each piece she's torn from the whole she gathers up to organize in a way that makes sense... A discussion point where ideas, articles, and stories that contain much of what you want and need to become aware of the existing corrupt reality we are experiencing and of ways to solve them...
"The emergence of celebrity in America is not based on depth," writes Jerzy Kosinski. "It is based on visibility and accessibility, a smile, a figure. It is based on appearing as a person of importance. The question asked is not 'Is he a good man?' It's 'what circles does he move in?' " Being There is a very funny and thought-provoking movie that can be seen as a fairy tale, a political story, and a religious parable on the nature of identity in a media age. Director Hal Ashby's adaptation of Kosinski's 1971 novel is a tour de force of sensitivity and well-realized pacing.
Chance (Peter Sellers), an individual of mysterious origins, is the gardener in the Washington house of a wealthy and eccentric old man. His only pastime is watching television. When the owner dies, the lawyers for the estate force Chance to leave. He finds himself out on the street with no birth certificate, driver's license, checkbook, or medical records. And Chance can't read or write.
Dressed in one of his employer's custom-tailored suits, he looks like a successful businessman. At least that's what Eve (Shirley MacLaine), the wife of a rich and powerful industrialist, thinks when her limousine bruises his leg. She offers to have a doctor check him at her home. When he says, "I am Chance, the gardener," she hears, "I am Chauncey Gardiner." Her husband Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas), an old and ailing patriarch, takes an immediate liking to the soft-spoken and self-confident visitor. Chance is asked to stay with them during his recuperation.
While the President (Jack Warden) is in a meeting with Rand, he asks Chauncey's opinion of the economy. "In a garden, growth has its season . . . as long as the roots are not severed, all will be well." The Chief Executive uses the line in a speech and the press is soon clamoring to know more about this new economic advisor. Invited to appear on TV, Chauncey is an instant success. Although Rand's doctor (Richard Dysart) has his doubts about the man, both the CIA and the FBI fail to come up with any information on him. Chauncey wows a Russian diplomat at a reception on Capitol Hill and is eventually seduced by Eve. In the end, Rand dies and passes on both his estate and his wife to Chauncey. There is even talk among influential businessmen that Mr. Gardiner is presidential material.
One of the hallmarks of a parable of this type is that it can serve as host to a treasure trove of interpretations. Here are a few to try on: play with the idea of Chance as the Jesus of the electronic age, living by the TV Bible, speaking in botanical parables, and hailed as a savior by the media-dominated society. Or how about seeing the old man as God, Chance as Adam, and TV as his mythology. The lawyers are the angels who send him out of the garden. Eve takes Chance home to tempt him with the fruits of popularity and power. Or see Chance as yourself experiencing all the ways in which others try to force you to play a part in their movies. Others have hailed the political prophecy of Being There— individuals have been elevated to high political office for simply coming across well on television. Or here's a final one to process: the film is simply a very savvy meditation on being present — being at the right place at the right time.
Who Really Is To blame?
The Fed did a lot to create this financial crisis by pushing for a deregulated market during the Clinton admin, happily celebrated and promoted by Clinton, as he cheered Wall Street on... happily pushed even further by Bush then even further by Obama.
The Fed did, during Bush and Obama, push for Fed assistance to so called "banks too big to fail".
Loans to unqualified recipients were pushed by Fannie & Freddie, pushed on by every admin no matter their Party. Without fail, those unqualified accepted those loans; the claim by too many of not knowing anybody is a claim to not knowing simple arithmetic.
Bailouts began with Bush and continued under Obama despite public outcry to stop and the appearance of promise by Obama, to stop it, though he was surrounded by former employees of said banks.
At this moment the unemployment rate is climbing, acknowledged by Obama. Stimulus did help for awhile but also increased debt and in the end will do nothing because the response from those receiving stimulus wasn't what was expected. Public and private recipients of federal funds are doing what you should expect from those in a panic; hoarding. They're all hoarding the cash sprung from our taxes.
The claim by Republicans and Conservative Dems is that Government can't and shouldn't create jobs though left wing Dems believe otherwise. Gov't can do a lot to create jobs that can't be construed as welfare, but so far haven't done anything of substance that will last. First thing and every American I know who discusses it with me states it simply; this country's infrastructure needs a lot of work and so far, as previous admins have responded, nothing has been done. The most obvious way to get people working is to repair infrastructure. To all the rest of us Americans that seems obvious. Put the money and work and the solution in the hands of those who will benefit most from it. Instead of trusting bankers to take our tax dollars and churn them through the economy the smartest way would be to create jobs for those who need it, pay those who most need and do most to contribute, to do what is most needed, repair the American infrastructure, increasing confidence in American people for they, with their own hands, will make things right. Americans will save more of it than they used to considering the fact that most Americans in the last 30yrs have not, but many will just as quickly spend that money, doing what the banks aren't doing, putting it through the system, through the engines of economy. Instead of creating money from thin air, create money from the real value of employment. Both sides argue about value or lack thereof in the economy, that money is worth nothing without something of value, likewise that only gold is of any value, but to whom? Not everybody has gold or access to it. But everybody has access to one thing, the ability to work. Thinkers spend more time debating than they spend acting. This county needs to get making things again, and one of the most important things is making our country again. Democrats, Republicans and members of parties of all sorts have one thing in common; the inability to think for themselves, the inability to think out of the box you put yourselves in. By its very nature, accepting the cause of any party causes divisiveness where only arguments are voiced without answers.
