Hi. Surviving some kind of Evil Stomach Ailment That Must Die, that hit me Monday morning. At first, I thought it was the Sunday feast of bratwurst and beer (with some birthday cake thrown in as health-fare). But sadly, no. Evil stuff. I did watch football, and was lucky enough to get to see the Redskin and Patriot games Sunday. Here's my totally awesome recap, I'll highlight my misses:
Atlanta beats Cincy: Bengals were supposed to be pretty good, right?
Washington beats Chicago: are you good if you're lucky or are you lucky if you're good? This was a terrible football game, I think I counted 8 turnovers (and I'm too lazy to check, send all correspondence to your momma). The footballs used in this game apparently were un-catchable and of a type that cannot be firmly grasped by human hands. Still, my team prevailed and Graham Gano missed another field goal. Which is all I need on a Sunday afternoon.
Tennessee beats Philly: Before the season, New Orleans was the best NFC team. Then it was Dallas. Then it was Chicago. Then it was Atlanta. Then Philadelphia. Well, Eagles lose to a good Titans team, and NOW they tell us that the NY Giants are the best team in the NFC.
KC beats Jax: and no one cared.
Pittsburgh beats Miami: Steeler haters cry foul. That was a tremendously awful call, EVERYONE knows that the Rapist can't hold onto his balls. Sheesh. Lucky Steelers will run out of luck, eventually.
Cleveland beats New Orleans: the shocker of the year so far. Cleveland's been awful for a few years now, and to clip the Super Bowl champs is a real accomplishment. Of course, since they're the Browns, they'll move to LA next season....
Tampa beats St Louis: Thought the Rams were better. Guess not.
Carolina beats San Francisco: what happened in NoCal? Long season in San Francisco and Carolina
Baltimore beats Buffalo: barely. Ravens got a cheap call in OT, but this game never should've been close. What is the sound of 31 offensive coordinators reviewing film of the vaunted Ravens D in this game?
Seattle beats Arizona: I hate the NFC, all these bad teams that might be good but no one's sure because of all these weird results....
New England beats San Diego: on a missed field goal. Chargers aren't as good as they've been in the recent past but still have Phillip Rivers and Gates. Pats got lucky, too.
Oakland beats Denver: badly. Josh McDaniels considering new career as rodeo clown.
Green Bay beats Favre: Or, Favre beats Minnesota. The old goat might need some advice: "don't go away mad, just go away."
NY Giants beat Dallas: Ok, what happened to Dallas? I gleefully rejoice in their misery for weeks but am actually shocked to see a 1-5 record with that much talent on the roster. The offense and defense both have some good players....so why? Doesn't make sense. Of course, being a Redskins fan, I know something about awful football teams that were supposed to be great. Now, they have no running game and their QB is out and they're playing Kitna - good luck with that.
Giants are the newly anointed best team in the NFC (I think Stuart Scott said this, or another ESPN talking head). Be afraid, Giant fans.....
So, that's a 10-4 record last week, bringing the total to 45-42. This means I'll flatline next week's games, God forbid I get too accurate with these things.
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No segues, here, folks - only pivots.
I've been re-thinking the Tea Party thing in light of watching the Michael Moore movie "Capitalism, A Love Story." His movies are always entertaining in that "what'll he do now?" kind of way. I think the guy's a patriot, he loves this country and hates seeing the people who live here suffer and toil under the yolk of "big business."
And, by God, someone around here should have a shred of compassion for the little guy. No one else does. If you believe that someone (anyone) on Capitol Hill will help you - or your fellow peasants - you should just go back to sleep.
Ok, so the basic premise of the movie is - initially - that capitalism is an exploitative and immoral force in the world. Can't really argue with that premise. At some point, Moore branches the narrative out to include the $700 billion bailout of 2008, championed by the Bush administration and eventually pushed through Congress by Democrats (what a great political stroke of genius!). Then, Moore runs around Wall Street doing his usual stunts for attention, a schlub in a ballcap asking to talk to Very Important MotherF&*%ers.
Incidentally, status-seekers and Those Who Enjoy Lording Your Status Over Others? Cram it.
The movie MISTAKENLY attempts to place all blame. Republicans get the worst of it but Democrats get (at least) half of the blame. What the movie makes clear as day is that we have a two-party system that - either way you slice it - serves the wealthy. Despite the fact that nearly all of us recognize this fact, we still line up in the standard "democrat" and "republican" camps when it's time to vote........
So, then, the Tea Party thing. I couldn't understand the sudden anger at Mr. Obama's policies when he'd only been in office such a short time. Of course, part of the problem is the congressional election cycle. The other part is the Catch-22 this country's in: spending tax money to stimulate an economy might make sense in one situation and not in another. This leaves aside the healthcare bill that was passed last March.
So...the government spends our money like water. What else is new? And what's this got to do with the movie I watched?
After watching the movie I appreciated a few things. 1) Our 1950's prosperity was powered by the simple fact that our country's manufacturing enterprise was the only one in town, as the rest of the world was rubble. As the only game in town, the US factories and workers prospered. 2) We'll never get that again, and we can't buy into the myth that we can. 3) We can, however, tap into our vast domestic human resources and create new technologies and innovations that can put people back to work - and government R&D "stimuli" may help this along. 4) Both political parties are nothing more than corrupted old boy networks that primarily concern themselves with the accumulation and abuse of power. I add to this that they all line up at the trough like the little piggies they are and feast on what's there for the taking.
My first reaction to the Tea Party was that it was a bunch of whackos. Some of them are. Some despise Mr. Obama simply because he's black, but they're smart enough not to say it. Some despise him because he's a Democrat. And there's a contingent who've been co-opted into being Republicans by those politicians who have changed their rhetoric to include a more populist message. It's a shame, actually. Moore has it right: it was a crime to hand over $700 billion taxpayer dollars to a few large banks in 2008, and those who voted for it and pushed others to do so are complicit in that criminal act. As we all know, the current administration pushed for further stimulus bills in 2009, and bailed out GM from bankruptcy. Into this world, I guess, was born anger and frustration at the powerlessness of people.
So, we have an election next week. Right now, Republicans would have you believe that they've "found Jesus" (so to speak) and will now adhere to the conservative "values" that they believe these Tea Party types want. Don't believe them, they lie. Democrats? I guess at this point they're simply trying to scare people into believing that the whackos are out there and trying to save their own worthless hides. I believe that, come what may next week, the Republic will stand. And that the new congress-people won't be as radical as they might appear right now.
But, that's the REAL problem, isn't it? American politics as it stands now is NEVER EVER about trying anything new. The status quo is tinkered with at a very small level, but there is never the upheaval seen in other democracies. The large interests have bought and paid for their political spokesmodels well in advance of every election, and the legislative results are often very, very predictable.
You wanna have a 3rd party? A real 3rd party? Shake things up? Don't vote Republican or Democrat this November,then - and only then - will the Geiger counter start to move. If you believe that the system is broken, beaten, and scarred, then quit looking to Washington DC's politicians to solve all of your problems. We've got a system that supports two parties because of the "winner take all" elections we conduct. A shift to proportional representation changes the system. In the earliest US presidential elections, the top two vote-getters were seated as President and Vice President. That was scrapped due to - you guessed it - corruption and torpor.
I'm just a moron, these are just ideas. You'll have better ones. Hell, one of us has gotta think of something.
If not, more of the same. Just another inch of the red-white-and blue vibrator. But we're empowered to change it all, if only we have the will.
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