Random Thoughts: June, 2014

It is strange on how time not only heals all wounds--- which, by the way, it doesn't--- but, how with the passage of a certain amount of time, a controversial person somehow gets his or her own image all cleaned up and polished. I say this because this morning I saw the new and improved Bill Clinton on TV. He was talking as the elder statesman, commenting on world affairs and his opinion on life. That is normal for an ex-Commander And Chief. Many refuse to surrender the spotlight and go around courting attention to feed their massive egos. And, no one better has ever exhibited this practice than William Jefferson Clinton. His record in office can now be judged, for it is common procedure for historians to measure a President and his job performance twenty or so years after leaving office. Clinton has been gone around thirteen years but it is fair to start judging what he did and how he did. Naturally, what strikes us right up front is his sex scandal. There are those who still insist that they do not know what he did wrong and still blame the Republicans for a witchhunt. What he did wrong is simple: he lied under oath during a deposition involving a sexual harassment case from a woman, Paula Jones, that was suing him. This affair, along with many others that he had, including his most celebrated liaison, Monica Lewinsky, are no offenses to the law. They were personal decisions made that did not affect his job performance. But, and this is where he was in the wrong, he did lie about it with his left hand pressed on the Bible and his right hand up in the air stating that he would tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, he didn't tell the truth and this was a felony. Whether he lied about his affair, or, he lied about cheating on his taxes, or whatever reason someone will lie under oath, constitutes a crime. And, just because he was President does not mean he was above the law [shades of Richard Nixon and Watergate]. He was rightly impeached but not thrown out of office. Many people in history have gone to jail for the illegal act of lying under oath, so, it was completely appropriate that the Republicans---- who, granted, had a political agenda against him, as the Democrats had an agenda in saving him from removal from office---- applied the Constitutional right of impeachment of a sitting President. He escaped being thrown out of office by his fingernails and served the rest of his term, about three years, as a wounded and much-maligned and much-hated President. And, his wife, Hillary, the Yoko Ono of politics, was even more hated. She was seen, rightly, as a lying, cold-hearted, devious person, who would trample over anyone who might get in the Clintons path. Throughout her husband's eight years in office, she was always right there, beside him [unless there was an intern by him] looking with that Manson Family look to her, like she was a shark about to pounce on the tasty swimmer who was floating by. Her list of scandals tops his: Whitewater and the illegal land deals, the disappearing and sudden reappearing of White House records of the people who were political enemies of the Clinton Regime, her much-bungled handling of Health Care Reform, the mysterious and still unsolved death of close family friend, Vince Foster, and her rush to judgment in the Lewinsky scandal by blaming the ''vast right-wing conspiracy'' against Victim Bill. All of these, along with her personal demeanor of looking like a bitch, polarized her with much of the world. To her credit, she did become a Senator from New York after her husband left office, and later, Secretary Of State under Obama [ Barack may have been practicing the old ''Godfather'' saying of, ''Keep your friends close but your enemies closer'']. So, these two, always slimy to listen to, are now being made over by the media--- mostly, liberal--- in an attempt to position Hillary for another Presidential run in 2016. The audience this morning was in full support of her and him. Clearly, what they are both saying is that if we elect her, we get him again. She is the only viable candidate so far among the Democrats. Stranger things have happened. We may very well have the Clampetts again riding high in the White House........As I write this, The Gay Pride Parade is going on in Chicago. This parade seems to get stronger every year, but, especially, this year is a watershed for it because the Same-Sex Marriage bill was passed by the State Of  Illinois in the last year. Now, more than any other time, gay and lesbian people are more open about their sexuality. And, that is how it should be. To tell someone who they should fall in love with according to societies standards does go against the principals of freedom of expression that is in our Constitution. As a heterosexual man, I never really had problems with someone being gay. Sure, it goes against my feelings towards love and sex but gay and lesbian people, I'm sure, scratch their heads for my choice of sexual preference. To each his own, I say. There are those who violently oppose this lifestyle of same-sex love. Usually, they quote The Bible to further their views. Well, yeah, it does say that marriage is between the man and woman. The Bible also has many absurd stories about magic happenings [does anyone really believe that Moses parted the Red Sea?]. The argument about the accuracy about events in The Bible is open to further discussion at some other time. But, my argument to those that oppose a person's right to live life as they please without hurting anyone has always been this: while going through The Bible to support your prejudice against an issue, also take time to read and sustain the more personal parts. Such as, tolerance and understanding and loving thy neighbor regardless of whom they are and how they act. This includes sexual choice. If you believe everything in this book, then, you should also love thy neighbor as you would yourself. I never like to speak for God but I'm pretty sure God does not want you to hate your fellow man and woman for their sexual choice. This has no affect on your life and how you run it. Do not worry, gay people do not want to hurt your child if little Billy goes near them. No, they aren't looking at you in a menacing predatory way if you are showering next to them. They will not bring down the property value in your community if they move in next door to you. They don't want to hurt you or make you uncomfortable. What they want is to live a peaceful life with the person they love. Sound familiar???? As for the parade, I do have an issue with how it is run in parts. I have never seen it but the parts I have seen on TV---- which, shows the weird and absurd----- does not show the parade in a positive light. Tone it down, do not show the leather people and the people made up in a bizarre fashion. This is inviting derision and contempt, two areas you want to eliminate. If I was gay I would be highly insulted that these freaks do not further the cause of acceptance that you are holding the parade for. Cool the freakshow and show the happiness of finally being yourself. This will go a long way to building that bridge to the heterosexual world......... I used to do improv back in my acting days. It is a form of performing that I never really liked to do. The batting average of doing this type of comedy usually breaks down into thirds. One-third of the time, you hit a home run. One-third, you get a mild reception. And, the final third is bombing like Berlin in World War Two. Surprisingly, this last third never really shook me. If you can bomb in front of 150 people in a dive theater----- and Second City, regardless of its gloried history, is a shit-hole theater--- then, you can pretty much brave any foe of an audience and its reaction. I only took improv classes because, me being me, I wanted to jump into the deep end of the acting pool and see if I would drown. Well, I never drowned but I gasped for air more than I ever was successful. When I took classes at Second City around 1989/1990, it was a once a week deal, Saturday afternoons, where the class would perform improv games and exercises for three hours. Sometimes, with whatever suggestion you got from your fellow classmates, you would strike comic gold and you would file away the scene for consideration for the end of term public show you would put on. Every eight weeks you would advance to another level. There were five levels. At the end of that fifth level, you would put on a show for the public, once a week. Naturally, Second City would not give us poor students a taste of the gate, so, we did it for the pure joy of performing and maybe, learn a thing or two that would help us in the future. And, it was fun!!! A joyful time. We had our prepared skits that we perfected in our classes and then we would take the suggestions from the audience. These suggestions would make up our improv set. Generally, you would be given twenty minutes backstage to come up with something. We had tried-and-true formulas, little jokes and bits that we knew would work. After twenty minutes, you would brave that dark and lonely stage trying to make something work. Usually, the suggestions really weren't that good. Some joker, thinking he was clever, would yell out ''vibrator'' to us when we were looking for something. This genius would believe he is being funny and original by throwing this out, like performers throughout generations haven't heard this jewel of an idea. Sometimes, there would be a comment back towards this most sophisticated of fellows and one of us would spout, '' Mr. Originality in the front row has deemed the brilliant suggestion of vibrator for us to use onstage. How lucky that you are here tonight for this historic moment!'' You would usually ask for an occupation, location, and emotion, of which, after the vibrator fiasco, you would get some good things and some unworkable things. That is the secret, audience. Always give the performer something to work with instead of trying to trip them up. This does no good to give a difficult time with a difficult suggestion. It wastes the audiences time and the actors. Give the Cubs, or the Bears, or Skokie. A starting reference in which to build on. Improv needs the perfect marriage between the audience and said performers. Improv is instant feedback: either you hit or miss. Not very often is it flawless. There is the very funny TV show, ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' that is built on suggestions but it is heavily edited and sanitized for the viewing public. They hit the home run almost always. They are very talented people, especially, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, but, as every comedian knows, you aren't a hit most of the time. Their show is only given a certain amount of time to make gold. The audience is there for hours, sitting through the bad parts. You don't see that on the broadcast because who wants to sit through dreck in order to get to the goods? Still, they do nothing wrong on the show and I am a big fan of the series. I know what performing without a net is like. And, it is hard. Also, damn fun!!!!!......... Finally, we are approaching another 4th of July. I, like you, I'm sure, am going to be doing my fair share of eating and drinking and laughing at these get togethers. It is a chance to blow off steam and have fun with the people you care about the most. But, as with all holidays, we seem to forget the basic message and reason of why we are off. In our rush to grab the next beer or braut, let us always remember that brave men and women fought and died for our right to do this. It was a dangerous thing to align yourself with the Rebels in 1776. They were going up against the mightiest army in history, The British Army. There were no promises of tomorrow for them, no riches or safety guaranteed. No, they put, as the phrase went at the time, ''Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor'', on the line. They wanted independence and freedom. They wanted their children to live in a better land. And, many of them paid the ultimate price. Never again would those that gave their lives enjoy what we enjoy. Never would they live to see the great country that we have. They did not fight for financial reward but fought for the right to live life like we all do. As we prepare to party, let us all remember those who gave us this liberty...........