Wrong Wing

I'm tired of the endless obstructionism and shrill posturing of the Right in this country. It's ridiculous, and has kept the country from moving forward (that is, progressing) on any number of issues. It's why we're lagging on a host of things while our First World cousins in Europe and elsewhere are leaving us behind. Now, I know the exceptionalist propaganda line where we blow smoke up our own asses is well in place, the whole "envy of the world" bullshit (as much bullshit as the idea that this is somehow a classless society that is highly socially mobile), I know that's all going like gangbusters as usual.

But the thing is, when has the Right actually been RIGHT about anything? When have conservatives been on the mark? Their blend of rigid thinking, dogmatism, and closed mindedness has never, ever been a path to progress. Quite the opposite, really. And how far back should we go to demonstrate this?

The trend toward Know-Nothingism is so bad in today's GOP that people who absolutely are/were Republicans 20 years ago are afraid to call themselves Republicans today, because they're embarrassed by this trend. They tend to call themselves "Libertarians" today, which is really just a smokescreen for saying that you're a Republican who realizes that the GOP has gone off the deep end -- it's no accident that the long demise of so-called "moderate Republicans" that began in the 60s paralleled the emergence of so-called "Libertarians" -- it became a shelter for those folks who found themselves exiled from the GOP.

Anyway, the conservatives are nearly always wrong -- and I just threw the "nearly" in there to be nice (a problem we liberals tend to have). The trend toward Know-Nothingism is staggering -- their ideology has ballooned up around them and colors their view to the extent that they're willing to go after science, itself, because it's challenging their political reality? Is that how bad it's gotten? Good fucking lord. It's like having somebody's crazy uncle at the steering wheel, refusing to let anybody else drive.

The reactionary response is this: if reality doesn't fit the theory, change reality. THAT is their approach, in a nutshell. And that's how an entire ideological industry has sprung up to ensure that Right-thinking people don't go "wrong" -- which is to say, that they are protected from their lying eyes by ideological bullshit.

Pick an issue, and lay out the reactionary position on it, versus the liberal, and you'll see what I mean.

Evolution: The Right doesn't believe in it, supports creationism/intelligent design. The scientific community has found the evidence for evolution increasingly persuasive going back to the 19th Century!!

Global Warming: The Right doesn't believe in it. The scientific community overwhelmingly finds evidence supporting it.

Gays: The Right thinks it's a choice, born out of temptation by Satan, no doubt. Again, the science is increasingly showing that homosexuality is genetically derived. (Posting that one because they're afraid to do this kind of research in the US, given that Gay is to the American Reactionary what Jew is to Nazi.

Taxes: The Right still peddles supply side theory and accompanying snake oil, even though the economic evidence overwhelmingly points to the utter failure of this as an engine of robust, meaningful, long-term growth.

Vaccination: The Right increasingly fears and resents public health programs that have been demonstrated to work. Because of the nonsense about vaccination, we're seeing resurgences of whooping cough and measles. Cause and effect, you fucktards.

Universal Suffrage: Reactionaries are uncomfortable with democracy, especially when it leads to outcomes that stand in their way, so they throw in for voter suppression as a way of countering it, because they don't want everybody to get a vote, whether it's minorities or women. The Right's view on this is very clear -- whether it's voter ID laws, poll taxes, fire hoses, or throwing elections -- they are hostile to democracy. And they're wrong to be that way (and that fear goes back to the pre-Enlightenment era).

Slavery: The reactionary view of slavery was that is was a-okay, ordained by the Bible. The progressive/liberal view was that all people were created equal, and that slavery was an unconscionable evil. The Right was a-okay with slavery.

I could go on and on and on. The conservative view was that Earth was the center of the universe. THAT was the conservative view, until Copernicus and Galileo were like "Uh, wait, dudes, you know what..?" On and on. An unobstructed path of wrongness.

This is why the GOP is going after science, itself. There is, in the back of their dogmatic brains, this fear that they're wrong, and the only way they can combat this is to attack science, itself. With what, exactly? Oh, that's right: ideology, rhetoric, and religion. Those are their weapons, delivered with characteristic zeal and anger. Again, the Crazy Uncle hypothesis, drowning out everybody else in the room with his braying.

Enough is enough. Liberals screw themselves over by trying to be ecumenical, trying to be tolerant, and being uncomfortable with, well, dogmatism. But they need to be willing to call bullshit on the bullshit when they see it, and to act on it. If nothing else, to leave the Know-Nothings behind in their ideological hog wallow, and move forward (again, the p-word, progress, comes into play, here).

Countries that don't have their heads up their asses are progressing; our country is being held captive by the least-rational, least-tolerant, least-informed, least-reasonable reactionaries who pander to the very worst impulses in people for the sake of momentary political gain. Enough, already. Americans are becoming a laughingstock as we stagger down this ideological dead-end, captive to a policy elite who actually have no good answers for ANYTHING, because they're simply dead wrong -- they are informed not by evidence or science, but by ideology, which is the bathtub gin of philosophy.

Enough, already. Let's move forward, America, and stop walking backwards with our eyes closed, going "la la la la I can't hear you" with reality. Keep doing that and we're going to go right off a cliff.

Trippin'

The boys still talk about the trip we took the other week -- B1 talks about different things he saw, B2 talks about the hotels we visited and the animals we saw, and they both tell me how they "miss the trip." It's cute. I was pleased how smoothly it went, without any hitches along the way. It was a resounding success; everybody had a blast, and the boys didn't once mention Exene -- not the entire time. I would periodically call her so she could talk to the boys, and they could tell her what they'd been up to, but they were content to be on the trip with me, even going solo. And the weird thing for me is that, since Exene never drove on any of our trips (she refuses to drive), there was no qualitative difference between this trip for me and any other, in terms of driving, since, had she been there, I'd STILL be the one driving over 3700 miles by myself! Baha!

Higgs

I'm amused by this clip of Brooklynites (some hipsters, some just New Yorkers) trying to guess what the Higgs Boson is. I think only one of them actually knows. My 10-year-old knows more about it, thanks to me talking to him about it a few years ago, when it came up!

Stormy

Man, we had some trippy weather today -- this fierce storm blasted through Chicago literally out of the blue today, around midday. Fiercest storm I've seen in the city in years. The wind picked up and it blasted through. It didn't last long, but it came on really quickly, and the wind was amazingly strong, felt like it was nearing microburst levels. Nothing like what creamed the Mid-Atlantic states, for sure, but still, pretty impressive. It's almost like this wild weather, supercharged by rampant, I dunno, elevated heat levels by a, hmm, changing climate, is becoming the "new normal" for the world these days. I wonder how many wildfires, derechos, droughts and what-not will have to be endured before American politicians embrace the scientific community's evidence-based findings about climate change. Clearly we're not there, yet. Maybe if the South and Southwest all burn down and their coasts flood (as their inland areas dry up), maybe then they'll stop chugging the Kool-Aid pimped out by the oil industry about global warming. Or maybe they'll just think it's End Times(tm) and will get even more loopy.

Yellowstoned

I'm still recuperating from a week in Yellowstone; I road-tripped with the boys there. They had a blast, although it was a helluva drive (all told, I drove >3700 miles, round trip!) But I thought it was worth it for the boys to get a sense of just how big this country is. I've been out west before, but have never driven the distance. Anyway, they loved it, had a lot of fun. We saw bison, elk, ospreys, coyotes, ravens, grebes, etc. I heard a pack of wolves one morning, too. Good times! B1 really loved the geysers and hot springs, was fascinated by them. I took over 1000 pix with my Nikon, while B1 took lots of shots with his own camera. Yellowstone was beautiful, although the ghostly remains of trees from the '88 wildfire were all over the place. That must have been one serious conflagration, because you could see those dead trees amid the sea of green, and some hillsides and mountain faces were still on that long, slow road to recovery.

Butterflying

Had a butterfly land on me yesterday. Butterflies love landing on me. B1 pointed it out, said "Daddy, there's a butterfly on you!" It hung out on my jacket for a bit, before flying off and then briefly landing on my back, and then flitting away. Go figure.

Avenge Me!

I took the boys to see "The Avengers" over last weekend -- so, that makes it the first time since the original "Star Wars" movies that I've seen a movie three times on the big screen. I just wanted them to be able to see it on the big screen, with the great sound. They enjoyed it, although they still relate more to the animated version I've showed them on DVD.

Speaking of the movie, I saw the drugstore clerk again, and mentioned having seen the movie. He waxed lyrical about it, particularly about the Hulk, breathlessly speculated that the sequel would feature more Hulk. He knew his Marvel, though, since we were talking about the Thanos cameo at the end, and what that would mean for the sequel (in a word, trouble -- watch out, Avengers! Thanos will fuck you UP!) I'm kinda hoping Kang appears at some point -- Kang is one of my favorite villains, and was always getting after the Avengers. Ultron could be a good one, too, if they did it right. Or Graviton. Anyway, we'll see. I just hope the makers of the movie are able to mine what made the first one great and run with that in the sequel.

Eclipsed

B1 was really stoked about the partial eclipse last night, and more so that I was able to snap a few pictures of it (below). He was thrilled by that, and I was happy that I was actually able to see it, given how low in the sky it was. One of the advantages of living in a high-rise! The ghost image was from my double-paned windows, alas. But the image of the eclipse came through very nicely.

Off to the Races

I saw that news blurb about how more non-white babies are being born than white babies and grimaced. The people saddled with racism are going to be having a field day with that, going apeshit as they fret about this. Between that and everything else that's dragged the GOP into looneyland, it's not going to be pretty. Forget notions of E Pluribus Unum and what-not; no, Whitey is gonna be going crazier than usual over this latest demographic trend, with doubtless more strident calls to save "the white race" from the non-white hordes. Lordy.

And with Obama as President, it's going to be even worse, in terms of the tone of the rhetoric of the Right. Not pretty. It's embarrassing to think that racism would still be part of people's mental makeup in the 21st Century. Like when you think of all the things a person has to face in this century, all the things to deal with, being a racist is even more pathetic -- in 1912 or 1812, I can see it, but in 2012? Embarrassing as hell. And this latest news is going to fan the fires of those rearguard racists. Fear is at the heart of all racism (and, really, all conservative politics -- hell, that's been borne out in research).

Speaking of fear, the city's all aflutter over the NATO Summit, which is starting today. Supposedly thousands of protesters have bused into the city over the past couple of days, and the city's on alert to make sure nothing happens. We'll see if anything does. I'm thinking it'll be a tempest in a teapot, honestly; if this were Berlin or Brussels, I could imagine a lot of fervent protest about NATO, but in Chicago? Honestly? I don't see it really happening. But we'll see, I guess. The summit's supposed to be all weekend.

Avengers: Animated

Having "Avengers" on the brain since watching the movie a couple of times (yeah, I saw it again, and liked it as much the second time!) I picked up the "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" animated series (four volumes, Season 1), and have enjoyed it (as have my boys). B1 likes Cap and Hawkeye in particular, while B2 likes Hulk. Thor, my favorite Avenger, is well-represented in it. The show is entertaining, mixing bang-up action with nice, drawn-out  narrative arcs that are atypical in American animated shows. I appreciate that, and the writing is good -- it doesn't have the gravitas of the Justice League series from years ago, but it has good animation and entertaining banter between the characters. There are great lines that are just funny, and good battle sequences. They may not be as perfectly drawn and kinetically awesome as the best of the DC animated shows, they are still fun to watch. There's a scene when Thor and Wasp confront MODOK, and it cracks me up -- Thor is transfixed by MODOK's appearance, repeatedly commenting on his giant head even as he's fighting him. Cracks me up. Anyway, the show is way better than I expected it to be. I'm enjoying it, which means it's likely to be canceled soon, given that any show I like tends to end up canceled. Marvel has been hit-or-miss with its animated fare, unlike DC, who had Bruce Timm to anchor their productions, but this Avengers series is definitely good stuff.

Her Radiance?

Okay, so this commercial just freaked me out. This chick just gains these godlike powers to blink out of existence everybody who's in her way? Creep macking on her? *POOF* People ahead of her in line at the club? *POOF* Chicks talking to the guy she's set her sights on? *POOF* The blithe way she just strolls up and says "Hi" to that guy, after all of these people she's evaporated? The guy should be freaked out and asking whether she's some monstrous alien and/or goddess of death or something. And what also bugs me: she deletes the people waiting in line BEHIND her, too. WTF? Why?

Avengers Assembled

I saw "The Avengers" last night, and was greatly impressed! It's the best blockbuster I've seen in years. It's been a long time since I've been that impressed with one of those big budget kinds of enterprises, but this one delivered. And that's in spite of Joss Whedon's screenwriting, which I'm never fond of -- but I have to give him credit for this one -- it definitely delivered the goods. I saw the 2D version with the Sony digital imaging, which was incredibly crisp, breathtakingly clear. The movie fired cleanly on all cylinders, even with a thinly written plot (and, to be honest, there was very much a sense of stretching a pretty thin concept very far to hold it together, but the result, rather than a mess, was something snare drum-tight). The actors carried much of the load -- I have to credit the whole cast for making it work, for filling in the weaknesses within the story with good performances all around.

But the movie itself was just literal dynamite -- exhilarating and fun. I was never bored watching it, despite it being at least two hours long. It all worked. Loki was well-played as the villain, and all the heroes did their parts. The tech components were dazzling -- the SHIELD Helicarrier was impressive as hell. The CGI guys earned their bones in this movie.

The jewel in the CGI crown was the Hulk, who was impressive as hell. I've never been a fan of the Hulk, but they absolutely made every scene with the Hulk sizzle, as he's bashing the hell out of whatever's in his way, whether it's Thor or Loki or alien hordes. It was very impressive, and they even gave Hulk the best comedic moments of it (including a laugh-out-loud beatdown of Loki that had me howling).

I loved the Avengers comic as a kid, so I was really worried that they'd butcher it on the big screen, but those worries were shelved by this movie, which couldn't fail to impress. Again, it's a blockbuster, so I watch it with "blockbuster rules" -- I'm not expecting Shakespeare when I watch a blockbuster, but I'm also very picky about blockbusters (for example, "Inception" actually bored the hell out of me, and I've groused about that before, although I seem to be the only person living who actually didn't love that movie) -- but "The Avengers" was just fabulous fun.

Of the actors, only Hemsworth's Thor felt like he was dragging a little, and even he grew on me throughout it. He looked the part, but I felt like he was behind the other actors in their portrayals of their respective heroes. Makes me laugh to see Black Widow supplant the Wasp as one of the founding members of the Avengers, and, of course, how Giant-Man is nowhere in the mix. I think those were good choices (and, besides, with Paltrow cameoing as Pepper, that's about as much WASP as one can take in a movie).

Anyway, I really enjoyed that movie on a level that I've not enjoyed blockbusters since I don't even know when. Well worth it. I'm gonna catch it again.

Oh, and the Thanos teaser at the end was even more fun. I actually exclaimed "Whoa!" out loud, and cackled.

Avenged Sevenfold

I think I may catch "The Avengers" after work tomorrow. I need to indulge my long-dormant Marvel fanboy self. I collected a lot of AVENGERS, back in the day, most of which I still have, stashed away in storage. I dug some of them out, let B1 check out a few issues. Amazing to think that they're from 1977 -- they're 35 years old! OMG! I always took very good care of my old comics (although I lost about 2/3 of my childhood comics collection when my folks had carelessly left them in a musty basement in one of their properties when I was away at college. Thankfully, the ones kept in Mylar bags had weathered that debacle, and I was able to recover them, once I'd realized where my folks had put them).

Anyway, I figure I'll catch the flick, since it looks like it should be halfway interesting. I really hope they do a sequel with either Ultron or the Absorbing Man or Taskmaster (yeah, right -- no chance of that). That would be fun. The problem with doing superhero movies is for all the non-fans of comics, they have to ladle in the exposition so the people know what the hell is going on, who Villain X is. They'll probably do Kang or Mandarin as the villain in any sequel.