Still Here
Guess who’s back from the dead? I survived another Christmas season and I’m in bright spirits. Mainly cause its rained a lot the last couple of weeks. Sweet, Sweet, Sweet!
And I guess I'm happy cause all the holiday pressures have come and gone and 2004, while being a good year personally, was undoubtedly the worst fucking, god-awful, putrid, scummy, vomit-inducing, political year that I've ever lived through. I hope that’s the last time I have to say that. Things will get worse in this country and the world, but at least I can say, "I told you so" and "Don’t blame me, I voted for Kerry" (well, I did vote for him but who knows if that ballot was actually recorded?).
The world has come together for a great cause (Tsunami) but this fucking government and media have made it all about us as usual. "America Spearheading Tsunami Relief!" the headlines scream while chat rooms chime in like Nell Fenwick, complete with clasped hands and batting eyelashes, "What would the world do without America?" My answer is; what would the world do without Jan Egeland? If he hadn’t told the press that the Western nations were stingy (he didn’t mention just the US specifically but you know, it's always about us), the White House would be keeping a low profile right now. And right-wing scumbags in Congress would still be pressuring the rest of Congress to hold back our UN dues (as punishment against them for not hiding the fact that they were praying for Kerry to win. I'm serious, Richard Holbrooke -former US ambassador to the UN- mentioned it in a NY Times article). And the media would instead be headlining their usual selection of what they consider extremely important stories such as, 'White House Orders A Special Security Of Blanket-Wielding Police To Guard Against Exposed Boobies At This Year's Superbowl Halftime Show".
Certainly, the Tsunami story is extremely important and deserves the headline coverage its been getting the past ten days. But I remember nothing of this magnitude of coverage over Rwanda, or even the ongoing situation in Sudan (which has worsened a great deal in the past week if anyone’s interested), let alone places like The Republic of Congo. Let's face it; natural disasters are 'sexy'. We all know it. All the profits from movies about genocide and racism in Africa wouldn't add up to the profits of one movie like say, "The Poseidon Adventure". Well, over 100,000 people died of AIDS last year in the Republic of Congo alone, and 3.5 million people have died there in the last six years from war, famine and disease. I keep wanting to say that the government's lack of interest in the suffering of millions of Africans isn't racist but we sure did feel a need to help the people of Bosnia, whose skin just happened to be a few shades paler. We'll never know if this administration (and the media) would be as gung-ho about the Tsunami relief had they not gotten a verbal whooping from Egeland. Yesterday's headline at AOL read something like "Relief Aid Is Good For The U.S. - It Will Show The World We're Not Anti-Muslim". I know their hearts are in the right place but they should really screw their heads on before A) letting the world think that we’re political opportunists who can use this tragedy for some positive PR, and B) make Americans feel like "what’s in it for us?" It's just dumb, especially when countries like Sri Lanka and Thailand are Buddhist, and there happen to be something like 20 million Christians living in Indonesia.
Anyway… I hope something good will come of this tragedy. Certainly more grist for the Millennium Project to use in order to gain clout and support! I try to be careful about two things: making it clear when I bitch about our government I say the government or The White House or this administration. I try never to say America or Americans unless I'm peeved at us as a nation. Disaster does usually bring out the best in people, and Americans have shone though brightly this past week by giving the Tsunami victims their support, their money and (eeeech!) their prayers (I’ll get into that last one forthright). Us Yanks (not the scumbag White House) have shown the world that we’re essentially good people who care. It makes me all the more peeved that the media doesn’t give us opportunities like this more often. Just think what we as a people could do if we were only given the information!
As for prayers… I'm trying to be tolerant on that one but for GODSSAKE why do people pray to God to help the poor people he just creamed with a tidal wave and earthquake??? I noticed some Repuglican senator or CSPAN saying we have to give those people "our prayers", at least ten or twelve times, but he only mentioned money once. I did give the victims my best wishes, but unfortunately that's not going to purify their water or breathe life back into their 150,000+ dead friends and relatives. Wanna know the kick? I gave $50 to (don’t laugh, please!) The American Jewish World Service Tsunami Relief Fund a few days ago. We already had given lots of $$ to the UNHCR, but this weekend I came across a web page at AOL that listed a bunch of charities, and something like 65% of them were Christian (some of them don't explicitly say so; you have to dig deep to find out just who sponsors them and what their agenda is). Most of those Christian charities I'm sure are wonderful, purely philanthropic agencies but still, I had this knee-jerk reaction; I saw an image of thousands of squeaky-clean, smiling volunteers saying "Here ya go - here's some blankets and food and medicine and a bible, and don't forget… Jesus Loves You!" I just figured, 'let’s get some other religions in there'. BTW, for the month of January, all the proceeds from our quiches are going to go exclusively to the UNHCR and Doctors Without Borders.
Other exciting news…
I cracked my tooth on December 30. No, that high drama is not what's relevant. It's the fact that my sweet, darling dentist was kind enough to see me on New Year's Eve at the last second, which forced her to close 30 minutes later than she planned. It's these little kindnesses, that make me happy. That, and no longer being in AGONY! No crown was needed; a filling did the job. I really have to start taking lots more calcium. And maybe stop eating caramelized popcorn and almonds. Ya think?
My only New Year's resolution was to do more real walking as opposed to using the treadmill but derned if it wasn't raining all week! New Year's Eve should start in June. Speaking of which, no vacation this year. Between the house expenses and our trip to Italy last year, we're tapped. I'm sure there will be a few romantic jaunts up the coast though.
There are over thirty movies that I missed seeing last year so as usual, I feel uncomfortable listing my Top Ten this early. I plan on seeing a couple flicks this week so I promise I'll have the list together by this weekend. I can only say I'm hugely pleased with it thus far. In fact, I could have a quite decent Top 15. The list is like 80% documentaries, which I've come to accept. I'm more interested in content than style, although a marriage of the two is best. I want movies that exist in reality, which is all the more reason I'm less and less interested in Hollywood fare. Indies this year were weak, as I believe they have been for the last several years, but there some great foreign flicks (France excluded - I can't remember the last French film I liked! Actually, I rented something quite good a few weeks ago called "A Matter of Taste". Just slightly twisted, it kind of reminded me of "The Servant").
I'm rambling. And I have to leave. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!