Have I mellowed?

It was only a short time ago that political news of any kind would get me in an uproar.  The likes of Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, or, heaven forbid, Ann Coulter opening their traps was enough to send me off the edge and I wouldn't come back until I'd gotten all of the vitriol out of my system.  Sometimes I would fume for days over some new policy or decision that the Bush administration made, and I would let the few paltry readers I had suffer more anger and outrage at this issue or that.

Then it happened...the seemingly interminable and outrageous presidency of Dubya was over and in a stunning election, Obama overcame the challenge from McCain and Caribou Barbie to become the 44th President and the first of African American descent.  It was a huge triumph for those who believed that Obama would be that change that we wanted to see in the world.

I have to say that I felt awash in political pride.  My candidate had beaten the odds and won.  There was a mandate for change, for the razing of the policies of the past eight years, for the end of politics as usual in Washington.  It's been nearly a year since Obama was inaugurated, and so far, I'm less than blown over by his first 11 or so months.

Universal Healthcare was finally just passed in the Senate, but former Democrat Joe Lieberman stomped around getting his way first with the elimination of the public option, and now seemingly getting the Medicare buy-in removed from the plan, two moves which, in essence, take all of the teeth out of the bite that the bill could take out of our healthcare woes in this country.  Also, the plan was to have no increase on middle class taxes.  It was one of the cornerstones of Obama's whole campaign.  I haven't seen how they plan to pay for this whopper of a healthcare bill, but frankly, I'm getting worried.

Instead of getting troops out of the Middle East, Obama just announced another surge of troops to Afghanistan in order to combat the growing insurgency.  While there are myriad differences between Iraq and Afghanistan's turmoil, it seems as if this is strikingly similar to the morass we faced which necessitated the surge in Iraq.  I firmly believe, in this case, that the troops are necessary in Afghanistan, because, let's be honest...that's where they were needed in the first place.

Our economy is still pretty much in the shitter. We're seeing signs of recovery, but it's still touch and go.  Of course, I don't even close to blame Obama for the state of the economy.  He was saddled with not only a fiscal disaster of a deficit, but also the aftermath of bail-out-apalooza.

I find myself hardpressed to decide where to rate Obama's first year.  As with every presidential candidate, Obama promised a lot of things to a lot of people.  While it's virtually impossible for him to get every one of those things accomplished, let alone in his first year, it seems that even the most rudimentary have fallen by the wayside.  I don't completely blame Obama, because it seems that the very tenets of our government, as well as the people we elect to "represent" us in Congress have done a wonderful job of tripping over themselves and allowing us to fall back into political infighting and turmoil, even within the Democratic party.

I'm starting to wonder if this whole democracy thing is going to turn out to be a failed 234 year old experiment. 

Seattle Confidential

When I read this story this weekend, it started to nag at me.  Why did this sound so familiar?  But then it hit me.  This is the beginning to the plot of L.A. Confidential.  Based on the book by James Ellroy, the movie told the story of the fallout after several LA police officers were gunned down execution-style in a local coffee shop.  Of course, in the movie, set in the 1950's, a group of young black men were framed for the murders, and then killed themselves by dirty cops to try to cover up a larger conspiracy, involving police corruption, drug dealing, and intimidation.

I know that this is not the case here, but it stood out so much in my mind when I read the story, that i felt the need to comment.  I feel for the families of the officers killed, and want to send condolences their way.  It is apparently also unclear whether the suspect, Maurice Clemmons, is still alive. He was apparently wounded in the attack, and has been holed up in a standoff with police at a house 30 miles from where he apparently opened fire and killed 4 police officers.  However this shakes out, whether Clemmons is still alive or not, the whole thing is just so senseless.  Life is short enough without crazed gunmen trying to make it any more truncated...

V For Very Republican

ABC has recently introduced America to V, a reimagining of an 80's British miniseries, in which an alien race called "The Visitors" descend on Earth and attempt to establish relations with Earth in order to make a mutually beneficial relationship.  The Visitors have much to offer in the way of technological and medical advances that we have not yet come up with.  But they want something in return, and they're dodgy and coy when it comes to finding out what it is.

**Potential Spoilers ahead**

As of now, I've only seen the pilot episode, but I like the cast, which includes Elizabeth Mitchell(Juliet from Lost), Morena Baccarin(Inara from Firefly), and Scott Wolf(from Party of Five fame).  In the pilot, they arrive and begin the establishment of diplomatic relations, while we also see an underground group that is trying hard as they can to fight against the Visitors' occupation of Earth airspace.  They maintain that there have been Visitors in sleeper cells on Earth for years, gathering information, and getting themselves entrenched in human life.  The Visitors obviously have some more dastardly agenda than they would let on.  We also see an attack on the underground resistance, in which we find out that the Visitors, while seemingly humanoid, actually are reptilian creatures under their human facade.  I'm looking forward to where this goes, and am intrigued in tracking down the original British miniseries to see how it compares.

I've been mulling over the idea of aliens covertly living among us since the days of Men In Black, but V simply reinforces the idea of aliens hiding in plain sight...does this offer some insight into Fox News?  The likes of Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity?  Even the corpulent fatty, Rush Limbaugh?  It would be brilliant...they take the focus off themselves by railing against illegal immigration...it's GENIUS! 

Now...which one to hack up with a machete to prove it...hmmm...eenie meenie mineee......

state of the Scott address

Lately, I've been getting nostalgic...A LOT.  It seems that everywhere I turn, something takes me back, whether it be to my childhood, or high school, or, most recently to a few years ago when I was in a band that I thought would still be taking the CT music scene by storm. 

I was just realizing that I'm in a completely different place in my life, and probably couldn't swing the band thing  now, what with Maya taking up so much of our time, and our sleep schedules dwindling more by the day.  Am I sad?  A bit, but I'm pretty happy with where I am at this moment.  I have a wonderful family, a new home, a group of friends that is unrivaled, and a job that...well, let's just say it pays the bills.  I think what I miss most about the band was just having that creative outlet to explore, and the camaraderie of the band(Please do not say that this blog can be my creative outlet...it's not creative...it's just rant-y), but at this point, most of the time, I'm too tired to be creative.  I'm lucky if I get time to read.

Every year, I tell myself I'm gonna get down to brass tacks, sit down and spend NANOWRIMO crafting the great American novel, but it never happens.  I've had ideas in the past, but nothing ever fully pans out to the point that I could imagine myself being able to actually conclude a story.  I know that the point is to write, but I don't want to get knee-deep into a world with characters and a storyline and then bail out because it won't work.  It seems too daunting.  I know I should try because I may surprise myself, but I find myself not only a perfectionist, but also a procrastinator, and those two don't mix.

For lack of a cohesive ending here, I'm just going to make up a word:

Kabloomingdales - a fight that breaks out at a sweater sale in the mall

Veteran's Day

I know that it was yesterday, but I came across something yesterday that I simply needed to talk about, but didn't have time to blog about yesterday.  Veteran's day, besides being my niece and friend Dan's birthdays, is a holiday to celebrate the men and women who have fought and, in some cases, given their very lives to keep America safe and free.  In celebration of that, a lot of people get the day off, banks and schools are closed, no mail is delivered, and, as of recent years, some popular restaurants reward the sacrifice of veterans by offering them free entrees for the day.

A friend of mine who served in the first Gulf war ate completely for free yesterday.  Do I begrudge him this small thing?  Absolutely not. He sacrificed his time and put himself in harm's way, so what is a free meal?  Applebees and Moe's both provided a free meal, and I'm fully on board, but then I read that Outback was also participating, but veterans could only get a free Bloomin' Onion for their service.  Seriously?  These people survived time in some pretty hazardous warzones, came back safe and sound to their families and you're going to give them a heart attack-covered onion?  Awesome.

The migratory patterns of politically-themed blogs

Alright, so I figured out how to back-date my archives from my other blogs, and I've started to streamline and transfer.  I've moved the entire Myspace blog archive over, and I will warn you, I perused some of them as I was copying them, and a lot of them are very angry(i.e. everything from the Bush Administration).  So if you're interested, go ahead and read them...or not.

I will be relocating the info from my Ebloggy blog some time soon, but for now, I can at least cancel my dusty, cobweb-infested Myspace account...

Things You(or I) Might Have Missed

Ok, so as I previously stated, I took a longer blogging sabbatical than I would have originally thought, and in that time, things have occured.  LOTS of things!  So in the absence of some real empassioned diatribe, I'm going to list them and perhaps comment on them...

1. Barack Obama became President of the United States.¹
2. My wife got pregnant and gave birth to my beautiful daughter, Maya.  She's truly spectacular.
3. The surviving members of Led Zeppelin got on stage together for the first time in years,² and briefly toyed around with a tour before going their separate ways again.
4. Pushing Daisies got canceled by ABC.³
5. 90210 and Melrose Place were somehow resurrected from the depths of Hell where they belong, and still have life on the CW.
6. I STILL haven't figured out a way to back-date entries and transfer my old blogs on myspace and ebloggy over to here, for all my archives to be in the same place.
7. A number of my friends have taken up the blogging mantle in my absence and are doing a far superior job than I ever did of keeping up with them and adding relevant and interesting content.⁴
8. Barack Obama was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize based on his first 11 days in office...Conservative pundits have been busting blood vessels in their faces ever since.
9. We fired a rocket into the moon...wait...WHAT!!??
10. We still don't have universal healthcare, but there is a new term that was coined out of it: DEATH PANELS!!!  So scary and so utterly republican an idea.
11. We have apparently suffered through and emerged from a recession.  
12. Amy and I sold our house, spent 5 months living with her parents because we couldn't find a house, and then bought a new place that's AWESOME.
13. is still an unlucky number⁵
    
14. Lost got better and had an amazing 5th season, while Heroes just got worse, and now can't even get me to watch by having Claire have a lesbian encounter with her college roommate⁶

Ok, so for the first real entry back after my hiatus, I have a few people to thank.
First, Gabe is responsible for me remembering that I have a blog after asking us all if we have blogs to share.

Secondly, I have to thank Nate for not only reminding me that blogs can be fun, and interesting, but also for not being mad at me(I hope) for using his footnote technique.  I promise I won't use it much after this entry.  I just needed to make this list more terse, with the additional info for anyone who wanted it.

Third, I'd like to thank my wife, Amy, for putting up with me being ridiculous, stir crazy, and frustrating ALL the time!

And finally, I would like to thank the wonderful people over at Cumberland farms for keeping me stocked with Red Bull and your Cumby's Hole In One snack Mix.  I couldn't have made it through the last several months without you.

And now I will leave you with the footnotes before this turns into an Oscar acceptance speech...

FOOTNOTES

1. And he won it fair and square without any hanging chads, recounts, or the Supreme Court....oh yeah, and he won by A LOT!
2. First reaction: *Drool*  followed by DAMMIT!
3. We're dreadfully sorry, Dark Overlord, but it was TOTALLY Dan's fault!
4. See my blog links section...If I've missed anyone, please let me know, so I can include you.
5. Of course, Olivia Wilde's character on House is called 13 as well, so there's that...
6. For Shame NBC...for shame.