William Buckley, whose largely credited with jump starting and pressing the conservative movement over the past fifty years through his magazine, National Review, has called it quits and is handing over the reins to a board of five members. While this news in and of itself isn’t much of a story for El Duderino, it has provided an opportunity to look at what conservativism meant originally and what it has become – which our friends at the New York Times have done via a July 17 article.
The original intent of the conservative movement was to fight communism, diminish the federal government and uphold “traditionalism” in social affairs. As the Times notes, “that formulation held together for five decades” until the fall of communism, and interestingly enough, the end of big government, through actions such as welfare reform that occurred during the Clinton administration (yes, both houses were indeed controlled by Republicans).
So now what? The mantras of the conservative movement have become irrelevant in many ways, yet the party still needs a rallying cry. The GOP has seemed to grab hold of traditionally Democratic ideals, such as a federally funded prescription drug bill, pushed the broad support of a $256 billion federally funded highway improvement bill, enacted education reform and has taken on the cause of immigrant workers. The Bush administration has also pushed foreign policy that reeks of imperialism, in a striking contrast to the isolationism that had dominated the party’s doctrine for decades.
So what’s El Duderino getting at you ask? Well, either Bush is a Democrat disguised in sheep’s clothing or his entire presidency has been aimed at minimizing all of the Democratic strengths. ED is going with the latter. It’s certainly been a successful strategy in confusing the living beejeezus out of the Democratic Party. Other than the war and the economy, albeit two fairly significant issues, the Kerry/Edwards party hasn’t been able to communicate a single policy that differentiates themselves from Bush/Cheney.
Yet there’s something sinister and sleezy about pushing an agenda on the sole ground that it will help in a re-election bid. It’s surprising that more conservatives haven’t taken the administration on for its views on the role of the Federal government, although many pundits have noted that the White House is seemingly getting much more pushback from those Republicans in the House and Senate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/17/arts/17CONS.final.html
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Character: Dr. Evil
Setting: While Dr. Evil shows off his new tool of world destruction, his three-foot tall protégé, affectionately described as Mini-Me, displays his enthusiasm and love for the weapon of mass destruction by giving it a little of the old in-out, in-out. Dr. Evil, whose trying to show off the laser to his minions, asks Mini-Me if he couldn’t stop his actions via the headline quote.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: Dr. Evil has dreams of world denomination and is constantly plotting new schemes, in this instance a laser that he will use to blackmail the world for “beelyons” of dollars. In this analogy, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney alternately play the role of Dr. Evil. President Bush plays the role of Mini-Me and the American public plays the role of Dr. Evil’s minions.
Mini-Me (aka G.W.) doesn’t really know what’s going on but he’s got urges that need to be expressed. Dr. Evil (Cheney/Rove) has elaborate plans for controlling the world and making loads of money in the process, but they tend to be ill-conceived. The minions, namely number two and Scott Evil, have alternate ideas that are less elaborate but would probably work just as well, i.e. “go back in time and shoot Austin Powers while he’s on the crapper or something”.
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Monday, July 19, 2004
Marriage Is What Brings Us Together Today
El Duderino will be on vacation for a better part of the next two weeks with little access to a computer. I’ve got some material nearly completed, so if I get access to an Internet connection, I may be able to get some new content posted.
And a hearty congratulations goes out to the soon to be Mr and Mrs. Brian and Katie Fosnick.
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: The Princess Bride
Character: The Clergyman
Setting: The princess and Prince Humperdink are in the process of being married.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: El Duderino is going to a wedding.
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
And a hearty congratulations goes out to the soon to be Mr and Mrs. Brian and Katie Fosnick.
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: The Princess Bride
Character: The Clergyman
Setting: The princess and Prince Humperdink are in the process of being married.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: El Duderino is going to a wedding.
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Our brief govoreet through the letter-hole was not, shall we say, satisfactory, yes?
One thing I’ve never understood about the GOP is how the party seems to be on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to the role of government. The party is based on less government. Less taxes. Pro personal property rights. Lax gun laws. Etc. Yet when it comes to supposedly moral issues, such as abortion, legalization of marijuana and gay marriage, the government suddenly has and wants a right to intervene.
I very much respect the religious aspects of these issues. I understand the passion that is felt by those for and against such issues. But one need not be in personal favor of abortion or gay marriage to not want those issues to be legislated, especially when it goes against everything else that voting segment believes. Fundamentally, it’s about realizing and respecting that we live in a society in which people have differing views.
With that, it was stunning to see the recent arguments about the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. It was stunning in that it went as far as it did. There are only what, 20 something amendments. THIS issue is the one that deserves an amendment!?! Amending the Constitution isn’t an easy task, requiring the votes of two-thirds of the members in both chambers of Congress and approval in three-fourths of state legislatures.
In the first round of debate in the Senate, the bill only received 48 votes, 12 short of the necessary amount needed to push the bill further along in the process. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it makes one think. The administration has had a pretty successful track record when it comes to pushing through major legislation. It seems odd that they would push forward with this in a situation that so obviously didn’t stand a chance of being successful.
As El Duderino sees it, there are two potential reasons for the administration pushing this forward. The most plausible situation is that the administration, recognizing waning support for the situation in Iraq, recognized the need to bring forth an issue that would polarize the nation. Many pundits on both sides of the political spectrum have noted that gay marriage has the ability to be a wedge issue in the same way that abortion was a wedge issue how many ever years ago. The GOP no doubt has numbers that state that the numbers would be in its favor if it were to bring this issue into the limelight.
Secondly, the administration is using the gay marriage debate to divert attention from its own failures. Some in the liberal media have noted that there seems to be a trend of “terror alerts” being issued each time news arises that portrays the administration in a negative light. This happened most recently after the Senate Intelligence Committee announced its findings. Shortly after the report was made public, a vague warning was issued about the potential for the presidential elections to be interrupted by terrorist activities. Of course, the elections are still four months away, and there didn’t appear to be a specific reason why that story came out at the time it did.
Smoking-gun proof? No. Seems fishy? Yes.
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: A Clockwork Orange
Character: Alexander de Large
Setting: Young ruffian Alex and his droogs have descended upon a home in the country where they intended to unleash a bit of the ol’ ulatraviolence. Upon initially being denied entry by the female homeowner, despite Alex’s pleas of his entrance to use the phone being a life-and-death matter, Alex breaks into the home through an open window. He recounts his previous conversation with the homeowner before ultimately killing her with a knock to the head with a fallic statue.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: Clockwork Orange is set in a time and place where lawlessness runs supreme. The prisons have become overrun with inmates and the government has reached a boiling point in which it decides to take aggressive actions to counter its social ills – that action being the brainwashing of its down-trodden and immoral citizens. It’s such fear that seems to drive the Christian right. If we don’t legislate those who don’t prescribe to Christian values, that our world will descend into anarchy.
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
I very much respect the religious aspects of these issues. I understand the passion that is felt by those for and against such issues. But one need not be in personal favor of abortion or gay marriage to not want those issues to be legislated, especially when it goes against everything else that voting segment believes. Fundamentally, it’s about realizing and respecting that we live in a society in which people have differing views.
With that, it was stunning to see the recent arguments about the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. It was stunning in that it went as far as it did. There are only what, 20 something amendments. THIS issue is the one that deserves an amendment!?! Amending the Constitution isn’t an easy task, requiring the votes of two-thirds of the members in both chambers of Congress and approval in three-fourths of state legislatures.
In the first round of debate in the Senate, the bill only received 48 votes, 12 short of the necessary amount needed to push the bill further along in the process. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it makes one think. The administration has had a pretty successful track record when it comes to pushing through major legislation. It seems odd that they would push forward with this in a situation that so obviously didn’t stand a chance of being successful.
As El Duderino sees it, there are two potential reasons for the administration pushing this forward. The most plausible situation is that the administration, recognizing waning support for the situation in Iraq, recognized the need to bring forth an issue that would polarize the nation. Many pundits on both sides of the political spectrum have noted that gay marriage has the ability to be a wedge issue in the same way that abortion was a wedge issue how many ever years ago. The GOP no doubt has numbers that state that the numbers would be in its favor if it were to bring this issue into the limelight.
Secondly, the administration is using the gay marriage debate to divert attention from its own failures. Some in the liberal media have noted that there seems to be a trend of “terror alerts” being issued each time news arises that portrays the administration in a negative light. This happened most recently after the Senate Intelligence Committee announced its findings. Shortly after the report was made public, a vague warning was issued about the potential for the presidential elections to be interrupted by terrorist activities. Of course, the elections are still four months away, and there didn’t appear to be a specific reason why that story came out at the time it did.
Smoking-gun proof? No. Seems fishy? Yes.
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: A Clockwork Orange
Character: Alexander de Large
Setting: Young ruffian Alex and his droogs have descended upon a home in the country where they intended to unleash a bit of the ol’ ulatraviolence. Upon initially being denied entry by the female homeowner, despite Alex’s pleas of his entrance to use the phone being a life-and-death matter, Alex breaks into the home through an open window. He recounts his previous conversation with the homeowner before ultimately killing her with a knock to the head with a fallic statue.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: Clockwork Orange is set in a time and place where lawlessness runs supreme. The prisons have become overrun with inmates and the government has reached a boiling point in which it decides to take aggressive actions to counter its social ills – that action being the brainwashing of its down-trodden and immoral citizens. It’s such fear that seems to drive the Christian right. If we don’t legislate those who don’t prescribe to Christian values, that our world will descend into anarchy.
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Hey You Guys!
Ever been confused about which side of the political fence you lean? You support gun control but believe in low taxes? You think the homeless should trade in their shopping carts for a hairnet and mop yet you think it’s a woman’s right to choose? El Duderino feels the same way, so our crack staff has joined forces with Slate to determine a quiz that provides definitive proof of political leanings.
Just click on the following link and follow directions to determine your fate… http://slate.msn.com/id/2103764/.
Have your musical tastes become stale? Sick of hearing the same 10 songs played over and over and over on the radio? Try the visually musicplasma.com. Type in a favorite band and find out what other bands are similar. Like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Maybe you should try out My Morning Jacket or Kings of Leon. Going to a concert but you don’t know if you should go early to see the opening band? Musicplasma is YOUR answer.
The link… http://www.musicplasma.com/.
And finally, I was going to write an entire article on this but I’ve never quite gotten around to it so I’m going with just a blurb. Best movie of the summer? Fahrenheit 9/11? Spiderman 2? Anchorman? Nope. The truly best movie of the summer is Control Room, a documentary that presents a behind-the-scenes look at the war from the perspective of the media, in this case Al Jazeera, the Arab news network. “Control Room shows how propaganda works on both sides and how the truth is often somewhere in between.”
I’m guessing that Control Room is showing on a fairly limited number of screens nationwide, but if you get a chance, I highly recommend checking it out. If you’re in New York, it’s showing at The Landmark Sunshine Theater on Houston between First and Second Avenues.
For a review of the movie, check out the following link… http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies8/ControlRoom.htm.
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Goonies
Character: Sloth
Setting: After finding the pirate ship full of treasure (argh, matey), which would provide the Goonies gang with the necessary means to pay off the evil land developer, the Fratelli’s swoop in and commandeer the loot. Luckily, the captured Chunk has become best friends with Sloth, the Fratellis “Elephant Man” little brother. Sloth swoops in, wearing his Superman shirt, and saves the Goonies from certain annihilation at the hands of the evil ice cream-eating Italians.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: Sloth saves the day and provides the Goonies gang with a new outlook on life. Similarly, El Duderino’s suggestions are hoped to have a similarly life-changing effect on the world at large. Baabyyy Ruuuth!
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Just click on the following link and follow directions to determine your fate… http://slate.msn.com/id/2103764/.
Have your musical tastes become stale? Sick of hearing the same 10 songs played over and over and over on the radio? Try the visually musicplasma.com. Type in a favorite band and find out what other bands are similar. Like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Maybe you should try out My Morning Jacket or Kings of Leon. Going to a concert but you don’t know if you should go early to see the opening band? Musicplasma is YOUR answer.
The link… http://www.musicplasma.com/.
And finally, I was going to write an entire article on this but I’ve never quite gotten around to it so I’m going with just a blurb. Best movie of the summer? Fahrenheit 9/11? Spiderman 2? Anchorman? Nope. The truly best movie of the summer is Control Room, a documentary that presents a behind-the-scenes look at the war from the perspective of the media, in this case Al Jazeera, the Arab news network. “Control Room shows how propaganda works on both sides and how the truth is often somewhere in between.”
I’m guessing that Control Room is showing on a fairly limited number of screens nationwide, but if you get a chance, I highly recommend checking it out. If you’re in New York, it’s showing at The Landmark Sunshine Theater on Houston between First and Second Avenues.
For a review of the movie, check out the following link… http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies8/ControlRoom.htm.
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Goonies
Character: Sloth
Setting: After finding the pirate ship full of treasure (argh, matey), which would provide the Goonies gang with the necessary means to pay off the evil land developer, the Fratelli’s swoop in and commandeer the loot. Luckily, the captured Chunk has become best friends with Sloth, the Fratellis “Elephant Man” little brother. Sloth swoops in, wearing his Superman shirt, and saves the Goonies from certain annihilation at the hands of the evil ice cream-eating Italians.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: Sloth saves the day and provides the Goonies gang with a new outlook on life. Similarly, El Duderino’s suggestions are hoped to have a similarly life-changing effect on the world at large. Baabyyy Ruuuth!
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Say What You Like About the Tenets of National Socialism, At Least It’s an Ethos
For the second time in the past month, a bi-partisan committee has concluded that there was not a link between Iraq and 9/11. The latest findings have been revealed by the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC), made up of nine republicans and eight democrats. As opposed to the 9/11 Commission, which was examining solely the events leading up to 9/11, the SIC was tasked with examining the intelligence that led to the decision to invade Iraq.
The committee, in the way of 117 findings, concluded that the intelligence community, primarily the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was primarily at fault for providing unreliable evidence to the administration and Congress. Among the most damning findings, the committee deemed that not only was there not a link between Iraq and 9/11, there was no evidence that supported a formal relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda, a premise that vice president Cheney continues to use to support the invasion.
The committee did, however, find that although an illegal weapons arsenal has obviously yet to have been found, Iraq did possess the capabilities to produce biological agents.
Okay, those are the facts of the committee’s findings. To include that data with what is generally accepted previously, here’s a summary of the findings…
- Iraq did not have an arsenal of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons capable of exacting damage on the United States.
- Iraq did not have any formalized relations with Al Qaeda.
- Although Iraq had the means to produce biological weapons in the future, as they were not actively in relations with terrorist groups and were generally unfriendly with other Middle Eastern countries due to their conflicts with Iran and Kuwait, even if those biological weapons were manufactured, they would not be a threat to the American public.
That leaves only nation building and the spread of democratic ideals to the Middle East as the sole, legitimate reason for the invasion of Iraq. Although many arguments can be made that the world is a better place with Saddam out of power, would the American public, the coalition, including Great Britain, and Congress have agreed to bypass the international community and enact a new standard by which countries can pre-emptively attack each other, just for that reason? My guess is no.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/10/politics/10INTE.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/10/politics/10ASSE.html
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/iraq/documents.html#sicrpt
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: The Big Lebowski
Character: Walter Sobchak
Setting: The Dude (the muse for this blog) reveals to Walter that Nihilists are seeking to recover the ransom money for Bunny Lebowski and that they have threatened castration if the money is not delivered. Walter, astounded that a group of individuals, referring to the Nihilists, can be void of ideals on any topic, compares the group to communists.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: As Walter points out, although many may not agree with National Socialism (or a despotic regime with documented human rights violations in the case of Iraq), at least Saddam wasn’t a nihilist (to use the parlance of our times). Saddam’s ideals may not have been that of the U.S. but who are we to judge? There are many ills across the world and regimes that do not meet our standards of providing basic human rights. Are we going to invade all of those countries as well?
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
The committee, in the way of 117 findings, concluded that the intelligence community, primarily the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was primarily at fault for providing unreliable evidence to the administration and Congress. Among the most damning findings, the committee deemed that not only was there not a link between Iraq and 9/11, there was no evidence that supported a formal relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda, a premise that vice president Cheney continues to use to support the invasion.
The committee did, however, find that although an illegal weapons arsenal has obviously yet to have been found, Iraq did possess the capabilities to produce biological agents.
Okay, those are the facts of the committee’s findings. To include that data with what is generally accepted previously, here’s a summary of the findings…
- Iraq did not have an arsenal of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons capable of exacting damage on the United States.
- Iraq did not have any formalized relations with Al Qaeda.
- Although Iraq had the means to produce biological weapons in the future, as they were not actively in relations with terrorist groups and were generally unfriendly with other Middle Eastern countries due to their conflicts with Iran and Kuwait, even if those biological weapons were manufactured, they would not be a threat to the American public.
That leaves only nation building and the spread of democratic ideals to the Middle East as the sole, legitimate reason for the invasion of Iraq. Although many arguments can be made that the world is a better place with Saddam out of power, would the American public, the coalition, including Great Britain, and Congress have agreed to bypass the international community and enact a new standard by which countries can pre-emptively attack each other, just for that reason? My guess is no.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/10/politics/10INTE.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/10/politics/10ASSE.html
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/iraq/documents.html#sicrpt
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: The Big Lebowski
Character: Walter Sobchak
Setting: The Dude (the muse for this blog) reveals to Walter that Nihilists are seeking to recover the ransom money for Bunny Lebowski and that they have threatened castration if the money is not delivered. Walter, astounded that a group of individuals, referring to the Nihilists, can be void of ideals on any topic, compares the group to communists.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: As Walter points out, although many may not agree with National Socialism (or a despotic regime with documented human rights violations in the case of Iraq), at least Saddam wasn’t a nihilist (to use the parlance of our times). Saddam’s ideals may not have been that of the U.S. but who are we to judge? There are many ills across the world and regimes that do not meet our standards of providing basic human rights. Are we going to invade all of those countries as well?
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Friday, July 09, 2004
Stop Looking At Me, Swan
Ack! I'm a terrible blogger. But it's only partly my fault. Mostly Time Warner is at fault as it's they who have provided me with a less than stellar Internet connection from my home. No Internet connection, no El Duderino.
Any-who, my connection has been restored so hopefully the words will return as well. I leave you on this Friday with a quote...
“Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.” - Groucho Marx
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Billy Madison
Character: Billy Madison
Setting: Billy is in the bath tub cleansing himself. While playing with the shampoo and conditioner bottle, he has a paranoid delusion that a swan is watching him. I, too, have sadly had this same delusion.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: At this early stage of the movie, Billy is not fulfilling his potential as a human being. Mostly he just drinks and hangs out. But, eventually he finds his way and graduates high school and inherits the president title of the family hotel empire, which he then turns down to become a teacher.
I hope to follow the path set forth by Billy. Although I'm not succeeding in my blog endeavor currently, with some perseverance I believe that I can have the same happy ending of Billy Madison, minus the becoming a teacher part.
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Any-who, my connection has been restored so hopefully the words will return as well. I leave you on this Friday with a quote...
“Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.” - Groucho Marx
Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Billy Madison
Character: Billy Madison
Setting: Billy is in the bath tub cleansing himself. While playing with the shampoo and conditioner bottle, he has a paranoid delusion that a swan is watching him. I, too, have sadly had this same delusion.
The quote is relevant to this story how?: At this early stage of the movie, Billy is not fulfilling his potential as a human being. Mostly he just drinks and hangs out. But, eventually he finds his way and graduates high school and inherits the president title of the family hotel empire, which he then turns down to become a teacher.
I hope to follow the path set forth by Billy. Although I'm not succeeding in my blog endeavor currently, with some perseverance I believe that I can have the same happy ending of Billy Madison, minus the becoming a teacher part.
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)