Odds and Sods - Crepe Myrtle edition

Left: The Crepe Myrtle trees are now in fabulous bloom!

~*~

Amber Rhea and I have argued about a lot of stuff, veterans included, but her post yesterday was just too great AND IMPORTANT not to mention, particularly after all the hubbub over the 4th of July, when the incident she writes about occurred:

“Support our troops” means put a fucking yellow ribbon magnet on the back of your SUV (yes, it’s so cliché to even say it at this point, we’ve all heard it before), not actually providing care and coverage to the infirm. Oh right my dad gets a piddly $200 a month benefit from the government for being exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam; “oops, our bad for exposing you to a potentially deadly chemical; here’s two hundred bucks!”

And leaving the infuriating irony aside, this whole situation has brought out into the light (yet again) the stark, ugly reality of the divide between the haves and the have-nots. We can spend billions of dollars on a wall between the US and Mexico but somehow we can’t figure out how to provide comprehensive health coverage for every citizen.

Read the whole righteous rant. Amber reminds me of what some of the Ron Paul supporters have said: it isn't so much that they are "against" the war, but rather that they just don't trust the government to do it (or anything else) correctly and without bankrupting us all as a side effect.

~*~

THE CANARY COALITION is sponsoring the 2008 Relay for Clean Air on August 23rd:

We all have the right to breathe clean air and The Relay for Clean Air is the annual civil rights march staged by the Canary Coalition to focus national attention on poor air quality in the greater Appalachian Region. The Relay flag is passed from one segment to the next over the 100 mile course that stretches from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along the Blue Ridge Parkway to downtown Asheville, NC. There are segments of the Relay designed for bicycle riders, runners and for walkers. The Relay is not a race, but rather a cooperative demonstration of determination by its participants.

Here is a detailed relay schedule, and you should contact them if you want to participate!

~*~

I haven't kept up with the whole fake-Obama-birth-certificate hoopla, and I am indebted to Mattt over at Bastard.logic for providing me with a handy-dandy link-o-rama to the whole thing. Firedoglake updates us:

Only the most rabid of partisans would place their blind trust in the candidacy of a man who cannot even prove he was born. What evidence do we have that this "Barack Hussein Obama" even exists? After all, detailed investigation reveals that his name, "Barack Hussein Obama," is an anagram for either "Dread Cthulu," or else, even more frighteningly, "Tom Boerwinkle." Why, his "father's" "race" is listed as "African," when he was really Black! Ha! HAH! Heh. Ho. Hum.

The Strata-Sphere debunks the birth certificate carefully, point by point, for any lingering doubters.

~*~

Another righteous rant over at Lotus, regarding Obama's flip-flop on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA):

Let it be noted clearly that Barack Obama, who previously pledged to join in a filibuster of any bill that contained telcom immunity, not only didn't join any filibuster attempt, not only voted for the damn bill, he voted in favor of cloture. It would be hard to imagine a clearer reversal of position; this is the kind of thing for which the phrase "flip-flop" was truly destined.

But what made it even worse than the bald, cruel fact of the bill's passage was the way the media treated the story. Both AP and Reuters covered the vote as simply another question of political games, of a "legislative victory" for Bush, just another version of the horse-race coverage, who's up, who's down, without any consideration of the meaning of the vote. Worse, where they did consider the bill, they got it maddeningly, grossly, infuriatingly wrong.

Yes, you are hereby ordered to read all of this rant, too.

~*~

Finally, my homegirl Renegade Evolution had a harrowing accident, getting burned whilst "fire-spinning" (oh, holy God!)... but has characteristically taken this turn of events with her usual good humor. Nonetheless, she isn't feeling too well, so send her some good vibes!

She also reports on an interesting fellow named Kyle Payne, who seems to be making the rounds of feminist Blogdonia. What's this guy on about, anyway?

Left: red and lavender periwinkle.



Well, on the face of it, Kyle appears to be a terribly earnest young man who hates porn and misogyny. Oh my, yes. He weeps actual tears of sympathy for women, blah blah blah. I figured, a young John Stoltenberg acolyte, but with a blog.

Nope. Check out what Belledame reports, courtesy of the Iowa Independent:

An Iowa blogger who claimed to use activism and education to promote “a more just and life-affirming culture of sexuality” for women, especially those women who have been victims of sexual violence, has pleaded guilty to photographing and filming a college student's breasts without her consent.

Kyle D. Payne, 22 of Ida Grove, presented his guilty plea Monday in Iowa District Court for Buena Vista County. He agreed he was guilty of felony attempted burglary in the second degree and two counts of invasion of privacy, a serious misdemeanor.
Lynda Waddington :: Iowa Blogger Pleads Guilty to Secretly Photographing Woman's Breasts

In documents filed with the court, Payne agrees that "with an intent to arouse my sexual desire, I photographed and filmed Jane Doe and her breast without her consent." A portion of the plea agreement stating that Payne was of sound mind when the incident took place in early 2007 was stricken from the document, leaving only the portion where Payne agrees that he is currently of sound mind.

At the time of the incident, Payne had been employed by Buena Vista University as a dormitory resident adviser. Police reports indicate that while attending to an intoxicated and unconscious female student, Payne reportedly assaulted and photographed her. The guilty plea entered Monday did not include assault charges. Tips received by police and campus security following the incident led to a 10-month investigation that resulted in Payne's arrest in February....

Payne, who identified with radical feminists like Andrea Dworkin, attended a training for feminist anti-pornography activists in January at the University of Texas in Austin. An article in the Ida County Courier stated that Payne had "written papers and given several public presentations on feminist critiques of pornography, prostitution, and the 'rape culture,' in addition to serving as an advocate for survivors of sexual violence." According to a resume previously posted on his blog, he has attended many such conferences since 2004.

Payne faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $7,500. As a condition of the plea deal, the state has agreed that no other charges will be filed as a result of this incident. Sentencing has been set for Aug. 11.

You really can't make this stuff up!

**

EDIT 6:00PM--Long thread about Kyle Payne, with details on the case, accusations, unsubstantiated gossip, etc.

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Listening to: The Pogues - Amadie
via FoxyTunes

Rainbow Tribe attacked at annual Gathering of the Tribes

My Deadhead comrades report that there was a violent event this year at the Rainbow Gathering (which the Yippies used to lovingly call "The Rainbozo"), if you can believe it. The first Gathering (also known informally as the "gathering of the tribes") was in 1972, and has been held annually ever since during the first week of July, on National Forest land. There are also other Rainbow Gatherings on other continents, but I don't know much about those.

I have investigated, and apparently, this IS true. (((EYES BUG OUT, AS IN OLD TEX AVERY CARTOONS: BOINN--NNN-GGGG-GGGGG!))) For those of us who remember The Rainbozo as one of the most mellow, peaceful, accepting places on earth, this is something of a shock.

The idea of violence invading the Gathering is upsetting enough to cause actual disorientation.

It's interesting that my own experience with The Rainbozo was in West Virginia, and everyone warned us that the local rednecks would not countenance naked hippies dropping acid in the woods. That turned out to be totally untrue; nobody cared, or if they did, not enough to make trouble. This pattern would be re-enacted over and over again, as various participants in places like Arkansas and North Carolina were warned that Dangerous Rednecks Hate the Hippies, and they will attack. To their credit, the Rainbow Family always said nonsense--we welcome the locals! We LOVE YOU! PEACE AND LOVE! COME ONE, COME ALL!

Every Gathering had funny stories about locals who came to jeer at the hippies and, unprepared for the unconditional love (much less the powerful acid), "went native" and ended up joining the Rainbow Family for keeps.

I don't remember any problems ever reported at previous Gatherings, although readers can certainly correct me if they know of any other incidents I may have missed. (But Wyoming??? I just want to stop and draw everyone's attention to that word: WYOMING!!!! It didn't happen in the south!)

Accounts are just now trickling in, since the Gathering just ended, and my Deadhead spies do not write the most coherent emails, particularly after tripping in the woods for a week, but hey. All of the accounts sound more or less the same: law enforcement decided to go roust the Gathering, at long last. What didn't even happen in 1972, has happened now, in 2008.

My investigation turned up the usual "warnings" issued before the Gathering, that the Rainbow Family has heard since its inception. From Rivertonradio.com, this story dated June 28:

Federal officials began arriving in Riverton earlier this month to prepare for the arrival of the group, which calls itself the Rainbow Family of Living Light.

Anywhere between several hundred to a few thousand members of the group are expected, and their arrival has already drawn the ire of some locals. Civilians and councilmembers alike are concerned over rumors and speculation which seem to follow the group around the country.

To help aleviate fears, the Rainbow Family participated in a town hall meeting in Pinedale last week, saying they were a "people of peace," and asking for a moment of silence.

Still, local law enforcement in Green River has advised the public not to pick up hitchhikers as members of the group begin to arrive in the area for the gathering, which is scheduled to begin in full July 1. Residents who are disturbed by the arrival of the group have cited reports of fires and crime which have arisen in the last week near the area where members of the Rainbow Family have already assembled to justify concerns.

Rescue searchers found the pickup of missing 24-year-old Garrett Bardin this week in the Big Sandy area of Pinedale, not far from where the Rainbow Family has been gathering in recent weeks for its event.

On Monday, a wildfire was extinguished in Lander after it had burned a quarter of an acre in the same area where residents had complained about the behavior of some of the group's members.

Some of the rumors about the clan may not be entirely unfounded. In February, officials in Florida relocated the group as they hosting a similar meeting at the Ocala National Forest near Orlando. The group was forced out, and officials cited some members for minor violence, drug use, and violation of federal land permits.

Earlier this month, the Boy Scouts of America conceded that the arrival of the Rainbow Family had forced them to reschedule a planned forest restoration project.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso has written a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, complaining the group has not respected the process of reserving federal land.

"The Rainbow Family Gathering displaced the Boy Scouts of America who had planned to do an ecological project," wrote Barrasso, as reported by the Casper Star Tribune on Friday. "In addition, livestock permittees, recreationists, cabin owners and lodge visitors are impacted by this gathering. All of these users have completed the appropriate permit process and worked with the agency to properly plan their activities."

The group's website stresses that this year's gathering will be peaceful, and says the group "is an international loose affiliation of individuals who have a common goal of trying to achieve peace and love on Earth."

God forbid, you displace the BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA!!!!

And hey! Happy 4th of July to you too!

Five arrested in Rainbow Family clash with feds

By BEN NEARY – July 4, 2008

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — About 400 members of the Rainbow Family threw rocks and sticks at 10 federal officers as they tried to arrest a member of the group, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday.

Five members of the group were arrested and one officer was slightly injured. A government vehicle was also damaged.

About 7,000 members of the Rainbow Family are camping this year on Forest Service land near Big Piney. The Rainbow Family is a loose affiliation of eccentrics, young people and hippie types who choose a forest each year in which hold a weeklong national gathering.

Ten Forest Service officers were patrolling the main meadow of the Rainbow Family's camping area Thursday night and apprehended one person described as being uncooperative, Rita Vollmer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said in a statement Friday.

"Officers began to leave the gathering site with the subject and were circled by more Rainbow participants that began to physically interfere," Vollmer said.

About 400 Rainbows surrounded the officers trying to leave, she said.

"The mob began to advance, throwing sticks and rocks at the officers," Vollmer said.

State troopers have also arrested two people this week on felony drug charges for allegedly possessing 96 hits of LSD, said Sgt. Stephen Townsend of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

This is so ridiculous, I can't believe how ridiculous it is.

The Jackson Hole Star-Tribune seemed far more liberal in its coverage:

Arrest leads to Rainbow riot

By TOM MORTON
Star-Tribune staff writer

U.S. Forest Service officers pointed weapons at children and fired rubber bullets and pepper spray balls at Rainbow Family members while making arrests Thursday evening, according to witnesses.

"They were so violent, like dogs," Robert Parker told reporter Deborah Stevens of the libertarian-oriented, Round Rock, Texas-based We the People Radio Network after the incident.

"People yelled at them, 'You're shooting children,'" Parker said during an interview on the network's "Rule of Law Show."

About 7,000 people have arrived at the gathering near Big Sandy in the Wind River Mountains for the annual Gathering of the Tribes, a seven-day event of fellowship, partying including illicit drug use, praying, and living on the land.

They camp on Forest Service land around the country every year, but the Rainbow family's non-hierarchical methods -- no one can speak for the Rainbows, much less sign a land use permit -- often have stymied their relationships.

But rarely do the tensions escalate into violence.

The Forest Service's Incident Command Team in Rock Springs issued a press release Friday morning, saying officers were patrolling the main meadow of the gathering Thursday evening when they contacted a man who fled and was later caught. Another Rainbow was detained for physically interfering.

Officers began to leave the area with the subjects and were circled by Rainbow participants, according to the news release from Rita Vollmer of the Incident Command Team.

Ten officers were escorting the detained subjects when about 400 Rainbows surrounded the squad, and more officers were requested, according to the news release.

"The mob began to advance, throwing sticks and rocks at the officers. Crowd control tactics were used to keep moving through the group of Rainbows," the news release said.

Other law enforcement agencies were called to the scene, the news release said.

Officers made five arrests; one officer suffered minor injuries and was cleared by a local hospital; and a government vehicle sustained damage, the news release said.

"This lawless behavior is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it," said John Twiss, Forest Service director of law enforcement. "The safety of our employees, public and Rainbow participants is our number one priority, and we will continue to protect everyone on the national forest."

Vollmer of the Forest Service Incident Management Team did not return calls requesting comment Friday.

Rainbow Family members' accounts told a different story.

One member who identified himself only as "Ryan" told Stevens he was with his two children in his tent at the Rainbows' Kid Village north of the main meadow where the major prayer circles and dinners are held.

One of the 10 officers pointed a pepper spray gun at him and his children, he said. His girlfriend was using the latrine outside when four officers came to her and asked if she was smoking marijuana.

The officers then ran through the Kid Village and through its kitchen, and chaos erupted, he said.

Other witnesses recounted seeing about 10 officers of the Forest Service's incident command team drag an older man from the woods near the Kid Village, according to interviews by Stevens.

A woman in the village told the officers to take their guns out of the Kid Village. An officer threw that woman to the ground and pulled her head back by her hair while she was being handcuffed, one Rainbow named Rick told Stevens.

"I got out and yelled, 'what the f--- are you doing?'" Rick said. "That got it started."

The officers backed up in a defensive position, and some used their Tasers on Rainbows, he said.

Rainbows called for their crisis management team, and Rainbow family elders urged the crowd to remain calm, he said. However, the crowd kept moving, and the Forest Service officers began randomly spraying the crowd with pepper spray bullets.

The officers, with their two suspects in custody, found an exit trail from the main meadow, and the peacekeepers urged the crowd to let them go, he said.

"These people deliberately, for hours, were aggressively working the camp over and working the people over," Ryan said. "They chose the kiddie village -- the one place, the kids, to take their stand and create a riot, and I bought into it. ... They were looking for an excuse to do some damage to us."

Ryan's partner, Feather, told Stevens she was pepper-sprayed, and saw another Rainbow with welts all over his body.

Feather also recounted seeing a couple with a young child and an infant who had just emerged from the woods and didn't know what was happening.

The couple asked the officers what was going on, and the officers pointed their guns at the children. The officers walked away, but one turned around and pointed his rifle at the baby, she told Stevens.

Robert Kinn of Afton told the Casper Star-Tribune in an interview Friday that he and his family had been camping and drove to Big Sandy because they'd never been to a gathering.

Forest Service officers gave Kinn a citation and a $175 ticket for allowing someone to ride on his vehicle's trailer, and said the officers weren't polite. "I was scared, was harassed."

Kinn and his family went to the main circle for dinner, when they heard people yelling about needing help to put out a fire in the Kid Village.

About 10 minutes later, people came back to tell the main circle the fire was over, and the crowd resumed eating, he said.

One of the senior Rainbows gathered the crowd and explained the clash with the Forest Service, and another man showed where rubber bullets hit him in the stomach, Kinn said.

Kinn and his family drove home that night, he said.

And finally, the American Civil Liberties Union has been called in. (Don't leave home without em!)

ACLU plans to investigate Rainbow Family treatment

By BEN NEARY – July 6, 2008

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union said Saturday that it plans to investigate the actions of federal law enforcers who arrested five Rainbow Family members in western Wyoming during their annual gathering.

The U.S. Forest Service says a mob of about 400 members of the Rainbow Family, a group of hippie types and eccentrics who camp on public land every year, threw rocks and sticks at Forest Service officers who tried to arrest a member of the group.

Up to 60 federal and local law enforcers responded, Forest Service officials say, and fired "pepper balls" — similar to paint balls but containing a pepper solution — at the crowd to control it.

As many as 7,000 members of the Rainbow Family camped out this year on Forest Service land near the Big Sandy Reservoir. The group holds a weeklong gathering on public land in a different area each year.

The Rainbows and federal officers have clashed before, and in 1998, the Forest Service established a national response team to deal with the group.

The ACLU plans to accept collect calls from Rainbow Family members for the next two weeks to hear their version of events, Linda Burt, executive director of Wyoming's ACLU, said Saturday.

Burt said she has been concerned to hear reports that Rainbow Family members have been ticketed for small traffic infractions. She also said she has heard reports that officers have walked among the Rainbow camps asking people whether they're using drugs.

"I have some real concerns about how this is handled," Burt said. "Particularly the pretext arrests — the idea that people are just cruising around looking for people to arrest when there have been no complaints and no reason for them to be there."

Burt said the ACLU's response to the matter will depend on what it learns from Rainbow Family members. It's possible the ACLU will issue a report, she said, and it may also consider posting observers at future Rainbow Family gatherings.

Rita Vollmer, spokeswoman for the Forest Service, declined Saturday to name the five people arrested Thursday or say why the agency was trying to arrest the first person.

Italics mine, of course. Stating they have "clashed before" is interesting. They have? Translation: The Feds have harassed the Rainbow Family before, and the Rainbow Family has always relied on love and peace to talk the various authorities out of mass arrests for LSD and reefer.

I guess this time--? What happened differently?

I'd like to know.

***

EDIT 7/10/08: I got a couple of emails asking "Just who is the Rainbow Family?"--and this is the best description I have found online.
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Listening to: Grateful Dead - The Music Never Stopped
via FoxyTunes

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I suppose I should be happy that Karen Allen (age 56) is back on screen with Harrison Ford (age 68)... but I kept remembering untalented Kate Capshaw (age 54) from the second Indy movie, and wondering why it took em so long to bring back our homegirl.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Well, Indy doesn't have much wit this time around. Too old to be witty? He had one funny line, at the beginning. The rest relied on basic "Indiana Jones attitude" to amuse, and that didn't impress (or amuse) me much.

The real female lead went to Cate Blanchett, who understood the comic-book nature of her role as Irina Spalko, a sword-fighting KGB-dominatrix, and plays it to the hilt. Her Russian accent seems to have been (deliberately) borrowed from the NATASHA character on the old Bullwinkle cartoons. Her sword fight atop moving jeeps is spectacular, the highlight of the movie. Spielberg can do dazzling special effects in his sleep. The end seemed a replay of the first Indiana Jones movie, as the aliens come to life when the skull is replaced, poor Irina's eyes catch on fire as she joins in some weird psychic congress with the crystal-skull aliens, and the space ship (same one from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS?) takes off, spinning into galaxies far, far away.

And am I the only person who thought the Crystal Skull looked like a plastic skull stuffed with plastic wrap/aluminum foil? Honestly, my kid's science projects looked better than that. The cheap skull stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb in a very, very pricey movie.

It's great to see the charming, likable Karen Allen again. And it's BLOODY AMAZING to see a woman on screen who looks her age, and seems as if she has lived a real life, her face not preserved in botoxed amber. But the tacked-on happy ending, in which Indy makes an honest woman of her? Meh.

PS: Did anyone catch the "I've got a very bad feeling about this" line, from STAR WARS? I am a real sucker for inside-jokes like that.

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Listening to: Teenage Fanclub - I Need Direction
via FoxyTunes

Dead Air Church: It's all over now, Baby Blue

After a serious incident last night, I sat down and promptly drew the eight of cups, which signifies journeying and departures. I have always liked that this card is found among the suit of CUPS, meaning that it is considered a good thing; a positive cup-overflowing departure, not a bad one.

Important to make that designation. In real life, I think we categorize leave-taking as a bad thing. So, we bring things to a head and we deliberately start fights, to force unwanted people away. It seems easier to oust a person from your home after a fight, than it is to politely ask them to leave when they have worn out their welcome.

If we just could figure out when we have worn out our welcome and stayed too long, such nasty confrontations would not be necessary. But many of us were never schooled in these social graces. For instance, I never know the right length of time to hang around, and I am usually one of the last to leave. ("I'm here for the party! And I ain't leavin till they throw. me. out!") I've been warned about this all my life. Maybe someday, I'll learn.

For now, I go to one of my lifelong muses, for his comforting words.

Have a great sabbath, everyone.

~*~

You must leave now, take what you need
you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep
you better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
Crying like a fire in the sun
Look out, the saints are coming through
And it's all over now, Baby Blue

The highway is for gamblers,
better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue

All your seasick sailors,
they are rowing home.
All your reindeer armies,
are all going home.
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue

Leave your stepping stones behind,
something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left--
they will not follow you.
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.

~*~

It's all over now, Baby Blue - Bob Dylan

[via FoxyTunes / Bob Dylan]

Odds and Sods - Bunny Lake edition

Currently watching the creepy Otto Preminger movie, Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) on Turner Classic Movies. It always bothers me. I first saw it as a child and had nightmares, even though it isn't a horror movie. It's more like a long, British Twilight Zone episode. I find it totally hypnotic and never miss it whenever it's on TV.

Unmarried American mother Carol Lynley is hysterical that her daughter is missing, while investigator Laurence Olivier, narrowing his eyes as only King Lear could, is skeptical that Bunny even exists. Keir Dullea (years before he visited Jupiter and beyond the infinite) plays Carol Lynley's wholesome journalist brother, who nonetheless gives off a very weird, mysterious vibe. And then Noel Coward, of all people, shows up to freak everyone out with a whip he claims once belonged to the Marquis de Sade, if you can believe it. In 1965, no less! (As a child, I had no idea what any of this meant; but thought the whip signified he was a dangerous person.) Also, the excellent 60s band the Zombies, appear in a pub scene.

It's a great psychological thriller:

In adapting the original novel [by Merriam Modell], Preminger re-set the story from New York to London, where he enjoyed working. He created a dark, sinister vision of London which provides much of the film's appeal, making creative use of real locations, including the "doll hospital" and a house that belonged to the novelist Daphne du Maurier. Preminger found the novel's denouement lacking in interest and credibility, and drastically changed the plot -- a process that required a large number of re-writes from his British husband-and-wife scriptwriters John Mortimer and Penelope Mortimer before the director was satisified.

It's a very feminist movie, but I have to say, I'm not sure why. Perhaps the fact that the authorities simply disregard the words of Carol Lynley? And then, we start doubting her, too? Isn't that the way conventional male-supremacy works?

If she didn't have her brother on her side, they wouldn't pay any attention to her at all... but IS he on her side?

The cross-cultural tensions in Bunny Lake remain subtle throughout. On learning that the detectives back at her new home have discovered that all of Bunny's things are "missing" as well, Ann [Carol Lynley] breaks down. Again the camera follows her, this time diving in for harrowing close-ups: "What would anyone want with Bunny's things?" she wails, "It's like a nightmare." The smart framing and sharp shadows (brilliant cinematography by Denys Coop) both illustrate and exacerbate her fright, increasing distrust, and self-doubts, as does Paul Glass's strikingly abstract, jazzily spare score. And here director Otto Preminger is surely on familiar turf, making psychological interiors rather distressingly visible. Following the discovery at her flat, Ann is pressured to prove that her daughter "exists," as the police and Steven (during off-screen conversations with interested parties who then report them to the police) insinuate that she's made up the child, a sign of her fragile mental state. Steven [Keir Dullea] lets slip that when she was young, she had an imaginary friend named Bunny, and yes, she and Steven have shared a somewhat too-close relationship.

As she's unable to find neighbors or even fellow bus passengers who recall seeing the child, Ann begins to come undone -- her own existence is understandably wrapped up in her daughter's. And because the film doesn't grant you a glimpse of Bunny before she goes missing, and the men -- Newhouse anyway -- appear rational, you might be inclined to share their skepticism (unless, of course, you have previous experience with the twitchy deceptions performed so masterfully by the charming Dullea (at this point, he was best known for his turn as the young and frankly charismatic psychotic in 1962's David and Lisa; his disquieting encounters with Hal were yet to come, in 1968).

If you ever get a chance to see this gem, and you like old Twilight Zone episodes, don't miss it!

~*~

IN THESE TIMES features an interesting interview with economist Ha-Joon Chang, author of Bad Samaritans. He is known as "the free-trade heretic":

The current dominance of free trade is overwhelming, but it won’t last forever. Free-trade policy of the last quarter of a century has failed to deliver the prosperity that it had promised, and too many of its “losers” have not been compensated for their sacrifices. An increasing, although still small, number of mainstream economists are coming out against free trade (Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz being the most prominent example).

Read the whole thing!

~*~

Help save the doggies!

Animals Voice magazine is also excellent animal-rights reading material... and for those who seek major involvement, ANIMAL RIGHTS 2008, a national conference, will be in Washington DC, August 14-18, featuring the ever-popular and very rich Heather Mills McCartney.

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Listening to: Passions - I'm in Love With a German Film Star
via FoxyTunes