blog.arithm

On October 11, 2002 Congress approved the “Iraq War Resolution” granting the Bush administration authorization to invade Iraq.  It was to be a quick war, we were told.

Six years later, 1 in 3 Iraqis have been killed, wounded, or displaced.  Over 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed with tens of thousands more seriously wounded.

The three trillion dollar Iraq War, burning through $10 billion dollars per month, has been funded with deficit dollars — money we do not have.

How much longer will we borrow to wage a war founded on lies; when our ailing economy threatens jobs, education, healthcare, and disaster relief?

On Saturday, October 11th, 2008, Bostonians will gather in Boston Common to make a stand.

For more information, see the official rally website and the program for a list of performers and speakers.

Update: This drew a much larger crowd than I anticipated; where I expected to see hundreds, there were thousands. Still much smaller than it needs to be, but encouraging.

Crowds will certainly grow as the economy worsens.

Imagine a three-story tall castle-shaped Lite Brite flanked by a small army of seven-foot inflatable Weeble-Wobble-like iconic Christmas sentries… and you may just barely be able to grasp what it is like to stand before Dominic Luberto’s “Castle of Christmas” in Jamaica Plain on the outskirts of Boston.

The “Castle” was pretty impressive last year, when the lights alone appear to have cost about $10,000 dollars. But this year its over the top. Literally. Atop Luberto’s $2 million dollar domicile this year sits a ten-foot high 650 pound illuminated gold crown.

Apparently back in November the city was after Luberto, stating that the crown is a permit-requiring structure. Luberto claimed it to be just a “temporary Christmas decoration.” He must have won; the crown was still up when we went to see it last night.

Even more bizarre than the display itself is the fact that Luberto seems to be using it to advertise his own version of Where’s Waldo.

An illuminated sign out front, finddominicdecorating.com, points to a self-published book available from AuthorHouse.com.

The “Free Preview” paragraph on AuthorHouse proudly declares:

Hi kids! This is your friend Dominic. I’ll decorate my Castle for Christmas. Can you guess which decorations I will use? Dominic will love to paste some of the book pictures but this program doesn’t let us do that.

Woah.

So with marketing collateral like that, what else could I do? I ordered a book from my friend Dominic. Hopefully the program will let him send it to me.

Saw Stephen Wright at the Orpheum tonight. Great show. I laughed so hard.. I started cryin’.

On the way out I was surprised to see how varied the audience was in age. Stephen is not just funny, he’s funny for everyone.

This weekend there will be a free English Rakugo event at two location in Boston. Come experience traditional Japanese “sit down” comedy!

See English Rakugo Boston 2007 for details.

An authentic Japanese bento is the last thing I expected to find in Natick.

Following a seminar about the crazy healthcare reform laws that have befallen Massaschusetts, we decided to stop by Oga’s in Natick to see what the rest of the Boston Japanese community was raving about. Wow, we weren’t disappointed.

Though Oga’s looks pricey for dinner, a formal (read: “fancy-ish”) bento box lunch was only about $12. I had a fairly good tonkatsu pork bento (complete with cabbage and sauce), and Miho a really spectacular sushi box lunch.

Oga’s can be a bit far out of Boston on the highway, but worth the trip. Best bento I’ve ever had in the US.