What Happens When They Hold An Election

And the bad guys win? I think tonight, Washington is getting a little "just desserts", now feeling what Europe felt on November 3rd, 2004. Terrorist-linked Hamas swept the parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority yesterday, shocking the Middle East and most of the world. Thomas Jefferson stated that "the people are right, even when they're wrong" and that is the case today concerning Palestine. The U.S. government can do nothing regarding this as this election appears to have been pulled off without a hitch. Hard liners in both Israel and the United States can not be happy with these results; however, any attempts at regime change further paint the Bushies as hypocrites regarding democracy. The damn concept only works for the United States but should not when U.S. interests are concerned. I'm loving this, as my students are learning the beginnings of U.S. imperialism. One student brought up an idea that I originally did not want to touch with a ten-foot pole since I work in a very conservative city; the student wanted make a connection with early-twentieth century imperialistic wars such as the Spanish-American War and the current U.S. occupation of Iraq. "I wasn't going to say it" was the first thought I had but instead, the students are posting on the class message board their beliefs on how a nation can fight a war for freedom and decmocracy without looking ironic.
President Bush today continued his smoke-and-mirrors job today, holding a press conference to continue to butcher reality and the true meaning of it. Continuing to press that the NSA's wiretapping and spying on Americans was A. legal, B. only on terrorists and C. perfectly within presidential powers though denied in FISA laws, Bush even found it difficult to answer questions lobbed over the plate by the White House Press Corps, the biggest group of spinless reporters gathered in a single room. The president skirted issues, denied others and essentially tried to twist language around enough to convince his voting base in Lincoln, Nebraska and the four people it takes to win rural Ohio that the executive branch did nothing wrong nor illegal though this whole spin campaign is not for convincing people that he did nothing wrong nor illegal. When even asked about how people are viewing the scandal involving Jack Abramoff, Bush claimed that just because he took a picture with the man, he has few ties and no link to Abramoff's lobbying illegalities. As he continues to define the issue as a matter of photographs, it's not the pictures he took but the one hundred grand from Abramoff that is the real issue. When Americans wake up to the fact that money buys politics and ruthless money has run the Republican Party for at least the last ten years, maybe they'll see just how the GOP isn't a party but the nation's largest interest group, serving religious, homophobic corporate businesses that appear to not have a need for the working people of this nation, laws or the diversity this place truly represents. Only if you're white, wealthy and looking to keep large corporations union-free, tax-free and law-free, then the GOP's for you.

Enough bitching. On a lighter note, I'm totally hooked on "Love Monkey", CBS's latest attempt at creating more "real" television viewing. Starring Tom Cavanaugh from NBC's failed "Ed", the show tells the story of a single record executive living in what appears to be Greenwhich Village and how his travails and troubles with women mirror his struggle to keep the record industry "real." As in Topeka real, and while the show appears to be nothing more than the dropping of song lyrics in dialogue with the guise of appearing witty and highbrow, I do enjoy the show. Partly due to Cavanaugh's charisma, partly because I love anything that shows off the city of Manhattan as a character of any movie or show. I know it's romantic and unrealistic, but I have had a love affair (more like a crush) on Manhattan for several years now. Chalk it up to my love of Woody Allen films, Law and Order or Simon and Garfunkel and Dylan, I wish I could travel to Manhattan once a season. While my wife and I and our unborn child visited two years ago and I had an incredible experience, I do dream of returning. There isn't another city on earth for me like NYC and as its history, its image and its streets and buildings appear, the place possesses a magical control over me. I may have the chance to return this June and would, knowing it would be the last time in many years being there, I'd like to be able to do all the lame, Hollywood-esque things people do when visiting; the Met, Central Park, the Heights, the Upper East Side, cruising through the Village and seeing a night of music at the Vanguard, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and listening for Sonny's ghost still playing on the GW and finally taking my picture sitting on the bench at Sutton Place, recreating the movie still from Allen's fantastic 1979 masterpiece. I'm a sucker for the romantic stuff and Manhattan is the big apple of my eye. Gag