Best way I know of to celebrate this Independence Day

Go to Best Buy or FYE or wherever, and get the DVD box set of HBO's recent John Adams miniseries (came out last month, we got ours a couple of weeks ago). And watch the whole thing while waiting to go out and eat hot dogs and see fireworks this evening.

If you read this blog during the time HBO was running it, you know fully well that I thought this was one of the most masterful and poignant miniseries to have graced the medium in a very long time.

Watch John Adams, and then think about the America that Adams and Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and George Washington and all those other guys worked and fought to give us... compared to the America that we have today.

"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."

And after the movie that I watched with a friend last night there's more that I probably could say about it... but I'd already seen Mongol (back in December at Butt-Numb-A-Thon 9 in Austin, Texas) and I promised Phillip that I wouldn't write anymore about it 'til he did. Suffice it to say, it's ironic that such a beautiful foreign-made film could evoke so much thought about our own state of affairs.

Let's put it this way: when you see Temudjin (better known as Genghis Khan) in this movie, you'll quietly wish that we had someone like him running for President!

For what it's worth, Happy Fourth of July, my fellow Americans.

And I hope we get to celebrate many more of them.

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"Peacefield": A magnificent conclusion to HBO's JOHN ADAMS

There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

That was the most perfect ending for a television miniseries that I've seen since Lonesome Dove. And easily one of the best finales for anything ever produced for the medium.

All day long, HBO had a marathon going from start to finish of John Adams. Lisa and I watched Part 6, "Unnecessary War", and then segued right into the finale "Peacefield". The previous chapter ended with the image of Adams, alone and seemingly friendless, leaving the Presidential Mansion (it wouldn't be called the "White House" for another ten years) for the last time, ahead of the inauguration of longtime friend-turned-rival Thomas Jefferson.

"Peacefield" picks up the story two years later, as Dr. Benjamin Rush diagnoses John and Abigail's daughter Nabby with breast cancer. For the next hour, the final twenty-three years of the life of the second President of the United States plays out as seemingly one unrelenting tragedy after another: the death of Nabby, and then having to watch John as he loses his dear wife Abigail after 54 years of marriage. The final portion of "Peacefield" finds Adams reconciling with Jefferson in their final years, and struggling to ensure that future generations remember the sacrifices that were made by so many to secure freedom for the new country. Which might have been the saddest spectacle of all in "Peacefield": the sight of 90-year old John Adams, looking on John Trumbull's classic painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, telling the artist about how he got so many details all wrong in the picture. So it is that we see Adams and Jefferson as "the last two": the shoulders on whom have fallen the weight of history (although there would still be one final signer of the Declaration alive after the deaths of Adams and Jefferson: Charles Carroll of Maryland).

The final moments of "Peacefield" were everything that I was hoping they would be. The passing of Jefferson, and then Adams, and that final coda before the credits rolled...

Like I said, it was perfect.

Paul Giamiatti deserves an Emmy for his portrayal of Adams. That scene with the painting of the signing of the Declaration alone should be enough to secure that. Laura Linney was fabulous as Abigail Adams. The whole cast and crew poured their hearts into John Adams. And in the end they broke our hearts with it too. Which is as it should be.

HBO, and to everyone involved with John Adams: I tip my hat to you, and will gladly buy the DVD of this the day it comes out on June 10th.

And I'll pray that more Americans might take the time to watch John Adams too. It would do well to remember what Adams and his compatriots did for us, and all too often at such terrible price.

"Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it."

-- John Adams

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Bush Administration defends NAFTA, declares "There's nothing broken."

If nothing else has convinced any among my fellow citizens who beyond all reason yet hold to an opinion but that the government of George W. Bush is completely and hopelessly insane, then perhaps this will persuade them otherwise. It's about the disastrous North American Free Trade Agreement. From the Associated Press story...

The White House on Friday vigorously defended the 14-year-old free-trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada against sharp criticism from Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"There's nothing broken. Why fix it?" said Dan Fisk, senior director of Western hemisphere affairs for National Security Council. He acknowledged the administration must do a better job of explaining the benefits of the agreement.

(snip)

Bush has suffered a major setback on the trade front with the derailing of a proposed free-trade pact with Colombia. Bush sent the agreement to Capitol Hill earlier this month, but the House, led by Democrats, decided to eliminate a rule forcing a vote on the deal within 60 legislative days. The House's decision probably kills consideration of the agreement this year, leaving it for the next administration.

"Leaders in Congress have made a serious error," Bush said in a speech. "A serious error for economics reasons. A serious error for security reasons. It's not too late, however, for them to get it right."

(snip)

"We think NAFTA works," he said. Fisk said the criticism from the campaign trail has gotten a lot of attention from U.S. trading partners. "Some of the statements that have been made here have made bigger headlines in Canada and Mexico than they have here," he said.

"We want to find ways to, frankly, convince the American people from our perspective first and foremost that this is an arrangement that has worked for us and it's also worked for our neighbors," he said. "It's been a win-win situation."

So countless jobs lost because of NAFA, to say nothing of the millions more Mexicans who have crossed into the United States illegally because of NAFTA's effects, is a "win-win situation" to these people?!

Dear God in Heaven, we are at the mercy of idiots.

I was one of the people who wrote letters and made phone calls about NAFTA way back when. I remember the day the U.S. House passed it. You could say it was the beginning of my cynicism and little since has allayed my fears: that America is no longer controlled by the people but by the big money interests. Indeed, the remarks coming out of the Bush Administration very much confirm that. All they can conceive of are the profits on paper. They do not see, no do they care for, what this has cost the average American.

A few days ago I did something that I had never done in almost 17 years of published writing: I used what is considered the worst possible expletive to describe what is becoming of America. I haven't regretted that I chose to use that word but I have regretted that it was the last desperate arrow left in my vocabulary to convey my anger. Reading these comments out of the Bush White House now tempts me to fire an entire volley at them.

By the way, Lisa and I watched Part 5 of HBO's John Adams tonight. Go see it if you can, and listen to the speech that Adams gives to toast George Washington as the first President ends his term. Now compare that to the simpleton mangling of the current President's thought patterns: "Leaders in Congress have made a serious error... A serious error for economics reasons. A serious error for security reasons. It's not too late, however, for them to get it right."

Ladies and gentlemen, in contrasting between the Founding Fathers such as John Adams, and George W. Bush who we are told is the product after more than two centuries of their efforts, I posit that this is clear enough evidence that evolution into more complex forms of life is a fraudulent theory.

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WARNING: This post about the government contains the mother of all swear words... and it's about time

The federal government will soon be taking DNA samples from EVERYONE that it arrests.

It took almost five years, but the dam has finally burst on this blog.

If you have any small children reading this blog, now would be a good time to escort them away from the monitor. Because I'm about to use a word that until now, I've never, ever used of my own volition here. Why am I going to do this? Because I know of no other way to express the anger that I'm feeling right now at how out of control this government has become, and I really don't give a damn any more about "polite society". If I use this word, God won't hold it against me. But He might have something to say if I stand before Him someday, unable to tell Him that I did whatever I could in the time that was given me.

So here it goes...

Lisa and I have been watching HBO's John Adams miniseries. We watched the episode where the Founders negotiated and signed the Declaration of Independence. Afterward I went back and read the Declaration, as I have many times before, and not for the first time found myself wondering: "Why don't people ever think and speak this way anymore?"

I've hoped and prayed, for a long time, that this country might return to the vision of the Founding Fathers. But I don't see it happening. Instead I see a government that is so wildly removed from anything the Founders intended, seizing more power unto itself and running roughshod over the people it's supposed to be serving. Is supposed to be an extension of, even. But it's not. This is now government for sake of government, and I know of nothing else throughout history that has had more potential for great evil.

And now this government has brazenly declared that it will violate our privacy to the utmost, by seizing without due process not only our rights but the tangible material endowed to us by our Creator.

Not surprisingly, the Bush Administration and the Department of Homeland Security are eager to do this.

Perhaps less surprisingly, there are too few good men and women left who seem able to stand and resist.

So let me be succinct: America, is fucked.

This is no longer the country that John Adams, George Washington and too many other good people fought and sacrificed for and even died for.

The idea of that America, warts and all, I'm still going to be loyal to until the day I leave this world. But I will not be loyal to this current government, which is founded in no virtue apart from its willingness to bear might against its own people.

In a sane world, any agent of the federal government that tries to swab the mouth of a citizen under such frivolous circumstances would be shot dead before they can reach for the Q-tip.

You want to know what I really think about what this country is turning into, and about damned too many of the politicians that are destroying her?

Here's what I think:

God bless the Constitution of the United States of America and the people for whom it was intended to serve, and GOD DAMN the enemies of the Constitution either foreign or DOMESTIC!

And anyone who believes this government is right to violate those principles, can kiss my ass and go to Hell.

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Who else is watching JOHN ADAMS on HBO???

DAMN if this ain't one of the best things done for television in a long time!

I've been watching it since the first part a few weeks ago and have become absolutely hooked! John Adams is based on David McCullough's biography of the second President of the United States, played in the series by Paul Giamatti. Part 1 began the story on the night of the Boston Massacre in 1763, and followed Adams as he successfully defended the British soldiers involved in the incident. During the ensuing weeks we have watched Adams' involvement with the Continental Congress, the increasing tensions between the colonists and Britain, the trip that Adams and Benjamin Franklin made to Europe, and tonight's chapter found Adams coming to terms with being the first Vice-President in the new country's history.

It's beautifully played and all exquisitely portrayed. HBO did an amazing job with Rome during the past two seasons and in some ways John Adams is even better. I don't know if there's been a series this epic since Lonesome Dove, or perhaps even The Winds of War. This is the unvarnished birth of America, warts and all (be warned though: the scene in "Part 1: Join or Die" where the British agent gets tarred and feathered literally had me screaming in agonized disbelief). All from the perspective of a man who has perhaps gone unappreciated for the role he played in the creation of this country... until now.

I'm loving every minute of John Adams. But at the same time I'm extremely frustrated while watching this mini-series. Just listening to the way these people talked and more important, their thoughts: these were such an enlightened citizenry. They had drive and passion and they weren't afraid to stand their ground and fight for what they believed in.

And then I think about people of my own era and I have to wonder: what the hell happened to us?

Where is that old, bold blood that flowed through the veins of our forefathers? What happened to that noble race, in spite of whatever flaws that they possessed (something that I'm glad John Adams is not glossing over for sake of a "glorified" American history)?

I think about the America that the Founders strove and sacrificed for, and when I look around me today... well, where is it?

Could we ever have that America again? Not without sacrifice from our own part. And to be honest, I don't know if we have that wondrous balance of will and humility within us any more.

But my landlady in Asheville used to tell me that yes, the "old blood" is still there, waiting for the right time to rise again. I pray she was right. Watching John Adams just makes me yearn for it that much more.

If you've missed it so far, don't get yer powdered wig all in a twist 'cuz John Adams will be coming to DVD on June 10th. It's already on my "must-get" list :-)

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