Sunday Thoughts

Sunday morning----- Sitting in a recliner, relaxing with coffee, reading the Sunday New York Times (online---wouldn't get it until Tuesday by mail here). I just finished mowing the lawn and doing some other chores that don't get done during the work week. Sunday mornings.......

I just read a segment somewhere that talked about the "liberal religious" movement. What??????????? Today's "religious right" would definitely not be confused with any progressive agendas. Anti-abortion, anti-same-sex relationships, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration, anti-just about any kind of social progress it seems. (Just for the record, being "pro-choice" is NOT the opposite of being "pro-life." I personally find the use of abortion as a means of birth control unacceptable. It's a failure to excercise the plethora of choices and options already available. It mocks the very term "pro-choice.")

Take the modern harvest celebration. The Christian Church around the corner is having a "Fall Festival"; the Nazarenes down the road are having "Neewollah" (isn't speaking backward a sign of demonic possession----just asking). I like the idea of putting Christ back into Christmas and also favor putting the Witch back into Halloween. I hate the political correctness namy-pamby-ism that doesn't allow parades of costumed kids on the last day of October. We make sure that if there's candy left over, it's the type we like best!!!!

By the way, the liberal religious movement I referred to above was the Berrigan brothers and other clergy opposed to the Vietnam war. I wish our present day clergy had the same moral fortitude, but seeing the size of some of these churches, I guess the need to fill them with donating worshippers frequently overrides a sense of moral conviction. As the ad for one of the Baptist congregations states: "Religion with a casual approach." Now if that's not an oxymoron.........

Time Travel

Driving on the highway the other day, a perfect confluence of events punctured the space-time continuum and transported me back to when long hair for men was ok and my guitar strap was red with white doves alternating with white peace symbols.

The radio was playing Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. As the vocal wailed "Four dead in Ohio" I passed a pick-up with a bumper sticker reading America, Love It or Leave It. Serious flashback, man.........................Today, we'd say Blue or Red, Joe the Plumber or "palin around with terrorists". ( I meant to spell it that way!!!!)

Why there are people who "'oppose your interests' and 'really believe that if they can make you afraid enough or angry enough, you can be tricked into voting against yourself. It is all part of the same contempt, and [on Election Day] you can show them the mistake they have made.' The debate wasn't between left or right, but between 'the politics of fear and the politics of trust. One says: you are encircled by monstrous dangers. Give us power over your freedom so we may protect you. The other says: the world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped to the will of men...cast your vote for trust, not just in leaders or policies, but trusting your fellow citizens, in the ancient tradition of this home for freedom and, most of all, for trust in yourself."

If that don't sound like the Bush/Cheney era and the tone of the 2008 presidential campaign, I don't know what would. Divisiveness, the culture wars, an unpopular military action overseas, fear of terrorism and crime......The above is from Nixonland by Rick Perlstein on pgs.536-537. The context is a televised speech by then Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine exhorting voters to cast their ballots the next day for Democratic candidates. The fear-mongers were Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew. And their speeches and approaches would be so familiar to John McCain and Sarah Palin----because they are the same. And for me, Edmund Muskie's words ring as true today as when he spoke them on that evening in 1970.

Vote early if you can (I did) and please vote with your head, not your fears!!!!!

Syndromes

Syndromes seem to be in the forefront around here this week. The Pirate Dogs' look-out has SDS, the Captain has SDS, and even I was SDS. And they're all different syndromes!!!!!!!!

Weets is part chihuahua so she is very noisy and aggressive---Small Dog Syndrome.
'Roid has the foulest breath in the western world, the result of a peculiar and disgusting habit I won't go into here--Stinky Dog Syndrome.
And this blogger was fairly radical in his younger years, even joining Students for a Democratic Society in college.
So why all the "syndrome-icity" this particular week??
How's your 401-k? How's your trust in the sitting government to get us on the right track? If you have any syndromes, now's the time to give them free reign. Loosen that halter and give them their head.



I think I've decided on the elections. Paris Hilton for Prez, Tina Fey for VP. (Although Gina Gershon does a good job as well.) Paris makes sense on the environment and the pool-side shots could be inspiring as well as profitable for the government. Sales of her exploits would dwarf the tax cuts of either main-stream candidate and could result in a surplus. Tina does a better Palin than Sarahcuda. Only problem is after she gets elected, where would she get her material? No worry though, the current VP candidate has just regurgitated the same lines since she was nominated. Is there really that big a difference between 6 weeks and 4 (or 8) years??
Hey, after this week we need to exhibit a sense of humor more than ever.

In a more serious vein, I'm currently reading Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. The sub-title pretty much summarizes the premise--"The rise of a president and the fracturing of America." I'm only about a quarter of the way through the 800-plus pages but the parallels from the 1968 campaign to today's are striking and, for me, terrifying. I have watched film of the current Republican rallies where either of the candidates whipped up the crowd to the point of denouncing the Democratic nominee as an Arab, a terrorist, or, even worse, calling for his head. First off, pandering to racism and fear is Nixonian. That's a large part of how he won. The "Silent Majority", "law and order", the menace of racial warfare. Have we learned nothing in 40 years? Watching McPalin is remembering Tricky Dick and Spiro. I've long felt that the Baby Boomers squandered their potential with their pursuit of riches pre-empting the idealism of the counter-culture. Now we pay for it with the Republican attacks that, let's face it, are racist without saying that word. I've seen comments on other blogs where people wrote about their fathers saying "Good, they shot another Kennedy" about RFK's assassination in 1968. I can remember comments about how "that uppity nigger" Martin Luther King got what was coming to him, also in 1968. I get the same feelings of foreboding listening to some of the McPalin supporters today. And I try to remember that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" but still there's this thing in he back of my mind..............a motorcade in Dallas, Nov 22 1963....

See http://zeesgowest.blogspot.com/ post for October 11 for a powerful video. We can take back this country. We can undo what Nixon spawned and W has promulgated.

WE ARE THE ANSWER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time for a Break

And if my beloved Boston Red Sox and the L A Dodgers survive early October and both make it to the Fall Classic, then the Soquitos Rojo will face Joe Torre, Manny Ramirez, Derek Lowe, and maybe even Nomar Garciaparra. Talk about "wheel in the sky keeps on turning".....



The Captain is having rear knee problems. She now has a new nickname, Ratso Roido, after my favorite Dustin Hoffman character, for which he really deserved the Oscar as best actor:

For those unfamiliar with this film, he's the one on the right, Ratso Rizzo. The guy on the left is Angelina Jolie's father.

A list of websites or magazines I read or visit regularly---unlike Saracuda, I don't have a problem letting you know where I get my information:

The Atlantic http://www.theatlantic.com/ (The Atlantic Monthly has been around over 100 years. I've subscribed to the print edition for years.)

The Economist http://www.economist.com/ (socially liberal, financially conservative with an English perspective-- I subscribe to the print edition as well as online)

The National Review http://www.nationalreview.com (William F. Buckley started this in the '60's. Conservative and well-written. It's ok to be right-wing as long as you think.)

The Nation http://www.thenation.com/ (Left as it gets but well written and thoughtful)

The New Republic http://www.tnr.com/ (Dates back to the counter-culture but also well thought out.)

And of course, the national newspaper of record, The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/ (The op-eds are intelligent, thought-provoking, and very well written.)

Please be informed on the FACTS before you vote. This is the most important election since 1968 and, like the Congress on the bail-out/rescue, we really need to get this correct!!!! Normally I'd say "right" but I don't think that's the proper direction............

Remember, the Pirate Dogs depend on you because they can't vote and they love you.

Countdown

Well, it's about 100 days until we elect the successor to Dubya. But that's not really the countdown this post is about.
I have to admit that during the primary season I got caught up in Keith Olberman's program on MSNBC, Countdown. I thought it a refreshingly liberally biased take on the primaries and political reporting. I watch BBC America World News to get my facts so Keith was an intellectually affordable luxury. After the presumptive nominees were chosen the show lost some of its appeal. Some of the segments have become downright aggravating. The last segment with some VH-1 comic commenting on a political issue is getting repetitive and boring. This segment is neither news nor entertainment but rather a sop to the "low information voter" who, quite honestly, is not what I perceive to be the target audiece of Keith's show.
The final straw for me was the week after July 4 when Rachel Maddow subbed for Keith. The show reverted back to what had intrigued me during the primaries. A liberal take on issues and some reasonably intelligent commentary. And something was missing----The Worst Persons in the World segment. Rachel did not do this regular segment. And it vastly improved the show!!
I first saw Keith do this schtick on NBC's Sunday Football Night in America and found it amusing. But on Countdown, it has become tedious. Not that someone should not point out the follies and foibles of humanity, especially the dastardly actions of some citizens. But Bill O'Reilly and Rupert Murdoch really don't compare to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe or Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan. And is FoxNews (FoxNoise to Keith) really as bad as the Jangaweed in Darfur?
So I guess I'll keep up with BBC and increase the number of DVDs I get from Netflix to fill the hour left in my tv watching formerly occupied by Keith. That is, unless MSNBC brings in Rachel or gets Keith to change his format. Although Olberman may appropriate Edward R. Murrow's sign-off, there's no comparison between the quality of their "newscasts." "Good Night and Good Luck!"