Gore and Bloomberg for 2008

Nothing new here. Politics is a power grab. That's all this election season has taught us. Those shut out during the Clinton years can't wait to step on to Barack's shoulders (ramming Barack into the ground, of course.) The Clintonistas are desperate to hold on for eight more years, if their health insurance permits, that is. I hope Al Gore rips August to pieces and Bloomberg comes in sweeping them all into his wallet.

Baghdad--A Great Place to Live

The largest American diplomatic mission in the world will be located in Iraq. At a cost of $700 million. Without enough protective housing for all its employees. Why exactly did we go to war for five years? So we could build an inadequate structure that wouldn't pass a New York City building inspection?

It's Getting Embarrassing

I am so glad not to be traveling abroad much these days and having to reveal that I am an American. So what am I going to rant about today? The powers that be in Washington are now intervening to prevent a Chinese ship loaded with weapons from reaching its target of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is, of course, one of those black countries somewhere in another universe that barely registers a blip in the American solar system. It's a country rife with political and economic problems. Its current ruler Robert Mugabe just lost big time in a presidential election but is still clinging to power and will need those Chinese weapons to kill off his rivals. Enter stage left the United States on its very, very, very high pedestal--the country that has no problems exporting weapons to Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, South Korea and whatever Latin American country the CIA happens to be destabilizing this month. Don't expect the Chinese to back down here. Mugabe is a dictator, but someone the Chinese can do business with. America has no moral authority to intervene in this situation. Will it ever again? I'm thinking not in my lifetime.

Getting Caught Up in the Whirlwind

It is official: I am a piece of paper caught up in the whirlwind that is New York City. The question now is: how do I extract myself? Here are some of the excuses I have for not blogging for so long:

1. I went to see Chef Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and Ted Allen of Top Chef fame at their book signing in Union Square. Ted Allen was quite the comedian, something I didn't get on TV.

2. I finished my screenplay! That was a herculean effort that required the sacrifice of several small saplings, but I can honestly say it was the most challenging and fun intellectual exercise I have ever put myself through.

3. I have actually made a few new friends. We have been busy eating and watching movies. I think I have crushes on both of them... ugh....

4. I have been watching lots of golf on TV. The Masters was a few weeks ago, and I was so happy to see Trevor Immelman win! This is a guy who had a tumor taken out of his body last year. Nothing got in his way the week he won, not even Tiger.

5. I have been spending more time with my brother and his wife. We've been playing Taboo and Life and having a blast. I really do love board games!

Emperor for a Year

--I don't think we're paying our governor enough if he can only afford the cheapy, one-diamond prostitutes!
--For a $1000 an hour, Eliot was demanding unprotected sex? I would have been demanding a lot more than that!!
--It kind of makes you wonder what the 7-diamond/$5500 an hour hooker buys you!!!

These were just a few of the things I was hearing today about ex-Governor Spitzer. I'm ashamed to admit I laughed at some of it. Who was it that said, If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything? I just don't think that's possible anymore in this Information Age where we're all supposed to know what's going on, and have to offer an opinion at the risk of appearing ignorant and obsolete. And since most of us don't know about what's going on, scorn and ridicule have become safe mode, default reactions. They say the automobile forever changed the structure of society by introducing mobility and breaking up family and community structures. What was it that spurred humanity to create the four-wheel extension of itself? The need to feel less suffocated? The desire to see what was on the other side of those mountains? What about the prostitutes in this context? Are they extensions of power run amok? An aura of invincibility? Or a more basic, more primal instinct to connect? What about the Internet? What has this technological extension done to us? Has it made us more connected to our fellow human beings? Or has it disconnected society to the point where it's broken beyond cohesion and repair? I suspect many of my fellow New Yorkers never had an interest in New York State politics until this story broke out. And then faster than a high-speed Internet connection, we all quickly became experts. Experts on something that will surely--by the end of this week at the latest-- amount to nothing.

Off With Their Heads!!!

Greedy. Shortsighted. Vain. Just a few words to describe Michigan and Florida, who in their salty lust to hog the spotlight from Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan have ended up looking like imbecils. Each state wanted to be more important in the nominating process by pushing up their elections to January against Democratic National Committee rules. Each state had its results disqualified. Each state now faces the process of do-over elections at costs of $5 million and upwards. It's only a matter of time before some public interest group sues the governors of each state for said costs, who by the way have shown absolutely no remorse for the sorry state of affairs. This is another classic case of putting individual interests before those of the group. Failure to see the larger picture. Failure to fulfill the potential to come together as one national party. If the Democrats lose in November, the heads of party leaders will be rolling down the steps of the Capitol. And DNC chairman Howard Dean knows it. Which is why he's clamoring right now for do-overs to save his sorry, grossly negligent ass. A mistake one can abide. Sheer ineptitude, no. Allowing Florida and Michigan to move up their elections, thereby displacing millions of voters into a political black hole, recalls Michael Brown and FEMA leaving New Orleans to drown and die in Hurricane Katrina. Howard Dean may yet turn out to be the face that symbolizes this year's Hurricane Election. But if I were Charlie Crist and Jennifer Granholm, the MisGovernors of Florida and Michigan, I wouldn't be breathing easy just yet. Look away now while you can. It may be the last look you get in politics.

Who Can Put the Pieces Together?

The world is shredded. Here in America we glorify fragmentation, segmentation, compartmentalization. Everything is done in blocks of time that have nothing to do with the natural rhythms of human needs and desires. I have given up on trying to find a group of friends with whom I can do everything. I have resolved myself to having tennis "friends" and volleyball "friends" and movie "friends" and eating out "friends" and museum "friends" and bookstore "friends". It was a marvel to see the look of disorientation on the face of one of my tennis "friends" when I suggested that we see a movie. No one really cares anymore about what is going on with the bigger picture in the company as long as their little cubicle is working as it should be. I guess this explains how the privileged in America can waste inordinate amounts of energy debating whether or not David Hernandez should be sent home from American Idol for his stripper past and at the same time be absolutely clueless that inordinate swathes of the globe are mired in social, political and economic turmoil. The Democratic National Party was vehement that no funds would go to support do-over elections in Florida and Michigan. "We've got to use our resources to win the national election." This is broken thinking beyond repair. Do they not realize that the Democrats won't win the White House without the support of Democratic voters in Florida and Michigan? What the world needs now are individuals who can see the big picture and understand how all the details dovetail to create that picture. Someone whose vision is broad enough to encompass everything and everyone. Where are the visionaries? When do we stop denying that part of ourselves that longs to come together as one? Or are we too mad to find the way back out of oblivion?