With the Republican National Convention about to take NYC by storm, it is wonderful to see that the spirit of protest and social justice is still alive and kicking. No, not in the rag-tag collection of anti-this/pro-that marchers who are ready to test the will of NYPD and the patience of the people of New York. (More on them later and as a side note anyone want to take bets on how much coverage they get this week? It’s good to see partisanship at work, no?) No, the really big issues are being addressed in France. Yes, our good friends the French are apparently not immune to the kind of scary extremists who plague the bad ole USA. Two French journalists in Iraq were nabbed by Islamic fundamentalists who are holding the two hostage demanding that the French Goverment revoke a law banning Islamic head scarves in public schools. The new law goes into effect when school opens later this week and prohibits public school students from wearing religious apparel and “conspicuous” signs showing their religious affiliation, including Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses. (And presumably Pentagrams & LR Hubbard tattoos) Of course, no one has been kidnapped and threatened by Jewish or Christian groups who find this trampling of religious freedom to be oppressive. Not yet anyway, perhaps I shouldn’t give Jerry Fawell any ideas. I suppose we should all be thankful that such oppressive laws suppressing basic signs of faith have not yet been deemed necessary our big, bad Government. Sorry, I don’t mean to make light of the situation. The two men who are being held probably aren’t laughing. Let’s all hope that they are released without harm.
Speaking of protests I had to laugh a bit at a CNN story about how the anti-Bush groups are conflicted over how violently to protest the convention. Part of the article discussed a number of anarchist groups who plan to attend, block traffic and create general mayhem. One of the “non-violent” anarchist groups was headed by an eloquent young women who spoke of her dissatisfaction with President Bush and how we needed a new administration to crack down on environmental pollution, provide government sponsored health care and increase federal funding for schools. She made some very interesting points, but there was this little thing nagging at the back of my head. It took a while, but I finally remembered something from freshman English that she must have forgotten.
1 a : absence of government b : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority c : a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government.
So the head of an “anarchist” group thinks that the Government should control business, the environment, health care, education and advocates more control by the Government over all of the above. I just can’t help but wonder, how can a Government, that by definition you don’t believe should have any authority or even exist, take more control over everyone’s life without violating the very name you’ve given yourself? Perhaps she has been listening to Bill Maher’s crap for so long that she actually believes that there is a Ralph Nader wing of the Libertarian Party. Then again maybe it’s the new hippie mantra, “What the world needs now is more bigger government anarchists.”
Speaking of hippies, higher taxes mindless political contradiction, I was listening to KPFK for about fifteen minutes on Sunday afternoon. They had a correspondent right in the middle of the action in NYC. As I listened to her talking about the “massive throng” of “peaceful” protesters I couldn’t help but remember the last time I heard them talking about a huge gathering of anti-war protesters. On that day, they did a series for reports from Brea where a “massive” gathering was nearly “blocking traffic.” (First clue folks, what traffic were they blocking in Brea?) Since we happened to be out that day, we took a look at their big protest. It turned out to be six people on the north-east corner of Brea and Imperial Highway. Two of them were dressed in Boy Scout uniforms made up to look like Nazi attire. (Where exactly does one get adult sized scout uniforms and why?) On the other three corners of the intersection, a few dozen people were gathered to counter the big KPFK gathering. So I sat in the car trying to picture what this correspondent meant by “massive.” If could have been four people standing in line for a hot dog in front of the Hotel Penn for all we know. (Yes Virginia I know there were big protests, but I will always question KPFK’s reporting after seeing the truth behind what they say sometimes.)
By the way, for those of you already typing angry replies to this, I am NOT (Let me say it again slowly, N….O….T…. opposed to protest. I think it is a basic right that Americans should exercise. I believe that most of the people protesting in NYC have genuine beefs with Bush and even if I don’t agree with all of them, I appreciate their passion. What I do oppose is a small minority of yahoos who always show up at these things and turn political protest into violent confrontation. Throwing bottles or rocks at cops, smashing windows, setting cars on fire and other clashes are worthy of scorn from anyone who believes in peace and freedom. I have issues with the Bush Administration and with the plans John Kerry has for this country, but I wouldn’t break a window, spit at a cop or set someone’s car on fire to get my point across. So again, before you all hurt your fingers typing. Protest good, protest fair, protest OK. Violence, bad. Breaking shit that isn’t yours, bad. Dressing up like an ass clown….funny as hell and please keep it up.
I don’t know how many of you been watching of the Olympics, but I certainly gave most of them a pass. We were on vacation for one of the weeks so that was part of it, but I just have a hard time getting into watching sporting events when the results have been all over the TV and the web for twelve hours before the broadcast. I did catch some of the medal controversy though. I’m still not sure where I stand on the Paul Hamm situation, but I really think that the Brazilian marathon runner got totally boned. In an Olympics that was thankfully free of terrorist attack, the end of the marathon was still a bit scary. The Brazilian runner, Vanderlei de Lima was in the lead when a man dressed in a beret, kilt, knee-high socks and a sign that read “The Grand Prix Priest Israel Fulfillment of Prophecy Says the Bible” ran onto the course and knocked de Lima into the crowd. He never recovered and was overtaken by Italy’s Stefano Baldini and American Meb Keflezighi. It was the first American medal in the event in twenty eight years and de Lima’s bronze is the first ever by a Brazilian. I realize that Baldini was gaining and the crazy dude may not be totally responsible, but I think he deserved a chance. Since the gold and silver medalists didn’t realize what had happened, but I think that sharing the gold or even handing it over to de Lima might be the right thing to do. (I say might because I’m not entirely sure what I think is right at this point.) We should all be glad that the dude didn’t have a knife or a gun. It’s also a good thing he didn’t run onto the court during the US basketball game. With that many NBA players together, one of them is bound to be packing. If not, they could have pelted him with the bricks they were firing up throughout the tournament.
There isn’t much from the mainstream notepad this weekend. I spent all day Friday in San Diego golfing with my father in a tournament. That is the life. Let me count the perks. Free golf, free range ball warm up, goodie bag filled with balls, gum, peanuts, water, sunscreen, sunflower seeds, candy and a little folding chair, shirt, hat, free lunch all the drink anyone could possibly want and our very own caddies to carry the clubs from the cars to the carts. That was all before we hit the first tee. On the course we had complimentary snack carts bringing us drink and food, booths set up passing out ice cream, margaritas, extra golf balls and even giving free massages. The post-tournament banquet featured Polynesian dancers (hubba, hubba) and awards for everyone. I walked away with 50 dollars at a fancy SD restaurant and another 50 a Starbucks. (That’s a whole lot of hot chocolate man.) It was one hell of a great day for me and I even managed to hit a few decent shots on the course.
The rest of the weekend was devoted to some interviews I have in the works. They should be up later in the week. Watch the site for interviews with Lexington Steele, Domina X, Mark Wood and Candace Jackson. There are a few new reviews from the weekend as well, including one I plan to feature on the Porn Hunnies show this Wednesday on www.ksexradio.com, Gothsend from DVSX.
Oh, we did sneak in one movie this weekend that you might want to check out. Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are pretty damn good in “Collateral” so when it hits video stores it is definitely worth a look.
