Aviophobia Update

You may have read here that I suffer from Aviophobia (A confession: How I slipped through the NSA metal detectors. . .with some heavy metal!; Fear Of Flying, Fear of Dying; Poem: Falling; Poem: Notes On Flying; One More Reason Why I Am Scared Sh**less To Fly: Video Of Fixing A Jet's Wing With Duct Tape; Airline passenger restrictions, hip replacements, and why the Executive Branch goes unmolested, while I am scanned, probed, poked and patted down; Poem: The Icarus Factor).

Despite these fears, I now relentlessly fly all over the country. I just returned from a four flight trip up and down the West Coast (with a couple more flights on the horizon next week). Believe it or not, the flight on which I felt least anxious was on a turbo-prop (a Q 200) that brought me home to Seattle from Eugene. You'd think a propeller whirling ten feet from your head would cause someone like me a case of extreme jitters. Maybe it was taking four flights in three days that numbed me. Maybe I am now in such a constant state of alarm that the actual getting on the plane part is no longer even noticeably anxiety-triggering. I just don't know. There is something sweet and old school about flying these turbo-props. Thirty passengers, every seat is an aisle or window seat, free drinks, friendly cabin attendants, and the beauty of getting on and off the plane right on the tarmac. The plane clears out in two minutes, and your bags are right next to the plane. The plane gets in the air almost instantly and climbs fast compared to a lumbering 747. Even in this loud, vibration-heavy plane I am no longer a total basket case.

Now that I have several flights always booked, I at least no longer suffer a two week long build-up of anxiety, or a near catatonic shutdown on the actual day of the flight. The one thing I can't tell is if I am healing myself or if I have become utterly numb, and my brain has just shut down most of that aviophobic input. Whatever the case, it is easier to fly. I think. I am building up my frequent flyer mileage at an amazing rate! And what do you get with frequent flyer miles? More flights!

I should mention that on every single flight I take, my bags are scrutinized, and sometimes unpacked, and I am gone over with the wand, and then "patted down." My prosthetic hip sets off metal detectors. So on this week's trip, I was frisked four times. Unlike a lot of my fellow passengers, I am pretty sanguine about the pat-downs. Many other people become quite surly during this procedure. I don't know if I am being a nice guy about it, or, again, am I now numb?
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White House nude intern scandal―VP Cheney may be implicated

The beleagured White House was rocked once again by scandal this afternoon, following publication of photographs of a group of semi-nude White House pages. The thirteen interns pictured volunteer at The White House, serving as runners, tour guides, and clerical aides to various White House staffers. Another photograph, not released, but in wide circulation on various internet sites, is alleged to be roughly the same pose, with Vice-President Cheney in the center, extending his hands to cover one breast on each of the women at his side.

White House spin doctors claimed the photographs were spurious, and probably Photoshop® composites. Dr. John Newton of the Digital Forensics Laboratory, Inc., however, said he had examined the photos of the Vice-President and pronounced them "the real McCoy." "As much as I dislike saying this," Dr. Newton told a reporter from All This Is That, "that is indeed Mr. Cheney, and these images have not been tampered with or digitally altered."

"It particularly pains me," Newton said, "because I voted for these guys. I don't know how far this will go, but it could make the Lewinsky scandal look like a minor indiscretion."

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George Lucas calls Spiderman 3 "silly"

According to Fox News: George Lucas described Spiderman 3: "It's silly. It's a silly movie," he said. "There just isn't much there. Once you take it all apart, there's not much story, is there?" Lucas then described how he would be making a couple more Star Wars movies, with characters others than the Skywalker family.

I'm not a particular fan of the series, but I saw the last couple (which are considered among the first couple...huh?), and they were silly. He should have let it rest, but it looks like he's determined to run what's left of his franchise right into the ground. . .
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An American Hero: Jeff Spiccoli?

click Spiccoli to enlarge

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Politically incorrect t-shirt

I don't know exactly what this t-shirt is driving at, but I did find it amusing.

Hey, I didn't create it...it just fell my way. I am guessing it means, "let's get stupid"/"let's roast one"/"let's get baked." Why the wheelchair? Why no apostrophe in "lets?" Beats me...

jack in Eugene, Oregon

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A great photo of Brian Wilson from the 80s

click to enlarge

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Dick Cheney Arrives In Iraq To Straighten Out The Warring Factions

According to a Reuters report from Baghdad, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday (today) on an unannounced visit, at a time when pressure from Washington is growing on the Iraqi government to heal sectarian divisions.

The Veep is there to reooncile warring Iraqi factions, now that he sort of understands there is a difference between the Sunni and Shiite branches.

Who else would you send but The Great Healer and God of Conciliation?

I understand that President Bush may not be the right guy for the job. But on the other hand, why would a person almost universally reviled in America be tapped for this task?

A little over a year ago, we covered the attempted resignation of the V.P. Click here to read this article.

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Video--Koko The Clown--With A Score By The Beau Hunks

Max Fleicher's Ko-Ko the Clown in "Ko-Ko's HYPNOTISM" is a silent cartoon to which a You-tuber added sound, and the music of The Beau Hunks.

I own about 8 albums by The Beau Hunks, a Dutch musical group, who play absolutely vintage instruments, and have resurrected music from Laurel and Hardy, the Little Rascals, and other old popular music sources. The Beau Hunks are particularly known (and appreciated) for popularing the music of Leroy Shield.

Incredibly enough, the Beau Hunks don't even have a listing on The Wikipedia. You can learn more about them on Amazon.com.


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The Frog Vote, Continued

I did enjoy some of the late campaign posters in the French election. These posters come from a really interestiung blog on that electiom--The French Election 2007 blog, covering the story from an American perspective. Because that's the one we'll listen to. Heh Heh.

Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (his birth name) and Le Pen came up with a poster that sems to deny charges that he is a racist, proto-fascisct, or whatever. . .with a hot looking young woman (who may or not be French, and who is demiographically not a likely Sarkozy supporter) showing a few millimeters of panty on her peekaboo midriff.

la 1ère affiche de campagne de Ségolène.

Le Pen's poster has the slogan "Nationality, assimilation, social elevator, secularity. Right/Left: They have broke!" Apparently he is trying to shed his racially tinged reputation by placing an immigrant on his signs. Tough luck.

Royal's poster, well. . .you get it, they're looking for a change. It's usually a safe gambit, but this time around change took an ass-whuppin' to retrenchment.

Alas, another potential MILF politician bites the dust.

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Poem: The Icarus Factor

I wrote this as I was approaching John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California tonight. I'll get the chance to do a lot of descents over the next three days, as I go from Orange County to Berkeley, CA to Portland, OR to Eugene, OR and then back to Seattle.

The Icarus Factor

As the plane begins to descend
My anxiety evaporates

Whatever happens from here on
Is all good

It's a paradox
The closer the ground

The better I feel
And while the ground itself

Is most apt to do me harm
The nearer I get to mother earth

The sweeter

Life is.
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Is the world going redneck?

Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy trumped Segolene Royal in the hotly-contested French presidential election, 53% to 47%. And 85% if the eligible voters hit the polls. . .the frogs may be little misguided, but they turn out to vote in numbers that make America look pathetically apathetic.

The White House has to be celebrating this one. With Stephen Harper as the PM in Canada, and now Sarkozy in France, The White House may have some friends. . .especially now that Tony Blair is hitting the bricks. And those pesky frogs have caused President Bush nothing but trouble over his adventures in the middle-east. You do have to wonder, when do the riots in France begin?

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Sheryl Crowe Reiterates And Tells Us The Toilet Paper Thing Was Actually. . .A Joke

Sheryl Crowe gives us all a scolding in The Huffington Post. She also says that the whole toilet paper brouhaha was a "joke."

"It's been well over a week since our little run in with the adviser to our president. I am just now processing all that took place during the last few days of the Stop Global Warming College tour and a few concerns still hang heavy on my mind and heart. "

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