Slumdog Millionaire

Finally, to relieve the tedium of idleness at my daughters' home, I found and loaded a DVD of the subject film. I did not discover what all the shouting was about. My boredom was unremitted and, as a matter of fact, overburdened by absolute disgust.

That puzzled me. Could my aesthetics be so unevolved as to not "get it" as Roger Ebert so empathically did? Or am I in error for looking for art in film, intead of some other abstraction (a lesson, an allegory, a demonstration) meant somehow to edify? It only bothered me for an instant, until I remembered that I am (or try to be) my own person. and that particular person watches movies for one reason; an emotional experience that has, in the main, positive elements. I'm not talking about happy endings, but stories that exalt the beauty and passion of  another's struggle, or (and) offer me such.

Specifically, this does not include the gratuitous tableau of a little boy falling over his head into a full latrine hole and, for goodness's sake, emerging from it.

I'm proud to be a...I don't know. A nose picker, maybe?

Mabel (an alias) is a lay reporter for CNN. She's proud to be a Muslim, having been weaned away from her previous fantasy because her boyfriend was Muslim, and she found him to be "more at peace" (when he zonked out on cocaine he demonstrated the same result, but the Muslim alternative was much cheaper).

But I digress, because what I really want to observe is her pride, and everyone else's. Like:
I'm proud to be gay.
I'm proud to be a Republican.
I'm proud to be (fill in the color).

I'm proud to be a left handed Aries with Aquarius rising, and I"m going to organize a LeftHandedAriesWithAquariusRisng Pride Parade.

Well Richie, what's your problem?

My problem is that I fail completely to understand how you fall in love with your own excellence for something that you are, through no volition of your own, or/and for something that you have become to which no unique virtue attaches (like tolerance, patience, courage, empathy...).

You suppose we'll ever see a "Gay Humility Parade"?

Yeah, bet me!

Got this from one of my correspondents the other day. I hasten to state, an individual for whom I feel affection, in spite of his not infrequent inclination to (virtually) froth at the mouth and bleed from the eyeballs with hysterical pronouncements, reeking with sanctimony, like what follows here. I have not reproduced the flying American eagle graphic nor the soaring inspirational red/white/blue font, but I have left the capitalization intact. Here we go:

<START RANT>
BET YOU'LL SEND IT!!
88% will send this on...
Should be a 100% by 10/1/10
Nov 2010
"Change is a comin'"
Borders: CLOSED
Language: ENGLISH
Culture: CONSTITUTION, BILL OF RIGHTS,
and the BIBLE
NOVEMBER 2010
"CHANGE" IS A COMIN'"
We the people are coming!
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG,
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ,
AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS,
ONE NATION UNDER GOD,
INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!
IN GOD WE TRUST
<END RANT>

I have my own theory, that if a referendum were to be held today about the propriety of references in this context to the bible, god, and such, that a substantial number of us, maybe even a majority, would reject such notions. Actually, it's more like a forlorn hope. I invite your consideration.

But right now I'm here to pose a question (a real question, for which I earnestly solicit an answer). Why is it that such pronouncements, loaded with reactionary righteousness (and quite frequently with falsehoods posing as fact), come invariably  from the (pretty far to the) right, the Christian religious, and those of us who wear "patriotism" like a badge? That is to say, from those uncomfortable with the humanistic persuasion of the rest of us.

I'm waiting....

Please, Sarah, shut up already!

Just found out what it takes to get Sarah Palin to speak at your event. How about A luxury hotel suite, a private Learjet, "framed" audience questions, and $75,000. This information courtesy of a California judge who denied Cal State Stanislaus' attempt at secrecy, and ordered disclosure.

That's what it takes to get her to speak.

Begs another question, doesn't it?

Mind who's own business?

So, a bunch of (mostly) young people demonstrated on Venice Beach for gender equality, the girls by going topless, the guys wearing bikini tops. So far, so good.

Did the cops come? No (the kids had permission). What about a rabbi, imam, or maybe a pujari or a kannushi? No, none of those guys. But never fear; those vaunted defenders of our eternal salvation, the Jesus people, were right there, demonstrating to defend us from blasphemeous indecency. Are we grateful? No again. Because we know something about them...that they are too busily occupied elsewhere to discover for themselves.

I admit to a prejudice, but well founded, and based mostly on my own personal brand of "faith", arrived at over many years of observing how such people function. Hey everybody, Eureka! Getting into your shit is a very good way to avoid dealing with one's own! And why, pray, is this so uniquely characteristic of the activist Christian faithful?

Tell me; I'm all ears.

Justice, just for fun.

Just read Bob Greene's article for CNN, putting forward the (tongue in cheek) possibility that Jury deliberations might be televised for the entertainment of the viewing public.

I can see it now, nullification of the evidence by a gang of cretins, complete with laugh track, and interspersed with earnest emtreaties to buy one piece or another of Detroit manufactured crap.

TV network justice. Wow, what fun!

Gound Zero Mosque?

I'll jump right in here with a comment on CNN's report about the contemplated ground zero mosque. I fully understand President Obama's position as I interpret it. I accept the Moslem community's legal right to proceed, and like Obama, I question the wisdom of doing so. And having said that...

...I refrain from blasphemy in the presence of believers, out of empathy for their feelings. I have no emotional investment in this issue, but It's obvious that many people do. With their understanding of that, the developers of this project are displaying insensitivity bordering on arrogance. Yes, apparently they have the legal right to proceed with their plans.

And damn them if they do.

A peeve

I know a bright person, 140 score on the WAIS IQ index, a SAT score of 2342, who passed the the test for MENSA with flying colors, but declined membership because she doesn't feel sufficiently elite for that organization. She will not be further identified here.

She's fond of posting to various internet "venues" where others also anonymously contribute all kinds of thoughts on the nature and/or condition of almost anything. She is by nature, and by most accounts, a gentle,  tolerant, and of course thoughtful individual, and so her discourse is worthy of consideration. As it happens, her opinions are frequently at odds with those of others that I choose to identify (arguably) as her intellectual inferiors. I do not complain of this. But when invective like  "idiot", "moron", "stupid", and such are hurled at her (a frequent phenomenon) by others who don't share her opinion, I am disgusted. Why? Not just because these appellations are inappropriate, but because in intellectual intercourse nothing is uglier to me than the arrogant and toxic pronouncements of the proud, intemperate, and demonstrably ignorant. And especially those of that ilk who hide behind a screen name.

Government, of the person, by the person, for the person...

Today I saw someone else's post somewhere, blaming the Kyrgyz government's improper handling of the ethnic violence there on the "nomadic and uneducated" nature of the governing officials' backgrounds. He's got it all wrong.

The historical dysfunction of several FSU governments has nothing to do with the mode of living nor the education of their satraps, and everything to do with them being old enough to remember, and to maybe even have experienced the benefits accruing from their status in the old communist regime. And now, having donned the fashionable mantle of "democracy", they find themselves in a position to accept largess from the West (read Uncle Sam) in the form of money thrown indiscriminately at every problem. Money that, in the main, adds to their personal wealth and so exacerbates the problem. When this generation of dinosaurs dies out and the younger Kyrgyz people are no longer willing to accept the corruption it will disappear, regardless of America's intervention.

BTW, I spent years in Kyrgyzstan, finally obliged to escape across the Kazahk border to avoid being the victim of government sanctioned extortion. I know wherefrom I speak.

Let me introduce myself (in part)

Call me Rich. The URL I've chosen contains the transliterated Russian word for enough (simply because everything appropriate I could think of in English has already been taken). "Enough" seems appropriate to my purpose; to rise in my offerings to the ideal of "sufficient" without descending into "superfluous". Call me on it if I fail.

You may note my habit of frequent parenthesizing. I'm aware of it, it suits my mode of expression, and I intend to continue the usage. Call it a (sort of) transcribed speech impediment if you wish.

I'm 81, a small, skinny, bright, pacific, and curious man living alone but for my dearest Tess, a 5.5 year old Bluetick Coonhound who came to me from the local animal shelter to adopt me, and has on occasion kept me alive. I tend toward the liberal, both politically and socially. I am not religious in the conventional sense, that is to say I reject the fantasy of a benevolent god, in who's image I am supposedly formed. Which is also to say I'm a humanist, and an existentialist. I am a pensioner, formerly involved in manufacturing engineering, quality assurance, and management to feed my body, and in volunteering in service to others to feed my soul.

It's my intention here to relate vignettes of my own odyssey, my take on the issues of the day, and personal experiences as they may occur. I value good faith interchange, and I earnestly solicit honest questions or comments about my offerings. That is, please no comments disguised as questions. Those of you who are products of human evolution will take my meaning.