Obama's Speech - The Audacity of Hopelessness

I watched President Obama's speech Tuesday and tried to keep an open mind, but found it difficult. Despite being a supporter of Obama, what I saw was not inspirational, it was disappointing. Obama gives good speech, but at some time the rhetoric has to go away and there has to be some real substance. Talking about holding BP's feet to the fire is fine, but as time passes and the leak is finally plugged, the legal realities of this whole affair will eventually come down to BP digging in and fighting every attempt to extract money from them and hiding behind their Congressionally gifted liability limit. Sending National Guard to the area is a nice idea, but what is really needed is a whole lot of ships to skim the oil that has yet to make it to shore. Pledging to clean up the area is a nice promise, but the government still hasn't cleaned up the area, post Katrina.

I found it curious when Obama decided that he would favor more offshore drilling under the premise that we are too dependent on foreign oil. I found it curious because, as a Harvard guy, he must know that BP is a British corporation (Ltd. I think they call 'em) and all the oil they suck out of the earth goes into an international market. This guy is still trying to cut deals with Congress and big business after the finance and health insurance wars? Either Obama is getting some really bad advice or he is finally coming around to the reality of the Beltway.

Obama ran on a platform of hope and real change. He asked for and was given a mandate. This latest speech offered little hope and sounded eerily like Bush. His anti-intellectual blather about blessing the fishermen and how he wants God to bless America is insulting to anyone with a drop off brainpower. Religion and God is who cowards and conservatives turn to when they don't have a plan or are befuddled by nature and life.

Yesterday I watched an old documentary about Viet Nam and was reminded how our government lied to us through five presidencies about that whole debacle. Nothing has changed that I can see. In the day when big business started to exert too much influence over the lives of people the government turned to anti-trust litigation to reinstate competition. Times have changed and big business got a lot smarter. From banking to healthcare to energy, big business is in control and has learned well how to buy influence on capital hill and make sure that Congress has their back.

Obama promised a lot to get elected. He promised health insurance reform and caved on that, he promised to bring our troops home, yet proceeded to send more troops into Afghanistan and he promised to take this country in a new direction toward cleaner energy and independence of foreign oil. How's that working out?

What I saw Tuesday night was a President who, like a boxer, has taken a lot of body punches and is starting to weaken. He calls the chairman of BP into his office and the guy walks out with an arrogance that is telling about how unafraid big business is of government. Legally and politically there is only so much Obama can do. What he can do is go back out on the campaign trail and rally the citizens to start lobbying Congress themselves and to start demanding accountability from elected officials, exposing the economic links to their voting records.

This is not the time for God to bless America, this is the time to take the road less traveled and provide some insight and leadership. We got neither of those Tuesday night. The President going on TV is looking more and more like an SNL opening skit. Is there hope? Well there is an election coming up in November. Maybe, just maybe, the trend in this country toward independent voting and the rejection of party politics will have some impact. Voting is the only real influence citizens have in the game. I'm not particularly thrilled by the choices I'm being offered in Illinois come November, but until real hope and real change is offered up, I'm going to continue to vote against incumbents. I see little hope for real change up until the time when money is taken out of politics, when there are term limits are set for Congress and when a permanent, independent special prosecutor's office is established just to prosecute elected officials. I'm tired of being lied to.

Until we as Americans start feeling a little more audacious, nothing will change.

A Special Place In Hell

Joran Van Der Sloot the primary suspect in the disappearance, and I guess now we can assume murder, of Natalie Holloway was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of a young Peruvian woman. The woman's body was found beaten and stabbed wrapped in a blanket in Van Der Sloot's hotel room.

Eerily enough this all happened almost five years to the day when Natalie Holloway disappeared in Aruba. Apparently Van Der Sloot's m.o. would be to pick up young woman at night spots, administer a date rape drug and then murder them. Van Der Sloot has traveled much of the world and one can only wonder about the trail of dead bodies that he has left behind, bodies of young women who had no families to care perhaps.

I have little doubt this young man qualifies as a sociopath. His demeanor during the months following Holloway's murder revealed someone with little or no conscience who seemed to enjoy the media attention. Once back in his native Holland and feeling confident that he had gotten away with his crime, he even gave a video-taped confession to an undercover reporter.

As with most sociopath serial killers, Van Der Sloot couldn't stop himself. He had to indulge the urge to kill again and his narcissistic personality or subconscious desire to be caught left a gruesome murder scene replete with clues pointing in his direction. Very sloppy this time leaving a body and blood and video evidence galore.

Van Der Sloot will now inhabit some Peruvian jail pending trial and a potential life sentence. One can only hope that Van Der Sloot feels some sense of morality and tells the truth about Natalie Holloway to give her family some closure. It would be nice if he outed the Kalpo brothers and anyone else involved in Holloway's murder, so that all those responsible are punished, as well, but I doubt he will feel any remorse.

Coincidentally, I recently watched the DVD of Lovely Bones a movie dealing with the murder of a young girl. The movie drew a good counterpoint to the good and evil of the world, suggesting that one cannot exist without the other. Just the other day DNA evidence led to charges against a man in Illinois in connection with the rape and murder of a six year old girl several years back. I shudder to think of the statistics nationwide of these types of crimes. There are a lot of Van Der Sloots out there.

There is a lot of evil in the world and a lot of evil people. Those who believe in a God and practice a religion can probably find some explanation that makes sense. Lovely Bones was very good at putting a spiritual spin on the heinous. I cannot. I can't imagine what motivates someone to kill an innocent woman or a child and then to just dump the body into a river or the sea. I can't find a spiritual or a rational meaning to all this. This is a special kind of evil, no doubt. Being an atheist I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, but when I consider someone like Van Der Sloot, I do wish there was a Hell; a special Hell, maybe that Hell is in Peru.

Almost Perfect

Last night a baseball pitcher came one play away from pitching a perfect game. A bad call by an umpire on a play at first base prevented that from happening. In the aftermath there has been the uproar to use instant replay in such instances to prevent bad calls in the future.

It is true that technology exists to correct errors in judgment at sporting events. I watched the replay a few times at full speed and have to say that the play was very close and in the moment the call could have gone either way, in my estimation. Humans are not perfect, sometimes mistakes are made. It is too the umpire's credit that he made that call based upon his best perception of what took place without regard to the ongoing perfect game.

The problem I have is this. If they are going to use technology to try to make the game perfect, then go all the way. Why not set up some type of laser system to start calling balls and strikes. Why ask the third and first base umpires if a hitter went too far on a checked swing, set up a laser beam in front of home plate. Put sensors on the top of the outfield wall and the foul polls and the foul lines. Put a sensor in the bases, in the ball and on the players uniforms to register tags. Etc., etc., etc.

Or, in the alternative, leave the game alone. Baseball has existed since the late 1800s pretty much as it is today. There have been different eras come and go, but the basic game is as it has been. Part of the charm of baseball is that unlike a violent game like football, it is very pastoral, very friendly and very human. They players don't wear helmets that obscure their faces and body armor. The players interact with other players on the field, as well as, with the umpires. The game has no time constraints. The fans are invited in, not keep away.

Maybe, just maybe the game is perfect now. One more perfect game doesn't mean much in the cosmos of baseball. If the game could withstand the steroid era, it will survive this. Sometimes perfection comes with a few flaws. I know this to be true. I've been a Cubs fan since I was a kid.

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Gay Or Not To Be Gay, That Is The Question - Mark Kirk

There is supposition that Mark Kirk, Senate wannabe from Illinois is Gay. Gay or straight, we do know for sure that Kirk is a liar, not that you can't assume that about most any politician.

I disagree with those who say that politicians personal lives are their own business. I think anyone who is asking for the trust of the voters to represent us should be willing to be open and honest about every aspect of their lives. The paradox is that this is what keeps a lot of good people from running for office; they like having their privacy. I also don't believe that one's sexual exploits necessarily disqualifies them from being a good representative. I, for one, wish that Jack Ryan had stayed in the race against Obama.

What I prefer is honesty. I didn't really care that Clinton was a horn dog, but I found it patently insulting that he lied about it. Same goes for Tiger Woods, John Edwards and all the rest. Years ago when Billie Jean King got outed she held a press conference and just admitted everything. It was refreshing and became an immediate non-issue. Of course BJK is a class act, something that cannot be said for the rest who just can't own up to the truth.

Crazy Heart, Lazy Filmmakers

I wasted my Monday evening watching yet another formulaic, canned product from Hollywood called Crazy Heart.

I gave this movie a shot because I am a Jeff Bridges fan and have enjoyed this actor's work over the years going back to his role in The Iceman Cometh. I didn't expect much from this film and I wasn't disappointed. There is a saying in literature and film making that there are only a finite number of story lines. The trick in writing and film making is coming up with something original using one of these plots. The producers, writers and director of this film failed to do so.

The plot went like this. A washed up country singer who drinks and smokes too much meets an inspirational single mother and bonds with her kid. He stages a mini-comeback only to self-destruct by drinking and driving and losing the kid while imbibing at the shopping mall. The mother wisely chooses child over washed up drunk. Washed up drunk goes into rehab, heads down the right path, but loses the woman to an invisible, responsible man. Hmmm, where have we seen this before.

Jeff Bridges is an effortless actor who always seems like he is playing himself, ala Clint Eastwood, but still manages to sell you the character. Is this the stuff Oscars are made of, apparently so since he got one for hobbling through this screenplay acting drunk and stupid and doing a passable job of signing country and western songs. If this is acting, I'm Lawrence Olivier; I can hobble, drink and sing bad C & W with the best of em. The point here is that one gets the impression that from the writers to the actors, no one really made an effort making this movie and I find that somewhat insulting to those of us who invested time and money to watch it.

Yet, all in all, to it's credit the movie wasn't offensive and the writers and director did take the high road and end it on a positive note with the two main characters going back to the point of inception in their relationship with seemingly no hard feelings and no weepy deaths.

Movie making has devolved to the point where there is precious little originality. I can count on one hand the number of movies I have seen in my lifetime that I considered to be surprisingly original despite being based on familiar story lines. Among these are A Clockwork Orange, The Usual Suspects, Unforgiven, Vanilla Sky, The Crying Game and pretty much anything Quentin Tarantino does. Keep in mind that Crazy Heart wasn't what I would consider a bad film. If you want to see a bad film check out anything George Clooney tries to produce and/or direct. It also strayed from the safe harbor of big blockbuster, cartoon genre films such as Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, etc. So there was a bit of risk-taking here, just not enough.

It is a popular perception that the creative gene in Hollywood has been damaged by the toxic influence of television that has taken our children away from the written page. I don't doubt that television has had a negative influence on movie making. Quite a few movies are now produced based upon television shows/series. I don't see this as a particularly good trend since....well just turn on the TV for yourself to see the crap that is thrown at us from the inside of the screen. Can an American Idol movie be far behind. Oh wait, I think Hugh Grant already made one of those.

So what is a film fan to do? I search Netflix for old movies with big name stars from the days when there were big name stars. Marlene Dietrich, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Lee Marvin, Bette Davis are some searches that have led me back to the time when movies were not special effect-based, but simply produced, and character/story driven. These movies were not necessarily original in the way the plots were manipulated, but they were meticulously crafted, well-written and acted by actors and actresses who felt a responsibility to their audience. They feel original. When I watch one of these films I feel invested in it, like reading a good book that one wishes would never end. When I watched Crazy Heart, I couldn't wait for it to end. It's a subtle distinction, but one that movie makers should start paying attention to.

Lost TV: The Final Chapter

This week gave us the final episodes of Lost and some other show I have never seen and don't care about. I waste enough time watching the Cubs wallow in mediocrity via my DVR to more than compensate for all the other television programming I consider myself fortunate to miss.

I also don't watch David Letterman, Jay Leno, or any of the other talk show wanks. I've seen a few minutes of Dancing With The Stars, although their definition of star and mine seem to differ. I don't idolize anyone who appears on American Idol and don't sympathize with anyone who wants anything to do with Donald Trump or is three hundred pounds overweight. Along with Campbell Brown, I've given up on CNN. It was getting too painful watching Wolf Blitzer pretend to be a journalist when all he has become is a tabloid TV host. The History Channel seems determined to repeat history as well as the same episode about Hitler ad infinitum. On and on, through a seemingly infinite number of channels the large media corporations that control the public airwaves have managed to take an amazing medium and reduce it to so much pond scum.

I remember when cable TV was on the horizon and it was billed as revolutionary in the sense that since it was "pay for view" there would be no commercials. How did that work out? For my roughly seventy dollars a month I get Vince the Sham Wow guy and the Progressive Insurance bitch. They can't even let Billy Mays RIP; he's still screaming at me about some goofy device or product nightly.

Television like most innovations (with the possible exception of the shopping cart) has never come close to reaching it's potential. Television could educate, inform and oversee. If used wisely television could put an end to corrupt government and public education could be accessible to every household, regardless of SES. Real public debate could be had over crucial issues that effect us all and we could finally become a true democracy. Instead we get garbage faux reality shows, Jerry Springer chastising boyfriends for cheating on their girlfriends with transsexuals and Maury Povich outing baby daddies.

Welcome to America. We are truly Lost in this country. We could demand so much more, but settle for so much less. The mediocrity in this country is palpable. Instead of striving to be the best and the brightest, we have become the fattest,most illiterate and uninformed. Television could provide us with so much more. Instead of Jillian Michaels screaming at fat people, there could actually be intelligent programing on how the average person can lose weight and get fit. CNN could actually hire investigative reporters and expose the hypocrisy that goes on in Congress and start holding the politicians feet to the fire. How about assigning one reporter to "embed" with each legislator and follow them daily? Educators could appear twenty four hours a day conducting classes for all levels from kindergarten to graduate school.

Contrary to popular belief competition does not breed excellence it breeds mediocrity. and mediocrity is the byproduct of greed. Unlike Jonas Salk, most of those with the answers are in it for the profit. As a society we have all bought into this Gordon Gekko mentality that greed is good. Just look at sports as an example. Instead of striving to be the best, athletes look for ways to cheat to gain an advantage. Greed and cheating has made a joke out of the baseball record book. When the proverbial national pastime is exposed as a sham, what does that tell you? Enjoy your notoriety and wealth Lance Armstrong, you have revealed yourself. Pretty soon Tiger can have all the barmaids, strippers and porn stars one man can handle. But, what he will never have is a clean reputation and a wife who truly loves him and supports him.

Television not only reflects this trend in society it feeds it. The bar comes down lower every day and no one seems to care. Good values and strong morals are for suckers. So it follows that television is for suckers too. I've about had my fill....just as soon as baseball season is over. There is no bigger sucker than a Cubs fan.

What's So Supreme About It?

It seems like Obama is trying to think outside the lines about appointing a new Supreme Court justice. Taking into consideration the trials and troubles Presidents face when trying to get anyone confirmed, he opted for a safe choice. The Republicans have little to challenge this woman on and will just appear silly if they draw out the process, probably annoying most women voters along the way. She has no judicial history, and so far all they can come up with is her apprehension about allowing military recruiters on campus to solicit students.

I think it is a good idea to appoint someone who is relatively young, brings a fresh perspective and might actually consider the practical aspects of ruling on landmark cases. It is obvious that Roberts and the boys are oblivious to the real world implications of what they do . Last time I checked corporations are fictitious entities, but according to Roberts et. al. corporations have the same rights as individuals to express free speech under the Constitution. What next, Santa Claus can run for Congress? Oh, wait, Congress already acts like Santa Claus when it comes to giving away tax dollars and friendly legislation to donors.

The Supreme Court should be the voice of reason and wisdom when it comes to the dog and pony show we see in Congress more often than not. They shouldn't be political and should reflect the national conscience when it comes to things like making war, interfering with personal liberties and legislators basically taking bribes from contributors. Guys, most of us on main street are against it.

It has frequently been stated that if women ran the country there would be no war. Maybe this woman will bring the right influence and temperament to the court that is sorely needed to make that a reality.