| California 2004: fondue every friday night home My first recollection of Arnold Schwarzenneger as a political figure stems from way back 199?. If my brain is functioning correctly, and that is a stretch, he was a sports/health advisor to the Bush1 cabinet. At that moment in time there was, on that once wonderful show SNL, a skit about two work-out trainers who were going to “pahmp yew ahp”. I am talking about those lovable no-neckers Hans & Frans, based on afore mentioned Ahnold. At the expense of Ahnold’s character, assuming he has one, we were all told what girly men we were, that they [read: Ahnold] could squash us like a pick pea, all this spoken in a Austrian dialect that was/is easier to understand then the real deal. Imagine my surprise to read that Mr. Terminator has thrown in his bid to run for the governorship of California, all this based on a possible recall vote which will oust sitting governor Craig Davis. It seems that Mr. Davis isn’t doing such a bang job, that the state is heading downhill, and well, that winds of change need to blow away all that is bad. To satiate my curiosity, per chance to even give Ahnold the benefit of the doubt, I decided to surf on over to google.com and see if I could find out what kind of political platform he is running on. Blank. Blankety blank. Nothing, no information regarding nothing. And yet, the GOP is standing behind this muscleman. Why? Cause he is married to the Kennedy clan? Maybe. Cause he is a great speaker, debater or leader? Doubt it. I wouldn’t mind being the Mayor of New Orleans; lower the legal drinking age, free bottle of Jack Daniels to every 100th patron to enter Charlie’s, and institute the Hurricane as the official drink of the N.O. Saints (no taxes the day after each victory, mandatory weeklong paid vacation should the Supper Bowl be brought home). Aside from the people who make the French Quarter their home, all frat boys and out of town tourist, I doubt I would get a single vote of support. California is dealing with some serious issues at the moment; budgeting problems, energy black-outs, crime, illegal immigrants, sport stars thinking “no” means “yes, please”, most importantly crappy movies. Don’t get me wrong, I get the fact that Ahnold is going to be the puppet for his “advisors”, and let’s hope that these people know what they are doing. Then again, does the USofA need another puppet in a seat of power? Has politics become synonymous with image? Have people forgotten what the last actor turned politician did for the state/nation? What about the current leader of the “free” world, for that matter? Where is it going to end? Are politicians going to start wearing baseball caps with “Swoosh tm” symbols on them, t-shirts reading “dial 1-800-dominoes and get a 16oz drink 4free”? Seriously, if politics is all about bling-bling then we might as well exploit it to the max. I suggest a yearly award show, the Reagans, featuring such categories as: best tongue-in-cheek moment, sexual scandal, money-pit, ***-gate award, and the highlight of the night: the TOOL. The only positive thing I can fathom is that Ahnold, albeit an avid sportsman, does like to smoke the odd cigar. Maybe he will do something about the no-smoking winds blowing across tobacco fields. Here is to Ahnold, pahmpieng yew ahp with hot air. … |