NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS – Part 1

So, it's that time of year again – 2007 is almost over, 2008 looms close by – resolution time. I like to do a combination of a couple of big resolutions along with several smaller ones. My thinking is that the smaller resolutions are more attainable – I can feel some accomplishment by at least taking care of them. I may be fooling myself though. Have I ever really accomplished any of my resolutions, big or small? Do I even remember what they were? Did I even make resolutions last year?

This year I will put my resolutions on my blog for all to see and for me to remember. There will be no super-duper resolutions like lose weight or quit smoking. Losing weight is always a given and oh so hard to do. Quitting the cigarettes? Well I already did that six years ago and it wasn't even a resolution. I just got to the point where I no longer wanted to smoke ever again, thanks to those horrible commercials that Washington state put on the TV with their tobacco settlement money.

So, I'll spend my weekend cogitating important stuff and I'll post my resolutions. Any one who wants to post theirs in the comments section, please feel free. Maybe we can all inspire each other.

POLITICS, SPIN, AND THE PERCEIVED STUPIDITY OF THE PUBLIC

Newly declassified intelligence says that Iran does not have the nuclear program that the current administration would want us to believe it has. In addition, GW says he wasn't aware of the information until late November.

Now really, they expect us to believe that the leader of the United States of America, the man who has been threatening military force against Iran if they don't cease their efforts for nuclear power, was not aware that they had ceased these same efforts? No one told him?

He is the leader of the U.S.A. for christ's sake! Who else is there who would need this information more?

So, there are several scenarios in which G.W. could be telling the truth:

A) They told him, but he wasn't paying attention, so, yeah, unh, he wasn't aware of it.

B) Unh, he knew that the "Nuclear" efforts had ceased, but he's really concerned with the "Nukular" problem.

C) All those countries that start I-r-a… get confusing. Iraq, Iran, which one are you talkin' about?

D) He's the Decider. Only he can Decide what he remembers.

E) He's been lying so much that he wouldn't know the truth if it spit in his eye.

The perceived stupidity of the public: It has long been my feeling that G.W. operates on the premise that "If you say it enough, it will be true." It doesn't matter if it's a lie to begin with, or merely implausible, just keep on repeating it over and over again, and it gets quoted on the evening news and in the morning newspaper, then it's posted on the interwebs and other people cite it as a source and soon the world believes the lie to be true.

Remember Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq? Have any been found?

Remember the continual assertion the Iraq had ties with Al Qaeda? Turns out it doesn't matter to the Decider that Iraq had a secular government.

Remember when the Decider said that there was no evidence for Global Warming? Turns out it's politically expedient for him to change his mind on this issue.

So, how can the leader of the USA not know something as important as the fact that the Nuclear issue on which he is threatening military aggression, is a moot point?

How stupid does he think we are?

Christmas Top Tens

Top Ten Things I Like About Christmas

Decorations
The piney smell
The fact that my work doesn't do a Christmas party
The Christmas bonus
Friend's Christmas parties
White Christmas, the movie – especially the "Sisters" number

and "The Theater" number.

Christmas carolers
Christmas cookies (especially Kifle)
The Franciscan Monks fruit cake
Roasted chestnut panettone
(It's all about the food, isn't it?)



Top Ten Things I Don't Like About Christmas

Shopping
Commercialization
Office Christmas parties
Salvation Army bell ringing
TV commercials
Post Office lines
Obligatory gift giving
Shopping
Commercialization
Did I mention shopping?


Top Five Worst Christmas Gifts

Wool sweater (I'm allergic)
World's ugliest purse
Baby blue coat (I've never worn baby blue in my life)
Another really bad purse
Wool lined gloves (again, allergic)

I tried to think of ten really bad gifts, but I must have blanked some out for fear of being haunted by the memories...

TRUMPED UP JEWELS

Ivanka Trump carries on the Trump penchant for excess with her new jewelry line. Her pieces endeavor to "bring back old Hollywood glamour" and were inspired by her mother, Ivana. The pieces range from a couple of million dollars to $750.00, "so everyone of all ages can enjoy".

I don't know what world Ivanka Trump lives in, but it is not the same one I inhabit. In my world there are many people of all ages who can't afford to spend $750.00 a month in rent much less on a trinket.

And what is this about Ivana and old Hollywood glamour? When I think of OHG, I think of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in Philadelphia Story (1940), Clarke Gable and Claudette Colbert in It happened One Night (1934), Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1943).

Ivana Trump, neé Zelnícková wasn't even born until 1949.

I checked IMDB.com, my source for all movie and television information, and found that our Ivana has done some acting… Her first role was in Pan Tau a Czech TV show in which she is billed as "girl" for one episode in 1970 - she was 20/21 – probably playing below her age.

Then there was the First Wives Club in 1996, a movie with Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton. Ivana played a itty bitty part as…herself.

After that we have For Love Alone: The Ivana Trump Story from 1998, a made for TV bio-pic in which she plays…herself…

Then last year there was Ivana Young Man, a reality TV genre show on Oxygen, in which she plays…herself…again…

There are twenty-two other listings on IMDB in which Ivana plays her favorite character, herself. I am seeing a trend here. However, a woman who is born in 1949, and plays herself in 25 out of 26 productions is not an actress of any sort, and certainly not the kind of person that brings to mind old Hollywood glamour.

There are two worlds existing side by side – one where people work hard everyday to pay bills and send their kids to school; where the expense of a simple Christmas has to be planned for and sometimes can be overwhelming; where the people know all about the parallel world – they see it daily in the infotainment news – they are, in fact, bombarded with it unless they make a concerted effort to avoid the hype of the rich and famous.

The other world is that of the rich and famous, where people think a $750.00 price tag makes a trinket affordable for all. Where mothers can be reinvented as old Hollywood glamour and no one calls them on it – certainly not Julie Chen of CBS. It's a world that is self encased. We know about them, but they are clueless about us.

I think I'll boycott Ivanka Trump's jewelry line. It'll be easy since I can't afford it anyway.

Note: Ivanka quotes are from her October 16th appearance on The Early Show with Julie Chen. (CBS)