Last night was the celebration of my Grandmother's ninetieth birthday. Bless her energy and wit. I've met some ninety-year olds who can't put a sentence together or dress themselves, but my grandma not only plays with a full deck, but has the poker face to boot. I spoke to family that I haven't seen in nearly twenty years and some of whom I've never even met. So what does one speak about at these things? Normal people will often discuss the usual topics: the kids, the job, the new car, the weather. What are the universal taboos of all family reunion subjects? We all know that you never discuss politics, religion and or money. These days, it is impossible for me to refrain from discussing politics. I can usually avoid money and religion because I have neither.
Most people who are lucky enough to have a large family like myself, can boast the diversity inherent. Diversity in philosophy, social status and education, not to mention character and personality. These days, however, the very articles of diversity can drive a steak into the heart of the closest kin. For example, a holiday gathering one day erupted into a conflagration of name calling and verbal abuses. Mostly the Republicans against me. Any of my younger cousins or nephews who claim allegiance to liberalism were silent. The biggest complaint that I have to this day is when confronted with the facts, they call me names, refer to Michael Moore and blame it all on Clinton.
Soon I will be forging ahead in the life poli-sci, one day maybe I will make a difference. I will chip away at the ignorance until I get at the "soft white underbelly". Then I can caress the ignorant to sleep and they will awaken refreshed and liberal.
-SF
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Where have all the good times gone? Wake up Americans!
The cliche' question, but a necessary one these days. My good times consist of nostalgia and a glass or two of an alcoholic bevie. I am constantly asking questions about some of the events unfolding in front of me, yet I am surrounded by those who will not see or cannot see 2 feet in front of them.
In the early and middle part of the 20th century, Americans were driven by the duty, civic duty. Does anyone remember that term? I sure do! One's civic duty used to consist of a few things: jury duty, voting and taxes; three that come to mind immediately. Within the voting category was the sub-duty of actually RESEARCHING the candidates. For those of us who follow the news and listen to political talk, we know the issues of the day, yet the main stream media outlets are cramming "Rapture and Armageddon" stories down our throats.
Why isn't anyone asking why? In the midst of "World War Three", our congress is debating gay marriage and flag burning. If you ask 100 Americans, 5 in 20 different cities in all 50 states, I almost guarantee you that those issues will come in very far behind: Israel, Iraq, Healthcare, Gas Prices and maybe Stem Cell Research, maybe.
Where are Americans? Who have we become? Is there a doctor in the house? We need a large vat of cultural smelling salts to snap this country out of the coma it is in. I am not even referring directly to partisan politics. The Dems have a lot of catching up to do if they think they're going to make a difference in November. The Right has this election thing down, both legitimately and arguably illegitimately.
I am calling on everyone I know to spend just 20 minutes a day to delve deeper into what's going on and maybe by '08 we can start to wake up, smell the gangrene and amputate that part of us that died.
-SF
In the early and middle part of the 20th century, Americans were driven by the duty, civic duty. Does anyone remember that term? I sure do! One's civic duty used to consist of a few things: jury duty, voting and taxes; three that come to mind immediately. Within the voting category was the sub-duty of actually RESEARCHING the candidates. For those of us who follow the news and listen to political talk, we know the issues of the day, yet the main stream media outlets are cramming "Rapture and Armageddon" stories down our throats.
Why isn't anyone asking why? In the midst of "World War Three", our congress is debating gay marriage and flag burning. If you ask 100 Americans, 5 in 20 different cities in all 50 states, I almost guarantee you that those issues will come in very far behind: Israel, Iraq, Healthcare, Gas Prices and maybe Stem Cell Research, maybe.
Where are Americans? Who have we become? Is there a doctor in the house? We need a large vat of cultural smelling salts to snap this country out of the coma it is in. I am not even referring directly to partisan politics. The Dems have a lot of catching up to do if they think they're going to make a difference in November. The Right has this election thing down, both legitimately and arguably illegitimately.
I am calling on everyone I know to spend just 20 minutes a day to delve deeper into what's going on and maybe by '08 we can start to wake up, smell the gangrene and amputate that part of us that died.
-SF
Friday, July 28, 2006
The USA has been Hijacked!
I have just finished watching Loose Change. You can see it here. This is a very disturbing documentary which convinced me to listen more closely to those nut-ball conspiracy theorists who claim that the U.S. Government was behind the 911 attacks. Well, to be honest fellow fatheads, this is about as close as you can get to the fire before your evil little cousin pushes you in laughing as you flap around and scream, desperately trying to stomp out the flames.
Billions upon billions of dollars, lost evidence, eye-witness accounts, statement retractions and conflicting stories make you wonder. Put partisan politics aside and focus on the science. You know, that discipline which eludes this administration. The hottest days in U.S. history: global warming is an attack from the left to incite fear. Stem Cell research is murder: using human tissue that was to be discarded anyway. The science, by George! Basic science poses questions or "problems". Solutions can be reached only after a hypothesis is formed.
The problems, cutting through all of the fat:
Who had the most to gain from 911?
Who had the resources to accomplish even the most intricate of operations?
What kind of person could perform such incredible acts upon his or her own people?
Why won't anyone ever ask any poignant questions?- history tells us.
I am ashamed, angry and ready to reclaim this great land.
-SF
Billions upon billions of dollars, lost evidence, eye-witness accounts, statement retractions and conflicting stories make you wonder. Put partisan politics aside and focus on the science. You know, that discipline which eludes this administration. The hottest days in U.S. history: global warming is an attack from the left to incite fear. Stem Cell research is murder: using human tissue that was to be discarded anyway. The science, by George! Basic science poses questions or "problems". Solutions can be reached only after a hypothesis is formed.
The problems, cutting through all of the fat:
Who had the most to gain from 911?
Who had the resources to accomplish even the most intricate of operations?
What kind of person could perform such incredible acts upon his or her own people?
Why won't anyone ever ask any poignant questions?- history tells us.
I am ashamed, angry and ready to reclaim this great land.
-SF
Caught in the Lower Middle Class
Hey Fatheads! So today as I take 5 and blog, I am reminded of the new trap which has been clamping down on my right leg ever so slowly over the past few years. I am making the most money I have ever made in my life, yet I am sinking. Not into debt, because my wife, bless her, managed our money with precision, so our debt ratio is dropping. I am writing about the general state of the economy from my point of view: with 2 kids and one on the way. I have not gotten anything but a 3% raise every year for the past few years. "Oh, quit yer belly-aching," you may say to me. No! How much have gas prices risen? How high is real estate here in SoFla? Am I still renting? Yes! Are we doing well? Maybe!
Ok, so I have good health coverage, thanks to my employers large employee base-buying power. but what if I want to go out on my own? Something normal in my industry: video, but here is the rub: no affordable coverage for my family. So I am trapped. Are you? How many millions out there feel this way? Many are far worse off than I. They don't even have a nice 3 bedroom in Sunrise to boast about.
So the economy is booming? For the guys at the top, sure. Exxon making $10billion in a quarter, great. $ 1300 per minute they say. Great great!
Where is my share of the hard work? Oh, I wasn't born lucky enough to have it handed to me, I see.
-SF
Ok, so I have good health coverage, thanks to my employers large employee base-buying power. but what if I want to go out on my own? Something normal in my industry: video, but here is the rub: no affordable coverage for my family. So I am trapped. Are you? How many millions out there feel this way? Many are far worse off than I. They don't even have a nice 3 bedroom in Sunrise to boast about.
So the economy is booming? For the guys at the top, sure. Exxon making $10billion in a quarter, great. $ 1300 per minute they say. Great great!
Where is my share of the hard work? Oh, I wasn't born lucky enough to have it handed to me, I see.
-SF
Some Miami Cubans Want Censorship
Miami, FL -
I am astounded by what I heard in the halls of this corporate dungeon I call the workplace. Three Cubans debating politics and they haven't a clue. I know, who am I to judge? I haven't a four year degree in Pol-Sci, I am a Vidiot! But these people really get my blood pressure at dangerous levels. So there is a book entitled, Vamos a Cuba, written for 3rd graders about the Caribbean Island of Cuba. That's right, the same island controlled by the evil Fidel Castro, the very man whose tyranny caused the influx of millions of Cubans to the Miami shores. Now, I love the Cuban-American culture, as long as it is Cuban-American and not simply Cuban.
But I digress. So these three individuals are debating about this book which does not go into the political status of Cuba, but a simplistic version of life in Cuba. Remember, this book is written at a third grade reading level. So the Miami-Dade School Board rips it off the shelves. Hello? Castro? Anyone ever heard of Censorship? The communists love to control what the good people shove in their gray-matter. Well, I think I've made my point. They are so terrified that the kids might think good things about Cuba for the 5 or 6 years he or she has before the child learns the truth. We don't have to tell a 3rd grader about political prisoners, do we?
In closing, it is my opinion that they are creating the very thing they have escaped and unless they get a grasp of this nation's constitution, they'll bring the rest of us down with them.
-SF
I am astounded by what I heard in the halls of this corporate dungeon I call the workplace. Three Cubans debating politics and they haven't a clue. I know, who am I to judge? I haven't a four year degree in Pol-Sci, I am a Vidiot! But these people really get my blood pressure at dangerous levels. So there is a book entitled, Vamos a Cuba, written for 3rd graders about the Caribbean Island of Cuba. That's right, the same island controlled by the evil Fidel Castro, the very man whose tyranny caused the influx of millions of Cubans to the Miami shores. Now, I love the Cuban-American culture, as long as it is Cuban-American and not simply Cuban.
But I digress. So these three individuals are debating about this book which does not go into the political status of Cuba, but a simplistic version of life in Cuba. Remember, this book is written at a third grade reading level. So the Miami-Dade School Board rips it off the shelves. Hello? Castro? Anyone ever heard of Censorship? The communists love to control what the good people shove in their gray-matter. Well, I think I've made my point. They are so terrified that the kids might think good things about Cuba for the 5 or 6 years he or she has before the child learns the truth. We don't have to tell a 3rd grader about political prisoners, do we?
In closing, it is my opinion that they are creating the very thing they have escaped and unless they get a grasp of this nation's constitution, they'll bring the rest of us down with them.
-SF
I've Discovered Jean Shepherd!!!!!
Excelsior, You Fathead! The phrase mentioned all around the Blogosphere and then some. For me, Shep has always been a name I recognize due to the popular film, A Christmas Story (1983), we're all familiar with Ralphie and Randy Parker and their trials and tribulations with Scut and Grover. But who is the man behind the classic? A genius who is somewhere making even the most stoic of humorless twits reexamine the ethereal plain on which they now exist. I think I should expound slightly on how this revelation came about (I'll omit the part where I again wish I was living about 40-50 years ago and not in this oppressive day).
I was watching the Blues Brothers, lying in bed and hoping that my wife didn't start to snore before I fell asleep. A common problem in my relationship, first to sleep, only to sleep. Moving on, there is a scene where Jake and Elwood go to get Matt "Guitar" Murphy and Blue Lou. When good ole Matt realizes that the Blues Brothers are back, he greets them with comments about bad food at various state facilities they may have frequented, including one Terre Haute federal Penn. That prompted me to remember a line from ACS which mentions Terre Haute. I hopped on Google and brought it up...not really caring much about Terre Haute when I remembered that I loved ACS and the story and wanted to find the story behind the movie. Fast forward an hour and I am lying in bed listening to the tale of Kris Metropolis.
I have a lot to learn. There is so much I'd like to read about and experience to catch up on. I am, or aspire to be, a writer and filmmaker, though I am the dreamer and not the do-er. If I were a do-er, I'd create the greatest tribute piece for this man. I have a background in radio, so it means even more to me. The world should listen, really listen to Jean Shepherd today. Congress should enact a statute which requires all Americans, and those who wish to become Americans to listen to Jean Shepherd for one hour per day. But we know what Congress is like, and we know that most Americans will not miss their American Idol. Only if...well, thanks Shep, I have discovered a new world. One day the Scottymouth with speak at length about my new hero, maybe some Fatheads might stream for a minute or two...maybe.
-SF
I was watching the Blues Brothers, lying in bed and hoping that my wife didn't start to snore before I fell asleep. A common problem in my relationship, first to sleep, only to sleep. Moving on, there is a scene where Jake and Elwood go to get Matt "Guitar" Murphy and Blue Lou. When good ole Matt realizes that the Blues Brothers are back, he greets them with comments about bad food at various state facilities they may have frequented, including one Terre Haute federal Penn. That prompted me to remember a line from ACS which mentions Terre Haute. I hopped on Google and brought it up...not really caring much about Terre Haute when I remembered that I loved ACS and the story and wanted to find the story behind the movie. Fast forward an hour and I am lying in bed listening to the tale of Kris Metropolis.
I have a lot to learn. There is so much I'd like to read about and experience to catch up on. I am, or aspire to be, a writer and filmmaker, though I am the dreamer and not the do-er. If I were a do-er, I'd create the greatest tribute piece for this man. I have a background in radio, so it means even more to me. The world should listen, really listen to Jean Shepherd today. Congress should enact a statute which requires all Americans, and those who wish to become Americans to listen to Jean Shepherd for one hour per day. But we know what Congress is like, and we know that most Americans will not miss their American Idol. Only if...well, thanks Shep, I have discovered a new world. One day the Scottymouth with speak at length about my new hero, maybe some Fatheads might stream for a minute or two...maybe.
-SF
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