Another story from the book

Here is a yard ornament from my sister's house from last week-end. This blue orb is in her "touch-me-not" flower bed. Those flowers are just plain fun. We had them all over when we were growing up and as far as I can tell, she is the only sister that has continued the flower in our family. The seed pods burst when you squeezed them. There are dozens of little pods, so the flowers still thrive. I remember them from my childhood days.

Another story from the book, "Charlie Wilson's War." It was rather well-known around the Washington D.C. circuit not to make an enemy of Charlie Wilson. He was known for being a ruthless person. If you didn't do things his way, he got even with you.

I don't recall who had the say over who rides in the airplanes that a Congressman will ride on when going to a foreign country, but whoever it was put his foot down and would not allow Charlie's one girlfriend to ride on the plane. (Not Herring). Wives, family and assistants can go, but there was a rule that didn't allow friends and such. Most of the time, they let it slide. But this one guy didn't. It made Charlie angry. He was heading for Pakistan, so he called the King of Pakistan who flew his own private jet to pick Charlie and his lady-friend up so they could ride together. I don't know. Must have been some mile-high club quota that they had to ride together.

Anyway, Charlie fixed the airlines. He made an assistant ride in the government plane with the luggage and he made the plane ride right alongside the plane from Pakistan just to carry the luggage and the assistant. The assistant (a man) was in tears pleading with the pilots and the crew not to be angry at him - that Charlie was making him do this.

And, he held them up so that the crew and pilot missed some kind of company picnic. Now that I recall the story, it may have been the CIA's plane.

The movie made more of Herring than the book did. Herring moved on to a more wealthy man after she got the ball rolling with Charlie and Afghanistan. Charlie didn't stay true to one woman for very long. Not very surprising there, given his character type. Boozer, womanizer, party goer, spender, swindler, ... makes a great representative for the government.

I didn't really mean to sound cruel when I suggested that Julia Roberts should not have played Herring. If you look at photos of Herring, she looks pinched and fake. She looks as if she has china doll features and is delicate. Julia, on the other hand looks healthy, strong and natural.