André Dussollier

Someone made mention of André Dussollier the other day whom I haven't encountered since I arrived in Paris for the first time so many years ago. I liked him immediately, as we sipped orange juice in his apartment, and what struck me about him was that he seemed to be a listener rather than a talker; something of a new experience for me coming, as I did, from "Hollywood". Thinking of him brought to mind the title of a film he was in: La vérité ou presque (The truth or almost).

As the days count down to the time we shall have to choose between McCain (CFR/R) and Obama (CFR/D), I, like many of us, am paying rapt attention to the truth that is being pumped into my (junior) suite thanks to the munificence of CNN and others whose mission in life is to pump us full--and then some. Sometimes it is obvious that le pompiste in question has been bought and paid for in the shabbiest of transactions so as to poison our minds and create the illusion of an issue. They do this so that the other info-pumpers will appear to be less obvious in their efforts to indoctrinate us by seeming to be impartial and giving the appearance of having journalistic ethics--something akin to Bigfoot; I've heard all about it but never seen it.

It is my experience that the truth must be discovered (per the Free Online Dictionary: dis·cov·er (d-skvr) tr.v. dis·cov·ered, dis·cov·er·ing, dis·cov·ers 1. To notice or learn, especially by making an effort). It doesn't find its way into your living room sponsored by large multi-nationals so that one can make an informed and unbiased opinion.

It is a well-known phenomenon that no one is guilty in prison; all inmates tend to profess innocence. And so it is with politicians. My response would be to deny power to any and all who seek it. That would solve most of the problems that plague us. For whatever is left over, I suggest a week in Tahiti as a definitive cure. Failing this kind of direct address to the problem, it would behoove us all to ignore the utterances of those engaged in this Punch & Judy show writ large. That McCain continually denies saying things that the video proves he said only days earlier should serve as confirmation that paying heed to his words is a losing proposition. Perhaps he is a pathological liar; maybe he has short and long term memory issues. In either event, we are ill-advised to take it all in.