I watched the CA portion of the Ronald Reagan funeral service and was struck with the cynical thought that it was all set up so well in order to enshrine him as the greatest president ever. That view of the hills, the sunset, wow, it was almost as though he just played his last role in a movie. Oh, and I hate Larry King, the man is a jackass. He asked, I think it was Ed Meese, if he was surprised that Nancy broke down at the end, when she accepted the flag and wept at the casket. Jeez, she was married to the guy for half a century of course she is going to break down. They were expecting his death for sometime now, and had nearly a week to prepare for this, so of course through most of it she and her family were able to maintain their composure. But at that last moment when saying goodbye it is only natural to be struck with the finality of it and break down. And of course her kids are going to comfort her. Are people in the media told to act in such a moronic way? The shit that comes out of their mouths when it isn't scripted is beyond belief at times.
Ron Reagan gave a few jabs to modern politicians, which I thought was cool. Not only did he lovingly praise his father, but he implied that his father didn't use his religious beliefs for political benefit. Which was funny because his brother Michael spoke before that with a lot of Jesus talk that I found to be almost phoney.
I always liked Ron Reagan, I remember how brilliant he was when he had his on Fox show, it was sort of like the Dennis Miller show with less jokes. Course his sister hasn't aged well, but I still remember her Playboy spread way back when. Not bad.
Poor little Michael Reagan. I feel bad for that guy. He just seemed so left out of things. I could have sworn the ass-kissing priest who couldn't get off his knees while talking to Nancy, only mentioned Patti and Ron and neglected to mention Michael. Maybe I misheard it. But then when the kids go to comfort Nancy, Michael is in the back and it looked like he was blocked out of there. Sad.
Oh but back to the ass-kissing priest, he reminded me of Ray Milland in his later years, and he seemed so un-godly with his overly sweet praise for Reagan. Though I like how he mentioned that his father in South Africa had a big picture of Reagan in his house. How appropriate, Reagan who stood fast and firm in the face of a political system based on socialist ideology would be seen as a hero in a country with a political system based on a racist ideology that he did nothing about. Talk about an 'evil empire' a nation based on racial segregation.
Ah but I digress. I have to hand it to Arnold he didn't walk up and touch the casket or anything cheesey. Though I could have sworn that he made of sign of the cross backwards, while Maria did it correctly.
Well now that Reagan is laid to rest so begins the task of every politician attaching themselves to his image or legacy.
Oh and on a side note, I plan for a huge funeral pyre on a hill or a Viking funeral when I pass into the next world. A fire so big and glorious it can be seen from orbit. Of course there would be a lot of pageantry and it would be televised.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Thursday, June 10, 2004
What a real downer. I had an awful day at work with lots of bullshit, then I decide to go for some drinks with some friends and proceeded to drink enough sangria to forget about the day, though I also forgot about my credit card bills and decided to pay for the evening. But what the hell yanno, my friends take care of me, it's nice to be able to take care of them. So then it's off to the bikini cafe for some iced coffee and iced tea and more fun. So anyway, on my introspective drive back home, I am thinking about all this other stuff and making plans in my head for the future and moving forward, etc.
But still feeling good. Then I go online and Ray Charles is dead. That is a sad thing. 73 years old and he made so much music as well as being a really cool music personality. That really sucks. I think the last time I was this moved by the loss of someone I didn't know, it was Vincent Price. And before that, I did actually tear up when I heard Jim Henson died. When Fred Rogers died, it was a loss but I hadn't really cared personally beyond just being sad that someone so good and pure of heart had left this world.
Anyway, such is life and while we may feel the loss of those who die, I can only mourn so much, as I know it is the way of things and ultimately they continue on the wheel of life to a new path. We have had a lot of people at work "lose" family members and I can never say anything beyond the usual, "you have my deepest sympathy." Because no one wants to hear "well the bright side is that they have moved on to a better place and you should actually be happy that they are gone." It just wouldn't go over so well with people. In my heart of hearts, I feel that way, but even I wouldn't want to hear it at first when I lose someone.
But here's to Ray Charles and may he be at peace in a better place/existence(or rather non-existence)
But still feeling good. Then I go online and Ray Charles is dead. That is a sad thing. 73 years old and he made so much music as well as being a really cool music personality. That really sucks. I think the last time I was this moved by the loss of someone I didn't know, it was Vincent Price. And before that, I did actually tear up when I heard Jim Henson died. When Fred Rogers died, it was a loss but I hadn't really cared personally beyond just being sad that someone so good and pure of heart had left this world.
Anyway, such is life and while we may feel the loss of those who die, I can only mourn so much, as I know it is the way of things and ultimately they continue on the wheel of life to a new path. We have had a lot of people at work "lose" family members and I can never say anything beyond the usual, "you have my deepest sympathy." Because no one wants to hear "well the bright side is that they have moved on to a better place and you should actually be happy that they are gone." It just wouldn't go over so well with people. In my heart of hearts, I feel that way, but even I wouldn't want to hear it at first when I lose someone.
But here's to Ray Charles and may he be at peace in a better place/existence(or rather non-existence)
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Nothing Lasts Forever...I was in Trader Joe's last Friday picking up some groceries, and I heard this lady at one of the registers tell her husband that Entropy was the Second Law of Thermodynamics and that all things decay. She had to be about 70+ years old, which led me to believe she was talking about herself. But it was interesting to hear anybody just casually mention it. Of course Entropy is more than just decay or change. But it is usually easier to just think of it in those terms.
Why can't people just be honest and let you know what's up? I think it is fear. And I always wonder what the fear is, or where it stems from. I try to think of that and keep it in mind so that I can deal with my fears and try to push through them. Not the fear of snakes but the social fears. Cuz I'll be damned if I deal with the fear of snakes thing. I think some of it is just pure genetic memory mixed in with seeing "SSSSSSS" at a very young age.
There are images in that movie that stick with me to this day. I was gifted with an excellent memory along with my other near-superhero senses, yet this also meant that images of a man turning into a snake are stuck in my head. Along with all sorts of other fun things that I probably shouldn't have seen at other times. That's how I remember all that stuff during the 80's and even a good deal of the 70's. Ah the heights I could have attained had my genius been harnessed in the proper direction. Of course anyone who knows me, knows just how introspective and over analytical I can be, so I am sure I would have gone even more insane than I am now. I would have an island somewhere and be some crazed mad genius bent on taking over the world and turning the worlds supply of drinking water into syrup.
BWWAAAAHAAAAAHAHAAAAA!
Why can't people just be honest and let you know what's up? I think it is fear. And I always wonder what the fear is, or where it stems from. I try to think of that and keep it in mind so that I can deal with my fears and try to push through them. Not the fear of snakes but the social fears. Cuz I'll be damned if I deal with the fear of snakes thing. I think some of it is just pure genetic memory mixed in with seeing "SSSSSSS" at a very young age.
There are images in that movie that stick with me to this day. I was gifted with an excellent memory along with my other near-superhero senses, yet this also meant that images of a man turning into a snake are stuck in my head. Along with all sorts of other fun things that I probably shouldn't have seen at other times. That's how I remember all that stuff during the 80's and even a good deal of the 70's. Ah the heights I could have attained had my genius been harnessed in the proper direction. Of course anyone who knows me, knows just how introspective and over analytical I can be, so I am sure I would have gone even more insane than I am now. I would have an island somewhere and be some crazed mad genius bent on taking over the world and turning the worlds supply of drinking water into syrup.
BWWAAAAHAAAAAHAHAAAAA!
Sunday, June 06, 2004
I did not want to say anything about the death of Ronald Reagan yesterday until I had time to think about it. For better or worse, if you liked him or not, there is no getting around the fact that he was very important in shaping American politics, international relations, domestic policy, and the way Americans view themselves. I never liked him. I never thought the man had much going on upstairs, I always felt that he was playing the part of a president as an actor would rather than being a president. Maybe the two are the same. Perhaps that is what has gone wrong with our recent president.
Reagan symbolized the 1980's for me. It really was his decade. Even today he has such an influence on politics. So many current politicians think they are Reagan Republicans, so many young Republicans claim Reagan as their favorite president and place him at the head of the Pantheon of American politicians.
I always saw his influence as similar to the Pied Piper of Hameln. He did bring back to America a sense of purpose, strength and self-respect that was missing after Vietnam, Nixon, Ford, Carter and an economy that was in deep trouble. He had a bit of the John Wayne cowboy American swagger that tends to turn off a lot of thinking individuals, especially our international allies. But that same sense of self is what many Americans love because of how we see it, but also because we know it scares the crap out of some countries, even if they are our allies.
I can't be one of the brainwashed nuts who reflect on how perfect the Reagan years were or how he single-handedly knocked down the Berlin Wall and won the Cold War. He continued policies and actions that Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy were all an important part of. After the Cuban Missle crisis there was a change in how we dealt with the Soviets, and it was more diplomatic. When Reagan came into office he returned us to a war footing that scared most people. It's no coincidence that most movies about Nuclear Apocalypse came out in the 1980's. "The Day After" influenced and demoralized a whole generation to a degree that I think has not been acknowledged. "War Games" showed us how tense things would be if we lost control of our power over nuclear weapons, but the Day After showed us what would happen (in a TV way) once those weapons were launched. And of course "The Road Warrior" showed us just how expensive Gazzoline could become.
Reagan rattled his sword with SDI or Star Wars as it was called, built up our military to a huge degree, and really played the game of Nuclear Brinkmanship like no one else before him ever had. The fall of the Soviet Union was an amazing thing to witness. When it comes down to it there are two reasons why that happened the way it did. I think the most important was Economic, the other was Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev loosed the iron grip the Soviets had on their satellite nations as well as his own people. But I don't think he could have done that or would have done that if it weren't for the economic failures of Communism and the arms race that Reagan started and ultimately won.
When it comes down to it,Reagan gave us a 3 Trillion Dollar debt to revive our economy and bankrupt the Soviets. Towards the end it wasnt't a race to see who could build more weapons, it was a race to see who would go bankrupt first, the US or the USSR. Luckily we had better credit cards to count on. Which we are still paying to this day. And with a continued budget deficit we will never be able to pay off that debt. Love Clinton or hate him, he was serious about balancing the budget and making sure that the national debt wouldn't haunt the next generations of Americans. Then Dubya comes along and decides to monkey around with it because he bought into the Reaganomics that his father once called "Voodoo Economics."
That was swallowed hook, line and sinker by Republicans everywhere. But under Reagan, America was strong abroad. And that boosted American self-confidence, which we can see Dubya continuing with over-confidence to our detriment.
I could go on and on about deregulation, the environment, crime, etc. Though I think the biggest crime the Reaganites are guilty of is lying about his Alzheimer's disease. They point out that he didn't develop it until 1993/1994. They even call it "a surprise to many." Well I was not the least bit surprised. Where the hell were these people during the 80's? He showed signs of it during his presidency. The jokes were there for years about how he was senile. His defenders think it would hurt his image to say that he had the disease during his presidency. But what they don't realize is that they hurt the disease and those with it, by denying that a person could be a pretty functional president for 8 years with the disease. We know FDR couldn't walk, Kennedy had major health problems, so come clean about Reagan.
It angers me that they would lie so blatanly and that so many people tend to buy it and the rest of the revisions of history associated with his presidency.
Reagan really did change America and again, right or wrong he was an important president who has been a tremendous influence in much the same way Kennedy inspired generations of Americans. It will be interesting to see how that continues to develop or change.
Reagan symbolized the 1980's for me. It really was his decade. Even today he has such an influence on politics. So many current politicians think they are Reagan Republicans, so many young Republicans claim Reagan as their favorite president and place him at the head of the Pantheon of American politicians.
I always saw his influence as similar to the Pied Piper of Hameln. He did bring back to America a sense of purpose, strength and self-respect that was missing after Vietnam, Nixon, Ford, Carter and an economy that was in deep trouble. He had a bit of the John Wayne cowboy American swagger that tends to turn off a lot of thinking individuals, especially our international allies. But that same sense of self is what many Americans love because of how we see it, but also because we know it scares the crap out of some countries, even if they are our allies.
I can't be one of the brainwashed nuts who reflect on how perfect the Reagan years were or how he single-handedly knocked down the Berlin Wall and won the Cold War. He continued policies and actions that Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy were all an important part of. After the Cuban Missle crisis there was a change in how we dealt with the Soviets, and it was more diplomatic. When Reagan came into office he returned us to a war footing that scared most people. It's no coincidence that most movies about Nuclear Apocalypse came out in the 1980's. "The Day After" influenced and demoralized a whole generation to a degree that I think has not been acknowledged. "War Games" showed us how tense things would be if we lost control of our power over nuclear weapons, but the Day After showed us what would happen (in a TV way) once those weapons were launched. And of course "The Road Warrior" showed us just how expensive Gazzoline could become.
Reagan rattled his sword with SDI or Star Wars as it was called, built up our military to a huge degree, and really played the game of Nuclear Brinkmanship like no one else before him ever had. The fall of the Soviet Union was an amazing thing to witness. When it comes down to it there are two reasons why that happened the way it did. I think the most important was Economic, the other was Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev loosed the iron grip the Soviets had on their satellite nations as well as his own people. But I don't think he could have done that or would have done that if it weren't for the economic failures of Communism and the arms race that Reagan started and ultimately won.
When it comes down to it,Reagan gave us a 3 Trillion Dollar debt to revive our economy and bankrupt the Soviets. Towards the end it wasnt't a race to see who could build more weapons, it was a race to see who would go bankrupt first, the US or the USSR. Luckily we had better credit cards to count on. Which we are still paying to this day. And with a continued budget deficit we will never be able to pay off that debt. Love Clinton or hate him, he was serious about balancing the budget and making sure that the national debt wouldn't haunt the next generations of Americans. Then Dubya comes along and decides to monkey around with it because he bought into the Reaganomics that his father once called "Voodoo Economics."
That was swallowed hook, line and sinker by Republicans everywhere. But under Reagan, America was strong abroad. And that boosted American self-confidence, which we can see Dubya continuing with over-confidence to our detriment.
I could go on and on about deregulation, the environment, crime, etc. Though I think the biggest crime the Reaganites are guilty of is lying about his Alzheimer's disease. They point out that he didn't develop it until 1993/1994. They even call it "a surprise to many." Well I was not the least bit surprised. Where the hell were these people during the 80's? He showed signs of it during his presidency. The jokes were there for years about how he was senile. His defenders think it would hurt his image to say that he had the disease during his presidency. But what they don't realize is that they hurt the disease and those with it, by denying that a person could be a pretty functional president for 8 years with the disease. We know FDR couldn't walk, Kennedy had major health problems, so come clean about Reagan.
It angers me that they would lie so blatanly and that so many people tend to buy it and the rest of the revisions of history associated with his presidency.
Reagan really did change America and again, right or wrong he was an important president who has been a tremendous influence in much the same way Kennedy inspired generations of Americans. It will be interesting to see how that continues to develop or change.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)