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i am so fuckin' glad...       7.29
that i don't live in a place like Tulia, Texass...
and i truly feel for the poor folks that do.
Robert Herbert puts it succinctly:
The idea that people could be rounded up and sent away
for what are effectively lifetime terms solely on the word
of a police officer like Tom Coleman is insane.
William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition

adieu Mr. McCrone...      
Walter C. McCrone, Unshrouder of Myths, passes on;
and here is a link to the McCrone Research Institute.
the value of Mr. McCrone's work has long gone unrecognized
by the hordes of ignorami amongst us...

another monday...      
& even tho we've experienced a couple of thousand of 'em by now,
it seems they don't get any easier to deal with,
not if you're a working class kinda person, anyway...
just a couple of things that caught the eye of yourstruly this am:
we've known about the importance of a loving touch for years now;
ourowndamnself had made mention of the news some while ago,
the doors at Black Sparrow have closed for good now...

ciao, bambini...

in the middle of a low key weekend...       7.27
v e r y   l o w   k e y . . .
altho i do have one suggestion for thee,
thanks to el stumperino over at environy for the heads up...

for those of you fortunate to live in a place
where you might be able to see this in a theatre,
hie thyselves off to do so, don't miss the opportunity...

note to S.: looks like the dumbmonkey doesn't respond to firmamenting
late breaking news: we firmamentin' now, bo-yeh...
yah, but somewherez 'bout da twelthe...

reminder to local folk...       7.26
S.F. Mime Troupe, Saturday in Glen Park,
Sunday at Yerba Buena Gardens,
check their schedule for the rest of the summer here

d a m n . . .       7.25
nearly missed this one

thursday morning monkeybusiness. . .      
on the way into work today yourstruly was reading fine work by
Joe Sacco, the book's title PALESTINE and you'll find more info on both
at the Fantagraphics Books site, this page in particular.
Great work, very interesting & compelling,
one of the little jewels we aquired on
our visit to the Indy Book Fair in S.F. last Saturday...
oh, & then there's more, on Big Trees Burning.

big news for cineastes in San Francisco...      
the Galaxy goes Art House/Indy,
at least temporarily...

h e l l o     a g a i n . . .       7.24
some miscelleanea from this Am's perusals,
Giants in Sequoia National Forest Threatened by Fire,
if you've never seen a forest of these big fellas,
well, awe inspiring is putting it mildly;
a registry of Big Trees in California;
something thoughtful & memorable from Joan Ryan,
from the S.F. Chronicle, War and Absolution

talkin' some serendipity here...       7.23
quickly now, vite, vite- - -
first, you'll note an earlier entry re things Atomic,
so we are perusing the NYRB site and found this item:
The Growing Nuclear Danger;
THEN, we also stop by another favorite, the Daily Bleed for today,
and you'll have to work this one out for yourself,
but you'll find a James Brown related link somewhere on the page,
again, serendipitious in re to the earlier Hardest Working Catalogue link...

h e l l o . . .
yo! everybody knows whitefolks don't got no rhythm...
hmmmmmm, we not so sure ourowndamnself!
from the New Yorker, on-line,
The Hardest Working Back Catalogue in Show Business;
okay now, get off on the good foot...
discovered in the official record of visitors hereabouts,
International Atomic Energy Agency;
from the N.Y. Times, In The Beginning...;
also from the Times, intended to provide us with a glimmer of hope,
Why We're So Nice: We're Wired to Cooperate

a monday morning's melange...       7.22
just a brief visit here to share a few bits before heading out the door to the city & the
j-o-b, our sunday uneventful, mostly the chores of batchelor housekeeping, viewed a fine french drama mid-afternoon on DVD, maybe mention more about it later...
here a couple of food related links, fast food to be more precise. Some linky goodness that showed up on other folks sites recently had something to do with a Guardian item re the actual content/make up of chickeney-nuggety kind of "food" items, this story from the L.A. Times re antibiotics in our food chain, particularly in processed chicken;
this next item should frighten the hell out of anybody with a serious fast food moby,
courtesy the Washington Post, a Fast Food Calorie Counter.
now we're as guilty as the next dumbmonkey re our diet on occasion, altho happy to say that on Saturday afternoon, in the company of three other splendid examples of modern day primates allied to visit the Indy book fair, we decided to traipse on over to Tu Lan, a splendid little hole-in-the-wall of a Vietnamese restaurant, where we partook of a hearty repast, and while the service was quick and there was truly nothing fancy 'bout the fare, this was the kind of fast food we could eat a WHOLE LOT MORE of...
ahhhh, the book fair. Well, yourstruly, as aptly named a primate as one could ever imagine, in his infinite dumbness brought along both cameras, the nice & shiny & quite better Canon, along with the impish & occasionally inadequate l'espion, discovered on the Bart ride over to the city that we'd left our memory card in the USB reader at home, after downloading the pictures we'd taken earlier that Sat Am, so we were left with the tiny camera, which despite it's limitations can occasionally produce a surprisingly adequate result. It is only our own laziness & inclination to have done something other yesterday than play with the computer that we are not adding any pictures to this morning post, maybe tomorrow, maybe a few days hence, maybe never, we'll just have to see, nevertheless, we did invest some money in a couple of books, one rather sizeable purchase of a first edition of something a little unusual, and it was a lovely day to be in the middle of a beautiful city park on a magnificent Saturday afternoon along with a coupleofthousand others, all there to celebrate books, and the independent booksellers represented by the many vendors there on that breezy afternoon.
two or three things to close this out, brought to mind by something we heard while driving the other day, and the hearing of the song again brought back so many memories.
from a little band from some years ago, they called themselves Poco;
A Good Feelin' to Know;
Crazy Eyes.
okay, now we are out the door, wishin' you all a fine week...

another saturday morning...       7.20
yourstruly is up early as usual, despite being awakened by shouts of teenage males in the throes of their hormonal urges, yelling in front of chez d'monquis, three fucking o'clock on the previous morning, shouting horrible things about the young girl living down the street. Yeeeeesh...
so out the door and up to Peet's for the morning's caffeination, a trip to the post office, picking up the latest New Yorker & a postcard from a friend, then a quick stop at the Virginia Bakery, where our hero is momentarily stupefied by the beauty of the young woman behind the counter, yet regains enough of his composure to order the yummy apple pastry that he'll be sharing later in Alameda-town with friend Lee. This woman is exceedingly lovely, very fair skinned, long pale eyelashes, a very light shade of red hair, long, but worn tied back and away from her face, something about her reminds him of paintings he's seen of a beautiful Madonna or pre-Raphaelite maiden. An effort is made to avoid staring as the transaction is completed, and she smiles as she says Thank You and as our hero exits he is grateful for serendipity once again, being here this morning, this lovely person behind the counter, grateful for that glimpse of transcendent beauty.
He's in Alameda within 10 minutes, Lee's wife F. meets him at the door, ready to dash off on an appointment to assist someone with the birth of their child, and in another few minutes coffee is made, the pastry is cut, and we're sitting at the little table in the kitchen talking about beauty, talking about our brushes with it, our infatuations inspired by it, and laughing at our male foolishness, acknowledging our mutual helplessness in the face of it, not just beauty in the realm of the feminine, but in music, poetry, delicious meals...
the clouds in the sky above Alameda town had already begun to break up when he arrived there, and by the time he left a little more than an hour later, the sun had banished the early morning fog layer, but as he drove north again towards Albany, the low clouds reappeared and when back at chez d'monquis, the hills still remained shrouded, the clouds still thickly covering the expanse of sky above, and at the writing of this post, the sky remains cloudy, and it's turned 12:30.
A few things to leave you with,
inspired by our regular visit to the Daily Bleed, first an excerpt of verse from P. Levine;

the weekend is upon us...       7.19
okely-dokely, a couple of reminders then:
What Is Art? wanna find out?? Visit Artopia 2002;
next, a reprise of yesterday's mention:
BOOKS BY THE BAY
radicchio, mesclun or just plain Lettuce;
& thats enough of that for now, mebbe mo' later,
here's something new from Mark Morford,
& while we at it, D. Lazarus, from the SF Chron,
Bush Sets a Bad Example

hey, why do fools fall in love?
whoa, you are asking the wrong guy...

some additional linky goodness...       7.18
discovered this Am, first, from the L.A. Times,
Notes from the Underground;
and secondly, from the pages of the fishwrap,
Microplex as Antidote to the Multiplex

another nice thing that happened yesterday...      
on our way out of Black Oak Books,we picked up catalog from
the San Francisco Center for the Book
and thought immediately of esteemed bloguerrilla
Craig Jensen of BookNotes. Perhaps, when all the dust has settled
from the sale of one house & move to another, we might see
C.J. as visiting faculty there, and personal note to C.J.,
you got futon rights at chez d'monquis whenever you need 'em, amigo...
oh oh oh! Speaking of Books,
late breaking news item just received from esteemed co-worker J.Killz
(the devilishly clever hockey fan responsible for Bronze Rhino)
BOOKS BY THE BAY

awfully weary, for some reason...    
perhaps a vitamin deficiency, perhaps simply ennui,
a particular virulent strain of it, sapping what energy we possess, making the sweet warm comforts of the bed chamber terribly difficult to pass up...
we did manage to hie ourowndamnself out into the world yesterday, thanks to e-mailed notice from pal D. Hawk re the traveling exhibit by Doctors Without Borders, here in Berkeley for a couple of days, you can click this link to determine if and when they're visiting your area, so do the dumbmonkey a favor and Tell Your Friends, Co-workers, & Family Members. We'd like the opportunity to talk about our feelings re this wonderful organization at a later date, oh, mebbe tomorrow, maybe over the weekend, but we also wanted to say our morning out was a nice one, met up with a friend who we hadn't seen for some time, and that was especially pleasant. The visit to Black Oak Books was too, and we kept a tight leash on our book aquisition habit, buying only two volumes, one of which had me in tears for a great deal of the afternoon spent reading it. Which & Why? well, again, perhaps we can address that later, as there is an essay in this book that we intend to publish here in order to share it with you all, and it relates to something that has been on our mind of late, something inspired by the events of the last few weeks of l'marquis' life.
Oh, and one last thing for now. Do check out the on-line petitions at the Doctors Without Borders site ( LINKED HERE ) pass that link along, again, to your friends & family members, it seems to me that all of us together might be able to effect some change,
at least this weary fool would like to think so...

not yet running scared...       7.16
but we are
Laying low,
Seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go,
Looking for the places Only they would know
from the L.A. Times:
Cheney's Grimy Trail in Business;
& one other thing, noted by ourowndamnself on sunday,
and somewhat surprised that we hadn't noticed anybody else
make mention of the anniversary of Woodie Guthrie's birth, 1912,

briefly, on a Saturday Am...       7.13
from this morning's mail to the dumbmonkey:
AUTHOR GORE VIDAL AND SENIOR FELLOW ROBERT HIGGS NOW APPEARING ON PBS PROGRAM "UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE"

Higgs and Vidal Join Program Host Peter Robinson to Debate Hoover Institution Research Fellow Dinesh D'Souza on America's Terrorist Crisis

OAKLAND, Calif. - The PBS program "Uncommon Knowledge" is now airing two episodes featuring Gore Vidal, author of the new book, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got To Be So Hated, and Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute, editor of its quarterly journal, The Independent Review, and author of the book, Crisis and Leviathan.

The programs were taped in conjunction with an Independent Institute forum held on April 18th and co-sponsored by Harper's Magazine entitled "Understanding America's Terrorist Crisis: What Should Be Done?"

The second "Uncommon Knowledge" program entitled "Enemies of the State" includes Dinesh D'Souza, research fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of the new book, What's So Great About America, and debates whether Islamic terrorists hate America because of its freedoms, or because of U.S. intervention in the Middle East?

Please check your local listings for broadcast times of "Uncommon Knowledge" or consult http://www.uncommonknowledge.org/availability.html.

Vidal and Higgs also appeared on last week's episode of "Uncommon Knowledge" entitled "Taking Liberties." The pair discussed the curtailment of civil liberties since September 11th and made predictions for the future of basic rights and freedoms in America. The transcript and streaming video of that program is accessible via the World Wide Web at: http://www.uncommonknowledge.org/700/701.html.

For a transcript of the Institute program "Understanding America's Terrorist Crisis: What Should Be Done?" see: http://www.independent.org/tii/forums/VidalipfTransEx.html

For additional Institute resources on the "War on Terrorism," see: http://www.independent.org/tii/news/010915Terrorist.html

we think it rather interesting to note where this program may be available

ol' georgie B. Jr doesn't really care...       7.12
'bout ya if you happen to be black, brown, asian, or any "tweener",
he's really only concerned with the lot of those like hissowndamnedself,
white, priviledged, male (sorry republican gals)-- and it helps if you're
dumb as a post, 'cause goodness knows, GWB don' like getting shown up...
from Bob Herbert, at the NYT, Suffer the Children.


Two Freebies...
we've written about both of these wonderful Bay Area resources previously, and for those of you who haven't caught on yet, well, check out the schedules provided at each of the websites and hie thyselves off for hours of enjoyment, WITHOUT PAYING ANY MONEY AT ALL.
yesssss, boyz & gurlz, it's that time of year again, and the S.F. Mime Troupe is back with a new show (laudatory fishwrap review here), and we'll be in attendance at the Live Oak Park (Berkeley) show this weekend.
the other freebie we're speaking of takes place at Kezar Pavilion (near GGP), the SF Pro-Am Basketball League is in full swing, and while you many not catch the big names you might have oncet upon a time, there's still some great games, some very talented players, BOTH MENZ AND WOMENZ LEAGUES, and the best part of the entire deal, again, is that the games are free, Free, FREE!
So what are you waiting for Binky? an engraved invitation?

e g a d s . . .       7.10
power lawn mowers;
power bloggers;
power lawn mowers;
power bloggers;
"okayokayokay, think mebbe i'll go out & cut some grass..."
"yah, okey, you go do that while i stay here & smoke some..."

& by the way...      
here's something from that Morford fellow again;
the only mention we'll make of the all-star travesty is,
"why does anyone still pay attention to that crap?"
dammit, go out and support your local AA & AAA & rec league teams,
to hell w/all those vain, overpaid prima donnas & the machine they play for...
and while we're at it we'll note today's Chronicle headline:
"No capitalism without conscience, No wealth without character...",
which we have to assume came straight from the braying donkey's mouth,
Hell, isn't that the American Way in a nutshell?:
Capitalism With No Conscience, Wealth Without Character-
c'mon, convince me otherwise, i'm a reasonable fellow...
we've said it before hereabouts as well as in other places, G. W. Bush is a Liar, he has absolutely no capacity or ability to tell us the truth, it is very likely he is unaware of what the truth may actually be, amongst the overwhelming evidence of the many other things he's blissfully unaware of. He comes from a tribe of Liars, all accomplished ones, and the fact that these folks also refer to themselves, quite emphatically and wholeheartedly, as Christians should make those of you out there who really may be VERY UPSET.
He is a charlatan and a fool and this country is in deep shit until more of us simply begin to demand more from these immoral conniving weasels we've elected, until we are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary and required of a nation ready to accept it's proper and rightful place in a world of nations on this ONE planet, & for some of you still not sure,
it is NOT an American planet...

in a ruminative mood...       7.8
& likely we'll get into our reasons why later,
but for now, from todays Daily Bleed:
War is the health of the State...
It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for
uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups & individuals which lack the larger herd sense...
the nation in war-time attains a uniformity of feeling, a hierarchy of values culminating at the undisputed apex of the State ideal, which could not possibly be produced through any other agency than war...
The State is intimately connected with war, for it is the organization of the collective community when it acts in a political manner, & to act in a political manner towards a rival group has meant, throughout all history — war.
Randolph Bourne, War & the Intellectuals
a little more about R. Bourne

the fact that we're number two...       7.6
on this list of results
will only encourage us to try harder...

shhhhh...       7.5
a quiet day hereabouts, some poetry perhaps,
yourstruly on the j-o-b, altho' he'd much rather be elsewhere...
High Riders, courtesy Poetry Daily.
for some reason, that verse brought to mind a long time
personal favorite of ours, a certain Robinson Jeffers,
so, here's a few R. Jeffers related links:
Jeffers Studies;
Tor House Foundation;
five poems;
R. Jeffers - Pantheist Poet;
The Answer, R. Jeffers;
two poems by Jeffers;
lastly, for now, Hurt Hawks, R. Jeffers
oh & by the way, anybody run into any terrorists yesterday?

definitely NOT wrapped up in the R,W & B ...       7.3
but spending some serious quality time en famille;
the Momz & Popz in town, yourstruly meeting them &
the Santa Rosan gang of pivarnicks this Pm, beloved Bro K
scheduled to depart for shipboard life in Kodiak AK on Friday,
so this week marks somewhat of a milepost in the
lives of ourowndamnself and those dearest to us...
a couple of things to share with you, before we hit the road,
delivered to our mailbox, and not sure how or why or who sent these our way,
but we are, nonetheless, grateful, because they are interesting & worth your perusal.
from the Bureau of Public Secrets;
Kenneth Rexroth's San Francisco,
alongside the Kenneth Rexroth Archive.
okay now, watch out for those patriots on the loose tomorrow!

hmmmppphhhffff...       7.2
The Gestalt of Online Searching

awwwww, damnitalltopieces...      
yourstruly thought he had the j-o-b sewed up...
the fishwrap blog: Laurel W.'s Born to Blog

AND, more importantly: Not In Our Names,
from The Ethical Spectacle
hmmmmmm...  
yes, lots of that kind of thing goin' on

just a quick mention of a few things this am...      
Rebecca of My Blue House bids us "Hasta Luego"...
y que te vaya bien, estimada amiga!
&, perhaps to take away some of that bitter aftertaste,
the Mid-Summer Ralph is upon us
also, over the weekend we became acutely aware that during
the last month or so we've espied more Tibetan flag stickers
on the rear windshields of vehicles than the ol' RW & B,
which, to our way of thinking, is not a bad thing at all.
courtesy O. Schell & the L.A. Times book section,
some timely reading on Tibet, for those of us yearning to know more...

oh, too right, too Too Right...       7.1
"All the great apes are magnificent animals..."
that quote from letters to the L.A. Times
in response to this L.A.T.'s mag article,
Open the Labs and Set Them Free?.

psssssst...   Happy Birthday to the MonkeyMomz!!!