Getting politics in proportion: lemonade out of lemons

Fred Thompson's run for the Presidency got me fired up in a way that hasn't happened since I turned 18 and could vote and campaign for my local anti-apartheid Member of Parliament in South Africa. My failure to help get rid of apartheid made me politically pessimistic and, for many years after that, I was apolitical.

When I went to live in the UK, British politics almost turned me into a skeptic. It seemed that the choice was between the hardcore working-class socialism of the Labor Party and the noblesse oblige socialism-lite of the Tories. When I arrived in the USA, Carter was in the WH and I almost despaired and became cynical.

Then Reagan arrived on the scene. I was not yet a US citizen and could not vote for him but he talked my kind of language and he gave me hope again. When I became a citizen, I was excited to register as a Republican but my enthusiasm was soon dashed by Bush Sr and I could not bring myself to vote for his second term. I was hoodwinked by Bill Clinton's fake cheerfulness and voted for him.

Please don't hold that against me. I was naive. It didn't take me long to realize that I had made a terrible mistake. Bush Sr was uninspiring but at least he didn't shag the employees in the WH and he was a decent man not a mentally twisted malignant narcissist and liar like Clinton. By the time that Clinton's second term was over, I had realized that ANY Republican was better than ANY Democrat.

However I could not bring myself to vote for Bush Jr in 2000 and I sat out the election. Thank goodness my one non-vote didn't count and Bush won. Needless to say, I voted for him enthusiastically in 2004 and, while I haven't liked many of his ideas, I have come to not expect too much from a President.

That was until Fred came along and turned me into a starry-eyed idealist again. But it was too good to be true and, well, it's back down to earth and getting politics in proportion once again; not expecting much from politicians (especially Presidents) and remembering that ANY Republican is better than ANY Democrat.

There is very little difference between the political philosophies of Romney, McCain and Huckabee. They are all moderates. They are all statists who believe that government is the solution not the problem. So my choice is based mostly on character.

Romney seems to me to be a decent man, a gentleman, a loyal husband and a loving father. I will gladly campaign for Romney. I despise Huckabee. He is a liar, crook and weasel. Huckabee can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. Fortunately he is finished except as McCain's ally in stealing votes from Romney. McCain is a vain and conceited man and I will not campaign for McCain but, if he is the nominee, I will vote for him. However he will not be the nominee because I don't think Americans are ready for another Nixon.

The main thing for me is keeping government in gridlock. That way it can do the least harm. The less government can function the better. Our Founders knew this and wrote a pretty convoluted Constitution designed to stymie vain and conceited politicians and their ambitious projects.

I will therefore always vote for the opposition and the opposition will probably always be the GOP considering that there are more Democrats and that the USA, sadly, is moving leftward. The GOP and its politicians may not be perfect but at least they aren't total commies. Just think of what kinds of people call themselves Democrats - yep, MoveOn, Soros, Cindy Sheehan, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich. Oh, you get the picture.

My vote will go to whomever opposes these maggots munching on the corpse of the civilization that they have killed.

I'm not complaining by any means. I live a very blessed life and have just had a delicious dinner: sock-eye salmon from Alaska, asparagus from Chile with vermicelli and a pesto sauce from Italy all washed down with a delicious Oregon chardonnay.

And, thanks to another cut in the Fed's interest rate, I've negotiated a sweet mortgage of 6% fixed for the motel that I am going to buy.

As long as there's a anti-MoveOn Republican in the WH, and God's in His Heaven then all's well on earth - even if most of the trees are lemons. I've made so much lemonade out of lemons in life that I could make a fortune selling it at 50 cents a glass.

Is conservatism finished as a political force?

I found this on Chas' Compilation:

No Conservatives Please

The Writing on the Wall in South Carolina - Thompson didn't fail the Republican Party. The Party that failed to present a conservative themselves, or support one even when conservatives drafted one, failed Thompson.

Shade tree political pundits, who worked around the clock to douse ice water on Fred Thompson’s conservative campaign for President, are busy with their “I told you so” follow-ups. For them, Thompson’s departure from the race is interpreted as hard proof that the candidate was indeed “too old,” “too unhealthy,” “too lazy” and “too disinterested” in winning or leading. But for those who know Fred best, those who drafted him and worked to support him, his departure confirms something quite different…something much worse.

Thompson is simply too Conservative

At a time in history when conservatives are referred to as only a “fringe” of the Republican Party, and when fundamental American values and principles are called “extreme right-wing ideas,” a truly conservative candidate can’t win.

The leftist smearing of classical liberalism (embodied in the Declaration and the Constitution) as "far right wing fringe" seems to have finally even gotten to ordinary non-socialist Americans.

When I lived in San Francisco, it used to drive me nuts when the politically correct Thought Police who were busy outlawing smoking on sidewalks, banning guns and mandating and enforcing acceptance of public promiscuity would tell me that they were "liberal."

I'm the most liberal person that I know. I really don't judge people unless their behavior is dangerous to others. I don't go around bossing and nagging others to toe the line. It's a free country and people can do as they please as long as it does not interfere with anyone else's rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I could never stomach the gall of these Fascist, Brownshirt socialists in telling me that I was a right wing nut because I believed in the ideas of our Founders. Living in San Francisco was a lot like living in 1984 where language had ceased to have meaning because the left had removed all truth from it and perverted it to their Big Lie of socialism. Maybe it was more like a Kafka story - a maze of deceit and double meanings.

The irony is that I'm not really a conservative at all. I'm a traditionalist and believe that it's a waste of time to re-invent the wheel. Wisdom is not something that comes and goes like fashions. You can find wisdom in a Bible that was written thousands of years ago, or in Shakespeare who wrote nearly a half a millennium ago or in the Federalist Papers which were penned over two hundred years ago. Wisdom is the truth and truth doesn't change over time. It is always the same.

I guess that's why socialists hate wisdom and truth so much since their "philosophy" is based on a lie and their agenda is deceitful.

The "governmentalization" of society

I don't remember which Italian author wrote that "bureaucratism" was more dangerous than communism. He was of course observing the "governmentalization" of Italian society by the Fascists but, when I read that in the 1960s, I saw parallels in the South Africa in which I grew up.

White people in South Africa lived in a culture that was relatively free of government interference and resented any limitations on their individual sovereignty but, as apartheid had to be enforced with ever-increasing government regulations, they saw their cherished freedom begin to be affected by "governmentalization."

For instance, up until the 1960s, whites used to hire blacks to work in their businesses and homes without any sort of documentation but then laws were enacted that made it illegal to hire blacks without proper identification and documents proving that they had "permission to be in a white area." The police force was expended to enforce these new laws and it soon became obvious to all intelligent people that, by curtailing the freedoms of blacks, whites had limited their own freedom. That was when I began to oppose apartheid, came under the scrutiny of the Special Branch of the police force (the secret police entrusted with enforcing the increasing apartheid laws) and, after being jailed, left South Africa and went to England.

In my innocent mind, England was the home of Western Civilization, the country of Shakespeare and of all that was refined and cultured. And, yes, in the 1960s, it was a very free and open society in some ways but, by the 1970's under the Socialist Party (and Harold Wilson's second term as Prime Minister) I started seeing hints of 1984 in the huge high-rise subsidized housing projects that were being built, in the dependence of a whole class of people on government handouts and the increasing acceptance of more rules, regulations and red tape.

A similar thing happened when I came to the USA. In the 1970s California was still a fairly free and open society but, in the 25 years that I lived their, the increasing "governmentalization" of society by socalled "liberals" eventually made it impossible to do business there. Not only the government's rules, regulations, red tape and exorbitant fees and licensing requirements made it hard to do business but so did the growth of "political correctness."

"Political correctness" is when the citizens decide to to police their own culture. Taken to extremes (as has happened in San Francisco) it creates a police state almost as effective as one run by armed thugs in uniforms. San Francisco is no longer a "liberal" city. It is a hard-line socialist city with a government which is almost as oppressive as Fascism.

San Francisco (and other bastions of "political correctness" throughout the USA) may be extreme examples but I've watched as nearly all Americans have come to accept curtailment of their individual sovereignty through bureaucratization or "governmentalization." We now accept government interference in our everyday lives on a scale that I never thought could ever happen in the USA.

Part of this has happened because, since 9/11, we have entered into a security-minded phase, but most of it has happened because we have given government increased power to "help" us and, in so doing, have given it increased power to control our private lives. "The government that is powerful enough to give you everything, is powerful enough to take it all away."

At this rate, we will soon be living under European-style "governmentalization." It's happening so subtly, hardly anyone is noticing. Only the conservative "pundits" and bloggers seem to have realized that something is wrong when the party of Reagan, individual sovereignty and self-reliance becomes the party of Huckabee, "the common good" and "entitlements."

Snow in Robin's Wood

The first four pics were sent to me by my friend, Sheri. They are of the street in front of her house in the town 13 miles south of Robin's Wood.

































































Snow at Robin's Wood. Me talking to the only hen who was brave enough to venture into the snow soon after it started snowing.


















I should have worn a hat. I do not need any more white on my hair.

















































As soon as it stopped snowing, it started raining lightly and the snow started to melt.


















An Anna's hummingbird.


















Dilly, the black runner duck with the brave hen.

Heart attacks - stents vs bypass surgery

Ten years ago I was told that I had to have stents put into some of my coronary arteries before I could have surgery because the arteries were blocked and, if I didn't, I could have a heart attack and die during surgery. I did some research on stents. In those days they were still pretty experimental and were solid metal tubes used to keep the arteries open. I decided against the procedure and my doctor told me that he would not "sign off on" (i.e. approve) my surgery.

The surgery was to reverse a colostomy which I'd had the year before due to diverticulitis and I was determined to have it removed. The colostomy was not nearly as horrific as I had expected but it was inconvenient. It's much easier to poop out of the hole the God created for that purpose than to poop in a plastic bag glued to raw intestine coming through a hole in your belly.

I was lucky that I had a friend, a cardiologist who was as skeptical about new procedures as I was. He agreed to "sign off on" the surgery without my having to have stents. And, yes, I did "die" during surgery but fortunately was resuscitated. Then the bad reviews of the old solid metal stents started coming in and I thanked God that I had been skeptical about them. I kept reading about "stent failures" which was basically code for "oops!"

Then, three years ago I had a heart attack and was told again that I had to have stents. By now the stents were made of mesh and were coated with blood-thinning clot-busting drugs. They also were experimental (introduced in 2003) and I was very reluctant but I knew that I was dying anyway and didn't have another option. I had three stents placed in my heart. They saved my life.

Now the reviews of the "new improved" stents is coming in and the news is mixed. From Heart bypass better than stents, study says:

LOS ANGELES - Bypass surgery remains the best option for heart patients with more than one clogged artery, according to the first big study to compare bypass with drug-coated stents.

The new research dims hopes that the less drastic stent procedure would prove to be just as good for people with multiple blockages.

In the study, heart attack and death rates were lower among people who had surgery than those given artery-opening balloon angioplasty and stents — mesh cylinders oozing drugs to keep vessels from reclogging.

It is latest setback for drug-coated stents, which have revolutionized heart care and have been implanted in about 6 million people worldwide. They are far better at keeping vessels open than older bare metal stents. However, sales have been hurt in the past year by safety concerns and studies questioning the value of angioplasty itself for certain patients.

A second study gave stent makers some good news, finding that using these devices “off label,” in non-approved situations, is not as dangerous as many had feared.

Both studies were published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. Neither is definitive enough to resolve these issues, but they help guide doctors and patients confused about which treatment is best for whom.

Blocked arteries cause chest pain by depriving the heart of needed blood, and can lead to a heart attack. One solution is bypass surgery, which reroutes blood vessels to detour around blockages. Angioplasty has emerged as a non-surgical alternative, in which a balloon is pushed into a blood vessel and inflated to flatten the clog, and stents are placed to keep the artery open.

Bypass has become less common as angioplasty has risen dramatically. In 2005, about 469,000 bypasses were performed on 261,000 patients. More than 1.2 million angioplasties were done, though many people had more than one procedure.

Bypass patients had fewer heart attacks
Researchers analyzed two state databases of 17,400 New York residents treated for multiple blockages in 2003 and 2004, and compared deaths and complications 18 months later.

Survival rates for both treatments were excellent, but bypass still showed a significant advantage after researchers took into account differences in how sick or old the patients were.

People with three clogged arteries had a survival rate of 94 percent after bypass compared with about 93 percent after stenting, which translated to a 20 percent lower risk of death. Those with two blockages had a survival rate of 96 percent after the operation compared with roughly 95 percent after stenting — about a 30 percent lower risk of death. The bypass group also needed fewer repeat procedures and suffered fewer heart attacks after treatment.

Medicine is all about risk assessment and trade-offs and "a survival rate of 94 percent after bypass compared with about 93 percent after stenting" sounds pretty good to me considering that stenting is done by cutting a slit in the artery in your groin and inserting a tube from there to the heart which then places the stent in the artery while bypasses are done by cutting into the chest and sawing open the ribs to get to the to the heart and then cutting, rerouting and re-attaching the coronary arteries.

How to fix healthcare

From Rush Limbaugh:

CALLER: For 20 years I lived by the Republican Party, and today you could hold a gun to my head and I'm not voting for a Republican. I've never in my life voted for a Democrat, and I don't want to begin, but the Republican Party betrayed people like me. … the Republican Party doesn't understand people like me. When a man of your wealth — yes, your wealth — no matter what happens, you can afford it. What about guys like me out there? I've had years where I've made big six figure and years that I haven't, and all in all me and my wife are fairly financially stable, but do you know how expensive life is, or how much it costs to pay for health care, and why...?

RUSH: Yes, I damn well do because I do pay for it myself!

CALLER: Well, exactly.

RUSH: Let me tell you something.

CALLER: But when I talk about your wealth —

RUSH: No, no, no. Let me tell you something about this wealth business. I've been broke twice in my life. When I was 31 years old, I was making $17,000 a year. I have been fired I forgot how many times. Seven times! So I've been there. This constant refrain that I'm "out of touch," is just bogus. That's another thing that really bugs me: this movement within the Republican Party to claim that the middle class is in great suffering and pain. I understand if you own a house, and your value of your equity in your house is plummeting, that you're worried, and I understand that totally. What you need to hear is the truth of why it happened, so that you can make plans in the future. These are cycles, and everybody in every country and every society goes through them, and ours are not nearly as bad as people around the rest of the world are. I know health care is expensive. That's why I'm focused not on making it more expensive, but on making it cheaper, and how you do that? You do it with conservatism! I'm by no means out of touch on this. If the health care industry were priced like every other industry is on the patient's ability to pay, then we'd fix the problem, and that's the direction we have to head in.

But if we're going to keep this notion that everybody's entitled to have whatever they want medically paid for by their neighbors, then we are finished. We are finished as a country; we are finished as a society. You can talk about my wealth, but let me tell you something, sir. I don't depend on anybody else for anything, and it was one of my objectives when I grew up. I didn't want to be obligated. I didn't want to be dependent. I didn't want to owe anybody. I don't buy into insurance plans because it's a hassle! Now, I know a lot of people don't have that freedom. I used to not have that freedom, either. But I do now because I worked for it — and if I can do it, a lot more people can do it than think they can, and that's conservatism again. People are much better than they know. They have much more potential than they know. But when you've got a Democrat Party and a movement telling them they suck, telling them they can't get anywhere because the deck is stacked against them and the people stacking the deck are Republicans and so forth, then you are diminishing the country; you're diminishing the future, and you're destroying people's lives.

[...]

The health care problem in this country is getting worse, while people are voting on for people who are making it worse because they hear these people saying, "I'm going to fix it." Well, the people in charge of fixing it have no interest in it getting fixed, because if it gets fixed, you don't need them. You can rely on yourself. This health care debate is one of the most infuriating things I witness every day, because I get so sick and tired of people buying hook, line, and sinker a lie. "I'm going to get everybody covered. I'm going to make sure everybody gets health insurance in this country. We're going to make sure it's not just the rich." It doesn't happen, does it? When you have government telling private industry how to operate, this is exactly what you get, and it's going to happen in energy. It's already happening in a number of other industries, too. It's happening in the auto industry…

I had a very similar conversation yesterday with my insurance agent. I am in the process of switching my company's insurance to another carrier because the one that we have now has raised premiums by $100 a month per employee for the second year in a row. My insurance agent is a conservative evangelical Republican who also thinks "the government" needs to do something about the problem. I told her that government will make the problem worse as it has in Canada and the UK. After I gave her some examples, she had to agree but did not looked very convinced.

I didn't ask her if she is a Huckabean because I was afraid that she'd say yes and I would have an argument on my hands. It sure is disappointing when "Republicans" start thinking like this. Part of it is because the problem is so big and so scary and people feel helpless.

Videos I've watched lately

[The blockquotes are Netflix's descriptions of the movies.]

Shrek the Third (2007)

I enjoyed the first two Shreks so I got the third. It too was most enjoyable.

I give it three stars.

Evan Almighty (2006)

In director Tom Shadyac's raucous follow-up to the 2003 comedy Bruce Almighty (also helmed by Shadyac), God (Morgan Freeman) summons narcissistic newscaster turned congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) to build an enormous ark in preparation for a devastating flood. Unfortunately, Evan's perplexed family interprets his latest hobby as a midlife crisis gone wrong rather than as a divine assignment from the man upstairs.

I didn't like Bruce Almighty all that much but this one was recommended by Libertas - a forum for conservative thought on film and I'm glad I got it. It was a real treat.

I give it three stars.

Miss Potter (2006)

Blending lush animation sequences with live-action drama, director Chris Noonan constructs this biopic about the personal life of beloved children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. Featuring the Academy Award-winning Renee Zellweger as the title character and co-starring Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor, the film traces Potter's private life as well as her contributions to literature such as the timeless "Tale of Peter Rabbit."

Apart from the animation sequences, this is a pretty accurate and realistic bio of Beatrix Potter. If you didn't read her books as a kid, it may not mean much to you. But I grew up reading Potter's stories and it was wonderful to finally find out about the woman who created Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck and all the other whimsical farm and woodland creatures she brought to life in her delightfully illustrated books.

Potter's life was as magical as that of her creatures and she almost single-handedly saved the Lake District of England from over-development by buying up hundreds of farms and preserving them as working farms.

I lived in the Lake District with my first wife where, in 1972, we were married in the Kendall Parish Church where Henry VIII married Katherine Parr, his sixth and last wife, in 1543. We lived a few doors down from the church in a 14th century building that had had once been an inn.

I give this movie four stars.

Red Road (2006)

Far removed from the world, Jackie (Kate Dickie) uses her job as a security surveillance monitor to zoom in on her little corner of Glasgow, Scotland, through cameras placed throughout the city. One day, she sees the familiar face of Clyde (Tony Curran), a man whom she never imagined she would see again -- and who figures prominently into a dark episode in Jackie's past.

I got this movie because it was filmed in Glasgow where I once lived. It's one of those British "fake mysteries" where the only mystery is because the writer withholds information to keep you guessing and, when you do get it, it makes you annoyed that he toyed with your intelligence.

I give it one star for socio-anthropological accuracy.

Stardust (2007)

A young man journeys to a magical world to win the heart of his true love in this charming fantasy based on Neil Gaiman's novel. Tristan (Charlie Cox) has promised Victoria (Sienna Miller) that he'll retrieve a fallen star to secure her love. Along the way, he battles a pirate named Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro), an evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) and other assorted goblins and ghosts. Peter O'Toole, Claire Danes and Rupert Everett co-star.

I didn't expect much more than a few hours of fantasy from this but it turned out to be excellent - and quite funny too.

I give it three stars.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

I bought the video so that I could be sure to have it for my Christmas guests from South Africa who had never seen it before. They were glued to the TV while we cooked Christmas dinner.

Obviously I give it five stars.

The Bishop's Wife (1947)

This Christmastime angelic intervention sparkles with good humor. Dudley the angel (Cary Grant) is sent to help a bishop (David Niven) and his wife (Loretta Young) survive their attempt to finance a new cathedral and the strain it's putting on their marriage. The Bishop's Wife includes complex undercurrents, especially when the bishop sees Dudley as a rival for his job and his wife.

I also got this one especially for my guests who had never seen it before. Yep, they were glued to the TV.

I give it four stars.

A Christmas Story (1983)

Humorist Jean Shepard's nostalgic view of Christmastime in Indiana during the 1940s is a holiday classic. Nine-year-old Ralphie desperately wants a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas and wages an all-out campaign to convince his reluctant parents (Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon) that the toy is safe. Meanwhile, as Ralphie prepares for the big day, his brother has a strange relationship with food, and his dad fights the never-ending furnace battle.

I also got this one for my Christmas guests but it arrived too late - after they'd left. I had never seen it but it was recommended by Libertas.

I give it three stars.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Deck the halls with boughs of laughter -- the Griswolds are back! Clark (Chevy Chase), Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) and the kids (Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki) gear up for the holidays in this installment of the "Vacation" series. As per usual, all the good intentions in the world can't save the family from disaster...or Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid, who practically steals the show).

This one also arrived too late for Christmas. It was also recommended by Libertas (which surprised me) and was quite funny.

I give it two stars.

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

I had seen this when it first came out but I got it to show my guests who our next President (Fred Thompson) will be. It arrived too late but it was worth seeing again. Fred only appears for about ten minutes but the story is great.

I give it three stars.

Spartan (2004)

U.S. government secret agent Scott (Val Kilmer) likes doing things his own way. And that's a good thing, because when he's assigned the task of rescuing the kidnapped daughter (Kristen Bell) of the president, he discovers a larger, more insidious plot that originates within the White House itself -- and it's up to him to get to the bottom of it. William H. Macy co-stars in this twisty thriller written and directed by David Mamet.

I got this because it's a Mamet movie. Apart from the fact that Kilmer looks too soft and decadent to play a Marine secret agent, it was a good story.

I give it two stars.

8MM (1999)

Director Joel Schumacher's mysterious thriller pulls no punches. When a widow hires private eye Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) to determine whether a snuff film in her late husband's possession was faked or real, Welles descends into an abyss of evil that he can't shake. With porn-bookstore clerk Max California (Joaquin Phoenix) as his guide, Welles is drawn deeper into this malevolent world, and what he finds could cost him his sanity and his soul.

Prof at Right Wing Nation recommended this. I had read about it and decided against it because of the horrible subject matter. I commented on Prof's blog that I'd get it since he had enjoyed it. He emailed me and said: "I wouldn't have picked you for someone who would enjoy that kind of movie."

I replied:

Just finished watching it. I got it because I figured, if you liked it, there must be more to it than "just" a thriller. There was. It was brilliant.

When I first saw it advertised on Netflix, I decided against it because it's about a snuff movie and, you're right, I usually don't like "that kind of movie" - too dark and heavy for my tastes. But I enjoy a good thriller occasionally - especially if the good guy kills all the bad guys by the end which I guessed would happen since it's a Cage movie.

Because it's a Cage movie, I was expecting simple entertainment not art. What I didn't figure for was the stylishness, the mood of darkness sustained by making strangely familiar backdrops look eerily bleak, the clever soundtrack of melancholy Indian music and mostly - Cage's performance. He was perfectly cast. His usual boring woodenness is exactly what was needed for the character.

The story was also believable - enough to move me and I was in tears at the end.

I give it three stars.

Emma (1996)

The other night I was feeling too sleepy to watch a video so we turned on the TV to see if there was something short to watch. This movie had just started on PBS which is the channel the TV is most often tuned to. I thought, "I'll watch a bit of this because I'll probably nod off anyway." I did nod off for a while and, when I woke up, I noticed that Chas and Andy were glued to the TV so I had another sip of wine to refresh me and was very glad that I did. It is one of the best films of Jane Austen's novel ever. I don't like Gwyneth Paltrow much but she was really good as Emma Woodhouse.

It's based on Jane Austen's comic novel, "Emma," which was first published in 1816. It's the story of a young woman, Emma, who is the only one of Austen's heroines who is rich and, as a result, is not being pressured by her family to marry a wealthy man so she plays the role of her town's "matchmaker." She's not at all interested in marriage but has a male friend whom she treats as a brother. She does not realizes that she loves him in a more than brotherly fashion until she hears one day that he is engaged to another woman.

The delicacy and tact with with they approach each other when they first realize that their mutual attraction is not simply platonic is one of the finest examples of Austen's understanding of sexual love as a baring of one's soul to another, standing naked before each other spiritually more than physically. They realize, as few people nowadays seem to, that they are becoming emotionally vulnerable to each other and have it within their power to hurt each other badly if they misunderstand each others' intentions.

So, they tread carefully, slowly testing each other to see just how much they can trust being open and defenseless before each other. And, when they finally declare their love for each other, it is like watching Adam and Eve making love in the garden of Eden, as marriage (the merging of two souls) should be; innocent, pure and childlike.

Austen understands how powerful and dangerous sex is and that sexual relations have serious consequences. Kids nowadays think that the only dangers of sex are pregnancy and STDs. They are not taught of sex's dangers to the psyche; how it can damage your character if it is engaged in as mere animals instead of the beings with immortal souls that we are. Jane Austen's six novels should be mandatory reading for all teenage girls - and boys.

I give this movie five stars.

Medium (TV show)

Tonight we watched the first episode of the new season of Medium, which is the only network TV show that we watch anymore. I wondered how they got around the writers' strike so I Googled it and found out that NBC ordered six scripts in advance last April in anticipation of the writers' strike.

I'm skeptical about psychics and that sort of stuff but this show is never boring. The executive producer, creator and director Glenn Gordon Caron did Moonlighting. Medium was inspired by the real-life story of research medium Allison DuBois, played by Patricia Arquette. Kelsey Grammer is the executive producer. No writers are credited but whoever they are, they sure know how to write good stories.

I give this show four stars.

Winter wonderland in Robin's Wood

Here you see can the storm that we had last Tuesday just leaving Virginia today. Our Wednesday storm is hitting the Great Lakes followed by the Thurs, Fri and Sat storms which hit California harder than us. The blob in the Pacific Ocean is just coming ashore as we speak - and it's our first snow of the year?














We've decided to go Mexican and leave our Christmas lights up on the front veranda all year. No one can see the house anyway as it's a half a mile from the road. Actually we'll take them down when the clock springs forward because there's no sense in leaving them up in summer when the sun doesn't set until 10 pm.

















Yesterday we went down to the beach to breathe some ozone to kill off the germs that have given us all lousy colds. This was during a break between downpours of hail and/or rain. We had to come home when a thunderstorm started approaching off the Pacific and the lighting got too close for comfort.

















Don't you hate it when people snap your picture just when you're pulling an ugly face? I had an excuse: the wind was blowing 60 mph and I had sand in my eye. Behind me you can see the logs that were washed up by the high tide earlier that day.

















One of the pieces of driftwood looked a bit like a whale (or maybe a parrot) and we wished we'd brought the chainsaw to cut its "head" off for one of our "natural sculptures" in the garden.

















Of course the ducks love this weather. Here the mallards, Dolly and Dally, are dabbling in the little seasonal creek that flows behind the chicken-coop in winter while the black-runner, Dilly, forages in the grass with some hens.

















This is what the sun looked like at 4pm yesterday - just before sunset. It's what the locals call "liquid sunshine." The end of another perfect day in paradise.

















PS I was about to pop out and take pictures of the snowfall but it only snowed about an inch and sadly it's already melting because it's 33F. At least the storm is making the ocean roar. It sounds like the waves are breaking just outside my bedroom window.