Obama and Marc Antony

The first thing I saw blearily upon waking this morning when I opened my aim mail was a story on the Pennsylvania governor endorsing Obama. I read further and came upon this Obama gem:

"If the contest between McCain and the Democratic nominee is who's been there longer,John McCain wins! If the argument is who is going to pursue a foreign policy like George Bush's, then John McCain wins. If that's the criteria for being tough, if that's the criteria for answering the 3 o'clock phone call after you voted for the war in Iraq and you went along with George Bush's policies when it came to Iran and not talking to leaders that we don't like, then John McCain wins that fight."

This technique immediately reminded me of the famous speech by Marc Antony from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do ives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-- For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men-- Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept Ambition should be made of sterner stuff Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know.You all did love him once, not without cause What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,


What a joy it is to have an articulate, literate, candidate such as Obama. Even if he does not win the presidency he has inspired not only a generation of youth, but a generation of his peers and elders also. J and I must often bring ourselves back to earth since we are natural dreamers and we try not to get too excited about him winning. After all we now live in a military industrial complex that has been firmly entrenched for many years. This machine implies war. In fact it cannot exist without war. So it is doubtful that a handful of true peace loving patriots such as Obama can change the course of that, but still I dream. And to hear a man who could lead us out of our cynicism, anger, sorrow, back to the original premise of our country for all people of every faith and color fuels those dreams.

Resurfacing along the coast of Blog

Wow. It's been a while. After getting an email from a company who asked to advertise on my blog I first laughingly dismissed it as a scam of some sort and sent it to my wife J. for her to have a laugh over. When she told me it was for real I went into a mild panic since I could not remember the name of my blog. It was, as you remember, Begging for Salt, but I changed that after a young writer living in Japan sent me a short story he had written that explained the Japanese source of the phrase. Apparently when a child peed the bed in Japan, he was forced to go from door to door "begging for salt" as an act of contrition. Oh well, "no man created anything" as Arthur Rimbaud purportedly said.

Anyway, in my panicked state I emailed J. asking her if she remembered anything about the change of name. About the only thing I remember was about it was that I was on a rollercoaster bender living in our little rv in Truth or Consequences, NM. Helpful as always she replied as follows:

"It was something astonishingly queer like marvelous marky or mercury marky, that’s it. Or is that your name and your blog is something else. That’s the only one I can remember. One reeeeeeeaally shouldn’t nickname one’s self. Always goes bad...did wilde say that?"

That sparked something and I started googling and finally found my blog!!! Art Block. I shitcanned the nickname and revamped my profile to reveal the real me. Hi. Damn, it feels good to be back...