Other Than Treatment for a Gunshot Wound, What Do Guns and Health Care Have to Do With Each Other?!?!?!?!?!

Even Alan Gottlieb says that during a political rally when the president is attending, or any politician for that matter, staging a Second Amendment protest is not the right venue. That's right, dingbats! A gun nut is saying not to do this. Him and Ronnie Reagan Jr. actually agree on something.



This is a very scary thing. I don't know about you, but this is freaky! Guns + presidents do not mix!!! Just ask Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy. And FDR, Reagan, Ford, and any other presidents who may have survived an assassination attempt. Especially now that our current president is even more of a lightning rod because of his skin color for some people (never mind the fact that I think a good number of the attacks on him come from deep-rooted and deeply disguised racism; he has been playing with an uneven deck of cards ever since he declared his candidacy for office I think, to a degree, primarily because of race).

Even so, why would someone bring a gun to a rally about health care, which is an issue that is, in my opinion, completely separated from gun rights? Obama may not support gun rights to the degree that many other Americans do, but still do people really feel the need to come to a political protest, an already volatile environment, strapped with a loaded gun? Political statement? Really?

And to answer these people's questions about Obama's belief in the Second Amendment, watch this:



But no one ever brings this up...

These are my twisted words...

Radiohead - (In Memory of) Harry Patch/These Are My Twisted Words (track review)

Radiohead seems to have taken a liking to releasing songs individually (and usually free of charge) and over the internet. The always inventive Radiohead certainly have used the internet to their advantage in the ongoing war between the recording industry and the digital world (pirated or otherwise). Their 2007 release, In Rainbows, let fans decide how much they wanted to pay for it, even if it was nothing (I myself paid $5 for it; a reasonable price in my opinion). Supposedly, they made more money off of that as far as sales go than all their previous albums, which all sold pretty well for an 'alternative' band.

Over the summer, Radiohead has put out a couple of songs for more or less nothing. The first entitled "(In Memory Of) Harry Patch" (a tribute to the last surviving World War I veteran of the same name who recently died) was sold for a mere 1 pound, with all proceeds donated to the British Legion. The other, a song entitled "These Are My Twisted Words" was leaked on August 12, but officially released by the band on the 17th free of charge. According to stereokill.net, Radiohead have been hard at work on a new album since around May, although further speculation has stated that the band may be releasing more EPs as opposed to full albums.

Regardless of what direction Radiohead takes as far as releases go, they certainly have no shortage of good material, as these two new songs indicate. I'm always waiting to hear a Radiohead song that will leave me cold or disappoint me to the point where I lose interest, but save for a couple of average tracks on Amnesiac and the more electronic songs on Hail to the Thief, their output from OK Computer on has always floored me. These two new tracks certainly are not disappointing. "Harry Patch" is layered in rich, beautiful orchestration which is funereal without being somber, and also contains a sublime vocal delivery by Thom Yorke. It's reminiscent of "Motion Picture Soundtrack," but in the case of Harry Patch, this song could be played during his biopic's ending credits (if one is ever made on him, that is). "These Are My Twisted Words" is composed primarily of a hypnotic guitar riff and Neu!-influenced drumming that creates a very trance-esque mood through its 5-and-a-half minutes.

Radiohead has done it again! Whenever they are working new material, it finds a way to leak out one way or another, whether it be by an eager fan recording a live show where they premiere a slew of new songs or the band previewing some new material. And I, being the curious and eager fan, always spend hours listening to whatever new sounds Radiohead is dabbling in. Very few bands this day in age have that affect on me, and very few bands can have the same momentum as Radiohead. Aside from a few songs that were simply OK (no pun intended) on some of their albums starting with The Bends, the band has been pretty much on a creative kick that has not soured or gone stale for almost 15 years. And they always have me craving more...

Fear and Impermeability

In my hometown of Stratford, CT, there was a small protest of universal health care; nothing like those mobs you see on the news, there were maybe 5 or 6 six protesters. Me and a couple of friends went there and basically asked questions and gave them our views on it. The protesters ranged from people who were really well informed on political issues, to older people who already hate Medicare, to a lady who looked like Ann Coulter if she took really bad care of herself (and even shared her rheotic regarding opposing viewpoints). Either way, the best thing to do when examning political issues, in my opinion, is to talk to people who share different views, respectfully debate with them if your opinions differ, and get in their heads. And I'm glad I did because most protests are marred by people screaming at each other, and leads to name calling and misunderstanding on a very grandiose level.

There were a few protesters I honestly pitied. They honestly believed in the so-called "death panels" that Sarah Palin has circulated across the media (nice way of following your own advice about making things up, half-term governor extraordinare!). They were getting up there in age (one of them was 71), and they actually had signs speaking of genocide towards sick old people due to the cost of taking care of them. They misinterpreted the "end of life" counseling. They think that doctors will be forced to talk you into death, but that's not true. Seniors will have the option to refuse end-of-life counseling, and there are a lot of things regarding end-of-life counseling, such as living wills, what course you want to take as far as treatment goes, and the inevitability that people fear (understandably) that one day a person will reach the end of the road. Obama does not want to kill your grandma! There was a man who was spearheading a campaign to get rid of Senator Chris Dodd in 2010, which to me seems kind of inappropriate since he's currently battling prostate cancer (they caught it early and he's OK, but still). Him and I talked for a while, and he was pretty nonpartisan and said that he wanted BOTH Republicans and Democrats out of office. I didn't agree with a lot of what he said, but he seemed like a good guy.

Yet there were a couple who were just jingoistic, and I avoided dialogue with. Case in point, a young man came and debated with them, and explained on how he lived in a country where socialized medicine was in effect (Russia) and how easy it was. And this lady (the Ann Coulter-esque woman I told of earlier) was like "Then why don't you go back there? I'll pay for your ticket back!" and asked if he was a Communist. By then he was ready to leave to meet up with a fiend, and as he was walking away he said "What if I am?!?!" Pretty bold move. Of course she and this other fat guy in suspenders carrying a DON"T TREAD ON ME flag were like "He's a Communist!" By then the 'protest' had died down, and I wasn't in the mood to go in the whole debate on whether or not what they knew what Communism and socialism were other than what FOX News and conservative politicians tell them. Last night at the bookstore I started to brush up again on Communism, and I'm gonna do some research on this issue because supposedly next week they'll be protesting again, and it's always good to be more informed on political issues. I can't say I've fully delved into the health care plan.

I wish I had brought my camera with me, but I just drove by it and my friends and I extemporaneously went to see what they were selling. Most of them agreed with one thing though; the current health care system needs to be reformed, and to my pleasant surprise, most of them didn't like Bush or McCain either. I only wished that they didn't buy into the right-wing fueled misconceptions that are plaguing this bill.

Another classic example of right-wing hypocrisy; I was watching Rachel Maddow last night before I went to bed, and Palin, Limbaugh and Gingrich, the unholy trifecta, are opposed to living wills as proposed in the health care bill. However, they supported them in the past and even pitched it in various advertisements and political spiels. Sarah Palin even pointed out their importance and declared 4/16/08 to be Health Care Decision Day in the Frontier State, in which she emphasized the importance of living wills, the thing she is now calling evil. Limbaugh pitched a commercial for a company that specialized in living wills (which he is now blasting like a stick of dynamite on his radio show), and Gingrich backed Palin on her 'death panel' claims, yet stated he has a living will and a power of attorney. I don't see living wills as a way to try to kill off the elderly. My dad and stepmother have one, my mom has one (and the 3 aforementioned people's average age is 56.67 years), and it's important to have dialogue about end-of-life care in case you reach a state in which you can't speak for yourself and there's no squabble over what you may have wanted as you reach the end of your life.

Fond Memories of John Hughes

John Hughes, the quintessential 80s film director and writer departed from this world courtesy of a heart attack. He wasn't too old (59), but he left behind a legacy of great films that were just good. They didn't need to be artsy, or have some deep existential meaning or full of ridiculous special effects. He could just conjure up plots of average Americans, families, teenagers, going through everyday dysfunctional bullshit, but he created his own vision on suburban America, and it worked repeatedly.

My earliest memories of John Hughes started when I was 4 or 5. My family loved Uncle Buck, starring the late John Candy (another actor who died way too soon of a heart attack) and a pre-Home Alone Maculay Culkin. Me being a young lad, I didn't get much of the subplot and the conflicts (family tragedy, teenage rebel vs parent, slacker uncle, relationships, etc.) but the movie was hilarious, and I still get a hoot out of it.



The year after that, Home Alone came out and the American moviegoing public lost its collective shit. You think the premiere of those recent Star Wars/Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter movies were mobscenes? My grandma attempted to take my sister and I to see Home Alone a week or so after it came out and tickets were sold out. I think this happened to us twice, if I remember correctly. It's the first movie I remember seeing more than once in theaters. My friend saw it 5 times in theaters.

When I was a teenager, I got more into John Hughes' angsty teenager-in-distress movies (what teeanger didn't?). I thought Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink were a bit too girly for my tastes. Weird Science was pretty cool (I still wish Kelly LeBrock would show up in my shower!). I didn't like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but that's because I have a deep-rooted hatred for Matthew Broderick, and I thought th plot was kind of silly. The Breakfast Club, on the other hand, is one of those movies I still watch when it comes on network TV regardless of how many times I see it and regardless of how silly the swears sound when they're dubbed over (i.e.: Judd Nelson's impersonation of life at home with his father). The plot is far-fetched, at least from my experiences. Saturday detentions at my school didn't allow talking, and whoever supervised them were on your ass like a tight pair of briefs (so I've heard; I never got one myself). That and I never saw a gothic misfit get transformed and made over by a cheerleader and walk off in the arms of the star of the wrestling team. Nonetheless, Hughes' vision of the film was certainly idealistic, and if teenagers of different backgrounds and social cliques were locked in a room and forced to interact with each other, who knows? Maybe high school wouldn't be such a hellish nightmare.

As a writer and director, John Hughes was not exactly Scorcese. But he didn't need to be. Many of his movies have aged well, even if some of them are dated as hell as far as imagery goes. Along with the demise of Michael Jackson, I feel like my youth has died yet again in some ways.