Fall For Anything

It is amazing how quickly the months pass when giving only cursory attention to the world outside my window. After 5 years of blogging it is pretty much the same ol' same ol' as far as politics and society are concerned. Same reelection of the same corrupt unethical pols, same "outing" of the "truth" by the same old and new players who "speak truth to power." Yawn. Same cinematic reruns.

But, let us hope that we are not subjected to a second term of Reverend Obama the Impotent, or worse yet, a 4 year stint of the rather empty-headed nasal twanging Palin. Both who's stars have burnt, flashed in the pan, but who likely will have lifelong careers in the public limelight - if media moguls deem it so.

Are Palin and Newt the Gingrich the best the republicans have to offer? Who in their right mind would recycle the check kiting Newt, who is as unethical as his democratic counterpart Charlie Rangel, both reelected term after term no matter how many times they are smacked on the wrist. Although granted, Newt is a major producer of conservative Christian propaganda and contracts on America, while Charlie is just your typical pimp and porker working hard for "monuments named after me", cleaning up the Harlem that is never cleaned up, supporting Israel, etc.

What the heck - like all pols, nothing is a disgrace anymore - unethical and immoral is merely an error of omission, a lapse in judgment. Folks don't lie anymore - they misspeak. Folks don't get caught with their hand in the till anymore - they thought the till was their legal personal fund. Folks don't bribe, coerce, or extort anymore - they schmooze for the good of all mankind.

And for those folks who cannot squirm out of trouble, are caught red-handed, have to admit wrong doing, whatever their income bracket, society has an excuse - they couldn't help themselves (insert a syndrome). They're not really evil or dastardly - you just failed to give them universal healthcare to repair their heads being screwed on wrong.

News programs, most evenings, a pundit will mention that "republicans and democrats must come together." That line, as so many others, is so worn out. They are working together - to their own elitist benefit.

Also on a quarterly or annual basis, the crypt keepers Poppa and Barb Bush issue sound bytes of supposed wisdom and warm nostalgia. As does Bill Clinton with his W.C. Fields nose, and the up and coming statesman George Junior Bush who may finally have faked sobriety so long that he really is sober, or perhaps slick Willie has coached Dubya on how to be a highly functioning drunk skunk.

I still shake my head at the level of stupid that is displayed in the media, socially and politically. Movies, music, television, print. For me, it's similar to watching a horror show - I don't like it and don't go out of my way to see it, hear it, or read it, but I usually cringe through to the end. Then swear for wasting my time.

The phoniest shows are labeled "reality" TV. Ghost hunters are taken seriously when they catch a blur or crackle on film or audio, haunted houses and ghosts of animals are real. Jesse Ventura theories are taken seriously - why not, Jesse once fought the predator with governor Arnie of California. Meathead entertainers turned politicians.

And who knew there were so many women who didn't know they were pregnant until the newborn dropped in the toilet? Who knew that 16 and pregnant would get your 15 minutes. Who knew fame could come from shopping, ho'ing, petty drama and cat fights, or being bored housewives.

Who would have thought that sleazy skanky folks with no talent could be nipped and tucked into celebrityhood. Or worse, the fat, the bony, the inked up who are Revlon-ed and Cover Girled, and sold as having the talent and bravery to be repo men and women, or chasing bad guys around their mama's house.

How many episodes can anyone really watch of Dog Chapman stalking meth heads and petty thieves. How many episodes of the greasy Kardashians - and now, god help us, David Hasselhoff, the slobbering cheeseburger eater. Commercials for the "Hoff" have a toddler running along the beach with a hairy chest - an oddly perverse way to claim that "some people are born awesome" - seems most folks think the ad is "cool" and "funny" but that's to be expected from a public with a spiraling double-digit I.Q.

Who knew that so many would be so famous for so little.

You know, as cynical as I may appear I did have hope for the Republic, but I can only conclude that folks who pay more than a little attention to anything going on today are either under the influence or were dropped on their heads in childhood. If the garbage that fills the media is a reflection of our political and social ideals - then abandon hope all ye.