leelee rants..yes even leelee...

I used to rant more often...I used to rant to friends who didn't expect me to go off on a tirade...I've learned to tamp down my reactionary ways and mostly just rant to my husband now..who has to listen because..well he is my husband and it's part of the deal...but sometimes....just sometimes, I feel the urge to speak out...

Last night my husband and I watched the classic movie Network. It is indeed a powerful film and we were struck by how little things have changed in 30 years. But more surprising is how we seem to have not learned too many lessons along the way either.

The central character Howard Beal, an anchor on a failing TV newshow, is going to be fired for poor ratings and has a nervous breakdown. He goes on the show to announce his "retirement" and segues into a rant, but what he rants is surprisingly dead on. The people that tune in can understand where he is coming from...they watch and react to his rantings. The show's viewer share skyrockets. Why? because he is the voice of the common man, he is saying what everyone is feeling.

Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. Howard Beale: [shouting] You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, [shouting] Howard Beale: 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: Howard Beale: [screaming at the top of his lungs] "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"


I was watching the news this morning....top stories...helicopter shot down in Iraq..7 more dead. 334 people dead since October. Scooter Libby lying, lying lying...Cheney lying, sneaking, lying...the Pres dumb, dumber and dumbest. Nancy Pelosi asking for a bigger plane so she doesn't have to stop coming to and from California. Congress stalled on any kind of forward Iraq resolution. Dems asking for a non-binding res (what's the point) and the repubs not giving in (IT'S NON BINDING YOU IDIOTS). Why are they continuing to be loyal to Bush, who by the way IS NOT HARRY TRUMAN!! How long are we going to go round and round with this. How many kids are going to die before we figure out the right way to combat these people. In case anyone is looking what were doing doesn't seem to be working..bottom line, the evidence shows we went there based on lies in the first place. Astronauts flipping out...global warming...celebs gone wild....kids stabbing one another in the middle school hallways...pedophiles praying on our kids....Evangelical Reverends getting caught with drugs and male prostitutes, then announcing after 3 weeks of counseling that he is COMPLETELY HETEROSEXUAL..rehabs for everyone..and magic cures after 30 days.....AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

It's a ball of confusion ....that's what the world is today...hey hey..

That felt better...Just felt good to do it this morning..sometimes we just have to open the steam valve a little..

Have a nice day...I will.... NOW