Damn it
This article about Al Gore depressed me. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!!!!!!
Some people aren't quite giving up yet but it's a blow. Damn it all!!!!! Who else do we have, for God's sake? Hillary? Not in this century, not for her, it ain't gonna happen. Barack Obama, whom I love and adore? Not yet, not yet, not yet!!!!! John Edwards? Never. Kindly tell Mr. Edwards to get some more political experience before he lets his ego run away with him again. I've heard talk of Wes Clark. The man's not a politician and he's barely a Democrat at all! (And I don't really like this whole idea of having a former general as Commander-in-chief. The point was always to have a civilian in charge of the Armed forces.) And the military is no training ground for politics and whatever else it is, the presidency is first and foremost about politics.
Really, the Republicans (with the kindly help of the head of their party) have shot themselves in the foot, hamstrung themselves and kicked at their Achilles heel, to use a variety of metaphors. and yet, the Democrats can't find their way out of a paper bag to take advantage of this opportunity.
Have spent most of today reading Diane Haeger's novel, 'Courtesan' about Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henri II of France, whom I'm becoming a huge fan of. I'm seriously considering acquiring some sort of decorative object with their HD cypher on it. I'm not a huge fan of Diane Haeger, I have some issues with her anachronistic phrasing. (It's not proper to describe the mistress of Francis I of France as smiling a 'Cheshire cat grin' in a historical novel.) I realize it would be impossible to exactly reproduce the way of speaking from nearly 500 years ago but not to that extent, please.
It occurs to me that Catherine de Medici, for all her vaunted sly cleverness (and I suppose she did have that), was really quite incredibly stupid. She was short, fat and ugly and married in a political marriage to young Prince Henri and they met for the first time on their wedding day. Exactly what maggot got into her brain to make her dream that Henri would ever be a faithful, loving husband?! She should have been thankful that he wasn't his father, whose promiscuity was disgusting. Not to condone adultery but in her case, realistically, she was very lucky!!! She should have been thankful that Henri never shut her away or something (unlike his namesake/counterpart in England-- and ironically, Eleanor of Aquitaine had once been Queen of France too, just like Catherine) to live quite so openly with Diane. What, a young man falls madly in love before he's even set eyes on her and she expects that he'll blithely forget his love and stay faithful to her, his short, fat, ugly wife whom he was bullied into marrying for political reasons? What rot and what idiocy. Maybe it's too much to expect from her personality and her pride (and her having been spoiled by her uncle, the Pope) but really! She should have been thankful that in Henri's case, it wasn't just philandering. It was that he quite honestly and sincerely loved Diane and Diane was smart (and realistic) enough to ensure that Catherine wasn't abandoned as a child-less, supposedly-barren Queen. Really, all things considered, Henri was quite good about treating Catherine fairly as his Queen and the mother of his children.
Admittedly, I'm biased against Catherine de Medici because I really find her quite repulsive and quite creepy. Anyone whose personal motto (and one she lived up to) was 'Hate and Wait' scares me and Catherine de Medici does. Plus it's pretty widely known and accepted that she dabbled in poisons, to say nothing of her superstitious beliefs in magic/astrology. (Odd in the niece of a Pope but whatever... it's not like the Popes of that day were particularly holy men.)
I don't like adultery but honestly, what man (hell, what person) in their right senses would look at Catherine, short, fat, ugly and really quite sinister and pick her over Diane de Poitiers, beautiful, elegant, cultured and intelligent? It's ludicrous. Catherine must have been quite phenomenally stupid, in that one way, and I find it hard to pity her, tho' I admit her pride (and she had a lion's share of that, in her Medici blood) must have been trampled a lot. But she showed she was vindictive and mean and petty the moment Henri II was struck down. Pity her? Ha. Not bloody likely.
Some people aren't quite giving up yet but it's a blow. Damn it all!!!!! Who else do we have, for God's sake? Hillary? Not in this century, not for her, it ain't gonna happen. Barack Obama, whom I love and adore? Not yet, not yet, not yet!!!!! John Edwards? Never. Kindly tell Mr. Edwards to get some more political experience before he lets his ego run away with him again. I've heard talk of Wes Clark. The man's not a politician and he's barely a Democrat at all! (And I don't really like this whole idea of having a former general as Commander-in-chief. The point was always to have a civilian in charge of the Armed forces.) And the military is no training ground for politics and whatever else it is, the presidency is first and foremost about politics.
Really, the Republicans (with the kindly help of the head of their party) have shot themselves in the foot, hamstrung themselves and kicked at their Achilles heel, to use a variety of metaphors. and yet, the Democrats can't find their way out of a paper bag to take advantage of this opportunity.
Have spent most of today reading Diane Haeger's novel, 'Courtesan' about Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henri II of France, whom I'm becoming a huge fan of. I'm seriously considering acquiring some sort of decorative object with their HD cypher on it. I'm not a huge fan of Diane Haeger, I have some issues with her anachronistic phrasing. (It's not proper to describe the mistress of Francis I of France as smiling a 'Cheshire cat grin' in a historical novel.) I realize it would be impossible to exactly reproduce the way of speaking from nearly 500 years ago but not to that extent, please.
It occurs to me that Catherine de Medici, for all her vaunted sly cleverness (and I suppose she did have that), was really quite incredibly stupid. She was short, fat and ugly and married in a political marriage to young Prince Henri and they met for the first time on their wedding day. Exactly what maggot got into her brain to make her dream that Henri would ever be a faithful, loving husband?! She should have been thankful that he wasn't his father, whose promiscuity was disgusting. Not to condone adultery but in her case, realistically, she was very lucky!!! She should have been thankful that Henri never shut her away or something (unlike his namesake/counterpart in England-- and ironically, Eleanor of Aquitaine had once been Queen of France too, just like Catherine) to live quite so openly with Diane. What, a young man falls madly in love before he's even set eyes on her and she expects that he'll blithely forget his love and stay faithful to her, his short, fat, ugly wife whom he was bullied into marrying for political reasons? What rot and what idiocy. Maybe it's too much to expect from her personality and her pride (and her having been spoiled by her uncle, the Pope) but really! She should have been thankful that in Henri's case, it wasn't just philandering. It was that he quite honestly and sincerely loved Diane and Diane was smart (and realistic) enough to ensure that Catherine wasn't abandoned as a child-less, supposedly-barren Queen. Really, all things considered, Henri was quite good about treating Catherine fairly as his Queen and the mother of his children.
Admittedly, I'm biased against Catherine de Medici because I really find her quite repulsive and quite creepy. Anyone whose personal motto (and one she lived up to) was 'Hate and Wait' scares me and Catherine de Medici does. Plus it's pretty widely known and accepted that she dabbled in poisons, to say nothing of her superstitious beliefs in magic/astrology. (Odd in the niece of a Pope but whatever... it's not like the Popes of that day were particularly holy men.)
I don't like adultery but honestly, what man (hell, what person) in their right senses would look at Catherine, short, fat, ugly and really quite sinister and pick her over Diane de Poitiers, beautiful, elegant, cultured and intelligent? It's ludicrous. Catherine must have been quite phenomenally stupid, in that one way, and I find it hard to pity her, tho' I admit her pride (and she had a lion's share of that, in her Medici blood) must have been trampled a lot. But she showed she was vindictive and mean and petty the moment Henri II was struck down. Pity her? Ha. Not bloody likely.