Barbarians At the Gates

Or Bush in the White House, your choice. Another NYT amazing op ed piece kind of describes our current dilemma, politically, by looking at the precipitation of the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Anna Nicole

Her teen son somehow died in her hospital room, very shortly after she gave birth to a daughter. Maybe she only had enough soul for one child? How surreal. Tonight, her lawyer claimed to be the 'babydaddy,' while her publicist had previously claimed the spot. After all, is she not a wispy voiced, cuddly blonde, who has not really displayed great intelligence, past what allowed her to grab an 85 year old millionaire husband at Death's door, before he passed through it, making her rich? Naturally, she's still fighting his kids for it- but she has received a major chunk of $
Sad little girl; And here I've delivered an (other, no doubt) entirely mean-spirited little piece of drivel. No no - I reject that! (yes, you can disagree with yourself within a paragraph) The curious juxtaposition of new life and young death sent me seeking a cosmic truth of some sort. What if it's all random, and NOBODY gives a rat's ass about our virus-like existence?
Anna Nicole: will anyone remember her name in 1,000 years? Or mine, ftm. A most curious fact of early 21st Century Man: our ability to be fascinated by people who are famous just for being famous.

Ground Zero 9-11-01

5 years later, it seems to be making news that the folks -first responders, other volunteers- are sick from the toxic air they breathed for 2 to 3 weeks. Of course they're sick. At that time, the Feds and their honchos were announcing that "No, there isn't any danger - the air is perfectly fine." And 'they' the mass media, unwashed masses, believed it?? Oh. My. I said at the time- "My Goddess, you can SEE the air; they are breathing the 'weaponized,' if you will, residual atoms of multiple heavy metals, silica, human beings, firpete'sake. How could any reasonably intelligent, semi-educated, thinking person believe that was safe? Key word being 'thinking,' apparently.

From today's NYT - QUOTATION OF THE DAY -

"There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center disaster. Our patients are sick, and they will need ongoing care for the rest of their lives."
- DR. ROBIN HERBERT of Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer
Medical Screening Program.

And I ask again - what sort of brain-dead folks were questioning this in the first place??

A navel of a different sort

Another NY Times op\ed piece, here showed me a new perspective. By an Iranian Jewish woman who writes poetry in Persian. I'd love to ask "Another Irani on Line" about this. I hear much the same sort of remembrances from Iraqi's in so far as "We are ALL Iraqis!" I like to believe everything I read by women (my bad) and especially non US women, and I know I'm gullible. But I would also like to hear what Niki's perspective is regarding the poetry and music issues mentioned. I' believe I will write and ask her.