Election Day 2015

As most if not all of the United States is focused on the Presidential election in 2016, a race mind you that has yet to become the circus it will be once Pres. Obama announces he is running for a third term; there are indeed elections taking place this coming Tuesday, November 3.  These elections are mostly of a local value, though there are a number of statewide elections taking place.  One is a Mayoral race and three more are Gubernatorial races.

Philadelphia, PA Mayor Race:  In my opinion, the election already happened.  Philadelphia is fortunately a leading Democratic city, thus the Democratic primary is pretty much the election.  The current mayor, Michael Nutter, has yet to challenge the two-term limit policy bestowed upon the office of Mayor.  With that in mind, James Kenney was able to win the Primary last May, and will be at least in an official manner be named Mayor-elect this Tuesday,  My congratulations to Mayor Kenney, and hope that we have not seen the last of Mayor Nutter.

Mississippi Governor:  Republican Gov. Phil Bryant will be re-elected.  This should not come as a surprise.

Kentucky Governor's Race:  The current Democratic Gov., Steve Beshear, is not running for re-election.  One reason is last year Gov. Beshear was contemplating a run for the Senate for 2016 before electing not to run.  In that point in time, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway announced his intention to run for the Governorship.  Along with that announcement, late in 2014 Attorney General Conway received the endorsement of Sen. Wendell H. Ford, a former Democratic Kentucky Senator and Governor who spent 23 years (1974-1997) in the US Senate.  Well, Sen. Ford passed away on January 22 at age 90, thus making Sen. Ford's endorsement one of his last for any candidate.
Jack Conway easily won the Democratic Primary, and should be likely to become the Governor on Tuesday. Indeed, until recently, most polling suggested a rather easy victory for Mr. Conway.  However, Mr. Conway is facing a rather important Republican favorite in the state with the Republican nominee, Matt Bevin.  Mr. Bevin, as you may know, ran in the 2014 Republican Senate Primary against Sen. Mitch McConnell, so a run for the Governorship was never out of the question.  Mr. Beivn's campaign has made inroads with potential voters, turning a race that seemed likely to remain Democratic into yet another Republican pickup. The most recent polling suggests both Mr. Conway and Mr. Bevin in a statistical tie.  So in this race, I am not sure who will be elected.  As I mentioned before, Kentucky has not been a state easily suitable for Democrats since Sen. Wendell H. Ford declined a re-election bid in 1997.  None the less, Sen. Ford was a titan among Kentucky politics, and was still well respected long after his Senate career ended.  Jack Conway has become the most important Democrat in Kentucky this year, and has the potential to change the Republican grip hold on the state.  Yet, now I am not so sure.  It is possible Matt Bevin gets elected Governor.  Should that happen, it would get more difficult for Democrats to get elected in years to come within Kentucky.

Louisiana Governor's Race:  Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal is leaving the Governorship to run for President of the United States, a race that is becoming rather quixotic as the days pass.  This is an interesting race in that Louisiana has a system of elections wherein All candidates of any affiliation are on the ballot for this Tuesday.  Thus there are multiple Republicans and multiple Democrats running for the same public office.  Unless the leading vote getter receives 50% of the vote, which is not likely this year, the top two candidates will continue their campaigns ending in a runoff election to be held November 21.  And as of now, the top two consist of a Republican and a Democrat.

The Democrat, state Rep. John Bel Edwards, is currently leading both the jungle primary and runoff polls.  Interestingly, the Republican is Sen. David Vitter; a rather risky venture that was supposed to go over well without any problems.  And yet, there is a problem; Sen. Vitter willing to trade in 11 years in the US senate for a more volatile elected office in being Louisiana's Governor.  Sad to say at times, yet a Senator becoming a Governor rarely yields the same rate of impact and success as when in the US Senate.  And in this case, there is an election for Sen. Vitter's Senate seat next year that needs to be considered.

You see, should Sen. David Vitter get elected Governor, he would be able to name his own successor to be appointed to the US Senate and likely have the benefits of incumbency against any potential Democratic or even Republican challengers.  However, were Mr. Bel Edwards be elected Governor effectively this Tuesday, then Sen. Vitter will need to consider his political future.  I would think Sen. Vitter will run for re-election to the Senate should he not be elected Governor; I do not know if his re-election would be a virtual lock.  So, I think Sen. David Vitter will remain a Senator after both the jungle primary and the runoff, and John Bel Edwards will be elected Governor.  I should point out thought that Louisiana is a Republican state; so this could change at the last minute.

Now I want to focus on elections far more closest to home.  I live in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York.  Unfortunately, while New York is a Democratic State, much of Long Island including Nassau County, is quite obviously Republican.  Quite obviously because Republican politics in this area of New York is terminally corrupt.  In some functions, the local political scene has not gotten over Sen. Al D'Amato's re-election defeat in 1998; thus what once worked does not in this day and age. Do not get me wrong; Sen. D'Amato and his people have helped out Long Island over the years.  Yet their political cronyism and neo-Tammany Hall outlook does not suit well with me.

Of course, now the Republican machine in this county is run by the likes of Kate Murray and John Venditto and Ed Mangano and their lieutenants.  Decent people on a personal level, yes.  I did appreciate Mangano, the Nassau County Executive, endorsing Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his re-election bid last year.  I was classmates with Oyster Bay Supervisor Venditto's eldest son, Nick; I even talked with him on several occasions, including our high school 10 year reunion four years ago. My family and I have even met Hempstead Supervisor Murray and her family quite a few times.  Yet, despite that, they are not to be trusted to do the right thing in our social, political and economic matters.

If you want to know why, there have been recent reports regarding the sheer audacity to continue obtaining contracts with a Mr. Singh, who has been negligent on his taxes involving his restaurants. This chiefly involves John Venditto and his seemingly iron grip on Oyster Bay leadership.  There is a YouTube channel devoted to exposing these issues, with videos such as this one,

Concurrently, Kate Murray is running for Nassau County District Attorney, running against the current DA, Madeline Singas.  DA Singas has had the experience of being a prosecuting attorney and is well versed in legal issues.  Ms. Murray, simply stated, does not know the law as she think she does.  And yet, here we are with both Murray and Venditto thinking they have their elections sewn to their liking.  Mangano, by the way, is not running this year.  And to compound these corruption revelations, the recent Venditto and Murray endorsements are rather troublesome.  Particularly NuHealth endorsing Kate Murray; a clear violation of neutrality measures needed for hospitals!  Including the same hospital where I was given birth and I got treated for lead poisoning!!

Needless to say, I have no intention of voting for any of these Republicans this year.  Yet you probably already knew that.  I am endorsing DA Madeline Singas to continue her tenure as District Attorney for Nassau County.  I am also endorsing Democratic challenger John J. Mangelli to be elected Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor.  As well, I am endorsing all Democrats running for the Town of Oyster Bay council and the offices of judges.

I do understand many who are reading this might think this may become a problem if the current Nassau Republican leadership is replaced.  A number of them are involved with town offices and will point to my participation with the GAP program since 2012 and continuing,  I need to mention; the corruption and ineptness needs to end.  I hope and believe this will not change the status of Town of Oyster Bay workers and volunteers, nor would it derail the GAP program and related services.  Yet, if changes will need to be made in order to end the corruption and allow for newer leadership; then we will need to adapt when the time comes.

Well, those are my thoughts on Tuesday's elections.  I implore my fellow readers to take the time and vote on Tuesday; and if needed, register to vote as soon as you can.

One final note:  As this was going to be published, I found word that Sen. and 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson passed away at age 73.  I did not agree with Sen. Thompson's views; yet the Senator was a decent person that had a lifetime of service dating back to his involvement with the Senate Watergate Committee.  My thoughts go out to his family and loved ones at this trying time.

We got the system to alter the system,

Robert

This will not take 11 hours

Thursday was a day that was wasted.  Not by me; I worked that day.  No, it was wasted by many in the alternative media and the conservative/military apparatus in thinking perhaps faintly that some form of political victory would occur on their end.  I of course speak of Sen. and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton being questioned by 7 or 8 House Republicans and about 6 Democrats on the issue of the 9/11/2012 inside job that was the proposed beginning of a hostage rescue mission that was completely altered by the rape and assassination of four people involved with diplomatic and military matters in Libya.  This included United States Ambassador Chris Stevens.

In short, Sec. of State Clinton had no role in what had taken place in Libya, starting the year before with the complete overthrow of Libyan life signified by the assassination of Col. Muamar Gaddhafi. Matters of these foreign policy miscalculations should be placed on a number of other hands, not that of Sen. Clinton nor the Department of State.  Indeed, the State Department was what was keeping the US in good standing with the world until 3 years ago.  Yet, not one congress member on the Benghazi Libya committee managed to discuss the fault that lied with these groups or people:

Pres. Barack Obama
The Department of Defense
Certain figures in the Senate and House at the time, including then Sen. John Kerry I am sad to say.
CIA
Ambassador Stevens; a hard pill to swallow, yet it would have been best to consider asking for greater security before going into a war zone.  Irrelevant at the time, yet now a problem.
The US House of Representatives in their votes to cut funding for security measures.
Mitt Romney: I think  this was initially  a Neocon inside job and still believe certain factions carried out these provocations as was made obvious with their politicization of the assault.
The makers and financiers of a badly made trailer for a badly made movie done by a presumed Coptic Christian.
The individuals in Libya whom later were recruited to organize their terror-for-hire activities under the banner Islamic State.
Libyan leadership in the post-Gaddhafi era; this extends to a number of post Arab Spring governments.

I could name others, yet do not have the time.  In what came forth yesterday, only One congress member, Washington Democrat Adam Smith, mentioned any of the above as needing to be blamed; specifically mentioning Gen. David Patreaus.  As well, Sec. of State Clinton did imply the lack of in initial planning for security measures by Ambassador Stevens.  The rest of time, as it has been for a long while now, the blame has been shifted to Hilary Clinton.  Well, blaming her for the faults of others is a waste of time, paper, money and lives.  This will only help Sen. Clinton in her run for the Presidency: a good deal of Republican leaders and insiders have even mentioned the absurdity of this committee and its inane focus on Sec. of State Clinton, and if not her then Sidney Blumenthal.

What did 11 hours of a hearing and statements accomplish?  Not One Motherfucking Thing!  Excuse my language, yet nothing new was told, and no minds were changed.  I can tell you, at least one or two of the Republicans on that committee are looking at either facing a primary challenge or an outright re-election defeat.  Rep. Peter Roskam, Rep. Trey Gowdy and Rep. Martha Roby come to mind.  As well, I think now would be a fair time for Rep. Elijah Cummings to join Rep. Tammy Duckworth in leaving the House to run for the Senate.  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, mind you, did not go this far and this wastefully with their hearings with Sec.of State Clinton two years ago.  In any matter, I think Rep. Cummings would be a darn good Senator, as would Rep. Duckworth should either of them get elected or much less run,

And yet, you know what was not even talked about once?  Just why we have been in Libya, Syria and the surrounding countries in the first place.  And just why our foreign policy these past 14 years has been mainly problematic; a continuation of American hegemony that finds no place in a changing and educated world where the US is, correctly, not the leader of all matters.

Interestingly, the last couple of days and nights I have been watching a series of interviews with the recently passed Ali Treki from 25 years ago regarding many of the same issues facing the world and the at the time failed Reagan and H.W. Bush policies.  I present these here for your consideration and ask you to find the time to watch and listen.

By the way, the interviewer, former SUNY professor Harold Channer, is still involved with interviewing important people on New York public access television.  Do have a look at Mr. Channer's YouTube page for some rather interesting interviews over the years.  A lot more informative than what you may have seen yesterday.  And if you managed to watch all 11 hours: you just wasted a day in your life you will never get back.  Same with those who were there.

HRC for 2016: Because at the least, our dream will become WRH's nightmare (I will say why soon),

Robert

PS.  This is too funny to not include as a postscript.  Too funny, and yet too sad.

PPS.  My thoughts on the Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies, the Guillermo Del Toro film Crimson Peak and the Danny Boyle film Steve Jobs are forthcoming.

An explanation for now

I do have a lot to tell regarding my ideas of a Joe Biden Presidential campaign, a Jim Webb run for the Presidency as an Independent, the growing new neo-conservative movement propping up, my thoughts on the Steven Spielberg new gem Bridge Of Spies, my definition of a Social Justice Warrior, and my plans for eventual video production.  However, I have been sidetracked by the New York Mets in the process of heading to the World Series; right now dashing fans of Back To The Future the hopes of a 2015 Cubs World Series win.  And this is coming from someone far more interested in Football, Soccer and individual sports.  Should the Mets go all the way, I think we may have a clear winner for Postseason MVP.

To note, while my family and I have been Yankee fans; we are more prone to being fans of a region when that region is still in the postseason running; especially New York.  So, no bitterness here.  And with that, hopefully this is not speaking too soon:

Let's Go Mets!

Robert

We blew it!

The title refers to one of the iconic lines in movie history, when Captain America (Peter Fonda) disagrees with Billy (Dennis Hopper) on their success of their cross country trek in Easy Rider.  A little afterwards, both main characters are killed by a ragtag group of ignorant rednecks.  In retrospect, it may not have been the best idea to have the two leads make their money off of drugs and getting in on a wild mind trip.  These sorts of ambiguities are not shown in most movies.  Indeed, the rare times these ambiguities are shown involve the drug war.  We can go on a long discussion regarding the drug war and its abject failure; that will be for another time.

For now, our focus is the drug war's effect on law enforcement and public policy.  Two weeks ago, the newest film from Denis Villeneuve, Sicario, was released.  It marks Villeneuve's second collaboration with Academy Award nominated Roger Deakins, and involves a great screenplay from newcomer Taylor Sheridan.  As well, Thad Luckinbill (J.T. Hellstrom on The Young and the Restless) was one of the producers of this movie, along with his twin brother Trent, as part of their new Black Label Media company.  By all accounts, this is a great movie; in fact one of the best films of this year, along with some of the best acting people like Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro have shown in quite some time.  Like many of these sorts of fictional works, Sicario tells us a heck of a lot more about our failed drug policies than what we can usually expect from our leaders.  Rarely if ever will you see a political figure declare the "War On Drugs" to have failed and been bad policy from the word go.  Because to do that would reveal greater truths that would cause the public great outrage.

By this point, I am going to expose some important plot points this movie explores; although going in you should know that Denis Villeneuve does not go for happy endings. Just about every film of Villeneuve's involve moral ambiguity.  Sicario brings this to the forefront in the last hour or so. While not going into full detail, what seems like a clear cut operation to curtail the finances of Mexican drug lords turns into a continuation of US Government policy in effectively running the drug trade.  It is evident when Victor Garber's character pretty much sanctions these extrajudicial means of obtaining a drug cartel's finances; it is more pronounced when Emily Blunt's character gets into a one-night stand with a corrupt Texas cop played by Jon Bernthal that is found to be a bag man for the cartel's leaders.  And it is most obviously evident when twice in Sicario Benecio Del Toro's character is mentioned by his code name Medellin.

If you are not familiar with the word and meaning of Medellin, or if you only remember it as Vincent Chase's first movie he directed yet was panned (see Entourage), the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia was during the late 1970's through early 1990's the most profitable drug running operation known to man.  And while it was Pablo Escobar that ruled society with sort of an iron fist before he was gunned down in 1993; the financial whirlwind was benefited most by (gasp!) the United States Government.  This is pretty much explained after the second time we hear Del Toro's character mentioned as Medellin after Alejandro (Del Toro) pretty much seeks out his wife and daughter's killer alone.

It is that second time when Kate (Blunt) hears the phrase; leading to her punching Josh Brolin's character, a CIA task force leader, in the face.  Afterwards, Brolin's character states that the US Government needs to resurrect the Medellin cartel in order to curb the turf wars in Mexico.  And it is due to, as Matt (Brolin) states "20 million people snorting and smoking this stuff"; this stuff being cocaine, of course.  And yes, Alejandro does get to murder the drug cartel leader and his family while having dinner.  And it is implied that Kate leaves the agency after signing papers legislating the legality of the drug operations.  All the same, nothing is truly ended.  The side story of a father and cop from Juarez doing supply routes in order to get some extra money just to get by ends in that cop being killed by Alejandro.  The last scene shows his wife and son attending a soccer game the son is playing; you can hear gunfire as the game goes on.  Indeed, that reminded me of how for many in thee countries the way out is through sports, association football in particular.  Even so, there is no guarantee one will get out alive through sports.  The year after Pablo Escobar was killed; Andres Escobar (no relation) was gunned down by a rival cartel after accidentally causing Team Colombia to use their quarterfinal round in the 1994 World Cup: the infamous own goal game.

It is quite amazing yet sad that a great deal of policies and funding for programs and other matters pertaining to the United States is continually done through the proliferation of illegal drugs.  I know the easiest thing to do would be to have everyone stop taking this shit; yet it is this same shit that finances these extrajudicial operations the United States Government does without consequence.  I firmly believe a movie can tell people a greater truth than what we may witness in our real life news reports.  For me, this is the second film in as many years that exposes our country's double standards at least regarding drug usage and proliferation.  Last year Kill The Messenger, one of the better movies of 2014, did not get as much public attention as it should have; apparently the truth is still a bitter pill to swallow among moviegoers at large.  Fortunately, Sicario is still playing at theaters near you; and you can also eventually see it on demand or on Blu-Ray; same goes with Kill The Messenger.  Do go see this movie.  I will have more to say regarding the drug war culture soon enough.

Talk to you shortly,

Robert

Unintentional Inaction

Well, as we are all aware, there was this past Thursday a shooting at a Community College 150 miles north of Portland, Oregon.  And yes, what you thought were the protocols for a mass shooting were enacted upon again.  And oh yes, the story does not add up entirely.  The only difference now is the US East Coast is in a two-tiered storm system consisting of a Nor 'Easter and Hurricane Jaquin.  Thus, there are other matters on the minds of most people on the Atlantic seaboard.  By the way, Hurricane Jaquin may not hit us, but it is best to be safe and prepared.

The point of this essay though is regarding what occurred this Friday afternoon.  At about 3:30, President Barack Obama held a press conference stating that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had resigned and will be succeeded by John King.  Afterwards, Pres. Obama continued on with complaining about matters that do affect us all; including but not limited to the need to abolish the sale and manufacturing of guns.  Sadly, this press conference ticked me off, as Pres. Obama's conferences have recently been ticking me off .  This is for two reasons.  First, Pres. Obama's press conference came at the same time that Sec. Of State Hillary Clinton was making a speech in Florida.  Now I would think most news media outside of C-SPAN would show this speech instead of a meandering press conference.  Alas, this is what we have come to expect from a main stream (lame stream?) media that is in the tank for ABC (Anyone But Clinton).  Equal blame goes to Pres. Obama for usurping the only worthy successor, provided he does not run for a third term.

What was really problematic for me was Barack Obama had more or less threw his hands in the air and asked for the Republican Party to pretty much do what Obama supposedly cannot do.  This has been a fallback for 7 years, and is not by any means emblematic of a President.  Look, a President can and must do whatever is deemed in the best interest of Americans regardless of opposition.  It is abhorrent to me that Barack Obama, the President, does not simply enact laws and bills by decree. 

What is that you say?  A President acing as if he is a king?  Well yes.  Every four years, the United States gets involved in electing a President; and in each campaign, the candidate uses his/her platform for public speaking and ideas to mention what will be enacted once the election is over on Election Night.  You will notice that the candidate does not use the term "we", referring to the Legislative and Judicial Branches working in tandem with the Executive branch along with other implied branches and estates.  What you do notice is the candidate uses the word that might just be the most important word in the English Language.  That word is I.  We see this even currently in this long campaign for 2016. 

And yet, what happens to some Presidents upon election?  They seem to forget that a plurality of the eligible voters in the United States elected a king to rule their lives, and subsequently they put the onus on leadership to their opponents.  Pres. Obama has continually done this for the past 7 years; thus showing a complete lack of leadership.  His statements of "I" later become statements of "We", and far later become statements of "They". 

Now why is that?  I have come to the knowledge over the years that Barack Obama has always wanted to be a celebrity President; all the perks and benefits yet none of the work.  We saw this outright during his 2012 re-election when he made a number of chat show appearances of no importance, alongside benefit dinners of little regard.  While those distractions wee ongoing; international diplomatic tragedies like the military assaults in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012 were taking place.  Typical of Obama's lack of leadership  in critical issues during that time, blame was put on others besides the President himself. 

And now we are seeing this again; we should soon expect Pres. Obama to later paraphrase Mel Brooks in Spaceballs when he says "I can't make decisions here. I'm the President!"  I doubt that I have seen any other President in my lifetime feel as if he is this powerless, from either political party.  And yes, that does include Pres. George W. Bush, who brought forth disastrous proposals and actually enacted upon these proposals.  I firmly believe on this issue of gun violence and the need to end the likelihood of another Chris Mercer Harper coming into mental problems, Pres. Obama could be ending these events by effectively using his powers and do the following:

Abolish the usage of guns and gun manufacturing.
Allot for mandatory psychological profiling on all persons.
Criminalize gun owners for intent to kill family and others; this is important because when a person owns a gun, it is usually to bring a permanent end to a family squabble. 
Curtail the powers and responsibilities of other branches of Government, if not abolish them outright. 
Alter the US Constitution.

Any President has it in his/her powers to do such matters.  In the whole history of the United States, I can only think of just 1 President who effectively made a successful imperial leadership.  That would be President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and this was only possible due to being President the last 13 years of his life.  And yet, the US needed FDR from 1932-1945 to allot for these ideals to be put into place.  In contrast, President Barack Obama has been effectively punting the ball as a first option.   

You wonder why many voters are flocking to other candidates that will provide simple-minded solutions, in addition to ruling as if they were a king/queen.  Perhaps one could say this is Obama going through the motions in only having one year left of his Presidency.  That may be true; yet Pres. Obama has not indicated an endorsement of a candidate.  Thus, I fully expect Barack Obama to run for a third term; an idea which while sadly ending the Democratic nomination race, will ensure a re-election defeat.  Should Obama go through with this, then he should do what he was elected to do and, you know, actually Lead.  I have already given a number of suggestions in this essay.  Pres. Obama should act upon them. 

Well, those are my opinions on this matter.  Incidentally, 2015 marks the 20 year anniversary of one of my favorite movies, the Rob Reiner film The American President.  For 15 years now, we have seen Presidents allowing their voters to drink the sand.  Well, perhaps it is time to think differently. 

I am not the President, nor am I running for President,

Robert

An (alleged) actor prepares for his next (alleged) role

I have been interested in the performing arts such as movies and theater for quite some time now.  Despite this interest and knowledge, I have yet to be considered an actor; much less any important person involved in film making and stagecraft.  However, in the past two years, I have been involved with an acting troupe that at least once every year puts on a show in front of an audience consisting of our families and others from the Town of Oyster Bay, New York.  It relates to the Town's Group Activities Program for the Disabled, for which I am considered due to having Asperger's Syndrome. 

Each Spring since 2013, I have been involved in acting in a play or musical of some sort.  In 2013, I was both Bill the candy store owner and a composite of the TV reporters in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.  The next year, we did something different in a number of us portrayed important singers over the past 60 years.  It was our take on a Legends in Concert performance you might see on a cruise ship.  For my part, I was John Belushi in his Blues Brothers alter ego.  This past May, I was the Chris Penn character Willard in an interesting hybrid staging of Footloose.  We took elements from both the film and the later Broadway musical.  So, I got to sing (gasp!) a couple different times, notably the Randy Newman sound alike Mama Says.  Now, try picturing me singing this.

Sadly, I did not get to do the full song.  Oh well, had to make it just under an hour and 10 minutes.

So, next month the GAP drama program gets back in business after having the summer off.  I am hoping we may be able to do something for the Christmas season, even though it might be at best a holiday themed Legends in Concert sort of occasion.  None the less, we are definitely going to put on a show sometime next year in either April or May.  I would like to believe that before the year is out, we will find out what play/musical act we are doing.

This is where you come in.  I have some ideas that I would hope receive the necessary traction and approval of the GAP leadership; though I am far from the only person jotting down ideas.  Here are quite a few that I have considered for what we could do.

Disney related.

Inside Out
Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs
Toy Story (any of the movies)
Wall-E
The Lion King

Jim Henson related.

The Muppet Movie
The Great Muppet Caper
The Muppet Show (a sort of best of sketches)
Sesame Street (perhaps some of the better sketches over the years)
Labyrinth
The Dark Crystal
The Cube
The Storyteller ( any of a number of episodes)
A number of different TV specials involving Jim Henson and/or the Muppets
Note:  There would be no need to use puppetry.  I would prefer those involved being ourselves, yet imitating our characters by wearing related costumes.  In the case of a character like Kermit The Frog, a sweater or onesie (jumpsuit pajama) will suffice.

All ages acceptable, musical or film based

The Last Unicorn
Fun Home
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
Finding Neverland (possibly the movie version)
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Yellow Submarine
Bye Bye Birdie
Star Wars (any of the movies; though I have not yet seen Episode VII yet)
The Sandlot
Wallace and Gromit
Shaun the Sheep
The Pirates
Fantastic Mr. Fox
E.T.

I like these, although opinions may vary

Company
West Side Story (no alterations to the ending)
Into The Woods
Starlight Express
Cats
My Dinner With Andre
Toys
The Wall
Me and Earl and The Dying Girl
The Land Before Time
The Odd Couple (preferably the Lemmon-Matthau film)
The Producers
Blazing Saddles
Monty Python's Flying Circus (any number of sketches)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Spamalot


And a special section.  Should we be doing another Legends in Concert type show, I think we could do some of these artists.

Pink Floyd
Sir Paul McCartney
The Who
ABBA
Janet Jackson
Peter Gabriel
Joni Mitchell
The Temptations
Prince
George Harrison
Stevie Wonder
Billy Joel
The Pretenders
U2
Paul Simon
Kiss
Arcade Fire
Husker Du
The B-52's


Where you come in is as follows: I would like to know what you think of these suggestions.  I would also like to know if you have any ideas of what we could do for next year.  If you can, please either comment or post or like this essay either here or on Facebook.  I would like to hear from you.

Here is an added incentive:  you can give me a suggestion, and if anyone asks, I could post a video of me acting out a role from that particular character and/or play/musical/movie.  Think of it like a screen test, or rather one of those lip sync dubbing videos only it is me actually saying the lines.

If you want, I can post an idea for what sort of musical I might like, though others are not sure.  I really think we could do a play such as this; provided some material is altered.

Once again, let me know what all of you think about these ideas.  I would like to hear your ideas as well.

Surprisingly have not been to a Broadway show in quite a while,

Robert Kelly

Miscavige's Successor

 Recently, I have written my thoughts and concerns regarding the Church of Scientology.  I have noticed that since the release of the Alex Gibney documentary Going Clear, the Church is now effectively in an crisis of its own doing.  Membership is down to 50,000 at best; and any attempts at smearing the whistleblowers have been met with needed ridicule.  I cannot say for certain if David Miscavige is about to have his religion be relegated to the status of outright cult.  I do however believe there has ben a successor religion to pick up where Scientology left off.  And indeed, a leader has already been chosen.

The religion I refer to is the Roman Catholic Church, and its leader(s) are Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger, retired/deposed) and most notably Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Brogolia, active).  It is Pope Francis and his leadership capabilities which I am concerned about. Now, people that know me know that I am considered a Catholic, having gone through all the official rites of church membership and living nearby an important diocese with offices in Rockville Centre.  Yet, I have not been to a Sunday Mass in quite a number of years, for quite a number of reasons too numerous to mention.  Indeed, if you were to press me on the issue, I would say Roger Ebert's memoir Life Itself explains best my antipathy towards the religious hierarchy.  It does not, however, mean I am in tune with Church doctrine; for one thing, I am pro-choice. Many Catholics sadly are not pro-choice.  As well, I am of the belief that a female can be just as important of a religious leader in the Catholic order as any male. 

Yet, those are only minor issues at this time.  My leading concern, and one I think is shared by many, is the intertwined relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and our secular world we live in.  In the two years since the installation of Pope Francis, the Church has seen a massive publicity campaign that did not occur for decades earlier.  What gets me is that not one year before, Alex Gibney had directed and produced a documentary regarding the abuses the Church has done to younger men; focusing mainly on those that were abused at a Catholic school for the hearing impaired.  If you can look for it, Mea Maxima Culpa was shown on HBO and might be found on Blu-Ray and DVD at Amazon. 

This push for a Catholic revival has occurred just under a decade after questions regarding the Church's financial properties and management of banking institutions came to the forefront.  As of today, the Church owns more property and businesses outright than what we can imagine.  In effect, membership in the Church does require a hefty frigging fee every time the collection plate gets passed during Sunday Mass; the more you pay, the more you get to obtain their version of Clear, or perhaps OT VIII. 

So for me, I have a problem with a religion that demands your money for their wisdom.  Yet you know what else; I am deeply aghast at the child abuse that goes on with younger men.  My disgust has been with me in that regard for some two decades, after seeing the Canadian TV miniseries The Boys Of St. Vincent.  I remember it only aired a few times in the mid 1990s on A&E in the US; yet I did find a decent web transfer of the complete 3+ hour miniseries on a Japanese hosted video site.  Here is the link at the bottom of the essay.

I post the link only because there is not a way to embed the video on this site.  None the less, it is downright disturbing, and on a different note it is still Henry Czerny's most iconic role. 

Even with all that has been mentioned, I am concerned that the Roman Catholic Church is on a path of obtaining world political leadership.  We may not have seen this in our lifetimes; yet it was not that long ago in human history that the Church was the globalist order in this world.  For hundreds of years, particularly the Middle Ages and Dark Ages prior to the Renaissance and even afterward, Kings and Queens, Dukes and Duchesses, Princes and Princesses, Military leaders and Civilian leaders, Legislators and Judges alike, all bowed down and pledged their allegiances and lives to the Church.  Whomever was Pope had final say on all social, political, economic and war decisions.  Clergymen gave their opinions and statements on issues; and governments were set forth to do the deeds of the Church.  This began to thaw slowly but surely with the German Lutheran Reformation, along with the establishment of the Church of England and Anglicanism. 

Now, under Pope Francis' leadership, more so than in any other time, the Catholic Church is now seemingly the final arbiter and ruler on all matters relating to mainland Europe.  Interestingly, that includes Germany; whose Chancellor, Angela Merkel, might not have been re-elected had not the Pope endorsed her and her Conservative minded party.  This order, for instance, that all Catholics must house the Syrian refugees in Europe seems more akin to a forced political maneuver rather than a recommendation.  I, for instance, would not be too certain to house a refugee, for reasons too varied to list here.  It now appears that the Church now dictates policy in Cuba.  I do not believe this was ever the intention of the Castro brothers when the 1959 Revolution took place. 

This public relations program the Church is now engaged in seems to the layman a good and decent success; if only one considers the public humbleness and more liberal minded attitudes and beliefs Pope Francis espouses.  But you see, that is the problem with Pope worship; only in the last year have Catholics overall been willing to accept LGBTQ people, for instance.  Just because the Pope says so, Now they can accept.  Well, I and many of my family and friends accepted the LGBTQ community long before it was considered cool to be accepting these groups of people.  In fact, so did many others become supporters and advocates of LGBTQ individuals prior to 2014.  I never needed Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI or Pope Francis to tell me When to accept the LBGTQ community.  I do have a brain and use it regularly.  Nor do I then or now need a Catholic leader to tell me to support their agenda regarding their anti-abortion and anti-contraceptives dogma.  To me, being pro-choice is being pro-life; for I choose the life of the female rather than the implied life of a fetus.  As I have often said, our birthdays do not come on the anniversary of the date when our parents "did it". 

And yet, after this trip to Cuba, Pope Francis will make his way to the United States and will pretty much dictate the lives and beliefs of some 69.4 million Catholics; this includes Jeb Bush.  I often half jokingly wonder if, say in Washington DC or in New York, the Pope says a command like "eat a stick of butter" and many though not all would do it in fear of being excommunicated if refused.  Again it is a joke, and I know some may be saying to me "well Robert, if your favored political figure or celebrity said it, you would do it too".  No, because there is a difference.  They are not religious leaders and thus if I choose not to eat a stick of butter, they cannot force me to do otherwise.  A religious leader, such as a Pope or Cardinal or Archbishop, has this unique sway in allowing people to do things just by saying "Do It".  So if Pope Francis goes up on his pulpit and tells Catholics to vote for Jeb Bush or any other candidate beholden to the Church; I am concerned these fellow Catholics will be like lemmings willingly falling down to their premature grave. 

Well, now that I have made my concerns known, I would like to hear from you.  I have noticed that while I am getting page views, something seems to be wrong with the comments and interactivity.  Do any of you fellow readers have any suggestions?  I do have a Facebook page, search keyword Robert Kelly.  You can mention your concerns there, or even here if possible.  Might I need to change the website to a new server or hosting platform?  It does get a bit lonely only talking to myself at times.  Let me know if anything can be done about this.  I would really like to hear your views. 

I end with a rather problematic yet pertinent question.  If you were invited to the house of any of these three people:

Pope Francis
David Miscavige
Robert Durst

Which one would be honest with you?  Well, for me there is no definite answer, except maybe a fourth opinion.  Choose neither and free your mind.

It is a TED talk, yes.  But since the other choices were David Icke (an acquired taste I know) or a song which sounds a heck of a lot like Queen Of The Night (Whitney Houston off of The Bodyguard), this will suffice.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Robert






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