"This vile politician." (Henry IV)

.....Need to get something straightened out here. I happen to be a registered Democrat, but I do have some very good friends... readers and relatives who belong to, or who vote for Republican candidates on election days. They also scold me with comments on occasion when I run off politically at the mouth...and that's OK. It becomes a political debate, and I'm all for debating. In college I was a hot debater. But I don't want to get anyone mad at me, especially BF & JT & PB & RH (that's Higgins, not RH+. There's a difference). Besides, in my newspaper's editorial page, there's a column almost every day with Obama bashing. So, I feel perfectly fine bashing someone or something else. That evens the playing field, so to speak.

.....Now, to change the subject violently...so to speak, I have lost my VA psychiatrist whom I never have to pay, fortunately, and now I have to break another one in. I had an appointment with Dr. Ellen Zayas yesterday, and when I got to her office--there was Mary Stone. Mary is an ARNP; I guess that means a registered nurse practitioner and she was there to practition on me. I guess because between Iraq and Afghanistan the VA is running out of shrinks who treat PTSD. Dr. Zayas was called upon to doctor somewhere else for some unknown reason to me, and I have been seeing her now for about ten years. I'm kind of leery about having an ARNP work with me...being 'sui generis' I'm a very difficult case. Anyway, Mary is a very nice ARNP; the first thing she said to me was "Tell me about yourself." I guess she learned that introductory statement in ARNP school. Well, I said, "Mary, I only have 60 minutes with you, and it will take me four and a half hours to tell you about myself since my life involves 86 years of it. Perhaps you can afford to buy my autobiography for $22 on Amazon." Naturally, working for the VA she couldn't afford it so I told her about myself and when I was finished she said, "Norman, you are remarkable; you are a smart Forrest Gump!" Funny, I never thought about myself that way.

.....By now, you must have guessed that this blog is multi-hued in order to differentiate among the various blog themes. I thought this up all by myself. Among my many thoughts that rarely give birth to anything is the thought of teaching a poetry class here in the clubhouse. I did teach about two dozen classes in Shakespeare several years ago. I can't do that anymore for the same reasons I don't play golf or jog anymore; takes too much work and energy. But a poetry class would be different. I kind of miss the teaching profession. I don't know how many people would register for the class, but the Shakespeare classes were well attended. We would read, discuss, analyze and write poetry. I'd start off with one of my favorites; "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." And then a Canterbury tale or two, and then a few bars of "Paradise Lost" and "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." If you care to register, the tuition will be $35. Come one. Come all.

Reminiscences in the rear view mirror (Part II)

.....I went to a show at our theatre last night and heard a "chanteuse" sing some songs that have always been favorites of mine, such as Send in the Clowns, and from Evita, Don't Cry for me Argentina. I have, fortunately, lived a long and eventful life and those songs reminded me of all the wonderful people and events that I have enjoyed. So let's begin with movies I've enjoyed: Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, Hamlet (with Olivier), The Razor's Edge, City Lights, Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong, Duck Soup, It Happened One Night, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, The Grapes of Wrath, Citizen Kane, Great Expectations, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Sunset Boulevard, Singin' in the Rain, High Noon, On the Waterfront, La Dolce Vita, The Graduate, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Midnight Cowboy, The Godfather I & II, Blazing Saddles, Annie Hall, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Pulp Fiction, and probably many more that have lapsed into my memory and can't get out. But I am totally thankful that I have lived to see these films starring great actors.

.....And I am thankful that I have lived to see Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Woody Allen, Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Ingrid Bergman, Kenneth Branagh, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, James Cagney, Charlie Chaplin, Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood, Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Greta Garbo, Sir John Gielgud, Katherine Hepburn, Charles Laughton, Laurel & Hardy, Marx Bros., Marilyn Monroe, Paul Muni, Laurence Olivier, Tyrone Power, Spencer Tracy, John Travolta, Humphrey Bogart, and who knows how many more I've enjoyed. If this is a long list, don't forget I was born in 1924 at the height of the Great Depression.

.....and I've seen some tremendous athletes up close and in person: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Bob Feller, Hank Aaron, James Brown, Greg Davis & "Doc" Blanchard, Sid Luckman, Tom Seaver, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Carl Lewis, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Gale Sayers, Johnny VanderMeer, Ewell Blackwell, James Brown, Tommy Harmon & Barack Obama. Sure, I left several out--but these guys, to me, are memorable.

.....and I've seen and heard some truly great vocalists: Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, Liza Minnelli, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Whitney Houston, Neil Young & Elton John. ....and dancers, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, James Cagney, and Gene Kelly. Oh there be many other singers and dancers you and I can add to the list, but it's not your list--it's my list. If you care to name a few that I haven't mentioned, that you may care to write in a comment, well be my guest. I'd love to hear from you. I haven't even begun to mention all the technological and magical machines that I've witnessed, such as radio, TV, Records, Eight Track Tapes (Ugh!), CDs, Computers, Jet planes, Atomic Bombs, Cell Phones, iPods, 3D, HD, and etc.

.....What about Presidents? Well, it's a short list: FDR, JFK, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Sue me.

"...is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong?" (Austen)

(Actually, Sat. August 28, 2010)

.....There's a zillionaire politician here in Florida who spent $50 million dollars on his campaign to get elected. This fact made me want to throw up just thinking about how many people could be fed with that money instead of feeding his ego. How many homes could be built in Haiti; how much good that much money could do in New Orleans. So, he wanted power and celebrity and he decided he could buy it as though it were on sale in WalMart. With this kind of money being invested for the purpose of having a seat in government, then we now have to be realistic and consider whether or not we have a democracy here in America or a "plutocracy"--a system of government where people of wealth have undue influence over the political process.

.....In the past and recently there have been many examples of wealthy people, organizations, and corporations exerting financial pressure on our governments--local, state, and national--to pass favorable legislation. Of course, realistically and lawfully, campaign donations or gifts of any kind should have no effect on the legislative decisions of our elected representatives. Yeah, right.

.....This morning's newspaper featured a column by Bill Reilly, a Fox news pride and joy, and an arrogant, right wing prig if I ever read or heard one. All he ever can think of to write about is something with which he can bash "liberals" or especially Obama because they don't think as rightly as he does about political issues in this country. He writes about liberals and democrats as though they were aliens from another planet who have no right to an idea unless they adopt his. For example, today's column involves the issue of the mosque being built near ground zero.

Reilly claims that "Americans are not stupid. They understand that New York City has more than a 100 mosques. One more near the site where fanatical Muslims murdered thousands of innocent people is certainly not necessary."

.....In other words, those liberals, like Obama, who believe the mosque should be built are not only stupid, but obviously they are not Americans because "Americans are not stupid." Also, one wonders how his Americans understand how many mosques exist in New York City? And lastly, when was Reilly named a judge to decide what is or is not "necessary"?

.....Meanwhile, in the midst of Reilly's column, he exults gleefully in stating that the "far-left" media--like CNN, MSNBC, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, and the Washington Post "...face economic disaster." Meanwhile he claims that "...the anti-liberal Fox News Channel and The Wall Street Journal are doing very well." The Wall Street Journal?? Who would've guessed? $50 million bought an election here.

... The irony in all this is that I believe that the proposed mosque ought not to be built where so many died and where so many are still grieving and who, no doubt, still garner hatred of Islam. And I can understand and empathize with that feeling as it was Muslim extremists who were responsible for murdering my son-in-law in Lebanon in 1990, and who changed my family's life. But for Mr. Reilly's information, I'm an American, I'm a liberal, and a Democrat and I am not stupid. I'll stack my education up to his anytime.