BELSIZE PARK

Military luxury.

Does anything about this strike you as odd?

The boys in blue show up.

So I'm out for a quiet Saturday morning stroll....

And all hell breaks loose.......

Two cops on motorcycles roar around the corner so I think: motorcade's a-coming. Nope, just every squad car in Minneapolis. Seems the gentleman being offered a ride here was having a disagreement with his beloved after an all night gin fest. The authorities are called to referee and our boy lands a punch on the responding officer. Well, the punchee gets on the blower, because he doesn't take to kindly to this, and the entire force stands on the gas arriving soon after, brakes a-smokin'.

A woman walks up to me and says, "Eleven cop cars for one guy! That's where our tax money is going!" She walks away and I think, yeah, but it beats TV.

Sitting around the house yesterday....

...after a less-than-hard day's work, just falling into that peace that comes from knowing that the next few hours are yours AND THEN A MARCHING BAND SETS UP SHOP IN THE NEIGHBOR'S FRONT YARD!

They practiced for a hour and a half before setting off for a parade a few streets away leaving me edgy and wondering if the hearing-aid concerns sponser this kind of thing. I'm afraid that the dog across the street will never be the same.

A St. Paul Evening....

One of those very rare perfect evenings. Dinner with a great friend kicked things off. Carmello's on Snelling Ave is now my favorite Italian eatery. Pesto can be screwed up. They didn't. Anyway, the walk around Como Lake afterwards was made even more perfect by true spring weather. It seems we get this only one day a year....

We strolled and talked about important things then retired to the Dairy Queen and talked some more. Perfect.

On the way home I ran into the hot rods parading past Porky's Drive-in on University. Lookouts had been posted on the corners, bleach dumped in the street and each muscle car moved forward to smoke the tires. The air was cool. There was a crescent moon hanging in the darkening sky and I thought there are some things in the middle of America that aren't so bad.

Magic for sale

This is where I blew my first allowance. I went in with a couple of bucks and left with a handful of magic.

Minneapolis, thinking of Belsize Park...

Important Fear

What goes through the minds of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. when they find time in their day to reflect on their importance and power? Do these conceited men gloat in the shaving mirror thinking about their power? Do they admire their image on the television studio monitors? Do they have any doubts that they and their actions are wrong?

On and on we war-haters rant about Bush's ignorance and smirk knowing full well that he, like Reagan, were manufactured for their role. We can ignore him. He is scripted. He dreams of the parties to come, his library and his history book picture. The former high school cheerleader has made it onto the playing field, by himself, he imagines, and hopes to yet best his father.

The minds of Ashcroft, Cheney and Rumsfeld are much more opaque. They are not likeable minds. We can almost see them squirm as they plot. They are not peaceful minds. They have been at work for decades, day and night. Doing what? As reported by the press, attending to the details of campaigning for Congress, holding public office and running businesses. Unseen by the press, while these men sit on the edge of the bed at night, or when they stand in the shower in the morning, these minds visit those places from which their motivation comes. These are places of fear from which they would run or places of joy to which they would return.

It is difficult to imagine what would spur men to give their waking hours to a relentless pursuit of power only to use that power to damage themselves and their nation.

Perhaps that is the point.