Idle Ramblings: 06/01/2003

Are you now or have you ever been...
Ann Coulter has finally lost it.

Movie Blues II
As an afterthought to the previous post, I'm holding the first ever contest on the Idle Ramblings Blog. It's the "Pick the Movie Joe and Rebecca Will Go See This Weekend" contest in which you, the ever expansive public, will select which movie we will go see. All you have to do is post a response suggesting which movie we should go see, taking into account what movies will be playing in the Tupelo area. The movie with the most responses will be the winner. You won't actually win anything, except the satisfaction of knowing that sometimes Saturday or Sunday afternoon we will be watching the movie you have chosen for us.

You'd better make it a good one, cause I know where most of you are and I can find you if the movie sucks.

Movie Blues
I feel as though I've been missing out on something this summer by having not gone to a single movie since the John Cusak thriller "Identity" came out some months ago. Beofre that, the last movie I travelled to the theater to see was "Star Trek:Disappointment." Maybe all those years of going to the movies has burned me out. Maybe I'm tired of sitting in a dark room with total strangers who seem completely intent on caughing at just the wrong time in the dialog. Maybe, I've just come to realize that usually I can wait three to six months and watch the same movie from the comfort of my own couch where the popcorn is much, much cheaper.

I remember my father taking about the last movie he went to the theater to see. It was "Gone With The Wind," when it was origonally released. Because of the slight time difference between his going to see "Gone With The Wind" and, say, my going to see "Blame It On Rio," (What! I was a tennage boy. Of course I was going to see it. All teenage boys are big Michael Caine fans.) there was a slight difference in the cost of going to a movie. I remember hearing plenty of times that when my father was young, 25¢ got you into the movies (a double feature) and bought you a Coke and popcorn.

I do remember when my older brother and I could go to the Valley Theater with a buck each and see a Godzilla movie and each get a Coke and box of popcorn. I also remember the time in high school when I asked my dad for some cash to head off to Oxford for the regular Saturday night movie. He handed me $2. I explained that, even in 1984 prices, $2 wouldn't quite pay the ticket price, much less provide much needed snakage to get through "Buckaroo Bonzai," and to knock out a game or two of Galaxian.

The last dinner (nice, sit down dinner) and a movie (not a matinee, soda, popcorn and no sneaked in candy) for two cost well over $50. That's any where from two to three new DVDs or as many as eight used DVDs if you can find a buy two, get two free sale going on somewhere. (The local video store is greatly expanding my collection.)

Maybe I'll come around. I'm bound and determined to go see a movie, any movie, this weekend. (Well, maybe not "Dumb and Dumberer" or that Americal Idol movie.) We'll see. I just know that if I do, it better not suck.

Of Sodomy and Secrecy
One of the things that really disturbs me about the political and legal atmosphere in our country today was spelled out in today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Texas sodomy. Justice Clarence Thomas once again spoke out on his belief that there is no right to privacy spelled out in the Constitution, therefore, it does not exist. Whaaa?

Thomas is one of the justices on the court who believes in strict interpretation of the Constituion. Justice Scalia stated recently when he spoke at the University of Mississippi Law School that he uses a dictionary from the 1800s in order to better determine the meaning of the words used in the Constitution at the time it was written.

I've read the Constitution on more than one occassion. In fact, I find myself going through it more and more these days, perhaps subconsciously thinking I need to memorize, lest we experience some type of Fahrenheit 451 scenario. I can can safely say that I, too, find no mention of a right to privacy. I don't find a right to breath in the Constitution either.

Maybe Thomas and Scalia haven't gotten to the Ninth Amendment in the Bill of Rights which speciffically addresses rights of the people not specifically spelled out int he Constitution. Now, I'm not a lawyer, though I play one on TV, but it seems to me this one sentence covers a whole lot of ground.

And if Thomas and Scalia want to think of it in terms of the actual circumstances and intent of the Founding Fathers, they probably got to the Ninth Amendment and someone, maybe Gunning Bedford of Delaware or perhaps Jared Ingersoll of Penslyvania said, 'Hey, paper is really expensive and hard to make, plus we're having to write all this down by hand with this stupid quill because the word processor won't be invented for another few hundred years, so make this one short and sweet. My hand's getting a cramp." (Although, from an historical standpoint, such a comment would probably be most likely from David Brearly of New Jersey.)

But, if Thomas is so sure there is no right to privacy, I'll be glad to come over to his house with a video camera and follow him around, recording his every action for broadcast to the world. Maybe I can go through his fridge and his underwear drawer (ugh) and maybe publish his diary on the Internet.

Sometimes, we can go too far with these unenumerated rights, but, over history, our legal system has worked to correct previous overreaches of the law as well as times when incorrect decisions were made by previous courts. Such was the case with this decision.

As for Scalia's comment that the Supreme Court had bee co-opted by the "so-called homosexual agenda, it's really kind of laughable. I don't know about you, but I don't see the members of today's Supreme Court having been brainwashed by Rosie O'Donnel into pushing a gay-friendly agenda from the bench. (Well, maybe Rehnquist, after all, he fancies himself quite the fashion designer, and is apparantly a fan of stage musicals. You know what that means!)

Basically, what it boils down to is that what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home, behind closed doors, and harming none, is their business. That is unless Thomas wants to follow the two Texas men who started the case around with a video camera for a few days. It could be another video for his collection. (Don't worry, David, that last link is workplace friendly.)

That's Still My Bush
Timothy Bottoms will be resurrect the role of "George W. Bush," but not in the forum where he made the name a household word - Trey Parker and Matt Stone's "That's My Bush." Instead, he will portray the "president" the the Showtime docudrama D.C. 9/11 . The cast also includes an impressive list of Trek alumni including Sisko's honey Penny Johnson Gerrald, aka the Evil ex-Mrs. Palmer on television's second best non-Trek, non-South Park show "24."

David sent me this one about a new Arkansas law designed to "protect minors." from "harmful" material as they're waiting in line at Wal-Mart. Interestingly enough, I've noticed those same magazine rack covers popping up around here, primarily in Wal-Marts, but in some other chain places as well.First we have Ashcorft covering statue titties with curtains, now we're not allowed to to see Sarah Michelle Gellar in a body-hugging outfit on the cover of Cosmo. But what they really need to do is crack down on those dirty magazines such as Good Housekeeping and Reader's Digest and smutty articles such as "30 Ways to Spice Up Things in the Bedroom." They aren't about spice, people. They're about the S-E-X!

Hooray for sodomy.

It's been slow going on the blogging the past couple of days. We've been down to a skeleton crew with a few bones missng here and there at work so I've just mainly come home and crashed in the evenings. I would like to direct my loyal readers to this. Read. Ponder. Prepare. We'll discuss shortly.

Today is the Summer Solstice. So to all the Happy Naked Pagans out there, a happy Midsummer.

I keep trying to reclassify my "label." I hate labels, but they do come in handy sometimes when they are useful, such as "chair" instead of "piece of furniture on three or more legs with a relative flat, and possibly padded, surface on which you sit." My problem, which isn't really mine, but somebody else's, is with the label "liberal." I call my self liberal, unless I'm feeling insecure about not my beliefs, but what that word conveys. So I switch to "progressive." That's just silly. It sounds like an insurance company. So I try "moderate," but the problem with that is it sounds too wishy-washy. A middle of the road ideology might be great for the Buddhist in me, but it doesn't suit a number of important political, social and economic issues. So I go to "independent" which doubles as both an ideological standpoint and a declaration of lack of political alliegence. well, that doesn't work either. I might say I'm independent politically, but I've never voted for anyone but Democrats. So, I usually come back around to liberal.

My problem with "liberal' comes from the fact that someone, somewhere, at some point, decided to change the definition of liberal. They did this with the term "conservative" as well. Nowadays, a "liberal" is a baby-killing, bleeding heart who favors putting everyone on government assistance, banning the right for people to worship as they chose, and who wants to turn control of the country over to the U.N. once Hillary is elected president. A "conservative" is a rich, white, mean-spirited male war monger who is only interested in helping his rich buddies, wants to force every woman out of work and to have babies and wants to shove patriotism, god and christianity down everyone's throat.

What's scary is the realization of how effective these new definitions have become. At least when it comes to people I don't necessarily agree with. Of course my stand on matters is absolutly right. Any reasonable person would see things as I do. Those who stand in opposition are 'conservative." They're crooks. They want to force me to live life the way they think I should live it. They want to control me through political power, economic power and the power of the church. They're a danger to all the great ideals this country was founded on.

But the honest truth is, while there are some who want to do that, most don't. To those of the liberal persuasion, conservatives have been demonized. And the same thing has happened toward the other end if the spectrum. There's plenty of liberal bashing that goes on as well.

It seems that gone are the days when two opposite sides of an issue can come together, sit down and discuss an issue, reaching agreement where possible and agreeing to disagree where they can't reach some kind of compromise.

These days, it's more like the Monty Python sketch:
"Welcome to Crossfire. On the left is Paul "Whinny little girl" Bagala and on the right is Tucker 'Nobody told him bow ties aren't cool" Carlson. With special guests, a conservative and liberal who are loud and won't agree on anything. Tonight's topic 'Abortion is evil'."
Bagala - "No it isn't"
Carlson - "Yes it is"
Liberal - "No it isn't"
Conservative - "yes it is"
Bagala - "no it isn't..."
You get the idea. If you don't go out and get a Monty Python's greatest hits DVD.

I cringe at the state of politics today. I fear for the future of political cooperation. And I feel helpless about being able to effect any real change. I see many causes of the current crisis weface when it comes to politics and ideology. It goes far beyond a label. Voters are apathetic. If we decide to vote, we base our vote on a narrow range of views. Does the candidate believe what I believe about tarrifs on spotted penguin egg imports? Good, then I'll vote for him. What's his economic policy? Is he qualified for the role of Commander In Chief? Does he know the names of foriegn leaders? Did he really invent the Internet? I don't care. I just don't want to be driven out of the spotted penguin egg market by cheap imports.

Big money and big media also must share the blame. They go hand-in-hand. Anyone who believes the major media has a liberal, or conservative, agenda hasn't been paying attention. They have an agenda of making a buck. If people want to listen to Bill O'Riley, then the media will push him. If they want Al franken, then he'll be shoved down everyone's throat until we all agree with what he's saying in his new book that's on sale for just $29.95.

The media likes things simple. They need sound bites and clear, concise argument points. There's not really room in a pre-planned 90 minute debate for Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, Reformers and Independents, so just bring out the Fox Network's Presidential candidate George W. Bush and the AOL/Time Warner (parent company of CNN and almost everyone else) candidate John Edwards (or insert your own favorite Democratic candidate here.)

Maybe I'm being too cynical. Or maybe I've bought into the whole new political delusion dynamic and have only a lucid moment here and there. But I know I sometimes get angry at all parties involved when I see how we are being manipulated - by the media, by politicians, by religious leaders - into forming up into these closed off little groups where anyone outside the group is the enemy. We haven't all been surrounded by evil Terminator robots and the good Arnold Terminator robot isn't coming to save us.

What we have to do is realize what's going on and make up our minds to do our best to ease the conflict. I don't de a very good job sometimes, but I try. Anger and frustration are powerful allies of the dark side. Clear your mind, you must....sorry, it's 3 a.m. and I'm drifting into Star Wars land. Anyway, by now you should have gotten the point, if there was one to be gotten.

It's just like Val Kilmer's line in Real Genius when he was quoting Rasputin - "I drank what?"

Sleep now.

They may take my ACLU membership card away, but I kind of agree with the school on this. I think if I wasn't allowed to wear my Spuds McKinzey t-shirt to school when I was in high school, no one should be allowed to wear shirts to school!

Gross!

I think Spike Lee must have gone out of his mind over this one. The first person I though of when I heard about the TNN name change to Spike was Spike from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, followed by Spike Jones: The Novelty Musician, Spike: The Dog from the Cartoons, Spike Jonze: The Director of Being John Malcovich and the, of course, Spke Lee. It kind of makes me wonder, TNN has been talking about the name change for months, then, all of a sudden, Lee comes up with a complaint. As much as I respect Spike Lee, I think he's way off base here and I think once this case actually goes to court, he's going to look stupid for bringing the suit in the first place.

The People vs. Larry Flynt II: The Wrath of Porn
Who will be cast when this makes it to the big screen.

Hungry for some snack food knowledge? Go here

...and on a sad note. I read with tears in my eyes this about the breakup of Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson. If those two couldn't make it work, I just don't know who could. And Kid had just gotten that airbrushed license plate for his Trans Am that said "Kid and Pam 4 Ever!"

So maybe buying a toothbrush isn't exactly something that is Blog-worthy. But it is if you find a toothbrush that matches your iMac!

Al Gore is thinking about starting a liberal television network.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20030619/D7ROT1B80.html

(BTW, I haven't quite figured out how to place an active link yet. Working on it.)

Of course. I'm all for the rightfully elected President of the United States (be warned: you'll see a lot of this kind of thing) trying to get the voices of all us poor oppressed liberals out there to the vast indifferent public. It will give all of us liberal media elite something to watch that will both entertain and enlighten while not offending any racial, social, economic, religious, gender or neuter, heterosexual, homosexual, political or differently abled group. Because that's what we liberals are all about.

Is it just me, or does some of the current mania surrounding the newest installment of the Harry Potter series sound like something out of the Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie?

During the past couple of months, I have taken on the monumental task of converting much of my aging collection of cassette tapes and vinyl to MP3s. This has proven to breath new life into some of my favorite bands from college and this morning, as I have bands like The Diggs, The Hilltops/Blue Mountain, and the Relaxations playing through my iPod, it makes me realize just how great those Oxford bands were. Just before the days of easily and inexpesnively produced produced CDs, there were a lot of great bands floating around our former college town. Unfortunately, as I have begun going through my collection of albums and tapes, there are some that, through time, neglect or spilled beer, are just simply gone.

BTW, as you may have noticed, correct spelling, grammer, punctuation and in general rules of proper english do not neessarily apply on this Blog. I figure I have to spell things correctly all day fo my job so why should I have to do it on my own time. Just consider it my patriotic duty by mangling the English languge - just like our beloved president.

In a feat of computer programming on the level on typing in a name and passwork, I have added feedback to this Blog. So here's your chance to make a statement to the world. BTW, in repayment for my friend David's theft of Idle Ramblings I have stolen the name of his Blog for my feedback. What can I say, imatation is the highest form of flattery next to "Hey, have you lost weight."

Go to David's Blog at www.hatbag.net/blog.html.

Welcome to the Idle Ramblings Blog. I intend this to be the Internet extension of the column I have been writing for various newspapers over the years. I jump around a lot so there could be anything posted here from rants about the breakdown of our rights as American citizens because of the extremist right-wing government that's in control of our nation, the attempts by the religious right to silence opposing voices and materials they find offensive, the boiling pot that is the Middle east and the effect on the supposed peace process by the former Cold War nations, or even more serious topics such as who would win in a battle - the Enterprise or a star Destroyer from star Wars.

I tend toward obscenities and liberal view points. I also prefer star Trek to Star Wars, though I'm a big fan of both. I will probably talk a lot about my home state of Mississippi which I both love and hate and about the stupid things that smart people do and the smart things stupid people do.

I tend to start things with a bang and then taper off, so don't be surprised if, within a week, I forget about this completely.

Idle Ramblings

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