John Kercher's Meredith published today

I'm reading it now on my iPad and will be back later on to share the experience. In the meantime, download the book and start reading. If you live in the UK, go out and buy a copy or two. Many people have asked how they might contribute financially to the fight for justice for Meredith Kercher. John Kercher, in an interview in The Times, says that all proceeds from his book will go toward establishing a fund in Meredith's name. He also said the family passed on several lucrative deals offered by various media. As ever, they remain classy and dignified in a brutal and insensitive world.

Mad men

Would you buy a used car from this man? I sure as hell wouldn't!

Mitticism of the Day

Meet Ann and Mittens, heiress and heir apparent to the throne

First in a series This morning on Fox and Friends, Mittens responded to Obama's comment (which he has made several times, which is factual and which does not necessarily refer to Romney) that he (Obama) was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth by saying, several times "I'm certainly not going to apologize for my dad and his success in life," and a little further on "I'm not going to apologize for my dad's success, but I know the president likes to attack fellow Americans." But here's the zinger, the Mitticism of the day: "And if I'm president, I will stop the attack on fellow Americans. I'll stop the attack on people and start attacking the problems that have been looming over this country." Is he going to do this before or after he gets rid of HUD and whatever other federal agencies he plans to abolish when he ascends to the throne? And since no King is complete with his Queen, here's Ann Romney with a Mitticism of her own: She told Diane Sawyer the other day that it was Mittens'turn to live in the White House: "I believe it's... Mitt's time... It's our turn now," she said. But the best is yet to come! Mittens also told Diane Sawyer that if elected, he would seek to have Roe versus Wade overturned. I'm not sure he knows exactly how that process works, but it does involve the Supreme Court. He can't just issue an edict. Stay tuned for tomorrow's Mitticism. Maybe I'll revisit my personal favorite, the one where Mitt states that his wife Ann reports back to him.

Catio: a progress report

Since you asked, the catio project is moving along at a good clip.

Thanks are in order to BIL Terry Elliott, the man behind Paradigm Builders, Inc., for designing and now bringing into existence the catio. Our cats are so excited they're throwing up, hiding, meowing and waking us up at 5 am. Well, that's what they always do, but right now they are doing all of this in a particularly intense and appreciative way. THEY KNOW.

Peter Van Sant: Worst Person in the Universe Today

Peter Van Sant has just thought fit to attack John Kercher, the father of Meredith Kercher, who was murdered in Perugia, Italy, in November of 2007. Van Sant was one of the early adopters of the Amanda Knox as Innocent Abroad narrative fiction concocted by David Marriott, the PR consultant hired by Knox's family just a few days after she was arrested in connection with Meredith Kercher's murder. The PR-driven version of events caught on with the US mainstream media like wildfire, precisely because that mainstream is dominated today by the likes of Peter Van Sant. In his most recent contribution to the hatchet job being worked on the prosecutor, the victim, her family and the latter's lawyer, Van Sant basically tells John Kercher he ought to buy into the narrative fiction Van Sant helped to concoct, insinuates that the rest of the Kercher family is not behind John Kercher, and faults Kercher for not attending the appeal. What he doesn't mention is that John Kercher has suffered a series of strokes since his daughter was brutally murdered. In addition, he and his family did not have the luxury of traveling to and fro on the dime of the big American networks. I'm not even going to provide a link to this undignified and unfair attack on John Kercher. Peter Van Sant is a disgrace to the journalism profession.

Movies old and new (ish)

We watched Woody Allen's Sleeper this weekend, which I hadn't seen since it was released in 1973. I still can't get over the fact that 1973 was almost 40 years ago. I was a year away from high school graduation. Yikes! Sleeper is one of my favorite Woody Allen films, in part because it is a perfect combination of visual slapstick and Alleneque one-liners. The visual slapstick is part Benny Hill, part Charlie Chaplin, yet somehow different from both of those geniuses. Allen's vision of the future seems to focus mainly on the absolute triumph of bureaucratic incompetence and human greed. He places the action 200 years into the future, but I guess that's because he did not anticipate the acceleration of time. Loved: the old volkswagen, the old NY Times headline from 1991 (Pope's wife gives birth to twins), Diane Keaton getting brainwashed and turning into a sort of "Tanya" figure in a nod to the kidnapping and subsequent "brainwashing" of heiress Patty Hearst, the giant banana peel... in many ways, this movie is about the very premises of comedy. Earlier in the week, I went to see Le gamin au vélo at SIFF. It is a wonderful film, deserving of all the accolades it has gotten. One quibble: I don't think the English translation of the title is quite right. It isn't The Kid with a Bike or Kid with a Bike, it is The Kid with the Bike. The identity of the bike and its symbolic value for the kid are critical to the film and captured in the French title. The kid's dad sells his bike at the same time he abandons the kid. During the first part of the film, the kid is desperately seeking HIS bike because it links him to HIS dad. And he simply cannot believe his father has sold his bike, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Even when he is confronted with incontrovertible proof, you can see him pushing it away. The filmmakers, les frères Dardenne, are known for using mostly unknown actors. This time, they took a chance on a name - the Belgian acress Cécile de France. She is magnificent in this film, in the role of a hairdresser who takes the kid in.

Caine's Arcade

This is a great way to start the day. I want to go to Caine's Arcade. I want to BE CAINE!

DEAR CADMAN GRAVEL

One of your drivers deliberately hit my car in downtown Seattle on Saturday. The driver was apparently disgruntled because my husband pulled out from behind him when he had the opportunity and positioned our tiny car in front of his gigantic truck, giving us better visibility and not compromising his in the least. At the next light, your driver deliberately nudged my car with the nose of his truck, with enough force to startle us. When my husband got out to inspect for possible damage, the driver would not budge. As a result, my husband's head was wedged between your truck and the back of our car and he could not see if any damage had occurred. I was frankly afraid for his safety. The driver was incredibly unpleasant and refused to get out of his truck or apologize. Had it been an accident, he surely would have. He actually denied having hit us, claimed we had rolled backward (we had not and were not on a hill), and yet yelled at my husband for pulling in front of him a couple of minutes earlier. Sounded like payback to us. We later discovered that he had dented my car in a couple of places. My husband called your company today and was told that nothing would be done. We wrote down the license plate and truck numbers. We have the time of the incident and other details. It is all well and good to put testimonials on your website about how clean your trucks are, but as far as I am concerned your company is not a force for good in the community if this is how your drivers behave with no sanctions or even concern on your part. I'll probably write a blog post about it, and I won't hesitate to use the real name of your company. I think people in the Northwest need to know what some of your drivers are apparently capable of. Someone could have been seriously hurt. Our car, by the way, is a tiny mini cooper (2002). It is no match for a huge cement mixing truck. Your driver is lucky that his lack of maturity only caused us to feel a jolt and only dented our car slightly. A minor miscalculation on his part and the outcome could have been far worse. Sincerely, Margaret Ganong

Book by Meredith Kercher's Father John to be Published Soon

That's the cover, a lovely photo of Meredith Kercher, whose murder in November 2007 will perhaps never be fully elucidated. Those who know something are not talking. But books galore are in the works. I'm pleased that John Kercher, Meredith's father, will beat both Sollecito and Knox to publication. Although virtually unknown in America, probably because he is Italian, Raffaele Sollecito has nonetheless managed to find a publisher thanks to his agent, who is lately based on Mercer Island, the affluent suburb to the east of Seattle that boasts more face lifts, boob jobs and French nails per square block than any other suburb on earth I'm told. Sollecito has found a bombastic journalist to cowrite his best version of the truth, which should be out by this fall. As for Amanda Knox, the publisher is saying 2013. A co-author has to be found and there is the pesky question of how Italy's Supreme Court will respond to Judge Hellmann's perplexing acquittal. I have high hopes for John Kercher's book. After all, he is actually a journalist and has no particular agenda. He just wants to pay homage to his daughter who, in the frenzied PR-driven attempt to clear the two white kids, was ruthlessly erased. Worse than that, she has been the victim of an organized, posthumous smear campaign. She deserves better. The Knox groupies are in quite a tizzy over John Kercher's book, and have been busy strewing its path to publication with the usual trash and innuendo. If they keep it up, they could be credited with boosting sales of this book. It will be out in the UK at the end of this month. Expect no coverage in Seattle, where the media have been told to forget about the dead girl. We have a very obedient media it seems. John Henry Browne just got front-page treatment in the Sunday Times. This is the guy who defends mostly white guys, it seems, saving them from the harshest penalties for heinous acts by invoking their rough upbringings and, if necessary, brain damage - usually temporary. Sound familiar? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only high-profile case under Browne's belt that I know of where the perp wasn't a white man was the one where he defended one of the authors of the Wah Mee massacre. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think more than 20 people were killed in that horrific spree.

Impeaching the Supremes: it can be done

Meet Sister Bernie. She was arrested back in 2003 during an anti-war protest and subsequently strip-searched. The Supreme Court has just ruled 5-4 that it is okay to strip-search people like Sister Bernie. Writing for the majority (the majority of assholes currently sitting on the Court), Justice Anthony Kennedy argued that even “people detained for minor offenses can turn out to be the most devious and dangerous criminals.”

The more I stare at her photo, the more devious and dangerous Sister Bernie looks.


Below, my friends at Counterpunch are selling these cool buttons. Just $8 for three.