And the people said – SPEAK BM…. SPEAK, and so I shall, about good ol’ fashion Voter Fraud Americana style; wednesday morn. They plopped a TV just outside the fishtank so now everytime I go to drink my mat?, I’m staring at one of their mugs. Just now JFK shouted: “Tomorrow we’ll be going to the polls, one of the most beautiful things on earth.” Hmmmmmm… NO sir. You are wrong. Thank you.
We had a viewing of Wag the Dog last night at the ranch. That beautiful piece of filmmaking came out in 1997, and is still completely telling when it comes to politics in America. I’ve been reading through the script this morning, and there is some dialogue that I am just in love with:
Motts (Hoffman):We’ve just found out They Have the Bomb. We’ve Just Found Out They Have The Bomb, aaaand… No, No wait a second, no, no, wait a second, No. The Bomb’s not…it’s not there — because they’d have to have a rocket and that shit n’they’re a buncha wogs– it’s …it’s a suitcase Bomb. Ooookay. It’s a suitcase bomb,
and it’s …. in Canada! Eh? Albanian Terrorists have placed a suitcase Bomb in Canada, in an attempt to infiltrate the bomb into the USA.
Brean – (DeNiro): Leav’t alone. Wha’d television ever do to you?
AMES (Heche): IT DESTROYED THE ELECTORAL PROCESS.
Brean: No no, forget it, stop the song, our war just ended.
Johnny Dean (Willie Nelson): Are you gonna need me any longer, cause I was just about to go get drunk.
Motts (Hoffman): Trump that, Senator Neal, you Howdy-Doody-looking Vontz.
I can’t get enough of that word…. VONTZ!
I digress, this isn’t about how much I love the film. What I wanted to talk about is how applicable the film still is today in this era of elections and war pageants.
At the beginning of the current madness in Iraq, this US tried all the standard Wag the Dog tactics that had worked for them in Gulf Conflict 1: like the patriotic speeches, the painting of the hero left behind (that girl who was allegedly captured, now completely silenced), and the staged pulling down of the statue. But throughout this thing, they’ve also invented new ways to wag the dog, in-bed reporters, news channels like Fox to provide seemingly unbiased brainwashing, presidential visits with fake turkey dinners, that sort of thing.
One thing that is encouraging, to some extent thanks to blogs and other media watchdogs, these bullshit tactics have often been exposed. Forcing the administration to have to get more outlandish and to some extent – desperate with their propaganda.
One thing I realized, as I was laughing my ass off at that genius human being Willie Nelson, there is no song with this war-pageant. Is there? You know where all the top 20 artists put on headphones and stand in a room together. Guess it doesn’t work anymore. I remember during papa Bush’s war, there was a song… that whole “Proud to be an American” which went along with the Yellow Ribbons and the T-Shirts supporting desert storm. My favorite T-shirt in Wag the Dog reads: “Fuck Albania.” The parallels are eerie. I guess the biggest benefactors over the past 4 years were not only rich Bush friends, but also the flag manufacturers.
Hey if you want to watch Outfoxed and get angry, like myself and Ms. Thingk did this weekend, here’s a link to the whole thing via Dutch Public TV, relax – it’s in English.
Today’s Sounds: Dutch Public Television Running Around an Indian Reservation to Depress us all.
Maybe it was the lunar eclipse seeping into our beer. Maybe it was me feeling exhausted and bummed after a long graduation day filled with me giving speeches, having flash-backs, and mini mental crises entitled “what the hell have I done with my days?” Whatever the cause – who cares; Yesterday evening/this morning- one of the most creative groups of Amsterdam ex-pats ever got together aboard Big Jim’s boat for one crazy fun jam session. Ingredients: Three guitarists, one French Hornist/singer, 3 to 4 singers and Crazy Dr. M as well. (yes.. researcher and he sings too!) It was raining you say? Not a problem – we floated beneath a bridge and remained there enjoying the acoustics and pigeons for half the night. Everyone was pleasantly surprised, as far as I can tell, by the French Horn, cause hey – how often do French Hornists sit on boats under bridges in Amsterdam and play anything from rock to country or jazz to Indian music. I swear we did an excellent Indian jam that 
But I was interested, as an admirer of DC, in the idea of the 
… 19 year old.. plays for Manchester U.. the boy is pure poetry. He makes me, a non-football fanatic, a believer. He flies! He leaps! He’s pure magic!