Songs I Have Loved to Sing

Before quittting smoking, when composing the motivational list, i thought about the songs I loved to sing, how those celebrated how to use the voice, so much like ambling through the gorgeous fashions of YSL this past weekend, let me amble now and in the near future, about songs I've loved having the breath to sing...

• Good Morning Heartache
• Gloomy Sunday
• Lover Man
• The Long & Winding Road
• Unlucky Woman
• Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
  
• Hey There
• Knock on Wood
• Ain't to Proud to Beg
• Lean on Me
• Up on the Roof
• Prince of Peace (Leon Thomas)
• On a Wonderful Day Like Today
• Foyo Suvelavimwai La Meze Meyeyo
• You Don't Love Me No More
• Masquerade
• For No One (Lennon McCartney)
• I Shall Be Released
• We Can Work It Out
• I'll Be Seeing You
  

Slumdog Millionaire -- dazzling urban visual rhythms

Slumdog Millionaire is NOW PLAYING at the Embarcadero Theater in S.F. I just got home from it and highly recommend it. Here are some thoughts. (I talk about the story line but not in enough detail to be a spoiler.)

I am still dazzled by Slumdog Millionaire, built around the slums of Mumbai. It is perhaps the best movie I've ever seen. Visually very dense in the most intricate sense. The visual equivalent of the poly rhythmic world music I love. The director was able to capture the action within the living city of millions bustling about. The humming activity sometimes seems like a split screen and yet it is not. That is just Mumbai, here there and everywhere. Seething and dancing urban India. And a few charming years the main characters spend in rural areas.

This dazzling city life is but the canvas for a story that evolves seemingly as chaotically organically as life itself. The editing together of the story is another remarkable feat. A nimble touch. No clunkiness in getting from point A to point B.

"Slumdog Millionaire" is about a slum kid who wins Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in Mumbai and is interrogated by police as a fraud because how could a young man raised in the slums know that?-- So the film takes you through each of his answers in the program and shows the intense experiences that imprinted the answers into his brain. Very smart thread for the story. Very organic weaving of events into the mix. And very intense urban busy-ness throughout the film. Multiple scenes of action simultaneously, as happens in a city-- cars driving here, folks running there, train over there, and chase scene in the forefront through the alleyways... Super graphics-- billions bustling in Mumbai nee Bombay. And scenes filmed in the slums which were adjacent to the garbage dump in which our lead character was a wee tyke...

Came straight home after the movie tonight because it was so dazzling. I feel like I've spent one intense week in Mumbai back streets, with some scenes in other cities that flow right in to the plot and then our orphaned slum kids get tossed on to the next part of their lives...

Wherever you are, if it hits a big screen and you're up for a dazzling urban adventure with a sweet storyline melody thread too, I think you will love it.

I'd love to see it again. My eyes feel like a full week of walking through a famous city, Yet there were also those quiet shots-- moments of stilness that slip into some city time. Glances of calm. Or suites of colors that are pleasing in spite of their being corrugated roofing in varied stages of decay... And often the raw city sounds were fed in. Or some very R&B like bhangra tunes pounded away briefly for city set ups... The history of three kids who grew up in the urban underbelly of India. Sheer enchantment.

Yes I do believe I could go on for hours... I am still in awe...

Show Ideas for a Style Channel

Cinematic Style -- Movie series of films featuring fashion: like Funny Face; Slaves of New York; ADD MORE
-- Documentaries about designers and fashion. I have seen such docs on Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, not sure if Givenchy has one. ADD MORE
Fashion Drama Series-- Does the BBC have any more besides The House of Elliott? Would AbFab be that since they both play in chic circles? Check international networks.
Makeoverama -- Purchase makeover segments of popular shows like Oprah, Tyra and others past and present. Could be fun to show retro makeover segments too. And the international edition-- you can probably find great makeover segments in England, Australia and Scotland. And if you're willing to subtitle, I'll bet makeover shows from other countries would be cool too.
Trinny and Susannah, What Not to Wear UK, have been so funny in their books that just because BBC America won't play them doesn't mean we should miss out. A style channel would like to share what the UK thinks a successful style transformation to be, with the witty commentary of Trinny and Susannah.

Dave Chappelle gets my Mort Sahl Award for 2008

He came on stage with just a stool there and his cigarettes and talked for nearly two hours, covering all kinds of topics including lots of politics and then before you knew it, he was done. A generous long set had elapsed in waves of delightful talk.

Dave Chappelle. Saw him on November 1st. Before the election, so he joked about what those reluctant to vote for Obama might be worried about.

I was lucky enough to be in the third row at the Punchline and enjoyed every story. He, too, is a brilliant writer who wove a lot of material into nearly two enchanting hours. Lots of laughs and new perspectives.

That was the thing about Mort Sahl, he'd come on stage with just his newspaper, in a cardigan, and sit on a stool or stand and just reel off interesting, varied material about current events and before you knew it a long set had elapsed and you were still smiling, wanting more.

Lizz Winstead gave us a full hour of political comedy

Lizz Winstead-- created The Daily Show and helped Air America develop shows, including Rachel Maddow and Chuck D and Lizz in the mornings and that's how Rachel got rolling.

Lizz is petite, pale and brunette and seems like she could be from Michigan or Wisconsin. I'd have to check that in Facebook. She reminded me of old friends of mine who were from there. She had a refreshing frankness and common sense.

I'd been to a number of comedy shows in the City looking for more political comedy, with the election coming and all, but had been continually disappointed. There would be snippets here and there but it seemed as though people were staying fairly neutral on that. The exceptions were Robin Williams, Paul Mooney and (later) Dave Chappelle. That reluctance to develop political humor makes the USA feel even more like a fascist state.

So Lizz was totally refreshing. She is indeed a fabulous writer. She was reeling off lots of Palin jokes and then stopped herself, noting that she could fill an hour with them. Then she did some McPanic and other topics, including gay marriage and No on 8.

Felt like I was watching a national treasure and I look forward to seeing her again. She has quite a web presence, so I'll check that out too.

Brashly Beautiful-- or Beautifully Brash, RELIGILOUS was a Smash !!

Religilous is a stupendous achievement, traveling light through centuries of religious sites, up to the present, with flash-ins of iconic moments in cinematic religious experience.

Mountains of thanks to Bill Maher because truly, folks, he's been brash enough to go ahead and do it. He asked the damn questions. To the believers. And responded calmly but honestly, with all due respect, accent on the due.

Because in between reasonable discussions, and very calm yet horrifying tidbits, Bill Maher would slam some of the religious lore of the various faiths. On equal footing, they all sound odd. But there he went, into Hyde Park was it? In some London park, where folks stand on soap boxes to make their declarations, he went to recite the very peculiar tenets of Scientology.

But he also took us to Mormon territory, showing us key locations and exploring the lore through clips of old documentaries and interviews and such.

Lots of OH, SNAP ! moments-- Bill just laying it on the line. So there was some crude stuff in there. But it highlighted the vulgarity of religious fervor still being used in the 21st century to incite violence.

Plus, Thank you thank you and I need the flash card set of the Founding Fathers' statements you tossed in there like a slide show. That's what has always galled me -- separation of church and state was a cornerstone of the freedom we sought in the New World. To be free to believe and pray however we wished, in our homes, temples and other private gatherings.

Rrrrobbeee-- you're a hard worker, Robin Williams!

Robin Williams sure knows how to "Working on New Material" !! The September Show is a beautifully crafted evolution of the June Show. Great bits with extra ornamentation, and new treats tossed in very generously, including great improv.

I saw his thus titled show in June, prior to the Olympics, and he had wonderful material about the preparations for the event and the power of modern China. Last night, the best of that stuff was entwined with the Aug 08 updates -- and new Olympic bits like doing a pommelhorse routine for us, right there on stage.

The recurring theme of the new micro-technology and conversing through texting was worked in with the beginning of the show. The club guy tells us all to turn off all recording devices and cell phones and such. Then Robie talks about not having recordings all over the place of a work in progress and a messy old white comedian flying all over the internet-- with a flash and a snap and a quick video taping. He talked about how we used to fear the age of Big Brother and now "we've entered the age of the Little Snitch." Loved that !! From the time of Big Brother into the Age of the Little Snitch !!

He did great material on the Palin. Based quite a bit on the dreary accent she has-- the smarmy goodie goodie voice. He used kind of Fargo Minnesota twang for that.

And this time he spun a lot more political humor into his routine and it worked really well. The audience was up for it and thrilled to have him crystallize our thoughts so well. He did pages and pages of the stuff and we were all eating it up and so happy to have him give us some laughs.

He did some Pope material. Spinning from being on a German TV talk show and asked about why did he suppose there was so little comedy in Germany? To which he couldn't help replying that one might suppose it could be that they had killed off all the funny people? And segued over time into the current Pope being sorta kinda having a Nazi background.

Dear Keith let a little scathing out in the long hours at the Dem Con in Denver

Just a couple of times, after being on air for hours already.

When an obviously great comment by a Democratic speaker was then very clumsily panned by one of his colleagues, he did not hide his contempt. When colleagues made obviously partisan snide remarks about the Democrats that seemed like RNC taglines of the day, Keith called a couple out. Parried back.

After hours and hours of coverage in makeshift broadcasting platforms, he seemed to have gotten a bit too tired to be his usually elegantly restrained self. He allowed scathing to emerge a few times. And some quick sharp jabs slipped in there. I really admired the ones I saw. Worn out Keith honestly responding to some idiot's vile yet casual smearing of a great Democrat's speech.

MSNBC may have worried that he would burn out on Day 2 of the RNC convention and be unable to join his colleagues in pretending that Republicans had any standing in an honest discussion about how to manage our country after the disastrous Republican administration of the past 7 years.

I expect that it is stressful to fake it and respectfully discuss RNC talking points when our nation so desperately needs change and not more of the same. Can't pretend to admire the current Republican crop without muscle cramps. So he should take a bit of a vacation. He deserves one. I look forward to watching a refreshed Keith, after the RNC Fake Fest. Wonderful to have him ready for the follow up season. After both conventions, with the vision of both paths presented to the world.

In the meantime, Chris can pretend he's talking about the old McMaverick of the 90's, and toss a few hardball topics the RNC is ready for and discuss their canned responses. OR... He can be among the few voices who make sure to follow up RNC standard bullet point comments with some solid questions.

Matthews could highlight the sad fact he and John Kerry know very well-- their old friend Senator McCain has changed into Candidate McCain who opposes many of the policies Senator McCain himself introduced. Their friend the maverick supported things the Candidate John Sidney McCain III has opposed. And yes, we do have a reel of clips ready, sir.

Matthews could do a great service, as Kerry has been, in helping those who liked the original version realize that guy is long gone. He gave up his own VP choice to go with Dobson's. That's a whole different guy. Your old friend would not have voted with Bush 90% of the time, My Friends. Would not have such a poor voting record on veterans' issues. The original resisted the further merging of church and state. He's gone, My Friends. ETC ETC.

Yes the Palin Appointment was Insulting to All of Us

Insulting to women because she is definitely no Hillary Clinton and is anti-choice.
Insulting to all because she supports teaching creationism in science class.
Insulting to Obama because she has so little experience. Mayor of a town of 7,000 for a couple of years, and Governor of Alaska, with less people than San Francisco or San Jose, for a couple of years. Whereas Obama has years in the State Senate and six years in the national Senate.

Dangerous because she believes in The Rapture-- Jesus will come get you so you don't have to keep the earth clean.
Dangerous because yes she is a global warming denier and friend of Big Oil. Hubby worked for BP and Alaska gets rich on petro-dollars.

Convention Highlights -- Humor and the Big Wigs

We had lots of humor at the convention. The situation is dire so one might have wished for more vitriol, actually, but at least we had some biting humor from all participants.

Michelle's speech was beautiful and did exactly what she needed to do. It showed the deep family values she and Barack hold and teach their kids. The elegant lady had to prove she is not a monster, due to shameless right wing slander the RNC has been slinging.

Hillary's speech was moving and characteristic of her, a comfortable combination of intellectual and folksy. Her great line was something like -- I'm not surprised John McCain and George Bush are having their convention in the Twin Cities. Sometimes it's awfully hard to tell them apart.

Kerry gave an impassioned view of his confusion having known Senator McCain, who was at times the polar opposite of this new Candidate McCain. He gave a few examples and asked-- "Are you kidding me folks? "

Montana Gov. Schweitzer in his bolo tie was a very colorful speaker. Took a few paragraphs to warm up and then he really made the case for energy independence and conservation. He also threw some great jabs at Bush-McCain.

Governor Richardson said the Bush regime gets more and more arrogant as each of their failures comes to light. He, too, discussed McCain's many changes in position over the last ten years. And finished that list by saying John McCain may wear shoes that cost hundreds of dollars, but we pay a lot for his flip flops.

Gore had a brilliant speech but rushed through it. I hope lots of You Tube videos will be made and sent around with segments of his talk. He had some biting critiques of Bush-McCain and the dangers of continuing to be bullied by Big Oil.

Biden pointed out areas of foreign policy in which Obama's wisdom exceeded that of McCain's. He was strong on the areas Obama understood best. He agreed with me that Obama's take on the Georgia crisis was much deeper than McCain's; he considered the long term prospects as well. Appreciated Obama's understanding that tough, direct negotiations are crucial to our success and we need to use all the tools at our disposal, with war as a last resort.

They had a group of retired military generals and admirals who were supporting Obama speak at a certain point, too.

There were subtle references to multiple houses throughout the day. No bludgeoning, just slipping in a couple of extras here and there.

There's lots more, but for now I'll leave it at that.

Yes I Loved Obama's Speech and The Convention

I was thrilled to have watched so much of it on CSpan. I love these occasional bouts of mass hoping, and yes, once again I hope my country can wake up and shake off the robber barons and get to the tons of work we have to do to meet the challenges of the 21st century. There is a lot of exciting activity ahead and most of us want to get to it. Lots of clean up and reorienting away from wasteful consumption to more modest levels. It can be fun if we plan it well. (Or it can be an ugly smash and grab if we proceed in the Republican crisis management style.)

We need to rebalance resource use around the globe, for example. We few percent of the globe use so many of its limited resources, so we need to zoom aggressively ahead into alternative renewable energy such as solar, or we will face a lot more hostility in the global resource wars ahead. We need to de-privatize a lot of the stuff the Republicans have been bleeding dry. We need to raise the limit on payroll taxes so income above $100K is also taxed and Warren Buffet's secretary doesn't pay more than he does. There are so many positive things we'd like to do to move on to the Post Petroleum Economy, but the Big Oil Boys don't want to let go of Monopoly Capitalism.

So I hope Obama's appeal to people to forget partisanship and think of progress-- moving forward consciously and strategically to meet the challenges, rather than letting a secret Cheney cabal decide how we would be ruled to facilitate permanent, for-profit war around the globe. Well, sorry guys, wars are grotesque and we'd rather build solar panels and design better technology to save energy, and drive just a bit slower. Rather than bomb other families around the globe in search of dwindling oil supplies. We need to prepare now, because we will need petroleum to fuel the production of some of these supplies, especially as we transition.

Wasn't Obama's speech a masterpiece? He included lots of shared goals in the speech. And specific indictments of JSM III. Something for all of us. And a better sense, for me, of what he needs to do. He is seeking to arouse the sentiments of lots of heretofore non- voters, many of whom want to move forward on some key issues, so he's inviting everyone to come together around those elements. We are all patriots, so restoring the rule of law in the Executive and Judicial branches will be paramount among his tasks, I expect. Perhaps a commission could be appointed to investigate, prosecute and recommend.

Paring Musical Selections

Eclectic music collection could also stand sorting. But I do I have some lovely gems from other countries I'd be loathe to toss. One of my images for re-using cassettes is in the proverbial tropical B&B we may run someday, or participate in. Or in my own tropical home. I have hours of gorgeous world music at home. Perhaps I can pare down the regular stuff I could access easily online...

Tossing....

• Not sure
• If I will
• List them one by one
• But just in case
  

Letting Go of Videos

I've got over 100 VHS tapes. Usually because I've loved the program and may love to see it again someday. However, I'm somewhat averse to watching things twice, although I've enjoyed reviewing some artistic or humorous films. So paring the hundreds will be challenging. I've been watching more things twice lately. Which VHS tapes can I release, knowing I could find them again, or being content with memorializing them here? Let's see....

• First one
• Second one
• Third
  

Lots of time sweltering on the dusty DU boards...

PLACEHOLDER to slip in clippings posted during early August.

Paring Possessions from My 'Partment

When Mom passed away, I couldn't say "Sure, I'll dash off to Buenos Aires!" to join a friend doing something wonderful. "Yes, I'd love to do voiceovers in Bollywood. Mumbai here I come!" Wasn't light enough on my feet, in my bags & trunks. There are adorable items I'd love to tote anywhere as part of my nest, and others just here as passing fancies. Lots and lots of both.

I tested 50/50 Left Brain/Right Brain. And 50/50 for Audio/Visual. So I have delights to both of those senses in abundance tucked into my place.

There's also the rugged survivalist who's grown up urban-- just wants to save the cultural stuff in case of emergencies. Part of my collecting amusing artistic and musical items is my anticipation of a time when power might blackout and all we would have would be our books and papers... I guess the CDs and DVDs would need power.... But just electrical...

Anyway, I have things from tapes of the BCCI hearings from CSpan to a Japanese sit-com called Double Kitchen. And cassettes of some great ethnic music that I chose for the funky labels then discovered to have great sound.

Speaking of nostalgic items-- we've got that temperature right now. Muggy as my younger days in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

2008 Dancers on 8-08 -- Green special effects

How very Green and heroic of China to use so much human power during its opening ceremonies!
Amazing coordination and dedicated service to the greater goal of historic special effects. Hundreds of wave variations in color, height and tempo in stage after stage at the opening of these 2008 Summer Olympics.

This is going to be some great film. I'll want to see the full angles again. Even check out other countries' film of those ceremonies.

Kites, and lights and shadows and drums and wave dances, all gorgeously synchronized effects, including some fireworks released outside the dome, and references in the dance to the "birds' nest" stadium, as it has come to be called. And they lit up the formation in fanciful colors, highlighting the nestish elements, criss crossing beams.

And there's more and more.
Stunning theater !

Living the Declarative Life -- Journaling Along

Extemporize here regarding the emerging qualities of lifestyles lived 60% online. Never mind the far reaches of Second Life, the first one is being shaped by the webcam and mobile broadcasts.

Some people do seem to be living lives as they are chronicling them and which engenders which tends to blur. Are you selecting an action for its merit in your blog, webcast, and other pages-- or are you doing what you would be doing anyway, journaling be damned? And if indeed the journaling is shaping the activities, is that such a bad thing?

Yes, sadly, it can be. People have enjoyed playing mean games primarily for their video impact, victim be damned. Bullying across cyberspace. But one couldn't honestly say prior bullies required the internet to promote their activities-- they were plenty wild with only paper journaling and oral histories traded at pubs and firesides.

But the up-side is quite strong-- living to share one's experience of all the grandeur, tenderness and excitement of life-- might not be a bad idea, if the novel one is crafting treasures friendship and ecology. But then again, even the frantic disordered lives displayed before us can teach us so much. And even spare us some pain I suppose.

I was quite a vicarious friend in my youth. Treasured dramatic friends who expressed their art and went to all their shows. So in cyberspace I could trace hundreds of daring friends and add them to my friend links and bask in the second-hand glory. Kinda think I do it all the time really.

Seeds -- WE LOVE TO FIGHT -- circa 1975

We love to fight
because nothing else
can make us
feel so bad.

And we are bad.

Seeds -- IDENTIFY -- circa 1978

Identify--
fill all fly by forms
and discover
another
you.

The face facing you is yours.

So I was over there for quite a while

Clips from the comments exchanged.

Worse Still -- JSM III Pretends His Service has been Disrespected when we all know it hasn't

Oh pity me for something that isn't happening!! People aren't disrespecting my service-- they do the long sentences first thanking me for it, but they criticize my military policies and I don't have a great reply, so I'd better have the Republican machine run the "wounded-soldier-how-dare-you" process among our media punditry.

We all bend over backward to prequalify any comment about John Sidney McCain III's misguided war mongering policies with long declarations of our respect and thanks for his service. We all already do that, Senator.

Given-- national thanks. Already there. Your misguided policy decisions-- still there too. We need to ask you about why you joke about bombing other countries. We need to ask you about why you're okay with an occupation that lasts for decades. We need to ask why you've changed your position on fundamental issues very significantly, back and forth, over the years.

Yes, JSM III, husband of heiress, owner of 7 estates -- we do need to ask you some tough questions. Even though we thanked you several times already for your military service.

Newt and Karl are the Snarky Martini Guys

That was a self portrait. They're the snarky guys along the wall at the Country Club sipping martinis. They do that-- those narcissistic Republicans-- toss your worst aspects onto your opponent and hope they stick. Kind of a distorted Dorian Gray approach, don't you know. Tag your opponent with your worst scent and hope the stench sticks with them and doesn't waft on back to you.

Let's just not forget-- it is them-- a clear self-portrait.

Today I Strolled Chihuly's Forests of Glass !

Thank you de Young Museum ! They were so generous to bring us the chance to walk through more than 5 installations of hundreds of pieces of Chihuly's glass sculpture in distinctive styles, beautifully lit and styled. Utterly gorgeous!

More later.

Best Concert in Years: OMAR SOSA Afreecanos

It was one of those lifetime thrills-- Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, sunny weekend in June. I got to see OMAR SOCA and AFREECANOS do a couple of hours of their brilliant combination of wild Thelonius jazz, Cuban, Egyptian, Brazilian and other African rhythms.

It is a type of music I have yearned to hear. Combining all my favorites. I hadn't realized there was someone already doing it. Taking the free spirited Thelonius meets Coltrane piano of Sosa, weaving together all the others who also traverse jazz to tribal rhythms and melodies.

Luckily, the CD, OMAR SOSA Afreecanos is equally brilliant in a different way. Seeming to integrate Asian sounds into it-- I hear shades of Egypt and China.

SOSA had such fantastic modulation of each song-- from whisper soft moments to blazing and stomping staccato and around through melodic orchards. Gorgeous journeys.

Glowing Tribute Overdue for Robin-sama

I saw him live and adored the manner in which he presented different peoples. His characterizations of the Chinese, for example, evinced the admiration he held for aspects of their culture, and that love made his teasing that much more bitingly fabulous. We could laugh together via our also acknowledging our respect for those we see that have fallen. i.e. the Olympics material about the amazing PRC... And gee, even the bitter break-ups-- there's a loving intimacy revealed to us in mocking that state of being we have all endured at one time or another.

And I recognized some of the material in his May stand-up show at Cobb's in his presidential campaign routines in the film Man of the Year. Such precise slicing and dicing of political hypocrisy and contradictions.

And there's more and more to adore... He's just one of the best at doing tribes other than his own and I think it's the basic respect and love he mixes in there.

Concern Trolls

Many of my friends wouldn't recognize the term. But hey, on the FISA bill, here we are again. Knowing that the best way to clobber the Democrats is through dividing them on particular policy issues. The Dems have a big damn tent so they'll never all agree, so you can toss in statements cleaving to ideological purity that will tie them up in righteous arguments for days. Then you can pitch to the Repub holdouts and Indes that Hey, those Dems just don't know what they want. We're strong and solid. You'd better come with us... You can stir up and divide the Democrats through ideological games.

But I'm sorry, fellow Democrats, this is not new to me. Here we are again after our party has sold out on major fundamentals of the US constitution already. Not a big surprise. We have let the practice of "rendition" take place. Abu Ghraib happened. The President has not been impeached. This is hardly a horror, as a friend says. I'd say it is hardly a horror greater than those we have endured thus far-- one after the other.

Let's leave our beautiful candidate alone and irritate others about these policy details. There are hundreds of abrogations of the constitution and destructive privatization policies to pursue-- let's approach changing them through other means.

Here we are again. We cannot afford 4 more years of Cheney-inspired administration/ destruction. And they WILL try to steal it again by using multiple methods, so please don't call your fellow Democrats kooky when they ask you to pay attention to little dribs & drabs vote stealing.

We were lucky to have Veruschka

Veruschka! I was lucky to have her as a teen paging through Vogue... And Penelope Tree... And Marisa Berenson... We were lucky to have such exotic bohemian icons... And if you can picture her too, let's talk. Wasn't that fun? Where the fashions were as wild as wild could be-- challenging us to imagine frocks nearly as wild... Tokyo Teen TCK-- it was Vogue and Veruschka all the way...

So Dan, if you were accused of a crime,

On The Verdict on MSNBC tonight, Dan Abrams was talking self righteously against the lawyer who opposed the overturning of the prohibition of the death penalty for child rape. The lawyer had complained rather roughly that allowing the death penalty meant he'd have to grill the victims. Dan was self-righteously slamming his colleague for telling the truth.

So Dan, if you were accused of a crime, you wouldn't want your lawyer to do his utmost to prove your innocence? You wouldn't want him to grill your accusers and see who had put them up to it and seek out the actual perpetrators?

We don't want to expand the number of sentences of death that can't be undone for the small percentage of real human beings that are falsely convicted. You should be defending your fellow lawyers in this, Dan, not sneering at them for doing their best. Or even talking about it so boldly. Why not? He got us talking about how dangerous the ultimate penalty can be because it cannot be undone when exculpatory evidence comes to light four years later. No reshoots. So it's a wavy LOSE arrow for you on this issue tonight. Way too self righteous and Nancy Grace like.

The more fascinating angle to share your technical expertise with us on would have been-- my uncouth colleague has jabbered uncouthly about a complex problem-- leveling the ultimate penalty for emotionally disturbing crimes against children. The primary witnesses to those crimes have already been traumatized by the events themselves, and you are bringing them into a courtroom wherein their alleged assailant faces execution if their stories are proven correct. A responsible attorney cannot let their accusations go unchallenged.

But challenging that evidence further traumatizes the children, therefore, flexibility in penalties is a necessary tool to protect the maximum number of people. The judge who has seen thousands of cases can assess penalties and conditions that best serve all the parties directly involved. Delicate yet highly traumatic crimes require expert handling, not the bludgeon that is the death penalty mandated by an abstract authority.

I thought we had been gradually conducting lots of little Truth & Reconciliation sessions with the Innocence Project and DNA, freeing many who had been wrongly convicted after years of languishing in prison. Thought we had been working up to acknowledging the horror of having falsely imprisoned and even executed thousands of people so that we would want to never do that again.

But I thought habeus corpus would never die. And I thought we'd love our troops enough never to practice torture because it would surely rebound upon them. We also had seen our reputation for refraining from torture shorten many battles by inviting surrender sooner. They knew we'd hold them humanely until the war was over.

Ah well, sometimes those comic book graphics get to you and you go all melodramatic righteous, when you could explore more legal subtleties with those of us sticking it out to see how your hour progresses.

McCain may have Embraced Bush

But he didn't inhale.

Music in My Village? Ali Farka Touré

What music would be playing in my village square? Guitarists from Mali -- Ali Farka Touré, Habib Koite and others. I feel most at home when each instrument plays different yet complimentary rhythms and melodies. I like the languid pace of the Malian music as the hometown favorite. But I also love Latin rhythms, especially Cuban, mixed in with jazz.

I adore polyrhythmic music probably because Dad loved calypso and I grew up overseas and my brother loved music also. Chinese opera every Sunday in Taipei. Festival folk music at our local shrine in Tokyo. Family favorite was a Calypso Christmas. Brother learning blues guitar from the USA -- Blind Lemon Jefferson, Big Bill Broonzie. Then Motown from the USA. Indian music in Hong Kong. Friend's dad from New Zealand had the fabulous jazz collection. Loved Coltrane in high school. Met Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton when they came through Hong Kong. British bands were big too. Then college and KJAZ on the radio from LA while I wrote my poetry. Then Burmese music on vacations home. Then back to Tokyo and Hiru no Minyo ethnic show on the radio, and friends of world music at Apsaras Café. And my dancer friends reintroduced Balinese music and Indian music. Then got to sing some blues with a band there. Unlucky Woman. Evil Gal's Daughter. Soul Man. Then those friends also started up a samba carnavale in Tokyo that went from a disco in those days and spilled out into the streets a few years after I left.

Was given a cassette of Hamza El Din and adored it. Memorized all the songs. Actually got to meet Hamza when he first visited Tokyo. When we met I said "Hamza-- that's the same name as my favorite musician, Hamza el Din." And it was indeed him. Quite a thrill. Very kind man. Stayed on in Japan to add the shamisen to his repertoire.

Also loved a cassette of Lamine Konte playing the kora.

Came to love African music after returning to the USA this time. Grabbed some Nigerian music by chance, Captain Ebeneezer Obey, and got to see him and his 10 guys at the Fillmore years ago. That was quite exciting. Liked them and Touré Kunda. Then saw a Malian film at the SF Intl Film Festival over 15 years ago and loved that music and sought it out.

Got to see Ali Farka Touré play in San Francisco and danced down in front with Flame.

How do I Love Thee, Jasbir Jassi ?

Most cinematic bhangra ever --AKH MASTANI by Jasbir Jassi. Listening to the tunes one can picture different segments of an Indian village movie--- paths, trees, sunniness... Jassi is a classically trained Punjabi singer who has brought tribal roots into modern pop music. Handsome fellow who also loves photography. His website is lovely but another Punjabi music site has more of his clips,, so I've linked that above. But they don't show my favorite album. He has lots of exciting songs, though, that treasure the village elements.

Paul Mooney -- American Rakugo

I loved rakugo, Japanese comedy monologuing making ample use of facial expressions, practiced by comics celebrating their quirks. Big ears. Long face. And such. And yet, some of those comics are very handsome but know how to use their faces to create thousands of Kabuki masks... Their faces add many dimensions to their comedy. I thought Paul Mooney did that. Along with excellent writing. Loved the portraits I saw.

It's All About the Hunting, this Recycle Shopping

I've hunted up hundreds of fabulous jewels, and suits, and books and textiles and household goods that others have given away. I think I'm recycling, but are we enabling by giving goods a second life? Second and third, I recycle the recycled as well.

But I mean that the sport of recycled shopping is all about the hunt. Never sure whether you'll find exactly what you need, so you adapt to that which you find and find more that is ever so charming or useful or quirky and humorous somehow.

For this Escaped Nun, the objects are the dear friends. Those who created these things and floated them around in their circle before taking the treasures down to the local thrift shops. And the shopping itself is something of a sport. The custom is to pat oneself on the back when a treasure is found-- so if I'm low, it's a quick hit. Good consumer. Well done. Great selection. Those are the operative phrases, employed on TV shopping to boot. I find the TV items second hand on eBay. Don't know if scanning would be considered a sport -- guess that would be a kind of video game.

The Boutiques of Bohemians, our thrift stores are. I see my fellow hunters in their unorthodox enchanting attire here and there on our bus routes. Boho shops for older generations. We take our chances and have accumulated more inventory.

There's much more to say in this category. Will augment in time.

Virtual Remote Control Conversations in Multiple Universes

I've been over at the other one, you see. Can't keep up the simultaneous virtual chatter it seems. Diving in here or hopping about over there. Here we are to review how the new experiences unfold. How these new worlds of self disclosure feel as I unravel within them.

I'm still slow at dashing off opinions in a repartee. While I'm thinking of how best to word a particular response, the thread has proceeded several stages hence. I drop my line and dash away and return minutes later to check for replies to reply to. I think the 1000+ posters rattle the text out there and may keep a few threads going on different browser tabs.

I've almost reached 500 posts over there. Snuck a lot of them into existing threads. That made me feel safer but I still agonized over this wording or that. Even though I'd be tucking a comment into a thread that would slink beneath the horizon. Limited self disclosure under an assumed name making me quake like that. Must seem odd to the I.M. kids.

Say I.M. to me and the next word is Pei -- you must mean the architect.

But really they've probably got a couple of IM windows flashing even as they toss comments into the pool on one blogsite and the next.

Mudslinging in a Virtual City I Love

I had decried the HRC team's race baiting in a virtual city I love and gradually became aware of another kind of slur being slathered about -- anti-Appalachian snickering and classist slander, showing pictures of poor people, laughing at their attire and lack of teeth. A tad creepy to have the perfect healthy lovely ones slandering the chronically depressed. So I slipped some comments into the site and a fellow denizen quoted my words beneath a brazen thread title of their own. And said they hoped I didn't mind. Here's my reply.

Actually I was sort of shocked by the headline you used. I get afraid that our internal squabbles will be picked up by unfriendly sites. So calling out the controversy with such a bold headline would not have been my choice. I'll tuck my critiques into ongoing discussions. Because I'm embarrassed to see fellow democrats slinging stereotypes at one another. Tried not to notice that before. Sorry to learn it's an ongoing trend. Hope it's just a temporary aberration. Hope we can shake it off. Si se puedes !

I thought we were at least trying not to insult one another as people, but to debate various means of reaching our shared ideals. I thought more of us Democrats would have read or heard the stories collected by Studs Terkel of great American characters and heroes from all across our country. They'd know there are Democrats in all kinds of terrain and communities that share our aspirations. That we have a lot of in common that we want to get on with -- we share the need to address environmental and public health care emergencies and to shape more efficient self-defense services, less privatized, more accountable to the people, and more actively respected for their service. And we all want funding for the arts – each community has its own musical heritage to cherish. We know we’ve all got to wise up quickly together to address major problems we ourselves have created and to fashion less destructive ways of being.

Joking about other cultures is an art it takes comedians years to perfect -- and that usually happens after they've learned to love certain aspects of each culture they mock. It's almost self-deprecating then, because they've listened enough to empathize with the group they're teasing. I saw Robin Williams live recently and that's what he had managed to do. Brilliantly teasing many cultures yet showing threads of admiration for each throughout his routines. Shimmering.

Careless callous bullying is no fun at all. I want to say -- Cut it out guys. There are people all over who are quite wonderful. Yes, there are the opposite. But we need friends all over. Let's look for them. Much more fun! Si se puedes.

Five Funny Females-- Fun and Fab Friday night

Susan Alexander put together a fabulous show of at the Purple Onion Friday Night. I saw the 8pm show. Hard to read the names of the comics on the teeny ticket. She really assembled a wonderfully diverse group -- great mix of styles ! I'll look them up and update this post.
Susan Alexander, MC was first. Then pint-sized Lilibeth Helson, joking about her height and cross cultural issues as part Japanese-Filipina-African American. She did some great impressions of her mom, too. Then tall, slim, very pale Caitlin Gill did a great low key self deprecating yet empowering routine. Then plus sized rosy white Millenial Chris Burns joked about being a recovering anorexic, who had done social work here and in Africa. Then Dhaya jumped onto the stage in her boys' dept. jeans and joked about being a pint sized egghead Indian American, and their image among US minority groups. I didn't realize Engelbert Humperdink was Indian; she asked us to imagine how embarassed to be Indian he had to be to hide out with that name. Then the brassy and totally fun Dana Lovecchio joked about a whole range of topics, including being Italian American. She did the longest set, as the one with the most experience, I think.

My Elite are Better Than Your Elite

Republicans want elite to mean -- YOU TALK PERTY.
GWB from Kennybunkport, legacy admission to Yale, moved to Texas, threw on a cowboy hat and talked regler and folks wanted to have a beer with him. So he wasn't a damn elite. Got it? He was guvner but that's cuz people liked him. Just don't show your college and you'll do okay

What makes someone elite? Apparently not your circumstances, like GWB of Kennebunkport.
Throw on a cowboy hat and talk kinda reglar like and you're there. The Beer Guy !! Talk nice with lots of syllables and you're a damn elite !

Is Alito an Elito ?

How elite do you have to be to call your opponents The Nattering Nabobs of Negativism? Elite denizen William Safire gave the phrase to Spiro Agnew to say. Those were the old Republican days. The new days came along with Grandpa RayGun promising wealth would trickle down if revenue were transferred to the SuperRich. When nothing trickled down and jobs were shipped out and some big unions were busted, the new anti-elite movement was born. Got resentments? The elite did it. Their damn programs for the damn poor. Gotta cut those programs to fund the attacks on those elitist liberation theologists in Central and South America. Gotta get the Polish Pope to condemn those liberation theology proponents-- too elite for the peasants? (And the Pope did it by the way.)

Think tanks were created to encourage attacks on intellectuals and to promote miraculous thinking. Life is broken somehow-- pray for a miracle. Defund government then curse its inefficiency as an affliction foisted upon the regular people by the damn elite. Too cool !!

And don't forget how Newt Gingrich taught modern Republicans to use language and distributed word lists for their use. (Here's an excerpt. Find the FULL STORY with the famous word lists at : http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1276)

In fact, the new speaker of the House--who once described his goal as "reshaping the entire nation through the news media" (New York Times, 12/14/94)--has given a great deal of thought to the media and how to manipulate them. One Newtonian axiom is "fights make news." (Boston Globe, 11/20/94) Another skill he has taught to Republican candidates through his political organization, GOPAC, is how to create a "shield issue" to deflect criticism:

"A shield issue is just, you know, your opponent is going to attack you as lacking compassion," a GOPAC training tape advises. "You better find a good compassion issue where, you know, you show up in the local paper holding a baby in the neonatal center, and all you're trying to do is shield yourself from the inevitable attack."

But the clearest expression of Gingrich's philosophy of media came in a GOPAC memo entitled "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control." Distributed to GOP candidates across the country, the memo's list of words for Democrats and words for Republicans was endorsed by Gingrich in a cover letter: "The words in that paper are tested language from a recent series of focus groups where we actually tested ideas and language." Next time you hear Gingrich complain about media focusing on the negative, refer back to these lists.

McCainy is Not McSame -- McShame Perhaps

What McCute or McCursed Name shall we use?

• I've been trying to push McCainy, to echo the sound of Cheney, but it doesn't seem to be catching on. Maybe too many people know the VPs name is really pronounced Cheeneey?
• McSame is used to promote the understanding that he will bring four more years of war profiteering and wealth transfer to the top.
  
• But McSame is no longer the same old McMaverick, as we progressive news seekers know. We've swapped clips of him saying "A" today and "Z" last week. But the Big 5 Media Corporations wish to retain that old branding, so if we use McSame, are we not furthering their wish that he be perceived as remaining aboard the same Straight Talk Express? (Love Obama's regular use of references to that train's deraililng. That definitely needs repeating. Off the track, off the track, off the track... )
• What do you suggest? John InSane? John McBane?
  

>>>>>>> COMMENTS IN THE McLAME ARENA <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

McCainy is DEFINITELY NOT McSame as He Was Before. The corporate news media are clinging to the Y2K edition of McCainy-- the maverick opposed to GWB. THey'd better check out the upgrade-- it is very different. He has changed his tune in many profound ways and the country does not have time to proceed on the destructive course the new McCainy supports.

Arianna Huffington has listed many of the changes in position McCain has made since his "maverick" days in this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/what-j...

He flatly denies making certain statements that we actually have on video tape. He's a Win At All Coster too.

Someone said Dems would have to rely on ageist slurs to attack McCain and I replied: Too silly-- there's lots more bad material to use against him. He has flip flopped against a lot of what he declared to be his main principles. Yes, the consolidation of media ownership has made it harder to cut through the biased TV news reporters who still promote the false "maverick" image, but we can do it. While McCainy's age will be a factor -- is that why he can't remember which is Suni vs. Shiite? -- The flip side of "same old same old" is a bright new future. We can't hang on to the old ways-- we need immediate creative solutions to very pressing international problems. The chameleon candidate who denies he made statements we have on tape and admits he doesn't understand the economy is the same guy who belonged to the notorious Keating Five. So we have ample material about a lot more than McCainy's age that will diminish his appeal.

No More Obliteration Ever Again Please

I joined the discussions of Senator Clinton's recent comments about being ready to "obliterate" Iran.

Are American students ever shown the effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, up close and personal? American students probably only see the abstract mushroom cloud photos of nuclear weapons. If all students had to understand what their nation had done to the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they would know on a deeper level how horrible Clinton's statement was. I believe German students are taught about the horrors the Nazi regime committed. And Japanese students learn about the Manchurian Massacre and other horrors committed by the Japanese imperial army, and they have had to fight against revisionist historians trying to "correct" their textbooks. But are our children shown the actual photos and given material to read from eyewitnesses to the devastation wrought when our government dropped "little" nuclear weapons that killed 100,000 civilians in two Japanese cities? Many students around the world have seen that destruction. Our students should see and understand what citizens of other countries know about what our nation has done. Just be aware of how intense such "obliterating" can be. Quite nightmarish.
>>> And another commentator reminded me that No, in fact, PBS ombudsman criticized journalist Moyers for not attacking Wright's criticism of the US attack on Hiroshima. AND Smithsonian (Gov't Museum institution) was forced to CANCEL an exhibit of the Enola Gay 50th anniversary at the Air and Space Museum because veterans groups and Congress threatened to fire all the curators for being anti-nuke. (They wanted to display the photos you mention and were silenced.)

Someone in another discussion reminded us that some countries have vowed to annihilate others. I reminded them that only the USA has ever done so and U.S. students should be shown clear photographic evidence of the effects of the little bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Those effects are not abstract to the Japanese people, or any international citizens who have looked over the photographs and read the accounts of witnesses to those little nuclear weapons the USA tested on the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That knowledge should be a part of every American student's education. It may just be that the Iranians have seen the actual gore that resulted from previous nuclear use by the USA. Those bombs killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians-- incinerating some and melting the flesh from the bones of others and serving up birth defects for subsequent generations. Here are some photos taken at the time http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/smalloy/atomic_tragedy/phot... .. Not an abstract awesome mushroom cloud photo from a nuclear test in the desert. The results of bombs dropped on urban centers that melted or incinerated the flesh of hundreds of thousands of people. The USA has done that. Over there. On those Japanese people. If a prominent US politician threatened your country with nukes and had already invaded a neighboring country under false pretenses, how would you feel?

I seem to recall minutes of silence on August 6th of every year, in which people came together to renew a shared commitment to be sure that there is No More Hi-ro-shi-ma, No More Na-ga-sa-ki... I am hearing that phrase repeated, as it is chanted in demonstrations here and in Japan. I remember moments of silence for that in San Francisco, too. Missed them recently. And I do remember the Enola Gay exhibitions being canceled at the Air & Space Museum. And I have encountered lots of Americans who seem to think those horrifying bombings should be irrelevant when considering what might be "the best goddamn country" in the world.

Pent Up Punditry Unleashed In a Little Urban Broadband Forest

Working at a dreamy ranch up north last week, I was away from my talky media-- my progressive radio, news and junk TV, so commentary pent up . Thus this week, amid frolicking with 3 old friends who passed through town, I had to share my spins with friends in a favorite urban forest of democratic chat. Mini-blogging, if you will. Doh-see-doh, don'cha see? Misc topics-- reply and fly. Have yet to start my own thread... Thus showing my age perhaps... Still shy... Not realizing the fabric has a very dense thread count when seen from a stepped back or up the branches. So one little reply will swim right by and not become the talk of the town, posted in the village square. My bon mots are static, man. Well, shimmering static, if you want a touch of glamour.

So, do I roll the topics out within this thread on the blog? Or add the snippets by topic-- that seems more logical. And may make friends' commenting easier, when I dare to share, and break that barrier. Restraint of self disclosure was once a necessary tool, then became overwrought when imbued with emotional mystery it really didn't need. Reasons for silence. To merely listen because thoughts change and to say something one later did not mean would be tantamount to treason? My goodness aren't our little thoughts just way too precious, then? Done shriveled on a velvet pillow? Withered in the damn lock-box, would you say? Do declare ! Or would ya probably not? And there you are being the perfect astrological sign to be torn by the tug of the illusive absolute truth and the joy of comedic banter with the world. Though dualistic tendencies are surely a part of our very DNA -- so much yin and yang out there.

I Didn't Hear the Whole New Set But Still

I didn't hear all the newest material, but some of the other "outrageous" stuff from the Reverend seems quite natural to me. Passionate, thought-provoking commentary, which we should be free to enjoy as we wish. The words are his, not his parishioner's. He's a great speaker, so sorry, I listened to a few of his talks. Will I be going to hell, then? The pushing of "the Wright issue" was sustained by the HRC camp. Had her troops allowed Obama's excellent talk on race to stand in all its beauty and left the Rev alone, he wouldn't have felt so galled that he needed to shout out in such a public way. But the Tanya Harding strategy required that Team HRC keep flipping the topic around, getting friends to keep dissing the Rev to taunt Obama. Had she already conceded, only the Wingnuts and Faux Newsies would be railing against the Rev, and he's used to that. But with Team HRC so concerned, saying "Gosh, he's got that Reverend problem and I don't know if the voters will accept that..." and stimulating media commentary in the topic, can you blame the Rev for wanting to cry out? It is quite repulsive to see that being done. HRC attacking her own party. Purely to win at all costs. And when she's going to lose anyway, it becomes all the more vomitocious.

Rev Wright at Detroit NAACP

The Reverend is a linguistic scholar (M.A.) and used that as a central theme in his speech to the NAACP dinner tonight in Detroit. Beautifully presented how we all need to learn, study and understand more of how different does not mean deficient. Blended left brain learning vs Right brain in his speech itself. He demonstrated thought constructs as well as musical thinking patterns. Showed us how we think differently. Invited us to look again at our differences and understand that different is not deficient. Tied that theme in with the NAACP dinner theme that A Change is Going to Come. He presented powerful examples of discriminatory, limiting educational labeling that resulted from left brain dominant people evaluating all others per their own Euro-centric paradigm. He showed that those so labeled actually had vast stores of their own knowledge, and ample brain power, just manifest in different ways.

His speech had lots of humor. But the talking heads are approaching it as a political instrument rather than a national sermon. That is awfully sad. To me it was more like a sermon on the topic of national values in a multicultural nation. Anyone who isn't an American Indian in the room right now is an immigrant.

I can understand Obama's attraction to the Reverend Wright's sermons. I also love excellent oratory and listen to all kinds of speakers I don't completely agree with. Even though I'm not a Christian or theist, I enjoyed the speech immensely.

Frozen Chicken -- Micro-catatonia

Begin brave, then regret was how I was characterized in a divination of sorts over 30 years ago, and dang me if it still don't hang true. Jump in, then skeerdy-freeze. Can there be degrees of catatonia? and darling, do I have the "in" new disease then? Do tell.

Well, as regards divination, that there Chinese dominant star thing, with the Unlucky in Love star formation appearing six times? (Perhaps just three.) Check. Done. Been there too. Great wealth in middle age? Pends on who's counting. Rather enormous in many respects; delicious ramshackle bohemian wonders. Check.

But decidedly cloistered. So disclosing this blogging is daunting and I may have jumped the gun. But lord have mercy one hopes it is but a canaryish call into the collective sea of dialogue swimming in a universe of shared sentiments and could be pictured as such, a byte of dust in a swirling universe of webs. Let it go, let it swim.

So what the shux, just keep on. Return to core -- that which I love and why.

Best GD Country

Tempest in a teacup, ridiculous ruckus raised in the corporate media over the Reverend Wright saying GD America in a sermon one day. Sorry folks, it is racist to be outraged at a reverend expressing anger toward a nation that enslaved the great-grandparents of many of his congregation. Is not a nation's official sanction of slavery outrageous and to be condemned?

And how about the many Americans who replied to my critiques of US foreign policy by blaring that the USA was the Best Goddamn Country in the World ? Their GD is just fine?

This here "best GD Country" has families going bankrupt due to medical expenses. In addition to its masses of historical offenses on a global scale.

Show me your McCains -- Moulting Penguins? Scrubbed down Oil Slick Ducks?

4/24 -- Discovering live comedy again has been great ! We are lucky to have so many cool venues and creative people sharing excellent material on life and our times. .. Have already seen and loved Tom Rhodes, Joe Klocek, Paul Mooney, and more -- Robin Williams tomorrow. Comedy Against Evil on Friday... Hope to see some McCain stuff trotted out -- I think of him like an odd penguin or Donald Duck's uncle or maybe that Leghorn cartoon. Some kind of paltry poultry...

4/25: Still hankering to see more Creepy Grampy McCain and issued a request to Comedy Against Evil -- described Grampy as a moulting penguin... perhaps a duck who's been severely scrubbed down after an oil spill... He does kind of waddle as he walks. Perhaps he has a bionic spine?

But let's not forget Grampy's salad days -- Hair slicked back, ruffled white shirt, turquoise satin blazer and black slacks-- on stage with the Keating Five. Can we do up the right doo wop tune, fellas? Something about loving bundles of cash, or bailing out my buddies behind the village bank?

Dazzling Robin didn't do much on Grampy last night... Is that just far too creepy a subject? -- Torture doesn't lend itself to laughs. I deeply flinch at casual Gitmo jokes. As a nation, we have dived (done dove) so far down that the cynics' buried idealism can't squeak out of the mountains of blood and guts piled up over the past 7 years. Too damn grimy... Habeus Corpus, my friend... How do we joke about that?... But shouldn't we ask Cainy, oh, I mean McCain, whether he was "coercively interrogated" or just plain tortured when he was a POW... Did he have water forced down this throat or was it more gently poured? How do you transition off of this bit ? ... Onto his disregard for the needs of veterans? Gee, that'll be fun...

Mike Malloy Sings My Lullabies

As our country slipped deeper and deeper into the destructive darkness of the Cheney administration's wanton war profiteering, Mike Malloy's rants became my lullabies.

I was reeling against the Bush candidacy from the beginning because I knew Mr. Cheney from before. I knew he pushed Trickle Down and War Up. Secretary of Defense pushes privatization of the military, then serves as head of the main contractor, and then, well I declare, there he is-- up for VP, so I was too chicken to vote Nader, even in our safe state.

Yet the nightmare came to pass, the USA chose the Frat Boy over the Geek because of the Beer Factor. Well, actually, I agree with Michael Moore that there was an arrogant coup d'etat and we were there -- spun and hoodwinked to the max. No US major media ran Greg Palast's reports on Florida vote caging before the election of 2000. Jeb told CBS the story wasn't true, you see...

So thank god Mike Malloy came onto my airwaves at bedtime on Green 960 (not called that at the time). He recommends War is a Racket by Smedley Butler. Love that title. I also still remember a talk by Seymour Melman on the Permanent War Economy, decades ago. Dear Mike Malloy saved my sanity as the Cheney administration pushed the country from horror to horror. Getting softie Dems to cave to the old cons-- golly ya gotta be bipartisan and such. As I was reeling and squirming and repulsed, Mike was too -- he knew I wasn't crazy having flashbacks-- dangerous criminals were definitely returning to seats of power and we should indeed be screaming. His ranting under my pillow was necessary and cathartic as our country violated each one of the tenuous bounds of civility it still upheld.

Mike remembers the cast of characters we have been watching for years. Excellent historical knowledge as a long time newsman informs all of his commentaries. Those who've been life long news junkies like me (Wanna come see my tapes of the BCCI hearings?) will appreciate his contextual awareness and come to love it.

Life Expectancy Falling -- Let Them Eat Cake

NOT A BIG SURPRISE -- WHEN MEDICAL CARE IS A FOR PROFIT INDUSTRY--
Push snacks and joke about boring vegetables and make sure consumers know that they deserve sweets. Snack and drive your cars to the gym and snack and golly why is there an obesity problem and snack and have some fries and a milkshake and some chips and some soda and discuss why your kids are fat and have some dessert (you deserve it). The snacks come with an added bonus-- more consumers for your prescription drugs. And they are a really special new group of consumers we call patients. Make 'em special, make 'em feel connected to their special subgroup with an up close relationship with their diseases-- gotta take care of MY cancer, MY diabetes, like their pets. Aw, have a snack. Have some soda. The country needs you. Gotta have more sick people. Make sure all the chemicals in our daily lives are evaluated separately-- then we can call them safe. Generally Recognized As Safe, GRAS, is the term. Avoid measuring interactions. Just process more and more food to make it more convenient-- "chop and drop into crock pot" was way too complex a recipe it seems, so now we have frozen, preserved and bagged crock-pot-ready concoctions to spare us that tedious chopping and thinking. And let's cram more chemicals into our skincare products too. Rub 12 chemicals with a dab of cucumber onto your skin to keep you young. Then you've got a great toxic soup that could lead to all kinds of conditions that we can prescribe a whole bunch of new pills for and then we can make pills to counteract the side effects of those pills and and and. Medical care is an exciting profit center and growth area (not just the tumors!) -- we can build the market base by feeding them cool super-seasoned easy food and drink and they're gonna pay for it all ! Heck, we even convinced them to use aluminum byproducts in their toothpaste and slather aluminum on their armpits to stop that nasty sweat-- what's a little brain damage if you've got those pristine teeth and dry armpits, eh? And as long as we keep conducting studies so aluminum toxicity is still "under debate," we'll be fine. Golly gee, if people like sugar and hate fiber, let them have it. That's the free market at work, building the medical consumer base. Gotta keep growin' the sickies, so let 'em eat cake before they serve society by taking their insulin shots for their diabetes. And hey, let's offer them free syringes.

Pennsylvania -- Grammatical Attack !

Lord Have Mercy -- HRC issued a grammatical challenge to us all -- changing Yes We Can to Yes We Will -- for God's sake !! Ay Caramba you gotta be kidding ! Let's all lie together -- Yes We Will Yes We Will -- I declare. Sounds tough and macho indeed but hey, what if what you all will just doesn't happen? Si Se Puedes says we still can, as long as we work together. I hope even more people will be drawn to join Obama to give Si Se Puedes the respect it deserves-- the dignity of Si Se Puedes, a beloved expression. Yes We Can -- a continually evolving dedication to results-- far more collaborative and creative than the bulldozing Yes We Will. Si se puedes if we all continue working together. Senator Obama says that in his speeches and has dedicated his life to that. Yes We Will is in the future. Yes We Can is an evolving now.

Dear Jim Hightower

Has the best book titles -- The Only Things in the middle of the Road are Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos -- was a previous favorite, and now it seems, he's got a new one that says Even a Dead Fish can Go With the Flow... The Hightower Lowdown was fun to receive and I should probably renew my subscription. Love Jim for taking time to point out success stories and the few battles that regular people win... http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/

I think it was Jim Hightower who sent me in search of colorful Southern expressions a few years ago. Right now the only one I remember is "Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit !" as an alternate for Well I declare.

Public Financing of Elections in Japan

Glad to hear that nerdy political posters are still up in Japan. Public financing just gives each candidate a standard sized poster for face photo and statement. Plain color background. Fences in certain areas are plastered with the posters around election time-- just geeky who's who. Not slick marketing and smear ads. Glad to know that is still the norm.