Musafir's Musings

Reading about President Bush's support of 'abstinence only' (from sex) policy can make one chuckle but the consequences are far from funny. Accounts of his somwhat wild youth leave little doubt that he didn't -- abstain. But that is normal practice. Politicians exhort people to do what they say, not what they did. So, one ought not to hold that against the president. One day he found the lord and went on a straight and narrow path. Stranger things have happened.

But when the 'abstinence only' hypocrites talk about 'secondary virginity' that is a bit too much. What a phrase! Trust the gang that gave us "extraordinary rendition" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to promote it.

The law suit filed by Specialist Jeremy Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation against the U.S. Army for violation of his First Amendment rights might not succeed in winning recognition of the rights of atheists in the U.S. Army but it would once more expose the abuses they are subject to.

One gets the distinct impression that the "evangelical Christian officers" are not too far apart from the Talibs in Afghanistan when it comes to God. Is it fear of God that makes them coerce others to follow their faith ? It cannot be love of God.

There are some who feel that the current battle for nomination is not going to do the Democrats any harm; once the nomination process concludes voters will fall behind the person who will go up against John McCain. Former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate Pat Schroeder of Colorado appeared on PBS NewsHour yesterday and smilingly expressed her opinion that what was happening was good. Ms. Schroeder is for Hillary Clinton, but that is beside the point.

But I really don't worry about the future. I think it's very positive for the Democratic Party, and let me tell you why. I see George W. Bush channeling Herbert Hoover, for heaven's sakes, and now we see John McCain channeling George W. Bush. (Pat Schroeder on NewsHour)

What is happening is not positive. Democrats might not recover from the damage being done to chances of retaking the White House.

Let's face it. Both candidates have negative image with large blocks of voters. For Hillary Clinton, it is her past and the shadow of Bill Clinton. Her claim of dodging bullets in Bosnia revived reports about her untruthfulness. For Barack Obama, first and foremost it is the color of his skin, and then the barrage of critical, somewhat twisted, reports about his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and his comments about 'bitter' voters in Pennsylvania. When both Clinton and Obama -- gleefully aided by conservative, pro-Republican media -- are doing all they can to highlight the faults and weaknesses of the other, prospects for Senator McCain cannot but look brighter. Ms. Schroeder might choose to ignore reality, but at the end of the day that is not going to save us from a looming disaster.

Like it or not, Obama being black is a factor that cannot be disregarded. There are voters for whom that alone is reason enough not to support him. Robert Novak's column in today's Washington Post mentions "........the dreaded Bradley effect "

Depressing to follow what the Democratic front runners' are doing to each other. From a sure thing few months ago, hopes for victory in November are beginning to look dim. By the time the nominee emerges from the morass it might be too late. It does not look likely that the result of Pennsylvania primary is going to decide the issue. Hillary Clinton is not going to concede. Obama got battered by the moderators in the debate last Wednesday and stumbled. The fact that the numbers are still in his favor means nothing to Hillary Clinton. Where are the wise, old leaders of the Democratic Party? One gets the feeling that they have they have given up or they are unable to stop the blood loss.

All that is good news for Republicans and John McCain. It is incomprehensible that voters would support a candidate who is like a Bush clone. The economy is reported to be the uppermost issue. Do the voters want the targeted tax cuts engineered by Bush to continue? Do they realize that the beneficiaries of the tax cuts are not them but a very small group of people once described by President Bush as the "haves and have-mores"? McCain, after opposing the tax cuts, now promises to extend them! And the war in Iraq -- do we want (need) it to go on forever?

Well, right now I'd not mind being in a state of inelegance. A month past spring equinox the temperature is wintry. Last Sunday a bone-chilling wind howled through the peninsula all day. So far we have had only a few days when it felt like spring. Unusual. Good that the foothills are still green but it is time for warm days, walks through the woods and picnics on the grass.
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A query in google resulted in "Your search - 'Jingolytis of the bosphongus'- did not match any documents." Quite so; I didn't expect to find a slew of items because the phrase does not exist. Years ago, a colleague coined the term to describe people who called in to report sick. Alwyn would say "He (or she) has jingolytis of the bosphongus". It was his way of being skeptical about their illness.

General Petraeus, supreme military commander in Iraq, likes "teeth into the jugular". David Broder reported in the Post that the General used the phrase a number of times during a meeting. Easy to picture the enemies -- whoever they happen to be in this fifh year of Operation Iraqi Freedom -- mortally injured. Remember what Vice President Cheney said about the insurgents being "in the last throes"? That was almost three years ago, on May 31, 2005. Those who gave us the war will say anything. They would love to start another war if only they can sell it. Currently, attempts are being made to shift attention to Iran. Fitness of the overstretched U.S. military ? Not important. They are doing what they can to demonize Iran just as they created the mythical stockpile of WMD in the prelude to the war. Tony Blair's government did its part with the "doctored dossier". The game plan worked. We are paying for it; we'll continue paying for it long after the end of the Bush presidency. Expect more jingolytis of the bosphongus to come down the pike.

In the meantime, with 'teeth into the jugular' the evil ones are in their 'last throes'. 21 more American soldiers died in the first 13 days of April. And so it goes.

The Band's Visit, Israeli director Eran Kolirin's film -- his first, was an unexpected delight....a heart-warming story about a band of musicians from Egyptian police force who unintentionally found themselves in a small desert town named Betah Tikva in Israel; the band was invited to perform at the Arab Cultural Center in Petah Tikva. The towns are not fictional; they exist.

Ronit Elkabetz, as Dina, made an impression as soon as she appeared on the screen. A free spirit, something very enticing about her understated sensuality. Kolirin's development of the overture by Dina to the shy, old-fashioned band leader Tewfiq Zakaria couldn't have been better.

There are movies that you forget about when you come out of the theater and there are those that leave a mark. Check it out.

It was issued by Pacific Jazz (Capitol Records) in 1995. My Funny Valentine is on track 5. Originally recorded Feb 15, 1954.

It is true that major media no longer gives as much coverage to the war as it once did, and the American public's attention has moved on to other issues. Decline of casualty rate following the surge is one reason, and then the dismal state of the economy; the domino effect of the sub-prime mortgage scam that went sour on quite a few unscrupulous investment bankers on Wall Street and victimized thousands of home owners -- mostly from low and median income groups; the election campaigns and recent spike in unemployment rate all account for lack of interest in what is happening in Iraq.

Bush's war, however, is very much alive, alive but not well. It continues to take its toll both in lives and dollars. And for the families of soldiers serving in Iraq it is an ever present fear about the safety of their loved ones. Latest figures from icasualties.org show that out of 4020 soldiers who died in the war, 509 (12.7%) were 21 yrs old. It is noteworthy that two of the primary architects of the war had dodged Vietnam.

David Denby of The New Yorker, in his review of "Stop-Loss", the movie by Kimberly Peirce, wrote:

• "This movie may become the central coming-home-from-the-war story of this period, just as “The Best Years of Our Lives,” made in 1946, became central to the period after the Second World War. Like that extraordinary work, “Stop-Loss” is devoted to the men’s hidden wounds—the wired-up tensions and nightmares that lead to drunkenness, fights, smashed love affairs and marriages. Throughout the Second World War, Hollywood made dozens of patriotic combat films, as well as occasional home-front movies (like “Tender Comrade,” with Ginger Rogers) about gallant wives. The Korean War, except for B-movies by Samuel Fuller and Joseph H. Lewis, went undramatized until it was over, and this was largely true of the Vietnam War, too. During all these wars, none of the discomforts of the returning soldier, or the dismay of his friends and family, were shown on the screen."

and:

• The movie, which she developed with the novelist and TV producer Mark Richard, is a complicated love letter to American soldiers—and to young American men in general, whose minds Peirce has tried, in a way, to enter before.

• The soldiers are held together by their love for one another, and that element of Army life may make “Stop-Loss” popular with both liberals and conservatives, but no one, I think, will be happy about what the movie suggests is happening to some of the best young people in the country.

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Michael Gerson's hit piece in the Post ,"Obama's Abortion Extremism", like all other pro-life arguments does not mention what happens after the birth. Do the pro-lifers who march on streets and argue passionately against abortion spend the same amount of time aiding the infants of unwanted pregnancies? "Abortion" sounds dirty and so they adopted it. The issue is women's right to choose....a right that should never be taken away under threat of punishment.