Tuesday, January 29, 2008

My quiet movie review spins into an out-of-control rant "celebration"

Yesterday Mrs. Dada and I went to see Daniel Day O'Conner (whoops, misspoke, sorry!) in the movie There Will Be Blood. The high point of the movie came when they mentioned the home of my formative teen years: Santa Paula (California).

I don't think I enjoyed the movie much. While the acting was quite good, I didn't like the main characters portrayed, i.e., phony, heartless, greed driven son-of-a-bitches types. However, upon reflection, if I equate those characters to those casting much misery upon Earth today, it becomes more pertinent, I suppose.

Later in the day, I turned on the TV after what I thought was a safe enough period of time to have elapsed for the president to finish his State of the Union message. I was wrong. About 40 minutes past the top of the hour, Bush was still at it.

I listened to one sentence and watched as the vice president and speaker of the house began applauding Bush behind his back. Then Cheney, echoing members of the chamber rose in deep appreciation of Bush's pronouncement seasoned, as always, with gross hypocrisy and a dash of phony piety. I sprang for the remote. I didn't want to know if Pelosi joined 'em in lauding the war criminal bastard.

A couple final thoughts. We already know what democrats and republicans feel about veterans, health care for children and now I'm reading in today's paper Medicare is cutting reimbursements of tests for our seniors. (Example, a $140 X-ray to check for osteoporosis in seniors that Medicare reimburses $85 for, will be cut to $35 reimbursement by 2010. It's all part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Yes, take your stinking war out of the hides of children, vets, seniors and every god-damned one of us. Let's not cut war funding lest we be branded an unpatriotic, terrorist sympathizing son-of-a-bitches. )

And yet I keep hearing from places like from Code Pink and others, saying we're supposed to celebrate because this is Bush's last year? Celebrate, tune in because last night was Bush's last SOTU message? What the fuck?

We have 12 more months of the same bullshit we've endured the past 7 years!
Democrats have shown they're not part of the solution. Check out the 12 democrats in the senate voting with republicans to support Bush's demand for immunity of the telecoms for spying on Americans. Check out Bush's additional $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for 2009 above and beyond what's been budgeted for the Pentagon for '09.

What the fuck is this? Cause for celebration? Why? Because there's now less than 12 months of this bullshit left? But twelve months is more than enough to leave the Earth a blackened, burnt out hulk of a planet Bush and Cheney's derring-do is endlessly tempting. Yet I'm supposed to be partying? Bullshit.

Bush wants the tax cuts be made permanent? Bush wants, Bush wants. And Bush gets, Bush gets. And for this we're supposed to be dancing in the crumbling streets as he reminds us if we don't support his lunacy, we're terrorist sympathizers? Bullshit.

Or is the state of the Bush economy beginning to seep into your nightmares? Replacing your fear of terrorists maybe?

I suspect the most dangerous terrorists are already in the country. They reside in Washington and pretend to be "protecting us," to be "making us safer" as they throw us tidbit tax rebates and promise us better things to come with one of the democratic or republican candidates that special interests and their media have chosen and culled for us to think we've chosen. Bullshit!

And for this were supposed to be celebrating because these wonderful things are just around the corner after Bush and Cheney hand the shambled nation over to their successors? Whoopee! There's less than twelve months left of this bullshit. Better pray we're not in a nuclear war by summer.

9 comments:

Fran said...

Don't be shy-- say what you REALLY think!
grin

I have lots of friends who can not stomach listening to the shrub. Others, like myself, take the *know thy enemy* approach. We want to know what the bastards are up to & where to focus on stopping his worst plans.

I did not hear of anyone celebrating per se, but trying to find coping methods... kind of a bitter acknowledgment of the last offical SOTU dirge from the decider. If there was celebrating- it was thank god we never have to listen to another one of his SOTU speeches again. If someone can derive a glimpse of hope by the painfully slow countdown of this Regime, then why not have a moment of levity?

Nobody was thinking there was anything positive to glean from it, and quite aware of all the issues he was NOT talking about. I got more of a *lets get this over with* type vibe- kind of like the mindset for having a root canal procedure done.

So maybe by tuning in we can launch a campaign to block public school funds from going to his faith based/private school plan.

Or building an "emissions free" nuke reactor.
And other misc. bullshit he mentioned.

Of course we are all weary of the Bush regime. those paying attention know he is itching for another war, and Iran has been in the crosshairs for a while.

Let those who could stand to tune in do so & let us collectively muster whatever energy we have left to try to fight the good fight.

Yes, we have to endure another hellish 12 months of bushco, and I for one shudder to think of the amount of damage that could be done in that expanse of time, given the history.

Hell if I'm going to aid & abet the bastards in the final stretch.

enigma4ever said...

thank you...nothing like a good rant....we still have 356 days of these insufferable warmongering bastards...I wake up daily and WORRY, and check the news to make sure they did not do something criminal and stupid during the night....

there is nothing to celebrate...NOTHING....I have no idea WHY everybody jumps up and down and claps..If I was there I would sit and read the Constitution.....and not get up once...for anything...and not clap....

Sorry Dada..Hang in there....we will get these shitheads out of DC...

Dada said...

Well, thanks for bearing with me. A good night's sleep does wonders. (Of course, it starts all over again with each new day. ~grin)

But I appreciate your comments and reflections on the SOTU. I think we're in for a very long year.

eProf2 said...

They tell me that time is just flying by for a geezer like me so I'm hoping they're right and 2008 will zip by real fast. Between ShrubCo and the very long silly season, I'm concerned that the year will be extremely long and fraught with more tearing down of the Constitution and more protections for government law breakers, such as the new AG and others.

However, like Fran above, I really wish you would tell us what you really think!

Back to the movies. I'm not sure I want to see There Will Be Blood after just seeing No Country for Old Men. There was more than enough violence in NCOM to last me a long while. And, quite frankly, as a Tommy Lee Jones fan, I didn't think this was his most impressive performance. I still like Three Burials as his best work. Unfortunately, the critics never warmed up to the film and most movie goers never heard of it. Se la vie!

Cartledge said...

There are some wonderful advantages in being out of transmission range of POTUS.
But Dada, remind me not to go to the movies with you. I can imagine you launching into a rant mid film ;)

Dada said...

Oooh boy. I was thinking of possible solutions for me here. One of the more attractive being the application of Duck Tape over my mouth. This would have the added advantage of losing a couple of pounds perhaps.

But then it hit me: I do all of my speaking here thru my fingers. Maybe I should just take to wearing mittens when at the computer?

Seriously, as I just mentioned to Fran over on her website, having just finished watching "Beyond Treason" on Free Speech TV, I think I'm being anarchized (yeh, I know, I make 'em up as I need 'em).

However, increasingly I'm having some very unstable thoughts. (Sadly, I think they're logical in comparison to the prevailing paradigm's.)

But Cart makes a good point. It might be wise to avoid going to the movies with me. (Thanks for the laugh with that one!)

And eprof: re NCOM -- it sounds like you had the same reaction as I did. (I'm not one to recommend movies, beauty - as it is - in the eye of the beholder. But remember how I redeemed it: by comparing it to Bush World.)

That said, my favorite recent movie was "Atonement" -- even if it was in English with no subtitles.)

eProf2 said...

Yes, I think anarchy is a viable alternative to this load of crap passing for democracy. Not the bomb throwing anarchists of the turn of the last century but philosophical anarchy like that sung in John Lennon's Imagine! But, that's wishing for too much!

Haven't seen Atonement yet. Going to see Michael Clayton tomorrow.

For a real change of pace, watch Volver, a Spanish film with Penelope Cruz. It's from the director of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and other allegorical films.

Ciao

Dada said...

So did you see Volver on TV, i.e., is it playing on cable/satellite TV now? It looks interesting.

Will be curious how you liked Michael Clayton. While it was good, I didn't think it was up to all the raves it got.

D.K. Raed said...

okay, late to the party ... just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your recapping why we should be all starry-eyed over the prospect of limited damage B-C can accomplish over one-year. I shudder to think how bad it could be, but what really gives me nightmares is the possibility that it won't end in one-year.

I just read a review of a new documentary "No End In Sight" that seens appropriate to mention here. When the reviewer pointed out that bushgang's retirement years will involve a feverish rewriting of history so that their crimes are made to appear bold actions, not the muderously stupid, irresponsible sick acts they were, I thought (once again) how important blog rants like yours are ... you must keep doing it FOR THE CHILDREN!