“It is hard to overstate the power of federal prosecutors,” NYU
law professor Rachel Barkow
In “Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the
Innocent” Harvey Silverglate demonstrates how over-zealous U.S. attorneys take
advantage of vague federal statutes to target people who did know knowingly
break the law, including public officials and controversial private citizens,
including political activists. I’ll have
to bring the book to the attention of Lake County surveyor George Van Til,
hounded for allegedly having staff members engage in campaign work, something
universally practiced by officeholders seeking re-election. Someone with a personal grudge or political
motive must have hounded the U.S. attorney until he looked into it. I’m certain Van Til did not intend to break
the law but was only following a time-honored tradition.
At Gaard Murphy Logan’s suggestion I started Will
Schwalbe’s “The End of Your Life Book Club,” about a son discussing books with
his mother critically ill with pancreatic cancer. The first one of these, Wallace Stegner’s “Crossing
to Safety,” deals with the friendship of two couples, including a woman dying
of cancer. Schwalbe mentions books that
open with memorable lines, such as Ken Follett’s “The Pillars of the Earth” (“The small boys came early to the
hanging”). Even better is this opening
salvo from John Irving’s “A Prayer for Owen Meany”: “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice – not because of
his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because
he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I
believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.” Gaard is currently reading “The Circle”
by Dave Eggers, about a seemingly benign Internet monopoly, TruYou, that
threatens everyone’s privacy.
WXRT focused on 1983, the year Dave and Phil
completed seventh and eighth grades respectively. I heard several songs Dave’s old band LINT
performed, including REM’s “Radio Free Europe” and “Blister in the Sun” by the
Violent Femmes. Favorite albums in the
Lane house included “Fun Boy Free” by the Specials and “Burning Down the House”
by the Talking Heads. The Kinks, whim we
saw at the Star Plaza, made a comeback with “Come Dancing,” and John Mellencamp
dropped the middle name “Cougar” on “Pink Houses.”
The Ayers Realtors Fall Newsletter “Beach Bits” column lists such Miller Beach upcoming
events as a Food Bank benefit at Temple Israel, “Soupy Saturdays” at Lake
Street Gallery till year’s end, and a book signing at the Gardner Center for
Ron Cohen and James Capaldi’s “Pete Seeger Reader.” Gene Ayers reported that NIRPC (Northwest
Indiana Regional Planning Commission) labeled Miller a “Livable Community.”
Saturday we dined with the Hagelbergs at Longhorn
Steakhouse after seeing “Last Vegas,” for me the second time. Of the four geezers Morgan Freeman is the
only one without a love interest, but when he dances with two drag queens he
seems to have a boner going. At
Hagelbergs for bridge (Toni won), Dick turned on the end of the IU game. The Hoosiers found another unique way to
lose. On Minnesota’s nine yard-line with
30 seconds to go and needing a field goal to tie of a TD for the win, the QB
threw a swing pass behind the running back that fell incomplete. Since it didn’t travel forward, it was a live
ball. A defenseman swooped it up after
the IU player didn’t bother to retrieve it.
What a gaffe!
Philadelphia 76ers, predicted to be the NBA’s
worst team, has started the season 3-0, defeating Miami, Washington, and the
Bulls. On opening night fans honored
Allen Iverson, who officially announced his retirement, saying, “I gave everything I had to
basketball.” Nobody played with more
guts than AI, my favorite player of his era and a worthy successor to fan
favorite Charles Barkley. On hand for
the occasion were Julius “Dr. J” Erving and his Georgetown coach Thompson. Barely six feet tall he led the league in
scoring four times.
How great to find Steve Buscemi in season 5 of
“The Sopranos’ as paroled gangster Tony Blundetto. Blundetto hopes to go straight as a massage
therapist, but something tells me he’ll be lured back into a life of crime. It doesn’t take him long to piss off his
cousin Tony Soprano, breaking into a Reginald Van Gleason III impression to
declare in front of others, “Boy, are you fat.”
Rapidly losing his mind, Uncle Junior spots Larry David and Jeff Garlin
on TV from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and thinks it is he and Bobby.
Above, Reginald Van Gleason III; below, Samuel A. Love photo by Brenda Love
At the Unitarian Church in Hobart to speak on the
subject of voting, Samuel Love sat in what he called “the king’s chair” but
insisted that he is an anti-monarchist.
After Brenda posted a photo, Sam’s mother wrote that she was very proud
of him.
Because the Vikings-Cowboys noon NFL game ended
early, Fox switched to the Chargers-Redskins just as a replay review was
underway. Danny Woodhead came within
inches of putting San Diego ahead with under a minute to go. It came down to whether he grazed the pylon
before touching the ground out of bounds.
After he was correctly ruled to have been short of the goal line,
Washington had an unbelievable goal-line stand.
As Washington Post blogger Dan
Steinberg stated, “Somehow, a run and two passes got
them bupkis, and the game improbably went to overtime.” Skins won the coin toss and scored a TD to
pull off an improbable win.
I suggested that Blandine Huk and Frederic
Cousseau consider making a three-minute YouTube video called “The Dream
Continues in Gary” based on our hanging Martin Luther posters at 4 Brothers
Market and similar to the “Camilo Vergara
MLK poster-bombing” at the abandoned Elgin Diner in Camden, New Jersey.
I also informed Pam Broadaway that I’d be willing to speak at the Maria
Reiner Senior Center in Hobart about “Vietnam Veterans from the Calumet
Region.” She wants me to come in
February; Steve McShane has agreed to go with me.
In an ideal world Mitt Romney would offer his services to the Obama
administration in a dual effort to achieve a “Grand Bargain” regarding the
budget and to fix problems with the Affordable Care Act. During the 2012 campaign Romney touted
closing tax loopholes as an answer to budget deficits; as Massachusetts
governor he implemented a similar health care plane. Perhaps, if the two found common ground, the
President could reciprocate by offering Romney a cabinet post. In 1940 when war clouds descended upon
Europe, FDR appointed Republicans to key cabinet posts. In 1960 after winning election by the
narrowest of margins, JFK picked Robert McNamara and Douglas Dillon to head the
Defense and Treasury departments. The
present situation is reminiscent of 1952, when Ike helped rescue the Republican
Party from extremists. Romney seems
eager to save his party from Tea Party zealots, but is too timid apparently to
make a statesmanlike gesture in the long-term interest of the nation and his
party. Instead he expects Chris Christie
to save the GOP and meanwhile sticks to partisan attacks that are beneath his
dignity.
In Nicole Anslover’s Sixties class the subject was Black Power. I mentioned that the after the emphasis
within the civil rights movement moved north Black Power spoke to what ghetto
residents lacked – control over their own residences, stores, teachers, police,
and public officials. Nicole showed a
20-minute “Eyes on the Prize” segment about Carl Stokes winning election as
mayor of Cleveland.
wit and wisdom postings by Steven Pickert
