And Heaven To Bite

Van Ness and Geary, San Francisco, Halloween 1977: For sheer party extravagance, it's hard to beat San Francisco's gay streets, either Polk Street or Castro Street. It's like Carnival.

The Castro is closed off, and the more raucous, but Lori and I didn't drink much, so generally we'd meander in costume up and then down Polk, to see and be seen. She sported a fairy-godmother costume in purple with a tall, conical hat and scarf, and I used my standard demon costume -- long black wig with two horns, face-paint, red military jacket with epaulets and sword, blue pants with red stripe, boots, and a long tail.

We fit right in. But this particular evening was before I met Lori.

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Daisy Dog

Mount Shasta: A week ago on Thursday, I returned from walking down to the post office, and opened the back yard gate. On the far side of the yard a small white dog raised its head and came running. Seeing me, she leaped up on me and all around, saying "Hello! Hello! You're wonderful! Hello! I'm so happy!"

I liked her.

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Lawyers

"LAWYER, noun. One skilled in circumvention of the law." -- Ambrose Bierce

Mr. Kerry is a lawyer. Mr. Edwards is a lawyer. Is it a good idea to have our country run by lawyers? Bill and Hillary Clinton were lawyers. They were honest and truthful, right?

My personal view is that a lawyer is a person who spends a lifetime studying the rules, so that these rules can be stretched or broken, ensuring riches without honest labor. Toward this end, hapless "plaintiffs" are enslaved, and paid off with a portion of the booty, and hapless "defendants" ... well, who cares about defendants? They can get lawyers of their own.

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Cowardice Won't Work

New York Times, August 22, 2004: Writer Stephen Johnson reports on an almond-shaped part of the brain called the amygdala (pronounced "uh MIG' dulluh"), which is part of the primitive limbic system, which relates to emotions.

"Studies of stroke victims and scans of normal brains," he reports, "have shown that the amygdala plays a key role in the creation of emotions like fear or empathy."

If amygdala activity is a reliable indication of emotional response, it raises the interesting question: Do liberals 'think' with their limbic system (emotions) more than conservatives do?

And the answer appears to be: Yes, they do.

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