Shauld Auld Auldquaintence Be Fauldgot
Yesterday's wall-to-wall funerary festivities was like Bowl Games on New Years' Day.
Saddam videos teasingly released. Recovered from the Internet.
All three cable news outlets carried the James Brown Memorial from Augusta, Georgia. Fox dropped out first, then MSNBC. CNN carried it through the end of the Jesse Jackson speech, just as Dick Gregory was striding forward to the podium, leonine in his white mane.
And then Gerald Ford -- with the Twilight Zone moment of Dick Cheney talking about integrity as the catafalque was again resurrected in what seems more akin to the burial of a Roman Emperor than a former U.S. President. The coffin's surreal tour through the capitol building. A spectator collapsing during the choir's rendition of "America the Beautiful." Evil Dick and Evil Lynne Cheney looking suitably out of place amongst decent folk.
And I realized -- as Speaker Hastert and Veep Cheney and Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens eulogized -- that it was also the funeral of the congressional Republican majority.
A sea change, like the James Brown funerary. And, compare and contrast the openness and warmth of the Brown service to the tight-assedness (and lily-whiteness, now that I think of it) of the Ford Extravaganza.
Don't get me wrong. Gerald Ford was, finally, a decent man. But I think he'd have blanched at the imperial fuss they're making. The bloody funerary that commenced in 2006 won't finish up until 2007, for crying out loud.
And then Saddam was buried within 24 hours, as religious law decrees.
And that ended an era as well.
But I couldn't help but watch the almost gleeful bloodlust of the talking heads and recall the Roman arena.
Saddam has been strangled. And in a particularly shabby and almost chaotic manner, as the footage comes out. CNN, true to its word, censored the clip at the moment that Saddam dropped on the end of the rope.
The White House issued a statement that Bush had already gone to bed by (what was in Austin 8 pm, but in Washington, D.C. was 10 pm) the time of the execution and issued some kind of statement that a tough road lay ahead.
And if he thinks that anyone in the world believes that he, G Dubya Bush, who has obsessed about killing Saddam for at least six years now, went to bed, bored, etc. etc. , well, perhaps there are people who believe that.
There are still people who believe that the Earth is flat, as well, I'm told.
But I have a strange intuition that the whole casual garroting of Saddam was an ugly event that we'll all look back on and say, "Dear Ghod, what were we thinking?" as 2006 ended with a sepulchral chime that yet reverberates with funereal chill.
I hope that 2007 will be a better year than 2006.
But I'm stocking up on provisions and flashlight batteries, just in case.
Courage.
.
Saddam videos teasingly released. Recovered from the Internet.
All three cable news outlets carried the James Brown Memorial from Augusta, Georgia. Fox dropped out first, then MSNBC. CNN carried it through the end of the Jesse Jackson speech, just as Dick Gregory was striding forward to the podium, leonine in his white mane.
And then Gerald Ford -- with the Twilight Zone moment of Dick Cheney talking about integrity as the catafalque was again resurrected in what seems more akin to the burial of a Roman Emperor than a former U.S. President. The coffin's surreal tour through the capitol building. A spectator collapsing during the choir's rendition of "America the Beautiful." Evil Dick and Evil Lynne Cheney looking suitably out of place amongst decent folk.
And I realized -- as Speaker Hastert and Veep Cheney and Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens eulogized -- that it was also the funeral of the congressional Republican majority.
A sea change, like the James Brown funerary. And, compare and contrast the openness and warmth of the Brown service to the tight-assedness (and lily-whiteness, now that I think of it) of the Ford Extravaganza.
Don't get me wrong. Gerald Ford was, finally, a decent man. But I think he'd have blanched at the imperial fuss they're making. The bloody funerary that commenced in 2006 won't finish up until 2007, for crying out loud.
And then Saddam was buried within 24 hours, as religious law decrees.
And that ended an era as well.
But I couldn't help but watch the almost gleeful bloodlust of the talking heads and recall the Roman arena.
Saddam has been strangled. And in a particularly shabby and almost chaotic manner, as the footage comes out. CNN, true to its word, censored the clip at the moment that Saddam dropped on the end of the rope.
The White House issued a statement that Bush had already gone to bed by (what was in Austin 8 pm, but in Washington, D.C. was 10 pm) the time of the execution and issued some kind of statement that a tough road lay ahead.
And if he thinks that anyone in the world believes that he, G Dubya Bush, who has obsessed about killing Saddam for at least six years now, went to bed, bored, etc. etc. , well, perhaps there are people who believe that.
There are still people who believe that the Earth is flat, as well, I'm told.
But I have a strange intuition that the whole casual garroting of Saddam was an ugly event that we'll all look back on and say, "Dear Ghod, what were we thinking?" as 2006 ended with a sepulchral chime that yet reverberates with funereal chill.
I hope that 2007 will be a better year than 2006.
But I'm stocking up on provisions and flashlight batteries, just in case.
Courage.
.
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