I'm sure glad that's over with

So I watched a decent amount of the services for Reagan tonight, or at least a decent part of the services out in California. Partly because - as always - there wasn't a fucking thing on TV, and partly for another reason I'll get to shortly. Some random shit:

• I've said it before, and I'll say it again: our burial rituals are fucking retarded. All the pageantry and all the bullshit which is, of course, not for the deceased, but for the living. The dead person doesn't give a shit, because they can't. Well, maybe they can, but we really have no fucking clue, regardless of what the man in the funny hat and his bathrobe tells you.
• And military funerals? Super retarded. All the silly marching in place, and we've gotta shoot our guns, and the guy grunting the orders, and 50 men folding a flag, and blah blah blah. Yes, I know, it's a huge honor, and "I don't know what it's like," but it's still goofy.
• All these people had better hope I'm not in charge when Clinton dies, because I'm going to kick off like a month-long bender in his honor. Now, I'm no Clinton worshipper, but I do like Bill and Hillary - they're smart fuckers who are out for personal gain, and I respect that. Unlike some others, though, they do it with a flair that no one else does it with, and I find it entertaining. And, as I said, a big party for Clinton would really piss the right-wingers off.
• Okay, I'm clearly being a disrespectful asshole here, but at least I'm not one of the photographers who was at the services. Nancy Reagan is there breaking down and in her last few moments with the casket, and all you can hear is about a billion clicks of fucking cameras. Okay, I suppose if they really didn't want cameras there they could have just told everyone to fuck off, but still. Give it a rest and give the woman one fucking second of peace, you cocksuckers. Actually, I distinctly remember about three seconds of silence at one point - when the fuckers were reloading their cameras.
• And hey, how about America's Little Boy, George W. Bush, at the funeral in Washington? I've only seen a few clips of it, but Georgie looked rather poised and confident up there, unlike pretty much any other speech he's given. And why wouldn't he be relaxed up there? After all, that's the only time he's going to get to speak where afterwards a bunch of reporters aren't going to ask him really tough questions like "What mistakes do you feel you have made?"
• One thing really hit me, though, when I was watching the motorcade on the way to Reagan's library. I realized that we are probably never going to see something like this again. With all the jokes and complaints I've had going here all week, there's no denying that Reagan had an impact. All those fucking people coming out to show their support demonstrates his influence. All those people who really really liked Reagan and/or had nothing better to do made for an impressive turnout.
• God damn it that guy who was Reagan's pastor or personal priest or whatever was a fucking blowhard. I was like, dude, wrap this shit up, or I am going to die here - of old age.
• Reagan picked a helluva a time to finally die. He managed to time it so that he overshadowed both the 60th anniversary of the Normandy invasion and the death of Ray Charles. Not bad.