I still can’t believe that England managed to lose 2-1 to France yesterday, after leading 1-0 for most of the game and then conceding not one but TWO ridiculous and improbably goals in the final 3 minutes of injury time.

I really do not understand this ongoing adulation for Reagan, but apparently this kind of collective amnesia about a former President is quite normal, especially when the incumbent is so dire.

Unbelievable — apparently there is legislation in preparation that will re-establish the draft in the United States!

In other news, Bush is apparently now having to backtrack over his claim that he knew nothing about the systemic torture in Iraqi prisons, because evidence has come to light of a memo claiming that Bush is exempt from pretty much any laws because he’s the President! Congress is demanding to see these memos, but of course Servant of Evil and wannabe crooner John Ashcroft is refusing to hand them over.

How much more are these people going to be allowed to get away with before they’re all impeached and tried for treason and war crimes?!

In case you hadn’t heard: Ronald Reagan, the President who, together with Margaret Thatcher, brought the world to the brink of a cold war era nuclear apocalypse, has died at the age of 93.

Can’t say I’m going to shed any tears. I still very clearly remember sitting in an English class at High Storrs school in Sheffield at the age of 14 when the air raid siren on the school’s roof went off. Everyone went quiet and white, including the teacher Mrs Canham, who went to find out what was happening (it turned out some maintenance workers came across it and thought they’d give it a crank to see if it still worked. Morons).

If you’re younger than about 35, you may not remember just how real the threat of nuclear war was back in 1982. We all pretty much thought we had 4 minutes to go before being incinerated by searing hot 500 mile per hour blast wave from a nuclear air burst over Sheffield.

If you don’t believe me, here’s a poster from the era that I remember very clearly, courtesy of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics’ exhibition, Graphics for the Gipper:

There was even a movie where exactly that scene was depicted: It was called “Threads,” and it was by local author Barry Hines. His children, Sally & Thomas, were also at my school, so we had all seen the movie.

I’m now the FORMER owner of a 1969 Ford Mustang Grande; she left New York for Ohio yesterday with her new owners on a U-Haul trailer.

It was sad to see her go, I had her for almost 5 years — almost as long as I’ve lived in the United States. I took her for one last spin around Long Island City in Queens; I’m gonna miss the sound of the dual glasspack exhaust.

[sniff]

Still, it was the right thing to do, and the new owners seem like they’ll take good care of her; they have another ’69 Mustang that’s all rusted out to use as a parts car.

On the plus side, I’ll never have to go to Roosevelt Island again, I’ll save the $160 monthly garage fee, and I got a pretty good price for her too: $6,400.