Funniest thing ever.

Comedian Tom Mabe has a thing he does when telemarketers call that is one of the funniest things I have ever heard. I may be exaggerating in the glow of just having heard it for the first time but I'm thinking that a MacArthur genius Grant and Nobel Prize for Literature are in order.

Traditional American Values....

In the very room where the original documents that describe the principles upon which the country was founded are displayed, President Barack Obama made exceptionally clear how his administration will correct the mistakes of the past eight years. It was his finest moment yet as President. He did not engage in the kind of oratory that he has become best known for. The speech was even in tone, but put forth the most basic idea that there are some thing we can be told and some things we won't, and when the decision is made to not be transparent, we will be told the reason for that decision and - and this is the most crucial point - these decisions will be subject to oversight by the legislative and judicial branches of government in the manner that the framers of the Constitution clearly intended.

A short time later, speaking to the same conservative think tank responsible for the horrible failures of the past eight years, former Vice President, Dick Cheney - the most corrupt and vile son of a bitch in US politics in the past century - continued to tell lies about interrogation methods that were used to gather the misinformation that would be used to justify an invasion of Iraq.

Here is the complete text of Obama's speech. While there are videos available, I urge you to click on the link and read the text. It was another in an all-too-forgotten "proud to be an American" moment.

And while you're at it, read David Brook's (NY Times resident conservative) take on the two speeches, Cheney Lost to Bush.

Guns and Parks and Such....

The Democratic-controlled Congress is moving to restore a Bush administration policy that allowed loaded guns in national parks. I don't know about you, but I'm happy with the decision.

If I go into a national park and if I go off onto trails that take me away from any signs of civilization - which is pretty much the reason I'm there in the first place - then I'm happier if I can legally carry the .357 magnum pistol I was going to have with me anyway.

Saving Grace and Henry Miller

"I have found God, but he is insufficient." — Henry Miller

I've been a fan of Holly Hunter's forever. Her performance in Raising Arizona (1987) is one of a handful of the best comedic performances, by anybody, ever. But I only get about eight channels on my TV cable and whatever channel her series, Saving Grace, is on isn't one of them.

My local library has the first season DVD and I'm about half way through the episodes. The basic story is about a cop, Grace (Hunter), in Oklahoma City, who is visited by a "last chance angel" named Earl who wants her to, in effect, "get right" with God.

There are some things about the series I really like. Hunter's character is wonderfully complex and masterfully played. Her dog, Big Head Gus, is fantastic. Set in Oklahoma City, the series makes regular references to the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building, something that's hardly ever mentioned in a post-9/11 world. The writing is excellent, as is the cast. But the presence of the angel, who shows up, offers some brief new-agey sounding advice, flexes his wings and splits, is like some unnecessary artifice overlain on the story. The series would be pretty much exactly the same without the angel. The angel has no ability to intercede in the lives of the characters in each story, or in Grace's life either for that matter.

And it is in this respect that it reminds me of Henry Miller's solution to the question of God. It makes no difference, Miller said, whether there is or isn't a God because, if there is, God is utterly insufficient to make any difference in our day to day lives. The decisions we make, the actions we take, these are always our own. If it comforts you to imagine someone on the sidelines, offering the occasional commentary on things that are all going to proceed anyway, so be it. But it doesn't matter.

Grace does what she wants. The people around her get hurt, get saved, go on with their lives like all of us do. It is an interesting take on the interaction of humans with angels. I think Henry would have enjoyed it.