Bill Clinton Has Balls Of Steel

Okay, now I (for one) had never heard of one Keith Olbermann, but I can tell you that since I received a link thing in my email inbox, clicked it, and gave it the full ten minute treatement, that situation has changed.

I mean no hyperbole when I say that this man is a hero. Not in a "I saved lives on Iwo Jima" kind of way, but there is, as you may know, more than one kind of hero. Here, try this on for size:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2741495278498207314

I can only say this: it is about goddamn time someone started talking like that.

Here's another one:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3592217964261572444

If you are a fan of Mr. Olbermann already, then this is likely a familiar feeling of happiness and patriotic respect that you are feeling. If you, like me, are just now being introduced to the man, then let me assure you! They're all like that!

The interview Mr. Olbermann is referring to (the one with Mr. Ex-President Clinton) can also be watched over teh Interweb, and it, not the others, is the actual point of this blog post.

Click this and watch it, if you are in a good spot to spend 1/4 of an hour. Fuck that, watch it even if you don't have the time. It is certainly worth it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9026120716999978732

Mr. Olbermann is The Man, it is true, but Mr. President? I applaud you. I applaud you from the deepest reserves of what is left of my tattered patriotism, and I thank you for having the courage to fucking put it to him like that. It's one thing to criticize from the bench. It is another to stand up and be righteous.

...

Please, a moment of silence, in respect of the awesome job that man did in saying true things.

...

Go Bill.

W00t.

I Cannot Believe He Just Said That

So, you may have noticed that I haven't written in a while.

It's not that I don't love you; I do.

In fact, to prove it, instead of the post I was going to write (which I will write eventually, I just need to get my nerve up), I'm going to give you something.

Some of you may know that I [heart] Jon Stewart. If you watch The Daily Show, then I commend you, and I offer my condolences.

[ASIDE: That link, by the way, is the single best argument I know of for why being able to watch TV on your computer is a good thing.]

[...also, if you use Firefox, good fucking luck making that website work. Even I have to use Internet Exploder when I use that site.]

Now, you may or may not know that Stephen Colbert (of said show) recently spun off his own show, The Colbert Report.

This show, while not quite as delightfully yummy and watchable as Mr. Stewart's, is certainly a great deal more acerbic. (Here's a link to the definition of that word, if you, like me, didn't know what it truly meant until I looked it up, after I had used it in a sentence.)

But let me be clear, that is not what I am offering you here. No.

No friends, no. The thing I have for you today is, quite possibly, the most painfully aggressive public roast in human history. And I have it for you, on video.

Understand this: Stephen Colbert is... stunningly direct in his backhanded criticism of the current administration. And, the thing is, when he is presented with a choice between the two, he consistently chooses poignancy over laughs. This makes him a little hard to watch... there are many moments on his show where the audience is clearly trying to laugh, although they are so uncomfortable at what he just dared to say on the air that they're not sure they... are allowed to?

And... so... clearly, a good idea would be to invite Mr. Colbert to be the closing speaker at the White House Correspondent's Association Dinner. Which the President attended. Along with a whole buch of other dignitaries.

Let me offer you a quick warning: I mentioned that he is willing to sacrifice the laugh to make a point? Oh... man.

Watch the whole thing. I honestly cannot believe that this happened.

MOOBAK

Friend of mine sent me a couple of links today that dramatically altered my world view, and changed my understanding of the balanace of geopolitical power in the world today.

...

No, really. I'm serious.

Here's the thing: let's set the Wayback Machine to 1982, when Yours Truly was busily learning how to cope with a new batch of hormones that had been uncerimoniously dumped into his bloodstream without so much as a "Get ready to be a basket case for a decade!". I was not, shall we say, endowed with a broad, world-wide perspective at the time (being a punk kid), but even I knew that something was seriously fucked up in the way things were going. In a geopolitical sense, I mean.

Even Sting was telling me about it when I turned on the radio. I bet I can recite the goddamn thing from memory. Let's find out, shall we?

In Europe and in America
There's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets

Mr. Kruschev says "We will bury you!"
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too.

How can I save my little boy
From Oppenheimer's deadly toy
There is no monopoly in commonsense
On either side of the political fence

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There's no such thing as a winnable war
It's a lie we don't believe any more

Mr. Reagan says "We will protect you!"
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too.

-Sting, "Russians", 1985

I remember distinctly drawing nuclear explosions (the glorious Mushroom Cloud, with its little ring around the stem; why did that ring always form?) over and over and over, fascinated with this shape that might someday darken my sky and bring death to everything I'd ever known.

It was not a pleasing thought. Yet, it seemed entirely normal to me at the time to be dwelling on the imminent death of all civilization.

We were all doing it, after all. It was a national preoccupation. Wargames. Miracle Mile. A Boy and His Dog. Mad Max, The Road Warrior, and Beyond Thunderdome. The Day After. The Handmaid's Tale. Red Dawn. B movies at the time were fascinated with the genre (no doubt partially because you could film the whole thing in that wrecked junkyard just outside town): Cyborg. Def-Con 4. Steel Dawn. Stryker. And many other fine, fine films. You couldn't drive past a (recently invented) multiplex theater without seeing a poster with a 'shroom cloud on it.

And, although this might be difficult to remember, it was a genuine, constant fear. Kinda like the way you feel about terrorists today, except this one was about all of civilization (and, in fact, all life on the planet) being wiped off the map. It was sorta mind boggling, the amount of sheer destructive power that was put at the fingertips of a (very, very carefully selected) few, so you tried not to think about it too often.

Now? Not so much with the fear of world-wide devastation.

There have been a few exceptions, but you don't see many stories nowadays built around the idea of life after a nuclear war. In fact, I would daresay that kids these days would want the word "post-apocalyptic" explained to them, as they have likely never come across it in their day-to-day routine. They might, in fact, be more familiar with the Christian version of the apocalypse then the nuclear one.

See, somewhere in the mid-90's, right around the time that the Soviet Union collapsed, everyone sorta looked around, and checked to see if they weren't the only one who thought that maybe... just maybe... we could put this particular worry source in a box and pack it away in the closet for safekeeping. Whaddaya think?

And, in a great collective sigh, we decided that the chances of the world ending because some crazed government employee Pushed The Big Red Button had diminished to an acceptable level. Such an act, as we all eventually came to understand, would leat to Mutually Assured Destruction, and even the crazed government employees seemed to be getting that through their heads.

*whew* That was a relief.

But...

Yeah, still nukes out there. A lot of them. That's been bugging us recently, and... well... actually sortof all along, but... it looks like it's fairly unlikely that anything really bad is going to happen with the "free nukes, aisle 20!" stuff, given that there are a whole lot of government organizations very seriously invested in ensuring that nothing bad happens. Or, looked at from another direction, it's possible, but we seem to be actively attempting to prevent it. Go team!

*whew* That's a relief.

But...

...

But nothing. All well and good.

Until today, when I get this email in my inbox, and click, and read. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, pal. Thanks a lot.

*sigh*

So, for your amusement, and in the spirit of sharing, here is the thing that until this very day had never been presented to me as an interesting factoid, and until this very day hadn't occurred to me to apply any real concern or consideration to:

In terms of nuclear strike capability, the US is way, way ahead of everyone else in the entire world. Way ahead.

That's the gist of this report, which is neatly summarized in a blog entry (in what appears to be a blog full to the gills on criticism of the current Hegemony) here.

I recommend it. The short version, I mean. I haven't read the long one yet; I'm still working up the nerve. Although, put your blast shields up; I don't believe it's entirely conspiracy-theoryless.

I'm not sure it will make you any happier, and I have some serious doubts about some of the basic assumptions and some of the conclusions laid out in the piece, but... man, there are some points made in there that are worth thinking about.

As I'm writing this at the end of my work day, instead of the ususal morning routine, I believe I'm going to go home now, and think about what the title of this blog entry would look like in a mirror.

Aren't You Guys Supposed To Be Unreasonable?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1811332,00.html

I mean, it ain't the Pope or anything, but still... those are remarkably sane views presented there.

/confused

p.s. When I say "sane", I mean it in, you know, the context of believing in like a creator who made everything and wants to judge all the souls he made based on their local behavior and stuff. Just, so we're clear.

So, Can Someone Explain To Me...

...why our federal government has not at the very least stepped in to help bring order to New Orleans?

I'm confused.

[edit: Ah-ha. Well, that's more like it. ]