Ben Stein Broke My Heart
I have just watched an AMC-produced documentary titled Rated "R": Republicans in Hollywood. In it, Ben Stein - I will win all of Ben Stein's money! - said that Arnold Schwarzenegger (the documentary was inspired by and made during the California recall process) is not a real Republican, because he is pro-choice. Maaaaaaaan, why does Ben Stein have to rain on my parade? I am reluctantly pro-choice. Does that mean I'm not a Republican? Listen, I do not like abortion; elective abortion is about the single greatest act of personal irresponsibility I can imagine. I do not like the idea of killing babies (and if we are to be honest with ourselves, that is what abortion is), but I am trapped by reality. Women are going to have abortions, nothing will stop that, and as long as they are, I would prefer that those abortions occur in a controlled medical environment, rather than in the filthy alleyways of the bad old days. I am pro-choice because I do not want to go back to the bad old days. In a perfect world, there would be no abortions, but this is not a perfect world, and we must make some allowance for that. Does that mean I'm not a Republican? Much as I respect Mr. Stein, I must disagree with him. Both Governor Schwarzenegger and I are Republicans.

Wilson Field
After two days of work, we have a new driveway. It is, in a made-up word, gi-normous. All my life, we have had a tradtional and unremarkable two-lane driveway. Now, it is closer to four lanes in width. The aperture onto the street is unchanged, but at the entrance to the garage the concrete extends far afield of the outermost wall of the garage (though my parents have discussed demolishing the expanding the garage once the Camero is ambulatory). Seriously, the image it most readily invokes in the deck of an aircraft carrier. With the Camero in semi-permanent residence in the garage and The Last Angry Van in Ann Arbor with the Mountain of Love, it is not unreasonable to expect five automobiles to be regularly parked in front of the house: the Impala, the Lumina, Woody, the Purple Haze, and the Mousemobile. The new driveway would not look weird with four cars parked on it (we shall assume that the Mousemobile will continue to be parked in the street so as to minimize oil stains on the virgin concrete).

"the Purple Haze" - '79 Chevrolet Corvette
the Camero - '85 Chevrolet Camero IROC Z-28
"the Mousemobile" - '86 Chevrolet Celebrity
"The Last Angry Van" - '88 Chevrolet Astro
the Lumina - '95 Chevrolet Lumina
the Impala - '95 Chevrolet Impala SS
"Woody" - '95 Chevrolet Caprice Classic stationwagon

H-A-N
Have a religious night. I really do like the ring of "Father Mike"....