missed so much yesterday! Mark David Chapman’s parole was denied yesterday. Yoko Ono wrote a letter begging that he be kept in prison. He’s due for parole again in 2002. I don’t hate the guy, but i hope that he doesn’t get out, as there’s no telling what else the shadow government programmed him to do.
Yesterday was a decision by the city of Athens, Georgia on whether to save the trestle that appears on the cover of REM’s “Murmur”. REM fans pulled it off, and the county bought it, and probably will turn it into a “greenway.” They are still trying to raise money. It’s a little odd to me, as it’s not exactly like the Beatles and the longlost Cavern, but I’m all for greenways, whatever the reason, and i feel down whenever i walk around downtown Hammond to see strange landmarks that mean something only to me and my friends torn down, like the Wilton Hilton (where both Lucas and Tim lived at different times,) the original house of the Abadonian compound (Damien’s childhood home,) and Rachel’s Lilliputian forest in her backyard.
For all of my anticipation these past few weeks, i didn’t watch the presidential debate last night. I drank a couple of Rolling Rocks and watched a documentary about baboons’ social dynamics in Ethiopia on Animal Planet. After that, there didn’t seem any need to watch some baboons in suits chittering and howling. I regret it this morning, as I wanted to compare what happened in my eyes to what the media is reporting. You could listen to the whole thing here, but i doubt if you have the patience either, or coudl browse and pick out bits and pieces here.
What I’m hearing and reading this morning is that it was an even match, and whoever already made up their mind only had his opion reinforced, and whoever was undecided was likely to remain undecided. I know my mind is already made up, but most of the clips i heard played of Dubya were limp, as they were based rumors and assumptions, never with facts, like mocking Gore for claiming to invent the Internet (he never said that!) saying that Russia should take more responsibility for stability of the Balkans (Russia is not the USSR of Reagan, and they can barely hold their own country together right now,) Now some jackass commentators are asking “average folks” (yeah, right) and they talk about how Bush was so clear on his plans and so polite! What debate were they listening to?
Dubya keeps talking about how the Democrats don’t understand that it’s “the people’s” tax money, and if it’s surplus, then it should be returned to the people. He wants to “share” it with us! Ain’t that generous! (Never mind that the “people” translates as “rich people”, and the public is too arrogant to accept that.) Jackass! What about “our” government being of the people, by the people, and for the people? The government should BE the people. Why doesn’t anyone get upset that no one even plays lip-service to that anymore?
And more more Dubya slam…. to quote an AP transcript, `I felt there needed to be a better sense of responsibility of what was going on in the White House,” he said. “I believe they’ve moved the sign the buck stops here from the Oval Office desk to the buck stops here at the Lincoln Bedroom.” What kind of nonsequitor is that? (Whoever wrote the story in the first place needs a better editor too!) How is that being polite? What about his daddy who was “out-of-the-loop” in the Iran-Contra affair? Dubya himself has already avoided plenty of responsibility as governor of Texas with deliberate violations of air pollution restrictions and kickbacks in the funeral industry…. but read this article about how Dubya has been renting out rooms in the governor’s mansion in Austin for years!
It’s not that Gore is a hero though. The best analysis I’ve read seems to be here.
To hell with all of that anyway…. I heard a cool piece on All Things Considered yesterday by Mark Herstgaard about how the Commission on Presidential Debates is destroying the ideal of deocracy by arbitrarily creating the absurdly high requirements of passing five nationals polls in which the candidate gets above 15% each time. Hertsgaard pointed out that third party candidate Jesse Ventura only had 7% (i’ve read 10% elsewhere) in the polls before the OPEN debates in Minnesota. Pretty sinister isn’t it?
Even before i heard that REM tidbit yesterday, I had the urge to listen to them lately, and finally got the motivation to dig out their albums. I’m starting with Murmur since that’s the one that was referred to…. and it’s nice early fall music to my sentimetal mind. My fave REM album is still Life’s Rich Pangeant, as it seems to have an injection of humor that is missing in a lot of REM’s work, and an energy affects me more than the other albums. Murmur is still a great debut LP though, and would be in the stereo more often if i had a more personal connection to it. I was not even close to listening to rock music at that time, and it’s odd to think of what else was around at that time. Sometimes i think that the “past” is written when i’m not looking.