monday morning

Remember in 2002 G.W.B. gave a little speech that is lovingly referred to as "The Axis of Evil" speech? And in this groundbreaking speech he named Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the big 3 evil? And remember about a year later we invaded Iraq because though there was zero evidence indicating such, G.W.B. claimed that Iraq had not abandoned their chemical and nuclear program? And in 2003 as the coalition of the willing was declaring victory and looking for Hussein, North Korea pulled out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and completely pointless 6-party talks began? Remember how some people thought that maybe the administration was focusing on the wrong axis? That maybe a bad dictator with no weapons program was something we didn't need to focus on but maybe a slightly crazy leader with nuclear capabilities was something we should take a look at? I know that charging into war is a hell of alot sexier than diplomacy, but it seems to me we wouldn't have gotten to this point if the U.S. hadn't gotten distracted. The remedy to Kim Jong-Il's actions will not be of the military variety as the U.S. is the biggest and the best and we're a little pre-occupied. So we're looking at sanctions of some kind which will have virtually no effect on Kim Jong-Il as he's already allowed tens of thousands (possibly millions) of his own people die of starvation in the last decade in order to advance his nuclear program.

Nothing is fucked here.

Waking up Monday morning after too little sleep to this bit of news put me in a mood. An angry, depressed, frustrated and tired mood. I alternate between rage and tears. Thankfully I have a ton of stuff to do this afternoon which should keep me busy and my mind occupied. No need to cry over spilled radioactivity.

I saw the new Scorsese film, The Departed, last night. I liked it. Alot. And suprisingly it wasn't Jack Nicholson that got my blood pumping. He was Jack. Same performance he's been giving for the past 30 years. What did it for me was DiCaprio, Mark Walberg, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and even Matt Damon. It's a compelling story with decent characters and lots of twists and turns. It's really violent and was nice to see people getting the shit kicked out them so Mom you're going to want to stay away from this one and Dad go out and see it. I like to think of this film as the triumphant return of Scorsese. I didn't see The Aviator, but I did see Gangs of New York and hated every moment of the over-directed nonsense. In this one, Scorsese has a nice light hand with a lot of good moments. I really like this time of year as this is when the real Oscar contenders start trickling into our theaters.

I have a plan for the Democratic Party. Assuming they can take back the House and the Senate, I say let's roll up our sleeves and start looking forward. Let's look at a plan to get us out of Iraq. Let's do what we can to resecure Afghanistan. Let's start talking about investing in higher education as this country will no longer be the manufacturing safe haven it once was. Let's come up with a non-market solution to the health care crisis. Let's start decreasing our dependence on oil in particular oil from the middle east and come up with alternative fuel sources. It's a common sense, very Democratic Party plan.

What I'm afraid we will do is get bogged down in retribution. The first thing the Democratic Leadership will do is go after G.W.B. I really really really think this is 100% the wrong direction to go in. I'm angry. I'm so angry I let that man's actions ruin my days. I spend hours enraged at what he has done to this country-OUR country. What he's done makes Watergate look like a practical joke and Clinton look like just another stupid politician who got caught. G.W.B. is a criminal. But going after him won't bring our servicemen and women home. And going after him won't make the ozone layer repair itself or our children become smarter. It will be politics as usual and you can bet your ass it will turn off voters. Let's be the party of leadership and the future. Not a party of the past.

Cue swelling campaign music.

It's clearly midterm election season.

It's supposed to snow here by the end of the week.