Free Association, after the Last Debate... What is it that people like about the Shrub? Everyone says he is such a likable guy. I just can't stand him, he reminds me of all the obnoxious frat boys I ever knew. Do they like Shrub's take on foreign policy? He believes that freedom is a gift by the creator to all peoples. Does anyone really believe we went to war to spread freedom? Does anyone really believe that more Iraqis would have died if we left Saddam in place? The Shrub wants us to believe we are doing God's will by warring to bring freedom. What part of the teachings of Shrub's Messiah inspired this war? Isn't it more believable that we went to war in Iraq because they have the biggest known and unknown unexploited oil reserves? I didn't hear any follow up at the debate about the disappearance of machinery and buildings and materials in Iraq which could be used to manufacture WMD. The UN inspectors and satellite photos show the disappearance of entire buildings after the war and stuff from Iraq is being sold on the black market in Holland. Kerry wants to deal with terrorism like an international crime. Which it is, only on a much more serious scale. But doesn't it seem more sensible to go after it with detectives, spies and black ops than to go into neighborhoods which may harbor terrorists with tanks and blast away? Think about it. How effective would it be if we went after organized crime by going into the lower east side and blowing up the buildings where suspected criminals hung out? Last night Shrub was pushing the medical savings account for health care . Apparently, this tax free savings account is combined with a health insurance policy with a very high deductible. So if you get the flu and call the Doctor you pay for that out of your health savings account. But if you need dialysis, the insurance kicks in. For someone like me, who rarely gets sick ( knock on wood) it sounds OK. But what if you've got a lot of little cheap health care expenses that are not covered. And if you need dialysis, will you have to pay the high deductible every time you go? I can see those health accounts won't go very far once you get a chronic condition needing constant care. And no one said why it's still OK for the VA to get medicine from Canada, now that the Shrub has officially classed it as a third world country. There were no real answers on how other things are going to get paid for. Kerry is going to raise taxes on the people earning over $200,000 yearly, and we're supposed to go to a web site and look at his plan. The Shrub, after telling us that Rubin looked at Kerry's plan said it won't work, just wants us to go to his web site. No thanks, I'll just read Krugman and the financial pages of the Times. Also, something about Shrub's demeanor seemed to indicate that Social Security may turn out to be a little bit negotiable. No one talked about the latest findings on the environment, and information about accelerated oceanic warming and heightened storm cycles. Years from now, people will look back on these debates as historic records. I wonder if they will find them willful, or shortsighted for their failure to deal with the most important issues that affected the future. Well, in the words of the Shrub, as reported by Bob Woodward, "we'll all be dead"

Free Association, before the Last Debate... Will this be the last debate of the free world?? Will this mark the victory of the right wing and the establish a one party system firmly in control of our country, and by extension of the rest of the world?? What will happen to the Supremes? How about a woman's choice? Health care insurance for the uncovered? Will a large proportion of people continue to get their health care from the most expensive source- the emergency room? Will poor children get a better education? Will we continue spending $50,000 a year to jail young black men instead of funding education for them before they get to jail? Will the deficit really get as big as the Dems predict? What about the trade deficit? Will Iraq break the bank or will the winner cut and run? What happened to all the unguarded ordnance in Iraq? What happened to their equipment to manufacture WMD? Who stole it? Will we still be at war someplace 4 year from now? Will there be a nuclear strike somewhere soon? How will it affect the environment? Is it too late for global warming? Will the ocean temperatures continue to rise, fueling ever more hurricanes? Will Florida continue to be habitable? Will there finally be a north west passage, from Alaska to Greenland, and a north east passage from Alaska to Europe? Will we find oil under the Arctic sea? Will the price of Oil hit $100 a barrel? Will there be laws about driving to conserve fuel in my lifetime? Will food transport make the price of food go up? Should we be burying our good local farmland under subdivisions? Is Canada the land of tomorrow?

Cell phonage...Saturday I went by the Garden on West 89th Street and our craft ladies were out in front of the Garden gate selling quilts, knitted and crocheted items. They had been rained out at our September Arts and Crafts Festival, and we had given them this past week end as a rain date. I asked, "How are things going? " Eleanor, the craft lady who crochets's unusual hats sniffed, "OK , lots of people coming along, but most of them are on cell phones. They don't see us, they don't see anything, they just go along in their own little bubble. It wasn't like this last year" She's right, the market penetration of cell phone has finally made them ubiquitous, and a necessary object. Down in court a few weeks ago, a Judge on the bench demanded that I call my client right then and there to check on a date for a conference with the parties. In the hallways of justice, on Centre Street, the din of haggling has been heightened with the buzz of cell phones ringing ( lawyers eschew fancy ringtones) and shouting over poor connections. Along Fifth avenue, well dressed people alone on the street walk along, talking loudly and gesticulating to imaginary companions. Look closer, and you see an unobtrusive earbud screwed into their ear. Barry, my signficant other, tells me his teaching assistant at school has never had a conversation with him when he walks her to the subway, because she is always on the phone. The craft ladies commiserated, "its just like living in the suburbs, where everyone is in cars and don't notice anything." There has been major shift in New York street life this year. Before you could always go out and there would be throngs of people relating in a semi social manner. People noticed the guy begging at the corner, the voter registration people with clipboards and the "published poet" sitting at his little table selling original poems. Now, part of informal street life has been chilled. People pass along, in the throng, but not part of it, sealed in a bubble, talking to the ether.

18 Permanent Bases in Iraq...I ran into one of the anti-war activists in the neighborhood and she was grousing as to how come none of the pundits have commented on the fact that we are building 18 permanent military bases in Iraq. I heard Kerry say it during the debate, but no one has said anything about it anywhere I've looked. A commentator on NPR on Friday did remark that we will probably have US soldiers guarding oil fields, refinerys and pipelines all over the world for most of this century, until we work out some alternate fuel. It is true that once we establish permanent bases we tend to stay a long time, and a whole culture and presence springs up around our overseas bases. Once its safe, we build US style hospitals, housing developments, supermarkets, gas stations. hotels and recreational areas, and even snack bars along the highways for US citizens with Department of Army ID cards. Spooks and counter spooks establish them selves, US insurance agents and lawyers set up shop, and we establish schools for the American children. When I visited Heidelberg in 2001 I was surprized to see that our presence at that time, over 50 years after WWII, was even greater than it was during the "cold war." I lived over there for almost 10 years in the sixties and seventies and worked varioiusly for the Heidelberg Opera Company, the Festspeil at Bayreuth, and for the US Military doing plays and musicals at Roadside Theater in Mannheim, and touring to various bases in Germany. Another job was as the Protesant chior director at the Mark Twain Village Chapel " on Roemerstrasse in Heidelberg. That Church was ( and is) across the street from Headquarters US Army Europe, "USAREUR" and the American army as well as all the civilian employees and dependants had a big presence in Germany and an impact on the economy and culture. USAREAR Headquarters in Heidelberg is not only on the site of the old Roman garrison (Roemerstrasse- get it?) but also in the Nazi Wehrmacht buildings that we took over after WWII. On the red sandstone gates you can see the bar relief of German Soldiers with their distinctive helmets. I thought all this would be gone when I returned for a few weeks in August 2001 , but there seemed to be more Americans than ever. My landlady,Frau Beck, ( I had rented a small studio apartment for the few weeks) agreed and when she drove me to the supermarket she pointed out all the new apartments buildings occupied by US Department of Army civilian employees, US service people and their dependents, and a plethora of other US citizens living in Heidelberg who had employment connected to the American military, schools, or companies that serviced the military in some way. One of the first modern terrorist acts I remember against our country took place in Heidelberg in 1972. A terrorist war protester drove a car loaded with explosives into Headquarters USAREUR and it exploded about 5:30 in the afternoon. Thankfully, just after most of the employees had left. I was at my garden in Handschuhsheim about three miles away and heard the explosion. Nixon was President. We thought we'd be safe after the war was over and he resigned.

Chutney Again! Italian Prunes really make the best Chutney. Better than mango or peach. The fresh Italian prunes give it a deep winey flavor. (See Thursday September 30 posting). We had it on scrambled eggs this morning, and will have curryed vegetables with rice and chutney tonight. . I just wanted to add that a quarter teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes or half a small chopped Ancho pepper would be a good addition with, or instead of, the black pepper. I tend to add the hot stuff to the stir fry on a meal by meal basis which is why I left it out of the recipe. Also green bell peppers are almost as good as the red bell peppers in the main recipe.

Shrub on the Run... like a petulant little peanut during most of the splitscreen reaction shots, our leader kept repeating the same important phrases... "support our troops, don't give mixed messages, we're winning, stay the course, evil in their hearts, don't forget Poland, a group of folks who don't want democracy" Shrub on the Run sounded like a crazy Mel Gibson in "Conspiracy Theory." when he defensively said " I know Osama bin Laden attacked us, I know that" in his comeback to Kerry's point that Iraq had not attacked us. At the end he came out with a wonderful bible image referencing the promised land about "standing on the mountain top looking down into the valley of peace." But, consider the high place the devil took Jesus up onto when the devil promised Jesus "all this can be yours" as they looked down at some middle eastern real estate.
Hey what about the Sharpster? I wanna see a debate between Shrub on the Run and the Sharpster up there with Kerry. That would spice things up.

Downtown Harvest... Downtown on Chambers street today Italian prune plums and red bell peppers were 3 pounds for a dollar from the street vendors. I couldn't resist the prune plums and red peppers so I made chutney when I got back. Three pounds of washed and pitted sliced up prune plums, two thin sliced red peppers, a medium sized diced onion, about a tablespoon of grated ginger, and three cloves of pressed garlic went into my enameled soup stock pot with a cup and a half cider vinegar and a cup and a half of sugar. I mashed these things around a little as they heated up. After things started cooking I put it on simmer and added a half teaspoon fresh black pepper, a table spoon of pickling spice and a half cup of raisins and about an eighth of a cup of honey. This mixture simmered down nicely in about a half hour, and I filled a large cleaned and boiled pickle jar with chutney for the refrigerator, and filled a two cup storage tub with the rest to freeze. There was a small amount- mostly thick liquid, on the bottom of the pot so I poured it into a jar for immediate use. Chutney on grilled chicken with curry rice and vegetables tonight during the debate! The downtown neighborhood between Chambers and Canal has some weird bargains- the aforesaid fruit vendors, (the cheapest two are near Broadway and Chambers) the Linen Depot that has huge panels of earthen color velour curtain panels out in front on the street for seven dollars, Ralph's Discount on Chambers near Church has two packages of Peak Freens for a dollar as you walk in the door, two loaves of Vermont organic assorted breads for $1.25, various spices, tuna fish and candies. Dee & Dee is good for dollar t-shirts and jerseys, and Ruby's Book Sale down Chambers near west Broadway still has a great selection of cheap maps, and back issues of popular magazines in back. Going north on Broadway from Chambers there's Anbar Shoe Sale on Reed Street just off Broadway west where anything in women's shoes is liable to show up for under $40, Italian Shoes, Swedish sandals, European Boots etc. P&S fabrics is up past Worth Street on the west side of Broadway. P&S has the best fabric and ribbon and yarn bargains at the door as you go in. This week they have unusual novelty yarns for making fringed sweaters on sale, three large hanks for ten dollars. They also have wonderful linens and silks Dupioni Silk for 5.99 a yard, ( downstairs) large pieces of African fabric for $20, dress fabrics, woolens, cottons, denims, odd buttons, patterns, decorations, ribbons, edgings, tassels and cords. Downstairs at P&S, the door is hung with weird curtain fabrics to suggest a household fabric wonderland and there remnants and bolts of upscale upholstery fabrics marked down, and a corduroy section including bolts of printed corduroy and velveteens, and a plastic section with weird plastic lace panels, plastic and oilcloth table coverings by the yard. Further up, just before Canal there is Fabric Warehouse which has leather panels for between $5 and $15 dollars. You could make yourself a leather coat for $20. Walk east on Baxter past Centre and stop at Dragonland baker for some pastries. Miniature custard pies for .80 walnut tarts, coconut cream buns, or various Chinese style buns filled with cabbage or pork with decent coffee or assorted bubble teas and drinks. Coffee and a pastry runs under two dollars. And, you get to sit at a table with a window in it, look down and see a giant live turtle inside the base of the table, sitting on a rock with some water and looking up at you. The tables are all giant "turtleariums". There is a new Dragonland bakery opening up on Worth east of Broadway, but I don't know if they are going to have the turtlearium tables.