Monday is "Old Fart's Night at the theater. Since I no longer go down to Des Moines for Acanthus meetings I need something to do so I take advantage of the movie special ($4.50) for those of us now designated as Seniors. (Who ever thought I would be a senior?)
Well I went to see The Forbidden Kingdom with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. A typical Kung Fu action flick with lots of well choreographed action. You can read the story at Wikipedia.
I did enjoy the movie although I thought some of the action sequences were a bit long but over all I would recommend that you go see it if you like the genre.
In Other News.
Jimmy Carter is on The Daily Show right now. He has written a book about his mother. You know he gets a lot of criticism for his presidency but I will tell you this. Our country/society/world would be a lot better off if he were still president. He is still trying to do what he can to promote peace in our world and I probably admire him more than any other person on the world stage today.
Now I am going to make a few Comments about Saturday Night. I thought that Craig Ferguson was mostly masterful at the big Washington Dinner. Not as good as Stephen Colbert a couple of years ago but he had just enough balance in his act to make me feel like he had done his job and not abrogated his responsibility to Zing it to those who were supposed to be Zinged.
I thought Bushie came across as a real jerk. How did this man get to be our president? I can remember in my previous studies that George Washington had such a presence about him and a dignity that people respected him and I believe it was Abigail Adam who made some remark such as "Mark the perfect man." I may be misremembering this but I do know that he maintained and established the dignity of the office of President. When Bush was elected he made some remark about bringing dignity back to the White House. I don't see how climbing up on a chair to make himself higher than the young man standing next to him or rubbing the bald head of one of the men seated at the head table is bringing dignity to the White House. Not only has he run our economy into the ground (our dollar is worth little) and caused the price of gas to climb higher and higher (so I couldn't make as many trips to Des Moines even if I did feel wanted) he has ruined our reputation around the world so that, as an American, I would hesitate to travel overseas. It is just sad.
The press has abrogated its responsibility. They are supposed to be impartial and to report on news. Instead they cater to the White House, spend way too much time worrying about celebrities and kowtowing to big business. They are more of a problem than part of the solution. Whatever happened to the Fourth Estate?
Novelist Jeffrey Archer in his work The Fourth Estate made the observation: "In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the 'Estate General'. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, 'Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.'"Yeah Right! They should be more important. They should be the watchdogs and they should be digging out the outrageous things that are being done to erode our freedoms and diminish the promise of America. Instead they think they are the celebrities and indeed they are very much impressed with themselves. Instead of working behind the scene to improve things they are partisan and continue to cover up things for the administration. In fact many of them are on the Bush payroll. I feel I get more real news from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report than I do from the news. Plus I feel that they are more truthful and they are more willing to ask tough questions.
For that matter watching Boston Legal I learned more about the Supreme Court (which has also abrogated their responsibilities) and its partisan members and the way they have turned things back in this country. 5 to 4 decisions are the norm and they are along party lines. David Kelly's commentaries on our society (couched as entertainment) in his shows have done more to open my eyes than the news shows. The Supreme Court is supposed to be fair and impartial (No wait that is Fox News - Yeah Right!) - I don't think so. Have you heard the term Unitary Government? That is what we have right now. Bush thinks he is the only Branch of government that counts. He ignores the Constitution (" a Goddamn piece of paper") and regularly voids parts of legislation which he doesn't like through the use of "signing Statements." I shudder to think what will happen if we have another Republican Supreme Court appointment.
I wish the Democrats would get over this haggling and get behind a candidate and start showing McSame for what he is.. A Bush clone. (Oh this is going to get some people upset with me.) I could go on but I think I should quit. This is probably better that the pity parties I have been having. I am still having "sad attacks" but I guess that goes with being me. Perhaps tonight I can get a good nights sleep and not wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 fussing about Sombody. Get over it Jay! ARTYAL, Love someone and give them a HUG. j
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