The Republican Party irreverently lauds itself as the party of American values, Christian values. When looking at the plain facts, John McCain doesn't seem to have a very good track record on family values. Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times writes in 2000, about a troubling period in the Senator's life after coming back from Vietnam. His physical problems after his experience led him into a post as the Navy's liaison to congress. This post forced him to travel throughout the country to meet with different representatives. It was during this time that he met Cindy Lou Hensley. "Although he was still living with his wife, he was aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich." This courtship led to his remarriage which eventually gave way to the sequence of events that would grant him his current lot in life.
This is not a snide commentary on the character of John McCain, but rather a sincere cause for perplexity to me because of the accommodating nature of social conservatives. As I can recall from my admittedly limited knowledge of the Christian faith, thou shalt not commit adultery is one of the ten commandments is it not? Even though one may not be able to construe his actions as outright adultery, though he did apply for a marriage license prior to the finalization of his divorce proceedings ("McCain Revealed" CNN, 8/30/08), they probably should be construed as somewhat of an affront to marriage; especially by those who so ardently defend the definition of it.
By the way, has anyone seen a family portrait of the whole McCain family, including the children from the previous marriage? I haven't.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
¡¿Mogwai and Palin?!
The question is, which is cooler. I'm thinking the McCain campaign screwing up is way cooler, although those of you who care about music more than politics might be more inclined towards the former.
Mogwai's sixth LP, The Hawk is Howling, has some of the classical Mogwai signatures but with a more epic feel to it than some of their more recent works; somewhat of a throwback to Young Team without taking too much away from the freshness they bring to this album. The dissonance and crescendos are lightly dispersed throughout the album in a way that they have been doing since they started, without giving way to the influence of many purely commercial post rock composers that are so prevalent in jingles and pop ditties, to say nothing of the W.G. Snuffy Waldenesque take; which I may, or may not, be referencing. This is one things I think Mogwai has always done really well, putting the focus more on the composition of their nuanced melodies rather that the structural elements of the genre. Definitely an album worth buying, if you're into that.
But on the more pleasant note, I had to be extra nice to my father today. We've been going at each other for some time now any time the names of Obama or McCain were mentioned, but today, we were finally able to reconcile our political differences and reconstruct our filial bridges over the ideological divide that had been severed by the hail of political uncertainty and in light of the "fierce urgency of now." I consoling my father over the joyous fact that McCain might have blown it. If this is some sort of political maneuver a la Carl Rove, I'm not seeing it. It all seems a little bit short sighted of the Republican campaign, especially a day after Obama's speech. As all the pundits keep acknowledging, he has just lost one of the major points of contention for the Obama camp, that of experience. Not only that, but she's not really even qualified.
There are a million different reasons why this is good for Obama and Biden, and I personally can't wait for the debates, especially the vice presidential debate. I heard one of the Fox News pundits say today that Palin is going to be a difficult person to tackle by someone like Biden, especially given his "loquacious" persona as defined by the media. He went on to say that the public was not going to be very receptive to the hard hitting commentary that democrats are so accustomed to when it comes to someone like Palin, and that democrats were going to soften their blows if they wanted their strategy to be effective. What bothered me most about this commentary was the sexist intonations of it; which I'm sure may be obvious to most people. I'm sorry buddy, but if you're going to bring a woman into the picture who does not come close to filling the shoes of some of the other prospective Republican VP choices, as a political move to attract Hillary voters, you better bring in someone that can stand there blow for blow with the rest of the boys. After all, isn't that what Hillary was all about?
Mogwai's sixth LP, The Hawk is Howling, has some of the classical Mogwai signatures but with a more epic feel to it than some of their more recent works; somewhat of a throwback to Young Team without taking too much away from the freshness they bring to this album. The dissonance and crescendos are lightly dispersed throughout the album in a way that they have been doing since they started, without giving way to the influence of many purely commercial post rock composers that are so prevalent in jingles and pop ditties, to say nothing of the W.G. Snuffy Waldenesque take; which I may, or may not, be referencing. This is one things I think Mogwai has always done really well, putting the focus more on the composition of their nuanced melodies rather that the structural elements of the genre. Definitely an album worth buying, if you're into that.
But on the more pleasant note, I had to be extra nice to my father today. We've been going at each other for some time now any time the names of Obama or McCain were mentioned, but today, we were finally able to reconcile our political differences and reconstruct our filial bridges over the ideological divide that had been severed by the hail of political uncertainty and in light of the "fierce urgency of now." I consoling my father over the joyous fact that McCain might have blown it. If this is some sort of political maneuver a la Carl Rove, I'm not seeing it. It all seems a little bit short sighted of the Republican campaign, especially a day after Obama's speech. As all the pundits keep acknowledging, he has just lost one of the major points of contention for the Obama camp, that of experience. Not only that, but she's not really even qualified.
There are a million different reasons why this is good for Obama and Biden, and I personally can't wait for the debates, especially the vice presidential debate. I heard one of the Fox News pundits say today that Palin is going to be a difficult person to tackle by someone like Biden, especially given his "loquacious" persona as defined by the media. He went on to say that the public was not going to be very receptive to the hard hitting commentary that democrats are so accustomed to when it comes to someone like Palin, and that democrats were going to soften their blows if they wanted their strategy to be effective. What bothered me most about this commentary was the sexist intonations of it; which I'm sure may be obvious to most people. I'm sorry buddy, but if you're going to bring a woman into the picture who does not come close to filling the shoes of some of the other prospective Republican VP choices, as a political move to attract Hillary voters, you better bring in someone that can stand there blow for blow with the rest of the boys. After all, isn't that what Hillary was all about?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
It's working!
Whatever has been said over the past 4 days of the Democratic National Convention seems to be working. Before things got started on Monday, McCain had taken a 2 point lead in the Gallup Poll's general election trial heat. Today that deficit has been erased by the Obama campaign and they have taken a 6 point lead; and Obama hasn't even made his acceptance speech! Things are on the up and up for democrats at the moment. With all the hype that's been dedicated to this speech, let's hope that they can keep the momentum going.
Chinese punks
The main guy in this video reminds of the pitfalls that loom before misguided wannabe-intellectuals in a world that's moving just a bit faster than they are (he also reminded me a lot of the Uruguayan skins I met in Montevideo). Not that most of the people reading this haven't at one point experienced something similar to where he's coming from at least. I guess I hope the readership of my blog might be able to understand some of the simpler pleasures in life that come from the naivete of being antagonistic towards the aspects of your life that bear the most frustration because you are completely incapable of engaging them. Basically, it's fun to get drunk and say fuck the government when you're young... just as long as you don't base your whole life on that mantra.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Obama's official nomination
Is the American dream dying? There's no question more pivotal to our future as a country than this question right now. If you don't trust Obama, for whatever reason, just listen to Joe Biden. If you don't trust the Clintons, just listen to Joe Biden. Who can question the character of this man? He has a proven record in American politics, and he has a proven character among men of virtue. A family man, a son of the working class, this is just one more example of what makes this country great. If you don't trust Obama, then trust Joe Biden. Of all the speeches given today and in the previous days of the convention, his speech possessed a personal aspect which reached further than the political rhetoric which it espoused.
Biden asked us in his speech today, "remember when the world used to trust us?" While many Americans ignore the reality of our interconnectedness in the global market, we cannot shy away from the implicit truth in this question. As our position as the world's leader in the economy becomes more tenuous with the meteoric rise of the Chinese economy, we must stay true to the values that made this country great in every other way.
We are a young country. Let's keep that in mind. Should we really throw in the towel by assuming the system is as good as its going to be? Conservativism is the delusion that things were better in the past than they could be in the future. This assumption defies the lessons of history. If history has taught us anything is that with every event that takes place, if we so choose, we can learn from it and build upon it.
We are obviously at a turning point in our history as a nation. A recent article in the new york times begged the question as to whether or not 'Mr. Obama’s success [will] further the notion that the long struggle for racial equality has finally been won?' The article discusses fears by many African American leaders that this historical election, if won, will cause many Americans to assume the former assertion to be true. While some may come to this conclusion, we must also look to the popular discourse that goes on among opponents to the Obama presidency on the basest of levels. The obvious answer would be no.
Race is just one of the many issues that still affect the character of our country. While electing an African American president will do much to curb the effects of a racist past in this country, there is still much to be done about the effects of inequality in poor urban communities, regardless of race. All of the issues are addressed by both parties and both can be dismissed as the meaningless discourse of a system out of touch with its populace. Is it really the political discourse out of touch with the populace or the populace out of touch with its political system?
One thing remained clear tonight, there is a group of people in this country that believe in changing this country for the better. Whether the proposed changes are far reaching and earnest remains to be seen. For the moment, however, it is enough to know that the potential of our democracy might at least be enough to point us back in the right direction.
Biden asked us in his speech today, "remember when the world used to trust us?" While many Americans ignore the reality of our interconnectedness in the global market, we cannot shy away from the implicit truth in this question. As our position as the world's leader in the economy becomes more tenuous with the meteoric rise of the Chinese economy, we must stay true to the values that made this country great in every other way.
We are a young country. Let's keep that in mind. Should we really throw in the towel by assuming the system is as good as its going to be? Conservativism is the delusion that things were better in the past than they could be in the future. This assumption defies the lessons of history. If history has taught us anything is that with every event that takes place, if we so choose, we can learn from it and build upon it.
We are obviously at a turning point in our history as a nation. A recent article in the new york times begged the question as to whether or not 'Mr. Obama’s success [will] further the notion that the long struggle for racial equality has finally been won?' The article discusses fears by many African American leaders that this historical election, if won, will cause many Americans to assume the former assertion to be true. While some may come to this conclusion, we must also look to the popular discourse that goes on among opponents to the Obama presidency on the basest of levels. The obvious answer would be no.
Race is just one of the many issues that still affect the character of our country. While electing an African American president will do much to curb the effects of a racist past in this country, there is still much to be done about the effects of inequality in poor urban communities, regardless of race. All of the issues are addressed by both parties and both can be dismissed as the meaningless discourse of a system out of touch with its populace. Is it really the political discourse out of touch with the populace or the populace out of touch with its political system?
One thing remained clear tonight, there is a group of people in this country that believe in changing this country for the better. Whether the proposed changes are far reaching and earnest remains to be seen. For the moment, however, it is enough to know that the potential of our democracy might at least be enough to point us back in the right direction.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Haiku
I'm trying to make a global phenomenon of the Haiku tradition in the bathroom stalls at W&M. Here's one I wrote recently:
metafísica
las almas suelen volar
antes de caer
metafísica
las almas suelen volar
antes de caer
Hillary Clinton
Hillary did a wonderful job today as the keynote speaker at today's convention. However, I couldn't help but notice how much the focus has shifted from the message of "change" and "hope" to a message of "anything but Bush;" and of course his mirror image in McCain. This hardly seems like the time to be deflating the imagery evoked by the message being put forth. It seemed like the overwhelming majority of the speakers today focused on the dissimilarities between Obama and McCain, while injecting the rhetoric that has already been diffused into public discourse.
Although I am personally touched by the vast implications that are carried by the fact that a woman must throw all her support to an African American in order to defeat their rich white male counterpart, I am worried that this alone is not enough to inspire most Americans to vote Democrat this November (needless to say, the issues are my first and foremost inspiration). However, if the economy is not enough to influence voters with regards to the issues, what more can the democrats do when the polls say that republican politics of the last presidential election are by and large irrelevant in this election? And is addressing McCain as Bush's twin really enough to fix the recent Gallup poll numbers showing McCain up by 2 points?
The Carl Rove strategy is dead. Well, maybe it's not dead; but it certainly is not being employed and national numbers show that abortion and gay marriage are not as hot ticket issues as they were in the previous election. In fact, a recent poll conducted by ABC News/The Washington Post shows that about 54% of Americans in this country believe abortion should be legal in most cases. McCain's support of repealling of Roe v. Wade is certainly not going to help him out with republicans for choice and the evangelicals have certainly lost a great deal of the clout they had in '04 which would have been pivotal in steering public interest with regards to this issue.
The fact is, the economy is the most important issue in this election. It is common knowledge that the voters tend to vote with their pocketbooks, and they are clearly screaming democrat right now. With people continuing to lose their houses to foreclosures and the failure of Indymac acting as a harbinger of things to come, it seems ludicrous that McCain has jumped ahead in the numbers. There is, however, one possible explanation for these numbers, and it is probably one that no one really wants to admit to; that some voters are still just too uncomfortable voting for an African American president. With this in mind it is going to be interesting to note the reaction of Hillary supporters for McCain in the weeks to come. For obvious reasons, let's hope it doesn't come down to our reliance on the pocket book axiom to keep our dreams of change alive.
Although I am personally touched by the vast implications that are carried by the fact that a woman must throw all her support to an African American in order to defeat their rich white male counterpart, I am worried that this alone is not enough to inspire most Americans to vote Democrat this November (needless to say, the issues are my first and foremost inspiration). However, if the economy is not enough to influence voters with regards to the issues, what more can the democrats do when the polls say that republican politics of the last presidential election are by and large irrelevant in this election? And is addressing McCain as Bush's twin really enough to fix the recent Gallup poll numbers showing McCain up by 2 points?
The Carl Rove strategy is dead. Well, maybe it's not dead; but it certainly is not being employed and national numbers show that abortion and gay marriage are not as hot ticket issues as they were in the previous election. In fact, a recent poll conducted by ABC News/The Washington Post shows that about 54% of Americans in this country believe abortion should be legal in most cases. McCain's support of repealling of Roe v. Wade is certainly not going to help him out with republicans for choice and the evangelicals have certainly lost a great deal of the clout they had in '04 which would have been pivotal in steering public interest with regards to this issue.
The fact is, the economy is the most important issue in this election. It is common knowledge that the voters tend to vote with their pocketbooks, and they are clearly screaming democrat right now. With people continuing to lose their houses to foreclosures and the failure of Indymac acting as a harbinger of things to come, it seems ludicrous that McCain has jumped ahead in the numbers. There is, however, one possible explanation for these numbers, and it is probably one that no one really wants to admit to; that some voters are still just too uncomfortable voting for an African American president. With this in mind it is going to be interesting to note the reaction of Hillary supporters for McCain in the weeks to come. For obvious reasons, let's hope it doesn't come down to our reliance on the pocket book axiom to keep our dreams of change alive.
reality
So you are left with the question of reality. What is it really supposed to be all about? I would like to think that today is a new day and it can all start again, but in reality, I am left thinking about the countless hours I have spent in front of this computer screen wasting away my mind. Am I really being productive by looking at movies all day and trying to learn the perfect method to wasting time? Of course not, but for some strange reason, I feel like I am perfecting the American dream.
Consumption is the ultimate goal in these situations. You sit down, you watch some television, you eat some food, and you consume more and more information until you are bursting at the seems with trivial knowledge and a disctinct ability to replace any information of worth with the perfect method for going to the bathroom, making something to eat, add a drink with that, and somehow make it back in time before the commercial break.
This is what our society has been reduced to. We are a bunch of assholes looking for nothing. We don't even need a mouth, just open wide and regurgitate.
What are the things of worth in our life? Your computer? Certainly mine is. The penultimate tool for a post-consumerist society. You can sit at your computer and desk all day long and conduct your entire life from that one place. Trade and sell stocks, that takes care of your monetary issues. Read some of the news, that takes care of your global awareness. Order a pizza, that takes care of lunch. Download a movie - now it gets a little complicated - and add some music in with that too. You need some new sweat pants? Just head on over to walmart.com. Now the most important part or your entire day. Your social utility. This is what separates our generation from the last.
Today you are planning on doing exactly what you do every day, and I'm quite certain that if you are between the ages of 13 and 26, your daily routine will include the checking of one of our grand social utilities known as facebook or myspace and be supplemented with a more direct form of electronic human interaction by way of aim, msn, or google chat. Now your day is complete and you never even had to leave the comfort of your own desk chair. Head to bed and repeat the next day.
This formulaic existence can be repeated add nauseum for the rest of our sorry lives, because despite my ability to observe such a mundaneness of our modern plight, I cannot extricate myself from the comfort that it provides. There is a comfort in knowing that you can know all of the knowledge in the world with a few clicks of the mouse. We will never know it, because we are constantly replacing information with more trivial information and being stuck in a repetitive cycle which will only change when we are old and gray and then finally we will begin to engage life and maybe read some more books, or maybe not. Maybe we are simply condemned to be the relegation of information consumption, never again to return to the realm of material satisfaction.
Consumption is the ultimate goal in these situations. You sit down, you watch some television, you eat some food, and you consume more and more information until you are bursting at the seems with trivial knowledge and a disctinct ability to replace any information of worth with the perfect method for going to the bathroom, making something to eat, add a drink with that, and somehow make it back in time before the commercial break.
This is what our society has been reduced to. We are a bunch of assholes looking for nothing. We don't even need a mouth, just open wide and regurgitate.
What are the things of worth in our life? Your computer? Certainly mine is. The penultimate tool for a post-consumerist society. You can sit at your computer and desk all day long and conduct your entire life from that one place. Trade and sell stocks, that takes care of your monetary issues. Read some of the news, that takes care of your global awareness. Order a pizza, that takes care of lunch. Download a movie - now it gets a little complicated - and add some music in with that too. You need some new sweat pants? Just head on over to walmart.com. Now the most important part or your entire day. Your social utility. This is what separates our generation from the last.
Today you are planning on doing exactly what you do every day, and I'm quite certain that if you are between the ages of 13 and 26, your daily routine will include the checking of one of our grand social utilities known as facebook or myspace and be supplemented with a more direct form of electronic human interaction by way of aim, msn, or google chat. Now your day is complete and you never even had to leave the comfort of your own desk chair. Head to bed and repeat the next day.
This formulaic existence can be repeated add nauseum for the rest of our sorry lives, because despite my ability to observe such a mundaneness of our modern plight, I cannot extricate myself from the comfort that it provides. There is a comfort in knowing that you can know all of the knowledge in the world with a few clicks of the mouse. We will never know it, because we are constantly replacing information with more trivial information and being stuck in a repetitive cycle which will only change when we are old and gray and then finally we will begin to engage life and maybe read some more books, or maybe not. Maybe we are simply condemned to be the relegation of information consumption, never again to return to the realm of material satisfaction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
