As I revive this dead blog, I realize that many things, long forgotten and thought dead, have come back; in celebration of my revival, I thought I'd post a few others:
Al Gore. Remember him? He was the stodgy old VP for America's first rock and roll president. Then he was humiliated loser of a presidential election (that was handed to him on a silver platter.) Now he is... savior of the world. Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Academy Award winner. The climate absolutely has to be changing, and it has to be man's fault, because if it isn't, Al Gore has to go back to his Tennessee mansion and stew the years away in obscurity...
The Viet Nam War. Well, it's ghost has been raised, anyway, being used to frighten the children. It's shadow covers the Battle for Iraq, even if the fit isn't perfect. Viet Nam vets are suddenly all the rage, after being marginalized and forgotten for 35 years. Viet Nam war protesters are quite popular, too, even though the consequences of their success 35 years ago are, in large part, ignored-- because what happened in the aftermath of our pullout of Viet Nam is eerily similar to what people are saying will happen when we pull out of Iraq, and that wasn't pretty, either.
"Water"gate. Or rather the appearance of it. Everything is a "
Jimmy Carter. It doesn't seem to matter how many times we stab this hateful, anti-semitic vampire in the chest with a wooden stake, he reappears, dragging himself upright and somehow adding to a veneer of respectability the Habitat for Humanity has given him. Ol' Jimmy may be revived, but methinks the villagers are closing in, with pitchforks and torches...
And finally, but most importantly, socialism is pulling itself up from the Stygian Pit it was cast into with the fall of Communism. It is taking root small places, the corners of the gardens of capitalism, but it is persistent and tough to kill. Health care, schools, agriculture, the environment and Berkeley has all succumbed, or are going to succumb, to it's lie of "fairness" for all. Socialism appeals to the simple child in all of us; play nice, share your toys, take turns, all done while being watched over by a doting, protective mother and a stern (but fair) father. Who doesn't wish that they were a child again, when you didn't have to pay for anything and someone was always looking out for you?
Well, I hope that my revival doesn't signify the Coming of the End, but if it does, or if it's coincidental to it, at least I will be able to pull up a chair, drink a beer, and laugh at the folly of it all.
Writing sardonic posts about it on the Internet is just icing on the cake.
