Episode 18: All Fall Down

AFTER THE FALL: HOPE, NOT TRIUMPH
Isn't it delicious? Delightful? Dee-lovely? They're gone, the thugs and vandals are gone - Rummy, Rick Santorum, George Allen, Conrad Burns, Tom DeLay, Sue Kelly, and a personal favorite, Curt Weldon, prince of nepotism and peddler of favors. The world is in alignment again. We shall have peace and justice and a return to reason.
Unless we don't.
The guys who beat Santorum and Allen and Burns are almost as conservative as they are. Virginia's new senator, Jim Webb, used to be a Republican, serving as Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. Putative Democrat Heath Shuler, a former professional NFL backup quarterback who won his district in North Carolina, is pro-gun and anti-abortion. And the Senate hangs by a thread by the name of Lieberman.
The whiny, hyper-sanctimonious Senator from Connecticut has made it clear that he's beyond unhappy with the support his colleagues gave to his duly elected rival in the Democratic primary. Now that he's back, the same men and women he sees as treacherous former friends are outdoing themselves with flattery, welcome hugs, and general sucking-up. He's lapping it up with a spoon, but he's still going to make them pay. They will have to court him for at least two years to keep him from voting with the Other Side, for he is now the critical swing vote. When interviewed on Meet the Press on November 12th, he even refused to deny that he might switch to the Republican Party. He's loving it.
This is the same unctuous little man who denounced his "very good friend" Bill Clinton on the Senate floor - over a blowjob. Friendship to Leiberman, it would seem, is a one-way street.
But you knew all this.

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"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."
-Harry Truman

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REPUBLICISTS
It was Gerald Ford, Geezer believes, who first popularized the Republican practice of referring to their opponents as the "Democrat Party", presumably on the theory that "Democratic" might give the enemy a positive linguistic advantage. In his mock-humble concession press conference after the election, the Decider-in-Chief used the locution repeatedly, no doubt to needle all those Left-Liberal journalists in front of him.
We could always call them the "Republic Party", Geezer supposes, but then we'd sound as petty as they.

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TRAVEL TIPS
*If you're headed to the U.K., check out www.londontown.com. They have almost astonishing deals on many good hotels - up to 70% discounts on rack rates - and can obtain tickets for most of the current West End shows as well as arrange towncar transportation to and from the airports.
*We thought everyone knew, but when fellow travelers on recent trips expressed surprise at the abundant legroom in front of our seats in cattle class (economy), we guess not. It's simple: When you arrive at the airport, ask that your seats be switched to one of the emergency exit rows. On most planes, this gives you as much stretching room as the far more expensive ones forward. The seats aren't any wider nor the food any better, but it's something to keep in mind.
*There's also a website, www.SeatGuru.com, that throws up seating plans of the planes of many major airlines, ranking each seat as good, bad, or middling, and the reasons why. Just hover your cursor over any seat to get an warts-and-all explanation of the ratings.

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THEM CRAZY WINGNUTS
During the campaign recently concluded, George the Second flew into Greeley, Colorado to lend support to a conservative Congresswoman in a tough race. (Notice he never made it to any venues where there might be people who actually didn't like him?) It was during that period of revelations about the Evangelist preacher Ted Haggard and his drug-fueled trysts with a gay male prostitute. And as luck would have it, there was a measure on the state ballot that would ban gay marriage.
Those circumstances confused more than a few of George's local constitutents. One was so twisted around he mounted a billboard on his truck that read, Stop Gay Marriage Now So Osama Doesn't Get Away.

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INDULGE A HYPOTHETICAL
You are a young photojournalist assigned to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. There is chaos all around. Houses and people are swirling around you in the rising waters. Nature is unleashing all its fury.
You are trying to shoot what might be career-making photos. Suddenly you spot a man struggling in the water. He looks familiar. As he comes closer, you recognize him. It's Dick Cheney! The raging waters are about to take him under forever! You must make a choice: save the life of our Vice President or shoot a dramatic Pulitzer-winning photo documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful politicians.
The Question:
Would you select high contrast color film or go with the classic simplicity of black and white?

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Thanks, Gilles.
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