Never forget

I may not agree with the mainstream politcal regime, but I, too, mourn the loss of life on Americal soil on 9/11/2001.

One of my views is, however, that we should have seen it coming. Shame on us for not thinking of it, being vigilent enough, and not having leaders responsible enough to actually listen to the advice they were getting from their different intelligence sources.

I saw a hippie freak carrying a sign the other day. It read something like, "9/11: Inside Job" and he was yelling at passing cars, "Jet fuel doesn't melt steel." He was grinding a conspiracy axe - as if Cheney planned and encouraged the attacks on the WTC in New York.

I can't go that far. But the war in Iraq, that's another story. It's good for business, and the neocons jumped in there because they saw 9/11 as their opportunity to ram it down our throats. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden's terrorist strike. So tell me, why are we now committed to spending $400 billion plus a year over there? How does that do anything for the victims of 9/11?

I recently watched Spielberg's film "Munich". I remember being in my teens when Black September took the Israeli team hostage, and watching on TV as the whole horrible thing unfolded. It occurred to me, "Why hasn't this kind of thing happened over here?" I knew back then that it was only a matter of time. As car bombs and suicide bombers began to proliferate in Israel and Palestine, I never for one moment entertained the illusion that it could never happen in New York or L.A. In fact, I'm surprised that it took until 2001 to occur.

Maybe it's the result of being a Cold War baby. I always thought that the Big One was going to drop on us at any time, without enough warning to climb out of my metal chair and take cover under my desk, leaving my lunch milk and sandwich behind.

Me too, I wanna call...

...for Rumsfeld's resignation. Mind you, it could be a feint by centrist Republicans to distance themselves from the Decider. But Rummy revealed too much of what goes on in his brain cell when he tried to compare all those terr-ists out there to the Nazis and the Third Reich.

The problem with the terrorists is that they are so whipped up into a fervor by their clergy, they'll believe anything their leaders tell them. Unlike fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. - right? Right?....

Katrina redux

One year ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Southern Gulf Coast. Today, we're treated to all the major media outlets going down there, shooting video, recording interviews, posting photos and blogging about how sad the state of affairs is down there.

I heard that we are spending a billion dollars a week in Iraq. Billion with a "B". You and me. Our money. We're the ones spending it.

Can you imagine what New Orleans and Biloxi would look like today if we has spent one billion dollars a week on rebuilding the hurricane-stricken South?

Are we getting our money's worth?

If it's all about the ratings....

...then tell me why the candidates chose to hold their debate during the ALCS? They could have maybe held the debate as a pre-game warm-up - they certainly would have had a lot more eyeballs on them if they had.

So what we're left with this morning are the soundbites of the name-calling, and all the micro-analysis and spin that go with them. Just a little mental math here: If John Kerry is out of the mainstream, and John Kerry is a liberal, that means that liberals are out of the mainstream. This is the kind of rhetorical algebra that the Republicans have excelled at from the dawn of time. Sorry to tell you, boys - there are liberals everywhere. Maybe even half the country could be considered either 'liberal' or 'a security threat' based on their voting preferences. So where is the mainstream? For that matter, what is the mainstream?

Hmmm. Maybe John Fogarty is right: "It ain't me....."

Back from the brink of extinction.

Call it dead heat fatigue. Call it what you will. Maybe it's the start of the school year, and my early morning exertions are now focused around getting the teenager out of bed and into the car. Anyway, please forgive my absence.

I did get a twitchy feeling the other morning while listening to Nina Totenberg on NPR. She was describing the treatment normal U.S. Citizens were getting at the hands of the Secret Service, should they be imprudent enough to show up at an event where the President is speaking in anything less than Bush-supportive garb. The most chilling soundbite was the father of a kid who, upon pulling his wallet to show his ID to get in to the Bush Safe Zone showed the remnants of a Kerry sticker still adhering to the wallet. The kid was denied access, and the father "by association" was deemed a "security threat".

Now the only threat this gentleman posed was the threat to think his own thoughts and speak his own mind. We've come a long way since Richard Nixon decided to dress his White House staff up in comic-opera uniforms. It seems George W. thinks the Secret Service is his own personal Gestapo. I ask you, America - do you think this is right? Is this Constitutionally mandated? Which law on the books tells us that the candidate we endorse may or may not make us a security threat?

And this sitting President thinks he is trying to export Democracy. He doesn't begin to know the meaning of the word.

Arnold and me

The Terminator and I share something. Neither of us were born on U.S. soil. Neither of us can become President. Capital-P President, that is. Commander-In-Chief.

In his case, he's Austrian, or was, until he married Maria. In my case, my American parents were living overseas on scholarships when I came along.

That's pretty much where the similarity ends. I guess I must be an Economic Girly Man. Which points out - once again - that the Right can only form its thoughts in terms of bullying phrases. The highest highlight of yesterday's proceedings, the cheer that went up after Arnold's invocation of the Girly Man theme was the only thing that woke up the sleeping newscasters. In other news, W was actually officially nominated for coronation yesterday.

Well, I say bravo to all the Girly Men and Girly Women who staged the creative protests yesterday and got themselves busted for exercising their right to free speech and protest. I don't care what those meanies think - the Girly Nation has backbone. Girly Nation can move mountains.

As for the new Ken Doll faces of the Republican Party - Arnold, Mitt, et al - don't be fooled. That's all they are - just pretty faces hiding a mean and selfish agenda. They won't respect you in the morning.

Newsflash: Republicans Descend on New York
"They want to make Apple Pie out of the Big Apple", residents complain.

I must say, I have been bracing myself for the total onslaught of pro-Bush media coverage this week. Sort of like the way I feel as I watch the dentist drill on it's way in to my mouth - painful and unavoidable. Not just painful - it raises the word "discomfort" to a new level of meaning.

But I was not ready for the flip, humourous little ditty NPR just ran about the sanitized experience the delegates are having on Broadway. It turns out that the New York Times spent $600,000 in good old USD to send 13,000 delegates and their families to an afternoon of good old fashioned New York family fun on Broadway. What did these lucky theatergoers get to see? Mamma Mia? Rent? No, those shows are too full of gay people and controversial messages. They got to see Lion King and Fiddler on the Roof - in short, nothing that would challenge their view of the world.

In many ways, this symbolizes for me the Battle of New York.

Back in the 80s, NYC was a really edgy place to go to. It felt like you had to be super aware, super cautious at all times if you didn't know the ropes. You could easily turn the wrong way in Manhattan and find yourself jumped or scammed or whatever. Well, in my last few visits, it's become clear that Manhattan has been turned in to one huge shopping mall in all the visible places. All the small shops that were cool and funky on Broadway have been replaced by Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, J. Crew and Benetton. I mean, I can find all that crap really easily. All I have to do is head over to the Cambridgeside Galleria - or any mall in the USA named 'Galleria', for that matter.

Which is, once again, business as usual. The USA is in the business of exporting its Dittohead, sanitized form of commerce, with all the stupid and scripted merchandise and displays, all over the universe - especially here at home. The unusual must cease to exist; the small business person is the enemy, especially if they espouse a countercultural point of view. All boutiques must be replaced by J. Jill and the Body Shop. That is all.

p.s. here's a copy of the sermon I gave last Sunday.