Senate and Sensationalism

First off I saw the new Matrix movie during its worldwide simultaneous premier. Thoughts forthcoming.

For now I have a different ax to grind. I am, and have been, watching the 30 hour Senate debate. I was quite impressed by several of the speeches I saw; Republican Rick Santorum of PA and Democrat Zell Miller stand out in my mind.

I really like the Republican case. All they want is an honest vote. Santorum put it very well: he lost sleep seeing some of the horrible liberal justices being confirmed, as they were so repugnant to his basic philosophy, but he realized that they at least deserved a vote on the floor. True, the Republicans did defeat some of President Clinton's appointees in committee, but they should apologize and call the Democrats to engage in principled politics and not childish revenge.

What really got to me about the whole affair were some of the speeches the Democrats gave. They said the 30 hour debate is a waste of time, that the Senate should spend more time solving the problems of this nation. These speeches came across as so messianic, so holier than thou. Democrats have such an inflated sense of themselves, as if they are the only ones fit to actually solve America's problems. Screw the people, they're too stupid to help themselves. We have to legislate their futures for them. No wonder Hollywood is so contemptuous of Americans.

Of course many Americans are contemptuous in many ways. So many people willfully delude themselves so that they can have their cake and eat it to. I was watching an episode of the Maury Povich show earlier; his guests were women who've slept with several best friends (and didn't know who the father or their children were). There were the men, praying to God Almighty for the paternity test to prove that they weren't the father of that unfortunate child. There were the women, blaming the admittedly sleazy men but refusing to blame themselves. In one exchange, after Maury read the test results, a woman complained that the father of her child was so mean, that he kept calling her a whore. She sank to her knees, moaning "I am not a whore! My child is so beautiful!"

True, it was a beautiful child, and I feel so incredibly bad for kids that have to be born to such unworthy parents. Decent men and women have had to cope with sterility for ages, and human trash waste that precious gift and ruin the lives of innocent children. The truth is she is a whore (or was, anyway), as are the filthy scum she was sleeping around with.

Sure this may have been a little incoherent, but hey, I haven't blogged in a while, and hybris (both the sort that makes men think they're gods who should rule the world and the sort that makes men think they are gods that can play with human life) REALLY gets to me.

Off to dinner, and then time to write a paper.