The Grammys and Crippled Chicken Farming While Reading Sunday's NY Times...Livin' in the Future and None of This Has Happened Yet....

I know, I know...where's she been? I don't know, I say, as I look through the unfinished drafts of the past couple of lousy weeks of school meetings and a sick, paralyzed chicken.... and just feeling overwhelmed by the political climate and the climate of my life which seem to meld like the mud and relentless rain that makes us run to the window at the sight of flurries, wondering what happened to our snowy winters? Is the end nigh?

All craziness aside, if i don't get something down about whats going on, I find that thoughts upon thoughts run round in my head, so maybe its better to just spit out a little something, rather than waiting for the time to get it all down here....and maybe its just a little shorter...maybe...just a little...

So, sitting here watching the Grammy's and with my fingers crossed for a positive outcome from the meeting(s) this week between the Writer's Guild and the Producers; the hope for 24 with Janeane Garafolo as an investigator looking into the actions of Jack Bauer, and, no doubt, swept up into the action of the world of 24; or I hope so anyway. Janeane is my favorite action hero!

The Grammy's show sucks, and maybe thats because a large percentage of the new talent out there sucks...and the snippets of a nod they give to what might be a real part of the canon of American Music are just not enough...for whatever thats worth anymore; like, if you were still proud to be an American and wanting to promote our culture. Funny how the Band, Canadians and one American, and the Beatles, represented by Ringo Star of the new smash non-hit, Liverpool 8, an oddly horrible song, and by Yoko Ono in a white top hat....where is Paul? Ah, I don't know/don't care about the most eligible batch in the world....and the Cirque du Soliel doing a pretty fantastic dance number out of the over pimped legacy (THERE! I used it!!) Are John and George looking down on this and smiling or just out there in the nothingness realizing how meaningless that anything of beauty that we've created is in the face of the real power in this world? Still, the bright point is really this Cirque strangeness set to Beatles music.

Oh, and the writers are pretty damned right in their demands, and absolutely correct to hang in there and disrupt the prime times of the lazy American couch people until the greedy producers give in.

Being a big MSNBC watcher, I've got to say that I'm pretty disgusted by whats been going down over there regarding the bad boyz club and their mysogynistic bullshit that is actively thrust upon us daily by the usual suspects, and the parade of the same old horrible pundits. Thats why I find it sort of disingenuous that the suits over there decided to suspend one of the better and more intellectual members of the reporting staff, for saying the word "Pimp" in regard to what Hillary Clinton has done with her daughter. Its a crappy, knee-jerk and overly PC reaction to a few letters written about someone who never ever says that kind of stuff. As opposed to the long history of abuse by Joe Scarborough and Tweet Matthews, I'm aghast that the management felt that Schuster was the right vehicle for whatever repositioning they are attempting. I wrote to them, and I would suggest that anyone else who has a position on this do the same.

I couldn't concentrate much on the morning shows today, except to re-register that the republicans hate McCain; and more power to them and him. I'm feeling confused by what we've been left with on our side. It isn't working very well for me, though I did vote for Obama. I just don't feel represented and I still cant figure out why Edwards backed out so soon. I hope that it becomes clear as time goes on because I just cant imagine that we can possibly go into what comes next without his values and vision. For Christ's sake, people are suffering, and we have to get some money back into the education system.
Oh, so many other things too, I know...but from the get go, the system in this country seems stacked, like a wall over which the poor can't see, to even know what it is they could have or what they might want to strive for...This is a blindness that is meant to keep the underclass permanent, regardless of the wasted talent and dreams that are left there...That, to me, is un-American. Aren't we all supposed to have some value?

Today, I went through the Sunday papers and, as usual, pulled out a few things to read in paper form rather than online. There is something about the Sunday New York Times and how it feels in your hand...the smudge of it, the smell of it.

The book review this week is a political issue, and between the candidates, partisans, and the wars, is a piece on African American Identity Politics, which reviews the book Sellout, by Randall Kelly, and the book A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why he Cant Win, by Shelby Steele. They both seem to cover the difficulties faced by black people who either break out from the popular African American culture, or are not considered to be "black enough." Both raise some legitimate questions that are really timely but, according to the reviewer fall short in heavy handed, overwrought prose, and the authors also being somewhat self centered in their assessment of their subjects. I expect the market to be flooded with this sort of material before long. Honestly, I'm not surprised to see this so soon...and I hope that we see some deeper insight than the "who's to blame?" argument about the African American culture not taking responsibility for itself. I am going through some of this with some kids Im helping, and in the world of no-snitching and being trapped in the community center and/or in a dangerous neighborhood vs. getting out, even a little, there is the reality of accusation of not being "black enough." I wouldn't have thought it for afar, but on the ground, its very real.

Thanks so much to travel writer, James Vlahos, for exploring "The Other Iran," in the Travel Section. If you didn't get a chance to see this, pop over and see the slide show. This is the other Iran in the sense that it is the old Persian part of Iran, but the title of the article, the content, and the slide show, beg us to look at what John McCain and possibly Hillary Clinton have their sights set on as a threat worthy of preemptive strikes. Look, Im not saying that I endorse or understand their culture...nor do I know much about the weapon issue...but I sure as hell don't trust any sort of warning coming out of this administration. I would hope that a new administration wouldn't just continue the path of the war, but restart the investigations and involve the UN in them. This is a beautiful and intricate culture that the people of Iran have obviously preserved carefully. Other parts of the country range from sophisticated cities with universities and business, to countryside. Why don't the American people get to see more of this before Iran is totally demonized as part of the Bushco oil plan?

And finally, In the Connecticut Section, is a horribly sad story about 3 brain-injured soldiers who are struggling to pull out of what seems to amount to vegetative states, and after family struggles, horrible care, testimony before a senate committee, one was able to get the VA to pay for private care. The mother then called another mother from the VA hospital to help her get her son treatment...and so it goes. Why we cant provide our soldiers with better care is a question that is probably best posed to the existing administration that ignores these guys as much as is possible without getting caught. But the story is really about the mother's sacrifices, and about the support that they give each other. The soldiers are never going to be OK and there is just so much help a rehab hospital can be in these cases. This story is about the effect of this war on entire families, and on the very foundation of our country, if we are all not included in the war effort. We have to end this thing right away, but in the meantime, maybe we can actually sacrifice beyond shopping with our tax rebate. Maybe we can reach out to those in need and send to soldiers at the hospital and abroad...and help those in need right in our own towns...people are suffering and we are all a part of this thing, even if we opposed it and even if we despise it.

I also strongly suggest the magazine section ...the whole thing, this week. Its got the Defense secretary Gates on Iraq and Iran, and the beginning of pain...as in, does pain start in the womb? Do babies feel pain? This is not only interesting to those who suffer from chronic pain, but also to anyone who has a stake in the abortion battle. If it can feel pain, is it a human life?
And then a guy who eats bugs, as part of the usual food report, and a piece on the ethics of organ donation....on to a portfolio of Oscar contenders.

OK, enough is enough. I haven't even gotten to frank Rich yet. Why is it that weeks can go by without much or much to say about the Times, and then there is a day with some really, really bright points?

Finally, for Springsteen fans, here is a song from his new record, Magic, which is really kind of fantastic, for the amount of the time Ive had to listen to it. I really like the words to this....there isn't much of a video here; just stills...Ill try to find a better cut of it. Magic really deserved the Grammy, and as of this publishing time, he hasn't won anything for it.



For Springsteen's commentary on this song see the live show cut below..."this is a song about the future, but its really about whats happening now."...I wish I had the energy to see Bruce live again...But look at that crowd; the size of that place...that used to really give me a thrill, but anymore, its just anxiety provoking. I've seen him plenty anyway...

ARGH-ball! Tweety's Sorta Apology....

Well, now Ive seen everything....

I guess the heat got too hot in the frying pan at MSNBC, and after a phone interview with Morning Joe last week, "Standing by his words..."
and an insane visit with Jay Leno this week, much the same, chuckling and guffawing about how he is the non PC, wild man of politics...grasping on the slippery slope, the vines snapped tonight and there he was at 5PM, looking dolefully into the camera, and telling me something serious.
Something to the effect of; I know I'm wild and crazy; I know I shoot from the hip; but thats who I am. I said some things about Hillary and they were mean...and probably wrong...and unfair too...and I hurt people!! But, I LOVE POLITICS...I love Johnny and Baracky andHill...I love Mittsy and bootsy and bitsy and Bushy....I LOVE YOU ALL!...(and thats why I hit you!)
CAN I , PHULEEZE, STAY ON THE AIR??...Stop the complainin' to the bosses here!!
Now lets get on with the show!

I dont buy it...no, I dont...not even a little...
I wish I had been a fly on the wall in those meetings...imagine what goes into making Matthews make a sincere and personal apology into the camera, between him and us?

And in breaking the 4th wall, (of which 2.5 are made of freakish bluster, even though he technically "talks" to us,) acting as if he sincerely sees us and is communicating from the heart, he proved that he really shouldn't do that; Leave that territory to Keith Olbermann and his brilliant comments. It came off as forced and disingenuous. But what else would we expect from out Tweety?

c/p SweetJesusIHateChrisMatthews
c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

Sweet Jesus, I Love MSNBC!

It snowed in Baghdad yesterday.
In a scene straight out of solemn black and white stories of cease fires at Christmastime, residents of the war torn city marveled at the beauty of the white crystals falling, even if they melted upon hitting the torn apart streets. It hasn't snowed in Baghdad for as long as anyone can remember.

We are living in strange times, my friends.

This past week has been backwards crazy like that; on the heels of Olbermann's O'Reilly puppet theater the other night, in which O'Reilly unsuccessfully messes with Obama security, and then reports of Hannity being chased through NH by Ron Paul supporters, stirred up because Faux News didn't allow Paul to participate in the debate... Along came Dan Abrams complaining that he felt lately that Hillary was being shoved at us by the media! Oh really? The sweet indignation of just realizing what has been happening all along.


....and now Obama is suddenly the second coming!? What was Dan thinking when he was the program director of this very station and he supported the chronically low ratings of Scrappy-doo-Tucky-Carlson, the Libertarian fool, and the non stop rantings of Tweety Matthews, acting as if Hillary was a done deal and there was no point in even discussing other candidates. So sure were the M$M pundits about Hillary, that I started switching it off, because I am just fucking weary of being told what to do by pasty white men.

Yeah, Abrams' outrage rings a little hollow. NOW Dan is with us, in the face of the big bad M$M machine? Well, its possible, I suppose, since MSNBC is maybe the best of the worst of the M$M, but God, who in their right mind allows the likes of Willie Giest to ascend to the role of snide janitor, much less sidekick to the repugnant Morning Joe, and who kept Carlson employed against the usual formula of ratings and sponsors? I wasn't a fly on those walls, but if appearances mean anything, Tucker rode along on his relationships rather than ratings, long after it was clear that any retooling could help him in any way, and once the suits got involved there were slap-downs of Tucker and the "rumors" that Tuckie was on his way out (...also, didn't Tucker thank his 10 viewers on air, and then get reprimanded for it by the bosses?)

Granted, they have got Rachel Maddow on every show in a row, just about every night! (and, having quietly shot a pilot already, maybe she can get Kent Jones a gig there...he is sorely missed on Rachel's AAR show!) One good move doesn't clean the slate, but if they do start to build a decent lineup based around Keith, with Rachel taking the nine o'clock slot, it could be great programming for the upcoming Democratic majority! If New Hampshire is any indication, the snotty conservative pundits who used to have a stranglehold on all of the airtime they wanted, haven fallen from favor, along with their masters in the White House...

After writing the above rant the other day, I was surprised, pleased, and honored to receive an invitation to join Jill's newest project: a blog called Sweet Jesus I Hate Chris Matthews!
Not only was I pleased that she would consider my pitiful missives that are coming pretty irregularly lately, but also I'm kinda thrilled that we are all on the same page about this thing. I spend alot of time wondering if I'm just a crazy fool who was born at the wrong time, in the wrong world, and when I get any sort of confirmation of my sanity and/or remaining humanity around me, I feel so much better! Thats what got me started writing this opinion sort of stuff (and who watches more MSNBC than me??) and thats whats allowed me to go on through the morass of the Bush years and the press playing along like some sort of hired PR team.

And, it wasn't only me and Jill; it was also the entire newscycle, that left old Chris, by last Thursday, saying things like "the popular feeling is that the media...well, me actually..." influenced the outcome of the elections.... So, after years of being a sort of political kingmaker, in servitude to whosoever's stock was going up, and manipulating the American people by playing along with the farce that is his shtick; that no one could have known that any one thing or another was gonna turn out badly in this nightmare called the Bush years; no one could have known? I knew! So many of us knew! How come there were printed bumper stickers, way back then, that said "ATTACK IRAQ? NO!!," (to which has been added a new horrific array of other versions and countries,) right here in my neighborhood?

And regardless if who Tweety Matthews has ever written a speech for or been on staff with, it is an inarguable fact that he, and most of the other M$M pundits were decidedly leaning towards the talking points that were coming out of the White House in their reportage of the news leading up to this fiasco, and ever since. Its not even like any of the press would have had to look far or confirm all that much of the reams of information that was being dumped in their laps, already having been researched and confirmed. The only would have had to put their jobs on the line to report it.

So, when Tweety Matthews and his producers felt it prudent to give the stage to Michelle Malkin, as if she deserved to be on any show further towards the mainstream than the Jerry Springer Show; when they chose to allow old Tweety to literally drool on Ann Coulter, as if this is the kind of woman that anyone (especially a college crowd, which he was entertaining that week,) should aspire to be like some mean trannie with an ax to grind and books to sell, its so far beyond the pale, and begs some programming and social questions at the very least....Unless, of course, MSNBC aspires to be more like Fox News.

The pale? Well, here is a guy who finds all of this politics stuff so fun and interesting, like alot of us do. He rubs his hands together and turns all red, practically jumping up with anticipation of the upcoming primaries and what they could possibly mean. But somewhere along the line, he seems to have disconnected with the reality of what he is doing ,and what it means in the life and death struggles of not only our soldiers around the world, but of the growing number of Americans who are suffering due to the economy and our lack of health care.

So, even with the turn back towards the middle, and the network's seeming attempt to start to show a little deference to what is actually happening in the country, there is still a bit of problem with the ongoing bipolar swings of not only Tweet, but the bunch of them. When you start to wish that all pundits could be as stable as old Pat Buchanan (even if you disagree with him,) you're in trouble. When you start to think from time to time that Morning Joe has a point or two right, you're in big trouble...but across the board, we all think that something is wrong, and getting wronger, with Tweety.

On the heels of this week, came word that Timmeuh Russert is going to give Hillary an entire hour on Sunday; and entire hour! Not only was Timmeuh featured on Hardball to promote this hour, but Tweet went on about how it was going to be the hardest hitting, most important interview in the whole wide world!! And this, as part of the umpteenth time that Tweety was musing on how Hillary should and would concede; bow out of the whole show, gracefully...you know, back off.

It makes me think of how Kos has supposedly been trying to manipulate the republican primaries by having dems vote for Romney...met by such outrage! Such venom!...on both sides....But How are we supposed to view a 1 hour "hard hitting" commercial for Hillary to display her newest self? And how are we supposed to take an entire segment of Timmeuh and Tweet's delight at being able to present her newest self?

Crazymaking; after so many months of beginning every interview with anyone even remotely involved in the election process with a question like "With Hillary as the obvious candidate of choice for the democrats, what do you think of....?" Then planning her fall...now he views this interview as the most historic, interesting, and hard hitting thing to ever happen!
Either he is just trying to go with the flow as he sees it day by day, he is seriously bi-polar and not in control of which way his mania is leading him on any particular day, or this has all been a plan to try to shape the discourse....And, if so, I don't think that its working. Its clear anyway that he is not all that fond of Hillary...or women in general.

The feeling that I'm getting is that in the shadow of being so wrong all the time lately, fearing that his power is slipping as a new generation of more liberal pundits makes their way into his world, and the reality of electing a woman as president looms large, he is very confused about how to act, but is sure that he must keep being the boisterous Chris Matthews that he always was. Whats clear is that something is wrong. Ive watched him almost daily for years, as something that I turn on in the background while I putter in the evening, and something that my entire family watches, and there is something amiss there.

Look for Tweety to pull out some of his personality to match Hillary's new campaign of showing people more of who she is emotionally. I want to start a pool about tears; the tears of Hillary, the tears of Tweet, the tears of all the clowns! (cue: circus music)


c/p Sweet Jesus I Hate Chris Matthews!

People for the Ethical Treatment of Ann Coulter...Fund Raising and Hype...Carville, Clinton, Barak, and Pelosi...The Beat Goes on....

You know the thing about people who abuse and kill animals? Do I have to go into the psychological implications of this? Do we want another psycho in the white house?...As if he has a chance anyway....
This group is really rich...really fine...and the array of interesting tidbits that keep coming out of them are just like little gifts on an otherwise cloudy day.
I probably shouldn't be so empathetic as to think of what it might be like for a dog to travel in a crate on top of a car for 12 hours ,"enjoying the fresh air" to the point where it craps all over the car. It was an Irish Setter no less, and the story seems to indicate that the Romney's left it up there for the whole drive. I don't even go 10 miles with my dogs inside the car without stopping and walking them around a little. Oh, I suppose that if its a long trip, like up to Cape Cod, I might stop just 2 times, but I walk them and give them water. Even when I was a little kid, my Mom was like that, and she is from a farm in the mid-west and from Massachusetts with a hunter/commercial fisherman brother, so its not a cultural animal treatment thing. Its an empathy thing. And what of the hundred kids crammed in that vehicle without a rest stop? Or was it just too much trouble to let the dog out when the kids needed a bathroom break? Did the kids even get a bathroom break before old Mitt had to hose down old Seamus? Sheesh! (and luckily ABC news has provided us with an article that studies what it might be like for a dog on the roof of a car traveling 55 MPH for 12 hours...thanks guys...I'm sure that no animals were harmed in the making of this article...except for the mice used in place of the dog!...Warning: this article made me actually nauseous.)
Is this who should be deciding what to do with any living thing...much less soldier's lives and the care of the citizens of this country??...nope, I think thats pretty much that for Mitt...Bye bye, been good to know ya...and too bad we didn't get to go into the Mormon thing more; I was really looking forward to it.

Ive been receiving alot of emails from different groups and candidates...first, while still reeling from the letter written on behalf of felon Scooter Libby by James Carville and Mary Matalin, about how much they pity his family and whatever...No sooner had I worked myself into a froth over that when I got a Carville email with the subject line "Lemmings," referring to the republicans who are being sent to the slaughter in the November '07 elections. Looking at his lizardly picture and trying to expunge my mind of the image of him and Mary in bed, I was thinking about the Hillary people and anyone else who looks at this guy and thinks that he is really a democrat or someone who maybe has the best interest of this country, and what we supposedly stand for, in mind. What a disgusting way to end the origami fun-filled weekend.
On Monday, Barak wanted to know what inspires me, but attached to my inspiration story getting published on his website was some mention of a donation, and he is not my candidate, so...
Tuesday Bill Clinton wanted to know if I was "Having Fun Yet?" Because presidential campaigns should be fun! So, on the heels of the Sopranos spoof, whats in store? Oops...better chip in to find out. Donate today to see some more of that great film quality work that they put up on YouTube last week....Hilarious!!
Wednesday I was engulfed with fury at MSNBC and all the other major news organizations for giving that psycho Anne Coulter any more time than the initial 15 minutes she deserved so many years ago. Chris Matthews Hardball report was all about the "Smoking Hardball Plaza show" in which Chris wished M-Ann and Elizabeth Edwards had been oil wrestling naked..but more on that later. Oh whatever, more on that now!
I was disgusted by how flirty and slimy the drooling Chris Matthews was with the boyish Ann Coulter, as she tried to justify her continuous shilling for publicity on the back of tragedies that she couldn't possibly understand. Some day it may come to her, and some day she may suddenly see herself as she actually looks, with that horrible snooty tone in her voice and that pseudo-intellectual bullshit ivy league thing; someday she may just realize that it all mean nothing if you are a horrible, cold, person. But Chris Matthews, well hes all over the map, and he is studying himself pretty damned closely all the time. His wife must have kicked him in the balls for that little performance, because he tore out of the gate in the next couple of shows to discredit La Coulter and her way of doing things. I blame MSNBC, Dan Abrams, and Matthews himself for pandering to the lowest common denominator in trying to get ratings. If you want better ratings then get some other sharp, humorous guys on air, who are like Keith Olbermann. Hey, heres an idea, how 'bout Marc Maron? How 'bout even Rosie O'Donnell? How 'bout just about anyone but the same old crap that you've been doing over and over....
By yesterday Michael Moore was shilling for Democracy for America and asking "whats the problem?" ( oh and, go see his movie to find out!!...Im all for that!) If you have to be shown in easy dramatizations and diagrams...The problem?
Well, the problem that us lemmings seem to be unable to inspirationally put into words in all of these emails is that we are in this fucking war until April '08 at the soonest. This is what I'm hearing...and I'm mad. They mean that the pullout wont even start till April '08, realistically. It will then take months and months, and probably years into forever to play out fully.
Is it possible that the republicans, the lying, thieving lot of them, could possibly parlay the clear democratic inaction into so much disgruntled nonsense that they manage a third party switcheroo again? Is it possible that just in the delivery of the news on their intentions in this matter, that they are fucking up yet again?
Well, this is what Ive heard: if we were to go for impeachment, we really don't have the votes, so we would be doing what we are doing with hearings and investigations right now. The impeachment and also the criminal charges come later....yeah, but why all of the CRAP from the likes of Pelosi, who sent me a mail a couple of weeks ago after not blocking the surge that said something like "VICTORY!" in the subject line.
We made a grand statement that day...but for god's sake, why aren't these people screaming this from the rooftops, leaking pictures and video, linking the war and the republican votes FOR THE SURGE to so many ills right here at home?
Jesus, if the health care system is lacking, and we know that the veterans administration is all but unable to handle what they've got coming home now, what will we do in the years to come with all of the surge soldiers who have been thrown on the fire in the interest of a plan which is clearly not working?
How is it that Carville even has a job with Hillary or is even hired as a democratic pundit when he is clearly married to the other party? How come he has access to my email address? If he wasn't such a scary creature I would say to keep an eye out for him to end up as the next Chris Matthews in pundit-land.
It is so disingenuous for these characters to email and continually ask for money while trying to parse the situation in cheery terms. It all looks the same to me and I dont even want to know what they have to say...its all the same and in the end they want more money to do the same. Thats why I am supporting one candidate and my own causes. I wont give any money to the Democratic party, nor will I spread donations around so that our beautiful field can explore itself.
I have an idea. lets all pool our money and hire Pixar (uh-oh, is that Disney?...well, some other big company like that!) to make a film that shows in easy animation with no subterfuge, what is going on in the world and what it means to each of us. No one with a career, ego, or financial stake in any of this should be allowed to participate. The we should pay to place it in all airplanes, at the end of all checkout counters instead of the stupid Swanson cooking tips, and on big screens from Times Square to the Mall of America and back again. The we should merchandise it to MacDonalds and Starbucks...This is gonna take big money; more than Die-Hard 6!...Money talks, and we'll need lots of it folks, but maybe less than Bloomberg would need to win the primary, much less the election. The war will only be won in simple terms with pictures and singalongs....
Oh, and we'll need our own NASCAR team too! But it will have to be cloaked in the movie theme to be allowed into the hallowed halls of the Marlboro team or the Disney team...wouldn't want to make a political statement at a sporting event. The large corporations own that arena...not much of a political statement anyway.


Today I got a mail from what I thought was the Kucinich people asking for a donation in return for an Impeach Cheney cap. But no, it was a donation request that also offered a FREE IMPEACH CHENEY CAP which asks within itself at the People's Email network, or some such, for a donation in order to make caps for people who want them free, and to cover your's...but you don't have to. Heres the problem: besides that I dont wear caps, the thing seems to be purple and it has a pink question mark after the IMPEACH CHENEY part. Purple is a bad choice all around. Im not a hater of purple at all, but it doesn't go with everything and you're not gonna find alot of truckers wearing that particular shade. How bout basic black and let's lose the question mark. How about IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST!!
There you go.

I have alot of pictures of the fantastic origami weekend and also of the more fantastic Gay Pride Parade in NYC, and I will be posting them tonight or tomorrow depending on how my other work goes (and the fact that this Dell's cardreader is now not working, and I just don't have the time to search for the USB for the camera(s) involved.) have I mentioned lately how much I hate Dell, and how sorry I am that I gave them another chance?