You're a Peach

Before Eric Clapton was, well, Eric Clapton, he had a pretty baller group with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce that sort of pioneered blues rock and paved the way for a lot of bands that would make an even bigger splash down the road. In fact, it was one of the first "supergroups," a group of already well-known musicians from other random bands who came together to bring the rock exponentially harder. I remember when I first heard this song in high school. I thought it was super, super lame, and I put the CD away for a few days, but I found that I kept humming that intro to myself. Finally I submitted to the awesomeness of the song and its great little mini solo by Clapton near the end:



Cream - I Feel Free

Today I'm writing to you from sunny Los Angeles, and I've been keeping up with current events as best I can, but something caught my eye yesterday and I'm really excited about it. President Obama apparently crashed the House Republican retreat the other day, and a lively debate ensued. They had an uncharacteristically frank exchange, and apparently each side actually presented their cases and argued their points with vigor, and everything was pretty civil, more or less.

In very, very broad terms (because unfortunately, that's how I work best), I think it's safe to say that a lot of people in America believe partisan politics are burying our country. Of course the people at the top can't agree on everything, but they do have to work together to see that some kind of progress is made, and right now they're disagreeing on everything on principle. Since the policies of the last party in power haven't worked, or haven't worked well enough, the party now in power should get a chance (okay, they should have gotten a chance -- losing Ted Kennedy's seat was a little more than a minor setback) to implement their policies and see how it goes, because it can only get worse if we continue down the path we've been on. I realize it's all more nuanced than that, but I think that fundamentally it makes sense, and I think a lot of people agree on that. Now, since there are a lot of politicians who would simply like to see Obama's ideas fail because they're just generally spiteful people acting in the interest of their party and not in the interest of the American public, it seems the best thing to do is to address all of the palpable partisan ire floating in the air.

Seeing the President stand up in front of the people trying to "bring him down" (their words) and say, "Hey, let's talk about why nothing is getting done, let's talk about healthcare, etc." can prove to people that politicians really do care about making positive changes that will benefit Americans instead of just ensuring that when things go horribly south (because at some point it became totally alright to just openly and publicly expect them to), their party can't be blamed. It will also inspire a little bit of confidence; seeing lively debates like this will prove to Americans that the people in charge actually know about the issues and really aren't just goons or ideologues.

And I hate to say it, but I feel like the slight element of sensationalism involved in the President arguing with top Republicans in a "House of Commons" style format broadcast on live TV would make for some pretty awesome television that might inspire more Americans to become better informed about these issues. I mean, have you ever seen the House of Commons? It's off the chain. I remember the first time I saw it; I actually thought it was a Saturday Night Live skit making fun of the House of Commons. I was like, "Man, that guy looks EXACTLY like Tony Blair, and he's nailing the accent too." It's not like Wrestlemania or something, but sometimes the debate is pretty heated, and it's a chance for British citizens to see their elected officials actually debate the issues with each other instead of just hearing snappy one-liners recorded from their offices. Here's a clip to give you an idea:

In any case, I really hope they run with this. Maybe MTV will pick it up; I think they exclusively broadcast reality TV now, anyway. Diddy can host it.

So we're selling $6.4 billion in weapons to Taiwan? Because it contributes to "security and stability?" And we're trying to make China cooperate with us on Iran and relax internet censorship? Sometimes our policies seem so fundamentally at odds with each other that I actually have nothing to say about it, except to repeat what I've read and then sit and just drool on myself for several minutes because the whole thing is so utterly confounding and frustrating. It's almost like the office who approved the sale of weapons simply didn't get the memo that we were trying to, you know, be friends with China and all. Oh well, so much for that little venture.

Finally, Foreign Policy has a nice piece on the way much of Ahmadinejad's support has fallen all around him, but how he's managed to maintain a very small, very loyal circle of allies. My favorite part is Ahmadinejad's quote about former Health Minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani:

"He really worked hard. I like him in a very special way personally. He is such a clean and lovely person. I said somewhere that he is like a peach and you just want to eat him."

Hahaha, oh, you. See, people, this is why I wanted to go to Iran.