Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away

That's what I'm going to do for the next few days. Assuming you can accept a slightly-distressed Ford Taurus as a sailboat, and Interstate higways as a sea. Anchors aweigh!

As for yesterday's post on Terri Schiavo, it seems people are talking about this sad affair even more than they're talking about the possibly-even-more-pathetic Michael Jackson abuse trial affair. I've learned a lot in the last twenty-four hours, and I realize that, once again, I was talking somewhat out the side of my neck.

Well, my heart was in the right place (I tried to imagine what I'd want in her position, assuming I retained even the faintest glimmer of consciousness), but I didn't realize the courts had, with no exceptions, accepted that Michael Schiavo was expressing his wife's wishes accurately. I know next to nothing about family law (though now I want to learn), and I had no idea of the significance of his testimony about his wife's wishes. And pretty much everybody agrees that this is the way things should be.

So it really does look more like a rare opportunity for the Right to stake a claim to the title "defender of the helpless," which I'm sure they hope will gloss over the fact that they routinely kick the helpless in the teeth.

In case you think I'm just ranting, consider only the 100,000 Iraqi civilians who'd probably still live and breathe but for the bombing and invasion; or, consider those Americans driven to bankruptcy by medical bills, because we don't have a civilized health care system. Thanks to the new bankruptcy bill, many of them will likely choose suicide over debts they'll never be able to pay. Charming, no?

On a brighter note, my one-man movie festival continues!

In the last week, I've seen the following:

• Topsy-Turvy
• The Outlaw Josie Wales
• Amadeus
• The Italian Job
• Band of Brothers
• Mean Streets
• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

And I've been reading Patrick O'Brian's The Golden Ocean.

Ain't I got excellent tastes, though? Ain't I the very model of the modern Major-General?

Sentenced to Life

Bear with me while I try to get my head around the Terri Schiavo case.

I'm probably going to piss somebody off here, but so be it. There's no way I can please both all of you all of the time. [insert weak smiley here]

First--I beg you, if you're considering taking your own life--please read this article about Golden Gate Bridge suicides right now:
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?031013fa_fact

Excerpt:

Survivors often regret their decision in midair, if not before. Ken Baldwin and Kevin Hines both say they hurdled over the railing, afraid that if they stood on the chord they might lose their courage. Baldwin was twenty-eight and severely depressed on the August day in 1985 when he told his wife not to expect him home till late. "I wanted to disappear," he said. "So the Golden Gate was the spot. I’d heard that the water just sweeps you under." On the bridge, Baldwin counted to ten and stayed frozen. He counted to ten again, then vaulted over. "I still see my hands coming off the railing," he said. As he crossed the chord in flight, Baldwin recalls, "I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped."

Still, I support the right to die. If an adult, in his or her right mind, truly considers life no longer worth living; if they consider the issue rationally, discuss it with those who love them, and reach the same conclusion--then I believe they should be allowed to terminate their own life.

Similarly, I believe adults should be able to decide, in advance, that they be allowed to "die with dignity" should they end up in certain situations (e.g. if they should end up in a persistent vegetative state).

Anyone who believes they will wish to die under certain conditions should put it in writing. Diana blogged about living wills today, and in her post offers excellent links to online resources that make it easy for anyone to make their wishes known in a legally-binding way.

As with the stories from failed suicide attempts, I imagine a lot of people who think they'd want to die in certain situations feel very different when they actually find themselves in those situations, and they aren't able to express their new opinion. That's why I don't have a living will. But I believe we should be allowed to consider these things for ourselves, and to do what we believe is right for ourselves.

I don't believe the Terri Schiavo case is a good one for resolving these issues. She didn't put it in writing, and while I don't necessarily doubt Michael Schiavo's motives for wanting to let her die, I also don't necessarily think we should just take his word for it that she really does want to die. There's no way to know what Terri Schiavo originally wanted, and there's no way to ask what remains of her, so I think it's wiser to keep her alive.

Which is not to say that I'm with the Republicans on this one.

As Diana discusses in this previous post, the Republican position would be a lot more logical if they weren't in favor of killing so many poor people with the death penalty. This cartoon by Ann Telnaes illustrates another good reason to be cynical about the Republican position.

So, I'll bet I've managed not only not to please everyone--I wouldn't be at all surprised to find I've managed to piss everybody off!

Story of the Week, Month, Year, Decade...

Possibly the story of the century?

Stocks Extend Losses, Oil Hits New Record

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks extended their losses on Wednesday as crude oil futures set an all-time high on the New York Mercantile Exchange...

The era of cheap oil is ending, and its ending renders the US economic model obsolete. If we want continued prosperity, we have to find a new model, one not dependent on fossil fuels. This requires conservation now, and ongoing efforts to develop "alternative" energy sources, such as wind, solar and nuclear fusion.

Alternately, we can live in denial, prolonging the inevitable at terrible cost. We can steal oil from major oil-producing countries by taking them over using military force, and, like a cocaine addict who can't find his next fix, we can snort up even the dust from the carpet in hopes of not having to come down quite so soon. Unfortunately, while we do have the most powerful military in the world, we're not invincible. And wildlife refuges aren't as tough as carpets.

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may cause permanent, irreparable damage, and endanger 20 species of mammals. If as much oil is found as oil industry experts predict, then in ten years after drilling begins, the US may get as much as 4% of our oil from ANWR. That's expected to reduce the price of gasoline by 0.3%, or less than 1 ¢ per gallon at today's prices.

We could easily save that much just by simple conservation--we wouldn't even have to [shudder] drive more fuel-efficient cars. Make sure your tires are properly inflated, folks.

And fasten your seat belts.

Quizzage

Which File Extension are You?


via Bluetealeaf.

More, you say?


Which OS are You?

Too Much Information

I'm beginning to think that the reason I'm finding it hard to write anything about politics (or related topics), isn't burnout.

And it certainly isn't that there's nothing going on!

Rather, I think the exact opposite is true, and that that is precisely the problem. Far too many issues, and, like the Three Stooges all trying to walk through a door at the same time, they just get all jammed up.

Here are a few examples from the past few days:

• Bush renews call for Alaskan oil drilling as oil prices spike
• California gay-marriage ban ruled unconstitutional
• 30% interest rates: Sound business or loan sharking?
• Global Warming in 'before and after' pictures
• Israel plans to hit Iran nuke Plants

Each one--and at least twenty other stories I've casually bookmarked in the last seven days--is worthy of a full, well-reasoned and -researched blog entry.

Too. Fucking. Much.

Maybe tomorrow, I can start in earnest. Maybe tomorrow I can pick one of these and break it down to try to make some sense of it--but for now, here are five songs you never heard, but should have stuck in your head:

• Nicola Conte - "The In Samba"
• The Las - "Son of a Gun"
• Sinéad O'Connor - "I am Stretched on Your Grave"
• Kirsty MacColl - "Innocence"
• Blues Traveler - "All in the Groove"

These are all just off the top my head; I could easily name twenty more of them, too.

Now that I think about it, you're pretty hip. I'll bet you know all of those songs by heart. Still, I'll bet even you can't get your head around all that's going on right now.

I mean, that'd be freaky.

I fail to see the (Vanishing) Point

This evening, I watched the "cult classic" film, Vanishing Point.

At risk of revealing myself to be an uncultured barbarian: I Don't Get It; I'm not sure I buy into this film as a great work of art.

Then again, I keep thinking about it, and before long I'll probably want to see it again.... Isn't that a key feature of art, that it requires appreciation?

Having listened to some of the director's commentary, I get the distinct impression he didn't know what he was doing when he made the movie. A lot of the craft is good--for one thing, the desert visuals are amazing--but I don't think Sarafian knew what he was trying to say with the film (if anything).

What does the film say??? On one level, it's a simple car chase movie. Very simple, so that even Smokey and the Bandit or Cannonball Run seem complicated by comparison. On another level, it's a deep psychological drama that keeps the viewer asking "Why?" Read another way, it's a Christ allegory: the hero does the right thing all his life (as revealed in flashbacks), and yet is utterly destroyed. Or you could read it as a sort of John-Henry-versus-The-Machine (which, in a way, is another variation on the Christ theme). Or as 60s-Youth-Culture-versus-The-Establishment. You could probably read it dozens of different ways.

And the acting would still be good, the camera work would still be good, the whole thing would still seem dated and you'd still be left wondering whether the stark minimalism was an intentional effect or just because the director didn't know what he was doing.

Does intent matter? No. What matters, when deciding whether something is art, is whether the result is something special, and I guess I can't deny that, ultimately, Vanishing Point is something special, even if I can't say what exactly.

Bottom line: interesting, maybe fascinating, beautiful at times, but ultimately not quite enjoyable. And it's art, damnit.

This Week's Movies, and other Trivia

In the past seven days, I've seen

- Superman: the Movie (1978)
- The Hot Rock
- Frenzy
- Never Cry Wolf
- North by Northwest

Also, I still have a constant stream of music in my head.
Some recent examples:

• Dave Matthews - "Some Devil"
• REM - "Everybody Hurts"
• General Public - [eight of the ten songs on All the Rage]
• Dead Kennedys - "Police Truck"

I guess it wouldn't be stream of consciousness if it made total sense, would it?

That's about all I have to write about now. I just can't muster the enthusiasm/righteous anger for a proper political rant, and I haven't been backpacking for about ten days now. I did see some wonderful friends this weekend, and I did walk about ten miles on the beach, both of which were powerful medicine for my soul.

I may go backpacking this weekend, and maybe I'll get angry enough about something to hold forth. I mean, there are many things that I keep thinking should be making me that angry.

In lieu of a rant from me, check out these examples for yourself:

• U.S. roads, bridges, sewers and dams are crumbling and need a $1.6 trillion overhaul but prospects for improvement are grim, the American Society of Civil Engineers said in a report issued on Wednesday.
  
  
• Bankruptcy bill continues trend to favor the wealthy
  
  US Residents: click here to see how your Senators voted.
  
  
• Military strikes and draconian measures against terrorists may create even more terror, US-based academics warned at a summmit here as Spain prepared to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the deadly train bombings in the capital.

Ah, well. Nothing for it but to watch another movie....