I'm hearing voices

Not in a bad way, though. Have you ever seen the show called Connections by James Burke? The shows are like stream of consciousness with scientific advancements. Occassionally, that sort of connection happens that links otherwise unrelated things through general thought processes. The internet allows, and probably facilitates, those connections.

So, what about the voices? Well, let me start by saying that I was looking up _The Blues Brothers_ as part of a radio contest. Of course, I ended up at the Internet Movie Database looking at information about Frank Oz. As a Star Wars fan, I knew that he was the voice of Yoda, and I remembered that he was the voice of Miss Piggy. I didn't realize the extent of his vocal talents within the various roles of the Muppets. I knew he directed some movies, too, but didn't know the number. Very impressive.

So, that led me to consider the career of the other Frank: Frank Welker. I remember Frank Welker from _Aladdin_ as the monkey, Abu, and other movies and TV shows, usually as animal voices. I didn't know that he has been the only voice of Fred from the Scooby Doo cartoons, he voiced many of the Transformers, many of the Gremlins, some of the Smurfs, and the list goes on and on. There are 423 listings for voice credits dating back to 1962. Check it out. If you were a kid in the 80's, Frank Welker was there for almost everything. More recently, he did some vocal work on _Family Guy_, which led me too...

Phil LaMarr. Phil LaMarr has done some vocal work on _Family Guy_, but I was very, VERY surprised to find out that he is the voice of Samarai Jack, AND was Marvin in _Pulp Fiction_. You remember Marvin, right? He got his face shot off by Vincent Vega (John Travolta). He's had a fairly extensive career in just the past 15 years. Best of all, there's a Star Wars connection there, too.

Another Sign of the Apocalypse

So, the Red Sox not only won the World Series, but they swept their way to that win. AND, it happened on a night with a lunar eclipse. AND, they made history by getting into the Series by overcoming both the New York Yankees AND a 0-3 Pennant Series deficit. Surely, this is a sign of the End of Days. Now, if the Cubs manage to win next year, I'm moving to Montana.

Now, if you tack in the strife in Babylon, there are truly Biblical implications. I think I need to go read Revelation.

Hitting Bottom...

And not in a good way. On the lighter side of life, things aren't looking much better. With the Miami Dolphins winning big, and the Bears' offense reaching a new low in productivity, the Bears have been ranked dead last by ESPN.com.

And consider this: Marty Booker is doing pretty well in Miami, and Adewale Oguleye didn't play this week and has 1 sack in 5 games. Hey, great trade, Angelo!

Woe is me.

1984 Revisted

The New York Times' Paul Krugman opines that the Bush Administration has created "A culture of cover-ups". I've read elsewhere that this administration has edit environmental reports that were released to the public. The explanation was that the administration wanted to present a consistent message, and a similar practice was in place under the Clinton administration. Fair enough, I'd say. However, the consistent modification and suppression of information is more akin to the superpower that George Orwell describes in his novel, _1984_.

A scene from that novel that has always lingered with me is the political rally where the main character takes note that enemy has changed IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RALLY! It seemed pretty absurd to me when I read the book about 15 years ago. I didn't doubt that a dictator could get away with that sort of nonsense. When you rule by fear, you can subjugate the truth to your means. But in a "free" country, it couldn't happen, right? Well, the more the George W. Bush and Dick Cheney spoke of Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida in the same breath, the more people were willing to accept the new enemy, unaware. Even as information has shown that there was no link, people continued to make the connection. Amazing. Maybe the "Aw, shucks", Gomer Pyle act is the perfect cover for deception.

Voting Rights?

As the election looms, more reports regarding attempts to disenfranchise voters have been appearing. Florida authorities were attempting to remove several thousand African-American names from the voter rolls using the guise of convicted felon lists. New voting machines have been put in place that do not allow for auditing the information, and the issue is compounded by the fact that the manufacturers may have a conflict of interest. To top that, some voting machines in California had not passed Federal requirements when they were put into use for local elections. It's a mess.

Voters Outreach of America has been accused of trashing the registrations of Democrats that it registered. The New York Times is reporting here that Republicans are gearing up to place election challengers in minority district ostensibly to prevent fraud. However, this could severely increase the time needed to vote and dissuade people from voting.

The quirky couterintuitive aspect of all this is that, by some polls, the president has almost doubled his support among African-Americans since the 2000 election. The increase in his support has been attributed to conservative social issues, most notably: gay marriage. So, even while this administration has worked to gain the support of the African-American community, other Republicans are attempting to disenfranchise them. Very weird.

What the hell happened to Democracy? I mean, besides the fact the I was naive enough to believe America ever was one.

Supreme Possibilities

With Rehnquist's illness, more focus will go to the Supremes, much to the dismay of Diana Ross.

But seriously, it has become more and more obvious to me that the function of the Supreme Court really is to slow the course of change within American society. A decision by the Supreme Court has far-reaching implications that can affect American society for multiple generations. The three most striking examples are Dred Scott, which may have led directly to the Civil War; Plessy v. Ferguson, which, more or less, established the Separate-but-Equal standard; and, of course, Roe v. Wade.

While one of the Court's functions is to balance the legislature, the Court's lifetime appointments serve to ensure some consistent interpretations of the law for decades. Chief Justice Rehnquist has been on the court for the last 32 years, longer than I have been around. Clarence Thomas has been on the Court 13 years already, and he could potentially be there 25 years from now. The thought that the next President could appoint 2-4 new justices in the next 4 years is a staggering thought. These new appointees would probably define the court for the next 30 years. Amazing and frightening.

I'm surrounded by crazy people

Really, I am. Everywhere I go I'm constantly running in to people who seem to be without a clue. I'm becoming worried about this situation. It reminds me of this guy I worked with who was fired from three consecutive jobs. He felt that he had been the victim in those instances. I worked with the guy, and I can tell you this: he was not stable. So, I began to wonder...at what point would he begin to think that the problem was him and not everyone else? Could he ever come to this realization? Probably not. Self analysis is just too much to ask. So, this leads me to some of my own self-analysis. If I'm running into people EVERYWHERE who have no clue, maybe I'm the one who doesn't get it and this blissfully unaware thing is the way to go. I need to be more like Reese on _Malcolm in the Middle_, and just turn off my brain for a few hours. The world itself becomes a sensory deprevation tank. Ah, there we go...