Where's Slim Pickens Now That We Need Him?

I don't necessarily think of John McCain as a war mongerer with no economic sense, but this flippant clip from Brave New Films does give one food for thought. Plus, I get a chuckle whenever I see George C. Scott in "Dr. Strangelove."

The Clusterf--kers: John Edwards

The cluster is shrinking.

John Edwards became the voice of civility in a Democratic campaign dominated by two bickering children. There is of course no place for civility in modern American life, much less the bloodsport (as Hunter Thompson called it) of politics. Edwards was perhaps a little too laid back in his campaign style and now, not having won a single primary, he is dropping out of the race.

I'm sorry to see him go. I don't know that I would have voted for him but he certainly looked like the only adult onstage last week at the Democratic debate in South Carolina. (After viewing that debate, with it's juvenile, petty bickering, I thought a lot less of Obama, and I liked Obama a lot. I never thought much of Sen. Clinton.) Presidential races, all political races really, need more voices, more differing opinions, more candidates, not fewer.

The Clusterf--kers: Rudy, We Hardly Knew Ye

America's Mayor and favorite cross-dresser is dropping out of the race for president. Rudy, we hardly knew ye. Oh, wait, the American voter got to know ye, and decided they didn't like ye.

It was an oddly incompetent campaign strategy to focus on one state while ignoring the initial primaries. I didn't think Giuliani was that stupid. But he was.

John McCain, very possibly the next president of the United States, was very gracious towards Giuliani in his speech last night after winning the Florida primary. That's probably because he wants Giuliani's endorsement, but what he was really thinking was, "Rudy, don't let the doorknob hit your ass on the way out."

I'm not watching

I'm not watching the State of the Union address. It's on right now.

I'm not watching it.

I have watched these addresses since I was a child in the '70s. A strange child indeed. A strange decade.

Maybe I was propped up by my parents in front of the TV to watch Hound Dogface Johnson. I don't know. I don't remember. I do remember sitting through Nixon with the beady-eyed criminal Agnew sitting behind him. Ford. Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan and the consummate Irish politician looking Tip O'Neil in resplendent residence over Reagan's left shoulder. George H. W. Then the good years (the '90s were good to me, for the most part) with Clinton and Gore and Gingrich, he of the big, inflated head, inflated with, with...not quite evil, although I've called him evil before, and maybe I was right. Malice. A giant head filled with malice for his fellow man, and DISrespect for Americans, for America, he brought incivility to the fore, where it remains today. Malice and disrespect.

But this guy. The Guy America Voted For. TWICE. He's your fault, America. Mine, too. Perhaps I could have done something more to make sure it wasn't HIM.

He's your fault too, non-voting American. You didn't vote at all. You never vote. You know who you are. Non-voter. "It doesn't matter." Tell the 4,000+ families of dead US soldiers that it didn't matter that you didn't vote. Fuck You, Non-Voter. You know who you are.

I have a visceral hatred for this president.

I cannot stand the sight of him.

We thought he was stupid at first. It was a con. He smart like a fox sent by the Devil.

He had a bug up his ass about Iraq from the get-go. He was just waiting for the right time. A diversion. Towers crumbling. Cheney the Coward, deferred himself out of going to Viet Nam but he doesn't mind sending others to DIE now, that's what makes him a COWARD. Coward knew what to do. Lie to people.

And W giving him POWER, power beyond power we ever even dream of, W gave him that POWER, and that's just one of the many reasons I hate him

They lied. They stuck with the LIE.

They lied. People died. And die...

Just tell the truth W, you wanna get rid of a bad guy, dictator wants to destroy America, "tried to kill my daddy". You couldn't figure out a way to get America on board for that, so you and yours MIX UP, in the shallow, shopping mind of America, IRAQ and the TOWERS, the crumbling, burning towers.

You should be ashamed. Osama bin Laden is free. He brought down the towers. Instead of chasing the murderer, you gave us Gulf War, Part II, a sequel that will last years.

SHAME on you. YOU'RE DESTROYING AMERICA, the LAND of the FORMERLY FREE. But you're not a dictator, cuz real dictators have things like a coup d etat. Overthrow. No votes necessary.

We voted you in. Willingly.

Shame on you. I hate you.

Shame on us.

Film: "Good Night and Good Luck": The Past, Again

We finally rented "Good Night and Good Luck." This is through and through a George Clooney (cue female voice: "oooh, he's dreamy!") project, and God bless him for it. In addition to playing TV news producer Fred Friendly, Clooney co-wrote the film with Grant Heslov and directed it. Based on the movie's contents and the parallels of said contents to today's America, every American should see this film and start a conversation and about what is right and what is really wrong.

Let's get a few things out of the way first. The cast is excellent, with David Strathairn as Ed Murrow and Frank Langella perfect as CBS chairman William Paley. There is also the lovely Patricia Clarkson, the underrated Robert Downey, Jr (drug addiction and prison time will steal attention away from your acting abilities), and Jeff Daniels. Additionally, singer Dianne Reeves is seen performing a beautiful jazz standard score that very nicely accompanies the black and white photography.

And now the facts as we know them: "Good Night and Good Luck" is based on the battle in the 1950s between CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and the junior U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. Actual footage of McCarthy and his henchman Roy Cohn (and I used that term in the nicest way possible) are used at length throughout the film, and to good effect. Agree or disagree with McCarthy and his methods (and there is a current attempt amongst some conservatives to resurrect McCarthy's image) there is no denying these are the words and actions of the real Tailgunner Joe.

The film gives us McCarthy and his Red-baiting tactics, accusing people of being fellow travelers when maybe they had done nothing more than attend a union meeting in the 1930s. Many of McCarthy's accusations, such as his claim of there being outright Communists and a spy ring in the State Department and commie infiltration of the U.S. Army were unsubstantiated. While the charges may not have stuck, the taint on people's lives and careers did.

We are also told the story of a young man who stood up to the system in a small way, a way that began the turning of the tide against McCarthy. Milo Radulovich was dismissed from the Air Force after a hearing where evidence was presented in a sealed envelope only to the panel of judges, never to Radulovich nor his counsel. It was commonly believed that the basis for dismissal was that Radulovich's father, a Yugoslav immigrant who kept up on the news of the old country by reading a paper with alleged Red ties, and sister, were Communist sympathizers.

Murrow, on his "See It Now" program, ran a story about Radulovich, pretty openly questioning how anybody could be given a fair trial without being told what exactly they were on trial for (is anyone catching on to the modern day Bush administration parallels yet?). Murrow also did a very controversial show about McCarthy and his tactics.

Ultimately, Radulovich is reinstated into the Air Force, and McCarthy is censured by the Senate, but not impeached and removed.

Clooney says in a DVD extra that he wants this film to be a conversation starter. "Good Night and Good Luck" is certainly that. It is an instigator. Or at least it should be. I don't know that many people have actually seen the film. But it certainly brings up topics that should be discussed in the United States.

"Good Night and Good Luck" does a good job of simply presenting the main characters of this national drama, Murrow and McCarthy, by giving an honest recounting of what they said and did without really veering off into editorializing, as admittedly Murrow did on his programs about McCarthy.

Secret trials should be discussed in our society on a daily basis. Fear mongering and it's consequences should be discussed. The idea of dissent being disloyalty should be discussed. These were issues of great importance in the very conservative 1950s and that past has come around again, because we have let it.

While he made a famous name for himself, Joe McCarthy was not only one to incite fear in the name of patriotism. No one man could do that alone. He was part of a bigger system, a system that still exists today, one that finds profit and success in the dark shadows of secrecy and the attempt to remove freedoms from the Land of the Free. Left to their own devices, these shadow warriors would have US be no more free than our purported enemies.

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."
- Edward R. Murrow

The Barber

My barber is retiring. I have been going to Craig's Barber Shop in Wheeling, IL for I don't know how long. He was an old-fashioned barber, especially in the sense that his shop was a male enclave. It's not that women weren't allowed (at least I don't think they weren't), it's just that women didn't make up any of the customer base.

A haircut from a barber is a throw-back to a different time. The hair was cut, the neck was shaved and the after-shave lotion, which smelled so uniquely "barberish" and which my wife loved, was applied, and all the while, intelligent (at least on Craig's part) banter was engaged in. In an increasingly politically correct world, where the quality of "male-ness" isn't necessarily treasured, one could go for a haircut, feel a connection to one's manly roots, and not feel bad about it. Even someone like myself, no great user of tools or mover of mountains, could go there and feel that connection.

The haircuts, and the connection, will be missed.

For those who like to read, here's an article from the Daily Herald about Craig. For those who like to view, here is a video, also from the Daily Herald.

The Clusterf--kers: Fred's Dead and Dennis is no longer a menace

Fred Thompson dropped out of a race he was never really in in the first place. The line on Thompson when he was a senator from Tennessee was that he was lazy. Judging from the lackadaisical (that's a $10 word, thank you very much) way he "campaigned" for president, that line was probably true. The hound-dog faced Thompson would spend ten, fifteen minutes tops at campaign stops and would never take questions. Perhaps his campaigning was interfering with his nap times or something. Whatever, this was a man with no great urge to be president.

Dennis Kucinich also dropped out of the presidential race. Realizing he was never going to get more than a handful of votes, he decided to focus on his congressional race back in Ohio, another race he may not win. Too bad. How many other candidates out there claimed to have seen UFOs or are married to an Amazon?

Dynasty: Two Georges, a Billary and the Alleged Need for Change

I have assumed for a while now that when it came time to vote, Americans would go for the pretty boys. John Edwards and Mitt Romney both have lovely heads of hair, look good and smile just so for the camera. (During last Monday's Democratic debate, I likened Edwards' smile to the Cheshire Cat, a lot of teeth with ever fading substance behind it, but my wife pointed that none of the candidates have a lot of substance.)

But America, you're surprising me. Edwards has been coming in third place in Democratic primaries, behind the first woman with a viable chance to be elected president and the first black with a viable chance. The Republicans seem to be leaning towards the maverick of their party, John McCain.

What's really surprising though is that, despite what the media says about the American public's desire for "change," Americans seem to be continuing a trend that has been ongoing since 1980. Every presidential election since then has seen someone named Bush or Clinton, Yale graduates all, running as a candidate for either the presidency or the vice-presidency. Even backing the independent thinking McCain, someone who has been around for quite a while and first ran for president in 2000, shows a lack of desire to break with the past.

What America needs is a rupture of our bondage to a continually shrinking pool of presidential candidates who all seem to share more or less the seem views, a pool we seem to insist on shrinking ourselves with our lack of interest in supporting people with ideas outside the mainstream. Barack Obama is an old school politician in a lot of ways, with ties to nefarious characters like the indicted Antoin Rezko, but at least, being younger than any other candidate, he may bring a slightly different perspective than someone like Hilary Clinton. America would do best to think Obama if they really want change, or think Ron Paul, or...just...think...

On a related topic, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, writes of the tag-teaming of Obama by Billary.

Also in the New York Times, Gary Wills has a strong article about the dangers of a plural presidency.

None of the Above

I just finished watching the Democratic presidential debate on CNN and it struck me how uncivil and disrespectful the candidates were with one another. If this is how disrespectful peers (Senators Clinton, Obama and Edwards debated; Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel were not invited apparently) are to each other, how can we expect them to treat the American public if one of them were to become president?

Sports: New York Giants 23, Green Bay Packers 20

There is no stopping the New England Patriots now.

The only think more surprising than the Packers stinking it up tonight was the fact that, with temperatures below zero, there were no male Packers fans in the stands with their bare chests painted Packer colors. The surprise was that there were three young ladies with Packer golden yellow bikini tops cheering on their team. They were the only thing worth looking at in Green Bay tonight. The ladies looked as if they'd been working on their abs. You go, girls!

Sports: Predictable

While the San Diego Chargers made it look like a game here and there, especially in the first half, the dull, predictable and unfortunate outcome was arrived at when the Patriots won 21-12 after maintaining possession for a good chunk of the fourth quarter.

Memo to the NFL: perfection is awfully dull.

Memo to Brett Favre: a lonely nation turns its eyes to you. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson, Brett Favre has not left and may never go away? Thank goodness for that. It's all about the Packers now, they being the only thing that may be able to stop the juggernaut of New England dullards (once they defeat the Giants, of course), a joyless pack of Patriots who make football look about as exciting as a science textbook.

Film: Hold your balls...jokes

Ok, so we rented "Balls of Fury." What of it? The commercials made the film look like a dumb comedy that would give me a chuckle or two, and that's what it was. A dumb (really dumb) comedy that give me a chuckle or two.

It was written and directed by...ah, who cares about that with a movie like this. Anyway, "Balls of Fury" is about...ah, who cares about that either, with a movie like this. It's got something to do with illegal, underground ping-pong matches, the FBI, revenging the death of someones father or something like that. Whatever. There's a lot of dumb jokes about small balls and the like, some things explode, some people get poison darts in the neck, and in the end, the good guys win. Occasionally there's something to laugh at. If you have the opportunity to view this movie for free, it's worth it.

The movie is watchable because of the cast. George Lopez looks a little embarrassed to be seen in this thing, but I think he actually might make a good movie actor. I also have to give him a shout out for wearing a Thin Lizzy t-shirt in one scene, although I have no idea why he's wearing it. Christopher Walken has his moments as the villainous Feng, operator of the aforementioned ping-pong death matches. Diedrach Bader, he of the "Drew Carey Show", has a small role for some reason. James Hong is good as the blind ping-pong master, and his daughter is played by Maggie Q. You may have seen her in "Live Free or Die Hard." Maggie Q is...delicious looking. Nuff said.

Be forewarned: the hero ping-ponger who must save the day, Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler), is a BIG Def Leppard fan, and there is Leppard music in this film. If hearing something from "Pyromania," or whatever the hell else they did, will give you some kind of psychotic '80s flashback reaction, don't see this flick.

"Balls of Fury" is a dumb comedy, but I have seen other dumb comedies that didn't make me laugh as often. Voices rating: 4.

Sports: The Picks

This Sunday is the big deal for football fans. Conference championship playoff games are generally better games than the Super Bowl, a game that almost always seems to be a letdown, except for the occasionally great commercial. How odd that so many people who wouldn't normally sit through an entire NFL game will sit through the Super Bowl just to catch the commercials.

But anyway, my picks:

Like it or not, the New England Patriots will be heading to the Super Bowl by stepping over the injured bodies of the San Diego Chargers. LaDanian Tomlinson will most likely not be at full strength, nor will QB Phillip Rivers, and even if he is 100% he may get distracted from the game itself by getting into verbal sparring matches with the New England fans.

My feeling is that at this point there is only one team that can defeat the Patriots, one team that is on some sort of divine football mission to win the Big Game, and that one team is the Green Bay Packers.

When the New York Giants travel to the godforsaken tundra that will be Lambeau Field this Sunday, when they enter a place that is truly in the hinterlands of professional sports, they will meet a team that is not only rarin' to go but that is having fun on every snap of the ball. Aside from having talent, never ever discount unbridled enthusiasm. These guys have it, none more so than their Fearless Leader, Brett Favre. (I wish John Madden were doing this game; he just gushes over Favre so.) The New Yorkers only scored 21 against Dallas last weekend; that will not be enough to beat the Packers this Sunday. Favre and his supporting cast will slay the Giants, and the Manning brothers can both stay home and watch the Super Bowl on TV.

Sloppy Blogging

I would be remiss in my duties as a Blogger if I did not admit to forgetfulness on two recent occasions.

Let's begin with my round-up of the Cd's I bought in 2007. I completely forgot about the one and only Ian Hunter, he of Mott the Hoople fame. His solo CD Shrunken Heads was one of my favorites from last year. He's cantankerous in his old age (he calls his back-up musicians the Rant Band), commenting on the world about him and how things ain't wot they once wuz. I especially like the song "I Am What I Hated When I Was Young." The rebels of yesterday are apparently slightly put off by the youth of today. I can sympathize, brother. (Hunter is currently touring Great Britain and will appear in Dartford at a venue named the Mick Jagger Centre. How does Jagger rate a centre with his name on it? And why don't the English know how to spell "center"? They invented the language, they just don't know how to use it.)

As for my post on dead and dying presidential candidates, I forgot a Republican, who, while he's still running, can surely be considered amongst the dead: Alan Keyes, the carpetbagger from Maryland who invaded my fair state of Illinois in 2004 to run for the U.S. senate, only to be soundly defeated by someone named Barack Obama.

Keyes got what he deserved then, and he's getting what he deserves now, which is nothing. No press coverage, no media buzz whatsoever. His candidacies have been nothing more than ego driven exercises in vanity. Go back to Maryland, Al, have some crab cakes and save your voice. No one's listening.

Sports: Two out of Four

The Dallas Cowboys can't blame Jessica Simpson for their loss to the New York Giants; I don't think Simpson was even allowed in the state of Texas this weekend. It's all on the Cowboys. Their offense just couldn't quite get it done in the second half. Mr. Big Mouth, Terrell Owens, had a biz fat ZERO catches in the second half. And who'd have thought the lesser Manning would be advancing to the playoffs, while the Older Brother goes home to mope about the fact that he may not be as elite a quarterback as he's cracked up to be.

Doesn't much matter. I don't think either the Cowboys or the Giants are capable of beating the Super Bowl questing Green Bay Packers. I do think, though, the odds are better for the Packers winning with the Giants traveling to Cheddarland next weekend, rather than Brett & Co flying south to play the Cowboys, which would have been the case had Tony Romo been able to throw a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Giants will have a tough time of it in the Northland next, what with the weather forecast calling for PAIN. Actually, it's callling for high temperatures in the teens, which really could be quite painful if you have to be outside for long. Of course, for Northern Wisconsinites, those are summer temperatures; I'm thinking there will be a fair amount of people (specifically, men people) at Lambeau Field with their bare chests painted green and gold. Happy frostbite!

P.S. I forgot to give a shout out to Tony Siragusa, the Fox Sports side line "reporter" at the Packers-Seahawks game yesterday. He does a great job being light hearted, such as when he took a ride in a snow plow clearing the field, while being informative in the way that an ex-player can be as well. I think he's another John Madden in the making.

Sports: Good Thing I'm Not Gambling

Yeah, good thing I'm not putting any money down on my picks because my picks are stinking it up so far, except for the Cheeseheads.

Peyton Manning couldn't get the job done and goes back to being a bridesmaid. The Indianapolis Colts had a defense that didn't hold up against a San Diego offense that was without star LaDanian Tomlinson for most of the game and quarterback Philip Rivers for much of the second half. (Rivers was jawing quite a bit with the Indy crowd, especially at the end of the game. Childish, yet fun to see someone exhibit a little life in an NFL game; that's the great thing about Favre. He's just happy to be on a football field. He was so happy yesterday, he was throwing snowballs at his team mates.)

These Colts, with a weak defense and oddly sputtering offense, were not going to beat the Patriots if they went to New England next week, and now they're not.

Quite frankly, though, I don't think the Chargers will be any match for Pretty Boy Tom and His Football Automatons. I'm thinking now the Super Bowl will be a match-up of Old School Smash Mouth Gold and Green From Up North and New School Blinded Me With Science Nor'easters.

You know Favre wants to ride off into a Mississippi sunset with a Super Bowl victory as his final game.

Here's to doin' it Old School, baby.

Sports: 1 out of 2 ain't bad

I'm batting .500 in terms of my playoff picks. (MIXED METAPHOR ALERT!) (Is it really a mixed metaphor, just because I'm making a baseball reference while writing about football?) (I think so. I'm not really sure.) (I'm not sure either. We should look into this.) (Ok. Do you want to get a beer or something.) (Sure.)

Sports: 1-for-1, Baby!

Hey, Mike Holmgren, how does it feel to be back in Green Bay? Oh, not so good, eh, especially after the Packers just dominated your Seahawks in a big way, 42-20. And you look a little cold. You're face was pretty red at the end of the game. Or was that embarrassment? And couldn't someone brush the snow off your noggin at some point? Oh. No one wanted to go near you as things looked progressively worse. Gotcha.

The Packers played like a team that WANTS TO GO TO THE SUPER BOWL! And I think they just might. They will take on all comers and win one for the Gipper. Well, actually, they'll win it for Brett.

And Brett, by the way, while he has only one Super Bowl victory to his name, is quite possibly the best quarterback I have ever seen and his enthusiasm to play the game should be a model to all who want to, or do, play professionally. His underhand, softball-like toss while escaping defenders in today's game shows just how agile and smart this guy is, and how well he plays for a man old enough to draw Social Security. I keed...

This was a great game today, the way a football game should look, with snow coming down, covering the field, the players, the coaches. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Sport: My Playoff Picks

It's Saturday morning, playoff weekend, and here are my picks.

In Saturdays games I'm going with the Green Bay Packers over the Seattle Seahawks. Brett Favre wants to get to the Super Bowl, and have another Super Bowl victory, once more before he is forced to retire due to advanced age. He's what, 64- or 65-years-old now? I keed...and in a giant upset in the biggest game this weekend, I'm taking the surging Jacksonville Jaguars (or are they the Panthers? I get those Southern cat teams confused) over the New England Patriots.

On Sunday the Indianapolis Colts will figure out some way to beat, barely, the San Diego Chargers. The lesser Manning and his New York Giants will beat an increasingly befuddled Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys; after the game, Terrell Owens will get into a fist fight with Romo after referring to Jessica Simpson as a "ho" and TO will again be in disfavor with his quarterback. What team is your next stop, TO?

The Clusterf%&#kers: The Dead and Dying

What made these guys, and they are all guys, the ones who are dead, do it? What made them think the stars were aligned for them now, that they could put together the organization that would be capable of putting them over the top, above all the other contenders, all the others with the same sense of faith and the same sense of fate? What made them think that they could be President of the United States?

At least when W. ran, we understood why. To the manor born, whenever I see this spoiled man-child I think to myself that he surely feels entitled to be Prez. It's the look on his face. Smug. Arrogant. Not confident, that's what we want in a president. Confidence. W. is arrogant. And arrogance is ignorance. But I veer off on a tangent...

Who's out? Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson amongst the Democrats. Dodd, maybe with his father being a senator he felt a certain sense of entitlement, but I didn't really get that feeling from him. I didn't get any kind of feeling from him and perhaps that was his problem. No one else got any feelings either. So he's out. Biden. I don't know. Maybe he really felt he had what it takes. Bill Richardson? Intelligent, well rounded background as governor, congressman, Energy Secretary, Ambassador to the UN. Who needs those kind of credentials? Not us. We like feelings here in America. Apparently we didn't feel Richardson was presidential. Possibly didn't feel that presidential way because he's overweight. Who was the last overweight president? William Howard Taft? Harding was a little chunky (dropped from a heart attack in office no less) and Hoover was possibly pudgy, but really those were the last of the fat equals successful man presidents.

Dennis Kucinich. Still in, but why? To add a little levity to the proceedings. That's all a man like him can do, a man who talks about UFOs during debates, a wee man married to a hot Amazon who's twice his height and less than half his age. Goodbye Dennis, thanks for the laughs.

Sam Brownback was the first of the Republicans to go. He threw his support behind another candidate, I think, but who cares really? Why did he run? Gall? Desire for power? Desire, the kind of desire only a politician from Kansas can have, a desire for the kind of power you are never gonna wield in a place like Kansas, all flat and full of cattle and barbeque joints and salt of the earth, salt of the earth people who just want to be left alone to do their jobs, tend to their ranch or whatever the heck job they tend to, tend to their own business. Go back to Kansas, Sam.

Tom Tancredo. Really didn't like illegal immigrants. At least I think that's what he was all about. Bland looking politicians from Colorado don't go anywhere in presidential races. At least Gary Hart was interesting. Affairs and newspaper photos of women sitting on your lap whilst on a sail boat (very Kennedy-like, Gary) are always interesting. In 2007, the Rockies went to the World Series. Colorado wasn't going to get a real presidential candidate too.

Fred Thompson is still in it, but for someone who's in it, he sure looks out of it. Note: the last bald man we elected president was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. It's been a long, long time and it ain't gonna happen now, not in our superficial land, not with Thompson's sad hound dog looks. Why does he look so sad? He's got an attractive, much younger wife. Oh, yeah, the kids. Rugrats are a lot of work, especially when you're in your sixties. Let's face it, Thompson doesn't really want to be president. Someone suggested it to him, it sounded like a good idea, the whole actor turned politician thing worked for Reagan, why not Fred. Because Reagan was always a political beast, from being SAG president to running around making speeches for GE to being governor to being a presidential candidate. Thompson, despite having been a senator, was never really a political beast, never will be.

Duncan Hunter is still in it, too. I don't know why. I don't think he does either. America is not going to vote for a man with a vague resemblance to Dan Rather. Too creepy, zombie-like, that Dan. Bad association to make in the minds of America.

Why? Why do they do it? What makes them run?

My Favorite Redhead

I'm just a few days past the New Hampshire primary but I thought I'd share these observations on Hilary Clinton from my favorite redhead.

Can Hillary Cry Her Way Back to the White House? by Maureen Down of the New York Times.

Family Feud

I'm thinking a Manning (Peyton, Indianapolis Colts) vs. Manning (Eli, New York Giants) Super Bowl would be fun.

P.S. Where did Archie Manning come up with the names Peyton and Eli for his sons? I suppose either name is better than Dweezil.

Corrosive Conformity

Perhaps the soon-to-end Bush years will also bring an end to the age of conformity that grips our nation. The beginning of the 21st century was much like the 1950s in America: a majority of the people conforming to a certain mindset. In the '50s it was fear of the Soviet Union, in the oh-ohs it is a fear of terrorism. Granted, there may have been something to fear from our enemies, but there is something to fear in what we are willing to give up in order to defeat our enemies.

There is modern day conformity in our ever present need to shop, our need to spend what we don't have. No longer just a consumer nation, we are a debtor nation. If we don't shop, the terrorists win. If we're not in hock, the terrorists win?

There is modern day conformity in the lack of individualism and the lack of individuals. America was once a country of united individuals. Now we are united conformists, even we think we are rebels and street-wise gangstas. These hip-hop "artists" are conforming: they want what most in society want today. They lust for money, sex, brain numbing booze and drugs and the promise of not having to think for themselves.

The individual Americans are dying. Hunter Thompson, Tom Snyder, three-quarters of the Ramones, etc, etc. Think what you will of them. Talent? Sometimes questionable. Flaws? Many. Individuals in a uniquely American way? Yup.

Conformity of the '50s brought rebellion in the '60s. Do we still have it in us?

The Pretzel Logic of Paper Plates

When I was a kid, way back yonder in the 1970s, I would come home from school, sometimes bringing one of my friends with me and, in addition to eating hot dogs my mother made for us and watching reruns of "Batman," we would draw pictures. Usually of Batman. And we would draw them on paper plates.

I don't know why we used paper plates. Maybe we didn't have any drawing paper, that's a good guess. Maybe we did, and we just preferred the feel of a paper plate underneath our pencils. Like I said, I don't know why we used paper plates, but we did and it was fun.

Occasionally I grow nostalgic for a time in life when I was free enough of spirit to be able to use paper plates as an artistic tool. We used what was available, had no pressure to be perfect or to show off anything to anyone, and we were simply creative in a simple way. Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago, oh yeah.

Music: 2007 in review (sort of)

I get the impression I don't buy much new music, because I just dug through my CD collection and I only found four Cd's that actually came out in 2007.

I like Michael Buble. He is not Barry Manilow. He is actually a very talented, wonderful singer (Buble, not Manilow) in the tradition of the great American crooners like Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. Buble has a great voice and great taste in music. On his new CD "Call Me Irresponsible," Buble does write some original work, like the hits "Lost" and "Everything," but he also covers songs by Leonard Cohen ("I'm Your Man") and Johnny Mercer ("Dream"). His version of "Always on My Mind" is hauntingly, movingly beautiful. This is an excellent CD and if you ever get a chance to see Buble live, it is worth every penny. He is a performer, an entertainer. He is an extraordinary talent. And he's quite a ham bone as well, with a goofy sense of humor.

"Revival" by John Fogerty is just that, a revival of sorts. His last CD, "Deja Vu All Over Again," wasn't bad, but didn't seem to have enough life to it. "Revival" has plenty of life, including a couple of songs that flip the bird at our current president, "Long Dark Night" and "I Can't Take It No More." The man who gave us "Fortunate Son" is still angry about politicians who are more than willing to send the children of others off to die in a war that shouldn't have been, while they and theirs stay safely at home. There's love songs, and Credence songs (he pokes a little fun at his history on "Creedence Song") and wistful ballads and upbeat rockers. This CD has a lot going for it.

For some reason, "Magic" is the first Bruce Springsteen album I've ever bought, and I bought this one mostly because I couldn't get the song "Radio Nowhere" out of my head. It's not that I've disliked Springsteen, it's just that I've never seen fit to spend money on him. His songs were always on the radio in the '70s and '80s, so I guess I didn't feel that overwhelming need to possess a Springsteen album.

Whatever, I've got this one and it's seems, happily, to be a throwback to his prime in those other decades. There's some trademark sounds, like the Clarence Clemons sax break on "Livin' In the Future" and overall, Springsteen sounds more inspired than he has in years. His songwriting is top-notch, as the band sounds in rare form as well; I actually felt like it was a hazy summer day when I heard "Girls In Their Summer Clothes."

The one CD I can't stop playing though, perhaps because it's a little outside my norm, is "Dwight Sings Buck, " a tribute to Buck Owens and his Bakersfield country sound by Dwight Yoakum. Owens was a big influence on Yoakum, a man with a traditional country sound you just don't hear anymore, and he was an influence on a lot of the rockers of the '60s, including the aforementioned John Fogerty and a group of lads you may have heard of called the Beatles. Ringo sang lead on their cover of the Owens hit "Act Naturally," which appears on this CD. Every last song here is a gem; the more I listen to them, the more I like them. "Close Up the Honky Tonks" is a masterpiece and "Think of Me" has a great guitar riff and a melody that won't leave you. For my money, this is the best CD of 2007.

I should also note that 2007 is the year I discovered iTunes and downloading. Me browsing on iTunes is like a kid in a candy store. It is a wonderful invention. Aside from buying a few songs by classic artists like Johnny Winter and Led Zeppelin, I have bought three songs new to the year 2007. "You're the World to Me" by David Gray is an upbeat, wonderful tune. "Waiting on the World to Change" is the first song I've ever liked by John Mayer. I look forward to hearing from him in the future. And last but least, I purchased "Open" by Sammy Hagar. Yes, Sammy Hagar. It really is a great song, other than the fact it makes me want to do bong hits when I hear it.

Film: New Year's Eve

The tradition in this household is not to go out on New Year's Eve, strap on a party hat and binge drink, but to rent videos and usher in the new year in the safety of our own home. This year we rented four DVDs, two of which we actually watched on New Year's Eve, the other two on the following nights.

Two of the videos were compromise selections. I would sit through something my wife really wanted to see but in exchange she would have to sit through a pick of mine that she wouldn't necessarily consent to watching."

We'll do my wife's choice first and get to mine later on. Her pick was "Hairspray." This movie is an abomination. Well, specifically, John Travolta in a fat suit, dressed as a woman, is an abomination. It was not pretty to watch. Even Christopher Walken, who plays Travolta's husband, and is one strange ranger in his own right, looked creeped out by Travolta in drag. Set in the early '60s, some of the musical numbers aren't bad, and Queen Latifah acquits herself ably, but there really was no reason for this movie to be made. My only hope is that John Waters made some retirement money by selling his product to the producers. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being a really great film that moves me and makes me think, looks good and has great acting, writing and directing, and 1 being anything with Steven Seagal, "Hairspray" is a 3.

Next up is "Evan Almighty." It's a cute film with Steve Carell as the Noah stand-in, a lot of cute animals, and Morgan Freeman as the big G. You can't beat that. I got a few chuckles out of this movie; it's a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. Let's give this video a 6.

(My ratings need some sort of name, don't they? How about calling them the Voices ratings? "The Voices in my Head say let's give 'Darjeeling Limited' an 8!" That works for me. Can't do the thumbs up/thumbs down thing; aside from being too lazy to find a thumb icon to put in the text of these reviews, the thumb rating is apparently "owned" by a guy 30 years past his prime. Like he invented giving something a thumbs up or down. Seems to me the Romans did that about two thousand years ago. But I digress.)

And now..."Live Free or Die Hard." Yeah! YEAH! F*&k YEAH! Whoo-hoooo!. This one gets your blood pumping, the adrenaline flowing. This movie is non-stop action from the get go and Bruce Willis is always watchable as the John McClaine character. And it's got that young dude from the Mac commercials, Justin Long. He plays a computer hacker. Will this typecast him a computer geek? Who f*&king cares, really? He's good in this movie, he's good in the Mac commercials, and he was good in one of my favorite comedies, "Dodgeball."

The thing with "Live Free or Die Hard," is that you really have to suspend disbelief quite a bit throughout the movie, and I have trouble doing that in general. The first hour was a little rough for me (the film's a little over two hours), but once I settled in I was thoroughly entertained. I was even engrossed. Most importantly though, things blowed up real good! Voices rating: 6.5.

I was also thoroughly entertained by another movie, the choice my wife compromised over to get me to watch "Hairspray," and that was the British film "Hot Fuzz." What the haitch-eee-double-hockey-sticks is "Hot Fuzz" you ask? Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is a film where things explode, there is hyper-violence, and there is dark comedy. You get those three elements in a movie, throw in English accents and I am there, my friend, I am there.

"Hot Fuzz" was made by the same gents what made the zombie love story "Shaun of the Dead," a film that is now on my must see list. In this film, Simon Pegg plays a London cop named Nicholas Angel, a cop so good he makes the rest of the department look bad, so he's transferred to a small, quiet country town. Upon his arrival, "accidents", bloody, horrifying "accidents" occur, and when Angel starts to investigate them, things take a turn for the weird. Really weird. "Hot Fuzz" is funny, well written and acted, and seems to affectionately poke fun at American action movies. This is a must see. Voices rating: 8.5.

And now for a bit of useless trivia. One of the extra features on the "Hot Fuzz" DVD follows the film makers on a promotional tour around the United States. One of the screenings is hosted by Kevin Smith, an actor, writer, director, etc in his own right. Smith also has a very small role as a character named Warlock in "Live Free or Die Hard". Uncle Walt was right: it's a small world after all.

Fleeing Thoughts to start the New Year

-If you listen to the beginning of "Off the Record" by My Morning Jacket, it is reminiscent of the "Hawaii Five-O" theme song.
-How come the singer in My Morning Jacket, a band from Kentucky of all places, sounds like he's from England?
-I am really glad the Iowa caucus is tomorrow. I can't stand to hear one more word about it.
-Why does Iowa get to vote first? What's so important about a state with nothing but a few dozen white people and a whole lot of corn? Make things fair, make every state have a primary on the same day. The current system stinks.
-Bill Clinton's favorite Iowa pick-up line: "You sure are pretty. Want to come back to my hotel room for a little private caucus?"
-Can you imagine what will happen if Hillary becomes president? The result will be Bill Clinton with a wife too busy to keep an eye on him and a lot of time on his hands. Hilarity ensues.
-I'm glad David Letterman is coming back tonight with new shows. Reruns were trying my patience.
-Letterman is a smart man; his production company made a separate deal with the writers guild and his show comes back with a full writing staff. Jay and Conan may be funny (occasionally) but I can't imagine either one handling a full hour every night without writers; plus they get to cross a picket line and try to entice guests to do the same.
-The New England Patriots now have a perfect season. Of course, those grumpy old Dolphins claim it won't mean as much if the Pats don't win the Super Bowl. Yeah, right. In their prime, the Dolphins couldn't handle these Patriots.
-Problem for the Pats now is a defense that gave up 35 points to the Giants, and allowed the lesser Manning to throw 4 touchdowns. Can they shore up the d in two weeks? We'll see.
-More and more the 2005 World Series victory by the Chicago White Sox looks like a fluke. Unless something drastic changes the Sox will lose at least 90 games in 2008, possibly 100.
-I think the New York Yankees will do well under Joe Girardi. Possibly even World Series kind of well.
-How about a Yankees-Dodgers match-up in the Series? Could happen.
-Who would have thought Van Halen would have made it this far through their reunion tour without breaking up again? Of course, the tour's not over yet.