Shad

Well, it appears that I’m staying at work til midnight… crap. If all goes well, we’ll release tonight and I’ll take tomorrow and Friday off.

I went out to the Alamo Drafthouse this past weekend to catch the opening night of Micheal Moore’s newest documetary, Fahrenheit 9/11. I’ve always been a pretty big fan of his work in the past, and wanted to see exactly how he was going to take on the Bush administration. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t aggree with everything that Moore does or stands for, but I can honestly say that I respect his resolve. To beleive something so deeply and verbally is respectable.

About 5 years ago I was in college in Virginia and I worked for the newspaper. I was photo editor for a 4 day-a-week color paper. I was once lucky enough to be allowed to “cover” a Micheal Moore talk. Front row. Snapping a few pics. And listening. I can honestly say that I’ve not heard a better speaker in my life. Not only was he prepared with an interesting speech & video clips of his various works, but he also answered questions… for 3 hours. He answered questions until there was no one else with a question. And some of his answers were surprising.

Random Person: “In the Awful Truth you and your crew stop and eat a McDonald’s… doesn’t that make you some kind of incredible hypocrite? They’re one of the largest corporations in this country!”

Moore: “Of course it does… why do you think I put it in there (you did know that I edited this myself?). I purposely wanted to put this in there to show people that you really can’t totally trust anyone to think FOR you. I’m just another guy… a guy with a camera and a little fame… but a guy none the less. Don’t let people think for you. Figure it out for yourself.”

After he was finished, the place pretty much cleared out. After 30 mins or so, when all but 20 people had left, Moore emerged to sign books. He signed books for another hour or so, spending a few minutes talking and learning the story of each person in the line to get thier books and copies of Roger & Me signed. This is what impressed me the most. Each person that approached him had an honest conversation witht he man. Not just a nice little “Thanks for coming out” but an actual conversation. In that moment I realized how he managed to get the footage of people that he does. He actually cares. You could see it in his eyes. You could hear it in his voice. He really cared about the stories of those people.

Needless to say, I was impressed.

Bush on the other hand… while I’ve not met him personally… I can’t see him answering questions honestly for 2 hours an signing books while conversing with the rif raf.

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Sooooo Fun…

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Do yourself a favor and go buy the new David Cross CD. He is one of the funniest people alive today (and is himself part of the greater non-joiner club)

I’m typically not much of a joiner. I think my biggest problem with “joining” something is that you then are associated with that organization. And if they do something stupid that you disaggree with, then you either have to break off and go your own way, or shut up and pretend like you aggree. Actually, I believe that many “join” simply so that they won’t have to think for themselves.

Example
The two party political system in the United States of America. What the hell. We have such diverse choices. One the one hand, we have a party that’s totally ruled by corporations and special interests… and on the other hand, we have Republicans… who are totally ruled by the corporations and special interests. Yet, people still claim to be part of these organizations. They spout what they hear like a cheap recorder.

Seriously, there’s just really not much choice here. It’s like going to the grocery store and being able to choose between two pre-filled bags of groceries. You can examine both all day long, but in the end, thier pretty much the same and niether exactly what you want.

If you say, “I’m a Democrat” then you are automatically associated with everything that the Democratic party has ever stood for. It’s also generally assumed that you would back any Democrat to run for any office anywhere. If you say that you’re a republican… well… then you’re just obviously not really paying attention. This country is sliding quickly into a social morass for which our grandchildren will curse us as they watch India and China take over as the new “world powers”. Much of this is due to our current “president” and our unilateral policies. Oh, and the acceptable use of torture.

(a little off topic, but) Today, Congress questioned John Ashcoft about a memo circulated that defines what amount of torture constitutes torture and how we *should* use it to gain information from suspected terrorists. Sounds too crazy to be true, eh? Well, I’m sorry to say that it is. And when asked for a yes or no to whether this memo was accurate, he gave a very “lawerly” answer (according to NPR). But don’t believe me, listen to it yourself (check the All Things Considered link).

Anyway, back to my original point. I have a few simple requests.
1. Stop listening to politicians.
2. Take everything you hear in the media in it’s proper context (Note that the New York Times and Fox News are both owned by the smae man… Rupert Murdock).
3. Don’t hold strong beliefs about things you don’t fully understand. Opinions are a cheap, facts are rare diamonds.
4. If you have a strong belief, defend it, but be willing to listen to counter-points.
5. DO NOT just spout what you hear politicians saying. Politicians bend the truth (that’s one belief I will always defend).
6. DO NOT just assume that Amer’ca is always right. We all make mistakes, owning up to them takes real courage.

Remember this final thing… you ARE being lied to by your government… and it will eventually hurt you personally.

So there are approximatly 100,000 bikers in Austin, TX this weekend. Some nights, I’ve spent a number of hours in the hammock just listening to them rumble past. Nice to see such a tight nit community… especially when that community is filled with women that yell “SHOW ME YOUR TITS” at other women.

People enter your life.
People leave your life.
It’s enevitable.
Learn all you can from those around you,
while you have the chance.