Episode 23: Changing Direction

It isn't easy being red. While his support of The Surge is far more robust than that of other leading candidates, John McCain says Rumsfeld was the worst Defense Secretary in our history. In the 2000 campaign, he expressed disdain for Christian conservative leaders, but now he's snuggling up to Jerry Falwell. It probably doesn't matter. He's old.
When running for governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney professed to be all for Roe v. Wade and supportive of gay marriage. Now he's trying to take it back. It probably doesn't matter. He's a Mormon.
Conservatives distrust Rudy Giuliani. He's pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights, and the first of his three marriages was to a cousin. Still, America's mayor seems to be for the war in Iraq. But it probably doesn't matter. He's bald.
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"The people of England have been led into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. We are today not far from a disaster"
- T. E. Lawrence, quoted in the Times of London in 1920 (provided by my good bud Mike)

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Our eagles have been busy along the valley these last two weeks. Every afternoon near sunset, we see three or four of them flap mightily upriver, one after another, as if someone rang a dinner bell. Since our house sits on a bluff about 100 feet above the river, we actually look down on them as they fly by.
Our favorite, though, is the young eagle that has taken up an observation post at the top of a hemlock about 70 yards from our living room. At only two or three years, he hasn't achieved the full black-and-white pattern of his elders, but he's plenty regal enough, and he stays there for hours, to our delight.
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Our Allies At Play
A kite festival is a joyous event, colorful and spirit-lifting. They held one in Pakistan last week. Apparently such things are more competitive in the Punjab. Players use sharpened kite strings to do damage to competing kites. Two people had their throats fatally slit by such wire strings. Five more died to falling bullets from celebratory gunshots. Two more were electrocuted when trying to untangle kites from power cables. Two others fell to their deaths from roofs. Police arrested 700 people for firing guns or using the sharpened strings.
And a good time was had by all.
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Luddites On Parade
Julie Amero was a substitute teacher in Norwich, CT. She asked a colleague if she could use the booted classroom computer to e-mail her husband. But first, she visited the restroom. When she returned, the other teacher was gone and her students were watching a hairstyling Web site. Amero tried to close the site, but instead brought up clusters of pop-up ads for porn sites. They stayed on the rest of the day because:
She didn't know how to turn off the monitor.
She didn't know how to shut down the computer.
She didn't think to pull out the plug.
"I have absolutely no clue about computers," she said later.
Convicted of exposing her students to pornography, she faces a prison sentence of 40 years.
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Fie on Apple (Part Deux)
Curious: Geezer has been writing on this blog about injustice, war, torture, atheism, sleazy politicians, corporate depredations, and thuggish religionists for over two years. Yet what caused the greatest flurry of protests and responses? That I held Apple and its demi-god Jobs to be
no improvement over Windows and Gates. Interestingly, there were as many respondents as unhappy with their Apple encounters as those who were smugly supportive.
Today, over two weeks later than promised, my replacement Shuffle arrived.
By the way, all you computer literates are aware, are you not, that when you punch "REPLY" on my e-mails announcing new episodes of Geezer Wisdom your messages get sent to every address on my mailing list?
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Whatever It Takes
That was the title of a recent New Yorker article profiling Joel Surnow, the creator of the semi-hit TV serial, 24. That's the work of art that features graphic depictions of torture in more than one out of every two episodes and, in large part, tacitly endorses a crypto-fascist vision of patriotism. Surnow, a fast friend of fellow cigar-smoker Rush Limbaugh, happily describes himself as a "right-wing nut job". He is behind an alleged new comedy show on the Fox News network called "The Half Hour News Hour", meant to counter "The Daily Show" with John Stewart. A laugh riot, it isn't, unless you accept the deranged conservative view that Hillary, Teddy, and their fellow travelers control Washington and all media to the detriment of all good right-thinking Americans.
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Tilapia with Mango Salsa
With every fragile hint of Spring - peeks of emerging crocuses, wisps of fragrant breezes - Geezer summons images of tropical fruits and Southern swimmers. Braised meats and beef stews are so January. He cribbed this recipe, with minor alterations, from the USA Today Weekend Magazine. It's low-calorie and takes about 45 minutes from start to table. Serves 4.

FOR THE SALSA:
1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 small red onion, minced
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
Zest of 1 lime
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, minced
One-quarter cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon salt

FOR THE FISH:
2 tablespoons olive oil
One-and-a-half tablespoons orange zest
One-quarter cup orange juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
4 4 to 6-ounce tilapia fillets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine all salsa ingredients in a bowl. Stir gently to blend and set aside.
In a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the fillets in a single layer, combine the olive oil, orange zest, orange juice, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Rinse the fillets and pat dry. Place them in the baking dish and turn several times to coat. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven until the fish can be flaked with a fork.
Place the fillets on a platter and spoon the salsa over. Serve.