I was inadvertently just watching CSPAN2, "Tonight from Washington" (5:52pm PDT 7/14/2010). I must have hit on something because NPR radio reported on it today too. But curiously, they didn't mention the following.
I had gotten home, played with the dogs for a while, then put on the TV and I was going through my Tivo recordings, deleting everything I really REALLY didn't need as it was getting full. Which means the menu system gets painfullllyyyyy slow.
While I was doing that, I had the screen in a screen function going and I was listening to some interesting guys talking. Then I started to focus on who and what and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was people in our Government talking about current issues today and what they were saying.
This was Richard Holbrooke as US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He was talking to a group with his team seated behind him. He was, as is typical, at a table facing a table with a group facing him, including Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Indiana and Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman), Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland), and others. The room they were in was seated to capacity and overflow.
Richard Holbrooke was saying, referring to Afghanistan:
"What happened in 1989 when the Soviets left and the world, as lead by the United States, just turned its back on Afghanistan, and watched the liberation of Eastern Europe; never recognizing that the fall of communism had begun, in Afghanistan. Never recognizing we had a commitment; is a lesson of history, we cannot afford to repeat; and it was a direct line from the 1989 decisions, to 9/11. And we all know the history here."
I found that rather interesting. I suppose, because it never occurred to me before. I had a lot going on back then. I just was wrapped up in my own stuff, family, work, whatever. But it never dawned on me before. Now, looking back, I can see how that was. It makes perfect sense.
Isn't it strange sometimes, when you know something, but its not till long later on that you come to realize that you know it? Or when you hear something and you go, Oh, yeah, that makes perfect sense. Why didn't I make that connection sooner?
Seriously, I think it just takes, taking a breath once in a while. Thinking. Seeing everything around you. Taking the time, to be able to see everything around you. To be mindful of what is going on, all around you. You don't have to do anything. I'm not asking that of you. You don't have to be socially active, or get into the environmental movements, or tell anyone off, or anything at all. It wold be good though, if you were to form an opinion. Better to take a stand.
But to even just notice, to even be aware, to try to see the connections; and then, just to... continue on....
Well, I'm good with that.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
"Bubba Nosferatu" - May be coming
It has been 8 years since Don Coscarelli's Bubba Ho-Tep arrived on DVD, and since then we've been hearing about casting and false-starts for the film's sequel, Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires. Ron Perlman was mentioned as a possible replacement for Bruce Campbell as Elvis, while Paul Giamatti became attached as Colonel Tom Parker.
Giamatti remains as enthusiastic about the project as ever, telling MTV News that Nosferatu will definitely get off the ground -- eventually."We've been trying to make that for two, three years, and we're going to get it done at some point," Giamatti told MTV's Adam Rosenberg about the status of "Nosferatu."
"I'm going to f---ing break my spine in half if I have to to get that thing done.We've been trying so hard and we've had so many near-misses," he continued. "It's almost come together like 15 freaking times and then it falls apart. At some point we're going to get that done because it's a great script. We'll get it done at some point."
The main problem is getting investors behind the project.
"I think it's just the atmosphere of movies right now, smaller movies. Nobody has the balls to make a movie for under -- it's got to be a $40 million comedy or a $200 million 'Avatar,' and that's it," he said. "Those are the only things anybody wants to make right now. Nobody wants to do anything else. Everybody's terrified of doing anything else except that kind of thing. So that movie is deemed way too bizarre and outside the box right now. Which is stupid, because there's an audience for that movie, totally."
-- from Facebook's "We Love Horror Movies"
Giamatti remains as enthusiastic about the project as ever, telling MTV News that Nosferatu will definitely get off the ground -- eventually."We've been trying to make that for two, three years, and we're going to get it done at some point," Giamatti told MTV's Adam Rosenberg about the status of "Nosferatu."
"I'm going to f---ing break my spine in half if I have to to get that thing done.We've been trying so hard and we've had so many near-misses," he continued. "It's almost come together like 15 freaking times and then it falls apart. At some point we're going to get that done because it's a great script. We'll get it done at some point."
The main problem is getting investors behind the project.
"I think it's just the atmosphere of movies right now, smaller movies. Nobody has the balls to make a movie for under -- it's got to be a $40 million comedy or a $200 million 'Avatar,' and that's it," he said. "Those are the only things anybody wants to make right now. Nobody wants to do anything else. Everybody's terrified of doing anything else except that kind of thing. So that movie is deemed way too bizarre and outside the box right now. Which is stupid, because there's an audience for that movie, totally."
-- from Facebook's "We Love Horror Movies"
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Music and TV - What's up?
Has anyone noticed that there seems to be a lot thicker connection lately between TV shows and music? "Treme" (HBO, Sunday evenings), about New Orleans right after Katrina; Memphis Beat (TNT, Tuesday evenings), about a Memphis Tennessee cop show with the inimitable Jason Lee, his newest show after, "My Name is Earl".
Why is this? What is this?
During the writers' strike some years ago, TV discovered "reality" shows. Note the word in quotes. That's because when they started we all thought they were "actuality" shows. But now we know, they are "supposed" to be about reality but they are really about entertainment that is merely based upon reality. Well, that's entertainment. Its like the difference between Science Fiction, and Sci Fi (or SyFy).
All I can say, is I love this connection. I would like to see more shows with these intense connections between the music we love and interesting, well written stories. Now I know that's asking a lot, but what the Hell. Give it a shot!
Why is this? What is this?
During the writers' strike some years ago, TV discovered "reality" shows. Note the word in quotes. That's because when they started we all thought they were "actuality" shows. But now we know, they are "supposed" to be about reality but they are really about entertainment that is merely based upon reality. Well, that's entertainment. Its like the difference between Science Fiction, and Sci Fi (or SyFy).
All I can say, is I love this connection. I would like to see more shows with these intense connections between the music we love and interesting, well written stories. Now I know that's asking a lot, but what the Hell. Give it a shot!
Ever have one of those days?
A while back, I rode my bike, a vintage, 1980 Honda CB900 Custom, to my day job. I now telecommute four days a week, so this happens less and less in inclement weather. On the day in question, I was riding through 37 degree weather onto Bainbridge (Braindead?) Island at about 5:30AM, in order to catch the ferry to Seattle.
My toes and fingers were numb when I arrived there. Why did I ride my bike? Well, its like $26 round trip for the SUV and $12.50 for the bike, that's why. So, I got to work, rather uneventful so far. Then things started to happen.
See, I had hoped to leave work at 3PM as I always do, ride up to see my girlfriend at her coffee/sandwich shop she owned at the time in Northgate, and then we could go to maybe our favorite Thai place on Lake City Way. She was a tiny, very cute, Vietnamese lady. That relationship however, has gone by the wayside. That is another story entirely.
Before I headed out, I got an email saying I needed to work at 6PM. I forgot to bring my security key fob that allows me remote access to work via a web browser, or I could have done it at my gf's on her laptop. Which meant, I had to leave our plans for the evening earlier than I had planned, and catch the ferry to be home to do the work that people were depending on my doing, sometime close to 6PM.
So, I got to her place, hung around having an argument with her friend girlfriend on the subject of "Faith" (that was an interesting discussion), her being an interesting character and at least one time Catholic.
So, sadly, I left about 5:20PM to catch the 5:55PM ferry at Edmonds. That's when things began to get interesting.
My bike's right directional light was acting up that morning. I knew that, but now the left one was. Half way to the ferry, that switch just broke, it just flopped around, no more directional signals. It was still daylight out, so not too much problem, I just had to use hand singles, though never much fun on a motorcycle.
I got on the ferry, and read some of "Harry Dresden, Wizard" by Jim Butcher on my Blackberry. An uneventful 30min trip across Puget Sound.
I got off the ferry in Kingston. I was paranoid and careful about changing lanes and making turns. I left Kingston by the back way and headed up along the water then inland, past Kingston High School road when all of a sudden it started to rain on me. However it wasn't supposed to until about 1AM. Pacific Northwest Weather. Its been said we have the highest rate of suicide by Weatherman in the world. Not true. They either learn to deal with disappointment or the move to healthier climes.
And now it begins....
There is a bit of a hill, leading up to the "T" intersection and stop light at which, I stopped, it now being dark out, and raining. I was wearing leather chaps and a raincoat so it wasn't too bad, plus, the night before I had shined my bike boots and waterproofed them. Lucky.
While sitting at the light, the engine started to sputter. I looked at the mileage. I can do about 120+ miles on a tank of gas. I had put premium in it the last two times and it seems to burn it faster but I get better performance. I was at 109 miles on my trip meter.
Suddenly, the engine just died. I sat there, first and only in line at the light, which was still red, another car on crossing my path on my right was at his light, now red as mine had been as mine turned green. In the distance behind me in one of my rear view mirrors I could see a car approaching me.
I tried to start the bike, it quickly ran the battery down to the point that it obviously wouldn't start.
You see, I'd been having problems with the battery. In a previous blog elsewhere I had detailed the event earlier in August when I got the bike. How I had bought it from a friend about 25 miles away, ridden it home, and unbeknown to me, there was almost no water in the battery.
That time, it had stalled, in the middle of rush hour traffic, in the middle of the I-5 freeway, downtown Seattle, during the time the Blue Angels were flying over Lake Washington at the hydroplane races. Not, a pleasant experience. Luckily, that day, after a few minutes on the side of the road, it gained enough charge to restart and I got home that day. One thing I always liked about Hondas, they always got me to my destination. My older brother can't say the same about his Harleys.
So I think I damaged the battery that day and it has been limping along ever since. If it starts in the morning the bike charges enough so that I'm good all day (it has to be over 3,000RPMs though to charge), but if there is an unusual drain, such as trying to start a bike with no gas, well, then it drains the battery rather quickly.
Which was the point at which I was then at. In the dark. In the rain.
And, in a hurry to get home by 6PM because, well, people were waiting on me.
So I pushed the bike off the road, I was now facing the way from which I had just come. With people driving by, staring. Which, especially for a biker, is mortifying, at least to some degree. Not to mention. NO one ever stops to help a biker. Unless, its another biker. All smart bikers, at that moment, appeared to be home, sipping wine, beer, or hot chocolate; or heroin, crack, chewing bullets, or whatever that other class of biker likes to do during times of bad weather in the PNW. Like a smart biker.
So, I continued to sit there, in the dark (except for the traffic light repeatedly changing green, seemingly taunting me) and in the rain. All I wanted was to go home and get my work done for my company, so I could get it over with. The work that ruined a nice dinner with my girlfriend. The work that eliminated my having delicious Thai food that evening, with a delicious Vietnamese woman.
Sometimes, my job just sucks.
Then it dawned on me, the problem was electricity, right? I just needed a charge. Cell phone? No, too small a charge. Well that was the limit of my electrical inventory. Well, I WAS sitting at the top of a hill, not to mention that just around the corner, in the direction I had been heading was a rather large, much steeper and much longer hill. But the bike, weighing in at over 500 pounds, well, I opted for the shorter hill back the way I had come. Hoping that would be steep enough.
I had flipped the switch on the gas tank engaging my reserve tank of about a gallon, plenty now to get me home. I LOVE emergency gas reserves. Sometimes, I miss my Grandmother's old VW Beetle, because it had one.
But I now also needed to draw the gas into the engine, thus I needed some battery power. Or turning over the engine by rolling forward, which I began to do. Before I even made it down the hill I had enough momentum that I popped the clutch in first gear and BANG the bike started. I noted that the traffic light was now green and there were no cars, so I quickly whipped back around and ran through the light and picking up speed on a now newly slippery road, feeling quite ecstatic with my newly found ability to actually ride home.
That was when the rain started coming down harder, and harder. But I finally made it home and with difficulty, parked the bike in the garage in the front corner next to the SUV. Irritated and wet, I got into the house and with some difficulty, I got my gear off.
Oh, did I mention, that the morning began, with my breaking the zipper tab on my raincoat? So now I had a hell of a time getting it off.
Frustrated and irritated, but glad to be home now, to see my kids (my daughter who had been sick for a couple of days but was feeling better now (yes I was going to have dinner with my girlfriend as I usually do on Wednesday nights, but I was going to cut it short that night because of my daughter anyway) and my son who was pumped about having just rearranged his room), I only wanted to get my stupid work done for my job, that had so ruined my having dinner with my delightful girlfriend whom I got to see so little.
My daughter was feeling better and my son had to show me his room, and then asked me to get the internet fixed for him! Oh. Great! Well, he had mentioned it earlier that day but it slipped my mind.
I got onto my PC. Then I found that it had evidently crashed. Sigh....
So I rebooted it. It took a while to all come back up, the same as well with the internet, but it finally did. So then I tried to log onto work.
Now realize, before I left work, I had set the PC at work up so that everything I needed was on the screen, ready to go. But now, I found it too had crashed. Now, I had to get the damn thing back up again, too, and get everything back in order to be ready to do the work that I needed to do.
Finally, I got everything back up, access to the needed servers was back online and I checked my work email.
Wherein, I then found a certain, somewhat relevant, email. Which said: "We're canceling the work for tonight due to a security access request having not gone through. We'll do this tomorrow night instead. Hope you all have a great evening!"
I've had better nights.
My toes and fingers were numb when I arrived there. Why did I ride my bike? Well, its like $26 round trip for the SUV and $12.50 for the bike, that's why. So, I got to work, rather uneventful so far. Then things started to happen.
See, I had hoped to leave work at 3PM as I always do, ride up to see my girlfriend at her coffee/sandwich shop she owned at the time in Northgate, and then we could go to maybe our favorite Thai place on Lake City Way. She was a tiny, very cute, Vietnamese lady. That relationship however, has gone by the wayside. That is another story entirely.
Before I headed out, I got an email saying I needed to work at 6PM. I forgot to bring my security key fob that allows me remote access to work via a web browser, or I could have done it at my gf's on her laptop. Which meant, I had to leave our plans for the evening earlier than I had planned, and catch the ferry to be home to do the work that people were depending on my doing, sometime close to 6PM.
So, I got to her place, hung around having an argument with her friend girlfriend on the subject of "Faith" (that was an interesting discussion), her being an interesting character and at least one time Catholic.
So, sadly, I left about 5:20PM to catch the 5:55PM ferry at Edmonds. That's when things began to get interesting.
My bike's right directional light was acting up that morning. I knew that, but now the left one was. Half way to the ferry, that switch just broke, it just flopped around, no more directional signals. It was still daylight out, so not too much problem, I just had to use hand singles, though never much fun on a motorcycle.
I got on the ferry, and read some of "Harry Dresden, Wizard" by Jim Butcher on my Blackberry. An uneventful 30min trip across Puget Sound.
I got off the ferry in Kingston. I was paranoid and careful about changing lanes and making turns. I left Kingston by the back way and headed up along the water then inland, past Kingston High School road when all of a sudden it started to rain on me. However it wasn't supposed to until about 1AM. Pacific Northwest Weather. Its been said we have the highest rate of suicide by Weatherman in the world. Not true. They either learn to deal with disappointment or the move to healthier climes.
And now it begins....
There is a bit of a hill, leading up to the "T" intersection and stop light at which, I stopped, it now being dark out, and raining. I was wearing leather chaps and a raincoat so it wasn't too bad, plus, the night before I had shined my bike boots and waterproofed them. Lucky.
While sitting at the light, the engine started to sputter. I looked at the mileage. I can do about 120+ miles on a tank of gas. I had put premium in it the last two times and it seems to burn it faster but I get better performance. I was at 109 miles on my trip meter.
Suddenly, the engine just died. I sat there, first and only in line at the light, which was still red, another car on crossing my path on my right was at his light, now red as mine had been as mine turned green. In the distance behind me in one of my rear view mirrors I could see a car approaching me.
I tried to start the bike, it quickly ran the battery down to the point that it obviously wouldn't start.
You see, I'd been having problems with the battery. In a previous blog elsewhere I had detailed the event earlier in August when I got the bike. How I had bought it from a friend about 25 miles away, ridden it home, and unbeknown to me, there was almost no water in the battery.
That time, it had stalled, in the middle of rush hour traffic, in the middle of the I-5 freeway, downtown Seattle, during the time the Blue Angels were flying over Lake Washington at the hydroplane races. Not, a pleasant experience. Luckily, that day, after a few minutes on the side of the road, it gained enough charge to restart and I got home that day. One thing I always liked about Hondas, they always got me to my destination. My older brother can't say the same about his Harleys.
So I think I damaged the battery that day and it has been limping along ever since. If it starts in the morning the bike charges enough so that I'm good all day (it has to be over 3,000RPMs though to charge), but if there is an unusual drain, such as trying to start a bike with no gas, well, then it drains the battery rather quickly.
Which was the point at which I was then at. In the dark. In the rain.
And, in a hurry to get home by 6PM because, well, people were waiting on me.
So I pushed the bike off the road, I was now facing the way from which I had just come. With people driving by, staring. Which, especially for a biker, is mortifying, at least to some degree. Not to mention. NO one ever stops to help a biker. Unless, its another biker. All smart bikers, at that moment, appeared to be home, sipping wine, beer, or hot chocolate; or heroin, crack, chewing bullets, or whatever that other class of biker likes to do during times of bad weather in the PNW. Like a smart biker.
So, I continued to sit there, in the dark (except for the traffic light repeatedly changing green, seemingly taunting me) and in the rain. All I wanted was to go home and get my work done for my company, so I could get it over with. The work that ruined a nice dinner with my girlfriend. The work that eliminated my having delicious Thai food that evening, with a delicious Vietnamese woman.
Sometimes, my job just sucks.
Then it dawned on me, the problem was electricity, right? I just needed a charge. Cell phone? No, too small a charge. Well that was the limit of my electrical inventory. Well, I WAS sitting at the top of a hill, not to mention that just around the corner, in the direction I had been heading was a rather large, much steeper and much longer hill. But the bike, weighing in at over 500 pounds, well, I opted for the shorter hill back the way I had come. Hoping that would be steep enough.
I had flipped the switch on the gas tank engaging my reserve tank of about a gallon, plenty now to get me home. I LOVE emergency gas reserves. Sometimes, I miss my Grandmother's old VW Beetle, because it had one.
But I now also needed to draw the gas into the engine, thus I needed some battery power. Or turning over the engine by rolling forward, which I began to do. Before I even made it down the hill I had enough momentum that I popped the clutch in first gear and BANG the bike started. I noted that the traffic light was now green and there were no cars, so I quickly whipped back around and ran through the light and picking up speed on a now newly slippery road, feeling quite ecstatic with my newly found ability to actually ride home.
That was when the rain started coming down harder, and harder. But I finally made it home and with difficulty, parked the bike in the garage in the front corner next to the SUV. Irritated and wet, I got into the house and with some difficulty, I got my gear off.
Oh, did I mention, that the morning began, with my breaking the zipper tab on my raincoat? So now I had a hell of a time getting it off.
Frustrated and irritated, but glad to be home now, to see my kids (my daughter who had been sick for a couple of days but was feeling better now (yes I was going to have dinner with my girlfriend as I usually do on Wednesday nights, but I was going to cut it short that night because of my daughter anyway) and my son who was pumped about having just rearranged his room), I only wanted to get my stupid work done for my job, that had so ruined my having dinner with my delightful girlfriend whom I got to see so little.
My daughter was feeling better and my son had to show me his room, and then asked me to get the internet fixed for him! Oh. Great! Well, he had mentioned it earlier that day but it slipped my mind.
I got onto my PC. Then I found that it had evidently crashed. Sigh....
So I rebooted it. It took a while to all come back up, the same as well with the internet, but it finally did. So then I tried to log onto work.
Now realize, before I left work, I had set the PC at work up so that everything I needed was on the screen, ready to go. But now, I found it too had crashed. Now, I had to get the damn thing back up again, too, and get everything back in order to be ready to do the work that I needed to do.
Finally, I got everything back up, access to the needed servers was back online and I checked my work email.
Wherein, I then found a certain, somewhat relevant, email. Which said: "We're canceling the work for tonight due to a security access request having not gone through. We'll do this tomorrow night instead. Hope you all have a great evening!"
I've had better nights.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Come on America! Really? Obama rating lower?
I'm hearing all weekend that Obama's polls are down, that his approval rating is down. Its the same as was Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton at this stage, so maybe it means nothing, except for the upcoming elections where the Democrats may have a problem.
But! What are you alternatives? Did you forget already forget the horrors that were the Bush (Republican) administration? I'm actually not as afraid of the Republican Party as I am of Bush but that also means, those who he adhered to, those who put him in power and his voting public. What's that, you say you "refudiate" what I'm claiming?
A little perspective....
When Bush Senior was Vice President, I didn't know what to think, but then he ran for President. I looked into him at that point. He was head of the CIA. At that point, I thought it would be good for someone who probably knew more than the President about what was going on in the world. Let's face it, probably NO one knows what's going on better than the head of the CIA (unless they are head of the NSA). Besides, I really wasn't too sure about Michael Dukakis who was running against him.
Then Clinton got in as president and I was impressed with his work. I also thought that the Republicans were too, and thus, so much crap came up about her personal life in trying to discredit him. Smoke and mirrors for what was really going on? Don't do something but make the guy doing well look bad? Make others look bad when you can't look good? Whatever.
Then Bush Jr came to Power. I didn't know what to say then. Other than, in my best SNL voice, "Really America? Really?" You voted in Bush Jr? What, did you think his dad did so well that you voted him in only once, so you'll vote in the imbecile that was his least favorite son? Oh come on. But, OK. Whatever.
Then 9/11 happened and I said again, "Oh, crap." Someone has to do something. But what? Will it be appropriate? And in the end, something was done, and it made people feel good. But, should we go around doing things just to make the image of our American Eagle (Ego?) "feel" better? I would argue no. Not when someone may die over it.
I had felt that Bush Sr. screwed up (like in WWII when we were ordered to stop at Berlin, rather than kick the Soviets out (look at what that decision did in the long run, it lead to a global nuclear arms race). Bush Sr. should have taken Saddam out when he had the chance in the late 1980s. But I thought, since he did what he did anyway, maybe he knows something I don't. Always the President's card in the hole.
Then Bush Jr cleaned up what Dad failed to do, but now, for the wrong reasons. That boy is just confused. How many new terrorists did we spawn through that war. I'm not saying Iraq didn't need freedom from a bully and a thug, even if he could keep the infrastructure running. I'm saying let's do things for the right reasons. In reality, by the way, Saddam did more harm than good for Iraq in that the national companies and even not national ones, without their Government's financial stipends, couldn't exist or survive on their own after the post 9/11 initial war was over.
I thought, maybe now people will see what's going on with Bush Jr. But no. America (who is this America because I don't know any of them), voted the hot mess that Bush Jr was and is, back into office for a second term! REALLLLYYY??!!! At that point, I threw up my hands and said, well, America, now you get what you deserve. Because, I thought the first term, could be a mistak, no one really knew how he'd be, etc.
But you know, fool me one, shame on me, fool me twice, well, I'm just a damn idiot at that point and deserve any smacking around that I get. If fact, we should set up a booth for people who didn't vote for him, or especially for those he didn't vote for him the second time, to get free whacks on all those people that voted for him a second time. Plus, they should lose their voting rights, until they ready a damn book or actually look into what is going on in the world around them before they are allowed to vote.
Its nice everyone has the vote. But originally only landed gentry (land owners) had the right to vote. Probably because they were the more highly educated and logical back then. Let's face it, you have to have a grain of logic to grow food. But now, just about anyone can vote for whoever, using whatever alien form of logic is available to them in their tiny minds.
Before I close, I'd like to mention Barak Obama's appeal to foreigners. Martin Wolf, of UK's Financial Times, said that "without a slightest doubt", if Obama were to run for a British election, he would win. Polly Toynbee, a columnist for the UK's Guardian newspaper since 1998 said the far ends of political parties always tend to feel that even with their own ranks, nothing is ever enough, no one ever seems to be good enough.
Getting back to Obama. On the next election. Are you really... going to vote... for a Republican? Do you really think they will come up with a better candidate (Palin?)? Do you really, think Obama is worse now, than Bush was for eight years?!
Really, America?
Tomorrow morning: "Every have one of those days?"
But! What are you alternatives? Did you forget already forget the horrors that were the Bush (Republican) administration? I'm actually not as afraid of the Republican Party as I am of Bush but that also means, those who he adhered to, those who put him in power and his voting public. What's that, you say you "refudiate" what I'm claiming?
A little perspective....
When Bush Senior was Vice President, I didn't know what to think, but then he ran for President. I looked into him at that point. He was head of the CIA. At that point, I thought it would be good for someone who probably knew more than the President about what was going on in the world. Let's face it, probably NO one knows what's going on better than the head of the CIA (unless they are head of the NSA). Besides, I really wasn't too sure about Michael Dukakis who was running against him.
Then Clinton got in as president and I was impressed with his work. I also thought that the Republicans were too, and thus, so much crap came up about her personal life in trying to discredit him. Smoke and mirrors for what was really going on? Don't do something but make the guy doing well look bad? Make others look bad when you can't look good? Whatever.
Then Bush Jr came to Power. I didn't know what to say then. Other than, in my best SNL voice, "Really America? Really?" You voted in Bush Jr? What, did you think his dad did so well that you voted him in only once, so you'll vote in the imbecile that was his least favorite son? Oh come on. But, OK. Whatever.
Then 9/11 happened and I said again, "Oh, crap." Someone has to do something. But what? Will it be appropriate? And in the end, something was done, and it made people feel good. But, should we go around doing things just to make the image of our American Eagle (Ego?) "feel" better? I would argue no. Not when someone may die over it.
I had felt that Bush Sr. screwed up (like in WWII when we were ordered to stop at Berlin, rather than kick the Soviets out (look at what that decision did in the long run, it lead to a global nuclear arms race). Bush Sr. should have taken Saddam out when he had the chance in the late 1980s. But I thought, since he did what he did anyway, maybe he knows something I don't. Always the President's card in the hole.
Then Bush Jr cleaned up what Dad failed to do, but now, for the wrong reasons. That boy is just confused. How many new terrorists did we spawn through that war. I'm not saying Iraq didn't need freedom from a bully and a thug, even if he could keep the infrastructure running. I'm saying let's do things for the right reasons. In reality, by the way, Saddam did more harm than good for Iraq in that the national companies and even not national ones, without their Government's financial stipends, couldn't exist or survive on their own after the post 9/11 initial war was over.
I thought, maybe now people will see what's going on with Bush Jr. But no. America (who is this America because I don't know any of them), voted the hot mess that Bush Jr was and is, back into office for a second term! REALLLLYYY??!!! At that point, I threw up my hands and said, well, America, now you get what you deserve. Because, I thought the first term, could be a mistak, no one really knew how he'd be, etc.
But you know, fool me one, shame on me, fool me twice, well, I'm just a damn idiot at that point and deserve any smacking around that I get. If fact, we should set up a booth for people who didn't vote for him, or especially for those he didn't vote for him the second time, to get free whacks on all those people that voted for him a second time. Plus, they should lose their voting rights, until they ready a damn book or actually look into what is going on in the world around them before they are allowed to vote.
Its nice everyone has the vote. But originally only landed gentry (land owners) had the right to vote. Probably because they were the more highly educated and logical back then. Let's face it, you have to have a grain of logic to grow food. But now, just about anyone can vote for whoever, using whatever alien form of logic is available to them in their tiny minds.
Before I close, I'd like to mention Barak Obama's appeal to foreigners. Martin Wolf, of UK's Financial Times, said that "without a slightest doubt", if Obama were to run for a British election, he would win. Polly Toynbee, a columnist for the UK's Guardian newspaper since 1998 said the far ends of political parties always tend to feel that even with their own ranks, nothing is ever enough, no one ever seems to be good enough.
Getting back to Obama. On the next election. Are you really... going to vote... for a Republican? Do you really think they will come up with a better candidate (Palin?)? Do you really, think Obama is worse now, than Bush was for eight years?!
Really, America?
Tomorrow morning: "Every have one of those days?"
Costco
Have you ever gone to Costco, on a Sunday? Or a Wallmart (pretty much ANYtime)?
I did. Today. Good God. There are not the obese dead as there are so much at Wallmart, but they are in attendance. What mostly disturbs me is the grand lack of awareness people have. As if, once they walk into the front door, they check their intelligence, their reactivity to their environment.
OK, when I go to Costco, I have what I affectionately like to call, a list. Today's list, unusually so, was brief. A single item in fact. When I go to Costco (and more to to Wallmart, which I keep to a minimum) I want only to get in, find the goods I need, buy them and get the Hell out as quickly and surreptitiously as possible.
But there are always such great overpowering obstacles to my noble endeavors.
As I enter, in much the same way like taking a child to Chucky Cheese, typically (one would assume), reasonably intelligent (one might assume) adults, turns into a mush of fascination, and desire, I suppose.
And so, after making it into the building, at times not a simple task, I come up against a monstrous wall of flesh, carts and frozen awareness.
Once I can get around that initial group of transcendental entrants, I breeze along through a pleasantly empty period of fresh abandonment that is soon to be dissolved into the second sad, energy sapping, wall of flesh and wheeled-wire baskets.
It is not unlike being in WWI, I think, in trying to navigate the trenches of the French front lines. Not that I was there, mind you, but I certainly now have a greater degree of understanding and empathy.
Not as much empathy as I have for myself however.
In the end, I do get my basket filled for whatever I needed, and then I make it somehow to a check out line from Hell (they have lots of things from Hell there) and I rush to a dead stop immediately leaving the checkout counter. Why? Because, some inseditious fool had designed the store so that once you leave paying for your goods, you run smack dab right into the line at the food counter and the associated seating area where you can slop down your cheap eats.
IF its possible, to move beyond these culinarily vacuous impingement machines, you are hopefully lucky enough to hit the front door where you are then summarily eyed and examined and possibly allowed to exit the building to continue your life until the next time where you have to completely repeat this same dreaded insanity.
And all that, for a bag of chips.
I did. Today. Good God. There are not the obese dead as there are so much at Wallmart, but they are in attendance. What mostly disturbs me is the grand lack of awareness people have. As if, once they walk into the front door, they check their intelligence, their reactivity to their environment.
OK, when I go to Costco, I have what I affectionately like to call, a list. Today's list, unusually so, was brief. A single item in fact. When I go to Costco (and more to to Wallmart, which I keep to a minimum) I want only to get in, find the goods I need, buy them and get the Hell out as quickly and surreptitiously as possible.
But there are always such great overpowering obstacles to my noble endeavors.
As I enter, in much the same way like taking a child to Chucky Cheese, typically (one would assume), reasonably intelligent (one might assume) adults, turns into a mush of fascination, and desire, I suppose.
And so, after making it into the building, at times not a simple task, I come up against a monstrous wall of flesh, carts and frozen awareness.
Once I can get around that initial group of transcendental entrants, I breeze along through a pleasantly empty period of fresh abandonment that is soon to be dissolved into the second sad, energy sapping, wall of flesh and wheeled-wire baskets.
It is not unlike being in WWI, I think, in trying to navigate the trenches of the French front lines. Not that I was there, mind you, but I certainly now have a greater degree of understanding and empathy.
Not as much empathy as I have for myself however.
In the end, I do get my basket filled for whatever I needed, and then I make it somehow to a check out line from Hell (they have lots of things from Hell there) and I rush to a dead stop immediately leaving the checkout counter. Why? Because, some inseditious fool had designed the store so that once you leave paying for your goods, you run smack dab right into the line at the food counter and the associated seating area where you can slop down your cheap eats.
IF its possible, to move beyond these culinarily vacuous impingement machines, you are hopefully lucky enough to hit the front door where you are then summarily eyed and examined and possibly allowed to exit the building to continue your life until the next time where you have to completely repeat this same dreaded insanity.
And all that, for a bag of chips.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Democracy and Media, possible? The Media Bullies
OK, hey man, what's the Dealio? I mean, what the Hell happened to the Media and when are They going to step up and do something about it? Yeah, yeah, I know, its always up to us, right? Why?
Why have WE let literally everything have to do only with money? To the point that we only can think of life in the terms of how much money is involved, rather than how much involved is the quality, how much the humanity, how much Ethics?
Sound stupid? OK. Why?
I hear a lot about how if people want things to be better, then THEY need to stop buying what is wrong and start buying what is right. Right? Maybe. But does that remove the responsibility of those who are there to supply us with the right information? Are they supposed to only be neutral in their delivery? Are they being neutral? Are they going for what's popular? Or what's right? Well?
Well, they aren't now anyway, so why don't they try to direct their information in the right direction and consider not so much the corporations, but rather, those tend to own them, you know, us, the people, without which I might add, they would not exist to begin with.
Why, should patriotism come to mean things like blind support for failed leaders? What? Yeah, I know....
Media employees need to watch this, with heartfelt appreciation for what Mr. Moyers says in this speech:
http://www.linktv.org/programs/moyers-take-back-the-media
People, you and me, need to listen to this. To talk about it, think about it, and really wonder what is going on.
Why do I ask when the media is going to start policing their own methods and content, to give Humanity a better world? Because, its that kind of thought that needs to take over public thought. Not that its foolish to ever think those out to make money will never consider such things, rather that the general consensus of humankind needs to turn the tide and change how they thing. "Who really wags the system and how?" as Mr. Moyers put it.
"We have reached the stage when the poobahs of punditry have only to declare that the world is flat, for everyone to agree it is, without going to the edge and looking over themselves." he said.
I think its possible to think for ourselves. I think we need to protect the internet. Did you know that at one time, radio was the great hope, the classroom of the air? But look what our government did, the deals they made to lead to what we ended up with. Then it was TV. Slam, another down. Then the media. Slam, another down to the corporations. Now, we have a new form of international, public, free and open discourse. The Internet. We can't allow this to go slam, down with all the others.
I believe we need to bring back public television. I think we should have half our channels as public TV. Commercial TV needs competition, but not from their own, from those with our best interests in mind. We should have more access, not less; not more control, but more intelligent availability. The cell phone cameras, then blogs, the availability of our citizenry one to another is a powerful force. We need to maintain that freedom and be vigilant that it never goes away.
We need to start expecting more for our money, if you will. We need to expect more from our public institutions, government, media, religion.
Don't just ignore it. Pay attention. Not with money, not with filthy lucre, but with pure and unadulterated good intention.
[[[Have a nice weekend!]]]
Why have WE let literally everything have to do only with money? To the point that we only can think of life in the terms of how much money is involved, rather than how much involved is the quality, how much the humanity, how much Ethics?
Sound stupid? OK. Why?
I hear a lot about how if people want things to be better, then THEY need to stop buying what is wrong and start buying what is right. Right? Maybe. But does that remove the responsibility of those who are there to supply us with the right information? Are they supposed to only be neutral in their delivery? Are they being neutral? Are they going for what's popular? Or what's right? Well?
Well, they aren't now anyway, so why don't they try to direct their information in the right direction and consider not so much the corporations, but rather, those tend to own them, you know, us, the people, without which I might add, they would not exist to begin with.
Why, should patriotism come to mean things like blind support for failed leaders? What? Yeah, I know....
Media employees need to watch this, with heartfelt appreciation for what Mr. Moyers says in this speech:
http://www.linktv.org/programs/moyers-take-back-the-media
People, you and me, need to listen to this. To talk about it, think about it, and really wonder what is going on.
Why do I ask when the media is going to start policing their own methods and content, to give Humanity a better world? Because, its that kind of thought that needs to take over public thought. Not that its foolish to ever think those out to make money will never consider such things, rather that the general consensus of humankind needs to turn the tide and change how they thing. "Who really wags the system and how?" as Mr. Moyers put it.
"We have reached the stage when the poobahs of punditry have only to declare that the world is flat, for everyone to agree it is, without going to the edge and looking over themselves." he said.
I think its possible to think for ourselves. I think we need to protect the internet. Did you know that at one time, radio was the great hope, the classroom of the air? But look what our government did, the deals they made to lead to what we ended up with. Then it was TV. Slam, another down. Then the media. Slam, another down to the corporations. Now, we have a new form of international, public, free and open discourse. The Internet. We can't allow this to go slam, down with all the others.
I believe we need to bring back public television. I think we should have half our channels as public TV. Commercial TV needs competition, but not from their own, from those with our best interests in mind. We should have more access, not less; not more control, but more intelligent availability. The cell phone cameras, then blogs, the availability of our citizenry one to another is a powerful force. We need to maintain that freedom and be vigilant that it never goes away.
We need to start expecting more for our money, if you will. We need to expect more from our public institutions, government, media, religion.
Don't just ignore it. Pay attention. Not with money, not with filthy lucre, but with pure and unadulterated good intention.
[[[Have a nice weekend!]]]
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