Carter is next, you know.

Bush must be disappointed. While he can wrap up the fight against communism with his WW2-tinged European tour into “War on Terror”, Reagan ceases to be a bullet-point in October. Or September. The best time for Reagan to have died, politically speaking, would probably be in time for a gala-memorial at the Republican Convention.

But this is pure cynicism. Even faux-cynicism.

1983 was an apocalyptic – tinged year. Despite what my 6th grade fundamentalist CCD teacher had said about the Cuban Missile Crisis being the climax of history, the spy novels I’m familiar with tend to hold the country in the dark on the dangerous events that destroy the world. Thus, a sober assessment shows that 1983 was the climax of all Ameri-centric world history.

Nixon memorials and TBN specials coming up soon at this url… Watch for them.

In 1988, the day after election day, my brother was as upset with the election of George Bush over Michael Dukakis as a seventh grader (or was it eighth?) could plausbly be.

He went around the kitchen in mock-horror, — as Good Morning America was on in the family room going over the election results — clapping his feet together saying “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. Get me back to Kansas.” The metaphor was The Wizard of Oz… see: he woke up in a bizarre dream-world where the populace had just elected a George Bush president, I suppose possibly validating the Reagan regime.

Election Day, I asked my speech therapist (as a model of good citizenship, wearing the “I Voted” sticker) who she voted for. “George Bush”. I can’t say I fully, or even half- understood the ramnifications of either vote, but… I asked “Why?” and she only answered “The better person for the job” before moving on to the task at hand — likely going over that dreaded “r” sound.

The Libertarian Party had two telegenic and interesting candidates. One focused on left-wing libertarian issues — drug legalization and strong anti-war viewpoints … Aaron Russo. The other tended more toward the right-wing libertarian issues.

Gary Nolan ended up releasing his delegates (didn’t think much of Russo, apparently), and a third — amazingly uninteresting candidate won… who’s focus (if not full spectrum of votes) pegs him down pegged down as a single-interest pro-gun guy.

I’m disappointed. The Libertarian Party has let me down.

I guess I’m stuck voting for Kerry…

I’m told that the NY Times apology for the antics of Judith Miller and Ahmad Chalabi are rather tepid. But, nonetheless, there it is.

For the curious, one item runs in my memory as particularly head-scratching.

This is perhaps the funniest news article ever to appear on the front page of the New York Times:

Warehoused Here.

Headline: Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert

What a headline! Note the passive voice. Why or why is the healine not “Iraqi Scientist Asserts”?

Most impressive paragraph in the article:

Under the terms of her accreditation to report on the activities of MET Alpha, this reporter was not permitted to interview the scientist or visit his home. Nor was she permitted to write about the discovery of the scientist for three days, and the copy was then submitted for a check by military officials.

Three days late, eh?

Try this one out:

While this reporter could not interview the scientist, she was permitted to see him from a distance at the sites where he said that material from the arms program was buried.

Clad in nondescript clothes and a baseball cap, he pointed to several spots in the sand where he said chemical precursors and other weapons material were buried. This reporter also accompanied MET Alpha on the search for him and was permitted to examine a letter written in Arabic that he slipped to American soldiers offering them information about the program and seeking their protection.

In the end, this story boils down to: nondescript guy in a baseball cap, off in distance, points down to ground nodding in approval; reporter then glances at document written in language she does not know.

Brilliant journalism!

(from September 2001):

Last night’s “Coast to Coast” program (with Ian Punnett) featured something of modest interest. A cockamine theory that today’s kids are learning how to “fall in line” — a necessary and corrective pendullum swing from the baby-boom generation who were taught to be free-wheeling in order to avoid following a “Hitler”-figure.

Today’s teens, he postulated, weren’t as shocked by 9/11 because they experienced Columbine … The foundations of their sense of security within the narrow confines of their school-lives had already been rattled and the security measures that society is now putting in place are analogious to what high schools are already putting in place.

This, mind you, is all good. The biggest teen movie of the summer is a G-rated film. Kids are more respectful to authority, and are better mannered.

This guest lost me right there, and to my mind was sprouting absurdities. Callers , who have jobs that relate to teenagers, chimed on and said as much.

………
From the book You Are Being Lied to, an essay by Robert Sterling entitled “Apt Pupils” — written in 2000… Robert Sterling is connected with the website Konformist.com.

‘WAVE’ is an acronym for “Working Against Violence Everywhere”, and is a private program created by corporate dick monolith Pinkerton, best noted for teaming up with big business to harrass labor unions. WAVE provides a toll free number for students to call up and inform on students who exhibit certain “risk” characteristics. The information is handled by WAVE America itself (ie Pinkerton) , who coincidentally, as a security firm hired by many corporations, could benefit from the surveillence they obtain by providing clients extensive history reports on prospective employees.

Joanne McDaniel, a spokeswoman, would claim dubiously that the similarities were “just a coincidence”. Incredibly, Todd Strasser, one of the book’s co-authors, agreed and added that the book would prevent an evolution of WAVE America into something sinister, as students and teachers are too wise to be fooled into participating in an overtly fascist program. (Apparently Strasser missed the point of his own work.)
…..

The Wave probably ends with grape-nuts being dumped on the heads of the non-followers…

Appendium, or postscript:
It’s worth noting what the gummint declared are the warning signs for troubled youth, as studies after the Columbine shootings:

I can’t find it on google immediately, but they include such items as “inappropriate humour”, “mood swings” — and other typical hormone-induced items that cover nearly 100 percent of adolescents.

If the WAVE Card transcribes the gummint’s list… well…

I’m not sure what spurred this post, but it brings to mind the way Fox News spun out a Texas execution held as Bush was running for president.

Hannity and Colmes… A minor media blip in the 2000 election. Texas was executing someone… I don’t remember who. This execution was especially controversial for some reason — may have been one of the mentally handicapped persons, and was racially charged as the death penalty tends to be.

Who does Hannity and Colmes have to discuss the outrage of the situation — and be the voice against the death penalty? A “black militant”. Someone named, if my memory serves right, “Kwanzi X”, the leader of the organization “The New Black Panthers” (emphasis on “New” so as to distinguish from the “sorry, lame-ass old”).

Hannity is in hysterics, as Mr. X alludes to violent measures. Echoes of Race Riots float about. Mr. X refers to the KKK as being their counter-parts, joining in the “Justice is Served” demonstrations at the other end.

The show ends, with Hannity saying “I don’t hope. Hopefully nothing violent comes out of this.”

Flick around to see how CNN and others are covering this event. Hm. CNN seems to be covering the peaceful, respectful, somber vigil. Interviews the family of the murdered. A departure from the mood that Fox News just had… but I suppose it’s the “liberal” media avoiding the speaking to these true spokepeople for those opposed to the death penalty, the “New” Black Panthers.”

Hannity and Colmes. Now we tune to the No Spin Zone of the Factor.