Political Compass

I took a political compass test. Here's how I did. Apparently I'm a leftist with some libertarian qualities. So suck it up, pull up your bootstraps (if you can't pull them up yourself we'll totally help you pull them up) and have a nice day!

Here's a little more detail of what my placement means.

As you can see above, Gandhi and I are basically the same. We were pretty tight back in the day.

If you want to test yourself go to this website: http://www.politicalcompass.org/ Lata suckas!

Who's winning?

Last weekend a friend of mine and I had a little political debate. Actually he did a large part of the talking, trying to convince me of his views and I sort of counter-punched. It got good after a statement he made which went something like this: "I'm just saying, the Republicans are stronger on family values and because of that alone I think we should all vote Republican in the next election." Not exactly a Harvard level argument, but to his credit there were more layers to it than that. His first minor point was that he now has a child and another on the way, so he thinks about things he didn't used to think about in the past. He then said that with all the crazy things going on with today's youth (school shootings, teenage pregnancies, etc.) that he thinks one of the best answers to combat all this is religion. The funny thing is, he knows my overarching view on religion, and he is of the same mind. He said, flat out, that he doesn't agree with religion, he's not religious, and it has caused lots of problems throughout history. BUT, he said, "religion teaches fundamental values to children and if more children got that, they'd be better off." Thus, kids would stop shooting themselves, having sex, getting each other pregnant, eating cookies, being fat, playing video games, and engaging in any further activities he would consider morally compromising. This has many flaws, but my two main concerns were that he would consider it the job of the president to enforce morality in this country and that it had to be a Republican to do it.

After a brief argument that the president has more important things to concern himself with than your family, I came back, casually, with examples like Tipper Gore fighting for the past billion years against bad language in music lyrics and Joe Lieberman constantly trying to get ratings on video games. There are moral people on both sides, I argued. How had morality become the property of one party. Then something else occurred to me, and I disengaged from the argument completely. You see, in years past, this would have been the part of the argument where I would have screamed Democrat while he screamed Republican and we would have listened to each other politely while knowing full well that we weren't going to convince the other of anything but our bull-headedness. I have been so terribly upset by so many of the current President's decisions involving this country over the last 7 years that I could hardly make any argument without feeling like my head was going to explode in frustration. I had been so anti-Republican after the Lewinsky scandal, then later the Iraq War decisions, that my stock quote was always something about mistakes in war apparently not being as important to the Republican party as mistakes in marriage, i.e. people die in war, not giving (or receiving) bjs. And I used to get so frustrated (again, head on verge of explosion) when people would say about the war, “well we're here now.” Yes, we're here now, because you brought us here and you should be held accountable! But those days have passed as well. The days where I fought for one side for the sake of fighting for that side or more accurately for the sake of fighting against the other side, are over. It really is time for this country to get over itself and at least start trying to see eye to eye on some things. It's amazing to me that people out there can clearly understand something as complex as Vladimir Putin stirring the pot in the middle east to keep people fighting, so that oil prices remain high and in turn his country makes tons of money, but they don't realize that we're all being pitted against one another in our own country.

What occurred to me while he continued to rant, was that the Democrats and Republicans want us to keep fighting each other because it will keep the two party system in place and, more importantly, keep us occupied. Keep us from looking for the really bad stuff, like lobbyists buying votes that keep our pharmaceuticals three times more expensive than any other country; like the lack of term limits which would keep congressmen from getting complacent and susceptible to "gifts"; like the fact that the rich ONLY get richer; like giving companies that pollute and destroy our country and our planet a pat on the back because they built a playground in Des Moines. There are larger issues to deal with than the pettiness they feed us, but we can’t see it because they’ve gotten so good at burying us in their bullshit. We don't hate each other. We don't even really dislike each other (all that much). And the funny thing is we’re not all that different. My friend and I actually agree on many things, and yet he votes consistently Republican and I vote consistently Democrat. I’m not sure if it’s because we have a different “most important issue.” It could be. But it could also be because we’ve gotten so riled up in the red state/blue state, my side versus your side pissing contest that we don’t even know what we’re arguing about any more. We’re pushing our points to win the argument, not to make things better. It’s like when you get your house painted and the company does an okay job, but you recommend them to your neighbors anyway because you want to seem like you know what you’re talking about. You want to sound smart, like you only make correct decisions and you’d be happy to pass on your genius to others.

And that's why, at that moment of debate, where my friend said that the next president had to be moral and therefore has to be Republican, I just sat back, took a deep breath and said, “Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong. But we won’t know for sure because no matter who gets elected, they won’t really give a shit about you or me.” He looked at me kind of funny, as if maybe this was some sort of ploy on my part. Like I was setting a trap. He waited a few moments more, then just went right back into his stump argument: “But don’t you think…..” I took a long drag of the Cuban cigar he himself provided me, blew smoke slowly into the air and enjoyed my most impressive moment of non-violent, non-vocal resistance. And I smiled wide. Why? Because nothing is more frustrating to fight against then someone who’s not fighting back.

What? Just because I said we should stop fighting doesn't mean I don't want to win....

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again. Time to line up and make your New Year's Resolutions! I recently received an email that was sent around the office asking what we're going to resolve to fix about ourselves this year. There was spending more time with family. Losing weight. Quitting smoking. Helping others more. And, conversely, more ME time! This was a benign email and in the grand scheme of things, I'm confident that the author's intentions were good. And yet, I couldn't help but have the knee jerk reaction of how dumb resolutions are in the first place.

My choice for New Year's Resolution this year is none of the above. New Year's Resolutions are tragically flawed endeavors and they set the person doing them up for failure, which then sends them into a terrible downward spiral leaving them worse off than when they started. Most dieters eat more, most smokers smoke more and most bad people are bad people more often. It is my opinion that the New Year's Resolution should be abolished and that people should start thinking about taking personal responsibility on an every day basis, not because it's a new year and it's something cute to talk about at work, but because it's something they WANT to do. If you want to lose some weight, get some exercise and eat a little better. If you want to quit smoking, you can do it any day of the year. It doesn't have to be January 1st for you to try to better yourself. Most things that people try to do are not easy. Quitting smoking is not easy. Losing weight is not easy. Changing any personal (or professional) habits you have are never easy propositions. The problem with the resolution is that about two weeks in you allow yourself the loophole where you say, "eh, it's only a resolution. Screw it." Then you go grab three double cheeseburgers from McDonalds and smoke a Parliament for desert. If you're just the kind of person that likes three double cheeseburgers and a Parliament, I'm not gonna judge. Your life is yours and yours alone. But don't be a hypocrite. Don't say one thing and do another. That would be like me ending this post with a resolution. Which I will not do. Because this year, my resolution is never to make another resolution again. Wait....

TED

So I've been gone for....three weeks. Sue me. Really though, if anyone out there actually does read this, sorry for the laziness. Now, first things first: watch this video!

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/140

Extremely interesting. Thanks to KW for supplying it.

Democratic Russia?

Read (or watch) for yourselves:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071127/wl_afp/russiavote_071127155431

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRvb9gO-XDA

Won't somebody please think of the children!?

Late one night last week I was falling asleep with the TV on, when something grabbed my attention, albeit momentarily and just before sleep struck. The news was on, and they were showing local high school sports scores. Just as I was about to doze off for good, I saw something that couldn't possibly be true. So I brushed it aside and fell into a soft sleep. A few days later, I realized that my fears were realized and the wussification of America had taken another bold step forward.

It was a State Soccer Championship; I don't remember the Class, I don't remember the teams, I do remember the final score: 1-1. A tie. Apparently they played two or three overtimes and then decided that the kids had had enough. They would split the state championship. This, dear readers, is the worst thing I've ever heard. Yes, it's only high school sports. Yes, it's not even a big money sport like basketball or football, but lowly soccer. And yes, it must have been pretty late, and cold, and the kids must have been just about ready for bed..... And if those are the biggest factors, it might not even be all that bad. But I'm sure they weren't the biggest factors in the decision. I have this horrible gut feeling that the big decision went something like this: "Both teams tried very hard. Both teams deserve the championship. Let's give it to both." Well, I've got news for you parents, both teams didn't deserve to get screwed. I'd bet dollars to donuts that every kid on either team would have rather lost than tied. I know I would. I played sports all my young life and I would have been pissed at age 8, at age 12, or at age 16 or 18 if this happened to me. Losing is not a good feeling, in fact it's a terrible feeling. But a necessary one. I still remember missing a penalty shot in a soccer playoff game when I was in 7th grade. We ended up losing the shootout and it still bothers me to this day. My foot caught just a touch of the ground as I swung my leg, making my foot pop up as it reached the ball and I hit a little too much of the top and side. I grounded the ball wide right of the goal as a result. I swear to you, I remember it like it was yesterday. It creates two sets of feelings in me: 1) wishing I could go back and do it again and 2) knowing that if I'm somehow ever in some similar situation I'll want the chance to redeem myself. Sounds stupid, right? Maybe childish? But I know that I'd rather have those two feelings for the rest of my life than the dull feeling of a tie. There would be no regret and thus no push for future reward. Is this what we're teaching our children???

Apparently what we're not teaching our children are the lessons of old Sesame Street episodes. The first and second season of Sesame Street were recently released on DVD with a parental warning that these episodes are not for children. One of the reasons could be that the cookie monster eats too many cookies. Not healthy. Another reason stated was the scene where a little girl is asked into a stranger's apartment and she says yes....for milk and cookies! That man could have been a killer! Strangler! Stalker! Movie Character!!! Okay, I understand bad things do happen in the world. But the inclination by parents to shield their children from the mere possibility of putting themselves in a position where they could potentially be in some sort of danger, maybe? Come on. Aren't they pulling the wool a little too far over the eyes here?!? What horrible things would a child really get out of these episodes of Sesame Street? There was an article in the New York Times Magazine where the author skewers this ultra-carefulness. The piece ends with this sentence: It (Sesame Street) encouraged us, above all, to be nice to our neighbors and to cultivate the safer pleasures that take the edge off — taking baths, eating cookies, reading. Don’t tell the kids. At least Virginia Herrernan has some common sense.

Last in my bag full of related rants today is a piece I saw on 60 minutes recently. It seems that some of those spoiled, babied, 'win just for trying' kids are starting to make it into the workplace. And they're whining. A lot. Funny thing about real life: you don't get points for trying. One of the highlights from this story was the parent of a college student calling the kid's professor on the phone and saying: "Hey, why is my kid getting a C-? I pay $20,000 a year, she should be getting an A!" Makes perfect sense, right? And (shockingly, at least to me) this trend has continued into the office, with parents calling the boss of the child to discuss their progress and their future. Talk about stunted growth! The scariest thing is, there are companies out there that are bending to the needs of these know-nothing cry babies. There's a reason you play Tag as a kid. Survival of the fittest. Same thing with dodgeball. Same thing with one team winning in gym class and the other losing. If your kid has low self-esteem because he stinks at floor hockey, take him (or her- see I can be politically correct) outside and explain to them that if you want to get better at anything in life it takes hard work and practice. Breeding an entire generation of "not-losers" is unacceptable. It has to be stopped. It will bring this country to its knees. It will strangle our workforce until it's got it right where it wants it with the last breath of our livelihoods, our economy, our work ethic, about to run out. Then, just as all is about to die, it will let go. Because it is too apathetic to finish the job. Because it doesn't have that killer instinct. And quietly, it will fade back into mediocrity.

Much ado about....something?

A gaffe. A blunder. A chink in the armor. These were some of the phrases I’ve heard to describe the week Hillary Clinton has had. First she stumbled in the debate, over illegal immigrants being issued drivers’ licenses. Then there was hubby Bill referring to her male counterparts as “boys.” (Plus, he was essentially saying they were picking on her.) But the big story – the huge, time stopping, mind blowing, jump out of your seat and ram your head right into the wall story – was that one of her aides may have (read: did) plant a question with an audience member. “Here, young college student, ask Senator Clinton this question about climate change.” This is the big story? This is a joke right? I mean, I certainly do not condone the idea of having candidates asked questions prepared by their own people. In fact, I don’t even believe a politician should be given questions from a reporter in advance of an interview, and that includes sitting presidents. You should be an adult and answer the questions asked of you. You got a degree from a much better college then I did, you’ve probably been debating for the better part of your life, you’re the leader of the free world, and yet somehow you can’t be expected to answer the hard hitting questions of Katie Couric without seeing them first? Come on. So, again, I’m not saying we should give Hillary’s camp a pass here because I don’t think anyone should do it. What bothers me is the uproar.

All over the news channels since the event they’ve talked about the outrage, the disbelief, the damage this may do to Hillary’s campaign. And yet, to this point, I’ve only heard one person (Time columnist Joe Klein) say the magic words: EVERYBODY DOES THIS! I would be shocked if a single one of those types of political events goes by without the candidate being asked a staged question. Especially in the presidential arena! And it’s not like this is new. You can date this practice back decades as a commonplace tactic candidates use to get a particular message out to the people. You think they weren’t planting questions when Kennedy took on Nixon over 40 years ago? Think about it, if no one’s going to ask a question about Social Security while I’m speaking at Columbia University, well then we’ll just plant someone to ask it because all the major news outlets are here and we need to push our position.

So why the outcry over this situation? There are a few possibilities. One reason could be simply that it’s a slow news cycle. Yes, there was a baby born with four arms and four legs in India, but that’s not going to sell papers. There’s still a war going on, but people are awfully tired of that on a day by day basis. So, here’s a crumb we can grow into a loaf with legs. Maybe even four legs! Haha! Sorry.

Another reason is the frontrunner syndrome. Any little negative that comes out of the Clinton camp is going to be scrutinized and derided more than any other campaign because she’s the leader and that’s what we do: we rip down those on high. Still another possibility is that the media has become awfully bored of writing the same story every single day: Hillary leads by 35 points; Obama, Edwards unable to gain ground. Little things like this make journalists foam at the mouth because maybe, just maybe, we might have a race here. Can Obama capitalize? Will Edwards pounce? The problem with that logic, again, is that the story only has merit if she’s actually the only one doing it. Right now she’s the only one we know of that does it. Or is she?

Yes, Hillary Clinton’s aide asked a college student to read a pre-packaged question written by her campaign. But how does that compare to our president, while campaigning for a second term, screening every person in each of his audiences? That campaign didn’t get caught screening audiences, they flat out admitted it. The questions didn’t have to be planted by their people because there was no possibility of getting a tough question. Any person who may have disagreed with the president was not let in. So where’s the real injustice here? Is it in the coverage of a staged question? Or is it in the lack of coverage in the fact that our president, The President of the United States, hasn’t been asked a legitimate question in the last six years? Which one bothers you more?

Write back to me on this. Agree with me. Disagree with me. Yell at me. Start a debate. Just talk. If anyone out there is reading this, this is the point of this site, the point of the process. Fight with me. Despite what you may have heard there’s nothing wrong with a little healthy debate, especially an un-staged one….

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

So, it's Friday night. And I'm home. Not the most exciting life. Figured I'd curl up on the couch, watch Spider-Man 3 and call it a night. I have to go into work tomorrow, so I thought I'd just chill out and get a little rest. But no such luck. At approximately 10pm, about 2/3 of the way through the worst Spidey yet, I started hearing this noise that sounded like a lawnmower. I didn't think anything of it at first, probably because the guy across the street mows his lawn virtually every day. So I'm used to the noise. But then I realized it's 10:00. And then I realized the noise was getting louder and louder. And then I saw the light. I rushed towards my living room window and split open the blinds to see: a helicopter. Actually, the lowest flying helicopter I've ever seen. And it had its spotlight shining down on the top of my street. Naturally I had to run outside to get a better look.

I stood on my porch, gawking, and realized this might be a fun time to get some video. So I went back inside and grabbed my cell phone. I brought it outside and stood on the top step, recording. But there's no zoom on my phone when shooting video, so it was only a tiny spot of light on an otherwise black screen. Realizing my failure, I started to walk back inside to put my phone down and I could have sworn there was a light on me at the last moment before I rounded the corner into my kitchen. I put the phone back down and went back out to see if I was crazy. The light didn't seem to be looking at me any more, if it ever was, but then I saw a different, slow moving light coming up my street. As the State cruiser reached the bottom of my driveway I heard a phantom voice yell, "Get inside! Get in the house and lock the doors!!!" At first I kind of pulled my neck back, like huh? Then it registered and I waved at the cop and went inside. I locked my door. And I thought......aaaaahhhhhh Middletown. I put Spider-Man back on and started watching again. About ten minutes later I got up to get a glass of water and what do I see? Oh about half a dozen cops in my back yard with flashlights and dogs. This was getting interesting. So I called the Middletown PD.

-Middletown Dispatch: "Middletown Police Department, dispatch."
-Me: "Yeah, how ya doin. I live on Hillside Ave and there's a chopper hovering over my house. Has been for about half an hour now."
-Middletown Dispatch: "Yup. There's a guy on the loose. Stay inside and keep your doors locked. Don't leave!"
-Me: Uh. Okay. Thanks?
-Middletown Dispatch: Right.

So, having done what he said, I figure what the hell. Guess that's all I'm getting. So I lay back down on the couch, more Spidey. About 40 more minutes go by and I'm watching what I'm pretty sure (i.e. desperately hoping) is the final fight scene between the ridiculous Sand guy and Foreman from That 70s Show versus the two loser heroes, when the chopper noise, which never totally left, starts getting louder and louder and louder. So loud, the fork on my table starts to dance and the windows begin to rattle. Visions of Baghdad start running through my head. Or at least visions of scenes from movies that had Baghdad and choppers in them. And then, from directly outside my front window comes the brightest light you'll ever see, shining down perfectly through the slightly slanted blinds, right on me. Literally, right at ME. Laying on the couch, under a blanket, with a big shocked/shitty grin on my face. I slowly pull my hands out from under the covers, because I don't want the sniper I imagine to be targeting my forehead to get the wrong idea and think I've got a semi-automatic hidden under my brown fleece blanket. I slowly move my hands across my chest and intertwine my fingers. The chopper sits, stares, sees what it wants to see, and slowly, methodically, glides away.

It's now 11:37pm. I still haven't finished watching that dumb movie. They still haven't caught their fugitive. The lights and the chopper and the neverending stream of cops still linger on my street. I'm sitting in front of my computer in gleeful disbelief. And all I can think to write is: just another night in the ghetto.

Losing my religion: follow-up

I would imagine that some people who read my post "Losing My Religion" might be inclined to think I exaggerated. Well, here's a modicum of proof. (You might have to copy and paste it)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102301806.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Spooked

Chris McCandless has been dead for 15 years, but man did he spook me last night. For those of you not familiar with McCandless, he's the main character in the non-fiction novel (and now playing movie) Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer. 15 years ago he walked out into the Alaskan wilderness and did not return. I received the book from a friend about five days ago. I read it in three sittings. Yes, that good. But more than that, I finished the book last night around midnight and shut my light off and tried to fall asleep. No such luck. I couldn't get the kid out of my head. Maybe because I had grown so quickly and fully entrenched in his life. Maybe because I felt for his family and the unnecessary loss of life. Maybe because I saw some of him in me. I hate to say that, because it's a recurring thought throughout the book. Certain characters relate to him. Lots of people take to him. The author even makes no bones about his felling of connectivity with the kid and furthers that by spending a chapter talking about his own life and the parallels it had to McCandless'. But I did feel connected to him too. I laid in bed, eyes staring at the dark ceiling and all I could see was the picture on page one of Into the Wild. It's a picture of McCandless, sitting comfortably next to the bus in which he would eventually expire. The picture is probably a good one, before he became completely emaciated and run through. But it's a chilling shot for me. He's thin, he looks frightening and he looks young.

I thought about the picture and I kept getting this "ghost in the room" feeling. But I don't believe in ghosts and even if I did, there would be no logical reason that McCandless would visit me simply because I just read a book about him. This book was a national bestseller. He'd have to visit a lot of people if that was his post-life calling. But still, the feeling sustained. I felt like someone was watching me and judging me. I wanted to get up and do something; watch tv, make a sandwich, something to distract myself. But instead, I let it overcome me. Just like I thought he would do. I had the realization that my problem, my mental state, was in fact me. McCandless and the book about him just brought out so many things I hadn't thought about in so long. Things I had buried once and for all. And when they were unearthed, my brain freaked out. My thoughts, I realized, were running furiously. And the main problem I had was when did I stop questioning everything?

When I was young I would smoke a little dope and try to figure out the answers to the universe's most important questions. It was always a circular series of thoughts that lead nowhere. But I was asking questions and felt like I was capable of obtaining the answers. I had this stupid theory that since, when I was in math classes in school, I could always solve the extra credit problems, the most insanely difficult extra credit stuff, even if I got a 70 on the actual test, the big bad problem was almost always figured out by me. Well, I thought that if I could do it with that, I could handle the biggest problems of man. I was wrong. And what I learned on top of that is that if you try too hard to answer these questions, if you run your circular logic until it makes you dizzy, you may not ever find your way out. People go crazy, literally crazy, trying to figure this shit out, I thought. In certain circumstances I'm sure that's true. But people go crazy for less as well. I decided to live life for what it is, not what I hoped, wondered, hypothesized, or dreamed it to be. In the process I stopped asking some of the most important questions life has to offer. And now, Chris McCandless, 15 years in the grave, was telling me to start asking again. That spooked me. It spooked me that I hadn't asked anything in so long. And it spooked me that if I did, I may still have no answers and thus subject myself to the possibility of falling into the proverbial K-hole. I'm not sure what I'll do, but I do know this: as I was trying desperately to fall asleep last night Chris McCandless was telling me to do one thing......WAKE UP.

Losing my religion

So, I was just watching some crappy lawyer TV show (because I still secretly want to be a lawyer when I grow up, I just don't want to go to school for ten more years) and one of the fake cases was a girl suing her high school because they only teach abstinence and she had unprotected sex and got HIV. They told her that condoms didn't work and the only thing a person could do was be abstinent. So she felt the school was partially responsible for her contracting HIV. The school's argument was that if they taught sex ed as opposed to abstinence, they wouldn't get federal funding, so there would be no teaching. This raised my eyebrows a bit. I wondered, as I watched, if this was true. So I did some research and found that things like this are happening. In fact, I was turned on to strange things like this some months ago when I learned that the government no longer gives money to operations in Africa to combat AIDS if they're giving out condoms or teaching......instead of, say, preaching? So the point I've taken oh so long to get to is: religion is making a mess out of, well, a whole lot of things these days. Sure, I can sit here and bark about the crazy Muslims and the hundreds of virgins they're promised for blowing up innocent people, but how about cleaning up our own back yard first. The crazy folks that have taken control of what is politely referred to as the Religious Right, are on this insane mission to keep people from having sex. Wait, is that what they're trying to do? Maybe they're trying to make people miserable? Maybe it is the goal of the religious right to get you to stop having sex, stop doing anything remotely scandalous, turn all your attention to God, pay the church handsomely and watch while they go and spend it. On what you ask? Well, hookers for one. Jim Baker anyone? I mean, it's like the chicken and the egg here: Jim Baker grows up religious, suppresses all sorts of urges, gets famous, acts out all the urges that he can't bottle up anymore, then comes back to religion to "save him." But what he's really being saved from is the damage that religion caused him in the first place.

Ok, I'm getting off the point here. My point was not to take shots at the religious right, it was to take shots at the overly-religious in general. And to keep religion out of our schools and our politics. Religion is a series of fabrications, hypocritical truisms, fear tactics and war mongering. I mean, really, I'd bet 90% of all wars in the history of the planet were started because of religion. Take out WWI, WWII, Vietnam (although that was capitalism vs. communism, which you could argue are two opposing religions) and there a lots of wars left in history which were started because of religion. How about the Crusades alone, for starters. With religion comes problems, and now what seems to be happening is that religion has seeped into our school systems. Teachers NOT teaching evolution, schools being forced to teach abstinence, religious curricula, it's all insane! Does anyone remember separation of church and state? It was kind of a big thing the founding fathers focused on. Why? Because religion caused so much trouble in their everyday lives!!! Thomas Jefferson: Maybe stoning people who have slightly different religious ideas isn't such a good idea. George Washington: Hmm. Maybe not. And there you have it. I honestly don't know what the goal is of the insanely religious person, but I do know that it may just be that they're unable to see the world for what it actually is: scary, dangerous and problematic. People should be prepared for that. Kids especially.

A quick post script: I realize that just about anyone who reads this will be religious. Most people are. But you're not crazy. At least I don't think you are. I didn't write this to offend the average person who goes to church every Sunday and tries to live a good life. I try to live a good life too (I don't always do that well, but I try...). My mom goes to church every week and I don't think she's brainwashed or evil. There's nothing wrong with the ten commandments. It's the people who take religion over common sense that bug me. And this was for them. Not you. Sinner.

The Boss

I own two Bruce Springsteen albums. One came out 5 years ago. The other came out this week. And here I was, standing in the Hartford Civic Center with people twice my age, people who owned 7 times as many albums as I, people who should resent me for jumping on the bandwagon. And what do they project? They project: happy to have you on board. It’s about time. You don’t know what you’ve been missing, but now that you’re here, you can tell others.

Like a religious experience. That’s what I kept thinking. Granted I’d never had a religious experience. I’ve seen them on TV. They looked ridiculous. But here I was, doing things I never really do. Throwing my fist in the air, singing not just so I could hear myself, but so anyone anywhere near me could hear. Chanting with the apostles, that this may be the best moment of my life. Whether that turns out to be true is very debatable. (The beers may have had a say in that statement) I have no kids, so that could be the number one moment. I have never won anything, done anything different, special. I’ve never been recognized for my “talents.” But then, neither had anyone in that arena. And that was the celebration. Celebrating blue collar. Celebrating middle class. And celebrating great music, as one.

Radio Nowhere strikes a chord. Ties that Bind I don’t know but I love. Lonesome Day still fits.

His exuberance, his youthful bliss, whether true or staged, the look on his face when calling on Clarence Clemmons. It's all priceless; without time or space. It is you, at 15, with your first new favorite song. It is innocence.

The men in front of me were lifers. They chanted all the old stuff. This show, like all the others, represented their high school years. Like they were listening to the soundtrack of their lives, they watched with baited breath. They screamed, these men in their mid 40s, like their daughters at a Christina Aguilera concert. They felt, just for these moments, that they were still 18. They had no kids, no wives. Only themselves, best friends, in a moment in time untouched by any cynicism.

The show went on.

Even when the bandleader started to espouse his political views (and granted, he did it only once in a 3 hour show), the people who once were his minions and now disagreed with his blatant “un-Americanism,” only grumbled politely. They heard his cry for the Bill of Rights, the slaying of the Constitution, the wiretapping, the black sites and while one could easily tell who was with him in this fight and who was against, they never waivered in their love for him; just in their love for his current views. If Rosalita started right after that small rant, all would be forgiven. Instead, a song from the new album accompanied the speech, and all those opposed retired to the restroom to wait for the glorious days to return to the stage.

While in line I heard a man in his early 20s ask a man in his 50s if he had heard the new album. The older man said he hadn’t, but he heard it was good. The young man confirmed this, but said that he was a product of The Rising (as if this meant the two were different). The older man responded, “So am I.”

We are all products of The Rising these days. Products of the position this country, this administration, these politicians, have put us in. We are all products of the effects of 9/11, of terrorism and its associated fears and misrepresentations, of the war and its endless struggles. The Rising brought certain things to life, brought certain populations together, instead of forcing them against, brought the realization of what could be done if we all combined forces and minds, rather than pitting Red against Blue. There were personal and political gains to be made from 9/11 and many made them. But, despite our individual views, we are all products of The Rising. The older man in the beer line knew that better than anyone. He knew the point was not age, but wisdom. And wisdom never grows old.

Virgin Post

So, yeah, I'm new at this. And my good friend...well, we'll just call her Fairy, she's been telling me for a while that I should do one of these things. I never wanted to, but lately I've been writing a lot and who's reading it? Nobody. Not that this is gonna get picked up by the New York Times or anything, but still. Maybe some random person will read it and we can get a conversation going about politics, or the war, or sports, or movies or whether or not you put mayonnaise on a ham and egg sandwich. Anything, get it? So let me start with this quote from one of my favorite books. One of the most messed up ever. If you know it, you're just as screwed up as I am and you should read this blog daily: "....and while waiting for the new little cowardly gestures yet to come, since you like an absence of descriptive or didactic skills in a writer, let me rip out these few ghastly pages from my notebook of the damned."