Esoteric Bowl

The Republican Convention begins today. I’ll probably watch some of the coverage, but frankly the Bush Administration has been running for reelection since it entered the White House, so there won’t be any surprises as to what is said. What won’t be said at the convention is probably more telling than what will be said.

10 Phrases that Won’t be Repeated at the Republican Convention

* Axis of Evil
* Bring Them On
* Mission Accomplished
* Compassionate Conservative
* Old Europe
* Amend the Constitution
* Tribal Sovereignty
* Mushroom Cloud
* American Troops Greeted with Flowers in the Streets of Iraq
* We know exactly where the WMD are stored and we’ve seen them.

10 Things Swept Under the Republican Rug

* Abu Gharib
* White House leaks name of CIA Operative
* Ahmed Chalabi
* Enron and the Energy Task Force Secret Meetings
* Halliburton Deals
* NO WMD found in Iraq
* Opposed Minimum Wage Increase
* Opposed 9/11 Commission
* Opposes Federal Funding for Stem Cell Research
* Increased the Size, Scope, and Power of the Federal Government

10 Numbers that Won’t be Repeated at the Republican Convention

* Spent More than 40% of Presidency on Vacation
* Zero Net Jobs Created
* Sat for 7 Minutes in a Florida Classroom
* From Record Surplus to Record Deficits
* 2.6 Million Manufacturing Jobs Lost
* National Debt $7,359,795,495,070.24 & rising $1.72 billion per day
* 45 Million Americans Uninsured
* Record Trade Deficit of $55.8 billion
* More than 35.9 million Americans Living in Poverty
* Medicare Drug Bill to cost $140 billion more than estimated.

Bush on Osama bin Laden

“The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” 9/13/01

“I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” 3/13/02

“I am truly not that concerned about him.”
Responding to questions about bin Laden’s whereabouts, 4/8/02

In it’s 150 year history, the Republican Party has never held a national convention in New York. There’s a reason for this snub, as perennial political blue state New York has often been one of the favorite targets of the National Republican Party. Republicans frequently pointed to New York as their anti-American symbol, stressing to their constituency that New York represented all that was wrong with America.

The anti-New York rhetoric toned down somewhat after republicans filled the top offices in state politics. Yet always a party in need of a villain to sell their policies, the Republican National Party shifted their aim at longtime target Ted Kennedy’s home of Massachusetts as the new hell on earth, and continued to kick Hollywood liberals whenever it was convenient for them to do so.

Despite the change of villain, New York was still not a place the republicans wanted to hold a national convention. In so many ways, New York remained a poster child for all that the republican party is against. New York is open-minded. New York has diversity. New York has immigrants.

So why after one hundred and fifty years has New York suddenly become the ideal site for the Republican National Convention? There is only one obvious answer to this question, September 11. And to make the event all the more surreal, the Republican Party decided to push their convention date into the month of September. Never in the field of politics will one party with so much wealth gather to a city more diverse to exploit the deaths of so many.

Early on in this election season there were charges made that John Kerry was having an affair with a female reporter. After receiving a couple of days of media attention, the story was exposed to be entirely untrue. Then there was the photo which showed John Kerry attending a 70’s peace rally along with Jane Fonda. The photo was later proved to have been altered and completely false.

In the latest adventures of campaign smear against John Kerry, attacks have ranged from maligning his military service record, questioning the validity of his actions in Viet Nam, to accusations that he may have shot himself in some grand scheme to earn medals and get out of the service early.

Sadly, despite the fiction, such stories have been receiving a lot of attention in the media. Fortunately, there are still a few reporters that actually explore the truth, and one by one the accusations and the accusers are being exposed for what they really are.

In recent days, I’ve heard various news-channel analysts suggest that some of these veterans aren’t upset with Kerry because of anything he did in Viet Nam, but rather they are angry by what he said upon his return from Viet Nam. These charges are usually followed with a 1971 clip of Kerry speaking with the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. While Kerry’s testimony was two hours long, the same clip that is often shown is a short sound-bite that has Kerry speaking about atrocities committed in Southeast Asia. Although the clip is misleading by itself, the media seldom points out the context in which those statements were made.

During his testimony, Kerry and the senators discussed a variety of topics. However, the underlining theme of his testimony was that young Americans were dying needlessly, that occupying Viet Nam was a mistake, and that the war itself was threatening the fabric of what America stands for. We now know through taped conversations that have since been released, that both Presidents Johnson and Nixon had made similar assessments in private, and former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara recently expanded on those same themes in the film The Fog of War.

Kerry’s testimony is also an indictment of the media, which measures the entertainment factor of each potential news story, an indictment of a political system that uses war as a means to ignore political problems at home, an indictment of Washington, which allows powerful groups to halt legislation intended to serve the public, and an indictment of the government hawks, which eagerly sent young men to war and then turned their backs on the care of these veterans.

I can’t find anything in Kerry’s testimony that is offensive or damning to veterans. It seems obvious that this is another false claim against John Kerry, and yet another attempt to smear. It’s apparent that these individuals have not listened to the content of Kerry’s testimony, nor have they read the entire transcript.

Starting today, paychecks could shrink for millions of workers across the country, as sweeping changes to the nation’s overtime pay rules take effect. The Bush administration has enacted new rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

According to the Bush administration and the Department of Labor, the new rules are all about fairness. According to the Economic Policy Institute, an independent, nonprofit think tank, it’s about longer hours and less pay.

Why is it whenever the Bush administration talks about “fairness”, it is always those in the middle class that are asked to sacrifice for it, while those at the top of the corporate world benefit from it?

Round-trip ticket from Honolulu to New York: $455.00
Escape Hood gas mask: $158.50
Anti-Bush T-shirt: $9.99
Opportunity to yell ‘F-Off’ to Dick Cheney: Priceless.

This past weekend I watched Somewhere in Time on television. I confess, it’s not the first time that I’ve seen the movie. Yes, the film does have somewhat of a made-for-tv quality to it, and the storyline is rather corny and farfetched. But seeing how Somewhere in Time is about romance and fantasy, getting over the superficial hurdles is possible, and the soundtrack is helpful in setting and maintaining the mood.

In a way, Somewhere in Time could be seen as the ultimate stalker movie. After all, how many guys transcend time to track down a woman from the past? But perhaps the greatest appeal of the story is that it strikes a chord in a belief that love is timeless. And the final scene of the film gives hope to all the broken hearts, that one day they shall be reunited with the love of their life.

Since I’m in a confessing mood, I’ll admit that years ago I tried to will myself to a certain time of my life, to return to a love on mere belief in the same way that Richard Collier returned to Elise McKenna. It didn’t work. I just fell asleep.

Run, run, run,
Penny be slim;
Instead of eating,
go to the gym;
Chances of obesity,
Penny beware;
Vicious laughter,
cold awful stares;

Television said,
you must be thin;
Future for Penny,
looks awful grim;
Nobody will love you
if you’re not thin;
Looks more important,
than what’s within;
Diet books,
do it this way or that;
Penny be thin!
Don’t you dare be fat;

Skinny Penny,
refuses to eat;
Skinny Penny,
all bones and no meat;
She has finally done it,
Penny in a size five;
Probably would have rejoiced,
if only she were alive.