I have been wondering for the past week, have we gotten lost in the pages of The Onion, the online and print satiric newspaper, or maybe we’ve simply merged with the wood-pulp of The Sun or The Examiner… “Daughter So Jealous of Mother’s Newest Baby, She Has One of Her Own”… “Frontrunner with Middle Name of Hussein Tries to Claim Going to a Muslim School for Two Years Does Not Make Him A Muslim”… “12, 000 Small American Flags Prepared...

Catholicism is rife with euphemisms, and …following the Pope’s actual intentions and motives is often reduced to a kind of Pope-omancy, interpreting a gesture or a smile as carrying volumes of unspoken information about the actual skivvy. The Church is not known for revealing the roots of its choices and decisions; nor its back-room gamblings and gambolings, so to speak. However, being “invited’ to come speak with/ appear before the Archbishop is somewhat like being called...

We’ve known for a long time that John McCain is introverted, that is, he is an interior person… likely his first thought about most anything is, No… until he thinks things through. Then the No may rapidly turn to a Yes, or a Not now, or a Maybe later, or a Right away. Young introverts, to varying degrees depending on the development of the person, are the ones who think of the greatest retort… three days after the moment for saying such has passed. Older introverts learn...

Consider that tonight Governor Palin was speaking to ‘her people.’ Her people were indeed wowed. Her talents are obvious. However, in the larger world, it remains to be seen how Governor Palin’s many talents will play, for it is still sometimes true in our culture, no matter how developed we might be… that a man who is bold in attack, is often seen as authoritative, manly Sometimes a woman who is bold is seen only as ballsy, pushy, castrating, not womanly… in essence,...

1. She can deliver natural and biting satire in a funny way: parfum of The Simpsons, paraphrasing her speech here: ‘When they haul the Styrofoam pillars off Obama’s stage…. what is left that is real?’ 2. She hired a writer who is an original rather than a ‘speech-writery’ one… one who apparently enhances how/who she is, rather than trying to make her say lofty things. That’s not her style. (The speech writers of this election cycle, from ALL sides,...

“The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? “Lipstick.” Sarah Palin

Tonight at the GOP convention, Rudy took the stage to wild applause. Rather than analyze the content of his words, I found myself analyzing the process Rudy used to speak about Senators McCain and Obama. It was fascinating. And brilliant as strategy. He closed off the self-important GOP endorsers with all their pronouncements, and instead drew the circle down to ‘regular people.’ For instance, he began by saying, no Hollywood stars will decide this election. Just the people. As they...

Sarah Palin is ordinary. Yes. Ordinary. Our country, and the world, is populated by millions of women just like her… worker ants, carrying astonishing loads many times their body weight, building, building, nourishing, nourishing, organizing, organizing. The worker-ant is a pattern of Nature. An ordinary one. A usual one. Not an odd, strange, once in a lifetime one. Come with me to the South and I will show you the most beautiful and semi-treacherous “steel magnolias” who follow...

Below is an email from the PPIAC, Professional Private Investigator’s Association of Colorado, to which I belong. “Do no evil” takes on many colorations, it seems. Not sure how Google wanting to take any and all searches any person does online while using their browser “Chrome” (which sounds in passing conversation a lot like the word ‘Crone’… rather poetically so), so Google can publicly display, translate into other languages, et al, forensics and...

Don LaFontaine passed away in LA today, after a protracted illness. He was 68 years old, a man of imposing body mass and a gruffness that hid an “I’m just jacking you around,” sense of humor. He could say, “Pass the peas,” and make it sound momentous or ominous. A deep baritone with clipped articulation: you’ll recognize his voice immediately as the one used in thousands of film trailers throughout your years on earth. Known for the tag line intro: In a world…...

I saw this for the first time tonight and watched it several times in pure joy. I loved watching the people in it, I’ve always had a thing for beefy people and skinny people (yes, prob should have a shrink look at that. lol) Catch the fellow at the far right in Brisbane. Or the little children so completely on joyous fire, or the ‘give it everything you’ve got no matter who’s looking’ people throughout; sometimes even the tribal people are more stately than the moderns....

This is the annual Crow Fair at Crow Agency, Montana. Normally, some of us would be there. But, this year, we’ve sent word to ask for prayers for a loved one who is struggling. My grandmother, an old believer, used to say, “There is no distance at all in between hearts in prayer.” The Crow live, as you see, with a mix of modern pick-up truck steeds, and work/heart companions: How it is sometimes said out West: “She owns horses.” The women riders here are wearing traditional...

Well, the Greek column stage-set for Senator Obama’s 20 minute film, speech, followed by fireworks and music after, is seen by some as a bizarre backdrop. But, perhaps the only odd thing is that many Denverites associate such columns with three notable places in Denver, each one ‘columnized’ out the kazoo, and also very well known for one odd thing or another a) The Denver Post Office, which is adorned with nearly identical columns. The Post Office was known as the place to go...

This is the old Denver Post Office, pillarized completely… pillars were meant in ancient times to create a certain geometric grace via formulae: a certain height of pillar and radius of pillar carries a mathematical aesthetic as compared to width or depth of the pediment and other structures surrounding. In that sense, the pillar is more than a set of bones or ornaments for the building, it is also part of an artistic ratio, similar to an aesthetic in painting which is often based on mathematic...

This story is a little too reminiscent of the moat Dick Cheney dug around his secret meetings with lobbyists and elected officials re oil legislation/favors et al when he first came into office a million years ago under George Bush. Cheney claimed he didn’t need to let any journo in, that his private meetings with influential people were not under ‘the people’s right to know.’ None of our beezwax. He stonewalled Freedom of Information Act requests repeatedly. Got away with...

First, scan this from The Denver Post online: Protesters at a Recreate 68 event at the Denver Mint this afternoon swarmed conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, circling around her and shouting at her until she left the area. Malkin, a blogger, syndicated columnist, sometimes Fox New commentator and author of a controversial book defending racial profiling in the war on terror, showed up at the event to “levitate” the mint shortly after 5 p.m. today. She said she was there for work. Protesters,...

Look, maybe pundits are just tired from the altitude in Denver… many come from sea level of zero. Here is it 5280 feet above sea level. Enough to noticeably augment the effects of alcohol imbibing; enough to make many feel short of breath; even faint. It takes about a year at this altitude to acclimate. Or, maybe it’s because I myself ‘don’t get it,’….don’t get the deep meaning behind these repetitious lavings. Forgive me please, I think I must be in a grumpy mood....

I first heard the rumor a couple weeks ago. Two police officers were explaining that the only Interstate North/ South freeway through Denver was to be closed down during Obama’s speech at Invesco Mile High Stadium (where the Denver Broncos play.) The DNCC moved Obama there because the venue could hold so many more people than the Pepsi Center (capacity 17k), where hockey is normally played. The original thrust was to close the highway from 3pm through rush hour and ending after the evening...

Last night, the Mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper went on TV to announce that regular Denver citizens should come downtown. That conventioneers won’t get a good experience of the city if citizens don’t fill the downtown and make it come alive. He said regular citizens shouldn’t be afraid of the protesters. The protesters aren’t afraid either. For instance: Here is what shows at ground level: a vociferous protester who says he represents the decriminalization, or legalizing...

For the past week, Denver talk radio hosts have been fissioning and steaming like a bunch of live lobsters tossed into the roil, about The Grizzly Rose, a local cowboy-motorcycle dance hall being ‘rented’ for ka-jillion dollars a night by a mysterious force which is present at The Democratic National Convention this week. At the Democratic Convention Hall, in front of the curtain and high up in the rafters, …. if you crane your neck and “behind the curtain”… it...