Trick or Treat? Yet Another GOP Sex Scandal!

It seems like you can't swing a cat without hitting another Republican closet-case!
Read all the sordid details here.

A Republican state legislator from southwest Washington had sex with a man he met at an erotic video store and then told police he had been targeted in an extortion attempt, according to police documents released Tuesday.

The police report added that Curtis told officers he only wanted his wallet back "and wanted to keep the incident as low key as possible." He did not want to pursue charges against Castagna, the report said.

But as the investigation continued, police said Curtis admitted to having sex with Castagna in Curtis' hotel room.

According to the report, Curtis said he initially gave Castagna $100 as gas money, and said he did not consider that paying for sex.

Police interviewed several witnesses at the Hollywood Erotic Boutique, and according to the report, Curtis walked into a bathroom at the store and a few minutes later left the bathroom wearing long red women's stockings and a black sequined lingerie top. A witness told police that at another time in the store, he saw a man with a cane performing a sexual act on Curtis.

In 2005 and 2006, Curtis voted against a bill that granted civil rights protections to gays and lesbians.

In 2007, Curtis voted against a bill that created domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.

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He didn't "pay for sex," it was just "gas money." Good grief.

Looks like the Instant Karma Fairy has been extra busy this year. ~grin~

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This is pretty incredible to read about. Who is in charge? Why is this being allowed to happen? These thugs should not be above the law! Immunity Deals Offered to Blackwater Guards.

The Bush administration just gets worse and worse. It is one disaster and lie/cover-up after another. When will it end?

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I bought this book to read after reading about it over at Critical Mass.

William Empson, Seven Types of Ambiguity. The book that gave close reading a good name. I can never open it without thinking that it was begun by an undergraduate at Cambridge who let one of his weekly essays run a little long.
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this will disappear soon

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Jupiter Rising - Electropop

I am totally hooked on this song. It's just great for driving. You must drop what you are doing NOW, and go listen to it on YouTube.

Jezebel: Harlot Queen?

“I read Jezebel in a single enthralled sitting. In her wonderfully spirited retelling of the Books of Kings, Lesley Hazleton makes Jezebel our contemporary, and turns the ninth century B.C. into a prophetic mirror of our twenty-first-century religiopolitical wars. In a feat of nonfiction magical realism, she brilliantly collapses the worlds of now and then into one realm, where Jezebel and Elijah effortlessly rub shoulders with Ehud Olmert and Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. The book is endlessly informative (and Hazleton’s knowledge of Hebrew serves her well here); it is also great fun.”
—Jonathan Raban

"Her demand that we use Jezebel's vivid story as a means to understand 'the dangers of political zealotry and the terrible hypocrisy of those who kill in the name of God' is passionately presented and perfectly timed."
Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett, Seattle Times

This looks like a fascinating and timely read. Lesley Hazelton is an amazing writer.

It's All ABout We

nosism (NO-siz-em) noun

The use of 'we' in referring to oneself.

[From Latin nos (we).]

As it's often used by editors, it's also known as the "editorial we".
It's also called "the royal we" owing to its frequent use by royalty.
Mark Twain once said, "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people
with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we'."
(from today's Word a Day. Archive here).

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Dean and I use the "royal we" all the time at home, when we are being silly. But we use it to replace "you" rather than "I." For instance, "How would we like our eggs this morning?" and "Did we just fart?"

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Went to hear Oliver de la Paz and Aimee Nezhukumatatahil read at Open Books tonight. They had a great turnout. And both gave good readings. (Recorded by our own Elizabeth Austen, for possible play on or local NPR affiliate at a future date.) Oliver's new book Furious Lullaby has lovely lush long lines, many aubades, and a series of epistolary poems. Aimee's At the Drive-In Volcano has a lot of fun and quirky word play, and a deep frivolity, which I admire. Looking forward to diving in to both books more deeply.

Mighty Tieton!

There is a wonderful poetry workshop/retreat/book arts program happening in Tieton, WA the first week of November. Including presentations by Susan Rich, Kathleen Flenniken, Paul Nelson, and others. It looks like a gorgeous setting, in a small town near Yakima and the Snake River. Spaces are still available! Check it out here. It's a fascinating website, with history of the region, photos, tours, etc.

When Doctors Become Patients

A fascinating interview over at Critical Mass. From Robert Klitzman's new book, When Doctors Become Patients.

"I always thought I was Ms. Compassionate and listened. Well, I had no idea what these patients went through. My eyes were completely opened."

The Specialist

A patient was waiting nervously in the examination room of a famous specialist.
"So who did you see before coming to me?" asked the specialist.
The patient answered, "My local Family Doc."
"Your Family Doctor?" scoffed the specialist. "What a waste of time! Tell me, what sort of useless advice did he give you?"
"He told me to come and see you."

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Thanks to Brent for the link to this essay by David Graham, in Valparaiso Poetry Review, about "Ultra-Talk" poetry :

To my mind, the freshness of the ultra-talk poem as a category lies in just such quirky generosity of spirit. Such poetry resuscitates the beleaguered concept of accessibility in poetry, demonstrating by example how a poem may entertain without automatically becoming trivial; can move without being maudlin; and can be intelligent without being ponderous . . .

Sounds like a good thing.

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Listen to Pamela and her students read fishbowl poems on NPR radio here. They're "fin-tastic!"

Watch Monday night's McNeil-Lehrer News Hour featuring small press poetry in Seattle. Including footage from Copper Canyon, Floating Bridge, Raven Chronicles, and Open Books. Yowza!

What Makes You Real?

Dean and I saw Lars and the Real Girl at the Harvard Exit last night. We were expecting a light-hearted comedy, but got something much more complicated. Though parts were laugh-out-loud funny, most of the movie was a fairly intense psychological drama and tear-jerker. Fargo meets Pinocchio meets Velveteen Rabbit, if you will.
Lars has suffered a great loss, his mother dying during his birth. Now, at age 27, his sister-in-law is about to have her first baby, and it triggers a kind of delusion, where he purchases a life-size mail order doll named Bianca, to be his girl-friend ("She's from Brazil. I met her on the internet"). What follows is a fascinating story of how his small community (a town somewhere in the frozen Northern Midwest) goes along with his delusion (which is usually the wrong thing to do, from a psychological perspective; as it only feeds the delusion and makes the condition worse) with amazingly healing results for all, and a lot of warm and fuzzy along the way (all those sweaters! all those mittens! all those wipsy snowflakes!).
Along the way Bianca is elected to the school board. And Lars learns to bowl. All in all, it's a good movie. Ryan Gosling is a disheveled marvel as Lars. Patricia Clarkson is wonderful as the family doctor.

Doppleganger?

Imagine... You Changing the World

October 15th: 8:30, 9:15 (Harvest) and 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Dr. Peter Pereira is an internationally renowned evangelist who has influenced thousands to follow Christ at mass crusades. The founder of Hope for Today Ministries and Director of South Asia for the International Leadership Institute, Dr. Pereira has established over 70 churches in India. He runs the Alpha Home for orphans which he and his wife, Esther established; he has a 'Rag-Pickers' ministry to benefit those living in slums; and his ministry continues to provide tsunami relief on the East Indian coast.

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This was too weird, and funny. Mass crusades? A home for orphans? My wife Esther? It's a parallel universe. A bizarro world.

(What self-googling gets you.)