Things Are Looking Up

As expected, the inauguration made me feel a lot better about things, life and the future. It’s weird how your life can change quickly and how the feeling of a giant weight pressing down on you for, oh, the last four years can be gone just as quickly.

Yeah, weird.

Yes, even though seeing President Biden and Vice-President Harris sworn in was the cathartic exhale we all needed, we cannot forget poet Amanda Gorman was amazing and almost stole the entire show. I expect to see her again in the future. A lot. If you haven’t watched her at the ceremony, do it now.

And, as expected, with adults running things again, shit is starting to get done already.

What is that I’m feeling? Hope? I guess so.

Happy New Year. Fucking finally.

Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid


Some Thoughts for 2021

Well, it happened. The ball dropped and we’ve been magically transported to the year 2021. Yeah, good for us.

Please don’t mistake my tone, I am happy it’s 2021. As we all know, 2020 was kinda shit and a lot of bad things happened. So, having a “do over” seems like a great idea and something I can get behind.

But I’ve also lived long enough to know things don’t always work out the way you want them to. They sometimes suck and go in a direction you didn’t expect or plan for. Life is funny that way and, over the years, you kinda get used to it. Mostly, anyway.

The big question we need to ask for 2021, though, is will things change, especially given the recent horrible events at the US Capital and the continued unrest and dangerous acts committed by some of our elected officials and our citizens? And if things do change, will they change for the better?

The only answer I can muster at the moment is maybe. Sorry, that’s the best I can do.

But really, can you blame me? If 2020 has taught me anything it’s we can’t rely on our elected officials, or our fellow humans, to just “do the right thing.” Many simply can’t or won’t. And sure, some actually do.

But enough don’t so we’re approaching 400,000 dead from COVID. Not that people doing the wrong thing and not wearing a mask or social distancing caused all of those nearly 400K deaths, but I’d bet simple human selfishness or entitlement was a big factor.

But this is supposed to be more of an “optimistic” post for 2021, so I won’t get into any more of that.

At least there’s finally not one, but two vaccines. That’s a big deal. Yay science! And they do seem to be rolling it out and people are getting vaccinated. The process is not without its problems, which should come as a shock to nobody, but it is happening. Again, that’s good.

Even with all the problems in 2020 and the shit that seems to be starting, or continuing, in 2021, I really do think we have a chance to make this county better and for people to come together. Sure, we’ve been going in absolutely the wrong direction for at least the last four years, so reversing course might be a tall order, but I still think maybe we can do it.

We just have to try really, really hard. I think Biden/Harris is a great step and the Democrats winning Georgia and controlling Congress is also a wonderful outcome. But it’s not enough.

We need to call out this bullshit behavior before it happens. And put a stop to it. We need to confront racists, misogynists, fascists or wanna-be nazis now and set them straight, or destroy their potential influence or bullshit plots, before they can do any harm. Not after armed dickheads storm the Capitol of our county in an aborted coup attempt. That day was pretty bad, but it could have been much worse.

The bad guys are not on the way, they are already here among us. They are in our schools, places of worship, where we work and certainly online. Fortunately, some of their online influence has been curbed, at least for the moment.

And many of the terrorists who stormed the Capital have been apprehended and hopefully will face swift and severe punishment. Those are couple very good steps in the right direction. But we can’t stop there.

Our eyes have been opened to what’s going on in our country. We dare not close them again.


This Is The End

Well, it’s the end of 2020 at least. Almost anyway. None too soon, if you ask me. And since this is my site, if you don’t ask me, I’ll just go ahead and ask myself.

That’s just how this works, see?

What a pain 2020 has been, right? I don’t need to go into it here because you know what I’m talking about. Still, seriously, fuck this year.

And while I’m at it, fuck people who don’t believe in science, compassion or simple human decency. And fuck people who try to take advantage of the poor or the weak or try to oppress or persecute people based on their race, religion, gender identity, or for any other reason. It’s not right. None of it. Stop fucking doing it.

That was a lot of “fucks” and I apologize. I’m just kinda angry about a lot of stuff right now. More than usual. I’m also very tired. You can probably relate.

In fact, if I had to sum up this year in one word, I’d say “tired.” As in, I’m fucking tired. 2020 is the year that never seemed to end and continuously threw one horrible thing after another at all of us. I don’t know about you, but . . . I. Am. Tired.

I’m tired of have trouble getting to sleep or sleeping through the night. I’m tired of worrying about what our country is turning into, or what it was all along and we just didn’t notice. I’m tired of worrying about the thousands of people dying every day while thousands more call a pandemic a “hoax” and refuse to take basic precautions like wearing a mask. I’m tired of the indifference, incompetence and seemingly wanton acts of cowardice and malice from our elected officials.

I’m tired of it. All of it. I’ll bet you are too.

And speaking of “anti mask” dickheads, fuck those selfish assholes too.

Perhaps it’s a character flaw but I have a lot of trouble comprehending people who just don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, especially during something like COVID. Like I get you’re a selfish prick but maybe, just this once, can you do something for someone other than yourself and wear this thing over your fucking pie hole to protect others from your stupidity and anti-science bullshit? Once COVID is gone, feel free to return to your previous behavior. I guess. Thanks?

Now don’t get me wrong, I have a healthy ego. Ask anyone.

But my ego doesn’t replace common decency and regard for my fellow humans. As in, I do care if you live or die so I’m going to do my part to help stop the spread of COVID by wearing a mask, washing my hands, keeping my distance and staying at home most of the time.

I do it because I give a shit, not just about myself, but about all of you. Even you fuckers who don’t deserve it and wouldn’t do the same for me. It’s called being a good citizen and good human. Look it up.

I think being a good citizen and a good human is a good thing. You may not agree. If you don’t, well, I guess fuck you too.

I realize this all may seem pretty negative, and some of it is, frankly. But don’t despair. All is not lost. We have some hope, as I mentioned in my last post.

Compassionate, intelligent adults seem to be in charge again. Thank the gods. Will it help? Probably. Do we still have a long way to go? You bet your ass we do. Do we have a chance? Yep. I think we have a good chance.

Let’s really try not to fuck it up.

 

 


Hope 2.0

Well, well. As much as I was thinking and hoping positive change was coming, I still had some doubts. 2020 has been a bit too rough to go quietly.

Fortunately, it seems, this year can still surprise me and it looks like the adults are back in charge of the country again. Compassionate, decent, thoughtful, science-loving, education-loving, kind and sincere adults.

About fucking time.

Sure, we’re not out of the woods yet. He who shall not be named is still squatting in the People’s House and looks to be staying, at least for the short term. But I’m not going to let that get me down. Not me. Not this time. He’ll be out soon enough. One way or another. If I get a vote I choose “dragged away in cuffs”, but I don’t think it will get that far. Too bad.

The important thing is my vote mattered. Your vote mattered. All votes mattered. And all votes counted. The will of the people has been heard. You love to see it.

But we’ve still got a lot of work to do. Millions of our fellow citizens voted for the other guy and now we have the unenviable task of trying to work with them to move our country forward. As our new President-Elect, Joe Biden, said, he wants to be the President for all of us, not just the ones who voted for him.

That seems like an almost impossible task. I sincerely wish him luck. Still, he needs to govern and he needs to move the country forward and eradicate COVID and get us back on the right track. No matter what.

If detractors from his own side, and those who didn’t vote for him, want to come along in the spirit of unity and improving the country, great. Glad to have you aboard.

If Democrats don’t want to help, or those who didn’t vote for him want cling to their old ideas of hate, divisiveness, bigotry, baseless accusation and fear mongering, then fuck ‘em. We don’t need ‘em. Some people are too afraid, too stubborn or, dare I say it, too ignorant to change. I feel bad for them but some people just don’t want help and don’t want to change. You can’t please everyone.

Whatever happens going forward, I’m happy to live in a county that elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Great job, guys. We did it. Optimism is back in style and the future looks a little brighter.

And to my new President and Vice President I say good luck. We’re with you.

Don’t fuck it up.

 

Photo Credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images

 


Moving Forward . . .Together

This post will not be a victory dance or joyful celebration of any sort. That’s not what’s needed now. The election is over and the best man, in my opinion, won. You may have a different opinion and may have voted for the other guy, and that’s just fine.

I’m glad you voted at all. As I expressed recently, voting is very important.

But now that we’ve decided, by popular and electoral majority, to give President Barack Obama four more years, I think it’s time to put aside our differences and the vitriol generated by the election and at least try to work together to solve the country’s problems.

In the words of the well-intentioned, but highly misguided, Grand Moff Tarkin: This bickering is pointless.

Let’s all try to work together for once and see how it goes. Who knows, if we stop blaming each other for everything, we might actually accomplish something?

I know it may be just a dream and a crazy notion, but then again, this country was founded by a bunch of dreamers with a crazy notion or two. We’ve already got that crazy dreamer thing going for us, and if we harness it, we can accomplish anything.

The truth is we are much stronger together than we are apart. It’s really that simple.


Voting Is Very Important

I find it somewhat hard to believe that in this day and age I have to remind people voting is important. Regardless of which candidate you like, or even if you’re just voting for the guy who seems like the lesser of two evils, the act of voting itself is significant.

Ask anyone, I’m pretty lazy and don’t like to leave the house unless absolutely necessary, but I still managed to vote. My 87-year-old mother who can barely walk, and really shouldn’t be driving, still managed to vote.

In other words, there’s no excuse not to vote. Just get off your ass and do it. Those episodes of Dancing with the Stars, Honey Boo Boo or The Real Housewives of wherever will still be on your TiVo when you get back. I promise.

If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. If you do vote, you can bitch for the next four years about how you picked the other guy and that everyone is crazy for thinking the guy who won would do a good job. It’s your right as a voter and as an American.

If you don’t vote and then try to complain, I will ask you to kindly shut the hell up.

It’s that simple.

Oh, in case anyone was wondering or had any doubt, I voted to give President Barack Obama a second term (I’ve been a fan of his for some time). My reasons are many but the bottom line is I don’t believe Mitt Romney’s values and beliefs are in line with my own.

I don’t think he’s a bad person, I just don’t think he represents what I believe in and that he wants to make this county a place I would choose to live in. He’s simply not the person I want as my President.

You are, of course, free to disagree. But if you do, please, keep it civil. Of course, if you do disagree but violate the above and don’t vote, kindly see that you, once again, shut the hell up.


Site Stuff, Photo Sharing and More

Looking at the archives list on the right of this page reminds me I’ve had this particular blog incarnation since mid 2004. That’s a good amount of time (almost 8 years) and I’m proud of myself for sticking with something that long.

I have actually been putting stuff online since before 2004 but alas, those articles and content have pretty much been lost after moves into and out of various blogging platforms over the years. I’m pretty sure I could probably locate them if I really tried and perhaps I will someday. But for the moment, I’m content to have this blog’s starting date be in June of 2004.

In the interest of fun, though, let’s step into the Wayback Machine and see what I was thinking on that first fateful Summer day in June of 2004. From that first post it seems like I was talking about a mix of tech and politics and also managed to throw in a quote from Chris Rock too. Not a bad bunch of content at all.

Although, I’m not sure why I felt the need to say “later” at the end of the post. It’s almost as if I didn’t know what I was doing then. So weird.

Anyway, now that I’ve evolved into the highly skilled professional that I am (hey, if you get or got paid to do it, you’re a pro) I can safely omit any of that kind of stuff and just talk directly to the audience. You know, you and you out there reading this.

Yes, there’s probably only two of you but that’s okay, we know something that others don’t know, right? We’re the cool kids now. Suck on that nerds. . .

But, I digress.

Nostalgia and self-affirmation is great but it doesn’t help me figure out if I should keep my Flickr Pro account or not. See that there, that’s what they call a transition. Although, it wasn’t a great one. No, not at all.

My Flickr Pro account expires later this month and my dilemma is that I haven’t been uploading photos to it at all. In fact, I haven’t used it for many months. Granted, it’s only about 25 bucks a year but if I don’t use it at all, why bother? Plus, maybe there’s something better out there with more features, more interaction and the like?

I’m also considering that I have pretty much unlimited bandwidth, space and server power with the Media Temple servers we use for The Flickcast and other sites (including this here blog) that I could just host my photos myself and skip the third party stuff. That’s why you now see a “Photos” tab up there at the top of the screen.

I’m trying out various photo gallery plugins for Wordpress to see which one looks the best. Right now, it’s one called NextGen Gallery and I kinda think it’s the best of the bunch. We also use it at The Flickcast so I’ve got some experience with it. I think I will leave it in place for now and see how it goes. I will add more photos I’ve already taken and perhaps some new ones soon too.

I also know that I’ve invested a lot of time and effort over the years to upload stuff to Flickr and it has a lot of photos of mine. It would be a lot of work to start completely over somewhere else. In fact, I’m not sure exactly how I would bulk download all the photos at Flickr and upload them somewhere else. I would need to look into that more.

Given the potential pain in the ass and time involved, I would instead probably want to have Flickr serve as an archive for my old photos and would start anywhere new, like SmugMug, from this point on. However, because of the large number of photos I have (too many for the free Flickr account) I would end up having to keep paying for the Pro version just to maintain the archive.

So I guess that pretty much answers my question, doesn’t it? Yahoo will be getting 25 bucks from me this month. They can probably use it.

Thanks for playing along. Always fun to see the decision making process at work, right?

The truth is no service, free or paid, is going to motivate me go out and take pictures. That motivation has to come from within.

Now where did I put my camera?


Hanging At the Grove

The Grove in Los Angeles is one of those great, outdoor shopping areas that attracts all manner of people. It’s situated next to the famous Farmer’s Market, which has been a fun hangout for hipsters, and non-hipsters alike, for many years.

I was at the Grove tonight to see a screening of director Steven Soderberg’s latest movie Haywire. It’s an action extravaganza starring MMA sensation Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor and Michael Douglas.

I will be doing a full review later this week for The Flickcast. For now, just enjoy the above picture I took at the Grove this evening.

Yes, it’s actually even nicer than it looks in the picture.

On a related note, we’ve made the decision over at The Flickcast to make the site dark in protest of SOPA and PIPA. We firmly believe in stopping piracy but we don’t want to give up liberty to do it.

For more on how you can get involved, go HERE.

Because of my personal disgust with SOPA and PIPA, i won’t be posting here at all tomorrow either. Be back Thursday.

Have a great day off from me.


The Start of Something Good

Today is a great day for America. A new President, a new chance to show the world we are a country worthy of the title “world leader” and the start of something good.

						Here's to Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. Good luck Mr. President. With the state of the country after the Bush years, I think you'll need it.

						<img src="http://cullrich.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/0120-barack-obama-inauguration-00.jpg" border="0" alt="0120_barack_obama_inauguration_00.JPG" width="450" height="613">

Video Friday - Sarah Palin and the Turkey

I don’t really have much in the way of witty banter for this particular video. I really think it speaks for itself. One thing I will say, however, is that I’m sure glad I’m not a turkey.

						Also, if you happen to be a bit squeamish, you might not want to watch. Otherwise, enjoy.

						[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8e4n0uKmk0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0]

Video Friday - We've Come a Long Way

With the election of Barack Obama on Tuesday, I thought it would be fun to look back a bit and watch the speech that first brought the then Senator from Illinois to the attention of the greater public at large. Even then, four years ago, at the Democratic National Convention, you can see his eloquence, intelligence, power and gain a very revealing glimpse into the man who will, four years later, become the 44th President of the United States.

						Clearly, he's quite a man indeed and I, for one, can't wait to see what he will do. Enjoy.

						[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWynt87PaJ0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0]

Vote

I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, (Barack Obama) but no matter what (Barack Obama) you should get out and vote today (Barack Obama). Its a historic day of change for this country and hopefully, after the dust settles (Barack Obama), we’ll be on a new path that will bring this country back to where it belongs (Barack Obama).

						No matter the outcome of the election, (Barack Obama) I'm just proud to live in a country that has free elections and be part of this great Democracy. So, go out and vote your conscience (Barack Obama) and be glad you can be part of this historic time in our country's history. Is this a great country or what?

						<img src="http://cullrich.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/obamaflag1.jpg" border="0" alt="obamaflag.jpg" width="472" height="312">

Video Friday - Ron Howard's Call to Action

Here’s director/producer/actor Ron Howard with his PSA about the election. Which, sadly, I can’t embed here due to limitations imposed by Wordpress. So, here’s the link to it instead. Enjoy.


Video Friday - John Cleese on Sarah Palin

I’m trying not to get much into politics these days as I got far more worked up during the last Presidential election and was very disappointed at the outcome. So, this time around, I’m taking a more hands-off approach and just voting the way I want to vote and not making too much of a big deal about it.

						Still, when I see some interesting and funny stuff out there about the election or about a candidate I feel deserves some serious scrutiny due to her complete lack of qualifications for the job she's running for, I feel obligated to present what I find for your consideration.

						So, in that spirit, here's <em>Monty Python</em> alumni and all-around funny guy John Cleese offering his insight on John McCain's current running mate. Enjoy.

						[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMyNk8J1c8g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0]

Video Friday - 'The Dark Bailout'

Today, let’s watch a video that combines two of my favorite things: Batman and financial turmoil. Well, in truth, I’m pretty much only a fan of Batman. Financial turmoil, on the other hand, isn’t that fun. Let’s just hope things start to get better come November.

						Until then, have a look at this relatively clever <em>Dark Knight</em>/George Bush mashup.

						[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1X6RQLZtoA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0]

FOIA Reform: Bloggers Are Journalists Too (Part 2)

More on bloggers getting rights and being considered "real" journalists. Now, according to this article, bloggers could have better rights under the Freedom of Information Act. Things are getting even more interesting these days -- especially if you happen to be a blogger.

And no, I don't think this will or should apply to everyone with a Wordpress or Blogger page but more to people who actually get paid to write for blogs. Yes, they actually exist. In fact, if you didn't already know, I happen to be one of those people. So yes, perhaps I'm biased, but still . . .

If you happen to be new here, I have written and/or currently write for several online publications. Among them are LAist, Cinematical, Comic Book Resources and The Unofficial Apple Weblog. You can check out the links to my actual articles by going to my main website at chris ullrich dot net and checking out the "Writing" section.

So yeah, as a person who gets paid to blog I wouldn't mind being treated more like an actual journalist with the same rights and privileges as someone who works for a more "traditional" news organization.

Yes, that would be nice indeed.


Happy 4th

american-flag-2a.jpg

						I love America but I'm really starting to dislike what its become under the current "leadership" in Washington. I am counting the days until this President's term is over and we can move on to the business of rebuilding our credibility, standing and respect in the eyes of the world.

						That will be a great day indeed and a day when I will be proud to call myself an American. Unlike the <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/07/02/bush-commutes-libby-sentence/">other day</a> where I was almost speechless when contemplating the level of corruption and duplicity displayed by George Bush and his administration. Although, I can't say it came as that much of a surprise.

						Until there's a regime change in Washington, at least we can still celebrate what America is <em>supposed</em> to be about today by having a few beers, eating some food that's bad for us and watching some cool fireworks. This is still a great country -- we've just lost our way a little. But I wouldn't count us out yet -- not by a longshot.

						Happy 4th.

Obama or Clinton? Chris Rock Helps You Decide. Plus, A Great Commercial

It’s not a secret how I feel about our current President. If you’re not sure, let’s just be polite and say I think he’s not doing a very good job at all. In fact, I think he’s probably one of the worst Presidents we’ve ever had and will go down in history as one of the key reasons this country went from world leader to world joke. Well, maybe ‘joke’ isn’t the right word (we are still well-reagrded in some circles) but we sure don’t look as good as we used to.

						The real question on my mind now is who the heck do we get to be our next President when we have our election in only eighteen months or so. We need someone who can help restore the world's faith in our country and help us reagin our standing as the world leader we should be.

						I pretty much know how I'm going to vote but its always good to hear other opinions. Following that logic, here's what Chris Rock has to say on the subject:

						[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/1RlVtsAvKfs]

						Also, if you're a fan of interesting commercials (and great ones from the past), politics and the Mac as I am, then this next bit of video should be right up your alley.

						[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/6h3G-lMZxjo]

						I really like some of the more subtle updates to the add -- especially the inclusion of the iPod on the hip of the hammer-wielding woman. From a technical standpoint, also very well done. (Actually it occurred to me later that the person making this video probably used the updated version of the commercial already featuring the iPod and didn't add it himself/herself. Still, a great job.)

						Lastly, I've been thinking about how to reform our government and the election process and have some ideas. But for now, just enjoy the video. We can get into massive change later.

ipods, nasa, elections and other important stuff

my man zach is running for office in sherman oaks. if you live in sherman oaks, make sure to get out and vote for him. that is, if you can vote. for the full story, check out his site here.

200608221808.jpg

and, aol fires some people for releasing users search data. gee, people get fired for making mistakes these days? interesting concept. perhaps they could give some direction to our friends in washington?

also, nasa’s world wind could give google earth a run for its money. check it out. its cool.

1.jpg

and ipods go to war.

also, for you windows users, here’s the “mother of all windows tweak guides”.

and, apple is rather miffed at some of its employees who downloaded the beta of leopard form the internet somewhere. heads rolled.

and last, but certainly not least, you can apparently make money from blogging. at least according to cnn money. oh, if only it were true.

well, if it is true, how about clicking on one of those add links on the left so i can get my 2 cents or whatever it is? thanks.


business as usual?

this is one of those rare times when i don’t really have much to say but i just feel like writing. so, here i am. if you know me in person (some of you do) than you know that i am rarely at a loss for words, especially if the subject involves something i have some knowledge about like technology or film/tv or even, on rare occasions, current events and politics.

so, it might come as a surprise to some that i am at a loss for a topic and something to say at the moment. what i am hoping is that the more i type here the more chance a topic will come to m and then i will be able to switch gears and get to the “important” and more substantive content. until then, i’m just winging it.

so, in that spirit, let’s keep gong and hope that something comes to me. in the meantime, while we wait for that small miracle, what’s going on in the world? war, terrorism, baseball, sex, drugs and rock and roll. no matter what happens in the world and i mean no matter what bad things happen in the world, there will always be sex, drugs and rock and roll. i’m not advocating drugs but i do like me some sex and rock and roll now and again. sometimes, both at the same time.

anyway, its a rare thing these days when you get to sit and just enjoy something for a few minutes. it seems that the older you get the more your time is just sucked away with things you never thought you would ever spend time doing. when you are young (a teenager) you never think you will spend most of your time working and very little of your time having fun. unless you are one of the lucky ones who has fun at work. unfortunately, i think those people are in the minority.

for most people, work is just that, work. a place you have to go and toil at for eight or more hours a day in order to get little green pieces of paper that you can trade for goods and services. granted, those goods and services (especially things like food and shelter) are important but are they so important that you should spend the rest of your life doing something you don’t like or may even hate just to have them? i don’t know for sure but i feel that they are not. they can’t be, can they?

i’m not telling you to quit your job and go live on the streets and become someone who asks me for a “dollar for the bus” while i’m sitting in my favorite starbucks trying to wax philosophical. no, i’m just asking if its really that important or if it has been artificially inflated and just seems more important than it really is. this brings me to a conversation i had with a guy named joe yesterday. and yes, joe is his real name. no anonymous protection here folks.

metulla-sunset-during-war-1.JPG

(the sun sets over the lebanese town of kfar kila in the distance behind metulla, israel. photo by michael j. totten)

i was writing yesterday and then was having a conversation with my friend shaun about the current state of affairs in iraq, the world, etc. joe, who was sitting at a nearby table was overhearing us. finally, he turned and engaged us in conversation. he told us that he agreed that our society was obsessed with material gain and also takes it upon itself to push its agenda on the rest of the world. he also agreed that our goals in iraq and in “the war or terror” were in many ways driven by religious fundamentalism and the desire to spread the christian doctrine to the less enlightened parts of the world.

i did not solicit these opinions from joe but was surprised to find out, after speaking to him for several minutes, that he was a successful business owner and a republican who had voted for george bush in the last election but was now very disappointed as to how things were going. again, he volunteered this info. joe told me that he was supportive of the President but felt that had lost sight of his goals and was now floundering and desperate to hold onto any rationale for our present situation.

he also told me he was strongly considering changing parties before the next election. another reason he gave for his support of President Bush and his policies was fear. in his circle of friends and business associates, it was considered un-american to criticize the President, his policies and the spread of democracy around the world. in fact, he felt his business and personal life would suffer if he were to express opinions outside the collective. how could it be that in this country, he was being condemned and was afraid to speak out and express his opinion? is this not one of the fundamental freedoms that we here in the usa enjoy?

i was amazed that he was afraid to speak and even more amazed that he chose to share this info with me, a liberal and a democrat. finally, he expressed his opinion that the other main reason we are in iraq is so that we can keep the oil flowing and so that oil companies can continue to dominate the world economy. if there was not oil, he reasoned, we would not be there. its not for atrocities or to spread democracy. if it were, there are far more people being killed and tortured in other parts of the world like somalia or the sudan than in iraq.

plus, he asked, are people not more interested in clean water and food for their children than in having the right to vote? voting is a great privilege but it rings a little hollow if your children are starving and don’t have any medical care.

tank-shot-in-dark-2-1.JPG (tanks in the street. photo by michael j. totten)

all in all, he made some very interesting points and i enjoyed our conversation very much. we agreed to perhaps continue our conversation again at a later time to be determined. or, maybe it would be just random chance that would bring us together again. who knows?

actually, this has happened to me at starbucks more than once before. it seems people with intelligence sometimes frequent these establishments and often wish to engage in conversation. its part of what makes our country so great. the fact that two people (or more) can sit around discussing the good things and the bad things about our country and its leaders. try that in china or north korea. one day, you and your family might just disappear.

so, people with intelligence do frequent expensive coffee establishments. and yes, i go there too.