The Meat of the Matter

End Times

Kudos to Jill Greenberg on her art showing that is currently on display at The Paul Kopeikin Gallery. It's not easy to be funny, poignant, and beautiful all at the same time. Here is one of my favorites. It's called "Nuculer (sic)."

The Hand of Our "Religious Origin" Scratches It's Own Holy Butt

This article states that our congress is doing what it does best once again: creating an illusion of urgency while the real urgencies are obfuscated in a cloud of hooplah. It's kind of like how we did a pre-emptive attack against Iraq because we felt certain they were going to attack. Only this time, the pre-emptive strike is against judges who might deign to ban or change the "Pledge of Allegiance" due to the words "One Nation Under God." Lots of Representatives came along to spout rhetoric that displayed their fervor to their ecstatic voters. There's only one problem. This country does not have a religious origin. The original settlers were pilgrims, to be sure. They were religious. They also burned witches and other heretics, but religious they were. The founding fathers, on the other hand, were by no means religious. If anyone wants to debate me, go for it. But they weren't. They were as sceptical of religion as I am. They wanted to guarantee individuals to worship freely as I do, but they did not want the government to represent--in any fashion--a religious motive. We are becoming like our enemy. We have scoffed at them for holding the Quran so dearly, and felt amused at their silly superstitions. But now our House of Representatives actually spends our tax dollars wasting time on a bill that would prevent judges from taking the words "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. This places symbolism over substance. We are no better than the Islamic village who will stone a man for making ice.

Open Mike

At a luncheon in Russia, the microphone in front of the President and Tony Blair was left on. The conversation is rather revealing. Some of the things made me chuckle, and indicate why some people really like Bush's friendly manner. Like this: "Thanks for the sweater. It was awfully thoughtful of you," Bush, who just celebrated his 60th birthday, tells Blair. "I know you picked it out yourself." The prime minister chimes in, "Oh, absolutely." Funny stuff! Then there's a comment that shows what a dork he can be: Then, to Chinese President Hu Jintao, on Bush's right, he said: "Where you going? Home? This is your neighborhood. Doesn't take too long to get home?" When he hears that Hu's flight to Beijing is eight hours, Bush says, "Me too." "Russia's a big country and you're a big country. ... Takes him eight hours to fly home. Takes him eight hours to fly home. Eight hours. Russia's big and so's China." Our President is an expert in geography. Funny stuff! The meaty comment was this one on Hezbollah: "See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over." Then later, Bush responded that he feels like "telling Kofi to get on the phone with [Syrian President Bashir] Assad, make something happen. We're not blaming Israel and we're not blaming the Lebanese government." If the two captured Israeli soldiers are really the catalyst for this event (which is under debate) then this isn't entirely incorrect. However, the statement reveals (to me, at least) that the President's horizon of concern ends merely at the violence. It seems okay to him that two countries live side by side who want to kill each other--so long as they don't actually do it. This is too short-sighted, and indicates why Koffi Annan's approach (which Bush criticized) is probably more intelligent. I bet Annan knows how far it is from Moscow to Beijing, too.

V is for Valerie

Valerie Plame has just filed suit against Dick Cheney and Karl Rove for conspiring to ruin her career. Things are about to get interesting. Nicely timed, too, Valerie. A nice court case during the November election will serve us Dems well! Hopefully the Republican-controlled House will go down in Plames.

…And I Feel Fiiiiine

So, we have Israel and Lebanon on the brink of war and Pakistan and India also on the brink of war. Meanwhile in America, some people are very very concerned about how Sarah Jessica Parker looks *totally* old on the cover of Good Housekeeping magazine. Perhaps God is wondering if he should just start over. Hmm?

I'm not a Man Named Jed, But ...

We're not moving to Beverly Hills, either. We're moving to Newport Beach, which is better. That's right, this middle-class liberal is packing up the truck tonight, and moving down to upper-class conservative Newport Beach. I have, for various reasons, never felt like I completely "fit" into any demographic where I lived or worked, so this won't be a new feeling. But the sheer torture of living among the Stepford Wives might tax me. I might deign to put a little indicator of my political world view on my car (gulp) in hopes of finding kindred spirits. If you live in South Orange County, and you're someone who knows how to properly bounce the real meaning of words off of the backstop of fact and truth, and you can tell if there's a ricochet, please contact me.