Current Tunes; The annoying, unceasing blare of DJ-ing outside at the pool; did you ever consider maybe some of us want some peace and quiet around here? Hmmm? Trying to drown it out with: Counting Crows - Walkaways
I’m going to drink all the Jack Daniels in this glass, period. Homework be damned. It’s too noisy outside anyway to accomplish anything, I might as well get wasted. By myself, because that’s what I am now. Everyone’s moved out of the apartments now, and I’m just left here, caught in the vortex that is every bad decision I’ve made in the past year. Short, lazy months have turned into another year gone by. I’m not sad everyone’s gone, indeed I’m relieved in a way. To be sad at this juncture would be healthy though. No, I’m just pissed because there are no distractions anymore, and I’m left here to face the harsh reality that then next three months are the difference makers. The playoffs are coming and we haven’t been practicing at all. So screw it, time to get numb. We can start on the 2nd. The 2nd of August.
Plenty of artists made their best works completely blitzed on some drug of one kind or another. I think it’s time to start employing that strategy. Alcohol has always been the drug of choice for tortured writers, just ask Hemingway, or James Frey (HA!).
I have a strange memory that will always stick in my head about writing. I remember one of my creative writing professors, Dr. Brown, talking about his personal writing process, and how he’d just sit in the room and do it, with the only environmental requirements being jazz and a bottle of whiskey. Not quite in the mood for jazz, but the whiskey is definitely here. He’d say he wouldn’t stop writing until like, half the bottle was gone, at least that’s what I think he said.
I miss Dr. Brown. He always told it to me like it was, never babied me around. I feel like I’ve let him down. He always knew I was crazy, and I think he liked that about me. It’s the weirdest thing; sitting in his office, I felt like an artist there, at least a growing, developing one. Then I went to SCAD; now instead I feel like a product. Dr. Brown knew I wasn’t a product then, he gave me hope. God, he gave me hope. There are a lot of emotions, thoughts I haven’t had or felt in the past couple of years, hope I think is the one I miss the most.
No, I don' t exactly know exactly why I feel like let him down.
I guess I’m really so emotional right now because this is it. This is a place to be marked, for significance. This is your last chance...
An album I’ve never stopped loving is "August and Everything After,” what I’m listening to now, and I always thought that was the best title for anything, ever. I love that title because it makes a distinction between the simple “from this moment onward” and the reality of the situation; the reality of life. You don’t really just opt to one day never wear red t-shirts anymore, or give up chocolate, or whatever. The first phase is the big part, that first month; the part where you declare your dominance over the inconceivable weight that holds you back and you can’t goddamn take it anymore and nothing, not even that, is going to fucking stop you. So that’s why it’s “August and Everything After,” that first part is the start of something different; it’s the start of something new.
On a side note, I think I discovered a more concrete explanation/interpretation of that album's title. Apparently Adam Duritz, the lead singer of Counting Crows, was born on August 1st (today). I never knew that, and I've been following/loving/celebrating this band for years. Happy birthday, Adam. You're an inspiration to me.
It’s funny how much different you behave when you know no one’s around. This is the only night I’ll have like that for a long time, I’m sure. The best part about this is being able to sing out song after song without worrying if anyone will hear me. Some people dance in their underwear in their homes when no one’s there, and the night is still young I suppose. Anything can happen, I guess. It's not really the assurance that I'm avoiding embarrassment; it's because in those single moments, you are what I want to be always, at every moment: free.
Oh god, it makes me want to cry forever when I think about how terribly badly I want something new. I'd give anything for that. I'd give anything for a chance to do it right this time.
I miss going for walks in my neighborhood in the night. I would do it all the time. I would just walk in the dark, up and down streets, looking at the trees. There’s nothing that stops me from doing that here in Atlanta, I suppose.
Except that I’m too scared to just do it. Maybe not forever though; maybe one day the courage will come. The best thing about those walks wasn’t the exercise or the uniqueness of it, or even the night. The night is always my favorite thing. No, those times the great comfort was the silence of only my person, my thoughts, and the music I listened to when I walked. These days, the one activity I engage in most often day to day is running away from reality. But those nights, blanketed by stars and smiled down on by gods and fates, in the dark nights of the town I'd been condemned to, I could just turn around without any measurable pressure, and just walk away.
01 August 2009
29 July 2009
Gravity Is There
Current Tunes: Opeth - In the Mist She Was Standing
These are the challenging posts, when film and music isn’t the foremost subject on my mind. Perhaps if I wanted a more exciting experience to share with you, my audience, I should have gone and actually done something today. Hindsight is 20/20 though, so no point looking back in regret. Tomorrow’s a new chance to do it right.
It’s always been a complete mystery to me how drama seems to spontaneously spring from wherever human beings happen to be. My life, I feel, has been decidedly absent of drama. When I say drama, I mean the stuff that soap operas and Oscar-winning movies are made out of. Or, at least the material that rests in the slower moments of a story, in between the explosions and the love-making and the heartless murders. There’s precious few of those moments I can recall.
This is a common perception for budding writers like myself; when I communicate this perception of my life, most often people say “everyone thinks that” or “your life is special,” some cliché like that. And that’s fine, I can understand why people say things like that, it’s human nature to console, but I have to say I have a much more concrete understanding of my history than anyone else. Because I’ve lived it and not anyone else. So you don’t know. The fact is, it doesn’t bother me as a general rule, that my life might be significantly short on meaning. And by that I mean hardships overcome.
I look around at other people and I see plenty of things that go on in their lives that are difficult, soul-crushing by no small consensus. I brush these moments off though; I see how individuals and their closest loved-ones react when moments of tragedy and drama strike and I almost always think in my head how they’re overreacting. But how can I know? I can’t. So, I’m being insensitive and judgmental, at least by common standards. I don’t have much use for those, to be honest. All these pretty words to just boil it down and say it simply: I can’t empathize with anyone because I have no idea what tragedy does to me. I’ve never met the guy.
It’s like dealing with disease, in a way. Spend your whole youth never being exposed to one kind of virus or another. Never knowing its touch until that one day, you catch it. Your body’s 40 years old by then, set in its biology with no idea how to create antibodies to fight this thing (say, call it smallpox). A simple, curable thing ends up killing you because you were completely unprepared and unaware of its potential. When all you had to do was summon a little courage, suck it up, and put yourself in harm’s way.
These are the challenging posts, when film and music isn’t the foremost subject on my mind. Perhaps if I wanted a more exciting experience to share with you, my audience, I should have gone and actually done something today. Hindsight is 20/20 though, so no point looking back in regret. Tomorrow’s a new chance to do it right.
It’s always been a complete mystery to me how drama seems to spontaneously spring from wherever human beings happen to be. My life, I feel, has been decidedly absent of drama. When I say drama, I mean the stuff that soap operas and Oscar-winning movies are made out of. Or, at least the material that rests in the slower moments of a story, in between the explosions and the love-making and the heartless murders. There’s precious few of those moments I can recall.
This is a common perception for budding writers like myself; when I communicate this perception of my life, most often people say “everyone thinks that” or “your life is special,” some cliché like that. And that’s fine, I can understand why people say things like that, it’s human nature to console, but I have to say I have a much more concrete understanding of my history than anyone else. Because I’ve lived it and not anyone else. So you don’t know. The fact is, it doesn’t bother me as a general rule, that my life might be significantly short on meaning. And by that I mean hardships overcome.
I look around at other people and I see plenty of things that go on in their lives that are difficult, soul-crushing by no small consensus. I brush these moments off though; I see how individuals and their closest loved-ones react when moments of tragedy and drama strike and I almost always think in my head how they’re overreacting. But how can I know? I can’t. So, I’m being insensitive and judgmental, at least by common standards. I don’t have much use for those, to be honest. All these pretty words to just boil it down and say it simply: I can’t empathize with anyone because I have no idea what tragedy does to me. I’ve never met the guy.
It’s like dealing with disease, in a way. Spend your whole youth never being exposed to one kind of virus or another. Never knowing its touch until that one day, you catch it. Your body’s 40 years old by then, set in its biology with no idea how to create antibodies to fight this thing (say, call it smallpox). A simple, curable thing ends up killing you because you were completely unprepared and unaware of its potential. When all you had to do was summon a little courage, suck it up, and put yourself in harm’s way.
27 July 2009
San Diego: From the German, Referring to the Vagina of a Whale
Current Tunes: The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dead as History
As promised, a San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) extravaganza!!!
But! To get started, I actually want to give a quick bump to the NBC show “Kings,” which actually had no promotion that I know of at SDCC. The finale was fantastic, sheer joy. This show is very peculiar to me because they do a few things wrong and it feels sometimes like it lacks that 'magic touch' that makes a TV show really stand out. However, that is really, truly outweighed by how incredibly brave this show is. I could go on more, but I think I’ll save it for a “Kings-only” post later on.
Personal favorite thing that came out of SDCC: “Tron: Legacy” trailer. This actually came out last year, but it wasn’t technically a trailer then, it was nothing but ‘test footage,’ barely official work done for a movie that hadn’t even been confirmed by Disney. Several casting announcements later, plus a release date and script, means this project is finally happening, close to 30 years after the original “Tron” completely reformatted (couldn’t help myself) American filmmaking.
Most of you know I have an incredible talent for exaggeration and general outlandish claims and statements, but understand I mean this from the bottom of my heart when I say this: A “Tron” sequel is my Holy Grail of filmmaking. I’ve wanted nothing more, all these years. I still vividly remember the impact that film had on me as a child; the world-building was simple and direct, yet obviously allowed for a near infinite amount of elaboration and development. And the advent of the Internet has only increased “Tron’s” significance and scope. For it to finally happen stirs a feeling inside me that goes beyond fandom or nostalgia; the best word for it might be what people usually refer to as hope. What’s so much more encouraging is not only did they manage to preserve the design and mood of the original, they’ve improved upon it dramatically, all while churning out an incredibly gorgeous product that puts most other effects-heavy films of recent years to shame. Flynn, indeed, lives.
The “Lost” panel looks like it was an incredible amount of fun. The clip (starts at about 5:50) of Michael Emerson reading a passage from "Heroes" (I’m guessing that’s what it was?) was pretty amusing. Apparently the big message that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wanted to get across was something about "bookending" the show and returning to the attitude of Season One. While stylistically and thematically I can understand that move, for me I’m a bit concerned. While Season One definitely had an incredible amount of memorable, classic, vital moments and stories, let’s not kid ourselves… Proceeding seasons were better. Maybe not all of them, but I still think Season Two is just about the pinnacle of television history; perhaps I’m biased. Whatever’s going to go on though, this fact I know: I challenge you to present me a final season of any show in history that had as much pressure on it as “Lost” Season Six has. Here’s hoping the end of this amazing show isn’t crushed under the weight of it.
I hadn’t heard of “Legion” before the con, but this might have sleeper hit written all over it, depending. This is basically all I know about it: Angels in heaven decide humanity needs a reboot, a la the flood of Noah, and take matters into their own hands, along with a couple of semi-automatic guns. This concept… I’m just speechless about it. It’ll either be a better, more intelligent version of “Underworld” or it’ll completely bomb.
The first trailer for “Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day” premiered and I eagerly await its arrival on the Web. If you’re not excited about this sequel, you’ve either never seen the first one, or you have no pulse. Or both.
Summer Glau is possibly coming to Season Two of “Dollhouse.” And probably not as a doll?!?! Wow, good call. However, on second thought, that’s just a ploy. After all, everyone knows that everyone on the show is a doll, except Ballard. Sucks to be him. On a disgustingly chauvinistic note, a Summer Glau & Dichen Lachman (Sierra) lesbian-tinged scene would be a life-highlight for me, I do believe.
Blah, blah, blah, “Ironman 2,” blah, blah, blah.
Best move for me during the SDCC weekend: avoiding any talk of James Cameron’s newest opus “Avatar.” The less I know about this project the better, considering most people are saying its going to change movie making, not unlike how “Tron” did. That’s a heavy legacy to live up to, but there’s only a handful of people on this planet capable of such a feat and make no mistake, Cameron is in that handful.
Most annoying tease statements made by a director: Robert Zemeckis, promoting his very intriguing-looking retelling of “A Christmas Carol,” didn’t do the smart thing and flat-out dismiss rumors about a sequel to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Bob, my good friend, don’t give the people false hope. Twenty-plus years later, Warner Bros. & Disney haven’t been duking it out for the ticket sales of America’s children just to get bogged down in a rights-war over this project. Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse are going nowhere near each other, especially given the amount of money a project like this could rake in; no one will be willing to give way. And even if I’m wrong, don’t you DARE try and replace Bob Hoskins or the wrath of God himself will see to it you experience unpleasantness of biblical magnitude.
To end, I guess I’ll comment on Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which I’ve got to say doesn’t grab my interests at all. I’m not really sure why, but so far the images/trailers/teases only inspire apathy and brief, but obvious, creepiness. People are going to get excited about this, of course, but my lack-of-care for this project stems mostly from Burton’s past history where he works from previous material. Examples: “Planet of the Apes,” “Big Fish,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” What those all have in common is the big hype that preceded them, then the eventual national division in attitude towards them, which only lead to box office blahs. I predict the same for “Alice.” Burton's always been at his best with original material, i.e. "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands."
Now that I’ve thought of it, how did it get to where one of the biggest days for filmmaking and television is a COMIC convention? What the hell? Only in America...
As promised, a San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) extravaganza!!!
But! To get started, I actually want to give a quick bump to the NBC show “Kings,” which actually had no promotion that I know of at SDCC. The finale was fantastic, sheer joy. This show is very peculiar to me because they do a few things wrong and it feels sometimes like it lacks that 'magic touch' that makes a TV show really stand out. However, that is really, truly outweighed by how incredibly brave this show is. I could go on more, but I think I’ll save it for a “Kings-only” post later on.
Personal favorite thing that came out of SDCC: “Tron: Legacy” trailer. This actually came out last year, but it wasn’t technically a trailer then, it was nothing but ‘test footage,’ barely official work done for a movie that hadn’t even been confirmed by Disney. Several casting announcements later, plus a release date and script, means this project is finally happening, close to 30 years after the original “Tron” completely reformatted (couldn’t help myself) American filmmaking.
Most of you know I have an incredible talent for exaggeration and general outlandish claims and statements, but understand I mean this from the bottom of my heart when I say this: A “Tron” sequel is my Holy Grail of filmmaking. I’ve wanted nothing more, all these years. I still vividly remember the impact that film had on me as a child; the world-building was simple and direct, yet obviously allowed for a near infinite amount of elaboration and development. And the advent of the Internet has only increased “Tron’s” significance and scope. For it to finally happen stirs a feeling inside me that goes beyond fandom or nostalgia; the best word for it might be what people usually refer to as hope. What’s so much more encouraging is not only did they manage to preserve the design and mood of the original, they’ve improved upon it dramatically, all while churning out an incredibly gorgeous product that puts most other effects-heavy films of recent years to shame. Flynn, indeed, lives.
The “Lost” panel looks like it was an incredible amount of fun. The clip (starts at about 5:50) of Michael Emerson reading a passage from "Heroes" (I’m guessing that’s what it was?) was pretty amusing. Apparently the big message that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wanted to get across was something about "bookending" the show and returning to the attitude of Season One. While stylistically and thematically I can understand that move, for me I’m a bit concerned. While Season One definitely had an incredible amount of memorable, classic, vital moments and stories, let’s not kid ourselves… Proceeding seasons were better. Maybe not all of them, but I still think Season Two is just about the pinnacle of television history; perhaps I’m biased. Whatever’s going to go on though, this fact I know: I challenge you to present me a final season of any show in history that had as much pressure on it as “Lost” Season Six has. Here’s hoping the end of this amazing show isn’t crushed under the weight of it.
I hadn’t heard of “Legion” before the con, but this might have sleeper hit written all over it, depending. This is basically all I know about it: Angels in heaven decide humanity needs a reboot, a la the flood of Noah, and take matters into their own hands, along with a couple of semi-automatic guns. This concept… I’m just speechless about it. It’ll either be a better, more intelligent version of “Underworld” or it’ll completely bomb.
The first trailer for “Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day” premiered and I eagerly await its arrival on the Web. If you’re not excited about this sequel, you’ve either never seen the first one, or you have no pulse. Or both.
Summer Glau is possibly coming to Season Two of “Dollhouse.” And probably not as a doll?!?! Wow, good call. However, on second thought, that’s just a ploy. After all, everyone knows that everyone on the show is a doll, except Ballard. Sucks to be him. On a disgustingly chauvinistic note, a Summer Glau & Dichen Lachman (Sierra) lesbian-tinged scene would be a life-highlight for me, I do believe.
Blah, blah, blah, “Ironman 2,” blah, blah, blah.
Best move for me during the SDCC weekend: avoiding any talk of James Cameron’s newest opus “Avatar.” The less I know about this project the better, considering most people are saying its going to change movie making, not unlike how “Tron” did. That’s a heavy legacy to live up to, but there’s only a handful of people on this planet capable of such a feat and make no mistake, Cameron is in that handful.
Most annoying tease statements made by a director: Robert Zemeckis, promoting his very intriguing-looking retelling of “A Christmas Carol,” didn’t do the smart thing and flat-out dismiss rumors about a sequel to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Bob, my good friend, don’t give the people false hope. Twenty-plus years later, Warner Bros. & Disney haven’t been duking it out for the ticket sales of America’s children just to get bogged down in a rights-war over this project. Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse are going nowhere near each other, especially given the amount of money a project like this could rake in; no one will be willing to give way. And even if I’m wrong, don’t you DARE try and replace Bob Hoskins or the wrath of God himself will see to it you experience unpleasantness of biblical magnitude.
To end, I guess I’ll comment on Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which I’ve got to say doesn’t grab my interests at all. I’m not really sure why, but so far the images/trailers/teases only inspire apathy and brief, but obvious, creepiness. People are going to get excited about this, of course, but my lack-of-care for this project stems mostly from Burton’s past history where he works from previous material. Examples: “Planet of the Apes,” “Big Fish,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” What those all have in common is the big hype that preceded them, then the eventual national division in attitude towards them, which only lead to box office blahs. I predict the same for “Alice.” Burton's always been at his best with original material, i.e. "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands."
Now that I’ve thought of it, how did it get to where one of the biggest days for filmmaking and television is a COMIC convention? What the hell? Only in America...
26 July 2009
Politics As Unusual
Current Tunes: Children of Bodom – She is Beautiful (Andrew W.K. cover)
I haven’t done a post in a while where I rundown/react to Friday’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” but this past one had a couple of special gems I wanted to point out. A really a good episode this past week, really solid and completely devoid of comments or suggestions I was diametrically opposed to, which does happen sometimes for me on that show.
The most positive thing to stem from this week was becoming familiar with two of the panelists Bill brought on the show, one of whom is “New Yorker” magazine columnist John Heilemann. Hopefully plenty of this guy’s material will be on the Webernets, but for now a quote from the show: “The Democrats run the House, the Democrats run the Senate, the Democrats hold the White House and yet they are having huge trouble passing a health care bill. The Republicans are a side-show here, compared to the failure of the Democratic party to get its shit together [my emphasis] and govern the country.”
I had touched on this very vaguely and briefly last post, but I want to thank my fellow writer Heilemann for putting the frustration into such succinctness. Let’s make a distinction here. Let us imagine instead the political structure was such that Democrats had no super majority in the Senate, and say only a 2 or 3-person majority in the House. In that scenario, it would as well be inexcusable for them to have such authority and leverage in government and completely fail to achieve any semblance of progress. The reality being that they indeed have an iron-grip control over the legislative and executive bodies should dictate that something at least get voted on. But no, the Donkey Party has screwed the pooch yet again and demonstrated their long-standing lack of ability to remove their invertebrate selves from the floor and stand up for something.
Perhaps I’m not giving credit where credit is due. Maybe the Republicans are just that savvy and that powerful. They’ve been shuffling the pieces from behind the curtain, undermining and thwarting the Donkeys at every turn. Those clever fellows!
Wait, this is the Republican party of 2009 we’re talking about, I forgot. The same nitwits who believe that running a country is sitting around sipping lemonade and watching baseball games while bankers and CEOs make the real decisions about the direction of the country.
Beyond dismantling the F-22 program, the cash-for-clunkers program (still not signed into law, as I understand it) and getting lucky enough to have avoided any terrorist attacks on native soil, this Congress and this President have failed to achieve anything of reasonable value in my eyes. It’s only the six-month-mark, so I can be lenient for now, but I’m not sure how much longer. Especially on the back of a President who made some very grand promises (well, what President doesn’t?).
The other panelist on the show that highly impressed me was Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of (you guessed it!) the great Dwight D. Eisenhower. Apparently she deferred from the Republican party about a year ago, which sounds mighty brave to me. Perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about when I say that; I could be dead wrong to think that whole family is entrenched in Republican loyalty.
Anyway, with her appearance, Bill of course wanted to draw attention to her grandfather’s farewell speech warning about the peril of the industrial-military complex, but Mrs. Eisenhower, thankfully, brought to light an important point about that speech. She mentioned how ol’ Ike had also wanted to make mention of how that complex gets its lifeblood from Congress. You know, the people we elect to represent our cities and states in Washington. Our esteemed representatives who think that jobs created from building useless fighter jets (hint: the F-22) are a value to the country.
Ike apparently omitted mention of Congress’s role in this perpetual nightmare because he had always been in good standing with the Senators and House representatives who served while he had been Commander-in-Chief and didn’t want to leave on a bashing-fellow-politicians note. A noble-hearted decision, sure, but oh how I wish he hadn’t made that choice.
I can understand wanting to be civil; I know how American politics involves a high degree of niceties and smiles and handshakes with people in the name of appearances, but most times that's precisely what I had about our political climate. It's not about serving the people, doing what's best for it's citizens and speaking out against injustice no matter whose 'feelings get hurt.' Oh no, we have to play nice and not step on people's toes. Ike, you really shouldn't have worried about such frivolous details; I don't think there's any debate that history remembers you well and kindly, but I guess hindsight is 20/20, as they say.
Oh, and my only comments about the Gates / Obama / Police incident: If they all really do sit down and have a beer together, I really wanna know what brand of beer they're going to drink. UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar recommends Coors Light...
Post coming tomorrow hopefully recapping San Diego Comic Con. Lots of stuff for me to talk about. 'Til then!
I haven’t done a post in a while where I rundown/react to Friday’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” but this past one had a couple of special gems I wanted to point out. A really a good episode this past week, really solid and completely devoid of comments or suggestions I was diametrically opposed to, which does happen sometimes for me on that show.
The most positive thing to stem from this week was becoming familiar with two of the panelists Bill brought on the show, one of whom is “New Yorker” magazine columnist John Heilemann. Hopefully plenty of this guy’s material will be on the Webernets, but for now a quote from the show: “The Democrats run the House, the Democrats run the Senate, the Democrats hold the White House and yet they are having huge trouble passing a health care bill. The Republicans are a side-show here, compared to the failure of the Democratic party to get its shit together [my emphasis] and govern the country.”
I had touched on this very vaguely and briefly last post, but I want to thank my fellow writer Heilemann for putting the frustration into such succinctness. Let’s make a distinction here. Let us imagine instead the political structure was such that Democrats had no super majority in the Senate, and say only a 2 or 3-person majority in the House. In that scenario, it would as well be inexcusable for them to have such authority and leverage in government and completely fail to achieve any semblance of progress. The reality being that they indeed have an iron-grip control over the legislative and executive bodies should dictate that something at least get voted on. But no, the Donkey Party has screwed the pooch yet again and demonstrated their long-standing lack of ability to remove their invertebrate selves from the floor and stand up for something.
Perhaps I’m not giving credit where credit is due. Maybe the Republicans are just that savvy and that powerful. They’ve been shuffling the pieces from behind the curtain, undermining and thwarting the Donkeys at every turn. Those clever fellows!
Wait, this is the Republican party of 2009 we’re talking about, I forgot. The same nitwits who believe that running a country is sitting around sipping lemonade and watching baseball games while bankers and CEOs make the real decisions about the direction of the country.
Beyond dismantling the F-22 program, the cash-for-clunkers program (still not signed into law, as I understand it) and getting lucky enough to have avoided any terrorist attacks on native soil, this Congress and this President have failed to achieve anything of reasonable value in my eyes. It’s only the six-month-mark, so I can be lenient for now, but I’m not sure how much longer. Especially on the back of a President who made some very grand promises (well, what President doesn’t?).
The other panelist on the show that highly impressed me was Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of (you guessed it!) the great Dwight D. Eisenhower. Apparently she deferred from the Republican party about a year ago, which sounds mighty brave to me. Perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about when I say that; I could be dead wrong to think that whole family is entrenched in Republican loyalty.
Anyway, with her appearance, Bill of course wanted to draw attention to her grandfather’s farewell speech warning about the peril of the industrial-military complex, but Mrs. Eisenhower, thankfully, brought to light an important point about that speech. She mentioned how ol’ Ike had also wanted to make mention of how that complex gets its lifeblood from Congress. You know, the people we elect to represent our cities and states in Washington. Our esteemed representatives who think that jobs created from building useless fighter jets (hint: the F-22) are a value to the country.
Ike apparently omitted mention of Congress’s role in this perpetual nightmare because he had always been in good standing with the Senators and House representatives who served while he had been Commander-in-Chief and didn’t want to leave on a bashing-fellow-politicians note. A noble-hearted decision, sure, but oh how I wish he hadn’t made that choice.
I can understand wanting to be civil; I know how American politics involves a high degree of niceties and smiles and handshakes with people in the name of appearances, but most times that's precisely what I had about our political climate. It's not about serving the people, doing what's best for it's citizens and speaking out against injustice no matter whose 'feelings get hurt.' Oh no, we have to play nice and not step on people's toes. Ike, you really shouldn't have worried about such frivolous details; I don't think there's any debate that history remembers you well and kindly, but I guess hindsight is 20/20, as they say.
Oh, and my only comments about the Gates / Obama / Police incident: If they all really do sit down and have a beer together, I really wanna know what brand of beer they're going to drink. UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar recommends Coors Light...
Post coming tomorrow hopefully recapping San Diego Comic Con. Lots of stuff for me to talk about. 'Til then!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)