Happy. Safe, Spy Free Holiday!

...too you all...now if only our soldiers could be here too.

Another Iraq Casualty

Frankly, my brain would bleed too. By now I imagine most have heard about the unfortunate health condition of Senator Johnson (D-S.D.) In the wake of Oregon Senator Gorden Smith's recent declaration of opposition to the Iraq War strategy, I have concluded that the South Dakota Senator's brain hemorrhage was probably also caused by the War in Iraq.

Senator Johnson "was found to have had an intracerebral bleed caused by a congenital arteriovenous malformation," Adm. John Eisold, attending physician of the U.S. Capitol, this kind of malformation is usually formed at birth and bleeding can be st off by stress. What is more stressful than trying to figure a way out of the mess our President has gotten us into in Iraq.

If you've followed this in the media at all, or even read the link above you know that if the Senator has to leave office (which would be understandable to this blogger) then the Republican Governor of South Dakota would appoint the replacement for the remaining two years of Johnson's term. I now appeal to Gov. Michael Rounds to respect the people of his state and his fellow South Dakotan and if for some reason he must appoint a replacement to find someone who would echo the Senator's views. It's one thing when a Senator themselves finds it necessary to abdicate party in order to maintain a balance of power ( e.g. Jim Jeffords I-VT formerly R-VT, he switched in 2000 to give the government some balance after the election had been stolen...um...finalized) but a governor of a state that has a lower population than the District of Columbia should not be so activist as to change the make up of a congress that was elected to restore a balance of power.

Please send you thoughts, prayer, well wishes, mid hugs to the ailing Senator and for his swift recovery.

Thoughts that float at the end of the year

I'm listening to "It's Raining Men" by the Weather Girls - don't ask, you'll find out soon enough. But as I do something so out of character, the work on my desk is at a 3 year low, and I have a 10 mile bike ride a day I have had a lot of time for more random thoughts to fill my head.

The first is rather frivolous. Soda vs. Coffee. I have never understood people who drink soda to start there day, be it diet or the sugar drenched version. I can get on board with red bull or mountain dew I suppose, but I encountered a few people on my National Players tours, and now have at least one in my office, who drank a Georgia based Soda as their day starter. It seems such a waste of effort. To equal the caffeine content one would have to drink a lot of that stuff, in fact I have a friend from college who developed a "problem" with said beverage, though I believe that he has gotten it under control even though he is in Grad School now. I do not deny that I have a problem with coffee, but I consider it the flip side of my "drinking solution." But more to the point, coffee is a social beverage as well as a work stimulator. Do you ever ask some one out for soda? Not since you were 11 right? But out for coffee is still like an acceptable preliminary date, as well as the go to meeting format. Soda is for the middle of the day people, not morning, not evening. Plus all that sugar is worse for you than the caffeine in my 3...4...8 cups of coffee.

Now I'm listening to "Air Hostess Song" by Gomez - a B side that has become part of the live performance of Revolutionary Kind, it's off the new "Five Men in a Hut" compilation (particularly good if you don't want to buy all of the pre2004 albums, and it has a wicked alternate version of "Rhythm and Blues Alibi" a song I use for musical auditions.)

Sorry that was more of a thought float than I had intended, back to a more serious thought. Has the "War on Terror" and the "War on our Budget (AKA the Iraq War)" made us more cosmopolitan? I've been thinking about the names that I can pronounce and recognize now that in 2001 I would have been at a loss to get my tongue or mind around. Jalal Talabani, Muqtada al-Sadr, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, Nouri al-Maliki, Kim Jong-il, Osama bin Laden, John Boehner...oh snap, now Whitesnake's "Here I go Again"...but these names are all ones that make us stretch our minds. We have to learn how to say them, if only to prove how much smarter than our President we are, but also it engage in an informed debate. In fact, few things make me angrier than hearing a Liberal refer to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as "Mack Mood I'm-a-dinner-jacket." While funny, it's also ignorant. It's the same mentality that brings us the "Barak Osama...uh..I mean... Obama, oh by the way did you know his middle name is Hussein...I'm sorry what was your question Tucker?" conservative "banter" that is now re-soiling our airwaves in the aftermath of the rights crushing defeat in November.

Foreign relations used to be the great unknown, and it still is just in a different way right now. But if you think back to 2000, when it was revealed that Gov. George Bush couldn't name the leaders of Chechnya, Pakistan (oh the irony there,) or India, that information was essentially laughed off because few "regular" citizens knew them either. Is it possible that a by product of this colossal foreign policy train wreck could be a more informed electorate that will last a generation? Is it weird that I typed all of that to "Let's Go Crazy"? Prince makes most things better.

Anyway, I don't have any answers, just floating thoughts. I'm leaving you with "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," Death Cab.

Early Exit

This may seem like just the same old thing, but I think now it is very clear that the only way to solve the disaster that is Iraq is to eliminate the administration completely. The President is just pathetic now. After 6 years of accomplishing little except economic advancement for the economically advanced, President Bush now is content to do absolutely nothing.

If I am forced to agree with JIM BAKER of all people, then those that disagree must be off there rockers. More evidence of insanity is our Presidents response to a question form the BBC at the joint press conference with Prime Minister Blair. When the reporter aske MR. Bush if he would now re-think his assessment of Iraq, our President says,"It's bad in Iraq. That enough for you?" then proceeds to snicker at his attempt at dry humor.

A joint congressional resolution of "no confidence" in the Commander and Chief and his Administration is necessary. Followed by a "Great Compromise" to establish a new administration. I don't care which party. This may seem extreme, but the newest poll numbers for Bush: 70% disapprove of his handling in Iraq, 27% approval over all. That's below Nixon, and he left on his own.

Though wouldn't it be really great to see a John McCain or a Trent Lott drive up to the White House to tell the President the gig is up (just like Goldwater did to Nixon.)

And if you hear anyone refer to Barack Obama as a "Halfrican American" immediately call them a disgusting racist bigot, and that they should be ashamed of themselves. Also, call or email media outlets that allow anyone to use this new racial slur on the air. I've heard it twice now.

Sailing the Seas of Cheese

I've been a bit busy at work lately. Not doing work for the company mind you, I have a couple of months to go before we have anything to beat me down into a mumbling, sleepless mess, but on a friend of mines wedding video. Due to my day job I have been asked by several friends to record there weddings, which I do as a wedding present. This is the first one I have completed, I have another in the can, and one to record at the end of the month. The benefit to doing this for free is that I get to work on my own time table.

But this would not be a blog entry if I didn't have something to be annoyed with. It's kind of the flip side of the whole "What are you working on?" question that has been referenced on other publications in regard to annoying habits of the theatre community (not the sophisticated British spelling.)

Mine is the seeming inability of theatre professionals to be themselves on camera. Could it be comfortability, shame, over exuberance? I have a nastier thoughts. But as a public service I would like to just toss it out there that when you are at a wedding of a friend and someone is video taping it...chances are the more sincere, honest, and yourself you are the more use you are to the videographer and the couple who, in most cases, are shelling out a bunch of money.

While I personally enjoy off color comments, overt sexual advances, and profanity; I will hazard a guess that the couples' Grandparents and future children probably will not. Also, telling the videographer that you want a copy of it for your reel is not as funny on camera as you think.

On the other hand, I have had a blast stitching so many wonderful people together. I have even enjoyed making a Outtakes reel for the couple so that the "off color" folks can be heard, but not by the Grandparents. Future children? Well most likely they will think that DVD is an ancient format and not worth looking at.