Dominik’s Blog

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Laura Bush.

Arnold gave a wonderful speech, full of power, emotion and imagery referencing the American Dream. His tie-ins to President Bush were shaky. That said, the speech was very well done and Schwarzenegger’s accent was easily overcome and didn’t grate my ears at all. Still, his tie-ins to President Bush were resoundingly weak, and I wasn’t moved as to why I should vote for Bush as a result of his speech. Sure, if I lived in California, I’d feel compelled to vote for him, but since I don’t, I can’t … and so his speech failed in the sense that it was little more than a ra-ra cheer around the American Dream, with the inclusion of a few references to Bush.

The First Lady’s speech, introduced by her husband the President, who himself was introduced by a very strange speech given by his twin daughters (I found myself going WTF? … their speech just didn’t make sense and came off fake, bad, and a host of other adjectives of things not working). The speeches at my high school at this year’s graduation were 10 times better. And the Bush twins came off crass and I had trouble believing they were Yale graduates, because they certainly didn’t sound intelligent. Perhaps that was part of the plan — to identify with so-called common Americans. In any case, Laura Bush gave a ho-hum speech. One positive her speech accomplished was that it made me realize, that for all his faults, President Bush is actually a half-decent speaker… at least compared with his wife, who in all honesty, made me think of a nagging schoolteacher with a harsh Texan twang, correcting spelling mistakes. I found myself missing Hillary Clinton’s poise, confidence and above all, intelligence.

At least Comedy Central’s the Daily Show made the evening enjoyable after the speeches.mortgage and open-ended accelerate creditaccreditation version 2 anaesaggie credit land unionuniversities accredited uae incolleges accredited abettax 1040a child creditoregon airline accredited portland flight schoolstheology master university accredited california Map

Finally finished reading Clinton’s My Life after hiatus while I was in Europe. An excellent book, carefully written and evenly put. Clinton is truly a masterful communicator. A few choice quotes:

p. 893, “The last time America seemed to be sailing on such smooth seas was in the early sixties, with the economy booming, civil rights laws promising a more just future, and Vietnam a distant blip on the screen. Within six years the economy was sagging, there were race riots in the streets, John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed, and Vietnam had consumed America, driven President Johnson from office, and ushered in a new era of division in our politics. Good times are to be seized and built upon, not coasted throught.”

It could almost be… America seemed to be sailing on smooth seas in the late ninties, with economy booming, the Internet promising a more open future, and Iraq a distant blip on the screen. Within six years, the economy was sagging, there were mass protests in the streets, 3,000 Americans had been killed on September 11th and over 1,000 soldiers had been killed in Iraq, and the War on Terror had consumed America, driven President Bush from office (or into office for four more years, perhaps), and ushered in a new era of division in our politics. As Clinton so astutely put it, “Good times are to be seized and built upon, not coasted through.”

And finally, Clinton’s ending, on page 957, “I’ve simply tried to tell the story of my joys and sorrows, dreams and fears, triumphs and failures. And I’ve tried to explain the difference between my view of the world and that held by those on the Far Right with whom I did battle. In essence they honestly believe they know the whole truth. I see things differently. I think Saint Paul had it right when he said that in his life we “see through a glass darkly” and “know in part.” That’s why he extolled the virutes of “faith, hope and love.”"

An excellent book, and a highly recommended read, for Democrats, Republicans and free-thinking Independents like myself.

Watched McCain’s and Giuliani’s speeches.

McCain - He seemed to be reluctant to give his speech, almost as if he didn’t fully agree with it. This wasn’t the McCain of 2000, this was a subdued McCain that didn’t project the power and independent thought he’s renowned for. His stab at Michael Moore, followed by the crowd’s childish reaction, was in poor form. Things _were_ terrible in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, but invading a soverign country that has never executed a terrorist act against the United States without international consensus is sets a dangerous precedent. As for Iraq’s prison abuses under Saddam Hussein, there is little left for me to say but to say that American does not always make things better, and that American arrogance can lead to dangerous consequences. In two words, Abu Ghraib. It’s troubling that McCain criticized Fahrenheit 9/11 without having seen it (as he just said on MSNBC).

Giuliani - A powerful speech, though with some notable logic gaps. Barely minutes after mentioning Israel’s wall around Palestine, Giuliani points out that “free people” will tear down any wall — he is referring here to the Berlin Wall, but he neglects to notice that the same will inevitably happen with Israeli repression of the Palestinian people. The emphasis on 9/11 was well done, but the tie-ins to President Bush were strained. 9/11 does not tie in with the Iraq war, there are no documented ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and to say otherwise to blatantly lie. Giuliani, however, remains a masterful speaker, moving the crowd emotionally while feeding them mantras, memes and ideas for them to digest. Finally, the continual emphasis on hatred rather than understanding was troubling. The terrorists have a reason for their attacks upon us, they do not attack merely out of blind hatred. As I wrote on September 12, 2001, “The options of our course of action must be weighed carefully, yet we must not lower ourselves to the level of the terrorists. America cannot find true vengeance by slaying innocent peasants whose government has given safe haven to terrorists.”

Finally, the RNC’s emphasis on fear, fear, fear is troubling. Combined with Bush’s pronouncement of a “never-ending war on terror,” the text of the civil liberties crushing Patriot Act, I can hear echoes of Orwell’s 1984…

As for waging a war to liberate the Iraqi people, you can’t force people to be free. You can’t make people run a democratic nation if a foreign military is encamped upon their soil. Our approach to Iraq was for the wrong reasons, had incorrect execution and proceeded with unilateral arrogance. No other President in history has been able to destroy international goodwill and consensus so quickly.

Sadly, Kerry still doesn’t present an alluring alternative. As Giuliani astutely pointed out, Kerry is on the record as switching his position to whatever he thinks the public approves of most. Kerry doesn’t _believe_ in anything. Bush _believes_ in things, some of them right, many of them very very wrong, but at least he _believes._ :-/ I was really hoping McCain’s moderate position could help convince me to overcome my foreign-policy doubts about Bush and speak to my pro-life agreement with Bush, but he wasn’t able to — in fact, he reminded me while I disagree so strongly with the existing Administration. I think I’m firmly back in “undecided” for now.

Started using bloglines to read my RSS feeeds; I highly recommend it.

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Saw Manchurian Candidate tonight and AvP last night.

Manchurian Candidate — Well executed performance from Denzel Washington, one of my favorite actors to watch for the intensity found in all his films. This movie was okay, nothing spectacular, but turned out farily gripping in terms of tension and drama. Perhaps the science was a bit far-fetched, but the concept was interesting and the soundtrack added tension well.

AvP — Um, ok. Not a good movie. Not a bad movie, per se, either, but just a big “eh.” I was disappointed, in that the marketing lingo says “Whichever side wins, we lose” or something to that extent … and well, in the film the humans pick a side, so marketing lingo turns out to have been false. I’ve not been a fan of Alien movies and never have seen a Predator movie but this movie just lacked panache. There was no there there, as the saying goes.

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Inspired by ’s quiz of a similar nature.

Take the Dominikish Factoid Quiz and then Check out the Scoreboard.

I forgot a pair of reviews last night.

kill bill volume 2 — significantly less violent than its predecessor, this contained more character development and touchy-feely stuff, though it did include people being buried alive, having an eyeball ripped out, and other not so pleasant topics. that said, no where near the gallons of blood used in volume 1 were present and on the whole it was a different movie, one that focused on characters rather than mythology. quentin is a quite talented director, if only because he’s able to make such two different yet both good movies within the same story space.

hackers and painters — an excellent book, so excellent that i sat down and read it in an evening, and then, not content merely to have read it, i read all the endnotes in a stream. very well written, spanning a wide variety of topics, from nerds in high school to da vinci to programming languages. i’m almost inclinded to try writing stuff in scheme/lisp again… almost. i wonder if there’s any easy way to get lisp hooked up to apache, for that matter. highly recommended for both the technophiles and technophobes alike. You can read a lengthy excerpt from the book here: http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html.loans in uk advicecash advance loanscredit loans 0 carhome uk advice loanbooks about loans online home improvementadd site house loanloan about officeradvance advance cash loan cashstop home loans 151 loan

back in michigan. mid-60s weather. is this august? welcome to michigan, if you don’t like the weather, wait.

saw “the village” — didn’t like it. that’s not to say it wasn’t well done, but just that it wasn’t the sort of movie i enjoy.

finished reading “the poetry of john paul ii” which is just three scant poems, but nicely written. the handwritten scanned pages in polish were a nice touch, as i could just make out the pope’s handwriting and read parts of the poems in polish. the poems were inspirational and moving.

also finished “the lessons of st. francis” which was a quick read that, as the cover bills, talked about “how to bring simplicity and spirituality into your daily life.” i’ve incorporated the concept of microprayers, little prayers said anytime you see anyone or anything in need into my daily life and find myself filled with a spiritual lightness of a sort by doing so.

finishing up reading my life, with about a 150 pages to go (i stopped around p. 700 before leaving for europe and didn’t want to take along the brick of book on the plane).

three weeks from yesterday until classes start, summer is definitely winding down.

Flying home to Michigan after an enjoyable time at the RSI Reunion. Looking forward to relax and savor the remainder of summer.

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