Episode 32: Apocalypse Soon

Cassandra had nothing on Geezer. He's been warning for years (see Episode 15) that the animals know something. Creatures great and small are known to anticipate the onrush of typhoons and earthquakes hours before the humans among them. It's happening here.
They're coming back.
Geezer lives 40 minutes by train north of Manhattan. Herds of deer have been noshing their way through our suburban gardens for years and Canada geese long since stopped schlepping all the way back to Ontario.
But in recent years, bears, coyotes, and bobcats and even a moose or two have been wandering through our back yards. A few months ago, a manatee made his (or her) way up the Hudson to the mouth of our very own little river.
Last week, an alligator was spotted sunning himself beside a pond less than half a mile away from our front door.
He knows, too.
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"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base."
-Dave Barry
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Irony Is Not In Their Vocabulary
Senate Democrats demanded the appointment of a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Gonzales committed perjury in testimony before them. They also issued a subpoena to Karl Rove to testify about the dismissal of federal prosecutors for alleged political reasons. In response, Scott M. Stanzel, a White House spokesman said:

"What we are witnessing is an out-of-control Congress which spends time calling for special prosecutors, starting investigations, issuing subpoenas, and generally just trying to settle scores."

Presumably, Mr. Stanzel awoke from an eight-year coma in January 2001.

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On The Pot-Holed Trail

*Thrice-married adulterer Rudy Giuliani has been putting out a line with a hook that chunks of the electorate have been swallowing whole: Because he was in town when two planes crashed into the twin towers, he is best qualified to lead the fight against terrorism.
Let's see, now. If Geezer gets himself mugged by being on a street corner at a bad time, he is then qualified to be Police Commissioner, right?

*Four-square, rock-ribbed, true conservative Fred Thompson continues his coy flirtation with those who wish he'd stop toying with their affections. Inevitably, those who wish he'd go away are gleeful to learn that Ol' Fred once represented the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association as both a lawyer and lobbyist. That is decidedly not an anti-abortion group. Note, too, that in 1994 he said, "I do not believe that abortion should be criminalized."

*Seeking to diffuse an issue before he announces his own formal candidacy, chubby family-values guy Newt Gingrich admitted to an extramarital affair at the same time he was vigorously pushing the impeachment of equally horny Bill Clinton over the Monica mess. No word if this was during his first or second marriage, which presumably involved a little additional fooling around.

* Have you seen Obama Girl? Check it out on YouTube.com.

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Onward!
The months of May, June, and July constituted the deadliest quarter for U.S. troops since the March 2003 invasion. Just think what it might have been without The Surge which happened to coincide with the same period.
The Iraqi soccer team won the Asia Bowl last week. The people were so happy they poured into the streets, Sunni and Shite alike, firing their guns in the air in celebration. Four people were killed and scores were wounded by falling bullets. How can you not want to fight on for folks like that?
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From The New York Times:
"A Missouri doctor who had supervised more than 50 executions by lethal injection testified last year that he sometimes gave condemned inmates smaller doses of a sedative than the state's protocol called for, explaining that he is dyslexic. 'So it's not unusual for me to make mistakes,' said the doctor."
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Yet Another Cry For Compassion
Hamas TV has a children's show called Tomorrow's Pioneers. It used to feature a character of the Mickey Mouse genre who spewed anti-Semitic and anti-Israel insults to its young viewers. He was called Farfur and he was beaten to death by a pretend Israeli who wanted his land.

Farfur has been replaced, in an abuse of logic, by Nahoul, a bee who claims to be Farfur's cousin.
Among the bee's pronouncements: "We shall continue on the path of 'Islam is the solution'. The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of jihad warriors. We shall take revenge on the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets, until (we are) liberated from their filth."
And continue to pray for world peace.
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And Another
There was no more stirring moment in my youth than in Casablanca, when Paul Heinreid led the patrons of Rick's Cafe in La Marseillaise. The song was first written in 1792 as the Marching Song of the Rhine Army and contains such pleas for sacrifice and understanding as

Arise, children of the fatherland
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us, the tyranny's
Bloody banner is raised.
Do you hear in the fields
The howling of these savage soldiers?
They're coming into your midst
To cut the throats of of your sons, your wives!
To arms, citizens!
May tainted blood
Water our fields!

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Eating and Viewing
This summer's "Restaurant Week" offered three-course lunches for $24.07 and dinners at $35 at over 200 New York City eateries. The roster included many topflight places where entrees alone frequently exceed $45. That seemed too good to pass up, especially since we'd been wanting to see the Louise Nevelson retrospective at The Jewish Museum (92nd Street at 5th Avenue; 212-423-3200; galleries closed Fridays).
A potential problem with these periodic promotional events is that restaurant personnel can be a little sullen when confronted with the likelihood of lower levels of accumulated gratuities. We'd heard this wasn't the case at San Domenico (240 CPW bet 7th Ave. & Broadway; 212-265-5959; jacket required), and it wasn't. This is an old-line, rather formal restaurant, with a full-service, four-tiered staff that might be expected to be stuffy, but our treatment was gracious and attentive. Kudos to the management for including their signature dish on the special prix fixe card - a soft-cooked egg with a single large ravioli dressed with truffle oil. Everything that emerged from the kitchen was admirably understated, more often prepared with light broths than with fats and oils.

Here's an agreeable discovery: OpenTable.com is a very helpful online service that permits users to make reservations at restaurants in several cities without having to deal with haughty clerks who can barely bring themselves to deal with people with unrecognizable names. It not only confirms time and number of diners, but affords the opportunity to print out proof of the arrangement.
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