Fwd: Betty Bowers' State of the Union

/ dave / arouet at winternet.com
Wed Jan 30 15:08:25 PST 2002


Doug Henwood wrote:


> mongoH at earthlink.net wrote, quoting Betty Bowers:
>
> >>adopt the Lord as our own bellicose mascot
>
> Wow, I love this. Who is BB, really? Does anyone know?

I don't know who she is, but I will add that when she wrote:


> Nevertheless, is it just me or does anyone else notice that when
> the President says, "Let's roll!" he looks as if he is about to reach
> instinctively for a Zip-loc bag and a packet of Zig Zag papers?

...I had to concur completely. Last night I watched GW's speech, and when he got to that point where he announced a "a new ethic and a new creed" for America, I sat rapt wondering just what sort of grand pronouncement he might make, with gazillions of people watching, the country at "War," and his being the Great Leader of the Republic and all...

And after a dramatic pause during which quiet settled over the assembled Congress and one could almost hear the faint digitial echo of the silence spreading out via satellite feeds to far-flung corners of the globe, hearing the President of the United States utter the words "Let's Roll!", I was almost beside myself with wonder and amazement. The Dadaists in their heyday couldn't have envisioned more astounding scenarios than those we've been treated to of late. And I immediately envisioned a cannabis-legalization t-shirt utilizing the phrase "Let's Roll!".

Then there's Karzai, who as Doug pointed out has been noted for his fashion sense. Here he is, in the exalted balcony seat in the Halls of Congress at the U.S. State of the Union address, standing in his exquisite robes, acknowledging applause like a Quiet Spectacle slowly unfolding and revealing itself to the populace at large. Clearly he understands how to communicate, i.e seduce (not to fault him for that - surely it's how we all get by). But then one thinks: wait - wasn't that the enemy? weren't "we" (aren't "we") bombing "them" into oblivion? And here he sits, the annoited representative, acknowledging a wink, a wave, and a smile from the Leader of the Free World at the podium. All signs are reversible...

I'm reminded of an Orson Welles outtake I have, recorded during his waning years in the '70s, wherein he's doing the voiceover for a television ad for some kind of "beefburger," and abruptly stops his reading to mutter to the engineer in the control booth, "You do realize this is a lot of shit, don't you?"

--

/ dave /



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