a major confession

I slept a great sleep last night and awoke feeling refreshed and optimistic about the world in which I live. The cynic in me returned quickly, however, the minute I turned on my television and saw G.W.B. giving a press conference. I find that I can be entertained by his folksy venacular and mispronunciations if I convince myself that he's not the most powerful individual in the world and instead I'm watching a spoof akin to Saturday Night Live or Mad T.V. But reality eventually sets in and I find myself horrified that this is my president.

It took him 3 questions to make the Iraq/9-11 connection.
"My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. When we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people.
Our foreign policy changed on that day. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life.
And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people, that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.
Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy, and that's why I went into Iraq."

"..we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy?!?!" What does that even mean? Methinks it was the naivete of the American government who foolishly thought that oceans would keep us safe as they did on December 7, 1941. And that our great and powerful military would scare off anyone stupid enough to mess with us on our turf. I assume previous diplomacy refers to all of those years we were close pals with the mujahideen and supplying them with weapons?

On Iran:
"If you're a nontransparent society, you've got a negotiating advantage over six parties, because all you have to do is, kind of, try to find, you know, a -- the weakest link in the negotiating team. And so, our job is to make sure that this kind of international will remains strong and united, so that we can solve this issue diplomatically."
Is that even English?

On patting himself on the back:
"We're supporting our troops. Over the last 12 months, we've got two Supreme Court judges confirmed, we've got the Patriot Act reauthorized over the objections of the Democrat leadership in the Senate.
We've got some tort reform passed. We've passed a budget that cut nonsecurity discretionary spending ... We've got an energy bill passed.
We worked to get a lot of positive things done. And now we've got an agenda to continue, to keep this economy growing and keep this nation competitive.
I meant what I said in my speech. We shouldn't fear this future. In other words, we shouldn't allow isolationism and protectionism to overwhelm us.
We ought to be confident about our ability to shape the future. And that's why this competitiveness initiative is important. That's why this energy plan that gets us less addicted to oil is important."

Supporting our troops by having them do multiple tours of duty, by not having a clear definition of victory, by leaving them in the middle of sectarian violence...2 Supreme Court judges that will more likely than not restrict civil liberties...the reauthorizing of the Patriot Act--a law that is skirting the line of constitutionality..."nonsecurity descretionary spending" otherwise known as cutting education, drug coverage for seniors and low income housing...

I'm too exhausted to go on.

A few weeks ago in an attempt to win a discussion as to whether or not $50-$70 was too much to pay to see Bob Dylan in concert, I referred to him as a great American musical icon. This is obviously coming back to haunt me as often as Berghoef can manage to weasel it into a conversation. Last night I reluctantly watched "Don't Look Back", the DA Pennebaker 1967 documentary. And I liked it, okay?! First, it was beautifully done. It was an actual documentary--a ton of footage that was seamlessly edited into a cohesive piece without silly commentary mucking it up. The first thing I said when I saw him was "My God, he looks like such a baby!"- a far cry from the walking corpse one associates with Dylan today. He was 24 years old, touring England where he was repeatedly mobbed, and being called the voice of a generation. No pressure. He acted the way any 24 year old would--arrogant at times, nonsensical and rambling at others, determined to not believe in anything and refusing to explain his work. He surrounded himself with people who, for the most part, agreed with him and thought him a genius thereby allowing him to bait easy targets like poor unsuspecting journalists. And yet, the songs: Musically, he's pretty uninteresting. Repeating musical phrases over and over and over and over to the point of boredom (though this is typical of American folk music--Joan Baez did the same thing). But the lyrics? The lyrics are pure poetry. I'm going to check out No Direction Home again.
And maybe read his book.

My name is Erin.
And I like Bob Dylan.