The Weekend With Republicans.

Amidst these elections, I feel compelled to express my amateurish view on current state of affairs. Recently, I’ve acquired a taste for following American politics and this taste is bitter. From my very early age, I remember my father violently discussing soviet politics with his friends at our kitchen table. These amateurish discussions were conducted with sufficient quantities of alcohol and absolute lack of training in political and/or social sciences. It then became obvious to me that any common fool can engage in such topics and even have a partially correct view on a given situation. Males vibrantly discuss politics while drinking themselves to stupor; they do this on a very shallow level just as they discussed Religion several centuries ago. Believe it or not, I’ve lately found myself involved in the same kind of speculative banter.

I suppose I am on the very left of the Democratic Party and apparently this isn’t very popular with my relatives. The late immigrants from Soviet Union are strong Republican supporters; they distrust current Democratic views since these remind them of the old socialist stand (direct government involvement in an individual’s personal life). Of course this view is severely skewed. The men I saw a few days ago concentrated on: “Bush is strong!”, “What did Clinton do after the first WTC bombing?”, “You’re for gay marriage?! How would you feel if your son was gay?!”. The next big issue was US support for Israel. Many of the Russian immigrants are Jews and they closely follow relations between US and Israel; most of the folks seem to think that Republicans are much more supportive of Israel. You can see how much ground there is to cover here; poor me against some five/six men bewilderingly staring at me as I scurried for arguments. Since Israel seemed so important, I’d like the Russian Jews to remember that the Republican party’s stronghold is the South. South is filled with WASPs (White Anglo Saxons), hicks and red-necks. Fifty years ago, a Jew or a Nigger was not allowed to eat with a white person down south. A Jew or a Nigger would have a severe problem attending a University in United States. Down south, you’re still a damn Jew and Israel isn’t really an ally (rich Jews in US are). If you’re an American Jew supporting our current President and the Great Old Party, look at the electoral map of US and see where Republicans win, then take your car and ride down south to join the party; I assure you, you will not be welcome. I am now mimicking my father and ignorantly discussing things I don’t quite understand.

One quote did make a very strong impression on me: “If you aren’t a liberal at 20 you don’t have a heart; if you aren’t a conservative at 40 you don’t have a brain.” –Churchill–

I am in my mid twenties …

Top Gear - One more Brit show Americans can hope to steal

TopGear is a a remarkably fun show to watch whether you’re an auto aficionado or not. Plethora of world cars dissected in a delightfully fresh way. There is a bit of bias in this show (against American and German cars and of course favoring British cars) but you get the sense that it’s all just light tomfoolery; all great cars recieve the credit they duly deserve. The show pushes all cars their limit (on roads and on raceway) in various capacities. There are plenty of surprises, tips and just plain British sophistication! I was told BBC America doesn’t air this show but suprnova.org should solve the problem. Also check out TopGear on BBC’s site. Oh … and someone please get me Mercedes SLR McLaren!