POST #634: Random Observations

Awaiting instructions from Moscow. Didn't you just figure?

What follows is merely a collection harmless diatribes that I had posted here and there out in the Facebooksphere or in my handy-dandy notebook. I've been sitting here all morning and half of the night trying to figure out what to write. It's not writers block, but simply a case of "where the heck do I begin???" All similarities to any persons, living or dead, is purely intentional.
`
1. Still Feelin' the Bern

A little over two weeks ago (on this very site, don'cha know!) I fairly well wrote off the revolutionary candidacy of Bernie Sanders as "a lost cause". Wish I could take that back (of course, I could delete it but that would be sneaky). Bernie is determined to take his quest to the bitter end, and, with each passing day, it is becoming more likely that this quest is not the impossible dream I had imagined. As has been said here too many times to count in the last decade, this country is only going to be saved if the American people take a decided turn to the left; otherwise we're doomed. President Sanders would be a sweet step in the right direction.

2. Donald and the Dumb-Down

The Donald, it seems, cannot piss off the halfwits who comprise the Tea Party base. His monumental gaffes only serve his ambitions - or so it would seem. So heart-breakingly dumbed-down have the overwhelming majority of conservatives in this country become in recent years, his candidacy was a disaster waiting to happen. It doesn't matter really who wins the nomination in Cleveland this summer: Trump or Cruz, the Republican Party is finished. The only thing that will save them at this point is a coup d'etat (and don't think for a minute they're not seriously considering one. Shh!) 

3. Sarah's Meltdown

Recent video postings by Sarah Palin have been very amusing on the one hand, and quite disturbing on the other. It would appear that the poor soul is becoming a bit unhinged - that is to say - more unhinged than we've come to expect. It is amazing when you consider that, less than seven years ago, a major American political party chose this shallow, incurious woman to be second on their presidential ticket. Sarah Palin in 2008 was merely a prelude to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in 2016. John McCain will be eighty years old on August 29 of this year. To think that she might have been "a heartbeat away from the presidency" at this very moment is enough to give the most strongest of constitutions the dry heaves. We really dodged a bullet there, folks.

4. The Trouble with Kasich

Let me be as clear as possible: I would never vote for John Kasich for president; I don't particularly envy the good people of Ohio having him as their governor. Having said that, it's only fair that I point out that Kasich was the least reprehensible of all the candidates traveling in the GOP's 2016 Clown Car. For that reason alone, he doesn't stand a chance of being nominated by that party. Having watched him the other evening being interviewed at a town hall meeting by NBC's Chuck Todd, I had to concede that he's a fairly astute dude. Although he is definitely a right-winger, it has to be said  that he's not an extremist (or at least, that's how he presents himself - Heaven knows what he's really thinking). That kind of politician no longer has a place within the Republican Party. That is why they will very soon disappear.

As Lenny Bruce once said in another context: "There's gonna be a lotta dues, Jim!" Indeed.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
`
SUGGESTED READING:

The Comedians
by Kliph Nesteroff

This history of stand-up comedy covers the years from the early twentieth century to the present time. I couldn't put this one down; in fact I read the whole thing in about a day and a half. If you're half as passionate about comedy and comedians as I am, you won't regret investing in this one. Although they are the national treasure of any country, this book reinforces something I've known for a long time: Comedians tend to be among the most dysfunctional human beings on the planet (no state secret there). My only complaint was a handful of glaring omissions (Andy Kaufman, Steven Wright, and Martin Short in particular). Other than that, it's perfect. 
`
AFTERTHOUGHT:
`

It was a bit of a jolt for baby boomers who can remember "The Patty Duke Show" and "It's Gary Shandling's Show" to learn that both actors passed away this week at the age of sixty-nine. They're starting to fade away.

From "The Rant", April 9, 2013:

This is getting to be an awkward time for me, at least as far as memories are concerned. The teenage icons of my early childhood - not terribly far removed from me in terms of age - are beginning to fade into eternity. When I was a little boy they seemed eternally youthful and indestructible. They weren't, of course. They were (and are) as vulnerable as any of us in their grip on that brittle thread that binds us to this earth. For every soul who goes before me I fear it less and less.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Lennon?