A New Year and all that

Sorry it’s been while but the end of the year was just madness and when it wasn’t madness I was recovering form the madness.

Also I’ve been trying to get my World of Warcraft Dwarf warrior up to level 70 – it maybe the only real accomplishment of this coming year sad to say.

Trying to write songs but I think I’m trying too damn hard – what I’m coming up with either feels forced or a rehash of something we’ve already done better.

Still just as shot in the dark – any topics or things you folks out there want a song about? Bigfoot, scary jellyfish in your tub? The Panama disease that is threatening the world banana crop? There’s even a book about that by the by – and it’s a cautionary tale about United Fruit, South America and the tendency of Capitalism when left to it’s own devices to run amok to the point where it threatens its own survival.

Which brings us to the right wing talking heads who are now saying that the New Deal didn’t work – and that Roosevelt was a business hating radical of some sort who was only elected 4 times because Ronald Reagan wasn’t running or something like that. It’s to laugh if only there weren’t people who want to take this seriously because it’s in their best interest that it be true but the plain fact was FDR saved capitalism in the US when it was at its weakest and most susceptible to the excesses of the right and the left – indeed in the early 40’s Anne Morrow Lindberg wrote a book called “The Wave of the Future” which talked – as if the death of western democracy were just a done deal and the thing to do now was to chose between Fascism and Communism (with Anne coming down on the side of Fascism - the “Wave of the Future” in the title. The book for some reason isn’t in print these days – you wonder why).

Looked at it in the way of things FDR (and Keynes) saved capitalism’s skinny wrinkled butt and of course the right wing has expressed it’s gratitude for making it safe for them to get very rich by badmouthing him and spending the last 60 years trying to overthrow his legacy.

We’ll finally have a new president soon – and well we’ll see after that. I keep hearing chatter from the village that Obama isn’t really going to change things that much and he won’t listen to all those nasty lefty types with their rage – and their nasty habit of being right.

As far as change we will see – change is hard especially when you have so many folks with a vested interest in the status quo.

The name Ayn Rand keeps popping across the internet these days – I supose that with the financial systems collapses there has been a slight reexamination of her basic principles since she was so glowing quoted by many including our recent Fed Chairman Greensapan who admitted to being shocked to discover that businessmen in the pursuit of short term gain will act recklessly and stupidly to the point that they endanger the system. This tendency to mania followed by a crash really shouldn’t shock folks – it describes the economic history of the United States up to the great depression – hell if I understand Marx correctly – and since I haven’t read that much Marx (Karl or Groucho) I can’t be exactly sure but I seem to remember that Old Karl regarded that as being a feature of the system not a bug.

Anyway Rand’s big work – is something called Atlas Shrugged which I haven’t read since I’m busy with world of war craft and when I’m not I have other things do to with my life.

The plot – or something – is that the ‘good’ people – defined by Rand as the business people – tired of having their efforts thwarted by petty government rules ‘go on strike’ until the economy collapses and the world pleads for them to come back and save them. It’s a nasty little authoritian fantasy – (what little I have read of Rand has given me the impression she hated people almost as much as Celine did and Celine at least told better jokes) which is being taken to heart these days by the wing nuts because fantasy (the Show 24, The Movie 300 et al) is all they have.

I remember knowing someone who was very into Rand at the time I knew them – they told me the outline of the Atlas Shrugged and I just shrugged my shoulders and quoted Charles DeGaul – “the Cemetery is filled with indispensable men” – she didn’t like that that much. To be sure my take is that talent isn’t anywhere nearly as thin on the ground as Rand and her followers think it is – but Charles does have a point. We all go and the world goes on.

Meantime- The whole Illinois Senator thing is dragging out a long slow death. And Harry Reid to put is bluntly is a waste of protein. He inserted himself into the process early blackballing a couple of prospects do to ‘concerns over their delectability’ which in village talk is they were back – after at the whole scandal blew up and everybody was left with the current choice until the gov is impeached and convicted

Really Harry Reid must be an awful poker player - and boring too - in any game the sequence would be – ante – deal- someone opens – Harry folds – repeat.

He’s like John McClellan was in the Civil War no matter how many advantages he has he always thinks he’s out numbered. And is being clever at the same time. It’s pretty infuriating to read about.

Giants collapse well was pretty damn awful – it wasn’t helped by the horrible play calling – runs on the first two downs and then a pass – and who the hell thought a naked bootleg was a good idea down around your own end zone? The play action was a good idea but he should have stayed in the pocket rather than rolling out. All in all a bad game played by a team that seemed to have forgotten how to win games.

Going through the Godzilla films one by one this last week – some notes to follow.

Peace Love It’s Godzilla!