Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

I have always understood and felt that history plays a big part in our culture. That supposedly, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. However, when history itself has become video games, movies, and now TV commercials, our culture and our future will never learn when it is no longer taken seriously.

 

For those of you that have not seen Rosa Parks and Katrina victims selling Chevy Silverados for GM, please take a look at the following links.

 

This first one is a 24-30 sec promo on the GM website. Look in the lower left had corner for “Our Country, Our Truck” http://www.chevrolet.com/silverado/

 

This link is from Auto Blog and posts two commercial videos, one before editing and one as it was aired Saturday night 10/14 during one of the NFL football games. (I actually saw the entire thing Sat. and was guppy mouthed at the end of it) http://www.autoblog.com/2006/09/26/our-country-our-truck-vids-debuted-no-nukes/

 

Some/most Americans were appalled when politicians used 9/11 footage for campaign material and now it is anything goes. Nothing will shock or torment the new generation of leaders for this country, and am afraid of what the outcome will be.

I was alarmed this afternoon as I read from the initial Associated Press report of the major earthquake today in Hawaii that there had been landslides, power failures, a highway blocked by debris, and a report from Governor Lingle that “boulders fell on highways, rock walls collapsed and television had been knocked off stands.”

I applaud Governor Lingle for being on the ball when it comes to the television set falling crisis. A lot of people might scoff, and say that a television set falling off its stand is not a problem on par with a landslide or a power outage, but clearly, these people don’t understand the vital role that television plays in our culture today.

Just think – what if an entire week went by without Hawaiians being able to watch their television sets? They would have no idea what happened on Battlestar Galactica, or Lost, or which models lost out in the latest round of Project Runway.

In short, American culture would begin to fall apart, a decay in Hawaii that would surely infect the rest of the nation, leading to spontaneous, unpredictable outbursts of local originality, and with them, a de-emphasis on federalism and a resurgence on states’ rights! The South would soon reinstitute slavery and lynchings, and no one could say for sure if Vermont would share its maple sugar fairly. Would America’s Dairyland announce reductions in production in order to send cheddar prices through the roof?

The latest news indicates that FEMA is sending a fleet of cargo freighters filled with flat screen plasma television sets to Hawaii. Let’s just hope that they arrive in time… before it’s a new Civil War begins!

The Mail and Guardian writes, “Word of the still inconclusive findings comes as Washington leads efforts in New York for a United Nations resolution punishing North Korea.”

The Observer writes, “There are still doubts whether the test was real. Japan said yesterday it had yet to detect any radiation consistent with a nuclear blast. South Korea and China said that it could take weeks before a definitive judgement could be made.”

The United Nations resolution that unconfirmed ambassador John Bolton rushed through calls the nuclear explosion “a clear threat to international security”.

So, riddle me this:

If a nuclear bomb is exploded and no one can tell whether it really took place, how is that a clear threat to international security?

“We almost got killed back there!”
“No, honey. it was just a close call.”

This may change tomorrow, but right now Twister is my favorite bad movie. It’s full of doozies like this, either messed up by the writing or messed up by the delivery: “He’s not in it for the science. He’s in it for the money!”

What’s your favorite bad movie, and why?

Sheldon Richman, writing in the Baltimore Chronicle, has the guts to come out and say what nobody else dares: There Is No War:

What we call terrorism is not war, but criminal action. It becomes war only if we make it so.
America is not under siege. There is no threat to its integrity as a society. No barbarians stand at the gates ready to overrun and subjugate us. What we call terrorism is not war, but criminal action. It becomes war only if we make it so. But war exacts a terrible cost on the country that prosecutes it. If you need proof, see the Military Commissions Act of 2006.”

If there is no war, there is no excuse.

There is no excuse.

Most people don’t know about this, but the tiniest wasps carry within them the potential to destroy humankind. It’s a fact of science that some wasps have the ability to inject their prey not just with painful venom, but also with bits of rogue DNA that merge with the genetic code of the prey in order to make it a more useful host for the wasp’s young. These wasps will lay their eggs on a caterpillar that they have paralyzed, and over time, the wasp’s DNA infiltrates the caterpillar’s DNA, causing it to be a more healthy snack when the young wasp larvae hatch and are ready to eat.

I’m not making this up. It’s true.

Now just think of what could happen with a slight change in wasp behavior. It is well known that wasps can already cause some fully grown adult human beings to go into shock. With just a little bit of adaptation, a wasp could easily paralyze a human being… and insert its DNA.

Only one step more, and you have a planet filled with genetically-modified human beings who live as slaves and snacks to the wasps. Ordinary humans would have to hide out on distant islands, hoping that the wasps would not be blown there on a strong wind… or that the human-wasp hybrids would not build boats to reach them.

Only one or two mutations, and all humanity will be in the gravest of peril – and you might never find out until you get that first sting!

Robyn Blumner is a columnist for my hometown newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, and she always has something interesting to say. But in yesterday’s column, she shook me to the bones with her essay on the end of “The Great American Experiment in Liberty.”

E Pluribus Unum be damned. Here’s America’s new motto: If we can’t pronounce your name, we don’t care what happens to you. Now let us get back to our Happy Meals.

How was your lunch?

Here’s a riddle for New Jersey Democrats: What happens when you allow an incumbent politician to go unchallenged?

Don’t worry. There’s no trick to this riddle. The answer is all too obvious: The politician loses all sense of responsibility to the people.

Rob Andrews proves the point. He’s the Democratic incumbent in the House of Representatives for New Jersey’s first congressional district. At the close of this autumn’s session of Congress, Rob Andrews served his constituents very ill indeed.

Rob Andrews abandoned the mainstream of the Democratic Party and voted for the Military Commissions Act. The Military Commissions Act does the following:

The more time passes on in politics, the more I want to vomit. All I see is corruption by all parties and it never seems to get better. So, I have an idea on how to get the kind of government we want.

Keep the three party system, but no longer give republicans and democrats and guaranteed spot on any ballot. Maybe if they actually had to work to get a spot on the ballot, they’d shape up and quit looking out only for themselves.

This morning, there is incredible news: A volcano has erupted in Los Angeles!

People are marching in the street outside Congress and the White House, demanding strong action to deal with the devastation resulting from the volcano. Republicans, however, are saying that there should not be any big government solution to the crisis, and that residents should not cut and run from Los Angeles.

Democratic leaders, hoping to woo swing voters, reject the demands for immediate evacuation from Los Angeles. They’re calling for an evacuation of Los Angeles by the end of 2007, but only if the situation there stabilizes first.