Well now, since I’m home alone at 11:40* on a Saturday night, I thought I’d bore you with the thoughts in my head.
(Side note: as I begin typing this, my ancient dog is making his slow, painful way up the stairs. In his younger days, Maxx would bound up and down those stairs at hypersonic speed. When he would engage in what Julie and I called “crazy dog mode,” he’d take those stairs three at a time, bolt to our room and hop up on our very high bed, spin around, leap off, and come barreling down the stairs again, then tear through the living room, dining room, and kitchen on his way back to do the stairs again…all in the space of 20 seconds. Alas, that journey would take him five minutes now - if he were to embark upon it - not that he’d ever actually complete it. He lost the ability to get up on our bed unassisted quite a few months ago.)
My friends James and Kathy just left a few minutes ago. They called me earlier tonight to see if I’d like to join them for a bite to eat - Julie being out of town for the weekend - so I went to Longo’s and had me a bowl of so-so chicken minestrone. We came back here to watch Good Night, and Good Luck, an excellent movie about Edward R. Murrow and his battle with Sen. Joe McCarthy.
There’s really no mystery as to why George Clooney decided to make this movie now. The parallels between McCarthy’s witch hunts and the current Administration’s tactics of calling anyone who disagrees with their policies as “traitors” or “terrorist sympathizers” are obvious. We were particularly struck by one particular scene, part of which I quote here. Keep in mind this is not a flight of fancy on Clooney’s part, but an actual transcript from a broadcast in 1951:
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason. If we dig deep in our history and doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men not from men who feared to write, to associate, to speak and to defend the causes that were for the moment unpopular.
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the results. We proclaim ourselves, indeed as we are the defenders of freedom wherever it continues to exist in the world but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” Good night, and good luck.
I’m quite sure there are plenty of people walking around this country that would disagree with me drawing parallels between the Bush administration and Crazy Joe McCarthy. But parallels there are: easily disproved falsehoods, vilification of those with dissenting opinions, attempt to subvert law for political purposes. The main thing that saved us from McCarthyism was that he was not the Chief Executive, but a junior senator from the upper Midwest. And his downfall came when he pissed off Ike by attacking his beloved Army. This time around, the Army is pissed off, and it’s the Chief Executive who’s doing the pissing.
For those of you still reading: here’s the reason I’m home alone tonight. Last night around 9:45, a call came in from Jackie D., a good friend of Julie’s from NYC. Her father passed away unexpectedly yesterday. Julie, being Julie, had long since made friends with Jackie’s parents - Jul called them her “Jewish parents” and they’d sent her Hannukah gifts and whatnot. They seemed like very cool people. Jackie is understandably quite thrown by all this, and Julie had told her when the time came she’d be there. So a quick trip to Continental.com and an early morning flight had her in New Jersey before noon today, to help with preparations and to take some of the burden from Jackie and her mother.That’s my Julie. I know I can’t be as good a friend to others as Julie is, but then I don’t know many people who can be. She’s just amazing, my wife.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Been hitting the hooch, eh?
We’ll have to see that movie.
That’s very nice and thoughtful of Julie.
Didn’t read the whole thing about the movie but I have to comment on the Maxx stuff.
I’ve never know Maxx to have “Hypersonic speed!” , or perhaps it’s just been a REALLY LONG TIME since he’s been at all energetic…poor old man.
Very kind of Julie to do that.
HEY! Way to write something on your blog! WTG! :-)
You probably never saw Maxx in full-blown Psycho Mode. We had to take care to not be in his way when he was doing his circuit because if he barrelled his 102 lbs. into one of us at that speed he’d probably have propelled us through a wall or something.
It’s funny how dog owners all call that behavior the same thing. My sister Jeannie used to say Koty was doing “crazy dog” when she did that same tearing around the sofa, up the stairs, down the stairs through the kitchen circuit.
Seiko did what you call “crazy dog” thru the kitchen, dining room, living room etc.
He was bookin’!!