Tom Cruise is Nuts!

A new favorite link, courtesy of down-the-hall-Rich...

John Roberts on Abortion

From the AP Wires...

"We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled." — Roberts, in a 1991 Supreme Court brief he co-wrote for the first Bush administration, while he was principal deputy solicitor general.

"The statement in the brief was my position as an advocate for a client." — Roberts, explaining the brief during his 2003 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to a federal appeals court.

"Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. It's a little more than settled. It was reaffirmed in the face of a challenge that it should be overruled in the Casey decision. Accordingly, it's the settled law of the land. There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and
faithfully applying that precedent, as well as Casey." — Roberts, during the confirmation hearing, when asked for his own views on Roe v. Wade.

That's all great. But here's the tricky part: unlike lower level judges, Supreme Court justices don't just accept that the law of the land is settled. Sometimes they do the settling. And the resettling. And then make some more tweaks. The media's persistent refrain seems to be that Roe and abortion rights are not truly at risk in the context of our next Supreme Court justice. Just this morning on WBUR/NPR someone said so. Wake up!! These rights are exactly what is at stake. What's left of Roe that hasn't been eroded by Casey and Webster may not be here long. I imagine that in just a few short years time, we'll have to rally our slumbering sisters and resurrect the Jane Collective, to connect folks with legitimate providers. I think we're in for a bumpy ride.

Last comment: I'd like us all to remember back to the Gore-Bush election. Ralph Nader's refrain was that the two candidates were no different. Here's the difference, Ralph. And even though most days, I'm pretty rational about Ralph, and don't blame him...Today, I'm blaming Ralph. Thanks a lot.

And we all fall down...or at least I do...

So...something's got my right ear confused. Little tiny particles of calcium are rubbing up against the little tiny hairs in the canal, telling my brain that I'm in motion. But then, my brain looks around, realizing that no other motion sensors are telling it the same thing. The result: my eyes go a little possessed and I get really, really dizzy. And this, folks, is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. BPPV, or benign vertigo, for short. Could last a day or two or twenty. Could come and go through the years. And that folks, is what I know. I can also report increased instances of the hiccups and a strange twitching sensation on my nose. I think these are unrelated, though.

More Walden rumors...

Setting the Record Straight about Carp:

so, here's the official story: 10 years ago, someone let some japanese koi fish go in the pond. 10 years later, there's 4 of them: 2 orange, 1 white, 1 black. the black one is the biggest, but the hardest to see. and at this, the lifeguards held out their hands about three feet wide. great.

A New Rumor from Joellen:

two very small alligators have been spotted in Walden Pond, the result again, of dumb people introducing them.

From Multiple Sources:

snapping turtles abound. i myself have yet to see them. but if they differ from joellen's mimed version (picture a silly girl, wrapping her lips around her teeth, muttering, "myar-myar-myarym" while chomping air and spitting a bit), i might not recognize them.

What Have You Heard?

Dreams...and games.

So...my new therapist is kinda into Jungian analysis as a supplement to her overall approach. I'm intrigued...

The only recent dream I recall at the moment was from this past weekend. I purchased two games I've been wanting - Bohnanza and Frank's Zoo. I didn't remember the dream until I was in the store The Games People Play, purchasing the games the day after I had the dream. Couldn't recall this during my lunchtime session, but I'm not sure it was the type of thing she was looking for. Gonna have to start writing them down. Which would be interesting on its own.

By the way - I'm a big fan of both games, as well as the store from which I bought them. I encourage you to check 'em out. Don't know yet whether I recommend Jungian analysis. I'll keep you posted...

Attack of the Giant Carp

Walden Pond...a lovely place for early morning swimming in the summer. A few weeks back, my friend Marissa and I had exactly this in mind. Little did we know...

Still yawning from our too early rise-and-shine to avoid the summer crowds, we wade into the still kinda chilly pond water. We swim slowly, chatting about kids' names and marriage and pregnancy cravings.

Marissa's never swum across and back, but we're halfway across and decide to go for it. We've stayed close to the side shore, in case one of us gets tired. We pass a family, sitting and fishing, and say hello.

Just beyond the family, the far shore is in sight. I'm excited, accompanying Marissa on her longest swim and making my season's first trip across and back. When suddenly...

"What the hell is that?" I shout, seeing a moving orange figure twenty yards ahead. Marissa stops. We tread water. It's a fish, we decide. "It's gigantic," Marissa hollers. We're laughing, and whooping. We're also nervous and feeling mighty silly, so scared of a fish. I mention that it looks like something out of a Japanese fairy tale. He stays directly in our path for several minutes, then starts to swim toward the middle of the pond. We go forward.

Then stop. Abruptly. Our forward motion has brought the fish back. Now we begin debating in earnest...do we go forward, or do we go back? It's just a fish, we say. True. But the fish doesn't seem to want us to go near it. The shore is in sight. But, that fish is gi-normous.

Marissa screams. "It's coming toward us, it's coming at us!" I scream, too. We're both doing a lot of screaming and flailing and laughing and more screaming. I begin furiously swimming the crawl back toward our home shore. After creating comfortable distance, I stop and turn, seeing that Marissa is still back there, screaming and shouting, the carp circling her.

"Swim," I yell.

"I'm trying, I can only dog paddle," she hollers back.

We're still laughing and whooping and generally nutty. She catches up to me, narrowly escaping the carp's pursuit. We can't stop laughing and talking about the fish attack. Marissa notes that up close, the fish was the size of her leg. It seemed that way from a distance as well. She says at least it wasn't a snapping turtle. She's really afraid of those.

We pass the fishing family on our way back. We tell them our tale. Marissa notes that "we screamed like little girls." And I have to admit that she is right. We ask if they've ever known fish to attack. The dad tells us it sounds like a carp. And the mom says that we don't need to worry about the carp, but notes that there are snapping turtles in the pond, and suggests that we watch out if we see one of those.

More on Katie...

Today marks a first - I agree with FoxNews:

The real loser in all of this? Why, Katie Holmes.

In the last few weeks, her agent and manager have been dismissed, and a really great, much-coveted film role — that of Edie Sedgwick — has been taken from her. The producers of "Batman Begins" already have said she won't be back for the sequel.

Katie Holmes and her latest fiasco

I only just found out that Katie Holmes actually dated Joshua Jackson for two years while Dawson's was still on the air. Tom Cruise: major step down. A brief investigation determined that he who shall forever be referred to as Pacey is refusing to comment on little Joey Potter's latest goings-on. David Spade, however, felt free to do so, noting that "it feels like we're being 'punk'd."

I know, I know. There is something seriously wrong with me, given that I'm quoting USA Today and writing about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes on my blog. If anyone can help me, please, tell me how to recover.