( 2:53 PM )
A Grand Diversion
So, they're voting in Iraq. I guess not voting after 50 years is a good thing...in theory. In reality, too many western-controlled political leaders have emerged. As supposedly the front-runners, these Bush-friendly foreign nations haven't given the international community the "warm and fuzzies" and this election is really not the exercise in Democracy it is being advertised as.
The first weekend without pro football. You'd think they'd schedule a college basketball that was somewhat entertaining. Speaking of the Super Bowl, here are my two cents. I hate the Eagles but must admit that I can't hate McNabb. I'm not big on the entire state of Massachusetts but have to admit that I like Belichick and his team first approach to the game. Put Brady anywhere you want on a list of 'Greatest QB's' that's OK with me. He deserves it even though he went to Michigan. Pats win and the game is lame by the mid-3rd Quarter. No last minute field goals will be needed for this one.
Much better entertainment should be found at the Michael Jackson trial. Just reading the state's case against Jackson is funny enough. Porn in black suitcases, red wine in Diet Coke cans, and allegations of being "jacked off" by Michael himself. Hey, they don't call him the King of Pop for nothing. Just one thing for clarification sake, how can Jackson receive a fair trial? The jury of his peers doesn't exactly exist unless Michael lives in a community where other child stars who have lost their way happen to reside. Unless you see Todd Bridges from Diff'rent Strokes, the little white kid from Eight is Enough, the thin white chick from One Day at a Time and you dig up the body of Dana Plato (Kimberly from Diff'rent Strokes), then this space is not sure who is reasonably just to sit and judge Jackson.
We've all been fans of Jackson's music at some point in our life. That in itself makes it hard for any rationale human to be objective when deciding this case.
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( 11:05 AM )
The Greatest Show on Earth
It's not good to be a Republican these days. Forgot for a second that Bush is less than a week into his second term. Forget that Democrats are still driving around with their Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers affixed to their not so environmentally friendly SUV's. Things aren't all that happy in the House of Bush and conservatives, fearing a sinking ship are looking elsewhere for those all important vittles of survival.
Conservatives, now looking at a lame duck President, have already starting looking ahead to who is making noise in 2008. The right is already a little angry that the President didn't getting tougher with same-sex marriage in his Inaugural Address. Now, they fear that Bush really won't go the distance and push for full reforming of Social Security. If Bush pulls up short of those goals, will it signal that he wasn't really the conservative he made himself out to be and only did so in order to win votes. If that's the case, then Bush could very well be the greatest politician this country has seen in ages.
Nobody ever thought Clinton was a moderate even as he was signing everything Newt Gingrich ever wrote into law. We still knew Clinton was a universal health care liberal. The same can't be said for Bush. With his first term Cabinet nominees, his trashing of the Constitution, his trashing of personal liberties and individual rights, the Jackass Party swore he was the second coming of Jesse Helms.
You know you may not be a full-fledged conservative when non-humans like Michelle Malkin is taking off the gloves with the President. Reporting in the New York Post, the only publication with enough lawyers to print what she calls journalism, Malkin writes of a 9/11 victim who was recently sent his green card by the Department of Homeland Security (or the Department of Duct Tape and Color Coded Warnings as the Daily Feed use to say).
Malkin writes: "President Bush created the behemoth Department of Homeland Security, encompassing 22 agencies and 180,000 employees, with nearly a $34 billion budget. Last month, the president signed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, creating another mega-agency "to ensure that the people in government responsible for defending America have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions. Promises, promises."
And to think, Homeland Security was trumped on the campaign trail by every conservative out there less than three months ago. Didn't questioning the "behemoth" agency cost Senator Max Cleland his job? Now, Republicans are seeing the agency for what's its worth and realize that when it comes down to protecting American's, the Department of Homeland Security could very well be the DMV. Those hoping that Bush was going to get more conservative in his second term must now adjust their television sets.
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( 1:59 PM )
Back to work or shall I say, back to waiting out endless delays at the airport. The guilty party this stretch of the vacation is LaGuardia Airport and Jet Blue Airlines, two normally reliable transportation hubs.
My Jet Blue flight was delayed nearly four hours and then just for shits and giggles, they delayed it another hour. On cue, LaGuardia forgot to pay December's electric bill because the AC was on as low as you can go. With delays and high internal temperatures, that means the tempers were also running high. Why do people insist on proving they're suffering more than the next person. The regular mantra was: "I've been here for hours." Yeah, so have we all but only one of us is acting like a three year old, and it ain't me.
Always mixed feelings when its time to depart NYC for part elsewhere. Time in NY was mired by the destruction caused by the tsunami. Ironically, the news broke the same day, this space took to the Angelika to see 'Hotel Rwanda' starring a very Oscar-worthy Don Cheadle. This is by far the best movie I've seen this year but then again, I don't see a lot of movies and when I do, I try to see only good ones. Among the good ones I've seen this year are: Hero and Garden State. As for Sideways, the critics darling, I found it to be unmoving, unfunny and uninspiring. I've come to expect the best out of Paul Giamatti, so I wasn't surprised by his excellent performance. Virginia Madsen did surprise me and she was the only good thing about that movie. Thumbs down from me but I'm not an Academy voter so Alexander Payne need not worry.
The President's response to the climbing death toll is as always the case less-than-stellar. First he tries to short-change international aid efforts and he once again incurred the backlash of Old Europe. Now, he is enabling former President's to raise private sector money because the public sector cash is all reserved for his campaign donors. Why is it that Bill Clinton is viewed as the worse possible human at all other times by Bush but when he needs him he is nothing but happy to be in the company of the Philanderer-in-chief. Call it the ol' GOP two-step, I guess.
New music purchased over the Christmas holiday includes: Jeff Buckley: Live Sin-E, Illmatic by Nas, Root Down Live by the great Jimmy Smith. Keep your eyes on 2Walls for upcoming reviews.
A hearty round of handclaps goes to the University of Southern California, who went wire-to-wire and beat the piss out of Oklahoma last night. And we thought it was going to be a good game.
And finally boos and hisses this week start with Yours Truly for not attending Alison Breitman's show at the Bitter End like I promised. If its any consolation, I was out drinking until 7am the night before and couldn't move the next day. Like I said, if its any consolidation which it probably isn't.....
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