(Gesturing Thumb's Down)Thpbthpbthpbthpb

The Book of Daniel (the TV show, not the book of the Bible) was lame. I'm not a fan of the 6 Feet Housewives formula where evil is portrayed as wackiness and the frailty and struggles of being human are simply hijink fodder. Don't get me wrong, adultery, drug addictions, racism and what not can be funny. They're hilarious in my family, but making it funny or even watchable takes an understanding of love, intimacy, and involvement with the characters that Daniel and most other shows lack. Maybe that isn't possible in an Episcopalian context (oh burn) or maybe writing lines for the characters that make it seem as if they've just met each other doesn't really suggest "family." Just like in real life, intimacy is hard to develop and doesn't show itself in one-liners. And just like in real life, it's pretty stupid if Jesus only shows up as a Greek chorus.

I wanted it to be a good show, if only to spite the AFA and add another line to my reasons not to live in Terre Haute or Little Rock list. Oh well, my TV dance card was full anyway.

Speaking of frailty and the struggle of being human, the ethically unencumbered former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was on NPR this morning offering some fresh insight on the various government scandals we're hearing about these days. Did you know that absolute power corrupts absolutely? That's what Newt says. That's insightful isn't it? I don't know if you have ever had the opportunity to ponder that chestnut. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Read that again... but don't go back, I'll write it out again: power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Strangely he wasn't referring to an executive office that imagines it is its own absolute authority- that it is above the law in anything it does. That's fine and doesn't lead to anything scandalous. He wanted you and me to understand that if absolute power corrupts absolutely, then the monster Big Government corrupts... well... more absolutely, so that Democrats are the most corrupt of all. That's right, the former speaker who nimbly maneuvered between his campaign of battling the Big Government monster and bringing Coast Guard money to his own landlocked home district was explaining that the Republican politicians selling representation to Republican Jack Abramoff in a Republican controlled Congress through the K Street money conduit perfected by Republican design were the victims of the multi-tentacled Government Beast of Democratic power and graft. I know that's hacky but get the point.

Newt is a company man to be sure so I wouldn't expect him to say something more even handed than what he said on Morning Edition, but his explanation is nonsense. Not just because of its bald-faced partisanship, but because of his attempt to identify corruption as something external. I guess if you're Newt it would be nice to forget or explain away the way you came to and fell from prominence or the unique way you left your first wife and found the second.

Can an adulterer blame the attractiveness of someone of the opposite sex for their sin, or a thief the allure of an easy score? Of course they can, and they do. Newt does. He, and anyone else who uses this expression imagines it's the situation that ruins. But is that true? Do you really imagine that the power do do something is the agent that corrupts? Is it your ability to right now seek out a pornographic site rather than read the wholesome goodness of my blog that corrupts? Is it the ease with which you could kill someone, or steal something that is to blame? Is it the power or the ability to do something that is responsible? Or is it the person that is corrupt?

Lullabye- Ben Fold's Five
Macho Insecurity- Dead Kennedys
Adagio For Strings- Boston Phil.
Lullaby- The Cure
Shelter From The Storm- Bob Dylan
A Night In Tunisia- Dizzy Gillespie
My Doorbell- The White Stripes
It's Oh So Quiet- Bjork
Take Me Out- Franz Ferdinand
Let's Get It On- Marvin Gaye
Geek USA- Smashing Pumpkins
Louder Than A Bomb- Public Enemy
Gigantic- The Pixies