Talk the Talk

I admit it, I got giddy when I heard that CIA director, Leon Panetta had manned up and said that Cheney almost seemed to want the country to be attacked again, merely so he could be proven right about all his doom and gloom media ramblings of late.

And then he did what all Democrats seem to do. Panetta backed down. Dear lord. What is wrong with the Democratic Party? Are they completely lacking in balls? I gotta go with Bill Maher here, who's final New Rule last Friday night called the Dems and specifically Obama to task by saying if they can't get their agendas through now, then when can they?



Dubya thought he had a mandate in the 2004 election because he scraped out a win. Obama beat McCain decisively and he acts like he has to tip toe around a sleeping lion. The Republicans are down right now for the count, but if Obama and the rest of the Democratic Party don't grow a set (and SOON!) then they might as well be on the mat beside the GOP helping them back to their feet before the ref reaches 10.

The Democrats time is now and if they fuck this up, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Enough

I have been largely tuned out of the normal media melee of late. And I wouldn't say I have missed it. In a way I think I have purposely distanced myself from it all because there is only so much that even I can process at once and current personal events (ie BEING UNEMPLOYED) have somehow taken precedence. Selfish little broadminded.

But I heard about Dr. Tiller being murdered. I was outraged, horrified and disgusted at my "fellow Americans" but still I tried to not let it sink in. Then today an 88-year-old man killed another man at the Holocaust Museum. Dear god people.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH OUR COUNTRY?

How can we harbor so much hate? This decrepit old white supremacist fart, kills a black guard, scares the beejesus out of a bunch of school children and all for what? He's pissed because a BLACK MAN is president? Because some family members job got sent to India? Because he thinks the Jews made the whole holocaust up? I mean what could be so awful and wrong that you are possessed to go kill an innocent person and god knows who else before someone else with a gun stops you?

Yell and scream all you want about the bad things going on in the world, I have no problem with that. But this is insanity and I have had enough.

Vindication Is Mine

Not to harp on this (because we all know that I would never hold onto something like a dog with a bone . . .) but I am about three issues into the Newsweek redesign and it is still leaving me cold. I have actually skipped articles accidentally because I thought they were ads, the layout confused me so.

Well I am not alone apparently. Rolling Stone labeled the redesign a "Hot Thud" in their recent "Hot Issue" (RS1080). Not even the nuttiness of Lady Gaga gracing the cover can wipe the smile off my face. And here I thought I was just being contrary because I don't like change.

Dr. West, I Presume

Dr. Cornel West—have you ever heard this man speak? Sometimes it is hard to follow what he is saying because you get so caught up in the rhythm of his words. And it doesn't help that he uses some pretty big words.

The May 28, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone has a pretty thorough article/interview with Dr. West. Dude ain't an angel, and he has some issues, but I can't help but be intrigued by the way the wheels turn in his head.

For instance, when he talks about his idea of what democracy is and how it takes people who are poetic (and not in the verse-writing sense) to shake things up, use their imagination and get the rest of us out of our own little worlds.

We need that. Lord knows I do, gentle reader. I often find myself moved to thought, action, and daring by the beliefs, words, and deeds of another. I have friends and acquaintances who I consider much better people than I am and who possess this almost otherworldly quality to think beyond themselves. I sadly seem to be lacking in that department, but when I am around those people, or reading the thoughts of someone like Dr. West, I can't help, but for a minute, shake off my own "little iron cage" as West refers to it and for a moment, no matter how brief, become a better person capable of so much more.

I guess the key is to make those moments last for longer periods of time.

Guilty As Charged

One of Obama's crew, Cass Sunstein, has written a book called Going To Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide.

If you can't already tell from the title the premise is that when we get around people who think like us we become more strident in our views and apparently the Web is particularly bad about this (so if you are reading this and find yourself not always agreeing with me—way to go for operating outside your comfort zone!).

Alrighty then, I guess I need to fess up that I am certain I am guilty of this, not that I wouldn't be a flame throwing liberal regardless, but it is easy to see that my knickers are more twisted up after a good hour with Olbermann. That being said, while the Right may not agree, I do find that folks like Bill Maher aren't exactly toeing the total Democrat line and I appreciate when he has non-liberal guests. But unlike the spouse, I can't really bring myself to partake much of FOX. I think he mostly does it for kicks and giggles, but he says it is to see what the other side is saying and I believe he is somewhat sincere in that regard.

It is interesting, because we accuse (and by we I mean me as well) the terrorists and evangelicals of falling prey to this kind of polarization and obviously all groups are susceptible to this. Equally intriguing is how our modern conveniences seem to lend to our ability to segregate rather than bringing us together like they are so often touted as doing.