Happy New Year

It's kinda hard to believe that 2010 is already over. It just seemed to have flown by! 2010 started off a bit poorly, by the middle of the year, I had a renewed sense of wonderment and now, at the end of the year, life has taken a definite turn for the better. It never ceases to amaze me how life can turn around so much in such a short span of time. Ever think back on your school years, how life seemed to take forever to go by? How when you were in kindergarten, your senior year seemed a lifetime away? In a sense it was, but as you grow older 12 or 13 years don't really take that much time to go by. Hopefully, 2011 will slow down for me, and let me enjoy life with my lady, but even if that, too flies by, at least I'll have some fine company. Happy New Year everyone!

Julian Assange & Wikileaks

I haven't been following the Wikileaks saga, except passively, I haven't seen any of the videos nor have I read any documents, but, from what I can tell there's a lot of people pissed at this guy. In all honesty, I say good for him; it's about time somebody shines a light into the dark corners of the Imperial closet. America has never been and shouldn't be now, an empire. What the fuck gives us the right to go around sticking our noses in other countries' business? We walk around the globe with our big-dick asshole swagger, thinking we're hot shit, when we're not even close; and, all these assholes in the media and government calling for Assange's death ought to have their asses kicked, he's not even an American, for crying out loud! We've brought all this hurt down on ourselves, if we would have just done the right thing, stayed home and took care of ourselves like we should have, we wouldn't be in this mess. But, noooo, we have to pretend like we still matter. Face it-the Cold War's over, we won, now come on home and take out the friggin garbage like a good boy. If we would have said, back in 1990, "Hey world, we made it safe for democracy, we prevented WWIII, & we kept the Soviets in check for 45 years, now go, have a nice life, we're going home and take care of Mom and Dad", the rest of the world would probably have the utmost respect for us instead of trying to piss on us where ever we go. I don't know if we'll ever learn, but we better damn well better try, otherwise we're just gonna get hurt even worse.

The Molly Maguires

In 1968, when I was just a wee lad, Hollywood descended on the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania. Director and producer Martin Ritt had come with his entourage to film a movie about Irish coal miners called "The Molly Maguires". Few people have seen this movie, fewer still have ever heard of it, but it truly is a fine movie. Starring such luminaries as Sean Connery, Richard Harris and Samantha Eggar, this movie had been the biggest thing to hit this area in decades. Filmed in various locations throughout the anthracite region, it pretty much put this region on the proverbial map. We're still feeling the effects of this project, even more than 40 years later. Hell, we even got a state historical site out of the deal. The movie itself is loosely based on real historical events, i.e. Sean Connery's character is named Jack Keogh, who was a real person, who was a real Molly, who was really hanged in the 1870's. A Richard Harris plays a Pinkerton detective hired by the coal company to bring the Mollies to justice; again, based on a real person. The story itself is an amalgam of events that took place over several years, mainly in Schuylkill county, but still makes for great cinema. Most of the people who live in this area don't know the actual story anyway. Being from this area, I still feel a twinge of pride about it, especially since my own father worked on building the sets, some of which still stand. Go and rent it, you won't be disappointed.

Dreams

Dreams; daydreams, or fantasies, not nocturnal dreams, are what sets us apart from the animal kingdom. We humans have a fascinating capacity for evisioning the future. Dreams take on various and myriad shapes and sizes. Some people dream big, they want it all, so to speak, while others' dreams are more modest. Mine lie in the latter catagory. I personally think modest dreams are far more enchanting; they lend themselves to be much more honest and worthwhile, not to mention much more obtainable. People who dream big, usually fall into one of two catagories- they're either movers and shakers, who are used to getting what they want; the Trumps and Gates and Rockerfellers fall into this catagory, or they are totally, massively egotistical. Truthfully, the only people I can think of who fall into this catagory are most of our present-day celebrities. Some folks who hit big ticket lottery jackpots usually succumb to this type of dreaminess as well. Modest dreamers are usually people who are either well grounded in life, or like me, find themselves on the short end of a long stick. Most of the time I don't mind being here, it's made who I am, but the dreams I have call for a much more secure and ordered life. The unique thing about dreams is that they can be tailored to fit anyone. We often hear about the"American Dream", which in all actuality is pretty much a misnomer, especially in today's economic climate, but there are those, who through sheer will, make those dreams come true. If nothing else, dreams keep hope alive, and we can surely use all the hope we can get.

It's Fun to Bitch and Moan

Every now and then I like to read the comments posted on some political site or another. Sometimes I even post a comment myself. It's such a blast to read some of the bull some people write. A lot of these commenters take themselves SOOO seriously! In all honesty, it really is a good thing that we're able to exercise the right to bitch and moan, even if it's only "to the choir".
The more I read of people's dissatisfaction about the state of the nation, the more I realize that there's probably never going to be any change in the status quo. It's just human nature. We get uncomfortable, and if we experience that discomfort for a long enough period of time, our comfort level goes way down. Just a little bit of movement, just enough to make the discomfort go away, and we're happy. That's how it's been for decades. Little by little, our rights have been eroded, our liberties compromised, and soon we find ourselves aching for a little adjustment. Some figure or some action comes along, promising to alleviate our suffering, and-BOOM!, we're just peachy again. Right now I have so little faith in the American people. I seriously doubt that things will ever change, at least in the right direction. Those who do take their liberty seriously are so few in number, and so overwhelmed by the odds, that it seems that they have a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding. I hope I'm just being pessimistic, but we'll have to wait and see how things pan out.

The Never-Ending War

In the late 70's I was a fan of the British sci-fi drama Dr. Who. During those days, it was actor
Tom Baker who played the Doctor. I remember one particular series of episodes which featured
the genesis of the Daleks, a race of robotic creatures, which were one of the Doctor's nemises.
As I can recall, the Daleks were created by a "mad scientist" working for one of two city-states on a distant planet, which had warring for what might have been centuries. They were intended to be this side's secret weapon, but as all such megalomaniacal endevours turn out, they lost control and eventually everything else.
Which brings me to my topic, our seemingly endless war in Afghanistan. Apparently Gen. David Patraeus, the U.S. commander in theatre, was quoted as saying that we "might be in Afghanistan another 9 or 10 years". Huh? Hell, why not make it 20?...Actually we've been in that country for damn near 30 years already. Remember the Soviet invasion? How many Stinger missiles did we send over to the Jihadis so that they could shoot down Soviet aircraft?
And like that fictional war from Dr. Who, we've taken to using robot weapons...Predators anyone? I don't envision a Terminator-like future, but like all such never-ending wars, this one won't have a happy ending either.

Mad Men

I've taken to watching AMC's "Mad Men" on Sunday nights. It's not a bad show, but I think if it weren't for the historical ambience, I probably wouldn't bother. There's one thing that particularly bothers me, though. It is how seemingly cruel and just downright mean everyone seems to be. Oh, I know there's the typical era sexism and racism, which is actually still with us, but I mean the pettyness and ignorance that the characters display toward one another. Truthfully, people are still like that, they always have been. Last night's episode was full of that kind of demeaning behavior. I really hate the mean and obnoxious way people act. Even now, some folks just don't know how to be civil toward one another. No one gives it a thought to ever apologize for wrongs committed, or to be polite in their daily interaction with others. Few people have sympathy or empathy for their fellow man. Hearts grow cold and stony, eyes are blind and ears are stopped up. Like Jackie Deshannon sang so long ago, "What the world needs now, is Love, Sweet Love".