Jeff Ellis: It's Impossible To Start A Fire If You Have No Desire To Burn

Et Tu, Medina?

Here I was all set to endorse Debra Medina's grassroots campaign for governor of Texas and then she had to go on the Glenn Beck show and suggest that the government was in some way behind the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

While her rivals attacked, Medina released a statement stating that she is not a 9-11 truther.

Maybe she's not and it is true that all Medina said was that "good questions have been raised."  That's not exactly an endorsement of the theory but it's not a dismissal either.

Quite frankly, I'm not buying it.  The thing with 9-11 conspiracy theories is that most people either believe them or they don't.  The "questions" that the theories raise are the type that can only be considered relevant if you've already convinced yourself of the answers.

I truly wanted to vote for Debra Medina in the upcoming Republican primary.

However, I can now say that while I may vote for either Rick Perry or Kay Bailey Hutchison, I will not be voting for Debra Medina.

The Second Act of Rodney King

Today, as I was getting ready to go see The Book of Eli, I happened to catch the 1st 10 minutes of a court tv show.  The plaintiff, in the case, was Rodney King.  By way of introducing himself to the judge, King said, "I am the same Rodney King who was beaten in Los Angeles."  Just in case we had forgotten or were too young to remember, King brought along a DVD containing the infamous footage of him being beaten in Los Angeles. 

"At the time (of the beating,)" the TV Judge asked, "were you on any drugs?"

"Yes," King replied, "and today, by the Grace of God, I am sober."

The TV audience broke into lukewarm applause.

It turned out that the case was somehow connected to King's current career as a "celebrity boxer."

Life remains odd.

Indiana and Illinois

Breaking new from Illinois: Democratic Lt. Governor nominee steps down amid charges that he 1) abused steroids in the past and 2) tried to kill his girlfriend.

What the Hell have the politicians in Illinois been drinking?

Between this, Rod Blagojevich (who will be on the new edition of the Celebrity Apprentice in March), and the antics of the Chicago thugs that are currently in the White House, Illinois is running the risk of replacing Louisiana as America's own little third world nation.

Perhaps that's why Republican Mark Kirk appears to be poised to win President Obama's old seat in the U.S. Senate in November.

Meanwhile, right next door in Indiana, some pundits think that the previously untouchable U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh might face some trouble in the upcoming elections.

Considering how popular Bayh has been in the past (and that previously conservative Indiana pretty much rejected the Republicans in both 2006 and 2008), Republicans have to be salivating at the thought of knocking him off in 2010.  Certainly, if Bayh did lose, it would be almost entirely due to the fact that he's a member of Barack Obama's Democratic Party.

It would also bring to mind what happened in 1980 when Evan's father, Birch Bayh (who, like Evan, entered politics at a young age and had obvious presidential ambitions), was defeated by future Vice President J. Danforth Quayle.

Strangely enough, the front-runner for the Republican nomination right now is Dan Coats, the man who succeeded Quayle after the Bush/Quayle ticket won the 1988 presidential election.

That said, one has to wonder if -- in this year when the grassroots are angry and professional politicians are about as popular as child molesters -- Dan Coats is really as a strong a primary candidate as many pundits are observing.

2010 seems poised to be the Year of the Political Upset and Coats is joining a primary field that already has four candidates in it. 

The main risk for Republicans in Indiana is that the nomination will be won by former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, who lost his seat in 2006 and who has a reputation for being something of a odd duck.  While Hostettler has never been all that impressive, he is the type of angry politician who -- much like George Wallace or Barack Obama in the past -- is uniquely suited to capitalize on misguided anger.  He also is a candidate who could probably be counted on to blow a rare chance to knock Evan Bayh out of the U.S. Senate.

Voters in Indiana have a chance to "send 'em a message."  Strangely enough, the best way to send that message might be by voting for a professional politician.

On Reagan and the Fake Shemp

Today is the 99th birthday of former President Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan is the 1st President of which I was truly aware.  I was too young to remember Richard Nixon or Gerald Ford and, though I knew of Jimmy Carter, it never registered to me that he was anyone important.  I doubt I'm alone on that.

However, Reagan I knew.

For me, Ronald Reagan will always be the President of the United States of America.

All who have come after have just been the political equivalent of a Fake Shemp.

Revenge of the Demon Sheep

One reason I love even-numbered election years is that they give us things like the "Demon Sheep" ad.

Check it out.

Personally, I love it.

The Death of The Supermajority

Scott Brown was sworn in as the new Senator from Massachusetts today.  Brown's won his seat in the biggest upset of the 21st century so far.  Brown, of course, is a Republican and, by taking the oath of office today, he ended the short but noisy era of the Democratic Party's so-called "Supermajority."

In other words, it was a good day.

The New Oscar Trivia

The Academy Award nominees were announced today.

Avatar and The Hurt Locker led with 9 nominations each.  Invictus did not get a best picture nomination, though both Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were nominated for the film.  However, The Blind Side did somehow manage to snag a best picture nomination along with the expected nod for Sandra Bullock.

A complete list of nominees can be found here.

Today's nominations are going to figure into a lot of future editions of trivial pursuit.  For instance:

1) Kathryn Bigelow, nominated for best director for The Hurt Locker, is only the 4th woman to be nominated for the award.  The others were Lina Wertmuller for Seven Beauties, Jane Campion for The Piano, and Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation.  If she wins (and it looks like she very well might), she'll be the 1st female winner in that category (though, really, Sofia Coppola should have won for Lost in Translation).  Bigelow is the ex-wife of James Cameron, who was nominated for Avatar.  They will be the 1st (formerly) married couple to compete against each other for best director.  And while I wasn't a huge fan of The Hurt Locker, it would be nice to see Cameron defeated by his ex.

2) Also nominated for best director was Lee Daniels for another overrated movie, Precious.  Daniels is not only the 2nd black man to be nominated for best director but, to my knowledge, the 1st openly gay man to be nominated for best director.  (While everyone in Hollywood knew George Cukor was gay, the general public did not.)

3) It's rare enough for a science fiction film to win a best picture nomination.  This year, however, saw two sci-fi films nominated for best picture -- Avatar and District 9.

4) Upis the 2nd animated film to be nominated for best picture and the first to come from Pixar Studios.  (That said, Up is still no Wall-E.)

5) District 9is the 1st South African film to be nominated for best picture.

6) Despite nearly a 100 years in film, Christopher Plummer's supporting actor nomination for The Last Stationis his first ever.  To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to see Plummer win for just that fact (a bit like James Coburn in Affliction).

7) Meryl Streep received her 15th nomination, this time for playing Julia Childe.  I wish I had bothered to see the film now just so I could make a joke about Dan Aykroyd doing it better on Saturday Night Live.

Obviously, I was happy to see a strong showing by Inglorious Basterds.  I was also happy to see that both An Education and A Serious Manwere nominated for best picture, along with District 9.  That doesn't quite make up for the bitter aftertaste of Avatar but it does help.

More on this later.