I have been on a mountain.
I have been under an ocean.
I have been on the other side of the planet.
I have been out of my mind.
I have been chatted up.
I have been talked about.
I have been the last to know.
I have been the first to admit it.
I have been alone.
I have been lonely.
I have been on the fringe.
I have been on the outside looking in.
I have been faithful.
I have been a believer.
I have been cheated on.
I have been a fool.
I have been a cabbage-patch uncle.
I have been a best man.
I have been childish.
I have been childlike.
I have been nearly near death.
I have been depressed.
I have been shy.
I have been a wallflower.
I have been smart.
I have been stupid.
I have been better.
I have been worse.
I have been drunk now for over two weeks. [No, wait. That was Jimmy Buffet, not me.]
Since most of the elections are over in most places… I’m hoping I won’t be motivated to post about politics again any time soon. But just to clean up a bit I want to get this out of my Drafts list:
I never got into watching The West Wing when it was on TV, but I’ve seen this clip a few times and I can see why so many people liked it so much.
And back here I posted some quotes. These are the sources:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939):
Jefferson Smith: You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading The Land of the Free in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I’m free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn’t, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962):
Dr. Yen Lo: His brain has not only been washed, as they say… It has been dry cleaned.
All the President’s Men (1976):
Deep Throat: Follow the money.
Dave (1993):
If you’ve ever seen the look on somebody’s face the day they finally get a job, I’ve had some experience with this, they look like they could fly. And its not about the paycheck, it’s about respect, it’s about looking in the mirror and knowing that you’ve done something valuable with your day. And if one person could start to feel this way, and then another person, and then another person, soon all these other problems may not seem so impossible. You don’t really know how much you can do until you, stand up and decide to try.
The Pelican Brief (1993):
Gray Grantham: Do you want to talk about the brief?
Darby Shaw: Everyone I have told about the brief is dead.
Gray Grantham: I take my chances.
The American President (1995):
Sydney Ellen Wade: Yeah… I gotta nip this in the bud. This has catastrophe written all over it.
Beth Wade: In what language? Sydney, the man is the leader of the free world. He’s brilliant, funny, handsome. He’s an above-average dancer. Isn’t it possible our standards are just a tad high?
My Fellow Americans (1996):
Matt Douglas: Look, Joanna, if the book goes, if it doesn’t go, I don’t really care. I’m only writing it ’cause, frankly, I don’t know what else to do.
Joanna: I’m sure you’ve got plenty of options.
Matt Douglas: Not really. But I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll never be like Kramer, running around the country sucking up every dime that isn’t nailed down. Now Jimmy Carter, there’s a class act. He goes around building homes for poor people with his own hands. That’s classy.
Joanna: Well, you could do that.
Matt Douglas: Yeah, yeah. Maybe in a couple of years, but, uh, right now, my attitude is, they didn’t vote for me, let ‘em freeze.
Dick (1999):
Arlene Lorenzo: We have a very important school report on turquoise jewelry due in two days, and we can’t find any books on it, and the President’s having us followed. It’s too much pressure.
The Contender (2000):
Shelly Runyon: Greatness is the orphan of urgency, Laine. Greatness only emerges when we need it most… in time of war or calamity. I can’t ask somebody to be a Kennedy or a Lincoln. They were MEN created by their times. What I… What I can ask for… is the promise of greatness. And that, Madam Senator… you don’t have.
Laine Hanson: Well, then… I just wouldn’t be using sex as leverage… if I were you, Sheldon. Because, you know, there’s one thing you don’t want. It’s a woman with her finger on the button who isn’t getting laid.
Head of State (2003)
Mays Gilliam: I live in a neighborhood so bad, you can get shot while ya gettin’ shot.
Welcome to Mooseport (2004):
Monroe Cole: [Monroe regarding a telephone talk with his embittered and greedy ex-wife who is demanding more of his fortune] Seven million!
Grace Sutherland: It’s a negotiation.
Grace Sutherland: You’ve handled dictators. You’ve handled terrorists.
Monroe Cole: Terrorists were easier, I swear to God!
The Manchurian Candidate (2004):
Raymond Shaw: I served under him. He was a good man.
Eleanor Shaw: Well, that’s what the neighbors always say about serial killers.
“Commander in Chief” (2005):
Grace Bridges: If Moses had been a woman, leading the Jews out of Egypt, she’d have stopped to ask for directions. They would’ve found Israel within a week.
Politically Incorrect ~ Bill Maher:
[the quote that some say got the show canceled] We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.
Due primarily to my shoulder injury I didn’t help much with the set construction this time, but I was there for two performances cheering them on and, of course, snapping photos. I didn’t shot any video and I don’t have any audio at hand, but the kids gave really god vocal performances. Some of their voices have matured a lot in the last year or two. Hope you enjoy the pics anyway.
Today [10 November 2008] is the two-thousand-twentieth day since President Bush declared, “Mission accomplished,” in Iraq.
[blink...blink....]
Tomorrow is Veterans Day in the USA. Regardless of how we feel about our current war[s], we owe a heavy debt to the men and women who have served in our armed forces.
Here is something that I rarely admit: I am a bad citizen. I don’t always exercise my right to vote. In fact, for many years after moving to Florida I didn’t even register to vote. And when I do vote, I usually vote only on major contests. I believe that inherent in our right to vote is the right not to vote. Many people disagree with me on that. [Some people would even call me stupid not to vote.] Still, I think a non-voter is generally less dangerous than an uninformed voter.
I did vote this year… for [or against, depending on how you look at it] President/VP, state constitutional amendments, and a couple others, but not County Supervisor of Cuttlefish Bones [I made that title up, of course, to illustrate the point]. On those races I remain uninformed. Even in the Presidential race I was less-informed than I might have been. Florida had 13 choices on the ballot plus a space for write-in candidates. [Sadly, "None of the Above" is still not an option.] More than half of those I still know nothing about and yet I’m confident that my vote counted exactly as I hoped it would.
I dutifully wore a “Gandalf for President” button on election day, but I took advantage the early voting option. The hours for early voting were originally [and ridiculously] 10am to 6pm, but were increased to 7am to 7pm. I stood in line for over 90 minutes on Saturday morning with an interesting cross-section of the community — college kids to senior citizens. A young man near me in line got a phone call from a friend who had come to the same polling place at 6:45 that day and waited 2 hours to vote. The media had reported all week that some people waited as much as 4 hours to vote. I understand why so many people refer to this a “historic” election [um, aren't they all?], but for me it was the voters that made it so more than the candidates.
And, for all that “change” was bandied about during the campaigns, I really don’t expect anything to change quickly. That would be true no matter who had won. But, as always, the best thing about election day for me: the end of the campaigns!
(1939):
[Title character]: You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading The Land of the Free in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I’m free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn’t, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.
(1962):
Dr. Yen Lo: His brain has not only been washed, as they say… It has been dry cleaned.
(1976):
Deep Throat: Follow the money.
(1993):
[Title character]: If you’ve ever seen the look on somebody’s face the day they finally get a job, I’ve had some experience with this, they look like they could fly. And its not about the paycheck, it’s about respect, it’s about looking in the mirror and knowing that you’ve done something valuable with your day. And if one person could start to feel this way, and then another person, and then another person, soon all these other problems may not seem so impossible. You don’t really know how much you can do until you, stand up and decide to try.
(1993):
Gray Grantham: Do you want to talk about the brief?
Darby Shaw: Everyone I have told about the brief is dead.
Gray Grantham: I take my chances.
(1995):
Sydney Ellen Wade: Yeah… I gotta nip this in the bud. This has catastrophe written all over it.
Beth Wade: In what language? Sydney, the man is the leader of the free world. He’s brilliant, funny, handsome. He’s an above-average dancer. Isn’t it possible our standards are just a tad high?
(1996):
Matt Douglas: Look, Joanna, if the book goes, if it doesn’t go, I don’t really care. I’m only writing it ’cause, frankly, I don’t know what else to do.
Joanna: I’m sure you’ve got plenty of options.
Matt Douglas: Not really. But I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll never be like Kramer, running around the country sucking up every dime that isn’t nailed down. Now Jimmy Carter, there’s a class act. He goes around building homes for poor people with his own hands. That’s classy.
Joanna: Well, you could do that.
Matt Douglas: Yeah, yeah. Maybe in a couple of years, but, uh, right now, my attitude is, they didn’t vote for me, let ‘em freeze.
(1999):
Arlene Lorenzo: We have a very important school report on turquoise jewelry due in two days, and we can’t find any books on it, and the President’s having us followed. It’s too much pressure.
(2000):
Shelly Runyon: Greatness is the orphan of urgency, Laine. Greatness only emerges when we need it most… in time of war or calamity. I can’t ask somebody to be a Kennedy or a Lincoln. They were MEN created by their times. What I… What I can ask for… is the promise of greatness. And that, Madam Senator… you don’t have.
Laine Hanson: Well, then… I just wouldn’t be using sex as leverage… if I were you, Sheldon. Because, you know, there’s one thing you don’t want. It’s a woman with her finger on the button who isn’t getting laid.
(2003)
Mays Gilliam: I live in a neighborhood so bad, you can get shot while ya gettin’ shot.
(2004):
Monroe Cole: [Monroe regarding a telephone talk with his embittered and greedy ex-wife who is demanding more of his fortune] Seven million!
Grace Sutherland: It’s a negotiation.
Grace Sutherland: You’ve handled dictators. You’ve handled terrorists.
Monroe Cole: Terrorists were easier, I swear to God!
(2004):
Raymond Shaw: I served under him. He was a good man.
Eleanor Shaw: Well, that’s what the neighbors always say about serial killers.
(2005):
Grace Bridges: If Moses had been a woman, leading the Jews out of Egypt, she’d have stopped to ask for directions. They would’ve found Israel within a week.
(?)
[Host]: We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.
There are apparently several of these programs around. I saw a report recently of one that has a big Mastiff for the kids to read to. But I don’t remember where I saw it and my brief search didn’t turn up that one. But this will do:
Kids, books, and dogs. Sounds about perfect to me….
Some years ago I worked part time at a home building supply store. Occasionally I had to work the customer service desk and write up merchandise return tickets. We always had to ask why the customer was returning the item. One day a man was returning a storm door. When I asked why he said, “It keeps banging my wife.”
[blink...blink....]
“Yes sir. I just need to get a manager to sign this….”
There isn’t much about politics or politicians that I respect. Our system has polarized so that the most extreme viewpoints are encouraged and true compromise is quite rare. But McCain made a couple statements recently for which I have to respect him, especially because he stood his ground even when he got groans and boos from his supporters.
