Once upon a hoopty...

I've been reading "A Prayer for Owen Meany" lately. The movie "Simon Burch" was based on the book, but kept out all of the political aspects of the book, which is a major theme. I read the following today and loved it. (I turned all of Owen's soliloquy into straight dialogue.)

"What could Marilyn Monroe's death ever have to do with me?"
"IT HAS TO DO WITH ALL OF US. SHE WAS JUST LIKE OUR WHOLE COUNTRY -- NOT QUITE YOUNG ANYMORE, BUT NOT OLD EITHER; A LITTLE BREATHLESS, VERY BEAUTIFUL, MAYBE A LITTLE STUPID, MAYBE A LOT SMARTER THAN SHE SEEMED. AND SHE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING--I THINK SHE WANTED TO BE GOOD. LOOK AT THE MEN IN HER LIFE--JOE DIMAGGIO, ARTHUR MILLER, MAYBE THE KENNEDYS. LOOK AT HOW GOOD THEY SEEM! LOOK AT HOW DESIRABLE SHE WAS! THAT'S WHAT SHE WAS: SHE WAS DESIRABLE. SHE WAS FUNNY AND SEXY--AND SHE WAS VULNERABLE, TOO. SHE WAS NEVER QUITE HAPPY, SHE WAS ALWAYS JUST A LITTLE OVERWEIGHT. SHE WAS JUST LIKE OUR COUNTRY.
"AND THOSE MEN, THOSE FAMOUS, POWERFUL MEN--DID THEY REALLY LOVE HER? DID THEY TAKE CARE OF HER? IF SHE WAS EVER WITH THE KENNEDYS, THEY COULDN'T HAVE LOVED HER--THEY WERE JUST USING HER, THEY WERE JUST BEING CARELESS AND TREATING THEMSELVES TO A THRILL. THAT'S WHAT POWERFUL MEN DO TO THIS COUNTRY--IT'S A BEAUTIFUL, SEXY, BREATHLESS COUNTRY, AND POWERFUL MEN USE IT TO TREAT THEMSELVES TO A THRILL! THEY SAY THEY LOVE IT BUT THEY DON'T MEAN IT. THEY SAY THINGS TO MAKE THEMSELVES APPEAR GOOD--THEY MAKE THEMSELVES APPEAR MORAL. THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT KENNEDY WAS: A MORALIST. BUT HE WAS JUST GIVING US A SNOW JOB, HE WAS JUST BEING A GOOD SEDUCER. I THOUGHT HE WAS A SAVIOR. I THOUGHT HE WANTED TO USE HIS POWER TO DO GOOD. BUT PEOPLE SAY AND DO ANYTHING JUST TO GET THE POWER; THEN THEY'LL USE THE PWOER JUST TO GET A THRILL. MARILYN MONROE WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE BEST MAN--MAYBE SHE WANTED THE MAN WITH THE MOST INTEGRITY, MAYBE SHE WANTED THE AN WITH THE MOST ABILITY TO DO GOOD. AND SHE WAS SEDUCE, OVER AND OVER AGAIN--SHE GOT FOOLED, SHE WAS TRICKED, SHE GOT USED, SHE WAS USED UP. JUST LIKE THE COUNTRY. THE COUNTRY WANTS A SAVIOR. THE COUNTRY IS A SUCKER FOR POWERFUL MEN WHO LOOK GOOD. WE THINK THEY'RE MORALISTS AND THEN THEY JUST USE US. THAT'S WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU AND ME," said Owen Meany. "WE'RE GOING TO BE USED."

Keeping all that in mind in terms of the present election, I find it interesting that both candidates are trying to run on a motto of change, when everyone knows that nothing ever changes: it's just men and women claiming that everyone should not ask what the country should do for them but what they can do for their country, when what they really want is a position of power so that they can get the thrills and perks of power at the expense of the people they are elected to lead/serve. People will say anything to get what they want. And it is mostly not going to come down to issues, but instead how people feel about the morals of the candidates: whether they are thought to have the same beliefs as voters, how they conduct their campaign (defending themselves and smear campaigns and whatnot).

I'm typing this out over conversation around me (because our power is STILL out and we have to borrow electricity and internet from friends), so I'm not able to edit myself or think all the way through my thoughts, but please feel free to respond. It might even help me get my thoughts fleshed out.

Labels: John Irving, Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Owen Meany, politics

They are, apparently, calling it "Gust 2008." Outer edges of Hurricane Ike came through the Louisville area yesterday, Sunday September 14, with gusts up to 81 mph and not a drop of rain. So, now, 60% of Louisville and large percentages of residents in surrounding counties are without power, some 1/2 million people. Of course, this includes my beautiful wife and I. We were fortunate in terms of destruction to property: we only lost one of the temporary gazebos in the backyard. My next door neighbor lost a recent roofing job on her carport (at least it isn't the house, but still...that sucks). Also, the radio said that a 10-year-old boy was mowing the grass afterward and was killed by a falling tree limb, which may be one of the most tragic things I've heard. The electrical company says that power will be out for 10-14 days. The mayor and governor asked for assistance from surrounding states, but they are all cleaning up their own messes... and it seems that we and our surrounding states all sent trucks down to Texas to start getting to work cleaning up Galveston and Houston, etc.

So, really: nothing awful has happened in my life. I mean, I wasn't able to work today (I substitute and the county schools are all closed), and that's not going to help pay the bills, but I'm taking advantage of the fact and making it a point to mow the lawn and spend down time with the wife. We have a group from our church that usually meets together on Monday nights at our house, but we'll just be able to meet by candle-light, so I'm not at all disappointed by that.

However, I'm noticing in myself and the people around me that the rest of the world has become much less important today. I sat down to look at my news (I check headlines through google news), and I was almost surprised that our big gust wasn't making prominent headlines when it's such a big deal to my life. It made me think about people in war zones like Jerusalem and Sudan and '90s Bosnia and how the world must feel only as big as surviving until tomorrow and finding a safe place and protecting my family. So, I hope things are going well everywhere else. I'm not suffering so much that I need anything (although, it would be nice if the power was back on). I'm just myopically dealing with the crisis at hand and waiting until it all, if you'll excuse the pun, blows over.

I'm writing this post because I'm lazy. Most people who are online enough to read my blog know about situation with the Republican National Convention playing Heart's song "Barracuda" as an intro for Sarah Palin, and Heart not being okay with that. (See some article here: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/liberal-rock-st.html)

So. I am a little confused to how all this works. Clearly the RNC can't just play music in a public venue like that just because they bought the cd at target. If that is the case, then there are major legal issues at play. If, however, the RNC did pay the royalty fees to play music in a public venue, then I'm not sure that I understand what legal issues are at play. I can understand an artist requesting that a certain organization with which they disagree not publicly play a song that connects their song with that organization. That being the case, it does seem that it would be an honorable thing to do to not continue to play the song, even if Governor Palin continues to go by the nickname Barracuda, that just happens to be name of a song by Heart. Even if the RNC has deliberately gone ahead and chosen to play the song in spite of having received the request from the song's writers/original performers, if they have paid the royalty fees, I'm not sure that I understand why lawyers are getting involved. I suppose there may be something to a fear that the artist's reputation may be connected to the organization that is publicly using their song, but I wish understood how that was a legal issue.

Also, if the point really is about reputation, and not wanting to diminish the pool of potential buyers of music, it seems really silly to me that Heart has made it a point to distance themselves so publicly from the RNC. Their official statement is obviously pointed and biting (especially when compared to John Mellencamp's words). They aren't quite being Dixie Chicks, nor is their normal fan base so specifically one camp or the other, but it seems that publicly declining your support of a political candidate would do more to limit your fan base than actively supporting another candidate through music or staying neutral.

It seems to me, lately, that almost everyone's opinions have been preformed. Any news article or comment on a news article about the upcoming presidential elections doesn't even try to pretend that it's not slanted toward one candidate or the other. And that would include my verbal comments. Most people who attack Joe Biden as a VP choice, or feel like Obama isn't being straight-forward enough, have already made up their minds to vote for McCain, and most people who attack Palin as a VP choice or who try to link McCain with the unpopular Bush, decided 4 years ago that they were voting democratic in this election. I try to be as objective as I can when I talk about politics, but I know that my opinions exist and they keep me from being able to look at all information with no prejudice. So, to be clear: at this point I intend to vote for McCain. And to be fair, this is the first time since I've been able to vote that I haven't felt like I was voting against someone. I have never been a big Bush fan, and I was sad back in 2000 when Bush beat out McCain in the primaries. I don't agree with McCain on every issue and I don't think that he's some sort of perfect person who will finally fix everything that's wrong in the world, but I don't really expect anyone to do that. He really does seem to me to be the kind of man who doesn't walk the party line and is willing to find places of compromise, on some issues, with people who are also working for the country's best interests. I feel like both candidates seem to be concerned about doing the right thing and helping people, but I wish that Obama would be more forth-coming about what he stands for and what he believes. Someday soon, when I get a chance, I want to read through his Blueprint for Change and think on what he means. Whoever wins, I hope that they are genuinely concerned about all of the people in this country and that whatever changes they bring about are for better.