Category: Politics

Politics

Jury Duty in the ATL

So, I had jury duty this past Monday. For the most part, it was uneventful. I had to be there at 8:15am with about 200 other people. After I checked in, I retired to a surprisingly comfortable chair and alternated between playing poker on my cell phone and reading my poker book (yes, I’ve turned into a poker geek). When I wasn’t doing that, I was people watching. As you can imagine, it was a pretty diverse group. The common thread we all had was our annoyance at having to be there for jury duty.

As I was scanning around the room, I noticed this older woman across the aisle from me. Her profile looked a lot like Jane Fonda. I was thinking about how much she looked like Jane when she turned her head toward me. It was Jane Fonda! I know what you’re thinking, but I’m crapping you negative here. I am 99.9% sure it was her.

I was thinking that surely Jane could get out of jury duty, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. She’s a very down to earth person, of course she’s politically active and so I imagine she would perform her civic duty when asked.

This is actually my second Jane sighting in Atlanta. The other time was at Grant Central Pizza next to Grant Park. She was sitting in a booth with her daughter and grandchild sipping on a Guinness draft. I thought that was pretty cool.

The other weird thing about all of this is the fact that my mom looks a LOT like Jane Fonda. When I was growing up, she would often be stopped in grocery stores by hysterical moms wanting an autograph. This was back when Jane was immensely popular due to her workout videos.

So, anyway, I saw Jane Fonda at jury duty. By the way, we both got dismissed without having to serve on a trial.

Beating a Dead Schiavo

This is fucking ridiculous.

The autopsy results for Terry Schiavo showed that she was in a persistent vegetative state. This should have been good enough to finally silence all of the asshole politicians who slandered Michael Schiavo’s name and weighed in with their unqualified opinions, but apparently not. Now ol’ Jeb wants to investigate what took Michael so long to call 911 15 years ago.

I am so so so sick of this damn case. The only good that came out of it for me was the discussion in our family about living wills. My aunt was especially vocal in her announcements to anyone within earshot that she would not want to be kept alive in that state under any circumstances.

Well, when she had a massive brain aneurysm two weeks ago and was being kept alive by a respirator with no brain activity whatsoever, it was very easy for the family to make a decision about what to do. For that I’m thankful.

Leave Michael Schiavo alone.

Very Worrying

I read this headline in my newsreader today:

Reuters – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, starting a two-day trip to Moscow, said on Tuesday the Kremlin’s tightening grip on power and Russia’s pliant media were “very worrying.”

Here’s some search and replace fun:

Reuters – Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, starting a two-day trip to Washington D.C., said on Tuesday the GOP’s tightening grip on power and America’s pliant media were “very worrying.”

Social Security Stories

The Democracy for America web site has a cool little feature that lets you search for Social Security stories in your area. It’s a good way to show how well Social Security works, how many people have benefited from it and why it should be saved, not dismantled. This is a story I found near me:

Priscilla from Atlanta, GA wrote:

I retired recently. I received a small payout from my employer which I rolled over to an IRA. I made several adjustments to my 401K and IRA plans, too. I started saving for my retirement as soon as I could, but the amount was cut in half during the stock market crash of 2000, never really recovering. But the real story here is that of all the accounts I had to deal with, Social Security was the only one that worked smoothly. I had to prod and cajole investment banks to carry out my wishes. I never really felt I could trust them to do what they were supposed to do. My Social Security payments come like clockwork, and there were no mistakes. I am very grateful that our government saw fit to provide some income, however modest, for us when we no longer work full time. It allows us to maintain a dignified standard of living without burdoning our children, and in my case to do free-lance work in a field I love.

Swearing at the Swearee

As I sat idling in endless traffic yesterday, surrounded by W stickers and noxious emmisions belched by SUV’s, I got the added bonus of listening to W’s inauguration highlights on NPR. Oh joy!

I just have to point out how it seemed very appropriate that Rehnquist sounded like Darth Vader thanks to his tracheotomy. I couldn’t help but make a Photoshopped picture of what I imagined in my brain. Enjoy.

Photo of George W Bush with Rehnquist as Darth Vader

The Dude Prophetizes

September 11, 1991. Exactly ten years before the attacks. Coincidence? Yes. Weird? Definitely. I need to go sit down for a while. Mind if I do a J?

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Big Lebowski. It’s a brilliant comedy that’s endlessly quotable and has some of the most memorable characters in recent film history. There is so much going on in this movie, that I could take up your whole browser trying to summarize it, so I’m just going to have to assume at this point that you’ve seen it. If you haven’t, go rent it, watch it and come back to this web page. It ain’t going nowhere.

One of the themes of the movie is unchecked aggression. Some direct parallels are made between Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and The Dude’s harassment by Jackie Treehorn (his goons pee on The Dude’s rug). At one point, The Dude’s stoned brain rattles off a line from something he had overheard on TV: “this aggression will not stand.” It’s a line from George H.W. Bush’s speech about Kuwait that the Dude heard as he bought some half & half from Ralph’s grocery store. The Dude is so broke, incidentally, that he actually has to write a check for $0.69.

Watching The Dude try to piece together all the events of his life is fun to watch. He is such a burnout that his synapses don’t always connect and he stumbles as he tries to solve the mysteries of the storyline. It’s not entirely unlike watching George W Bush try to make his way through a press conference. Which brings me to Iraq again and our recent history with that country.

At this point the reasons for America’s war with Iraq are so obscured by excuses and lies and manipulations that I sometimes feel like The Dude trying to piece it all together. 42% of Americans believe Iraq was DIRECTLY involved with the attacks of 9/11 (Newsweek poll from Sept ’04, found on this page). Almost half the country believes something that has repeatedly been proven to be false. What the hell?

So, what am I talking about? Oh, yeah, the Big Lebowski, Iraq, Kuwait, The Dude, 9/11, etc. Well, imagine my surprise when it was pointed out to me today that there is a prophetic message in the Big Lebowski that ties all of this together (kind of like The Dude’s rug).

Remember earlier when The Dude writes that check for $0.69 at Ralph’s? Well, check out the date on that check:

The Big Lebowski - the Dude's Check

September 11, 1991. Exactly ten years before the attacks. Coincidence? Yes. Weird? Definitely. I need to go sit down for a while. Mind if I do a J?

Buy the Big Lebowski on Amazon.com