The Dating Wheel of Fortune

Okay, my title has nothing to do with my content, except the dating bit. I was reading the top tips for dating somewhere - magazine or msn tidbit or something - (not that I'm looking for dates, but I'm interested in our culture and date spot ideas to take my mate to), anyhow, one of the top turnoffs listed in date conversation, right after discussing marraige, was discussing politics.

So sad! What's wrong with being interested in and discussing current events and your thoughts on relevant world situations. World drama plays out in the most fascinating ways, certainly better than the latest episode of Actors on Island Shoving Worms up their Noses then Bad Talking Each Other or something like that. It's been a while since I kept up with tv, but last I checked it was mostly people making asses of themselves, arguing and competing in embarrassing ways for some barely relevant reward, and I'm not just talking about Fox News and CNN. What are you supposed to talk about? Work? fun fun fun!

So, just so you know - the first night I met my significant other - we discussed culture and politics, card games involving animal noises and Monty Python's classic Holy Grail flick. About ten years later and we are still together, still discussing politics and current events, but the card game and the Holy Grail haven't come up in a while.

This is a matter of concern for me. The seeming lack on interest in politics by our general public. At the risk of not really being all that anonymous, I recently asked my friends on another bloggish-like site to share with me what they want in a president and the replies were non-specific and minimalist at best. All love and respect to these people, whom I appreciate and I understand are busy too, but one mentioned they might vote for Oprah another for some other celebrity who isn't coming to mind right now (maybe Johnny Depp, he seems popular right now). Not that I'm totally against Oprah for president. I'd have to take a close look at her stance on a lot of issues. But it concerns me that people (albeit I'm judging on a tiny sampling) don't seem to think about this stuff much. I could and did rattle off 3 pages off the top of my head in what I'd like to see in a president. So I'm thinking, no wonder Bush got elected. He seems like a nice guy you could down a beer with at a BBQ, what more do you need in a world leader? I did get one good idea. This person said they wanted an educated and intelligent president, somebody with a degree in something other than politics or law. That's a solid start.

So I was watching Dave Chappelle's Block Party movie and was impressed with how positive it felt. All the artists on there have "statements" to make, so to speak, but they seem to understand it's important to live too. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I guess for those of us blessed with the good life, we should be grateful for it and enjoy it. Not to the point of being ignorant of the larger issues in the world and trying to say something about them, but not becoming flagellants or the like. I also discovered that I have a small celeb crush on Mos Def. I know all the ladies are liking Johnny Pirate these days, but Mos Def is a little sweeter to me. But it'll pass I'm sure, don't know that I'll ever get a chance to bcome friends with the guy after all, but there is something likable about him. I also saw him recently in an episode of the Boondocks cartoon. I might not keep watching it because it's kindof on the violent side and they say 'bitches' too much for my taste. I'm also annoyed that Aaron McGruder in his little interview kept saying that he didn't want to make any social or political statement, that he just wanted to make something new and interesting and funny for entertainment. I thought that was a chicken shit stance to take. If he isn't bothering to say something important then the show is just really insulting for no reason.

In honor of the joy of living I will now go and do my laundry. Best to you my one reader.

Stay strong!

I'm currently reading Robert Fisk's "The Great War for Civilization" and to balance the effect of reading page after page of the gruesome and horrifying things that humans do to one another, I'm also reading Roald Dahl's the BFG.

I can't help but say I'm truly disappointed, to the point of being fully ashamed, because of the United States Government's role in perpetuating pure evil in the Middle East.

Some think that it's their own fault, you know the peoples of the Middle East and that they should stand up and make things right for themselves. And I'm all for that, but I'm not sure that, if I were in Iraq anytime in the last decade, for example, and wanted to speak out against the mass killings of thousands with poison gas, for another possible example, I would be terribly effective. Certianly, my progress would seem to stop when they imprison and cook my husband alive on a grill, while dipping him in acid that eats away his flesh, shocking his genitals and slicing of his hands off like they were bacon, then executing him. Then, after that, I watched 2 of my children get shot in the head in front of me, and my infant smacked so hard against a wall that her brains are bashed out, then being forutnate enough to be thrown out with the trash instead of geting killed myself. Now this is a purely hypothetical situation. This hasn't actually happened...to me.

But pretending that it did, I would certainly keep trying to fight for freedom in Iraq. And I don't think I would hold it against the US one bit that they help put Saddam into power - that their CIA advised him and his own on torture techniques and that the US provided chemical weapon technology and logistical support and even at least partially manned or supervised a chemical weapons factory in Iraq. Nor would I mind that they seemed to support Saddam on his invasion of Iran and didn't seem to notice when he killed Iraqi kurds and Iraqi Marsh Arabs by the truckloads and anybody who didn't look right to him.

I would have had the clairvoyance to realise that several years later the US would come in and oust their chosen dictator and create a climate of chaos, disorganization, revenge killings, sectarian violence and the possibility of an extremist religious government almost totally aligned in philosophy to Iran as well as inviting terrorist intimidators of a more pan-Arab variety. The wonderful USA, friend to Iraqis.

So do I blame America for all the problems in the Middle East?

No, not specifically - just because we(the USA), in metaphor, load a gun hand it to them point to to their enemy and then say shoot, (and then proceed to hand guns to their enemies as well) doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't some serious dysfunctional psychology inherent in Middle Eastern, particularly Muslim culture. And don't get me wrong, this isn't a commentary specifically on the religion of Islam - but on the culture - much of which I think pre-dates and somehow magically supercedes to this day Mohammed's miraculous revelations. You know an eye for an eye - a daughter for honor - the leveling power of revenge and killing seems to have become holy practice throughout the Middle East.

On the other hand - the fictional giants in the BFG snatch people from their bedroom windows and gobble them up. It is certainly barbarous. These sorts of things leave us asking why?

Probably because people are much tastier than snozzcumbers and some people are making a lot of money off of chaos in the Middle East.

That's all for today. The next installment will discuss - the wonderful USA - a brilliant and shining bubble of ambivalent democracy - may it never pop.