Do you like Chet Baker? For the answer to that question, go see "The Band's Visit", a heck of a fine little movie. Try it. You'll really like it.

What's it got to do with this photograph? Well, not a lot, really. Other than the fact that the photo is pretty darn simple - a pole, a wall, some shadows based on that pole. So's the movie. Simple, that is, as opposed to based on shadows from poles. Now, shadows from the past, well, those are part of the movie. And the way they can sometimes create insurmountable boundaries.

Aren't warehouses exciting? Well, maybe not, but - a sunny day in Vancouver? You darn betcha. Look at those shadows!

Plato's view of an oak tree.

It strikes me that the most exciting phase of the current U.S. presidential race is going to prove to be the choosing of Hill or Barack. Once that's done, the actual election of a new U.S. president will be a foregone conclusion - whichever one of them wins the Democrat's nomination will get it. There's no way the Republican candidate, whoever that may prove to be, will win, right? Right?

On the "movies to see" front, go see "Persepolis". Great little movie. An excellent corrective to the usual vision of Iran. Yes, its government is totally nuts (kinda like you-know-who), but the average citizen isn't. They went from having a murderous, fascist dictator in control (helped out by, again, you-know-who) to having murderous fascist clerics in control. Iranians had really hoped to get rid of the dictator and set up a reasonable state, but, well, you know how these crazy "revolution" things can get out of hand. Remember the French revolution? Or the Russian? Neither of those went quite as planned, either.

Honest, when I picked this photo to post, I was not thinking about the following.

I know only a couple of Republicans, and I can't say as I count them among my close friends. Which is good, because it's always painful (I imagine) to have to sign the papers committing friends to a lengthy stay in a hospital for the mentally deranged. But, on the off chance that someone reading this might actually be a Republican, and might actually be considering voting for a Republican next fall, I'd ask them to pause and consider this. Bosh.....er, I mean, Bush, a Republican, took office in 2000. At that time, both the Senate and Congress were in Republican control. A clean sweep, as it were. Republicans - the party of fiscal responsibility - controlled everything. And George was taking over a country that was - what? billions? trillions? - of dollars in the black. The American dollar was worth, roughly, $1.40 Canadian. Wow! What an opportunity for the party of fiscal responsibility to really take off! Total control! A huge budget surplus! Zowee! Remember, that surplus was generated while a Democrat - the evil Bill "Blow Me" Clinton was President. Imagine what these folks could do now that they had COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. It had to be a dream come true for Republican voters all across America.

So? How'd they do? Well, they burned through that huge surplus and created a record-breaking deficit, for one. And before next week is over (heck - before this week is over!) the Canadian dollar will be equal to the American dollar, or maybe worth a little more. Yep, Americans owe the rest of the world (mainly China - the Commies, remember?) trillions of dollars and, on top of that, those dollars are now worth 40% less than when Bush took office. Nice going Party of Fiscal Responsibility!

I'd mention the war that's killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and a couple of thousand Americans, but that's not something that would actually concern the average Republican. Money, however (especially their own), tends to get their attention.