucinich

I just spent some time following the live blogging of a Republican
"debate" on AMERICAblog. Some toxins I actually stay away from.
Televised advertising events like "debates" are so much better heard
about than heard. It's a question of distance, interior and exterior.
Anyway it's a bunch of friends on that blog, so the blogging itself
was at closer remove to me without the annoyance of television.

All you can possibly gain from such an event is to see the style of
liar they will end with as Republican candidate for president~~ or
rather the performance of the PR team of the person who is pretending
to be in some undetectable way a decent person. or, failing that, a
decent sort of person. You know, who is the most pleasing of the
candidates, and to whom. Or something.

To my mind, increasingly, the anger generated by such enfuriating
non-entities they call candidates seems to be deliberately provoked and
harmlessly released, as in repeatedly chanting of anger and hatred of
Bush, or Giuliani, or yadda yadda, typing furiously, building the
energy of the wank session, until everyone goes limp... or limping off,
feeling like Onan. Again again. No gain.
It's like worn out porn in a way, except toxic worn out porn.

Let me just say, that if Kucinich and Paul do form a real partnership,
we will know very precisely what the arguments amongst the various
parties are really all about. Kucinich and Paul seem to me to share my
profoundest wishes for my country and world, and my wish is that they
share a ticket~~ call it anything you or they want. Anyway,
"Lieberman" is already taken, as I hear.

Ellie!

My own blog is blocking my comments. Now I ask you!

So herewith my email. gregorylyons at mac dot com

I'd love to exchange emails with you. Or we can keep meeting here...

I'm planning a stay in Mexico near Zihuataneo, with trips to Oaxaca and
hopefully more. I have a friend who has a friend.

url correction

www.handofgodfilm.com

The Hand of God

K,
The maker of the film is Zingerplatz Pictures, Inc, 212 529-3841
www.handofgodfim.com
directed by Joe Cultrera,

The story of Father Joseph E. Birmingham, Father John B. McCormac, the
Archdiosese of Boston, and Father John B. McCormac's rise to Bishop of
Manchester, New Hampshire, with charming asides about Law, and of
course his friend, Ratzinger, Benedictus Culo I.

Gregory

Paul Cultrera

Yesterday I had the great good fortune of spending the whole of a long,
sunny Sunday afternoon with Paul Cultrera, the subject of the
documentary film "The Hand of God". The film has been shown on
Frontline on PBS and in more than 300 venues since its release.
Directed by his brother Joe, the film is a meticulous documentation of
an era, of generations of Sicilians in America, their church, and the
predations upon them by that church.

It tells the story of a family and the Church of Rome, a story of
sexual abuse, psychological abuse, legal abuse, spiritual abuse, and
survival. It's also the story of familial shame, rage, and enduring
love. It's a portrait of profoundly decent people who were betrayed
repeatedly, one could almost say continually, by their religion.

Paul's calm and purposeful demeanor is beautifully delineated in the
film, and there are marvelous scenes from his childhood- home movies,
and bits of film shot by his brother as a budding film auteur. It's a
portrait of a warm extended Sicilian family in Salem, Massachusetts,
who's alter boy son was molested by a serial molester, who's criminal
career was guided, protected, and managed by the
Catholic Church for many years and in many locations.

Paul mentioned that the film may still be being streamed on line by
PBS. It's a film that is enraging and inspiring by turns. The
enduring miracle is the strength of character and clarity of purpose
which Paul has somehow distilled from his traumatic early life. You'll
laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer. Really.

Bravo! Evviva!!!

Impeachment, Greenlake, and more

Back from my lap around Greenlake, carrying my "Impeach Bush" sign.
Big day at the lake, with the sun out, bright, and a big turnout of
walkers, joggers, skaters, peramulators, and most vociferously, the
rowing teams, who let loose with a mighty cheer from the lanes in the
lake where they were positioning themselves for a race. Now THAT'S
what I'M talking about!

Tremendous positive response from the passers-by. Needless to say, I'm
hard to ignore, a smiling silver bearded gentleman, so the eastern
European fishermen, the Asian fishermen, and the Hispanic fishermen
were all utterly polite and responsive. And every single one of them
gave a positive response. Well, they understand.

The first person who began walking with us was a charming Polish woman,
erudite, and furious about the "secret" prisons established in Poland,
"again", as she put it. She is furious as well that her cousin's son
from Poland is serving in Iraq. The fascists have a historic
relationship with the Poles. The last HOLOCAUSE having taken place in
Poland. The Germans hired them at bargain prices to run the trains,
empty the trains, process the victims, operate the "showers", the
cremation ovens, and dispose of the ash and clothing and such. Gold
teeth, that sort of thing. The facts so brilliantly exposed in
"Shoah".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoah_(film)

Happy Impeachment Summer!

It's 5:49AM in Seattle. Early walk and later to Magnusen Park. I'll
have more anon.

Greenlake

I'm just back from my tour of Greenlake. The longer evening hours of
light make such a timing ravishing. The late afternoon light,
following a day of gray overcast, blossoms at twilight, as the sun
lowers itself under the low clouds, and gives the city a brilliant
bath, just before it sets for the night.
In this golden light I saw a dog tasting the air as it was being
stroked and praised by its human friend. I have noticed this behavior,
that when dogs are in a state of loving grace, they seem to lap at the
air, savoring, I suppose, with their acute sense of smell, the flavor
of love and happiness.

It seems to be one of those great gifts that dogs are so prodigal with,
showing us what happiness is, and letting us taste of it what we can.

Kucinich vs Pelosi/Cheney/Bush et al.

By introducing articles of impeachment of Dick Cheney, Dennis Kucinich
has created a very clear line in the sand. On one side, himself and
other parties far and wide who oppose the Bush/Cheney Regime, on the
other side, Cheney, Bush, Rove, Gonzales, the entire Republican elite,
and Nancy Pelosi.

Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows, but being in bed with
Cheney and Bush just gives away the entire game. Ms. Pelosi has
memorably said, as quoted by Raw Story: ""We will do more work to make
for our own reelection, and maintain a Democratic Congress, and have a
Democratic President," she said. "And frankly, for impeachment, George
W. Bush is just not worth it. We have great work to do for the American
people."

A curious response to the impeachment of Dick Cheney, but still more
bizarre words will be issuing from the office of the Speaker of the
House of Representatives of the United States of America before the
entire Regime is dragged from the White House.

Et tu, Nancy?