There May Be Oil Under Rock Holes

What are we experiencing in 2007? How's life going, folks? Depends on who you are, how many assets you have, I suppose, whether you own, or rent, or stay with friends and family, or live in the streets. I rent, so retain a certain amount of mobility as needed.

Politically, we're experiencing a breakdown in democracy, control by oligarchy. A rich clown at the proverbial helm, guided by bullhorn, opposition in check. 600+ days left of the Bush-Cheney "team" though we're long overdue for a regime change. Let us eat cake or shut our cake holes. There may be oil in them thar hills. You never know, there's always the Lotto and the "War on Terror."

Today's Rune: Harvest.

Birthdays: Aleksandr Pushkin, Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt, Isadora Duncan, Al Jolson (b. Asa Yoelson), Norma Talmadge, Dorothea Lange (b. Nutzhorn), John Wayne (b. Marion Robert Morrison), Jay Silvereels (b. Harold J. Smith, Mowawk Nation), Peggy Lee (b. Norma Deloris Egstrom), Miles Davis, Helena Bonham Carter, Zola Budd.

"Guerilla war struggle is the new entertainment." -- Gang of Four.

Take Me To The Bridge

When it comes to fiction, some writers tend toward novels, some to short stories. Two masters come to mind -- Larry McMurtry (b. 6/3/1936) and Raymond Carver (5/25/1938-8/2/1988). McMurtry's novels tend to move at a clip, while Carver's short stories slow down the pace.

Carver has been dead for nearly twenty years, so more has been revealed about Raymond the man. One place to discover more is What it Used to be Like: A Portrait of My Marriage to Raymond Carver, Maryann Buck Carver's 2006 memoir. An enjoyable if tortured read, Maryann's book fleshes out parts of Ray's life that one can already surmise from his fiction, poetry, and short essays. In fact, a good sampler to read along with the memoir is Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories (1983). I like Maryann's version. On the other hand, I'm not a Tess Gallaher fan because what she says about Ray -- as the "second wife" -- sounds a little suspect: too distorted and self-serving, even delusional at times. I will not be surprised if she answers What it Used to be Like with something of her own. If so, I don't look forward to it.


I would, though, like to read a Larry McMurtry memoir about some of his own women friends. Like Carver, he can do non-fiction. All three of these are good (and short): Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (1999), Roads (2001) and Paradise (2002). So how about something like Now About My Friends (2011)?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.


Birthdays: Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mr. Bojangles (Bill Robinson), Padre Pio (Francesco Forgione), Igor Sikorsky, Gene Tunney, Bennett Cerf, Raymond Carver, Ian McKellen, Jamaica Kincaid (b. Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson), Paul Weller, Anne Heche.

Go, Pistons, Go!

The Downing of Flight 655

On July 3, 1988, I flew from London to the USA on a large airliner with my friend Evan and our now ex-wives. After landing at one airport, while waiting for a final connection home, we heard that another passenger jet had been blown out of the sky. Naturally, this sent chills up my spine. The other plane happened to be Iranian, and those who shot it out of the sky happened to be Americans operating in the Persian Gulf. Among the 290 people on board, 66 were children.

The fact is, during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), with Ronald Reagan’s U.S. administration assisting Saddam Hussein’s Iraq against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the U.S. moved ships and aircraft through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf, and by 1988, the US was engaged in a quasi-war against Iran. US Navy Captain William C. Rogers III, the particularly aggressive commander of the USS Vincennes, moved his warship into Iranian waters and ordered the shootdown of Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian Airbus clearly on its way from Bandar Abbas, Iran, to Dubai International Airport. Flight 655 was a routine flight normally shorter than a similar one between Detroit and Chicago. The Vincennes fired two missiles, blew the plane in half and killed everyone on board. The American government has shown no remorse for this act, undermining its claims to moral high ground in international affairs – to say the least.

How often do governments admit wrong doing when they are complicit in a horrible act? If G.W. Bush rarely if ever admits wrong doing (let alone stupidity), what did his Daddy (then Reagan’s VP) say about this specific incident of killing 290 civilians on the American taxpayers’ tab?

"I will never apologize for the United States of America -- I don't care what the facts are." (George Bush, quoted in Newsweek, August 15, 1988).


Unlike either Bush president, I DO care what the facts are, and I DO NOT want to spend the rest of my life apologizing for the depraved idiocy of political leaders mismanaging my own country. Americans, Iranians, and everybody everywhere should be aware of how dangerous today’s situation is, with two carrier groups and another strike force sailing around the Persian Gulf today like it's a game of dare.

Is the USA already in another quasi-war with Iran? More will be revealed, whether we like it or not. On a related note, unleaded regular gas is up to $3.50 per gallon as of last night, in Detroit, and the Iraq War continues to go badly. Lucky us.

Today’s Rune: Flow.

Birthdays: The Buddha, Emanuel Leutze, Suzanne Lenglen, Barbara West, Lilli Palmer, (b. Lillie Marie Peiser), Joseph Brodsky, Bob Dylan (b. Robert Allen Zimmerman), Patti LaBelle (b. Patricia Louise Holte), Rosanne Cash, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joe Dumars.

Show of Force

Happiness must be earned. -- The Thief of Bagdad [sic] (1924).


The snake is long -- seven miles.


Come on & join your fellow man . . .


Through the Strait of Hormuz flow
To the Persian Gulf they go.

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Birthdays: Carolus Linnaeus, Margaret Fuller, Douglas Fairbanks (b. Douglas Elton Ullman), Corrado Gini, Artie Shaw (b. Arthur Jacob Arshawsky), Rosemary Clooney, Robert Moog, K. Raghavendra Rao, Ann Hui (On-Wah).

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

Bikini or Monokini? The Name of the Game

A. So the sexy bikini was named after Atomic testing in the Bikini Atoll, where things were warm, sunny, and Pacificky if not exactly pacific. The indigenous people of Bikini were "relocated" to nearby islands so the US Government could test and explode A-bombs in the 1940s as well as the first H-bomb, in 1954.

Most of us know of the forced relocation of various peoples to/throughout North America; many also know of Japanese American internment during WWII. Fewer may have heard or read about the forced removal of inhabitants from the Bikini Atoll. If less is more, here's the gist:

Bikinian Anthem (1946) by Lore Kessibuki (1914-1994)

No longer can I stay, it's true.
No longer can I live in peace and harmony.
No longer can I rest on my sleeping mat and pillow
Because of my island and the life I once knew there.

The thought is overwhelming
Rendering me helpless and in great despair.

My spirit leaves, drifting around and far away
Where it becomes caught in a current of immense power
-And only then do I find tranquility.


B. That's the Bikini Atoll end of the story. The other end is in Paris, where a guy named Louis Reard / Luis Réard (1897-1984) whimsically applied the scary Atomic world to the racy bathing suit, and paid Micheline Bernardini, an exotic dancer from the Casino de Paris, 16 rue de Clichy, to model it for photographers and reporters. From the sample research I've done so far, the name of the original bikini model also comes up occasionally as Michele or Michèle Bernadini. As it turns out, her name was probably a stage name inspired by Micheline Bernard, an actress from the 1930s. In any case, the entire July 1946 stunt was ultimately a success in marketing -- the two-piece had been around, but not as the bikini. Since the 1960s, there's also been the development and marketing of the monokini/unikini -- or topless bathing suit -- with wordplay on bi- and mono-, yet one more step away from the original Bikini Atoll.


C. There is plenty of information available about the Marshall Islands and the people displaced from the Bikini Atoll. A good place to start is Radio Bikini (1987, DVD 2003).

D. I do not know what became of Micheline Bernardini, though I suspect her life to have been like something along the lines of the protagonist in Mary Gaitskill's Veronica (2005).

Today's Rune: Journey.

Birthdays: Louis de Buade Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau, Gérard de Nerval (Gérard Labrunie), Richard Wagner, Catulle Mendès, Mary Cassatt, Arthur Conan Doyle, Laurence Olivier, Vance Packard, Sun Ra / Le Sony'r Ra (b. Herman Poole Blount), John Barth, Harvey Milk, M. Scott Peck, Richard Benjamin, Theodore Kaczynski (the Unabomber), Morrissey (Steven Patrick Morrissey), Naomi Campbell.

I Found That Essence Rare

"I Found That Essence Rare"*

Aim for the body rare, you'll see it on TV
The worst thing in 1954 was the Bikini
See the girl on the TV dressed in a Bikini
She doesn't think so but she's dressed for the H-Bomb
(For the H-Bomb)

I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for

Aim for the country fair you read it in the papers
The worst happens any week a scandal on the front page
See the happy pair smiling close like they are monkeys
They wouldn't think so but they're holding themselves down
(Hold themselves down)

I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for

I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for

Aim for politicians fair who'll treat your vote well
The last thing they'll ever do is act in your interest
Look at the world through your polaroid glasses
Things'll look a whole lot better for the working classes
(Working classes)

I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for

I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for.

*Gang of Four, Entertainment! (1979) -- Dave Allen, Hugo Burnham, Andy Gill, Jon King.


Micheline Bernadini -- first woman to wear the modern bikini -- ever.

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Gemini Birthdays: Albrecht Dürer, Alexander Pope, Henri le Douanier Rousseau, Suzanne Lilar (b. Suzanne Verbist), Thomas Wright Fats Waller, Harold Robbins (b. Francis Kane, Harold Rubin), Raymond Burr, Robert Creeley, Al Franken, Jeffrey Dahmer, Biggie Smalls aka The Notorious B.I.G. (b. Christopher George Latore Wallace).

Au revoir!

"God is tops! God is tops!"

Christopher Hitchens has a provocative new book out titled god Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (May 1, 2007). I can understand his frustration, given the religious fanaticism that continues to fuel violence and coercion in these times of woe. But is it really religion that poisons everything, or many of the people who practice? It's not as if religion can claim a monopoly on poison -- leaders of some secular ideologies have obviously proven just as disastrous to peace and harmony. Still, good to have a healthy dose of free speech amid the global "War on Terror" -- whatever that means.

On the other side of the spectrum, there's a movement within the Catholic Church to revive interest and membership, particularly in Brazil (population approximately 188 million), epitomized by Father Marcelo Rossi (b. May 20, 1967) and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Rossi uses populist methods (music, fun, corn dog pronouncements like "God is tops!") to compete directly against Protestant rivals, with success. He has a website with plenty of whistles and bells, and yet, even though he is not a violent man, I doubt Mr. Hitchens is impressed. Still, given how out of touch with earthly reality Pope Benedict XVI (b. Joseph Alois Ratzinger) seems to be, there is no wonder why many Brazilians respond more enthusiastically to Father Rossi. God -- and people -- work in mysterious ways. Simply put, some ways are more peaceful than others. Better a sentimental Rossi than a hideous witch-burning Puritan or another Spanish Inquisition.

Today's Rune: Protection.

More Taurus Birthdays: William Congreve, Honoré de Balzac, John Stuart Mill, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Kevorkian (b. Pontiac, Mich.), Anthony Zerbe, Joe Cocker, Cher (b. Cheryl Sarkisian LaPiere), Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin, Marcelo Mendonça Rossi.

Ate mais tarde!