Political Radar

We just got back in touch with our friend Damir, who gave up life in paradise (SLC, Utah) and moved to New York City after a short stint in India. One thing we always enjoyed was a good political conversation, so in his honor I'll throw out a few political items that have been on my radar recently.

Back in second grade, long before any understanding about anything political, I remember shaking Pat Williams' hand in some small Montana town, and my dad telling me, "that's who represents us in Washington, DC, and he's a Williams." Of course, we aren't actually related in any way, but I was impressed to see this article he wrote about George W. being featured on one of my favorite informative websites, Common Dreams. It's called "Buyer's remorse for Bush" and is all about how GW's approval ratings have been sinking like a rock in the Rocky Mountain states.

And while I'm bringing up politics, I was certainly impressed by Molly Ivins call to action in this article. Die-hard democrats may find it offensive, but I enjoyed it. For those who don't know who she is, she's a feisty old Texas lady who isn't afraid to speak her mind. She can be quite funny too.

I'm also interested in the new Turkish movie called Valley of the Wolves, Iraq. It's your standard patriotic action Hollywoodish show. But with a twist of cours, because its Turkish and of course from the perspective of the Turks. And it is incorporates some events that have actually happened, and then they fictionalized a story from there. For example, in the english language trailer, there are references to the massacre in Afghanistan that for whatever reason didn't get much airplay in the States. Anyway, Valley of the Wolves was a hugely popular tv show in Turkey for four years, and they recently made a feature film out of it. It's been described as similar to 24, which I know is hugely popular with at least one person.

And last of all, lest I seem to be letting politics and the political situation seem depressing, I'd like to add... of course it's not depressing. It's a hoot and a holler! Politics shmolitics. I'm trying the daring experiment of pronoia, the antidote of paranoia. Inspiring me in the self-help positive attitude genre these days has been Rob Brezsny's article called "The miracles we miss every day." We found the article in yet another mystery gift from somebody we don't know who to thank... a subscription to the magazine "Ode." The source of that gift must be a Montanan or somebody from that point in our lives, because the subscription is addressed to "Genny Dawson Williams Cook Dgwilco". Anyway, to whoever sent us that, thank you very much! We love it!