“The King’s Speech” and some other stuff

We’re up here at the Tahoe place for some skiing.  Going back down to the Bay Area in a couple of hours.

We did not ski on Friday because there were 90 mph winds over the ridge tops.  Instead we drove to Reno and saw “The King’s Speech.”  I thought it was a wonderful movie – perfect in every way.  I like the way that they did not make the story come out to be an unbelievable triumph – just an “ordinary” triumph was better.  What I am getting at is summed up in the final scene where the King at last gives his speech.  I was sort of expecting that he would pop up to the microphone and rattle off the speech like Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton combined.  That would have been the unbelievable triumph.  Instead, he still had serious trouble getting through the speech and even his loving daughter said he was “halting” at the beginning but got better as he went alone.  A triumph to be sure, but an ordinary one.  Let me close by saying that often times the favorite wins because it is the best.

On Saturday on the way to ski, we had to get gas.  The price for REGULAR was $4.49 per gallon.  It cost me over $68 to fill my tank.  The oil companies have us right where they want us.  We are the classic captive market to be preyed upon by a truly heartless monopoly.

I’ll close by pulling your coats to this excellent column by E.J. Dionne in today’s WaPo.  To the barricades folks, lest our country be taken over by the super-rich while the poor and needy circle the drain.