Okay, this is my second to last entry. Tomorrow we’ll have my AT&T story and a funny video clip and that will be it. I don’t think I’ll have anything on politics or news, unless something really big happens.
Arnold on the Termination of the Ban on Gay Marriage
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) says he supports the recent California Supreme Court ruling that supports gay marriage. And it’s fine and whatever for Schwarzenegger to have this position but I’m just a little confused on his stance on this issue. He says now that he personally opposes gay marriage but doesn’t want to force his views on everyone else.
That’s fine but it does seem like it’s kinda hard to be a governor and not be forcing your views on other people. I mean, isn’t that what signing legislation is all about…forcing your views on other people?
And I know, this issue can be viewed as a moral discussion leading to the ‘well my personal opinion is but…’ sorta answer. But Schwarzenegger had vetoed same sex legislation before. So he was legislating his own personal views then.
He now says that he did that because he didn’t think the legislature should override the will of the people and the people had defined marriage between a man and a woman in Proposition 22. He thinks it’s okay for a court to override the will of the people because they’re experts and voters are not. But isn’t it kinda strange that the legislators, who are elected BY the people don’t have the right to nullify the will of the voters but justices who aren’t elected have that right?
Don’t get me wrong, I personally support each state making their own decision on gay marriage and don’t support a federal ban. Marriage is essentially a state issued contract and any religious connotation is derived on an individual view basis and should not bind the state one way or the other. A state has every right to set the parameters of the contracts they issue and each state should be able to decide whether they honor the contracts set up by another state within reason and with understanding given to the full faith and credit clause. Personally, I would support the state granting marriage licenses to gay couples. My complaint with Schwarzenegger has nothing to do with the stance itself…just the idiocy and contradiction of his argument.
Running Mates in the Running
CNN had a really great feature about possible running mates for both tickets that go over the potential pros and cons of each candidate. It’s very helpful and a must read. My picks for each ticket: For the Republicans, Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) and Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH) for the Democrats. Both choices shore up the ticket, though neither is especially impressive outside of the context of this race and the unique issues of the primary season.
Child Porn Ruling
The Supreme Court decided by a count of 7-2 that child porn is not protected by the First Amendment as free speech. Is it somewhat concerning that two justices (Souter and Ginsburg) sided the other way on that one? I’m all for free speech and I believe that it even covers expression that isn’t fully speech (burning the flag as an example) but how someone could even put forward the argument that child porn is protected speech is truly absurd.
Another Bush Book
Former White House Spokesman Scott McClellan became the latest former aide to President George W. Bush to publish a book critical of the administration. And the White House responded in their usual manner…to attack the character of the individual. They did that to Richard Clarke, Paul O’Neill and George Tenet and now they’re doing it to McClellan, labeling him as “disgruntled” and Karl Rove said he sounded "like a left wing blogger.”
First, without “disgruntled” individuals, history couldn’t be written. If only the ‘gruntled’ wrote, half the story would remain untold. So, dismissing him as disgruntled, isn’t getting at the point.
Here’s the thing about McClellan. It’s not easy to be given a script of stuff to say that’s total shit. You know it’s shit but you hafta say it because that’s your job. And I know, ‘Why didn’t he leave?’ but that’s much easier to say from this side of the screen than it is to do when you’re actually in the job. Because if you leave, you have to start over somewhere else, in a new place and maybe things aren’t so bad or maybe they’ll get better.
In the end, McClellan likely left because there’s only so much shit you can recite before you lose your soul. There’s only so many lies you can repeat before you just feel like you’re a liar and there’s a cost to that. There’s a cost to how you view the people you work for, the way you view the people you work with and ultimately, the way you view yourself.
If McClellan finally got tired of shoveling the President’s shit to the public, I understand. And if he wrote this book because he wanted to clear his own conscience, maybe to find a sense of redemption on some level, I understand that too. And if he’s able to find that lost respect he once had for himself…well, I’d be somewhat surprised.
Sydney Pollack Passes Away
Sydney Pollack, director of ‘Tootsie’ and ‘Out of Africa’ died of cancer at the age of 73. Pollack was an understated director that never got the credit that bigger name directors got but he just kept making great, solid movies. He didn’t have a ‘style’ to speak of other than his movies were smart and always worth watching.
He also appeared as an actor in many movies, and he was a quiet yet forceful presence on screen. It never felt like was just a cameo or something. He always added to the film he was appearing in.
I find myself feeling very sad about this and over the last couple days I’ll think about him. And maybe that makes me sound stupid. I don’t know.
Top 1000 Movies
Okay, I’m not a huge fan of this list but it’s the top 1000 movies according to They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They…and I’m a huge fan of meaningless lists of meaningless data. It’s slanted too much toward foreign movies and while I certainly like some foreign films, I don’t give them bonus points for having subtitles the way some snooty critics do.
Cable Corner
Remember how I mentioned earlier that my old apartment complex is getting rid of Comcast and switching to Shentel? Well, I finally looked them up on the Internet and it’s a funny little site. It’s very plain and all their services are called ‘solutions.’ So instead of saying they offer cable television service, they say they offer ‘video solutions’ and instead of telephone service, they offer ‘voice solutions.’ I’m wary of anything that offers solutions before there’s a problem. It’s like a warning.
Nowhere on their website do they offer pricing plans or what channels they carry. They do assure readers that they do have stuff…they just don’t worry about being specific. Which is great because I think that saying you carry ESPN is just giving too much away. You should play it coy when you’re a business. Don’t let the consumer know what they’re getting. If we think we know what we’re getting, then we might be disappointed when we don’t get it. But if we don’t know what’s coming, we can’t ever be let down.
Now, I haven’t exactly enjoyed my Charter service so far. My Internet only works during certain hours and the HD signals are constantly being interrupted, making HD programs virtually unwatchable. I’m having a problem with a payment I gave them in person that they’re now showing they haven’t received. During a call yesterday, the customer representative claimed I didn’t really go into the office like I claimed and began screaming at me (as in screaming so loud her words were more like sirens, unable to be fully distinguished).
However, the phone service has actually worked okay.
I Won the Lottery
I got a great email the other day. I won the National Lottery. It was the National Lottery in England. Now, I never actually bought a ticket and I’m not sure how I got in the running for this but I’m quite thrilled. I looked up the National Lottery page and it says, “As a general rule, if you have not purchased a ticket for the UK National Lottery, you won’t have won a prize, and you should treat the email with absolute caution.” I respect their opinion but when you’ve just won millions of dollars, caution is the last thing you should be thinking about. Did Ken Jennings exercise caution when he was winning all those games of ‘Jeopardy?’ Did Two Scoops Berry exercise caution when he was on American Gladiators back in the 90s? No, they were all about kicking ass and winning stuff. And me too. I was so dominant in my lottery outing, that I won without buying a ticket. Yeah, I did good.
Poor Sean…Sean Has No Job
NC Sean lives in northern Virginia but he’s still called NC Sean anyway. You see NC Sean lived in North Carolina for a year and that was enough to become NC Sean. NC Sean doesn’t like being called NC Sean (I do it anyway). But his nickname issue isn’t his biggest problem.
You see, NC Sean recently lost his job. NC Sean has a wife and a child (the child was born before his wife was his wife but that’s neither here nor there). NC Sean is on the search for a new job but he’s finding the job market to be somewhat difficult. Now some people say this is a bad situation but it isn’t all bad. He’s gotten the chance to watch a lot of television and is now an expert on soap operas.
He also had a great exchange with a telemarketer who called him to ask for a charitable donation and NC Sean told them that he had lost his job and had no money to give them and that he had a wife and a child (the child was born before his wife was his wife but that’s neither here nor there). The telemarketer reportedly replied, “I’m sorry” and NC Sean added that the caller could give HIM money but the telemarketer repeated that he was sorry and told NC Sean to have a good day. But NC Sean has no job.
NC Sean does have several prospects though. He learned about the Dalai Lama threatening to resign because of the violence in China and stuff and Joe thinks he might like to run for that position. He’s reading Wikipedia and Sports Illustrated’s Olympic coverage to determine what he needs to do.
I told NC Sean that he’d be better off not becoming the next Dalai Lama because he’d have to deal with Richard Gere and no one needs that in their life. When Mr. Gere heard that Mr. Lama talked about resigning, he reportedly said, “Don't take your Dalai and go home!”
NC Sean had a promising interview with McDonald’s though. He was told that in six weeks, with good performance, he could become a manager and get a different shirt. He’d be NC Sean and the Amazing McDonald’s Shirt of Many Colors. NC Sean isn’t as enthusiastic about this prospect as I am for him.
NC Sean tried growing a beard, which he thought looked okay but his wife told him he looked like a homeless person. Which I suppose explains why NC Sean told me that he was able to walk through DC without being bothered by panhandlers last week.
A lot of people have told NC Sean that ‘When life throws you lemons, you should make lemonade,’ but I say that if you want lemonade, you should just go to the grocery store and buy yourself some lemonade. NC Sean has asked me to stop bringing up lemonade.
I say NC Sean should stop sitting on towels but that’s just my opinion.
Final Thoughts
Scientists say that smiling can hurt your health. See? This is what I’ve been trying to tell you!
I wish I could jump high. Maybe like 20 feet just straight up in the air. I’d be talking to someone and then just jump high and they’d be surprised. It'd be great.
I’m glad my name’s not Kevin.
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