Writer's Block: Church and State

2009-01-04T14:13:56Z

Today in 1893 U.S. President Benjamin Harrison declared full amnesty for Mormon polygamists. Is it the government's place to define which marriages are valid and which are not?

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Touchy subject with no clean cut answer. Normally I would say it was not the government's business who anyone wanted to marry. However, marriage is a legally binding agreement which pretty much guarantees some kind of government involvement. Often there are several children involved in polygamist marriages which to me is where the line begins to get a bit fuzzy and I start to question things then. I do think it should be addressed by individual states and not just as an overall generic definition.

"Winterland" summary...

2007-11-18T23:19:15Z

After several attempts, I finally got to watch the Journeyman episode I'd taped days before. I'm going to try to do a summary of the show, maybe not as thorough as I'd like and please don't be shy about pointing out any mistakes, sometimes I get mixed up on names and dates and other things.

In the beginning, Dan's talking to someone at the office about a bottle of wine he bought to have for a dinner with Katie. Before he gets there he's zapped back to the 1970's and ends up at a party. The host of the party is suspicious and is not friendly until Livia shows up and latches onto Dan's arm with a story about being new neighbors. The wine's assumed to be a gift and a laugh is had because of the date on it (a gag future date they think). Dan's already been distracted by seeing Nixon on TV giving a famous speech (there's a funny moment when Dan's wondering where's the remote to turn up the volume and of course remotes weren't used yet). Dan finally realizes the party's some kind of wife-swapping thing. A pretty dark-haired girl, Abigail, shows up and looks for her mom who's having sex with someone other than Abigail's father. Abigail appears traumatized and runs out.

Dan gets zapped back and makes it to his dinner with Katie who's pleased they're doing something normal but she's still unsettled by Dan's journeys into the past when he tells her about the girl. She's happy though that Dan's interest was more on Nixon's speech than Livia. The wine he'd picked out is awful and they have a laugh over it.

The next day we see Jack talking to the feds about the Dylan McCleen money and they're quizzing him about where the bill he had came from. From Dan, of course, and Jack appears to be trying to stall them and seems to want to take care of the situation himself which they aren't going to let him do.

Dan researches the girl Abigail. It turns out that she hasn't been seen since she was hitchhiking in 1973 after the bad events at her parents' house. The Feds show up to talk to Dan about the Dylan McCleen hijacking and want to know how he is involved in the situation and why he's been interested in it. The agent makes several ugly remarks about the 747 that Dan disappeared from. Dan tries not to say too much but the agents are still certain the events are somehow all tied together.

Dan goes back home and wants to get rid of the money. He receives a call from Dr. Langley who wants to meet with him again. Dr. Langley thinks the feds know more about everything than Dan thinks they do and warns Dan not to say anything about his traveling. As Dr. Langley turns and begins to walk away, Dan disappears. Langley turns around and there's no Dan but he doesn't seem to be surprised about that.

In the past again, Dan finds himself on the side of the road near the beach, apparently where Abigail disappeared. She's there trying to change a flat tire and he looks in her trunk and tells her she doesn't even have a spare. A green pickup truck approaches and she's offered a ride. Dan talks her out of it and, even though we can't see his face too well, we get the impression the driver's not happy. But then she's picked up by hippies in a VW bus where he assumes she'll be better off.

Back in the present again, Dan comes home to find dear brother Jack there and is not happy about that. Jack wants to talk about where the money came from but Dan makes him leave. Katie doesn't say much during this. The next day, the feds appear and want to search the house. Dan says he has to leave for work and is worried when they search his case but there's no money. Apparently Katie'd already hidden it in his jacket and he leaves with it. Katie looks mad about the mess the Feds are making with their search but then notices one box that has Livia's name on it. She pulls a photograph of Livia out of it.

Again Dan finds himself back in time, eating at a restaurant and Abigail and her hippie friends are at the next table and all look a little dopey. The guy Abigail's with seems a little rough around the edges but when Dan asks her to stay with him and Livia, she refuses and goes off with her friends. Back in the present, Dan again researches her and finds she ending up in prison with a life sentence because of his interference. Katie arrives with the photograph she found of Livia.

Jack and the feds are talking again and Jack's suspicions about Dan's activities grow. The fed says they believe there's a link between the McCleen case of stolen money and a case from 1994 that involved a seemingly counterfeit bill. This was when during one of his journeys Dan used that bill to pay a taxi driver and Jack was chasing him.

In a trip back to the 1970's, Dan and Livia end up at a store that Abigail and her friends are going to rob. They try to talk Abigail out of it.

During all this, Dan decides to question Livia about the odd picture that Katie found in the box of Livia's things that he'd kept after her "death." She finally drops the bomb on Dan that her real life was lived in the 1940's and the relationship that she and Dan had actually took place during her journeys. She gives a muddled explanation of this and why it was possible for her to have a long period of time with Dan until the day she vanished aboard the airplane.

With the robbery attempt still trying to happen, Dan uses the stolen money to try and stop it. It doesn't help. Then Dan tells Abigail that following her loser boyfriend is the same as her parents' dysfunctional relationship and she gets upset and runs off. The others in her group are shot down.

Dan gets back to the present day and finds out that Abigail went on to school and became a politician. Mission accomplished, she's not dead or in jail.

Dan and Katie talk about what Livia told him about her time traveling. We see Jack sitting at a bar contemplating the situation involving Dan.

As I said before, if I made any mistakes feel free to point them out. Sometimes I get my time line mixed up when I try to remember what happened first and it gets tedious looking back at the tape. If I left out something important, remind me!

And, as always, discussion is open about this episode as well as others. I still haven't heard anything concrete about Journeyman's situation after the writer's strike. The show's gotten decent ratings though so hopefully it will be back.

Finally back from our trip...

2007-10-24T03:03:04Z

Well, after a hurriedly made decision to visit friends in Colorado last Thursday, I'm finally back, tired to the bone, windblown, and quickly revising my plan to find me a home in the mountains when I'm old and retiring. I'm sad to say that I don't think I could survive the winter. The neverending snow, beautiful though it is, is not something I'd want to have to deal with every day.

When we finally got in a motel room Monday night, after watching a great episode of Journeyman, I turn to CNN and see all the news about the wildfires in California. How awful that so much has been destroyed, I can't even imagine how devasting it must be to those people.

Then I see the talk about New Orleans and flooding. If 8-10 inches of rain is worrisome then maybe they're not prepared for another hurricane yet. I've relatives who live in a town not too far from there and they say their area and the city haven't even come close to recovering from the hurricane and probably never would be the same again. When I talked to them about a month ago they didn't sound too positive about the area being prepared for a storm but like so many others do not want to give up the only home they've known.

Arggghh...I need to go to bed, I've work in the morning and a lot of catching up to do.

Tuesday's are so slow...

2007-05-08T16:15:56Z

I want to go home....I want to go home. Pretty please with sugar on top. I'll do anything for you. Within reason. No? I didn't think so.

Hmmmm...am I work safe? Stands up and looks around. Nobody here. AND IF YOU ARE MONITORING THIS IN SOME KIND OF WAY...I DON'T CARE. This is a fucking boring job...come sit in my place for a while.

*Big Sigh* I'm usually not this disagreeable. But I have answered the phone to have to listen to too many ignorant assholes already today. I am going to lunch. EARLY.

juno_eclipse

Writer's Block: Church and State

"Winterland" summary...

Finally back from our trip...

Tuesday's are so slow...