Polianiac

Approximately 82 seconds into last night’s Anderson Cooper 360, I hit the big wall. You know the wall—that moment when you hear your voice silently scream, “I can’t stand this mush-brained excuse for discourse one more second!”  That wall…

Where would we be without a 24/7 news cycle, besides back in the 80s? Seriously, where would we be and what would we be doing? How would we conduct our lives and could we survive? Something tells me we might be better off.

I think it is like a chocolate addiction. If you eat chocolate every moment of every day, then chocolate becomes common and mundane. In order to break out of the mundane-ness, one would find a way to “spice up” the now dull chocolate in hopes of breaking the monotony.  So this is how we got Jalapeno Fudge… sorry—digression…

The way I see it, the 24/7 news cycle requires that we stay up to speed. It requires that we know specifically and contextually what is being talked about in order to adequately process and assign significance to the information. They know we can’t do that. They know that in order for us to go about our own lives, we have no chance of keeping up…

Make no mistake; this post is not about the “Big Lie” Liberal Media Bias—this post is about We The People and our own participation in the perpetuation of not keeping up— Who benefits and who gains?

A Citizen Kane (1941) moment: How to Run a Newspaper…

Wayne Slater, co-author of Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential (2004) published a first clip of Oliver Stone’s “W.” on his Dallas Morning News blog on Monday. This was my first face-to-face encounter with all the actors included in Stone’s film. For me, there were some shockers…

Yes, Josh Brolin will play “W” or “Junior”, as he is called by Poppy (G.H.W.) Bush played by James Cromwell. The wonderful Ellen Burstyn has been cast in the role of Barbara Bush, while Elizabeth Banks portrays Laura Bush.

Richard Dreyfus has been cast as V.P. Dick Cheney. This really is not surprising given Dreyfus’s preparatory role as ‘Senator Bob Rumson’, a hard hitting conservative slime-ball with an eye toward the presidency in The American President (1995). British actor Toby Jones has been cast as Karl Rove. This might be the biggest challenge for a British actor since Vivian Leigh was cast as Scarlett O’Hara; however, Mr. Jones does seem equal to the challenge. In 2002, Jones was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role—the irony does not stop here. The award was for his performance in a play entitled, “The Play What I Wrote”—Okie dokey, Mr. Toby Jones is definitely Karl Rove…

And then, my jaw dropped: Scott Glenn has been cast as Donald Rumsfeld. Scott Glenn: my “Silence of the Lambs” (1991), “Hunt for Red October” (1990), “Silverado” (1985) hero? “The Right Stuff” (1983) Scott Glenn? Personal pout aside, there could be consolation in that Scott Glenn might just get it right.

Stone has certainly assembled a superb cast for this project—too bad the real cast of characters wasn’t as accomplished. The release of “W.” is rumored for October release and if so, it won’t be a surprise. Why don’t we all contact Mr. Stone and suggest that “W.” might be end of November fare. Then we can sit back and enjoy it along with turkey, dressing, and in anticipation of other coming gifts…

Here is the trailer… Get the popcorn ready!

I must admit I have suffered that sad condition called Cynicism when it comes to the collective eight years known as the Bush-Cheney Administration.

I realize I share this condition with many other Americans, who hold the Constitution of the United States to be the most sacred document in this country; who believe the inherent primacy of this document must be retained in order for the republic to continue.Yesterday’s release of a report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility into the actions of Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson is a long awaited victory—and let’s hope not the last.

The Goodling-Sampson practices at the DOJ did not occur in a vacuum; these are not two rogue agents—they represent what this administration considers “the best and the brightest”… well, Bush-world is located somewhere near Relativism, U.S.A. Obviously, my cynicism continues.  This is about the Rule of Law—something we have lost sight of. Something we think is okay to avoid, poke fun at, make sport of…  What do you call a country that loses the Rule of Law?

The Knoxville News Sentinel is reporting this morning that a four-page “manifesto” has been recovered from the car of Jim D. Adkisson, the man who evidentially thought it was okay to carry a gun into God’s House on Sunday morning and kill two innocent people, while wounding at least seven others.

Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen said the shooter was, “…Frustrated about not being able to obtain a job and how much he hated the liberal movement.” It reminds me of another time when churches became the focal point for political violence.

On September 15, 1963, a bomb was thrown into the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. That bomb killed four little girls, sitting in their Sunday school room. It was a sad, but historic moment in the Civil Rights Movement… another liberal movement.  I would like to believe that those who commit these acts are not concerned with ever coming face-to-face with God.  I want to believe they are non-believers, as opposed to some radical version of true believer—those that believe they are in fact, doing God’s work.

Funny isn’t it, that in his time, politically speaking, Jesus himself was a liberal.