The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Wednesday, November 29, 2006

On Micheal Richards' rant

Comedian Michael Richards is the latest in a long string of celebrities who have gotten into trouble with words or actions. So at a local comedy club, he heckled an audience member with the dreaded “N-word.”   Is he a racist?  I don’t know, and would be more inclined to think so if fewer blacks accepted the “nigger” as a normal part of conversation.  It does create a confusing situation. (Tananarive just came back from a Bible study class at our church, and said that our Minister was saying the same exact thing!)  That said, he had no damned business saying what he did, but I do know that comedians attack hecklers as hard as they can—and it often crosses the bounds of “good taste.”  The fact that this particular transgression dealt with ethnicity, and recent racial history as opposed to height, attractiveness, weight, or some other factor automatically attracts attention. But separate from some testimony about Mr. Richard’s actions, this is hardly definitive.  Bad taste?  Sure.  But racist?  Do you mean would he be less likely to take blood from you or give to a black man?  Wouldn’t want you to live next door to him or go to his school?  For a black kid to date his son or daughter, or vote for Barack Obama? 

I really don’t know, and one nervous, angry rant doesn’t say anything definitive.  Except that he’s something of an ass, really.
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And that his show, “Seinfeld,” was rather famous for its lack of dark folks.  Just a coincidence, I’m sure…

Monday, November 27, 2006

Back from Vacation

Back from Thanksgiving vacation with a ton of work on my new PDA , the Dana by AlphaSmart.  It’s basically a Palm device with a full-sized keyboard.  Made of the same kind of high-impact plastic used to form NFL helmets, it runs 24 hours on a single charge, and seems just about perfect for writers.  Slip it into your backpack and go!  More later as I continue to learn about it, but right now I’ve been recovering from the trip, lazing about on my couch and typing with my fingers in my lap.  Cool.
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Wow!  Yet another shooting of an unarmed black man.  A 23-year old named Sean Bell was the center of a fifty-bullet hail of gunfire.  I don’t know if the cops were white, but I’m sure that will come out over time.  Just another example of the pattern we’ve talked about—itchy trigger fingers de-inhibited by centuries of programming that says black males are dangerous, and worth less than whites.  Please note that I believe that if the cultural factors were reversed, black cops would be gunning down white suspects with the same frequency.  Something must be done, but aside from raising consciousness, I have no direct ideas.
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Listening to Dennis Miller on Fox Saturday was fascinating. He used to be a pretty neutral comedian—attacking whoever happened to be in power, like a good court jester should.  Then 9/11 happened, and like much of America, he flipped hard to the Right.  Fair enough—but he also stopped being very funny, and ultimately lost his HBO gig.  I was interested in hearing what he’d have to say to the Democrats after their victory (and yes, I do think that it was their victory, rather than what many pundits are saying: the Democrats didn’t win, the Republicans lost.  Pish.  One could as easily say that about any election.)

I wasn’t disappointed, and was actually proud of his consistency.  He simply said that, more than anything else, more than EVERYTHING else, that the Dems must keep their eye on the bouncing ball called Islamo-Fascism.  Fair enough, Dennis.  I share your hope: there are genuine, no-b.s. concerns there.  I hope you like what you see.  What’s more, I hope one day soon you’ll be funny again.  I’ve missed you.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

The Path

The Next Path workshop will be held February 10th in Portland, another one-day format workshop. This is going to be great stuff, but I'll be honest--we don't know how much longer we'll be presenting it.  Our student reveiws have been fabulous, almost unbelievable..and that's actually a problem in promoting something of this nature.  It simply sounds too good to be real.  I understand, but the truth is that the Path is a distillation of everything Scott Sonnon and I have learned about the process of graduated growth and personal evolution.  The technology is powerful, and available to anyone willing to make the honest effort.  I honestly suggest that you sign up now, for an experience that might change your life.  You can learn more by clicking on the Path link on my blog site, or going directly to Rmaxinternation.com.

This one you don't want to miss.

Steve

Casino Royale (2006)


Wow.  I have to say that I’m still a little bit shocky after watching the newest (21st) installment in the perennial film series based on Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007.  I first fell in love with the series back in 1964 at the age of 12, watching “Goldfinger” at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater.  It totally blew my mind, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Goldfinger had its moments of camp, but it, along with “From Russia With Love” are generally considered the best of the entire series.  Which one you love more defines you as belonging to the “Serious” Bond camp (in which case you’ve had precious little to enjoy over the last 40 years) or the “escapist” Bond camp—in which case, in all probability, your appetite and tolerance for absurdity has been tested beyond the limits over the same period of time.

It’s always been interesting to me that Bond is perceived as  a “Chauvinist” or a “Misogynist”  when it is pretty obvious to me that he is a misanthrope.  He has no real friends.  He can have no real relationships.  He kills for a living, and lives in hotel rooms.  Fleming’s 007 was a border-line sociopath smoking and drinking himself into the grave, balancing on the edge of breakdown, capable of being wired together for one more assignment…maybe.

And that Bond, the real Bond, we’ve never seen.  Until now.  Even “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” the only Bond movie that even really gave a nod to his actual emotions, was undercut by the adequate-but-not-impressive thesping skills of the newbie actor George Lazenby.  I’ve always thought that if St. Sean, the ultimate Bond, had played the role, it would have been considered the very best of the series.

Now, I’m not so certain.  Connery wasn’t a great actor when he started the series.  He never became a great actor, although he is a great star of fantastic virility and charisma.  But Acting?   Check him out in “Diamonds Are Forever”’s opening sequence, when he is pursuing the man who killed his dearest love.  Does anyone believe the emotions displayed, even for a moment?

Pierce Brosnan is actually better…but watch “ Tomorrow N ever Dies” again.  There’s a woman from his past who, he admits, got too close to his heart.  She dies directly because of his asininity, and fifteen minutes after he discovers the body, he’s chortling away as he remote-control drives his car through a parking lot. 

There is nothing recognizably human about either Bond, not really.  But you don’t get it until you watch a real actor, in a film where they at least TRIED to touch on real human emotion.

For Eon Productions to attempt to reboot a 40-year old franchise like this is just incredible, and they largely pull it off.

“Casino Royale” offers Daniel Craig at a young Bond on his first 00 mission.  He makes mistakes.  He is arrogant to a fault, and his ego gets people killed.  He is no aristocrat playing spy like Roger Moore’s Bond.  This is a middle-class guy with phenomenal courage, physical skill, and intuitive/creative intelligence.  When he puts on a tux, he is playing a role, and mocking the snobs who made his childhood hell.  This is a lethal athlete, a “Die Hard” Bond with more than a whiff of “Bourne” and “24”.  

The plot, which has Bond accidentally bankrupting a terrorist financier, forcing this shadowy adversary into a potentially ruinous game of Texas Hold ‘Em poker to recoup his losses, bounces Craig around the usual exotic locales.  But there is a real, real difference.  This man has feelings.  He is haunted by the men he kills (and the kills are nasty, brutish, and short).  He is aggressive to the point of insanity, throwing himself into the most dangerous pursuit (the film’s best action sequence is its first, a Parkour Free-Running pursuit around a crane site in Madagascar.  Yow!) without a moment’s thought.

This guy is frightening, volatile, and anyone who thinks he hates women hasn’t noticed the way he treats men.  He’s a nightmare.

Then…he meets a Woman.  Not a married tramp—his usual sexual target.  Not a little girl or a plastic bimbo, as so many of the Bond women have been.  No, Vesper Lynd is an accountant sent to oversee Her Majesty’s stake in a multi-zillion dollar poker game, and she is nobody’s fool.  And he falls hard.  And what happens as a result transforms him into the genteel, smiling, emotionless killing machine we know and adore.

This is special, a love letter from Eon Productions, a “Thank You” for 40 years of fandom.  For them to risk their four billion dollar empire like this is all the evidence I need that they genuinely give a damn, and are trying to do something…well, if not artistic, shall we say at least creative?  With the second most profitable franchise in film history.

Danial Craig is the best actor ever to play the role.  He is the second most physical (after Connery, whose effortless grace is still a joy to behold, even after all these years) and that combination makes him…dare I say it?  A potential threat to Connery’s Crown.  He could very well be the standard by which all future Bond fans measure the role, depending on the quality of the films to come.

How good is he?  Let’s just put it this way: HIS Bond would actually be a deadly, fearless, courageous, outrageous operative in the real world, the kind of man to inspire legends.  All the others—including Connery—are more like actors hired to portray him onscreen.  And that’s something I never thoughts I’d say.  How good is Casino Royale?  Up there with the best five Bond movies ever.  Ever.  This is terrific stuff, and the most enjoyable time I’ve had at the movies this year.

For Bond fans, an A+.  For action fans, an A.  And for moviegoers in general, a B+.  Be warned: this is an R-rated movie, whatever the official ratings say.  The violence is realistic, grueling, and not at all played for jokes.  This ain’t your daddy’s Bond.  But it just might be yours.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Thoughts on Iraq and the 3rd Crusade

1)     Apparently, Mike Hagee, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps set to retire, has spoken publicly that he repeatedly asked superiors about the exit plan for Iraq.  What was going to happen after we won?  NO ONE ever got back to him.  Those who want to know my attitude about this particular debacle need only combine this with Richard Clark’s thoughts in “Against All Enemies”—that in his impression, the administration wanted to go into Iraq even before 9/11.

Why?  I’d bet some combination of motivations, some patriotic, some practical, and some venal.  My guess is that when all of the Halliburton info is added up, Dick Cheney will have personally enriched himself fantastically.  Deferred salary and stock options, I’d figure, plus “gentleman’s agreement” bonuses after he leaves office.  Does that mean he thought the Iraq adventure would be bad for America?  I doubt it.  I think they thought they’d find WMDs, that Americans love their oil enough to ignore how it is secured, that we’d be greeted as liberators, that what was, (in that grand phrase from Li’l Abner) “What’s good for General Bullmoose is good for the U.S.A.)  And by the way, as Dave Chappell would say, “He’s Rich, Beyotch!”

Ah well…
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I’m currently experimenting with Coach Sonnon’s “4x7” program, which “waves” intensity of workouts quite effectively, going from mild to medium to intense, followed by a day of recovery.  The cycle is repeated seven times, followed by four days of rest, and then the cycle begins again.  I’m adding an additional level of variance: every other day is Yoga day.  Sundays are taken off, regardless of the level of intensity I’m SUPPOSED to have that day.  I kinda figure that if working out six days a week won’t cut it, it’s too tough to cut.  Plus, (as Steve Perry constantly reminds me) overtraining is a very real problem among us junior geezers.
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The reviews for CASINO ROYALE are in, and they soar.  I just can’t wait! 
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It looks as if I’m going to be writing three books set during the 3rd Crusade, around 1185-1195.  This is a challenge, as it’s not an era of history I’ve studied.  The process of research I’m using is to immerse myself in the “little golden book of Crusading” level history to get an overview, and then dive into specifics about the Templars, the Hashassin, Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, etc.  This one is going to be an intense haul…but quite worth while.  More as the research and work continue.

Monday, November 13, 2006

On Kissing

A friend sent this terrific collection of thoughts on the fine art and science of kissing...thought I'd share them.
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· Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. ~Albert Einstein

· I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since. ~ Arturo Toscanini

· People who throw kisses are mighty hopelessly lazy. ~ Bob Hope

· I wasn't kissing her, I was whispering in her mouth. ~ Chico Marx

· High heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead. ~ Christopher Morley

· A kiss that speaks volumes is seldom a first edition. ~ Clare Whiting

· A man snatches the first kiss, pleads for the second, demands the third, takes the fourth, accepts the fifth - and endures all the rest. ~ Helen Rowland

· Why does a man take it for granted that a girl who flirts with him wants him to kiss her -- when, nine times out of ten, she only wants him to want to kiss her? ~ Helen Rowland

· Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you. ~ Joey Adams

· It takes a lot of experience for a girl to kiss like a beginner. ~ Ladies Home Journal

· Few men know how to kiss well; fortunately, I've always had time to teach them. ~ Mae West

· The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes (The Professor at the Breakfast-Table)

· I am in favor of preserving the French habit of kissing ladies' hands-- after all, one must start somewhere. ~ Sacha Guitry

· A man's kiss is his signature. ~ Mae West

· If you are ever in doubt as to whether to kiss a pretty girl, always give her the benefit of the doubt. ~ Thomas Carlyle

· Were kisses all the joys in bed, One woman would another wed. ~William Shakespeare

Friday, November 10, 2006

More thoughts on Antigua

I just got back from the Carribean Literary Festival on Antigua, a tiny island north of Trinidad.  It was utterly inspiring to see the faces of the inhabitants: the black descendants of slaves, the white descendants of the masters and Colonials sitting side by side, discussing and reflecting upon the way that myth connects all of humanity.


Why is it that we write?  All I can do is speak from my own perspective, and that would be that writing connects our inner and outer worlds.  It allows us to take the most private dreams and extend them to others.  To the degree that those private dreams touch something alive and real within a viewer, the experience of identification begins, which opens the door to suspension of disbelieve, a surrender of objections, a falling into the blissful trance of story. And if the storyteller has done her job correctly, the reader or viewer leaves the book with a deeper sense of connection to mankind, or a deeper sense of self. Or a lighter emotional load, or a fresh sense of excitement about the potential of living life with fearless integrity.  Or a new perspective on the foibles of mankind, gained by watching farce.  Or a sober reflection on the paths that lead us to self-destruction.

I love teaching writing, and will fly to the ends of the Earth to share that knowledge I’ve fought and searched for 30 years to gather. No, it hasn’t transformed me into Steven King—although I’ve won awards, been on the NY Times Bestseller list, and allowed me to raise a family for decades on my income from writing alone.  If my goal had been to be King, I’d feel a failure.  But my goal was always to write at the edge of my ability, and to constantly improve.  To reach out to strangers and make them friends.  To communicate the essence of my life to the world. To build bridges, and heal wounds. And that I have done.

Wednesday Morning

I’m back from Antigua.  More on that later, still exhausted after a 22-hour day getting back.  Ouch.  But one interesting note.  Remember just a few days ago, I was talking about how the experience of slavery in the States denied blacks the opportunity to create what an anthropologist would call a “culture”?  Well, my impression that that damage wasn’t as bad in the Caribbean was bolstered.  Interesting listening to other writers visiting Antigua commenting on the courtesy, diction, education, and general carriage of the students and natives.  It was marked, and I was DELIGHTED that the average Antiguan was much darker-skinned than the average American black.  It ain’t genetics, that’s for sure.

What caused this?  The cultural isolation? A different system under British rule?  Something else? I don’t know…but I know I was proud to be there, and make a cultural contribution.  And if they want me back, I’m goin’.
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The Democrats seem to have done quite well indeed.  And now, I pray that they will have more consideration and what I would consider “true” American spirit—we need bipartisan investigation of the best way to bring our troops home.  If there has been genuine malfeasance, let’s investigate, but please not the nauseating spectacle of the kind of fishing expeditions it seemed the Republicans were doing with Clinton.  If the Cheney-Halliburton connection is as vile as it has sometimes seemed, I’d love to see the man dragged out of the White House in handcuffs.  But please, please, please—I want to see the America I grew up with, not this “everything’s changed” nonsense that we’ve seen in the last six years.  Crap—other countries have gotten smacked and not gone so gonzo.  There is a middle ground that protects the citizens and their rights, both.  That ain’t the way we were headed.

I like the idea of the parties sharing power, but to get the pendulum back to the center, it has to swing to the opposite direction first.  I’m happy, but cautious.  I don’t think either party has a lock on common sense or integrity, but I do think that we hit a “Perfect Storm” of negative political circumstance:
1) an attack on our native soil.  People ALWAYS become more   rigid and hierarchical under those circumstances.
1)     A minimally competant President who trusts his emotions more than his intellect.
2)     A Corporatocracy believing that, somehow, private enterprises are more moral than Governments.  Bull. People are people, and integrity is pretty much distributed evenly.  
3)     I believe what Richard Clark and others have said: that for some reason this administration wanted to go to Iraq from the very beginning.  Maybe their motivations were good, I don’t know.  But it simply makes sense of much of what we’ve seen.  If that’s true, it’s probably some combination of paternal competition, paternal love (“He tried to kill my daddy!”); the desire to access the vast oil supplies of Iraq; an honest belief that Saddam was Satan, and MUST have had WMDs; and the incredible ego to think that we could invade a country and be greeted with rose petals, not an insurgency.  The insanity of this boggles my mind.

There’s more, so much more that I feel—but I’ve never claimed to be savvy or particularly knowledgeable about Politics.  I’ve never considered my self political.  Philosophical, yes.  But I don’t give a rat’s ass about political parties one way or another, and think that the Democrats might have become just as corrupt and inefficient given the same situations. We’re all just human.  Reign it in, people.  Let’s get the country I love back on track.  The world is watching, and we need the world.  The answer to terrorism isn’t broad-scale military action.  It is surgical military action, police action, intelligence gathering and correlation, and massive,  massive cooperation between the nation-states of the world.

I can understand how people thought that the greatest military machine in history could solve any problem, but people—you can’t fix a television set with a hammer, no matter how heavy.

More later. 

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Individuals and Nations

A very, very important business meeting today at 2pm PST.  Please keep your fingers crossed…
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In looking at the question of “what does America need to embrace the possibilities of the 21st Century?” I find myself wanting to take a rather typical Lifewriting approach to the question.  And that means looking at what an individual human being needs to achieve, and drawing parallels.

It seems there is a perfect opportunity to do that, as we were just talking about the fact that blacks in the Caribbean seem…more “whole” somehow, despite their poverty. 

If I were to come up with 3-10 basic principles and try to “map” them across both sets (individuals and nation-states) I wonder what I’d come up with.

In general, here are some of the most important things for an individual:
1)     The ability to be blisteringly honest, but courageously compassionate.
2)     The ability to set clear goals in alignment with the deepest values and beliefs.
3)     The capacity to believe in Self deeply.
4)     A knowledge of past actions (positive and negative) without that knowledge limiting future options.
5)     The ability to take action despite the “noise” of internal voices, if those actions are in alignment with deeply held values and beliefs.
6)     The ability to postpone gratification, to move toward a worthy goal in an incremental fashion.
7)     The ability to create healthy bonded teams of allies to reach those goals unreachable by an individual. The ability to create a primary bond with another adult, equal human being.
8)     The ability to shift fluidly from “Yin” to “Yang”—from female to male modes of thought and action—depending on the circumstance.
9)     The ability to raise and focus the physical and emotional energies on command.
10)     A grounding in the physical body sufficient to provide accurate feedback about the material world.


The question I have is:  (A) How have these been damaged in America’s black underclass?  (B) How have these metaphorically been damaged in America as a whole?  For instance, #1: there is, in my mind, an unwillingness in much of black culture to criticize our success stories.  (A) How long has it taken for the misogyny and violence in rap music to gain the criticism needed?  Loving our artists, and grasping that they often give voice to the voiceless, does not remove their obligation to take responsibility for the images and attitudes spewed into the airwaves.  (B) Post-9/11, America fell into a completely understandable state of near-panic and inflexible thought.  How often did we hear that “X” was necessary, or all is lost.  Really?  In human history, how many times has there been only one possible way to reach a goal?  One can say “I believe X is the BEST way to do something”, and that is honest.  But “the only?”  I think not.  That, whether the subject is “victory in Iraq,” “torture’, “the Patriot Act” or whatever, became a frequent note.  And to me, this is dishonest, limited thought.  I hate to say this, but it is a very, very MALE approach (“this is the way.  If it doesn’t seem to be working, we’ll just try harder!”).  Ah, then, there is a touch of “#8” about this one, right?  America became horrifically politicized, and politics breeds dishonesty.  If you’re going to sit on the Left and demonize the Right, or on the Right and demonize the Left, you basically have to shut off part of your brain.

The answer for black individuals (once again, from the Lifewriting POV) is to cultivate a devastatingly scrupulous self-reflection and internal honesty, as well as a commitment to honest communication with others.  To do this, you have to have deep, deep self-love.  To the degree that an individual can find the sense of divinity within them, and then extend that to those around them, they are capable of forming a web of spiritual connections in which the light of truth may be uncomfortable, but never damaging.

This does not mean being weak and vulnerable.  The refusal of the Bush administration to dialogue with “our enemies” is an expression of this.  What the hell?  Your enemies are the ones MOST important to dialogue with.  The arts of political diplomacy and the elaborate rules of court behavior were designed to allow people with serious disagreements—often in the middle of war—to discuss the possibilities of peace.

Direct war, then, might be seen as a ‘Male” reaction, whereas diplomacy is the “female” response.  Can you see that both carrot and stick are necessary here?  Neither Yin nor Yang, alone, represent the Tao.  They must both be present, alive, and interactive.

This is, for instance, why I think that the current political scene represents the last gasp of the Patriarchy.  What is needed to combat terrorism isn’t direct war—that works against Geopolitical entities.  For terrorism, you need more of a ‘network” approach: surgical military strikes, crisp intelligence gathering and interpretation, cooperation between the nations of the world, cracking good police actions, a grasp of the psychological underpinnings of those desperate or fanatical enough to use such tactics.

In the black community, such honesty means a firm, clear grasp of the damage that was done by slavery, but also an understanding of human nature broad and deep enough to see the horror as one intrinsic to the paler aspect of the human heart: the tendency to see human beings as objects rather than individuals.  To forgive others gives the capacity to forgive the self.  To look forward rather than back (while never forgetting history) enables you to embrace your future rather than having the past hanging around your neck like a #$%@@ing albatross.
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I’m just showing how a look at what INDIVIDUALS need, and what NATIONS need, can be related in an interesting and revealing fashion.  Other interpretations can and must arise, as well as other sets of “basic” principles.  I’d love your thoughts on other ways to look at the connection.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

I’m back from Antigua. More on that later, still exhausted after a 22-hour day getting back. Ouch. But one interesting note. Remember just a few days ago, I was talking about how the experience of slavery in the States denied blacks the opportunity to create what an anthropologist would call a “culture”? Well, my impression that that damage wasn’t as bad in the Caribbean was bolstered. Interesting listening to other writers visiting Antigua commenting on the courtesy, diction, education, and general carriage of the students and natives. It was marked, and I was DELIGHTED that the average Antiguan was much darker-skinned than the average American black. It ain’t genetics, that’s for sure.What caused this? The cultural isolation? A different system under British rule? Something else? I don’t know…but I know I was proud to be there, and make a cultural contribution. And if they want me back, I’m goin’.
##
The Democrats seem to have done quite well indeed. And now, I pray that they will have more consideration and what I would consider “true” American spirit than the Reb[publicans have demonstrated for the last six years—we need bipartisan investigation of the best way to bring our troops home. If there has been genuine malfeasance, let’s investigate, but please not the nauseating spectacle of the kind of fishing expeditions it seemed the Republicans were doing with Clinton. If the Cheney-Halliburton connection is as vile as it has sometimes seemed, I’d love to see the man dragged out of the White House in handcuffs. But please, please, please—I want to see the America I grew up with, not this “everything’s changed” nonsense that we’ve seen in the last six years. Crap—other countries have gotten smacked and not gone so gonzo. There is a middle ground that protects the citizens and their rights, both. That ain’t the way we were headed.I like the idea of the parties sharing power, but to get the pendulum back to the center, it has to swing to the opposite direction first. I’m happy, but cautious. I don’t think either party has a lock on common sense or integrity, but I do think that we hit a “Perfect Storm” of negative political circumstance:
1) an attack on our native soil. People ALWAYS become more rigid and hierarchical under those circumstances.
2) A minimally competant President who trusts his emotions more than his intellect.
3) A Corporatocracy believing that, somehow, private enterprises are more moral than Governments. Bull. People are people, and integrity is pretty much distributed evenly.
4) I believe what Richard Clark and others have said: that for some reason this administration wanted to go to Iraq from the very beginning. Maybe their motivations were good, I don’t know. But it simply makes sense of much of what we’ve seen. If that’s true, it’s probably some combination of paternal competition, paternal love (“He tried to kill my daddy!”); the desire to access the vast oil supplies of Iraq; an honest belief that Saddam was Satan, and MUST have had WMDs; and the incredible ego to think that we could invade a country and be greeted with rose petals, not an insurgency.
The insanity of this boggles my mind.

There’s more, so much more that I feel—but I’ve never claimed to be savvy or particularly knowledgeable about Politics. I’ve never considered my self political. Philosophical, yes. But I don’t give a rat’s ass about political parties one way or another, and think that the Democrats might have become just as corrupt and inefficient given the same situations. We’re all just human. Reign it in, people. Let’s get the country I love back on track. The world is watching, and we need the world. The answer to terrorism isn’t broad-scale military action. It is surgical military action, police action, intelligence gathering and correlation, and massive, massive cooperation between the nation-states of the world.I can understand how people thought that the greatest military machine in history could solve any problem, but people—you can’t fix a television set with a hammer, no matter how heavy.

More later.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Kissing

An odd change of topics, but I was wondering if anyone out there is like me in a particular regard: when I think back on ladies who have shared intimate space with me, what I tend to remember is not sex, but kissing.  The specific feel and taste and motion of mouths…yum.

For some reason, this always looms hugely in my memory.  In fact, there is a very real part of my personality that has always enjoyed the post-coital smooching (all the tension is gone!  That pesky “will we or won’t we” has been answered…) more than almost anything else. 

There is just so much that we learn from a kiss (but to be fair, I think that sex teaches us more about another human being than anything else, minute for minute).  Think about it: touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight…everything gets involved.

But that’s just being mental about it.  The truth is that there is something about kissing that is just so beautifully intimate, warm, and joyous.

Has anyone else felt the same way?

Request for contact info

The question Cool Blue posed concerning torture, waterboarding and American practices deserves to be addressed. I know that several of you know who I am referring  to concerning our friend in intelligence who I spoke with at a party on Saturday night.  If anyone who can make contact with this young man would either point him to the blog thread, or have him contact me at lifewrite@aol.com, I would appreciate it greatly.
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Blue--regarding trusting the government.  It's been my experience that people cover their butts.  I'd like to believe what I'm told, but post Bush's "I've never been `Stay the Course'" comments, I'd be a fool not to assume that reality is being...shall we say tweaked?  Just a little bit.