ST. HELENS, Ore. Oct 28, 2004 — So far as she knows, Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox hasn’t been passing any state secrets to sinister foreign governments, or violating obscure clauses in the Patriot Act.
So she was taken aback by a mysterious phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to her small store in this quiet Columbia River town just north of Portland.
“I was shaking in my shoes,” Cox said of the September phone call. “My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I’m closed even for a day that would cause undue stress.”
When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik’s Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time.
He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.
Sad news
There is very sad news to report today: Jesse Lanier Cooper, the 17-year-old son of Oscar winner Chris Cooper and his wife, “Sopranos” co-star Marianne Leone, died at the family’s Kingston home Monday night.
Jesse, the couple’s only child, died of natural causes related to his cerebral palsy, family spokeswoman Cara Tripicchio said.
“They are fantastic people and our hearts go out to them,” Tripicchio said. “It’s very, very unfortunate.” The Coopers have been tireless advocates for special needs kids in the Boston area since moving here in 1994. The couple relocated from the New York area to the South Shore because they believed Massachusetts had the more progressive educational opportunities for children with cerebral palsy.
“My wife did her research and found out Massachusetts was about 20 years ahead of other states in terms of mainstreaming kids with disabilities into public schools,” Cooper said last year.
Even with that, the couple “really had to fight” for resources for their son, said Cooper, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as an orchid thief in “Adaptation.”
Jesse was eventually mainstreamed into classes at Silver Lake Regional High School, where he earned a place on the honor roll. The boy’s success was due, in large part, to the dedication and sacrifices made by his parents.
I met Chris and Marianne last summer. We’ve stayed in touch off and on by email, but I just heard about this over the weekend. My deepest sympathies go out to them both.
…They’ve set up a foundation to support charities that meant a lot to their son. To donate, send a check payable to:
Jesse Cooper Foundation
P.O. Box 390
Kingston, MA 02364
A couple more ribbon magnets
The Freedom
“Ah, the freedom. Look, we have the gas-line freedom, the looting freedom, the killing freedom, the rape freedom, the hash-smoking freedom. I don’t know what to do with all this freedom. ”
— Akeel, a twenty-six-year-old Baghdad resident on life in the new Iraq
That’s the quote from which Christian Parenti takes the title of his new book of on-the-ground reporting from Iraq. I’m about a third of the way through it, and so far, I would recommend it unambiguously to anyone who wants to get a sense of what’s actually happening there, without the various CNN/Fox/DoD filters.
Sorry, Andy
Yesterday, Sullivan was clutching at this exchange like a drowning man grasping for a piece of driftwood:
The Post: Do you plan to expend any political capital to aggressively lobby senators for a gay marriage amendment?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I think that the situation in the last session — well, first of all, I do believe it’s necessary; many in the Senate didn’t, because they believe DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] will — is in place, but — they know DOMA is in place, and they’re waiting to see whether or not DOMA will withstand a constitutional challenge.
The Post: Do you plan on trying to — using the White House, using the bully pulpit, and trying to —
THE PRESIDENT: The point is, is that senators have made it clear that so long as DOMA is deemed constitutional, nothing will happen. I’d take their admonition seriously.
The Post: But until that changes, you want it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, until that changes, nothing will happen in the Senate. Do you see what I’m saying?
The Post: Right.
THE PRESIDENT: The logic.
From this, Sullivan concludes:
The FMA has gone unmentioned by Bush since the election – and it appears more and more like a pre-election ploy rather than a principled stand. (Of course, that’s a relief but it’s also an indication of how bald-faced a political maneuver this was in the first place). But this piece of sanity from the President deserves praise and reciprocation from those of us who support equality in marriage.
Thus reassured, he closes with buoyant optimism:
Very soon, it will be clear that Massachusetts’ judicial decision will be endorsed by its own legislature, making this case a matter not simply of judicial activity but democratic legitimacy. And then we should bide our time and let the example of Massachusetts set in. I’m convinced that once the reality of this reform sinks in, fears will recede. The president has given us this opportunity. It would be crazy not to reciprocate. But for the record: thanks, Mr president.
Sullivan may well be right on one count — that the FMA was never anything more than red meat for the knuckle-draggers. But even so, the thing about pandering to a noisy constituency is that they’ll hold you to it, as we learn this morning:
The White House sought on Sunday to reassure conservatives that President Bush would work hard on behalf of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, backtracking from remarks Mr. Bush made in an interview suggesting that he would not press the Senate to vote on the amendment this year.
Remember Charlie the tuna? The bespectacled tunafish who, for reasons which are never made entirely clear, wishes nothing more than to be caught by the Starkist trawler (represented by a cartoon fishing hook) and, presumably, chopped up and served as some child’s lunchmeat? That’s Andrew Sullivan. Like Charlie, he longs for acceptance into a system that is designed to destroy him, and like Charlie, he is destined for perpetual rejection.
Sorry, Charlie.