Saturday, January 27, 2007

State of the Union commentary

So here we are as a country in the year 2007. I think it is an important time to point out a brief review of what is the worst presidential regime since Nixon and quite easily one of the worst administrations ever.

1) 2000 - George Bush runs for the presidency against Al Gore. The country was coming off of 8 blissful and exciting years with one of our country's greatest presidents, Bill Clinton. Clinton faced 6 years of a hostile congress yet still managed to rework the welfare system, keep the economy humming along like gangbusters and maintain positive international relations with both our allies and enemies. A true diplomat whose only real weakness was his sexual appetite, a classic trait for an accomplished alpha male. Sadly, the republicans cared little about the positive state of the country and desperately attempted to destabilize our country by dragging President Clinton through a bs impeachment attempt. This is important to remember, especially when Bush and his appointed court of neocons express outrage over the lack of support for the president as being "unpatriotic".

Bush loses the popular vote in 2000 to Al Gore and it appears the country is headed for at least 4 more positive years under the even, smooth leadership of the Democrats. However, little did any of us know that the coup was in motion, and after a dizzying period of back and forth nonsense and an incredibly polarized country, the supreme court (led by Bush regime buddy Antonin Scalia) stops the recounts and declares Bush the winner. The trouble was beginning.

2) The Bush regime disregards an enormous amount of security info passed to them from the Clinton Administration, including warnings about Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Clearly Osama was not a new name... many of the neocons had been involved with arming Osama during the 80's in order to encourage the lengthening war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. The Bushies ignored all warnings, and the terrible events of Sept. 11 was the result. - While most of the country reacted with anger, outrage, and sadness, the Bush regime reacted with a sense of optimistic opportunity - finally a chance to bamboozle the country into a war with Iraq, a country with a vile leader that had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks of Sept. 11. This mattered little to the chicken hawks in the Bush regime. These armchair soldiers viewed the middle east as the central point in their visions of a New World Order, and a sweet side benefit would be the enormous profits that could be directed to their favorite companies. (Bechtel, KBR , Haliburton, etc.)

3) The Bush boys sent the U.S. armed forces into Afghanistan and after a quick pit stop for show (do some reading on the state of Afghanistan today - the war lords are returned to power, opium production is through the roof, and the infrastructure remains in tatters.) The regime continued to eye Iraq but desperately needed to sell fear to the american public to support this war. The litany of lies began and the ministers of propaganda (Rove, Ari Fleisher, Andrew Card, Cheney,) began to beat the drums of war. Terms like WMD's and mushroom clouds began floating through the public consciousness. The talking heads eagerly picked up the chant, and soon Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and the many others echoed whatever their marching orders were each day. - Of course the bush regime needed more, and those pesky weapons inspectors were becoming a real problem, with their factual non findings of no WMD's. No chemical weapons or mobile death mobiles either. The administration pulled out their ace card, Token regime member Colin Powell, a man of great credibilty (not anymore) blatantly lied to the U.N. The only question is whether he willfully lied or was a patsy, but the damage (and responsibility) ultimately rests with Mr. Powell. Finally bush pulls the weapons inspectors out and sends in the invading forces in 2003. March 20th the invasion begins, leading to ...

4) "Major Combat Operations are completed" says a smiling Bush on May 1, 2003. Hmmm, that means all is well now, right? Oh, that's right, we are only a few months away from celebrating the end of combat, the 4 year anniversary. I'm sure all of our soldiers still dodging bullets from angry Iraqi's will be in a partying mood. Furthermore, the decider in chief is sending another 21 thousand troops, and given his enormous track record of success I am optimistic.

5) Dick Cheney chastises Wolf Blitzer on CNN, basically stating that things continue to go well in Iraq, and he can't comprehend where this negative view is coming from.

This brief overview is why I do not even bother with anyone still pro bush. The world has become a much less stable during the last 6 years, and there is still 2 more years left. Are you worried yet?

Monday, January 22, 2007

Greatest Movie Ever!!


True Romance. My favorite movie, ever by far. I remember the first time I saw this flick. Sparta theater, in Sparta, N.J. A small movie theater, with two movies playing, roating weekly. I saw some trailers, the movie looked cool. The movie came out in 93. I was 22 years old, heading into my last year of college. For whatever reason I was at my parents and not my college house. I don't remember when the movie opened. I do remember getting a bottle of rum and driving over to the theater with my buddy the salamander. Mixing down rum with coke, I watched this hyper adrenalized, super violent, over the top fan boy action fantasy, mixing every hipster you could ever imagine with lots of hip things you didn't even realize were hip, I decided I wanted to write stories like movies. The perfect mix of words, actors and cinematography just blew me away. (A perfect combination of material and director, as Tony Scott did justice to Tarantino's words. While Scott certainly didn't do the film the way I suspect Tarantino would have, there were some strong similarities.

I write of this for a variety of reasons, not least of which is a long chat tonight with the Salamander. One of my best buds in the world, and shared memories of fun times is the bond that pulls people together. (Family, friends, loved ones of all kinds ultimately are connected by their shared experiences and their inteprations of those experiences. )

This movie makes me want to write, so therefore all 4 readers of this blog will get to enjoy some late night, wine and mr. g fueled rants like tonight.

Beast out

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Duke Looking Good!


I've been lucky lately as a big time Duke fan. They are on a 2 game winning streak and well on their way to beating NC State on the road right now. Most impressive to me has been how hard and aggressive Duke has looked today and against Wake Forest on Thursday. This is an incredibly young team and they looked terrible in losses to Va. Tech at home and at Ga. Tech.

This may turn out to be one of Coach K's best coaching jobs. His team responded to those losses with 2 wins by 20 or more, and if they hold on today for a win, their next game is #16 Clemson at home, followed by games with a depleted Boston College Squad and Va. prior to playing North Carolina. It would be nice to see them reel off 6 in a row prior ot the North Carolina game.

Despite my good buddy Barce's love affair with Robert "I'm a big hypocrite" Knight, even he has to accept that Coach K's a better coach.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Great Directors Underperforming

So I pulled out my nail clippers and used the filing extension to open one of my many unwatched DVD's. Miller's Crossing. Classic Coen Brothers movie from 1990 with Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turtorro, and Marcia Gay Harden. (Marcia Gay Harden is a criminally underrated actress; if you don't believe me check her out in Pollock and Spitfire Grill.) Anyway, Millers Crossing is classic filmmaking , a gangster film with a complex plot and some superb performances. Haunting musical score and superb character actors fill in all the kick ass Coen parts I've come to love. I would easily put this film up with Fargo, Barton Fink, and The Big Lebowski. Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykillers are so far beneath their talent.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

First Post of 2007

Movie Reviews -

Dazed and Confused - Man, I love this movie. I've watched it a bunch of times, saw it in the theater, owned the VHS, and recently bought the DVD dirt cheap in a bargain bin. So freakin awesome, more entertaining every time. :) Especially enjoyable with Mr. Green.

Alias Season 1 ( Recently watched through the first season with my wife. I love taking a show like this, which we never watched, and starting from the beginning - fast moving, with only a couple of unlikeabe characters (the annoying tech guy, the annoying reporter guy). There is also one of the best character actors around, the awesome Ron Rifkin. His character has a bazillion layers to him, and this is only season 1!

Venture Brothers Season 1 - Every once in awhile you take a chance on a purchase and it pays off in a big way. Purchasing Venture Brothers on Amazon.com was a great call. I read a brief review of this box set, a show that runs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It's an odd mix of characters that draws from many different archetypes and pop cultural elements from the past, including a Dr. Strange parody character, an FF parody, some hysterical villians, and one of the all time greatest characters in animation, BrockSampson. An insane, killing machine bodyguard who for no apparent reason is insanely loyal to Dr. thaddeus venture and his two kids, Hank and Brock.

Maybe more later, if you're all lucky