Movie Quote of the Week

You don't vote for kings.
--Graham Chapman, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

TV Quote of the Week

Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos.
--Dan Castellaneta, The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror VII"

Movie Quote of the Week

You know he's a charming fellow. I rather wish I'd voted for him.
--John Barrymore, The Great Man Votes (1940)

Random Thoughts

What does it say about my life that my initial response to the first declaration of love I have received from a woman since I broke up with my former bride-to-be was to try to argue her out of it?

Do I have to vote for a presidential candidate this year?

If automation is truly putting an end to the repetitive and soul-destroying jobs of yesteryear, why do so many of the jobs available nowadays tend to be repetitive and soul-destroying?

Of course, having to continually search for work in this economic climate isn't exactly an ego-booster either.

If atheism is so fashionable nowadays, why do so many people other than me throw around words like "soul-destroying"? I thought atheists didn't recognize the existence of a soul.

TV Quote of the Week

Your guilty conscience may move you to vote Democratic, but deep down you long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king.
--Kelsey Grammer, The Simpsons, "Sideshow Bob Roberts"

Movie Quote of the Week

Go on! But if you do, remember this: you can count on getting just two votes, your own and that district attorney's out there.
--William Frawley, Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Book of the Week

Should I consider myself evil for wanting to read this book the moment I read that title? Then again I've always liked P.J. O'Rourke if for no other reason than the fact that he seems to be one of the few conservative writers out there with an actual sense of humor.

TV Quote of the Week

Oh my God! The dead have risen and are voting Republican.
--Nancy Cartwright, The Simpsons, “Sideshow Bob Roberts”

Movie Quote of the Week

Today, of all the weary year, a king of men am I. Today alike are great and small, the nameless and the known. My palace is the people's hall, the ballot box, my throne. Tomorrow, I will be quite forgotten - a bit of shadow glory, who, like the rest of you, left his mark only in a ballot box. But I will be no less a part of that total greatness because being even the least in a land where strength is so generous, is greatness in itself.
--John Barrymore, The Great Man Votes (1939)

All Politics Is Loco, Parte VIII

According to some elderly guys at one of the local restaurants, Obama already has the Presidental race all sewn up. Personally I won't believe that till next Wednesday but when even people who aren't Obama fans start talking as if his victory was a sure thing, I can't help but wonder.

Anyway, I'll be glad when this Presidential race is over. This post made me rather proud to be an American. This post about the recent booing of John McCain by his own supporters didn't make me feel so proud (I keep thinking Americans should be better than that and unfortunately, many of my fellow Americans are not) and this post -- which argued that people who merely vote for the wrong political candidate are much worse than a Russian dictator who murdered millions -- is just ridiculous.

I guess if I was smart, I would have taken advantage of early voting but I didn't. I guess I like to live dangerously.

Anyway, I discovered at a recent family gathering that I'm one of the few people left in my family who will be voting Democratic this November. Since my mother is a former Kennedy Democrat who once voted for McGovern and since my favorite cousin once described the Democratic Party in the late 1980s as "our" party -- implying that voting Democratic was a tradition for both my family and hers -- this makes me sad. But it doesn't surprise me. My mother has talked for years of her disillusionment with the Democratic Party and since she once admitted that she voted against Clinton in the 1990s because he supported defense cuts -- and because her employer was dependent on defense contracts -- I really didn't think it was too realistic to expect her to change her mind.

I was surprised by my one sibling's enthusiasm for Sarah Palin -- apparently he thinks she's a hottie -- and even more by one out-of-state cousin's antipathy toward Ms. Palin. I haven't had the chance to discuss with my cousin her reasons for hating Ms. Palin but my sibling assured me that she was most vocal about it in their online correspondence.

Anyway, I don't expect Obama to solve all our problems if he gets elected and indeed, I suspect the election will be a lot closer than most people are predicting. I don't really see McCain pulling an upset but then there was a time back in January when he didn't seem likely to even get the nomination. So who knows?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed either way.

All Politics Is Loco, Parte I

I've been trying to refrain from posting too much political stuff on this site because I'm really not into political debates as much as I used to be. The older I get, the more I see issues in shades of gray and most often, I think of things in terms of not so much good and evil as responsible and irresponsible. That doesn't mean I don't have political beliefs. Just that they tend to be far more complicated than most people would prefer.

Anyway, I'm going to vote in the Texas primary today.

Wish me well.