Allow me to bathe in a moment of arrogant joy. After watching G.W. Bush win two elections where I received an arsenal of brutal words at the notion G.W.B. wasn’t the right man for our nation…this moment in history belongs to the legions of Americans in despair at where our nation finds itself. I’m in hope those full red states give our new president and the country the support needed to get us all to a better place. Our image in the world has been tarnished, and out economy is in tatters. I’ve read comments posted in paranoia, fear, and ignorance that our new team to rule our nation is on some path for a “hidden agenda”…that they’ll bear fruits of socialism and poor economic course correction. But after witnessing McCain’s concession speech, and President Elect Obama’s victory speech…I don’t think I’ve ever been more optimistic about the future of America. There are fireworks going on in my neighborhood. We have a new Democratic president, and history has been made: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/election.president/index.html
So…long before Dave Chappelle did his famous “milk man sketch” on TV…there was the Tokyo Breakfast pilot. I remember someone had sent me the URL and the video was taken down shortly thereafter. Well…here it is (thank you YouTube!), watch it all the way through…I thought it was hilarious…and 8 years later it’s still damn funny. x}
After John McCain’s interview on the David Letterman show…I have an immense amount of new found respect for David Letterman (he should be voted Journalist of the Year even though he’s a comedian)…as opposed to enforcing the dwindling impression of John McCain.
Brave past the dumb CBS ad before the episode and give it a full viewing.
What happened here? We were supposed to be the most admired nation of the planet. For decades our government touted our successes around the globe with the confidence that our system should be emulated by everyone. Now, that arrogant pulpit has a mud all over it. The nations we’ve scorned over the years would be bathing in their own delight if it weren’t for the fact we’ve spread our gloom across all currencies and borders. The most tragic part of this chapter is it stems from the most primal of all the world’s sins: greed. You’d think this was a difficult new concept to absorb…but humans are inherently rotten. Our government became the puppets of cannibal-capitalism gone awry…and the “Wild Wild West” days of debt trading have done themselves in. What a fitting way to send off the Bush administration in its final days.
Back in high school I had a Social Studies teacher who claimed the pages of history had shown us the odds were pretty good that America would evolve into a more socialist type of government. Well, here we are…holding onto a freight train going over a cliff. The super wealthy blame everybody else…and we’ve not seen one person or company being held accountable (a few brow beatings at best), if nothing else to at least reassure us that justice is still alive and well. But with so much deregulation, what laws are they going to charge people with breaking? Other than of course telling investors the house is sound when termites are feeding on the foundation.
All this vaguely reminds me of General Motors and the EV1…they were basically ahead of their time on this one, and they’d be way out ahead of their competitors by now…but their lusting over SUV profits & the bantering of their buddies in Big Oil crushed that project. Now, GM is fighting for its survival for just long enough to get their next electric vehicle into the showrooms. Hopefully by then people can actually get the credit they need to buy one.
The Patriot Act and the array of big bailouts of Wall Street’s fat pigs has slid a monstrous socialist movement in under our feet…not as we slept oblivious to current events, but while we all watched in horror and dismay.
During the first presidential election night when G.W.B. won, one of my coworkers at the time ranted on and on about how if G.W.B. didn’t win there would be a surge in capital gains taxes and more. Well Allison, your boy won, twice, and how does that capital gains tax argument fair now? I’d bet every wealthy body, 401K, hedge fund, CDS jockey, General Electric executive, Wall Street trader, mortgage holder, Countrywide mortgage broker, pension fund, AIG investor, Lehman Brothers employee, and the rest of the world would gladly trade a bit of taxation & regulation over the Katrina-type chaos financials are in now. Debt overflowed the dyke, and a proud system is in ruins…some bodies won’t be found for months. How ironic.
In digging through my archives, I happened upon a silly little Flash sound board I made back when the Dave Chappelle show did their famous Charlie Murphy & Rick James episode. Anyway…it’s a few minutes worth of silly fun if nothing else…’enjoy.
Oh yeah, for more on that subject…here’s an MP3 I made at that same period in time. My only wish is that I had a connection with Dave Chappelle & his production staff…I’d have clamored at the opportunity to get the sound bites without their “edited for TV” bleeps. =)
