John Edwards on Gay Rights
The column published in yesterday's or the day before's blog, "No Longer Conflicted over Edwards," was published in the August 1, 2007 Chapel Hill News. Incredibly, nobody responded to it in the Letters to the Editors section of the paper. I think a lot of people here are as conflicted over supporting Edwards as I am; but, especially politicians and business people don't dare speak out. I mean, hell, he MIGHT win! And then where would we be with a President living next door. HOWEVER, several people did stop me on the street and telephoned and e-mailed their overwhelming agreement with my sentiments expressed in the column.
One Chapel Hill grande dame called to say how important the column was "because nobody is saying these things...and they simply must be said." she said she was mailing the column to everybody she knows. Another oldtime Chapel Hill figure from the 1960s left an e-mail message saying: "I knew I didn't like the guy, I just didn't know why. Thanks for the column; now I know." And, a longtime feminist activist in Democratic politics wrote to say thanks for helping make up her mind against Edwards.
I think we all had our suspicions about Edwards' raw opportunisim and this is just another outward and visible symbol of his hypocrisy and blatant ambition at any cost. The editor of the Columbia, S.C., State newspaper has a column this week entitled "Edwards is a phony." He goes into the primping and the hair, and three or four specific local incidents that were just as symbolic to him. [The primping and the hair don't tell us everything, but they do tell us some very important things about the man.]
The most damning of all is the news that while Edwards was supposed to be running an anti-poverty institute at the UNC LAw School, he was also working for a hedge fund in New York; and that he and Elizabeth have upwards of $500,000 in offshore accounts--meanwhile claiming he'll stop such accounts if elected president.
And, yes, Hillary is looking better all the time--and I mean that literally. I deplore her waffling on The War, the issue above all other issues in our country right now. But, I honestly feel she's come around. She is the only one of the candidates who truly comes across as "Presidential" in the debates. She's tough, she's intelligent, she knows what she's talking about.
I feared a Hillary candidacy at first because I thought she couldn't win. Now, I think she's the only one who can win. For a long time, I felt Edwards was the only one who could win and you'll find many earlier blogs where I rave on in praise of the man and his candidacy. However, the beauty of these long running campaigns is that everything comes out. I think Edwards may indeed be sincere, but it's a superficial sincerity fueled only by incredible ambition. That is not enough. The times cry out for a real leader with experience. That leader is Hillary.
-o-
It is with deep sadness that I report the passing of our beloved Chloe, the magnificently beautiful fish who graced our backyard at the Women's Center where I live for almost 10 years.
It was perhaps because of the heat or that the filter system wasn't working right while I was off for a week in Bucks County, Pa. Whatever the cause, Chloe the koi passed on early Sunday morning, August 5, 2007. We must pray that Chloe has gone onto a bigger pond in the sky, a happier place where the weather stays mild and the water will be cool forever. To all those who extol the virtues of a big fish in a little pond, Chloe offers her own experience to the contrary; there was just too much Chloe for such a small amount of water.
The Story of Chloe:
Several years ago, there was an ice storm, not the Great Ice Storm but still bad enough to cancel everything. My friend Thom Mount [who produced Bull Durham, among other movies] was scheduled to speak at UNC but that was canceled or postponed. He called and asked if I'd meet with him and his wife, Chloe King, a very successful screenwriter. Chloe had just been paid $250,000 to re-write a vicious murder tale set in and called "Chapel Hill." The only problem was Chloe had never been here, knew nothing about the place.
And so I invited them to breakfast and we sat around the table and discussed plots and characters and all that stuff. I told them I'd just been down for my annual trip to Key West and faced a backyard disaster when I returned. Brenda Baker had given the Women's Center 14 beautiful koi from the huge pool that wraps around and under her deck in Durham. They thrived for a year or two, then they were just gone. I got back and faced a pool that was either half empty or half full, but with no sign that any fish had ever lived there. At first, as some may remember, I thought some greedy Republican had sneaked in and stolen our beautiful fish. That was because there was no sign of murder or mayhem where the 14 koi had once lived; somebody must have stolen them. Then, folks started telling me, "Perry, you should have been here, there was this HUGE bird hanging out in the back yard all week."
Great Blue Heron. I knew in an instant. ANybody who knows about fish pools knows that this huge bird --6 foot wingspan--regards backyard fish pools as their private hors d'oeuvres platter. They not only swallow fish whole; they also swallow turtles whole! What a digestive system they must have.
Well, it was--if I do say so--a delicious breakfast I served up to my friends from L.A. They thanked me profusely and slowly exited the icy parking lot. About 3 hours later, they came slipping and sliding back in, with happy smiles on their faces. They had been all over town looking for a pet store....and finally found one open at University Mall. They presented me [us] with four very small koi. The most beautiful one was a tiny 3 or 4 inches, a glistening white and orange. She was Chloe from then on. She grew into a grande dame of 10 pounds, 26 inches. One of her sisters disappeared; her brother Joshua leaped out to his death; and her brother Jake [black and orange and white] survives.
Out of consideration for Chloe's wishes, there will be no religious service and no kind of marker or tombstone. Chloe would rather be remembered in our hearts. She was one of such exotic beauty and size everybody exclaimed when they saw her. The management is currently searching for another white and orange koi. Long live Chloe II.
The philosophy of the grounds and security and housekeeping crew, in case you hadn't noticed, is: plant more daisies. If the koi dies, buy another one; if the zinnias die, buy some lantanas. [The lantanas are thriving in the heat and drought!]
One Chapel Hill grande dame called to say how important the column was "because nobody is saying these things...and they simply must be said." she said she was mailing the column to everybody she knows. Another oldtime Chapel Hill figure from the 1960s left an e-mail message saying: "I knew I didn't like the guy, I just didn't know why. Thanks for the column; now I know." And, a longtime feminist activist in Democratic politics wrote to say thanks for helping make up her mind against Edwards.
I think we all had our suspicions about Edwards' raw opportunisim and this is just another outward and visible symbol of his hypocrisy and blatant ambition at any cost. The editor of the Columbia, S.C., State newspaper has a column this week entitled "Edwards is a phony." He goes into the primping and the hair, and three or four specific local incidents that were just as symbolic to him. [The primping and the hair don't tell us everything, but they do tell us some very important things about the man.]
The most damning of all is the news that while Edwards was supposed to be running an anti-poverty institute at the UNC LAw School, he was also working for a hedge fund in New York; and that he and Elizabeth have upwards of $500,000 in offshore accounts--meanwhile claiming he'll stop such accounts if elected president.
And, yes, Hillary is looking better all the time--and I mean that literally. I deplore her waffling on The War, the issue above all other issues in our country right now. But, I honestly feel she's come around. She is the only one of the candidates who truly comes across as "Presidential" in the debates. She's tough, she's intelligent, she knows what she's talking about.
I feared a Hillary candidacy at first because I thought she couldn't win. Now, I think she's the only one who can win. For a long time, I felt Edwards was the only one who could win and you'll find many earlier blogs where I rave on in praise of the man and his candidacy. However, the beauty of these long running campaigns is that everything comes out. I think Edwards may indeed be sincere, but it's a superficial sincerity fueled only by incredible ambition. That is not enough. The times cry out for a real leader with experience. That leader is Hillary.
-o-
It is with deep sadness that I report the passing of our beloved Chloe, the magnificently beautiful fish who graced our backyard at the Women's Center where I live for almost 10 years.
It was perhaps because of the heat or that the filter system wasn't working right while I was off for a week in Bucks County, Pa. Whatever the cause, Chloe the koi passed on early Sunday morning, August 5, 2007. We must pray that Chloe has gone onto a bigger pond in the sky, a happier place where the weather stays mild and the water will be cool forever. To all those who extol the virtues of a big fish in a little pond, Chloe offers her own experience to the contrary; there was just too much Chloe for such a small amount of water.
The Story of Chloe:
Several years ago, there was an ice storm, not the Great Ice Storm but still bad enough to cancel everything. My friend Thom Mount [who produced Bull Durham, among other movies] was scheduled to speak at UNC but that was canceled or postponed. He called and asked if I'd meet with him and his wife, Chloe King, a very successful screenwriter. Chloe had just been paid $250,000 to re-write a vicious murder tale set in and called "Chapel Hill." The only problem was Chloe had never been here, knew nothing about the place.
And so I invited them to breakfast and we sat around the table and discussed plots and characters and all that stuff. I told them I'd just been down for my annual trip to Key West and faced a backyard disaster when I returned. Brenda Baker had given the Women's Center 14 beautiful koi from the huge pool that wraps around and under her deck in Durham. They thrived for a year or two, then they were just gone. I got back and faced a pool that was either half empty or half full, but with no sign that any fish had ever lived there. At first, as some may remember, I thought some greedy Republican had sneaked in and stolen our beautiful fish. That was because there was no sign of murder or mayhem where the 14 koi had once lived; somebody must have stolen them. Then, folks started telling me, "Perry, you should have been here, there was this HUGE bird hanging out in the back yard all week."
Great Blue Heron. I knew in an instant. ANybody who knows about fish pools knows that this huge bird --6 foot wingspan--regards backyard fish pools as their private hors d'oeuvres platter. They not only swallow fish whole; they also swallow turtles whole! What a digestive system they must have.
Well, it was--if I do say so--a delicious breakfast I served up to my friends from L.A. They thanked me profusely and slowly exited the icy parking lot. About 3 hours later, they came slipping and sliding back in, with happy smiles on their faces. They had been all over town looking for a pet store....and finally found one open at University Mall. They presented me [us] with four very small koi. The most beautiful one was a tiny 3 or 4 inches, a glistening white and orange. She was Chloe from then on. She grew into a grande dame of 10 pounds, 26 inches. One of her sisters disappeared; her brother Joshua leaped out to his death; and her brother Jake [black and orange and white] survives.
Out of consideration for Chloe's wishes, there will be no religious service and no kind of marker or tombstone. Chloe would rather be remembered in our hearts. She was one of such exotic beauty and size everybody exclaimed when they saw her. The management is currently searching for another white and orange koi. Long live Chloe II.
The philosophy of the grounds and security and housekeeping crew, in case you hadn't noticed, is: plant more daisies. If the koi dies, buy another one; if the zinnias die, buy some lantanas. [The lantanas are thriving in the heat and drought!]
posted by Perry Deane Young at 6:55 AM
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