tin, steel and rust

My favorite/best tunes of 2010

2010-11-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

While compiling the list, I realized that I never bought/downloaded two of these ten songs. I have to list these two even though I did not like them enough to buy them because this woman is easily one of the best pop songwriters this year and, compared to her contemporaries, she seems most likely to have a long and varied career instead of just being a fad or known for being outrageous

Teenage Dream

Firework

Yeah, the above video is a little cornball, but it's a song that reflects her upbringing. The best writers write what they know.

Here are the other eight tunes which were made popular and/or released in 2010. First, the not-so-surprising:

Disturbed "Another Way To Die" -- The first single from their latest album, it's the rare Disturbed tune that does NOT feature singer David Draiman's signature growl. It's also got the most political lyrics Disturbed have ever written. The video is disturbing (no pun intended) while not featuring the band members directly.

Three Days Grace "Break" -- Only 8 lines of verse and just over 3 minutes, I have been playing this song for the entire year and am still not sick of it. I almost sang it at one of my church's fundraisers, but I just couldn't find the notes Adam sings in the chorus, even after buying the sheet music. Fortunately, I have as long as I need to find those notes and that odd sing/shout voice.

Linkin Park "The Catalyst" -- It's not the best song on the album; however, it was the first single from "A Thousand Suns". The album will have several more singles/videos through 2011 to enjoy and the album is one of those rare albums that really should be listed start to finish now and then instead of shuffling the tunes. This album best captures Chester's rock singing, Mike's hip-hop/pop sensibility (and showcases the vocal lessons he took in the last couple of years) and DJ Joseph Hahn ("Blackout" is something, I would imagine, could only be managed onstage by Mr. Hahn using everything he has to perform it)

From the "hmm . . that's interesting" list:

Gorillaz "On Melancholy Hill" -- The rare Gorillaz tune that doesn't feature a guest rapper and/or guest singer on "Plastic Beach". The video has to show up as a Best Video nominee at the penultimate music awards show whose nominees will be announced next week -- it rivals "Feel Good, Inc."

Eminem ft. Rhianna "Love The Way You Lie" -- It's not Eminem's usual introspection wrapped in violent word choice that grabbed me -- it was Rhianna's way of icily oozing out the chorus. Her choice of interpretation tells more about her struggles with domestic violence than perhaps she intended. Beautiful and chilling all at once.

Maroon 5 "Misery" -- Nice to have a pop band that plays actual instruments back on the scene after a many-year absence. Still can't listen to it without tapping some part of my body to the beat.

Cee-Lo "F**k You" -- Yeah, there's a clean version of the song called "Forget You". Forget it. This is a rare pop song that has earned the right to use the F-word that rhymes with truck as it just works better with the rest of the lyrics. Also, it's just great that a terrific singer who clearly grew up listening to Al Green and Marvin Gaye is doing as well as he is.

Finally, the song that may make your jaw drop:

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings "Better Things" -- OK, so 2010 was as good a year for hard rock as it was for classic soul/R&B sounds for me. Here's a fun, live-version of the song. Great singer, great band and it's well worth your time exploring your favorite audio or video posting site finding other cuts from their albums.

Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow and, if you buy any/all of these songs, the holidays will be a little bit better. Or, at least you can throw on the earbuds/headphones and crank it up when the family arguments begin ;-)

Everything old is new again

2010-11-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

I know I have received this e-mail before. This e-mail was dated yesterday from "Amy Smith" with an AOL e-mail address as a "reply-to" address. It's quick to become a classic "scam" e-mail.

Pointer to employers for November 10, 2010

2010-11-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a job listing I found while pouring over job listing e-mails earlier today:

There are a couple of good things about this posting:

I could forward my resume through the job listing website -- I did not have to apply through a third-party website.

The pay seemed reasonable given the job description.

My advice, unsolicited though it is, would be to avoid having someone who is not proficient in writing in English create and post job openings. I have read quite a few postings using the syntax in the above advertisement that, when I read a new one written in the same style, my first thought is "Scam!".

That said, with 12.5% unemployment in my state and me being without the second job, I sent my resume in using the job posting website, not the employer's website. I also removed my physical address and home phone number. I'll post a reply, if I get one, from this mystery company. Until then, here was how the job looked from the e-mail I received. And, yes, each Customer Care Representative position listed points back to the same job description above.

A Christian, hard-rocking gay man

2010-10-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

While this blog was always intended to be filled with posts under a pseudonym (Metalhead39), the use of a pseudonym does not make the person I am any less real. My first and last name has no bearing on the story, though I can say I never experienced hatred, name-calling nor any sort of physical or emotional abuse because of my ethnicity and gender. I wrote this post as a way to give some teenager or 'tween' someone to identify with, especially in light of multiple suicides successfully committed by several boys in recent weeks.

The first time I spoke the phrase "I'm gay" to anyone happened when I was 18 years old. If that was the beginning of the story, this would take a lot less time to write. Within months of my official coming out, I met others who identified as gay or lesbian. I have known maybe one or two bi-sexual people and only know male-to-female transgendered people (though I may well know female-to-male transgendered people and they have not 'outed' themselves to me yet).

The story starts in the mid 1970's when I started Kindergarten in Wyoming. Within my first year at elementary school, I knew I was different from other boys. When on the playground, I sought out the company of and preferred playing with girls. Though thin through my college years, I was always the slowest runner, only played one season of soccer and, except for the typical child's outdoor games, avoided joining any sports organization until college, when I rediscovered my love of bowling.

I was skipped a grade ahead from 2nd to 3rd grade. This made me the youngest and the shortest child in every class until puberty started early in 9th grade. Growing to six feet tall shut a lot of mouths!

I did reasonably well in school, though soon learned that being extra smart led to being singled out. As much as any parent wants the most educational challenges for their bright children, children seek to keep their peers at their level. I first learned the power of teasing and bullying somewhere in 2nd grade and it started with bullying from girls. Yes, that fits a stereotype for a boy who is destined to grow up gay; however, I did not know the stereotype existed as a child.

I cannot recall the first time I heard the word "faggot" pointed at me. I cannot even recall how many times I was called "faggot", "fairy", "queer", or any of the other derogatory words for gay. I also cannot recall the number of times I returned the insult with the very same word ("faggot", "fairy", "homo", etc.) or how those whom I insulted felt as I tried using words to defend myself. High school and, especially junior high where the bullying was most intense, was over 25 years ago. I have long since accepted apologies from those who offered them to me for the way I was treated. I have also offered apologies for those to whom I redirected that rage, anger, confusion and self-hatred and I pray that those who needed to hear an apology from me took it as sincere. All of the negative feelings I had as a 'tween' and a teenager rose up as quickly in me as a grade-school volcano lava flow as I followed news of these multiple suicides.

When puberty started, I would fantasize as I explored my ever-changing body about what sex would be like with someone. The fantasies, try as I might to shape them, always involved only men.

The only gay men I ever knew were those few guys at school who were very effeminate. Even though they were in school, they never came out to me. In the mid-eighties, the Internet was something that was 'nerds-only' and consisted of Windows/DOS computer language screens with squaking modems connecting nerds to a network of bulletin boards. No FaceBook, Twitter or a search engine into which I could search for "gay". Not even a way to find other gay teens in the state or country was available to me.

Even if electronic communication was possible back then, I still could not identify myself as gay because:

My high school years were spent living in a very conservative part of the country.
I tried dressing in women's clothes one time to see if I felt more comfortable. I only wound up feeling more confused and swearing to myself I would never do any such thing again. The clothing never permitted me to express a different side of myself because that side never existed.
While I was never a big sports fan, I never enjoyed the typical girl games/activities.
While I could appreciate and sometimes enjoy groups like Duran Duran, Culture Club and the Pet Shop Boys, I was (and always shall be) a devoted metalhead. On my very first radio played The Who, Aerosmith, Steve Miller and Led Zeppelin. My uncle got me into Rush and I formed a special connection with all things heavy metal/hard rock.
I was very comfortable (and still am somewhat) referring to people as "dude"
For the most part, my speaking voice was mid-range for a guy. No lisp and/or high-pitched, fast-talking feminine-like patter came out of my mouth. Once I came out, I began exploring that part of the culture and, now and then, let the "grrrrl" tone of voice come out.

A few months after I came out, I started going to Sunday evening youth group meetings at the county's Gay & Lesbian center. While there were plenty of effeminate men sashaying about, I also met men who were more masculine than many of the straight men I knew as well as those who "picked and chose" their likes and dislikes without regard to the stereotypical gender roles.

I had thought plenty of times as a teenager of killing myself. Blessedly, I never formed a plan to do this. I could not imagine any method of suicide that did not involve pain, stealing something illicit to complete the act or some way of doing the deed and not having my mother be racked with pain for the years to follow. At times, it was a minute-by-minute decision to not kill myself fueled only by my greater fear of causing my mother psychological harm from which she might never have recovered.

I never spoke with a therapist/psychologist and/or psychiatrist as a child. I knew of no "peer" of mine nor a teacher or other trusted adult to whom I could visit and figure out someway of reconciling my burgeoning sexuality with my personality. The only person I knew who would have accepted me even as a mess of confusion lived clear across the country.

I even have a Bible, given to me as a child, in which I underlined and highlighted passages which purport to talk about homosexuality as a sin. It was not until my early twenties that I learned many of those passages were translated only after choosing one interpretation of the original text as it best fit the popular culture (and, in some cases, the reigning King) of the times. Before then, however, I had resigned myself to the same mantra many LGBTQ people did regarding their own religion: if I am destined to be damned to Hell upon my death, I will make my life on this earth as best as possible until my final breath.

To any gay, lesbian, bi-, trans or queer/questioning youth reading this post, my message is that I, like your gay brothers, lesbian sisters, fellow bi-'s and the trans community, know deep in my heart that your emotional battles are waged day to day, hour to hour and even minute to minute while you are convinced you are the only combatant in a war where everyone else has declared themselves your enemy.

When those feelings surface -- write them down, post them on your blog (anonymous, if you like), find any adult whom you trust will listen and speak to them, paint a picture, write a song, take a walk, eat an apple, send a postcard to PostSecret or even play with the family pet. Dogs, cats, hamsters, snakes, frogs and birds are never judgmental and only offer unconditional love, even if it's just in the form of curling themselves around you.

You are even welcome to reply to this post. I always have a link to The Trevor Project, which runs a 24 hour, 7 day a week help line with a toll-free number so that phone number won't appear on your parents' phone bill.

I don't want to lose one more child/young adult to a bully, even if you have become your own worst bully.

Seth Walsh, California Teen Who Endured Gay Taunts, Commits Suicide

2010-09-30T11:49:00.001-07:00

If you see yourself in this teenager's story, please seek help as soon as possible. Here's a good place to start: http://www.thetrevorproject.org.

I am grateful to have made it through my teen years with all of the taunting, having forgiven my taunters. These stories, though, still bring tears to my eyes.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

In the "if it walks, talks and quacks like a . ." department

2010-09-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all of those "employers" who showed all manner of restraint in not sending e-mail direct to me offering me a "too good to be true" type of job for the past eight days.

I'll reward you by posting the one I received today from Jennifer Simmons (it doesn't really matter what the name is, btw):

For an administrative job, which would pay between $10 and $18 an hour (depending on experience, type of industry, location, etc.), an offer for a job that starts at $40.00 sounds just so amazing.

So amazing, in fact, because it is most likely a scam. Yeah, these sorts of things can be reported to authorities, I suppose, but this post is really for those who are unsure about whether this sort of e-mail is legitimate or not.

If it walks, talks and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. Quack!!

Continued advice to job opening companies

2010-09-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

I did not 'screen capture' the e-mail below because the typeface and size of font were so small, even I had to squint with bright lights on to read it. Here is a little advice to start with when trying to communicate with potential job applicants: use a font size and style which is easy to read for the vast majority of applicants.

Here's the text of the e-mail (personal info about me and the name of the job posting site have been removed):

From the Desk of Raaa Baaaaa, President of Sales and Marketing, (name of company), Inc.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

metalhead39
123 Main St

Anywhere, California (they did not add a Zip Code. My first clue that the site was created by someone outside of the U.S or Canada)

Hello metalhead39,

I am sending you this letter because you are a highly qualified Customer Service professional with over 17 years experience who may be currently seeking a better job opportunity. I'd like to introduce you to (company name and link to their site). I'm sure you realize a resume that matches your skills to the requirements of a job is one of the main keys to getting hired. Writing a resume is very stressful and time consuming. Writing a resume that contains all the right elements for each job application can be virtually impossible for even the most qualified job candidate.

(uh, resume writing is not rocket science. Any job seeker in the last 10 years can write a resume with career/industry specific language)

I'm sure you already know that the first person to read your resume will not be a person.

I'm sure you know that the Recruiting Software logic of an Applicant Ranking and Tracking System (ATS) program must approve your resume before a real person will ever read your resume.

I'm sure you realize that if your resume is rejected by the ATS program, it will never be read by a hiring manager.

Yes! One word will make a difference.
You can be one word short of a better job.
You can be one word short of a better paying job.
You can be one word short of a more fulfilling job.

(so far, the awkward grammar and repetition of subject/predicate tells me I'm not talking to a person who is fluent in American English)

The days of the one-size-fits-all resume are gone. If you are seriously seeking employment, you must update your resume for each job you apply for. (grammar police alert!) You have undoubtedly noticed that the posted job requirements for your position have become much longer and much more detailed. (they have not) Human Resource Department personnel and Hiring Managers use ATS programs to eliminate applicants with resumes that are not an exact match to a job description.

Finding the correct combination keywords, action verbs, and objective phrases for the job you are seeking is too often like searching for a needle in a stack of needles. (nice attempt at tweaking a metaphor, but the metaphor does not need tweaking)

Obviously every word in a job description is not a keyword. Blindly injecting every industry term from a job description into your resume may get you past the ATS program. But it will not get past the first real person to read your resume. Overloading a resume with too many buzzwords and too much industry jargon is a sure way to land your resume in the wastebasket.

Recruiters, consultants and advisors tell you to search the web and employer job postings sites. Manually researching all the job posting sites for each job you apply for is very impractical. It is a total waste of time if the employer is no longer accepting applications by the time you complete your research. (in my experience, if the employer is not taking applications, the link to the job posting disappears and the job seeker is told as much) (Our company) has already done this for you.

It is clear that having a tool to assist you to get the right job is a major investment in your career. If you are currently seeking a new or better job (our company) is the tool you need. (yes, the comma between 'job' and the company's name was missing).

Metalhead39, I have read your resume. Your qualifications for a better position are very impressive. However, your skill set does not include professional resume writer. (aww. I'm hurt. 99.5% of job seekers don't write resumes for a living; however, when one's mortgage, food and sundries money is on the line, one becomes fairly prolific and prosaic pretty quickly). You can spend hours and even entire days writing and updating a resume for a job application. However, if your resume does not contain what the screening software logic wants, you will not be considered a candidate for the position.

Visit our website (link to the website) to see how (the company's name) will help you get the job you deserve and why (the company's name) is the Must Have Tool for Job Seekers in the Digital Age. (where do I start with grammar and punctuation rules on this one?)

You Have the Skills to Do the Job!
You Need a Tool to Get the Job!

Sincerely,

Raaa Baaaaa
President of Sales and Marketing
(the company name)

(the company) has a strict NO SPAM policy. (perhaps they mean the spiced, canned ham popular in Hawaii?)
You have received this e-mail because you signed up at our website or posted your resume with an affiliated job seeker assistance service.
If you no longer wish to receive future newsletters or emails from (the company), click on the Unsubscribe link below.
Unsubscribe

(the company name).
PO Box 213333, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33421

So, they can't abbreviate California, but the Postal Abbreviation for Florida is readily available along with a PO Box? If you want to view this company's website, the address starts with 'www.', then starts with 'resume' and ends with a word rhyming with 'rapper' which could be synonymous with a cartographer. Ooh, and don't forget the ".com" at the end. If there was any doubt of the legitimacy of this site, a visit to it without me typing in any of my info ground the doubt into the dust. I could not find any individual person's name or photo anywhere in the site. The photos used are photos that are 'stock photos' one can purchase on-line and use in one's website. Though the service costs $49.00 (not bad for this type of service), my bet is that no one ever just gets $49 taken from them.

hallelujah

2010-09-13T11:08:00.001-07:00

From last night by my iPhone. A different side of me.

Pointers to employers, part 2

2010-09-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Two "phishy" e-mails in two days. I feel so . . lucky? The e-mail below was sent after I received three other e-mails almost like it. See if you can spot what makes this one a scam:

1) Be sure the city in which the job is located is spelled correctly throughout your e-mail (it's Glendale, not Glandale as stated in the first paragraph.

2) Grammatical errors make these sorts of e-mails smell "phishy". In the first paragraph, find ". . "

3) "Will an interview be required? No". Really? Is this the sort of job where a human resources staffer with mind reading capabilities just stare at me for 60 seconds to determine if I would make a good match? Seriously, perhaps the statement just means that the employer uses some other means of determining who to hire. If this is the case, it is always best to sell as an employer what you feel is a more positive screening process instead of saying what you will not do.

4). The section below speaks for itself:

NO EMPLOYER EVER needs one's Social Security number in full unless they are doing a background check (which is rare - other info should suffice) or verifying one's citizenship status. If that is what the employer wants to do, that is what they should say they are doing and it only should be given in person once you are sure the employer is making a legitimate job offer to you (for the background check).

Have a laugh when you check out the site from which the e-mail was sent (it is in the signature section of the e-mail). No head shots can be found, no names of owners, founders, CEOs, etc., could be found either. Perhaps you'll have better luck -- just don't give any of your own info.

I'll keep my eye out for any more of these types of e-mails. Please let me know if you spot one yourself.

The 10 Highest-Paid CEOs Who Laid Off The Most Workers: Institute For Policy Studies (PHOTOS)

2010-09-01T11:56:00.001-07:00

Fun With Math: I took $598 million and divided this number by $40,000 (a ballpark guess at an average annual salary -- $30,000 in gross paychecks plus $10,000 in benefits). I come up with 14,950. This is how many employees that $598 million could compensated. I'll let you spread the 14,950 amongst the corporations. Sounds more like the layoffs were an excuse to lay off employees whom the corps thought were earning too much or who were destined to become pension qualified and/or 401(k) fully vested. How many gallons of milk, loaves of bread and other necessities does one CEO need? Couldn't any of these CEOs made the symbolic gesture of lowering their total compensation.

What happens when these 14,950 laid off employees figure out just what's going on?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Job search: a few pointers to potential employers

2010-09-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

I received this e-mail earlier today:

It seems that ZEOXMark LLC has a website. These folks also have the unfortunate distinction of being sniffed out as a scam. Click here for the report of this scam and user comments on the scam.

As a service to job seekers and legitimate employers, here are some things to review before e-mailing potential new hires:

1) Send the e-mail from your company's website, not a third-party server:

2) If the e-mail's composer does not speak English as a first language and speaks with a heavy accent, review that composer's e-mail for grammar, syntax, etc. The e-mail is an extension of your company's image. The more egregious the errors, the more the e-mail reeks of "scam".

From the main page, there is no request for a Social Security Number and/or bank account number. Good for you for having a little restraint.

As unemployment continues to be high, these sorts of train wrecks will continue. While finding, arresting and prosecuting scam artists of this sort is pretty unlikely, if we assume e-mails like this are scams before we provide private information, we can cut down the number of hits and dry up the supply of suckers.

Five days ago.

2010-08-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

Thirty three days ago, I was fired from one of my two full-time jobs. It was the better paying job, monetary-wise and health care benefits-wise; however, the 2 1/2 hour round trip commute and time away from my life partner were pretty big drawbacks to that job. So, for the past thirty three days, I have been one of the nearly 12 percent of Californians actively seeking a job.

The percentage above is taken from a sample. The government explains it more clearly that I can. I am not sure how exactly one tracks the "underemployed". In all honesty, my math mind falls apart at the merest mention of statistics that are any more complicated than Earned Run Averages. And the financial industry and insurance worlds of numbers? Duh . . derrr . .

So this post isn't about numbers. Liberals like me turn to folks like Nate Silver to make sense of the data. Conservatives have their own statisticians, too, though I'm out of my depth going there in this post.

It's not even about the search for a new full time job with benefits. With a four-year college degree and over 10 years (I'm not saying how far over) of work experience, the working world is like an English Garden where I just need to root around for that one "flower" that connects to me and vice-versa. My resume is posted on all the big job search sites, I apply for at least one job a day (if I was Spanish language fluent, I could double or triple that rate. Sadly, I could not ask for higher pay for that added skill. Another post for a blogger with a better perspective, perhaps?).

I have had only one legitimate job interview to date. The job opening for which I was interviewed was brought to me through a friend. I also have another possible opportunity through a friend of a friend, though the contact is affiliated with a temp agency. Still, it's pointless to dismiss anything out of hand before the agency/employer has the chance to pitch the job to me and field my questions about the job.

This long and winding post is, instead, about the other two times in the last thirty three days on which I strapped on a tie, polished my shoes and strutted out the door with resume, smartphone and business portfolio in hand.

It's disgraceful to employers who post job opportunities to call these other two events "interviews". I'll describe the scenario and just how the experience makes someone with my business acumen feel afterward. I also write this as a cautionary tale to those who are called by these types of employers so that you are made aware of the difference between a standard job interview and the slickness I encountered.

Here's how to know you are walking into what is, essentially, a sales pitch.

1) When you walk into the office/suite, the music is played loud enough to qualify the space as a coffeehouse or a nightclub. Seriously, outside of retail outlets, who plays music through a stereo with speakers any more? Retailers only play music in their retail space for one reason - to slow and confuse customers so they may buy more of whatever the retailer is selling.

2) You have an appointment time, yet at least two other people are in the reception area completing applications and you are not sitting in an office rented by a temp agency.

3) You are introduced to more than two people working at the company, not counting the interviewer. This happened only at one of my two experiences and, for the most part, the "employees" confessed to having worked for the company for "only a short time". At the same time, steps 1 and 2 above continued for still more applicants.

4) The "interview" consists of 5 questions or less. When I interviewed people to bring into a Customer Service department or assisted a manager with hiring, I asked 10 questions minimum. I watched body language and eye movement, delay time between question and answer and whether the answer is spoken like intellectual conversation instead of community theatre rehearsal.

5) Your interviewer is watching anything but your body language, eye movement and or response time and tone to the questions asked. To be generous, perhaps the interview is just anxious to get to their "second interview" with "those select few" that the employer "feels are a best fit".

6) The second "interview" includes you and at least two other applicants.

7) The second "interview" includes a PowerPoint presentation, something that approximates an orientation movie or both.

8) In the presentation mentioned in items 6 and 7, the interviewer (oh, let's call him/her what they are -- salesperson) tells you all you could ever want to know about how the company makes its profit and how you drive how much you earn. While this sounds like the employer is telling you that you have applied for a sales position with commission, you are told when you are called for the "interview" that they are looking not for sales people, but people who are "customer service oriented".

9) You are told that upward mobility in the company is encouraged in the company. Also, part of that upward mobility depends on how many other people you can manage to "work under you". Managers at these companies receive a percentage of each employees' earnings for each widget made. Both of my experiences had to do with personal finances; however, the exact description of the service offered is not important to the post. However, if you have been in the work force even a few years, the challenge to see this arrangement for what it really is only mildly engages you.

Now, here is what I have not read much about: how the people "invited" to these "job interviews" feel after the above experience. The last one I went to was this past Thursday. I went to the "interview" only because my life partner got the call from the employer and he could not recall what type of position the employer wanted to fill. As it turns out, I had visited this employer almost two years ago and was treated to steps one through nine. As the first visit to that employer was "after business hours", the vibe was more nightclub than coffeehouse. I only needed to get within 20 feet of the front door before I heard the boisterous conversation through the drywall and realized what, for the second time, I was about to endure. I did something this past Thursday I have never done to any job interview before.

I turned around 180 degrees and quickly walked back to my car.

I then turned to a tried-and-true way of dealing with the feeling of being a commodity and not a person of worth: a weekday afternoon matinee at a neighborhood movie house. I stuffed the burn and disgust with a large popcorn and complicated, fantasy plotline. It took a few hours to stop feeling like an interchangeable cog in a massive machine.

It took me five days to write about it without all of the emotions I was feeling ending in a keyboard thrown through a screen or a pad of paper scribbled and torn to shreds.

Please don't let this sort of experience make you feel like you are nothing more than dollar signs to a faceless corporation. I went through it and came out the other side of that far wiser and just a bit more calloused.

Yet not defeated.

Facebook Blocks Ads For Pot Legalization Campaign

2010-08-24T12:40:00.001-07:00

Let's see. This story is already up to near 1200 comments. Some of us post the comments to our own blogs. Others read our blogs, etc. While I like Facebook just fine, it's not the only game in town as far as publication of information and opinion. Time and again, organizations with flexibility and open-mindedness flourish while those who sink their proverbial heels into the sand are doomed to sink in that sand and fall to the wayside. I'm looking forward to November's vote on legalizing marijuana use and how it will change California's economy.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Big story of the day somewhere that isn't the U.S.

2010-08-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

Not too surprising that news websites based in the U.S. tend to talk about news in the U.S. more often than news happening outside our borders. While it's tempting to focus inward and ignore what happens outside of our front door, it's usually benefits us to be aware of what happens outside the front door to our house/apartment because, sometimes, those outside events begin to affect what happens inside our homes.

Here's what tops one news site now in southeast Asia:

and what tops another site's southeast Asia page. You'll have to trust that the screen grabs were done within 2 minutes of each other:

One site leads the lists with how the Asian markets are performing while the other leads with what is being said is needed to help those affected by ongoing flooding in Pakistan. It's not that difficult to tell whose website leans toward the conservative end and which leans liberal.

I've even tried going outside my figurative front door to see what is truly an important news story. I now know I am not immune

to the trivial and inconsequential in a news site. Be that as it may, I think the third site with the silly story gets closer to what the truth of what we all should know as we go about our day-to-day:

9 Signs Your Husband Is GAY, According To ChristWire.org (PHOTOS)

2010-08-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

Had to look at the original post. I don't think the christwire version is satire. It's worth a look for the full context, but the HuffPo version is way funnier !
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

How The Unemployment Crisis Has Swept Across America (VIDEO)

2010-08-17T13:57:00.001-07:00

it's like watching a viral infection spread. Perhaps contacting the CDC for guidance on how to reverse this as an "outside the box" suggestion for turning this around ?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Steven Slater, JetBlue Flight Attendant, Curses Passengers, Jumps Down Emergency Chute, Becomes Folk Hero (UPDATES, VIDEO, PHOTOS, POLL)

2010-08-11T09:19:00.001-07:00

I've worked in customer service over 15 years. I have listened to drunks, people as high as kites and those who are way more angry and frustrated then their presented problem deserves. 95 times out of 100, these people are drunk/high/angry/frustrated at something well before they get to me. Working in Call Centers all of this time, I had one more tool than the flight attendant had: I can place those customers on hold and collect myself. It is rare, but I have told customers who cannot calm down that I have had "incompetent" employees fired (though no employee was fired) and have offered to accept a return on merchandise though the customer didn't ask for it just to get them to calm down. On some, it works and my employer never had to deal with those miserable customers again. On others, nothing I did or said calmed them down. I pray the attendant's family situation is resolved, he can get some help for himself and, one day, he may return to the job he loves.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A world away fairly close by

2010-07-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

(h/t to Jesus' General for the link to the story below)

A controversial intersection of politics, religion and the 4th of July happened earlier this month in Hyrum, UT:

The Hyrum City Council is being criticized for allowing the closing prayer at the city's Fourth of July program to be given in Spanish.
[. . .]
Maria Montalvo, of Hyrum's Church of God Ebenezer, asked if the prayer could be offered in Spanish and translated into English.
"She does speak some English, but she was uncomfortable with standing in front of everyone and speaking English," Miller said. "She asked if we would mind if she did it in Spanish, and we didn't see that there was a problem with that as long as it was translated."
The decision has been criticized as unpatriotic and wrong in a flurry of recent letters to the Logan Herald Journal. One letter, from LaVon G. Hanson, a World War II veteran from Logan, called for the city council to be "impeached and sent to Mexico."

The article continues by saying that the prayer offered in next year's July 4th celebration won't be in Spanish.

I had all sorts of questions after reading this. First, where is Hyrum, Utah and who was likely in the crowd at that celebration that might have been unnerved by the bi-lingual pronouncement. A quick search finds Hyrum about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City surrounded by the mountains and trees of the Cache National Forest. Another quick search finds the Census Bureau figuring roughly 12% of the state's population is of Hispanic/Latino origin.

I'm still mystified as to what is to be feared by praying out loud in Spanish anywhere in Utah, let alone in Hyrum. Then again, I'm afraid of flying. I can trace my fear to a very turbulent commuter flight I took as a teenager. In spite of a lot of study into the physics of flying, the design of jet engines, the training and refreshers commercial jet pilots get all the time, etc., I still grab the arms of my coach seats in sheer terror whenever the "fasten safety belt" sign rings then turns on in the middle of the flight. The only time that cursed ring/light switched on calms me down is when I know the plane is headed toward the landing strip.

Then again, perhaps I do understand what all of the irrational fear is about. It doesn't mean I will stop flying nor does it cease my wonder at watching large commercial jets floating down to a landing whenever I'm near LAX. In spite of the controversy this past July 4 in Hyrum, perhaps that prayer touched someone in the crowd who needed to hear it and did not feel compelled to fire out a fear-filled screed to the local paper.

first lieutenant part two

2010-07-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Quite a moving moment. This is where Choi's and my paths begin to part, I suppose. Choi stands to be the face of a movement, while I try to write about it by relating it to my own experiences.

I have submitted my first resume. Not quite the same as handing my proverbial "you're fired" papers over to a U.S. Senator, but a journey of a thousand miles . .

1st Lt. Choi and I now have two things in common

2010-07-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

Before today, it was just one thing uniting us. The unity between any two out gay men makes many nervous, giggly, squirmy to talk about. In all fairness, he doesn't know me and me seeing him interviewed tonight does nothing earth-shattering in me getting to know him as a person.

He and I will always be gay.

Now, we both share this particular day as the day we both were fired from our primary livelihood.

While Lieutenant (now "Mr.", I guess) Choi admits to having been in his chosen livelihood "since (he) was eighteen (years old)" and I was working a 40 hour a week (not including the 1 hour lunch time and 80 minute, one-way commute) for the last 16 months, the feeling he described having for much of the day nicely sums up my own feelings in the last few hours since my unceremonious firing.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There is every possibility that Choi has a career as a rally/protest/community organizer, a politician or even make some other use of the skills he learned while in the National Guard.

While he weighs his options, I will weigh mine. Meanwhile, with all of this free time on my hands, maybe I'll post a little more often.

My Afternoon with Amma, the Hugging Saint

2010-07-10T20:09:00.001-07:00

I saw her a few years ago when she was visiting Los Angeles. I was feeling too ill to stay for the darshan; however, the service she led beforehand was filled full of music and stories. Amma was so filled with the spirit, especially during the music, that it filled the auditorium and flowed out the doors. A shared "Ohm" with the people in that auditorium completed the evening for me and, as I watched the first few people receive the darshan, I had a bit of an epiphany. The darshan is much like the Communion I help serve in my church on most Sundays -- a sharing of common experience, a blessing said and a hug at the end. Each of us has it within us to give this blessing to each others and those we meet the first time.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Jimmy Kimmel Production Crew Fights Abortion Protesters

2010-07-02T18:08:00.001-07:00

The protesters were out in force yesterday and on Friday June 25 between Hollywood Blvd & Highland and Hollywood Blvd and Orange -- about two blocks worth of banner-style "aborted fetus pictures" lining the street much like ads around the edges of a baseball field. They clogged up foot and car traffic both times (I walk that stretch of sidewalk to/from work). The timing on this? Try the on-going Supreme Court Justice confirmation hearings. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39329.html
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

White House Does Diplomacy With Gay Rights Community

2010-06-21T20:00:00.001-07:00

I'll take a little something done over being ignored or pushed down further regarding LGBT people in this country. It does not excuse any of us in that group from continuing to be present, out and vocal when injustice is occurring.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's Gulf Spill Speech (FULL TEXT)

2010-06-15T20:00:00.001-07:00

The mention of our country's rallying to manufacture tanks, ammunition, etc., for WWII and the race to land a man on the moon in the '60s grated on my nerves. In both situations, government was a strong hand and a deep pocket for both efforts.

I didn't hear anything in the speech that suggested either was readily available. And we're herded into praying in the last minutes of this speech. I'm a Christian and even my stomach churned at the realization that we've got little other option than to pray.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

3rd row stage left, one last time

2010-05-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

It was Ronnie James Dio day in Los Angeles today, according to one of LA's councilmen. For now, you'll have to take my word for it. One could not wish for a more cloud-free and warm breezed day on which to have a memorial.

The Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills lent the use of its Liberty Hall auditorium for the memorial. As the 1,000 seat capacity was sure to not hold all of the friends, family and fans in attendance, additional seats were set up on the lawn to the north of the Hall. Even with me arriving 90 minutes before the memorial, I really wanted to be outside with the fans.

The presence of the group from Westboro was negligible:

The memorial, thankfully, took place as far from the entrance as possible. Greeting most every visitor was a big outdoor screen.

The attendees were a fairly broad cross-section of people. A few were grade-school or teen-aged. Many were closer to middle age (like me) and a few were Ronnie James' age.

I've never attended something like this in my life. Memorials and funerals, as far as I was concerned, were for family, friends and the occasional co-worker. What could a heavy metal fan like me get from going to something like this?

Honestly, I have been in a funk for the last couple of weeks. All of my usual ways of dealing with bad news had escaped me. Everytime I played a song of his, tears would well up and a lot more emotion than usual got thrown out with my voice as I sang along. In the interest of being there for others and for represent

ing the LGBT fan-base at the memorial, I finally decided yesterday to be there today.

I avoided the lines for a t-shirt. It was not for the sake of saving money; it was more about saving energy so I could sit outside as long as possible during the service. I wound up leaving the outdoor sitting area twice before 2 PM to find a patch of shade under which I could cool myself before returning to the bright beaming sunlight.

The memorial started shortly after 2 PM after an unusual five-song pre-memorial, pre-recorded set, only one of which including Dio's voice. Even then, his was only one of many.

Today's master of ceremonies, naturally, was Eddie Trunk. Even with the stories shared by many of his staff, friends and his son, I managed to stay for the first two hours of the memorial only. I didn't hear or see anything that I would not have guessed based on what I knew about Ronnie James Dio. It was fitting that many of the musicians he worked with in the past were there today to sing and play acoustic version of some of his best known/loved songs.

Nearly all sitting outside with me were also conserving strength and stamina in the first two hours of the memorial, with one notable exception -- the "mysterious" figure on the far left:

Every song was cause to walk as close the the big screen as possible and pose, headbang and flash the "evil eye" sign from all possible positions of the clock (above his head, to the sides, at 10 and 2, etc.).

A few snickers drifted from some who sat nearby me every time he drifted forward. I have to give this guy respect for keeping the hood on with all of the heat and sunlight shining down and getting into the spirit of tribute and celebration which the rest of us were just too sun-stroked to shake up.

I'd like to say the group gathering in front of me in the photo to the left were a bunch of somber mourners awaiting a turn at paying final respects. Sadly, they were swarmed around a poor official who was only trying to dole out commemorative "programs" to everyone. A relatively brief 30 minutes later or so, I was able to walk up to that poor hassled employee and happily be handed a program of my own. Again, nothing all that surprising to be found in the program itself; however, it is certainly another way of commemorating the day.

So, did going to the memorial today change anything? After about 3 1/2 hours in the bright, breezy sun, I pretty much had the melancholy melted out of me. There were promises made to permit those sitting outside to come inside and pay "final respects" to Dio after the memorial was over.

Any leftover remnants of childhood mania over metal were sweated out today. I cannot say that, once recovered from today's dehydration, I'll never again get ramped up over a crazy, fast-beaten, loudly-cranked tune. I can say that, as we all grow older, that the passing of the next heavy metal icon should not come as such a shock to me.

Though I'm quite happy to keep that day as far off in the future as possible.

Outside of the box thinking

2010-05-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

From a part of the world where war, drug trade and a confounding political and geographical situation have had to change our country's definition of "winning" for over eight years, there's a story about soldiers making a difference without weapons, hand to hand combat or plans for battle.

Even if the outreach is to two, three or four at a time, it seems some of our female soldiers in Afghanistan are making progress by connecting with women in that country's villages and encouraging them to push past their fear. At the same time, these soldiers are "winning the war", not by destruction or brute force, but by using their (and their translators') words and making connections.

What a wonderful way to change the way we begin to think about war, especially with tomorrow being Memorial Day in our country. It reminded me a little of the story which helped to begin the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the revolution that's quietly spread around the world in the past 34 years, empowering women in villages through creating connections and promoting basic commerce as a means of lifting people out of desperate poverty.

Peace be with us all this weekend.

Malawi Gay Couple Pardoned, Released From Jail

2010-05-29T17:38:00.001-07:00

Well, at least it's one step forward. We can always find a little room in our apartment if they need a place to stay . . and don't mind the 15+ hours flight here. When we complain here about what rights we've lost, we haven't lost the right to find happiness here. I'll pray they fight to hold on to the happiness they have in their home.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A rainbow

2010-05-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

The photo on the left was from the tour program I bought at the only show of his I saw. This picture captures the essence of his stage persona. He was 10 feet tall on stage and he gave an amazing performance that nigh.

What I have been remembering the most about Ronnie James Dio in the last couple of days was the way his songs and style reached out to every heavy metal fan who ever felt disenfranchised, left out, not good enough or just plain ignored. As a not-yet-out-of-the-closet fan of Dio's in my teens, the message resonated with me as well, just not quite in the way it did for most of his other fans. So many heavy metal/hard rock singers can trace their singing style back to Dio's. Though my own voice will never have the gruffness and operatic flair, I can easily tap in to the emotions conveyed through his voice. To get a flavor for where his influenced reached in the world of heavy metal, a quick search through You Tube will bring you to songs like these:

"Holy Diver" cover by Killswitch Engage. My favorite cover of the bunch. They made this song their own without washing away the essence of the original.

"Rainbow in the Dark" cover by Teräsbetoni

A very faithful cover of "We Rock" by BlackOz

"Bible Black" by Heaven and Hell:

Thanks to Eddie Trunk for playing "Bible Black" on his Sirius show earlier today. It was recorded just a couple of years ago when Dio was only 65. He never lost the power in his voice -- almost unheard of for a singer of that age.

Finally, my favorite Dio song, which betrays my love of pop music in the guise of rock and roll. I've been singing it at the top of my lungs driving around in the car the last couple of days and cannot get through it with out tearing up. Especially at these lyrics toward the end of the song:

I could have been a dreamer / I could have been a shooting star
I could have been a dreamer / 'Cause dreams are what we are
I could have been a dreamer / I could have been the one to fly
I always could have been a dreamer / 'Cause dreamers never die, no

His physical presence may be gone, but when I listen to the music and close my eyes, I'm suddenly back in time 25 years in Baltimore.

We should all have someone who can take us away with a song and a show bigger than life. Ronnie James Dio did that for me. I cannot express how much that means to me and, I'm sure, to all of his fans.

A day at the Pride Festival

2010-05-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the afternoon yesterday at the Long Beach Pride Festival. The experience (and the spending) started before I even got into the Festival after an engaging conversation with a young Greenpeace member. After the colossal, uh, I-can't-say-it-without-swearing, situation in the Gulf of Mexico, a group like Greenpeace is in a position to have a stronger voice in our country's environmental policy. And, thanks to folks like me, a few more bucks in their coffers.

I spent the afternoon being vaccinated, "cracker-jack" tattooed by the FBI, signing petitions and grabbing flyers and postcards from various organizations' booths throughout the Festival. I closed my eyes and took in a drumming performance, danced to a couple of old-school jamz (the only sort I seem to know these days) and even had my palm read. Darn good reader, by the way, as far as checking for changes in my facial expression, pulse in my neck and/or lack of either. I really have to look in to that as a regular gig: 4 goof balls like me every hour paying $5 a piece sounds like pretty solid foundation for a business. And, if I can turn the goof balls into suckers, $10 and $20 per person would be just icing on the cake.

Fortunately, a case of post-nasal drip and a huskier voice than usual this morning and this story, from Malawi in south-eastern Africa, was sobering. If you find yourself struggling in your own relationships, a read of those two men's situation in their own country, where just declaring your love is reason enough for jail without bail, a speedy judgment and, all but likely long-term prison sentence becomes your fate.

And if you think your own struggles are done, this story shows that the freedom of any adult to love another consenting adult is not yet secured.

I'm sobered up and it's time to go back to work.

This hurt

2010-05-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the less-than-ideal video/audio quality in the clip below. However, the words are easy enough to hear.

When talking recently about President Obama's pick for the next Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and Ms. Kagan's stated opinions on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gays and lesbians serving without having to hide their sexual identity, the conversation Senator Inhofe and radio host Bryan Fischer have meanders into an all-too-telling look into the personal feelings the Senator has about gays and lesbians in the military in general:

" .. you have women, men then you'd have a third group to deal with . ."

As a gay man, I'm supposing I'd be a part of the "third group". What in the blazes does the Senator think folks in the "third group" look like? I couldn't help but visualize a couple of new sets of barracks on some base/post/station into which the "third group" would be housed.

Perhaps some of these G.Is are a part of this "third group". What would their special barracks look like, do you suppose, Senator?

(btw, perfectly OK to giggle, guffaw and/or laugh yourself silly. All I saw in the clip below is some bored GIs with time to kill and a need to entertain themselves. Still . . )

" . . you hear the stories all the time . ."

Do you mean stories like this one, Senator? (yeah, I know it's 5 years old. Find a current story that fits the Senator's implication that gay & lesbian soldiers destroy unit cohesion, etc. My bet is you're more likely to find unit cohesion issues stem from other issues)

" . . we're not doing it for the flag or for the country, we're doing it for the guy in the next foxhole . ."

Stifling the urge to giggle at the unintentional double-entendre at the end of this quote, here's a much more clear-headed set of reasons why soldiers do what they do for us every day all over the world. Straight from the source (no pun intended).

Emotions aside, the clip from the radio interview smells like pandering to the conservative base at its worst. I've learned from my little bit of experience in the wide, wide world of politics, though, that it's impossible to set emotion aside from the business of governing. To this end, politicians like Senator Inhofe know this is so just like a reflex and the best of the best in politics can spit out rhetoric reflexively.

Still, this one really cuts through me. I felt like I was grouped in with aliens from outer space, mutants or some other science-fiction imagined third gender. Then, I felt like no matter how committed and honorable I was with my friends, family, co-workers and people I pass on the street, that my ultimate goal in life is nothing but sexual pleasure. I still can't wrap my head around the third quote above. From all I have read, the need to protect, defend and fight along side the soldiers in my unit/platoon, etc., becomes reflexive like breathing or blinking. The former servicemen and women I have worked with and those in my personal life carry that same sensibility with them well after their service to their country has ended.

I cannot imagine how much more strongly a gay or lesbian soldier must feel about this after hearing this mess from Inhofe.

Luckily, we don't have to imagine.

Read this post with tissues and something soft and light to throw

2010-04-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

The older I get, the more stories of injustice and fraud against the most frail of us tug at my heart. With that, I'm either mopping up the tears or finding something soft and light to throw at the closest electronic device.

The latest: this heartbreaking story from my home state. My partner and I have Last Wills, Living Wills and Power of Attorney documents for each other. Still, the thing every other partnered couple fears deep down happened here. I pray that God is on the side of justice as one of the men sues his county of residence. It won't change the sad events; however, this is an opportunity for that county and any other in the state to clean up their act.

************ ************* *************** **************** ***************

I haven't watched 60 Minutes in some time. Though the promise of an interview with Al Pacino drew me in (it's rare he grants interviews -- perhaps the reason for that is in the viewing of the interview itself), it was the main story which took up two of the three segments. The hurt, anger, sadness and pit-of-the stomach nausea I felt in years past as people I loved fought their fights with cancer came roaring back.

I've seen the face of pure, stinking rotten evil in this world only a few times. Last night was one of those nights:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Click here for part 2 -- if you've managed to keep your computer monitor in one piece.

brrrrrzzzzzzhhhhh

2010-04-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Lots of loud roaring and screeching was heard all through the afternoon on the Boulevard. Oh, and there were all sorts of indy-style and drifting cars doing their thing for fans gearing up for this weekend's Long Beach Grand Prix.

The cars looked cool. The fans enjoyed the show. And the Boulevard was once again home to something truly unique. And loud. And smoky.

Did I mention loud?

Love overcoming fear

2010-04-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

h/t to CrooksandLiars

Love overcoming the message of fear. It's just that easy. The people of West Virgina, rightfully, are saddened, angry and hurting in light of the recent tragedy at the Upper Big Branch South mine.

If these handful of people can counter and overwhelm the Westborough Baptist Church venom, imagine what fear can be overcome with a still larger message of love, compassion and healing:

Lists

2010-04-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

I spent a good chunk of my childhood obsessed over lists. Specifically, Billboard magazine's Hot 100. I had my favorite songs (this one -- audio only -- moving up the chart cracks me up. Enjoy!), but it was so very rare that a song I liked ever hit the top of the charts.

I've had two lists bouncing around my head until this morning. On the surface, what the lists say about our society is pretty disturbing. Just like the Hot 100 lists from years ago, a closer inspection reveals a few favorites that are sure not to bubble to the surface and a lot of other information which only shows one side of a much larger problem.

First, the injunction that's part of a "civil lawsuit proposed by the city attorney's office, 80 defendants, most of them gang members, would be barred from . . " the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. Some that are in recovery from drug abuse and live in the area seem appreciative of the potential break in the non-stop drug shopping mall. There was a small pocket of protestors outside the announcement of the proposed lawsuit -- upset about not enough done to build/remodel affordable housing in the area but I'd guess not upset about barring the gang activity involving drug deals in the Skid Row area.

Short of erecting an actual wall and a moat of some sort, if the injunction goes through, it doesn't stop the dealing -- it just moves it into the shadows and outside Skid Row's "boundaries". The key to ongoing recovery for drug addicts is making the conscious choice to not use, even if the decision is made hour by hour or minute by minute. A stronger network of support for those in recovery in the neighborhood as well as an increase acceptance of the presence of recovery groups and locations would be a big help.

At the other side of the world, another list that tells a larger story upon closer inspection, but doesn't tell the entire story. This list comes with pictures, so everyone's a winner. It is interesting to note that the assertion that the corporations in the list pay no income tax is like looking at a penny from one direction and saying there are no bumps or ridges in a penny. You and I know that's not true, but if you only stare around the edge and feel it with your finger, it's as smooth as copper/zinc gets.

Taxes get paid. Not necessarily paid to the IRS/U.S. Treasury, but paid somewhere. Perhaps a more united effort by the countries to which taxes are paid to demand the same percentage from corporations as the U.S. demands . .

Nah. That'd be like making Skid Row in L.A. a "drug free zone".

Sweet

2010-03-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Feeling like a teenager again tonight -- started reading Cell by Stephen King and it's a great page turner. I've read a lot of his novels and this one is one of his best in a very long time.

and

Ratt finally put out a video for the lead single. But I have to wait until April 20 for the album? Bummer . .

What is said and what is heard

2010-03-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a few lines of verse released a little over 25 years ago:

'Cause you feel life's unreal and you're living a lie
Such a shame who's to blame and you're wondering why
Then you ask from your cask is there life after birth
What you saw can mean hell on this earth

Click here for the artist/songwriter and title.

Many years ago, these words and others in the song were listened to over and over by a young man who then took his own life. The questions asked at the time (and I was a teenager fully into the heavy metal scene then) was did the song lead this kid into doing what he did?

The song is really about the death of former AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott. The second word of the song's title refers to mixture of alcohols, not what one develops to overcome a problem, suggesting that suicide is a fix to a problem.

I was pretty outraged to even hear the conversation. As a teen myself at the time, I knew other teens who were struggling with emotional issues that teens deal with. Most of us found reasonably health ways of dealing with those issues while the rest struggled to cope.

Was there anger to feel? Sure. It's perfectly understandable to be angry at the kid's parents, family, friends, teachers and school administrators for not seeing the signs of depression in this young man and intervening. To blame a flamboyant singer and songwriter who recorded the song somewhere far away, not knowing who bought any one of several million copies of the album would listen, is the last person to blame. I didn't buy the album, but I have heard plenty of music with pretty dark lyrics and I'm still here and writing. If it wasn't this song, the young man may just as well as found some other outlet for dealing with his mental health issues.

So, what does this guy:

have to do with this guy?

If you've been following the news on the passage of health insurance reform, many a liberal talker can't help but take a pass at what Glenn Beck has been saying about the bill before it was passed. MediaMatters.org has been documenting every little nugget of Beck-ness as of late.

Let me make clear: I'm not a fan of Glenn Beck.

That said, to point at Beck and knit his words / performance to any of the violence and profanity-laced ugliness being sent at some in Congress in recent days looks to me a whole lot like pinning one young man's death be pinned to a song on an Ozzy Osbourne album that had nothing to do with the act of killing one's self.

I would much rather keep Beck on the air, jabbing at blackboards and emoting all over the place, then have any performer become censored. If those individuals who are lashing out at select Representatives don't tune in to Beck, they would only find someone else to listen to and would find the permission they think they need to behave they way they are behaving.

You can't stop political talk just like you can't stop rock and roll. But if the line between discourse and provocation begins to spill over into anxiety, depression and a need to do harm to one's self or others, please click the link I'll always keep at the top of this page.

Then tune the radio/TV to another station.

What made today's experience unique for me

2010-03-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today was my second time attending a pro-peace rally/march in Hollywood. The march route was a bit shorter than last year (no pass-by the CNN building on Sunset Blvd.); however, the number of participants remained unchanged from last year. At least, as far as I could see by walking around the people before and during the march.

The variety of groups represented were the same (click here for the photos), but I only got three handouts this time around. I missed not seeing last year's lone anti-march protester -- but only a little. And, truth be told, the pre-march rally and most of the march itself felt a little bit like routine.

Until we stopped just before Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave.

Ron Kovic addressed the march at that point in the route and wanted those "within the sound of (his) voice" to sit down where they stood - whether in the middle of the Boulevard or on the sidewalk (I split the difference and sat on the curb). About one hundred people or so heard the instruction and sat (see the 2nd and 3rd to last photos in the collection) for about 5 minutes. The mood of the march changed from "oh, we're doing this again . . " to "Oh. This is something new!"

This motion felt something like hitting a reset button for the march. As we crossed Highland Ave. and started into the crowd of weekend tourists milling around, the chanting got louder and more passionate, the sign waving got a little more frenzied and, perhaps feeding on the spectator's energy, the march felt revitalized.

I only wished I did. Getting a little low on blood sugar and feeling an achy lower back from the hours of standing, marching, etc., I headed back to the Metro stop and home.

So, instead of being the minister last year, I received a dose of ministering today. I pray others received a dose of that as well.

Orion Nebula In 3D Will Take Your Breath Away (PHOTO, VIDEO)

2010-03-20T08:12:00.001-07:00

Oooh. Pretty! Can't wait to see the movie.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Almost a winner

2010-03-13T21:50:00.001-08:00

A Saturday night full of bingo, corned beef & cabbage and a little too much dessert & soda made for a wonderful diversion, even if I was just one number away from a large diamond BINGO.

I've been as attentive as usual to all the goings-on in the news this week. Rather than look at politics and other news in a glass half-empty, cynical and jaded point of view, I'm going to approach what I've read/seen by giving thanks.

I'm thankful Jared Polis is in Congress and that Constance McMillen is standing for what she knows is right.

I'm thankful Eric Massa spoke the truth instead of hiding and denying it. I've been on the receiving end of that sort of harassment at work and feel blessed it was not as severe and humiliating as it must have been for his staff member.

I'm thankful that Roy Ashburn also spoke his truth when his secret was found out. It could have turned out to be more cringe-worthy than it was and, while Massa's drama continues to play out, most people have nearly forgotten about Ashburn's incident because he dealt with it quickly and concisely.

I'm thankful for Hilary Clinton for tapping even a small hole into what seemed before a solid, flawless fort of support for Israel. I won't pretend to understand the complexities of the relationship between Israel and Palestinians, but to swear a blind allegiance to one side of any conflict without a full appreciation for why the other side does what it does will let one fall for anything their ally does. I don't expect her or anyone in U.S. politics to find a solution that works for all parties. That she flew in the face of convention tells me she's not nearly as predictable as others have been in the past.

Finally, as odd as it sounds, I'm thankful Keith Olbermann took the time to talk about his father's illness and the fact his family was able to talk about how his father wanted to be cared for when he was too ill to speak for himself. While his father is done fighting, I hope for others this starts a discussion that ends with a Living Will. I've had one for 15 years and it's something I have never worried about since.

We can choose to let the news weigh down and exasperate us or celebrate those in the news who help us to appreciate what we have and challenge us to do something outside of our comfort zone.

So what did the big award show fan with no fashion sense think of the clothes tonight?

2010-03-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

With thanks to a local TV station for the photos, here's what made me smile and cringe. There's 52 photos, so I list below my "smile-worthy" and "cringe-worthy" outfits:

"Smile-worthy": 1 , 5 (like a princess)

6 (finally, after so many fashion yucks!)

10 (I didn't care much about what he wore - he just gets hotter looking as he gets older!)

11 (mostly for the gems, though I was loving most all of the gray and most all the dark blue outfits were lovely)

22 (he's known for his eye for fashion, so no surprise)

24 (wow!)

28 (the print dress at first look, ugh! A full shot look - so pretty!)

36 (another princess. lovely!)

"Cringe-worthy": 3 (twice over. Ruffles are only for potatoes, ladies!!)

16 (when you don't have to guess where the breasts are -- the clothing points it out ?!? really??)

18 (see #3, but her hair, jewels and makeup was quite nice, so I was close to leaving this one off either column)

20 (it looked like a rental. You're doing OK and you can dress nicely - spring for a name brand tux, brother)

21 (c'mon - 2 bad ones in a row? aww!)

33 (WTF !?!)

39 (I would have to use language I don't permit myself to use here)

41 (the suit -- nice! the attitude - yuck!)

51 (bad color, bad use of metal and unflattering)

52 (I'm a flip flop, boat shoe type, but even I would know not to wear sneakers at this sort of event)

No surprises in the award winners, but I was cheering at the last two awards given. If I can get a few pics of the aftermath tomorrow, I'll get those posted. Thumb-free.

T minus five days: a small slice of life

2010-03-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

The view of the setup of Sunday's big show

Tonight, as I was in between trains, I took a small break to refill the wallet and grab a small snack to stop a minor blood sugar crash. I finished off the snack, tossed the wrapper and turned to walk back down into the subway stop. In front of me stood a young woman who was talking to someone on her cel. She faced the same direction I was and, in front of her, was an elderly couple. The man was well dressed and holding a cane in one hand.

To the man's right was a woman about the same age who also had a cane in her free hand. The woman was struggling to walk down the stairs with an obvious case of gout.

The young woman was well into her cel phone conversation and may have been grateful for the break in forward motion to focus on that conversation. The young woman served as a barrier to anyone wanting to pass to the old man's left side. I picked up on what was going on and positioned myself a few steps above the old woman. For those rushing down the stairs eager to catch the next train out of downtown LA, they easily breezed by to my left, easily missing the old woman and her cane so she could slowly ease down into the subway station.

I took my time taking out a tissue to combat allergies while being paused ten steps from the platform entrance. I watched all three of them as the old woman, getting more wobbly and arched as she descended those final few steps.

I took a second to smile, silently offering praise that she successfully made it down the stairway, then praying that she and her companion would continue their journey safely.

Were the woman on the cel and I on the MP3 player temporary guardian angels or just subconsciously following the teachings of our parents to help someone without making them feel invalid? Someone else can rule on that. I write this simply in gratitude for the ability to do with relative ease that which someone else does with great struggle and a healthy dose of fear.

Please take a few moments in the days to come to be a "guardian angel" to someone without their knowledge-- for purely selfish reasons!

A view of red carpet underneath clear plastic with security and tourists scattered about. Just because it's my blog and why not post a picture of this?

I feel sorry for Sen. Jim Bunning

2010-03-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

One Senator holding up continued funding of Unemployment benefits and causing a couple of thousand of Government employees to have to take furlough (no pay) days this week is frustrating, maddening and, in light of how our country has been for the past 18 months is just plain unconscionable.

Lots of bloggers, pundits, etc., are batting about guesses as to why Senator Bunning did what he did and had the bill he held up pass the Senate with 78 votes earlier this evening.

I just feel sorry for him.

He is retiring from the Senate at the end of this year. In my own limited experience, the outbursts, etc., have the feel of a teen with a bad case of senioritis or a long-term employee finding out he is being laid off at the end of the month with a shoddy (or no) severance package. Perhaps the man is suffering with his own physical health issues or is trying to manage with a major healthcare issue of someone he loves. I've had tastes of one and a sometimes-way-too-big helping of the other as of late, and that can really take a bite out of one's backside and wear one's nerves to their bitter end.

My hope is that the Senator can take the remainder of his term in the Senate enjoying all that comes with representing the state of Kentucky (a very pretty state which happens to be home to a dear friend of mine) and perhaps gathering his thoughts on a life full of success in professional baseball and public service.

Any more displays from him like the country witnessed these past few days will just serve to cause more talk about his last years and less appreciation for the decades that have led to this point.

T minus six nights

2010-03-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

As we get closer to the big award show Sunday night on the Boulevard, the preparations are in full swing. Either that or there's a Grand Prix planned for Hollywood. I didn't even realize that a temporary pedestrian bridge is installed to catch the overhead camera shots for the arrivals, but you can see what it looks like in this shot from late today:

Chain link fence now lines the north and south sides of the Boulevard and the organizers are preparing for possible rain showers on Sunday by installing clear plastic roofs.

And, if the slow creep of transformation from busy street to sidewalk theatre was not enough, there's a new controversy at the corner of Hollywood and Highland:

Look in the distance for the red, orange and yellow circle with the blue background for the newest "supergraphic" billboard. The advertisement doesn't move, sing or smell -- it's static. Compared to the lit up, in-motion billboards now cropping up around highways and main thoroughfares, this billboard-on-steroids is just one of many in the area. And yet, the building's owner found himself with a $1,000,000.00 bail!

If I may suggest, perhaps taking a second look at the tacky, busy street-corner strip malls whose garishness begs for arrests and big fines, if only to tone down the mish-mash of color and traffic-snarling overload of signage:

Grandstanding

2010-02-25T19:54:00.001-08:00

West Coast version:

versus

East Coast version:

West Coast version: lunch at the local tasty burger joint. I counted 6 workers there at least this afternoon. The black outfits and big badges announcing their purpose were easy to spot.

East Coast version: Buffet lunch for most and the President takes a couple of questions from reporters as he walks home to eat.

West: A celebration of cinematic drama

East: drama, drama, drama!!

Keith Olbermann's Emotional Special Comment: 'My Father Asked Me To Kill Him' (VIDEO)

2010-02-24T20:25:00.001-08:00

My family has gone through the situation three different times where one of us was nearing the end of their battle with their illness. My family was, I'm sure, so grateful for the times when a Living Will/Health Care Directive, etc., was in place. My heart went right back to that painful place Mr. Olbermann is right now. I even just got a call from a buddy of mine who can't afford the anti-biotics he needs to treat bronchitis because he has no health insurance.

I look forward to the day when all of this is no more than a bad nightmare from a long-ago day.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The countdown begins!

2010-02-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Boulevard is slowly gearing up for an award show on Sunday March 7. Today's new roll out was metal barricades with security posted here and there along the barricades.

As we get closer to the Big Night, the closures get a little bit bigger. This is my first time navigating the Boulevard during this time of the year and I'm quite happy to keep you posted on how things are going. Enjoy the pics!

Don't Ask, Don't . . . yawn

2010-02-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

About the debate over whether or not to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", this article posted at Stars and Stripes' website should end it. I know it really doesn't, but three consecutive town hall-style meetings with soldiers and sailors where DADT wasn't brought up until Admiral Mullen brought it up and, even then, the groups had way more pressing issues to discuss.

Exactly.

I'm also a little fuzzy on the notion that this policy keeps "teh gay" out of the Armed Forces like chicken wire keeps the vermin away from a garden. It does not and it was not originally intended to act like gay repellent. Just so happened that the way the policy was enforced led to more outings of gay and lesbian military personnel.

So, what are the "keep things the way they are" crowd really wanting to maintain?

While I'm in between posts

2010-02-15T20:16:00.001-08:00

A couple of quick updates --

I'm planning on being at a peace rally/march in the Hollywood area on March 20 -- look for the yellow tile on the left and click it for more details.

Meanwhile, one of my favorite bands from the '80s is back with a new song after 10 years with their new album due in a little over a month. Stephen's voice is as good as it's been in the last 20 years and it's so nice to hear a Warren DeMartini guitar solo after so long! Keep the spandex in the closet and grab yer air guitar while I collect a few more thoughs

More rainbows

2010-02-09T19:51:00.000-08:00

Another southern California storm and another late-day great big rainbow over the Boulevard.

There have been a few stories that borrow from the principal of the rainbow -- the very picture of the beginnings of light shining through a dark and stormy scene.

First, Lt. Dan Choi, who has put a face on the fight to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy within our military, was able to drill with his unit (no laughing, please) recently. While it's not the bright, shimmering rainbow one would hope for, I'll take anything that leads toward a repeal of this absurd policy.

Another survivor was pulled from the rubble yesterday in Port-au-Prince and the man is still recovering. That would make him having survived, somehow, for 27 days. And, life goes on in that nation. If it only took sheer willpower and spirit to recover from last month's earthquake, Haitians would have already rebuilt their country and thrown a city-wide party this past weekend. Still, their needs will change in the coming weeks and months, so I'll keep the Red Cross link posted at the top. If you've been fortunate to find extra money or you're being blessed with a tax refund, a few extra dollars donated to the Red Cross or any of the other organizations who are trying to help will still go a long way.

The slowly growing rays of sunshine seem to be piercing even the darkest clouds in our nation's capitol. The President chatted with the press earlier today about his meeting with Legislators from both major parties to see what sorts of bills could be crafted to provide more help to those in need of a job and businesses who may want to hire but think they cannot afford to do so. I'm a little hazy on when, if at all, President GW Bush had done the same sort of thing in the last couple of years of his presidency. So, even if only a couple of things are worked out this week creating even the smallest movement forward toward recovery, it won't be due to a lack of effort to get both sides to work together by the President.

For liberals like me and, I'm sure, a health number of conservatives, the changes aren't coming often and fast enough. As much as I'd like to think one post written on one blog would be all that's needed to make everything come together, I'm a bit more realistic about those chances.

Then again, to get the strongest looking rainbow, you need a hard rain, dark cloudy skies on one side and bright sunlight on the other.

Aren't Fridays supposed to be slow news days?

2010-01-29T20:52:00.000-08:00

So much to chew over. Let me start by giving a couple of sentences to another unique way where folks can help people in need in Haiti.

I've had a link off to the left to the Grameen Foundation for a while. Grameen has a presence in Haiti through a group called Fonkoze. In a post on their website today, there was

a grant recently made to Fonkoze to operate a "mobile bank branch" which will meet bank members wherever they are in Haiti. Fonkoze, like Grameen and other microfinance group, is a bank. Loans are given to the poor based on a skill they have to manufacture and sell something and/or provide a service to others. Borrowers are charged interest and are given a plan to pay back the loan with interest as long as they are willing to work with other borrowers in a peer-support system. They keep the profit they make and are invited to open savings accounts with Fonkoze, etc.

As long as people are thirsty, hungry and in need of medical care and shelter, donations to organizations that provide this service will be needed. The long-term challenge is to support the work done by groups like Fonkoze who, instead of fostering dependence on aid, are raising the poor up from desperate poverty and giving them and their children to rebuild their nation bit by bit. While grants may be needed for one-time programs and to grow new branches, the branches support themselves after just a couple of years.

*******************************

I'm writing and watching MSNBC's "President's Question Time" special with President Obama answering questions asked from Republican legislators. What's nice about it is that the question and answer is about 95% unedited so that one can watch this event, unique to the U.S, in bite-sized pieces. The "no teleprompter for the President" aspect is just wonderful! It was nice to see him speak off the cuff and I'm looking forward to more of that. I don't know if what happened in Baltimore today is the start of something we'll see every couple of months, but what a fresh way to approach the whole "politics versus the facts" thing that MSNBC and Fox News spend hours a day, Monday-Friday, chewing over and pontificating.

********************************

Finally, a few folks in California moved one step closer to doing something that will, no doubt, start a snowball of controversy. Nearly 700,000 signatures were collected and around 143,000 of those delivered to the Los Angeles County Registrar's office in Norwalk to add a proposition to the November 2010 ballot to legalize personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by those age 21 and older, permit those 21 and older to grow enough marijuana for personal use and "..would also allow cities and counties to permit marijuana to be grown and sold, and to impose taxes on (sales of marijuana)".

This isn't just a few thousand stoners in a state with 36 million residents trying to get their habit legitimized. While the amount of money raised to campaign for this proposition so far isn't jaw dropping, it's not just as much money those same stoners found under the sofa cushions. While the case for medicinal use of marijuana has been made by those with something to gain, the city of L.A. has been trying to reign in the proliferation of cannabis clubs recently. Delivery of these signatures is a bit out there in contrast to the relatively modest moves in the state to carry out medicinal use of cannabis. On the other hand, I can take a quick stroll at lunchtime and pass two such clubs within a couple of blocks of each other (see the photo above for a sign for one such club -- the green cross with caduceus). These clubs aren't just in the funkier neighborhoods in LA County, either.

I don't use marijuana. Yes, there is a fairly liberal gay person in California that doesn't use the stuff. On the first smell I took of the smoke I was turned off and haven't found a reason to be turned on to it since. That said, if marijuana is regulated, used privately and penalties for impaired driving, use while at work, etc., are as strong as drunk driving, being drunk at work, etc., then any health concerns just go out the window for me.

What makes this proposition likely to succeed? If the backers have enough sense about this, it'll become about money. Money to be made by growers, retailers and, as tax collector on every sale of the weed, the state government. For all three groups, the promise of legitimate profits/revenue to be made may prove too irresistible to vote down.

Opportunity at the Metro stop

2010-01-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

(from my iPhone about 5:35 pm)

I've been waiting 20 minutes at what is usually no more than a ten minute wait for Red line. Apparently, there is some 'maintenance issue' so trains running in both directions have to share one track. It's the first delay of this sort in months. Instead of walking to the next stop after a leisurely supper in downtown LA, I'm listening to a live announcer tell me it's only a 3 minute wait for the next train going my way.

As the 4th train going the other way stops then opens its doors with its passengers staring blankly through the huddled masses waiting along with me.

I'd be grateful for the long break if it wasn't for the four trains stopping in front of me going the other way.

I must be out of my everloving mind! The train going my way is here but too crammed! Another disconnected voice saying another one is coming in 5 minutes. Well, at least the crowd has thinned out.

(and, the next train was considerably less crowded. I wound up getting home 40 minutes later than usual. Still, it makes me wonder if maybe blogging, unlike songwriting or a lunch break, isn't something better done at home with the TV on and my partner engaging me in conversation)

Never gonna give in

2010-01-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

Feels good to be writing this.

This Wednesday will be President Obama's first State of the Union address. For a politics geek like me, it's like a championship game or an awards show night. While there is still a lack of fashion critique and entry to the big auditorium softball interviewing, there are plenty of experts on both teams with all sorts of predictions about the final outcome of Wednesday's address.

Though, as of this writing, I haven't found any posting of opinion just yet. So, I'll take a crack at it.

Saying that the phrase "The state of our union is strong" will be uttered is a bit like saying "the stars are out" at the latest Hollywood love-fest or at my house while I'm watching the "arrivals" part of the awards show.
Yeah, even I see the 60 degree head swivel the President usually does when he's giving a speech. It's like noticing when someone drops the phrase "you know" into their everyday speech and you've finally discerned it and now "you know" sounds like nails on a chalkboard. If I had my choice of speechgiving off the top of one's head or reading a speech from a Teleprompter in a clear, melodic tone of voice, I'll take the Teleprompter reading. Still, the best sort of speech is the one that comes from the head with bits of improv dropped in so it sounds organized and just a bit personal. I've given improv'd and read aloud speeches and usually feel like I'm only giving half the effort. This address is a big one -- even I would be pacing, memorizing and rehearsing this one as often as humanly possible weeks ahead of time.
These addresses are usually by the book. In recent years, it's a bit difficult to tell the difference between them and getting an OMG moment out of them is highly unlikely. Same can be said of award shows and championship games. Even the notion of turning the SOTU into a drinking game is getting a bit cliche. Still, even one such game suggested for Wednesday's address might be worth a try. For us 12-steppers, perhaps substituting jalapeño poppers and a sip of milk for each drink will lead all to the same, dreadful conclusion.

I would have been stunned if Obama was able to have pulled off a total recovery of the economy and have ended both wars by now. However, I'm quite worn out by the light touch he has exercised over Congress this past year. While I love a good work relationship with colleagues, he's been apart from his former Senate colleagues long enough that he can now start to be the goal-setter, take more responsibility for setting the legislative tone and navigate progressives/liberals toward having a truly progressive/liberal government.

For now, a healthy amount of skepticism is required to get some kind of grasp of what's going on in D.C. these days. A little music helps, too. I heard this version of the song earlier today on "Feel The Spin" as I was driving home from church. Yeah, there are club versions of this song out there, but it was nice to hear real drums and guitar backing a talented girl singer. I know she's singing about a guy, but I couldn't help hearing the lyric and thinking about how it relates to the upcoming week's world of U.S. politics.

The mark of good art is that it means something different to everyone who experiences it. Enjoy!

What the hail?

2010-01-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

Ooh, I've been waiting so long to say that!

It's not rock salt or my personal stash of ~~diamonds~~ cubic zirconia strewn on the ground and photographed at night for maximum visual effect. I "got lucky" being in LaHabra for a haircut earlier this evening when a teeny, tiny yet strong cell of heavy rain/lightning/thunder passed by and created a small hailstorm. I'm having so much fun documenting the wacky state of weather in Southern California, I'm almost forgetting all about the state of politics in the Supreme Court, the Congress and the White House.

Almost.

Another good soaking

2010-01-20T19:24:00.000-08:00

And, we still have a day or two more of this cold water dripping from the sky. How does everyone else in the U.S. manage this much water all at once? Here's some photos from the Boulevard neighborhood showing how the cars driving down Franklin Ave. were handling standing water in a decent downpour in the middle of the afternoon. . .

Even a set of stairs leading up to an apartment house was sort of getting into the act.

I have to admit I am having a lot of fun just walking in the rain. We don't get a lot of it here in southern California, so when it happens, I find a safe place to be and try to get outside for walks as often as I can.

The sunshine returns by late Friday. Hoping for some more unique rain-soaked photos tomorrow.

Neither rain, nor sleet, etc.

2010-01-19T20:31:00.000-08:00

The slogan is, for the most part, true of the US Postal Service. It's also true of the folks who set up the front of Graumann's for a World Premiere movie earlier this evening.

The layer of clear plastic with the white, nearly vertical lines at the bottom of the picture shows the top of the tents that were pitched as I was walking to work today.

By lunchtime, everything was nearly set up. The title of tonight's movie (see the banner-style poster on the lower left corner) which is being shown tonight is a pretty apt description of the effort it takes to set up a Red Carpet affair even in the rare L.A. rainstorm.

And, I suppose, a good description of the movie's plot. Whatever.

Cold water falling from the sky

2010-01-18T19:50:00.000-08:00

v0x5

Well, it almost never rains 'round here . . .

My water-resistant jacket barely worked this afternoon. The winds were spraying around the water, making the Boulevard look more like the middle of a mild hurricane or the aftermath of a large structure fire (rivers of water, every wall and floor sopping wet, etc.). See for yourself:

Above: looking across the street at the Jimmy Kimmel Live building

Below: a view of Graumann's Chinese

It rains hard enough for long enough, you might as well pack a couple of oars in the backseat of the car. And, there's more rain on the way this week.

Out of the closet

2010-01-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

Like many others, I cannot help but watch TV news/opinion, read news websites and blogs and listen to the radio during breaks from the work day to find out if there is anything new to report from Haiti.

Much like I did with Hurricane Katrina and 9/11/01.

I've come awfully close to tears, then realize that all the cried tears in the world do nothing to help those who inch closer and closer to desperation and chaos.

Acting and speaking contrarily is not rescuing anyone from the ruins, it does not give someone who needs it a few sips of water, a swath of sterile bandage and a five-day supply of antibiotics.

Neither is giving those who are behaving so poorly an even brighter spotlight by grumbling over those words going to inflate a hospital or innovate, then construct, new means of ingress into Haiti.

I will say that after hearing and seeing the babble about the pact, I came as close as I dared to dumping Christianity as my religion of choice. Then, I considered the source and, with each passing day, he has less and less time on this world and has to reconcile himself with his maker sooner rather than later. He and his lot will take care of themselves and are nothing more than a gnat flying in our collective face on a lazy, roasting and damp summer afternoon on the East Coast.

How to be of help from where we are? HuffPo has a link to causecast.org where one can purchase supplies then have them shipped to where they are needed, just as soon as it can be sent.

What are the next steps?

The Grameen foundation (see the badge on the left) has had a presence in Haiti for some time. How better to help someone by investing in their time and talent and giving them a basic education on personal economics, growing their small business and saving for their children's future.
Make a note on your calendar to make a second donation to the charity of your choice two weeks from now and, if you are blessed with steady employment, see if your charity will accept a rolling donation, which draws a steady donation from you at regular intervals. Gifts are great, but reliable sources of income are invaluable to non-profit/charitable organizations.
Clean out your closet.

Huh?

When supplies were pouring into NYC, Washington DC and, later in the previous decade, New Orleans, there were only so many ways to get to the cities and far too many trucks, boats, etc. that could drive/dock and unload. Supplies have had to have been turned away because there was no way to get those supplies to those who needed them.

By cleaning out your closets, you will discover what you need and what you can forego. Once your pile of "what you can forego" is completed upon your closet cleaning, donate what you can do without to those in your neighborhood who would appreciate having those things.

By donating to local charities, the local charities need to rely less on larger non-profit organization and government funding. The funding they receive can then be redirected to provide further aid to the people of Haiti.

It is not important that your box of hand-me-downs gets shipped across the country and through half of the Carribean. You stand a much better chance of having those gifts used where you are then where you want it to be used.

You get a more spacious closet. Someone else gets something so much more.

No. 366 and two aspirin

2010-01-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday would have been Elvis Presley's 75th birthday. To prove what a fan I am, I had completely forgotten this until, on one of my many strolls through Hollywood I came upon this bright, shiny memorial:

I wished I could say this brightened my mood or elicited some kind of emotional response. Mostly, I was just trying to avoid the great hoards of visitors in the area to watch the BCS Championship game at the Rose Bowl Thursday night. I've not seen so many dark blood red and burnt orange shirts in one place at one time and, with any luck, won't have to witness that hideous clash of colors again anytime soon.

Fighting a ridiculous headache this morning, I'm afraid. I had big plans to wash the car and grocery shop. Blessedly, both chores don't require appointment times. Seems like avoiding garish color combinations and overzealous fans is the only way to ensure a swift return to full health.

Oh, for the love of . .

2010-01-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

I had a spiritual awakening soon after the death of my Aunt. Without going into much detail, during her final months I experienced all that is good in humanity, fellowship and faith as well as the dangers of placing one's entire supply of faith into one human whose only focus is on improving the status of his bank account, not in the physical and spiritual well-being of his clients.

As a Christian, I enjoy an unspoken set of beliefs with my fellow Christians. We all understand, even those with limits to their biblical scholarship (or other aspects of the full faith experience), that when you have done something to harm someone, even if it's only to yourself, asking for forgiveness is the first step. If the person harmed is not ready/willing to forgive, we Christians ask forgiveness from God and are granted it. While forgiveness wipes a figurative slate clean, it does not absolve us from any future transgressions. In fact, it serves as a reminder to not repeat the same set of behaviors which led to the transgression in the first place.

All of which leads me to what a certain Fox News personality said earlier today regarding Tiger Woods and his alleged transgressions of late. Sadly, it's all too easy these days to hear/read people invoking Christianity as a "cure-all" or salve for all that ails.

I really tire of media personalities invoking my faith as justification for all manner of transgression. The plea earlier today to Mr. Woods to ". . turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world" may just have worked my last nerve.

Or, maybe it's my impending migraine talking.

While I have it in my head, though, I decided to see if, perhaps, Buddhism was the source of Woods' problems of late. You can even look for yourself. It took me about 47 seconds of reading to figure out that Woods' choice of faith was not the root cause of his alleged infidelity. In fact, after looking over the Four Noble Truths and the Five Precepts, Woods' faith would have clearly informed him of his transgression (see F.P #3 and #4).

While Buddhism doesn't appear to have a cleansing of sin clause, all Woods would need to do is refresh himself of the Three Trainings and get back on track with the Eightfold Path and his troubles will work themselves out, more or less. With corporate sponsors leaving him and his wife weighing her options, he probably has more time to refocus himself in his faith.

As there is no commandment to visit a place of worship on a regular basis and help to support it financially, his best choice may be to remain with his faith.

What, do you suppose, Fox News anchors/hosts do to stay true to their own faith?

'One Life To Live' Gay Sex Scene Is First Ever On Daytime TV (VIDEO)

2010-01-01T07:59:00.001-08:00

What a wonderful way to wake up this morning to a new year! The scene was no different from other sex scenes in daytime soaps, and that's what makes this scene such a joy to watch. All that us gay & lesbian couples want is to have the same rights and acknowledgement that straight couples have, and we're well on our way!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Favorites/decade - "If it ain't loud . ." deeper cuts

2009-12-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

You didn't think I would post just one list of hard rock/metal tunes from this decade, didja?

"Renegade" by hed (pe). Just primal.

"My Apocalypse" by Metallica. Check it out here.

"The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. The video matches the sonic moves of the song just about perfectly. By the last go around on the chorus, I'm usually bouncing around like a kid on a triple-espresso high.

"B.Y.O.B" by System of a Down. Why, indeed, do they always send the poor? Liberal minded and joyfully loud and screechy!

"Saku" by Dir en grey. Truly a unique act in the metal world. Parts emo, thrash, glam, punk with a vocal direct from the bowels of hell. Oh, and did I mention the band is from Japan? I guarantee this song will worm its way into your head in a most pleasant or a most vicious manner.

"Before I Forget" by Slipknot. Nine guys, face masks and a DJ. Could be a wild Saturday night in WeHo or one of the strongest rock bands to come from Iowa. This is easily their most commercial tune and, much like KISS, not all that willing to bare their faces to the world. Heading into their 15th year in 2010, I can't wait to see where they take their music in the next 10.

and, a quick peek at a song that's just becoming a hit and, with any luck, will make my official "favorites of the decade" list in late 2019:

Favorites/decade - "Hippie" music

2009-12-30T21:35:00.000-08:00

Really, these are just favorites of mine from this decade that feature acoustic guitar. That, and whenever I play these, I get good and mellow. If you need to wind down, the songs on this list are a good place to start:

"Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine" by the White Stripes. It's the exception to the rule with this list. It's the fuzzy, bluesy, looped guitar licks that get me feeling kinda psychedelic.

"Drive" by Incubus. They have put out more mellow, trippy music (Morning View) and much rougher, crazier music (A Crow Left of the Murder), but this song is the one that stops me, begs me to sing along. I really love the lyric: "Would you choose water over wine/Hold the wheel and drive"

"Bad Education" by Tilly and the Wall. Flamenco-style tap dancing, folk song harmonies and brass instrument loops. It really stands out from the crowd of other songs on my "favorites/decade" list.

"Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson. It takes me all of 30 seconds to picture a King-sized bed with a giant comforter on top, big pillows all over the head of the bed, a gentle, tropical rain and Jack Johnson bringing banana pancakes with piping hot Kona coffee to me whilst I lie in bed. What Jack does from there is best left to your imagination . . .

"The Sound of Settling" and "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab for Cutie. This decade has been really great for this band and their unique blend of high-polish production and mellow, hippie style music.

"Do You Realize" by The Flaming Lips. I'll even add their movie "Christmas on Mars" to this list. Between these two contributions to our cultural society, Wayne and the boys really cannot top themselves. I still well up with tears trying to sing along and this past week's second screening of the movie made me fall in love with that movie even harder.

"Wild At Heart" by Gloriana. Best of the bunch as far as production goes - very slick sounding pop with country flairing. The vocal band is at its best when all four harmonize -- I can't help but evoke The Mamas and The Papas when I hear that harmony.

Try watching this video and I defy you not to tap your toes, slap your hands on something or otherwise groove along with this song.

Favorites/decade - Right songs, wrong place

2009-12-29T19:51:00.000-08:00

The best music, as is the case with any art form, should evoke emotion that one was not prepared to feel. This decade had a few examples of this. I've even added an entire band to this list -- one whose songs continue to dominate my MP3 player

"Angels on the moon" by Thriving Ivory. Their debut album was released in the middle of last year and this song, as its first single, seemed to take its time in gaining popularity. The singer has a unique-sounding voice, the song was well produced and is a great representative of the rest of the tracks on the album. I cannot figure out why it was not more popular. On the other hand, the band appears to be back in the studio to record a follow-up album. The next decade should show whether Thriving Ivory becomes a (sort of) one-hit wonder or sticks around for a while.

"The Fear" by Lily Allen. Nifty techno-pop with lyrics that don't sink in until after the song is done. I get stuck on the lyric that goes "And I'll take my clothes off and it will be shameless / 'Cuz everyone knows that's how you get famous" Unapologetic lyrics and seemingly more than happy to shock. NOTE: The music video includes a few curse words not bleeped out.

"Bodies" by Drowning Pool. An amazingly powerful, angry, mosh-pit instigating song which was released -- yikes -- a couple of months before September 11, 2001. Fearing that the images painted with the lyrics would alienate listeners, the song quickly disappeared from playlists. They spent the rest of the decade putting out albums, videos, etc. In spite of the poor timing and a tragic loss within the band less than 12 months later, they have managed to power through and are doing quite well these days. Anyone's guess how their career would look now if "Bodies" was permitted to continue its ascent in popularity.

A band which has purposefully pushed the envelope with every album it releases, Rammstein had a pretty darn good decade, ending in the release of their latest album "Liebe ist für alle da" (love is for everyone else) a few months ago. Three of their songs from this decade that I cannot play enough were "Ich will" (I want), "Benzin" (gasoline) and "Donaukinder" (Danube children). They go from loud and gruff to techno to children chorale backed slow tempo tunes with creepy lyrics.

"Not Ready to make Nice" by Dixie Chicks. A pretty clear steering toward pop music waters, this song and its video pack a pretty strong punch in response to the reaction they received when lead singer Natalie made an off-handed comment on stage in London, England regarding George W Bush.

For this lone comment, all manner of chaos reigned for the three women. Like carbon being turned into diamonds, the stress and strain of the fallout after the comments were made made for a terrific album and a stinging retort about the necessity of a true artist to express their feelings. If artists feel they cannot speak from their heart, any manner of art they produce is ultimately muted.

Nothing muted about this song. While they lost fans in the years leading up to the release of "Taking the long way " (a great title track, btw), they gained a whole new set of fans afterward -- myself included.

Favorites/decade - If it ain't loud, it ain't right

2009-12-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

I love rock, hard rock and metal (even some of that with the "cookie monster" style vocals, though a little goes a long way). Where'd you think my moniker came from, anyway?

Here's some of the closer-to-pop rock tunes that never quite left my MP3 this decade:

"Headstrong" by Trapt. Good production, especially that roar leading into the chorus. Fun to roar along to the chorus in the car.

"Bring me to life" by Evanescence. So freakin' cool to hear a strong women's voice in rock. But only two albums this decade? The new one can't come soon enough!

"Take It Off" by The Donnas. I've posted this song on the blog before. 'Nuff said.

"Land of Confusion" by Disturbed. Yeah, it's a remake from the 80's. But, like Billy Idol did with "Mony, Mony", if you're going to remake a hit song, make it your own. Disturbed did just that with David nearly-trademarked growl punctuating the song throughout.

"Juicebox" by The Strokes. The last really big hit from the Strokes until singer Julian finishes up the whole solo project thing. Fun video, great production on the song and the song hasn't gotten old to me in all of these years.

"Slither" by Velvet Revolver. Scott Weiman's the reason to watch the video. Impossibly skinny but, like many a front man before him, impossible to ignore. A nice crossroads of 80's and 90's rock and roll royalty here.

"Nerve" by Soilwork. This band is my own "who the heck are those guys" band of this decade. The band/artists seemingly only you enjoy and no one else gets. It's not the singer or the guitar that grabbed me. Just tune out all of that and listen to the drums. That's what keeps me coming back to this song and this band over and over.

"Follow" and "The Diary of Jane" by Breaking Benjamin. I'm still getting caught up on this band's music in the last six months, but I'm loving them more and more as I keep listening. Very sharp production, just angry enough lyrics and ridiculously catchy. And the singer's easy on the eyes, too!

"American Idiot" by Green Day. Every other music fan (even those classical/baroque music ones) have listed this album and/or song on their "best of the decade" lists, so why not join in with the gang on this one? If you were a fan of Green Day before "American Idiot" came out, this song built a nice bridge from their old material to the music on this album and their latest "21st Century Breakdown". I'm voting for a return to some of their older material for their next album, but there's no denying that your toes are tapping, your head is bobbing or your fist is shaking when this song starts up.

"What I've Done" by Linkin Park. Fans of the group may not think this song is their best of this past decade. There will be purists that will point back to "Hybrid Theory" and go "what the heck happened?" and plenty of 13 year-old girls that can't play "New Divide" enough on their own MP3s. As this is my list, I'm picking this one because, like "American Idiot", there is something to bridge the music from "Hybrid Theory" and "Meteora" over into a more introspective and experimental side of this truly hybrid band. The song does a great job of expressing regret, frustration and a little bit of hope for the future. Whether you love "Minutes to Midnight" (I did) or not, this song represents what is possible from this band and an idea of what's to come in their new record next year.

Rays of sunshine on the Boulevard today

2009-12-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

When I stepped out of my cubicle and onto Hollywood Boulevard late this morning to take one of three brisk-paced walks I take each day to clear the cobwebs out of my head, I was greeted at the corner by a young woman (who is hidden behind the folks standing at the sidewalk's edge) with a bright orange flyer full of talking points.

The photo I snapped of the 10 or so young people from across the street doesn't give the best view of all of their homemade signs. You might make out the partial phrase on a bright blue poster board saying "HoNK 4" or the green letters on black background to the far right reading "Stop Ha . .".

These folks had chosen a popular intersection to try raising awareness and to get some horns a-honking in support of defeating legislation pending in Uganda to make homosexuality a crime with much more severe penalties. The bright orange flyer I received pointed out on the bottom that the punishment of death for engaging in homosexual behavior had since been modified "..because of immense international disapproval."

Sadly, the bright orange flyer had no website referenced and, thanks to my superior(?) storage skills, the flyer just could not be scanned so I could post it here. However, one of our local papers did post a brief "story" about today's mini-rally, so I could tell that the students who gathered this morning made quite a trek to get to Hollywood this morning.

As horns from cars, trucks and tour buses blasted off in support of the student gathering and I continued on my quick walk after snapping the photo above, I had to bite the inside of my lip a bit to stop from crying a bit. It gets way too easy to sink into cynicism over how apathetic we as a country seem to others in need outside of the U.S. There are certainly plenty of places and people here which could use our attention, but it is far too easy to think that just one person cannot make any difference, so why bother?

I can tell you ten teenagers made a difference in my life. If only for today. Anyone's guess who else might have noticed this happening today as well.

Favorites/decade - Wrenching

2009-12-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

After seeing this year's whoop-and-cheer, ooh-and-aah movie earlier today, I need to bring things down a couple of notches. When I've been in the mood for something sobering, here's what caught my ear this past 10 years:

"I've Seen It All" by Bjork. Whether I hear the version with Thom Yorke or see it in the movie "Dancer in the Dark", I always remember the scene in the movie at which this song is sung (it was also nominated for an award - remember Bjork's outfit that year?) as the "feel good" moment in a very dreary, sad musical. Definitely bucks the tradition of peppy tunes in a peppy musical show!

"Life is Beautiful" by Sixx:AM. One man's journey through and out of heroin abuse and this song tells of his arriving clean on the other side. Most of the other songs in the album are dark and, as a recovering alcoholic myself and a big fan of Nikki Sixx's original band, this song makes me glad to be alive.

"The Little Things Give You Away" by Linkin Park. The lyric which talks about being six feet under water and looking up to "you" is the most haunting in this uniquely dark song in an album full of well-produced rage.

"Laughing With" by Regina Spektor. A list of incidences where no one laughs at God with a light twist in her practically trademarked yodel/yelp and a slaying last line of lyric.

"Dirty Little Secret" by The All-American Rejects. One of my favorite types of pop tunes - a toe-tapping beat in an easy-to-miss sad and dark lyric. One of the coolest videos of the decade for this song, btw. Really, anything that steers people to postsecret.com is cool by me.

"Rehab" and "You Know That I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse. She has become the epitome of sad and dark in the lead-up to the award-winning album and her life in the years following that sudden fame. While "Rehab" is hook-filled 60's Motown-style pop, the other song of hers sounds the most to me like self-examination.

"Hurt" by Johnny Cash. If, indeed, there was a musical category called "wrenching", this version of Nine Inch Nails' morose ballad would be the godfather of this genre. Knowing Mr. Cash was so very close to the end of his life and career makes this song all the more . . uh . . wrenching. Cash, like the writer of this song, went through his own struggles with substance abuse. It's hard to think of any other perfect marriage of singer and songwriter, though both are all at once quite different and remarkably the same.

Obama hails 60th Senate vote for health care

2009-12-19T17:30:00.001-08:00

While I hold my nose with the passage of the Senate's version of health care reform, I'm just trying to repeat the mantra "Social Security started out shaky, too":

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=767
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

On the boulevard today

2009-12-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

Starting, I'm sure, before dawn today and continuing up to and through the time I post this, Hollywood Boulevard was shut down between Highland Ave and Orange Ave for a premiere screening of a much anticipated new movie being released everywhere on Friday. Perhaps you can see what the movie is from my pics?

Late this morning, a new star was officially unveiled on the Boulevard as well, timed to match with the release this Friday of a new movie in which this actress stars. Glitz, glamor and business meet and swirl like soft-serve ice cream around here.

Meanwhile today, tempers flared a bit with the health care/insurance reform bill process. As someone who isn't a politician, I am well past the temper and am content to just grumble to myself over all of the . . well, politicking . . over something which directly affects people's lives -- no hyperbole here.

So much in political news these days, and yet

2009-12-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

I just don't have a unique perspective on any of it. Not the mixed message of the President accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo and giving a speech justifying the continuation of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

It was just odd. Perhaps the Nobel folks, going forward, will offer an "opt out" to their winners, should the winner not feel deserving of the medal, prize money, honor, etc.? I can't even find a matching set of circumstances in my own life so that I can at least say something like "I understand, to some degree, why things happened the way they did".

I cannot even find words to talk about the legislative situation in Uganda. Besides, Rachel Maddow tied it all up nicely earlier this week by having on her show a man who, indirectly, led to what looks like legislation through proselytising. And, this guy looks like he's getting all the validation he was seeking through all of this.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Laws written to jail people who don't tell the Ugandan government that someone they know may or may not be gay. Never mind what the law proposes to do with the alleged "gays" themselves.

I can't find the words. But, if it comes to it, I'll do what I can to find room to harbor as many refugees as this law will create. And, barring something miraculous happening, the law is all but assured to pass. If I am able to do what I've just written, then I couldn't say a word to anyone about what I'm doing. I wish I was being hyperbolic.

Then, there's the whole Sarah Palin, Al Gore, iceberg headed for Australia, global warming scientist e-mail disaster. The best I can come up with?

Palin in 2012!

Perhaps then I'll have something to say. Daily.

Favorites/decade - Hip-Hop 'hood

2009-12-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

I've occasionally dipped my toe into hip-hop. Like rock, there are a few original voices and a lot of interchangeable imitators. These are some of the original voices from this genre this decade:

"I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado. Her first hit and the only one with which I've connected. Her voice still stands out, even when the music she made the rest of the decade started to sound like everything else. She definitely has the talent to try moving in another direction.

"In da club" by 50 Cent. Can't imagine me liking something like this? It's more of a soft-spot for most anything Dr. Dre produced/written/backed, etc. Like a few others in the genre, he's starting to parlay his rapping into other forays. It gets pretty tough to do just one thing in the entertainment business, so good for 50!

"Who's gonna save my soul" by Gnarls Barkley (though the video is not the "official" video). Yeah, everyone and their brothers knows their more popular song, "Crazy". But this is where you get the full blast of vocal talent and everything else about this duo that really makes them great. Check out this song, add it to "Crazy" and the other act this decade that Danger Mouse had a hand in producing and it's easy to understand why a lot of music lovers really like them.

"Naughty Girl" by Beyoncé. She's had a ton of hits this decade and this one just rattles around my brain and hasn't left my iPod since the song was released.

"Feel Good, Inc." by Gorillaz. Only two albums released in their career and the two men behind this cartoon band are in no particular hurry to get album #3 out the door. Like Linkin Park, I'm happy that they are taking their time to put something new out.

The video is just cool looking and the song is simply infectious. The album, "Demon Days", has a few other equally infections dance/hip-hop style tunes, but largely goes where it wants. As weird as it sounds, I'm not a big fan of the band from which Gorillaz originates, but if it takes many years of Blur-music to get one Gorillaz album together, it's a small price to pay to get this kind of interesting, genre-blurring music out.

Favorites/decade - "Contest"ed music

2009-12-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

It's been the decade of the reality/contest genre on TV. I will admit to only watching two reality/contest shows: Rock Star: Supernova (I didn't catch the only other season of "Rock Star" when a new lead singer for INXS was chosen. That season found a Michael Hutchence sound-a-like, a new record, a tour and the new singer winding up back where he started) and The Amazing Race.

I am now admitting to enjoying music from a select few "contestants" (it's the best word I know to describe the people who participate in these sorts of shows). There it is. I can no longer claim to be any sort of music snob, I suppose.

"Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson. The first American Idol winner has had, in my opinion, the most interesting career since winning. I can't help but loving that she has a look that defies the standard mindset of a pop diva and has let her sound change throughout this decade. This song found her a rock-n-roll following to match her AI following.

Plus, I can't help singing along, banging my head a bit and stomping my feet. Bet you can't help it, either!

"Razorblade". The original version by Blue October (the video has some brief disturbing images a curse word or two) is a great, let the blood boil angry rant with some pretty disturbing lyrics. Since this is the reality/contest favorites post, it was this performance of the song by Zayra Alvarez on Rock Star: Supernova that made my jaw drop and immediate search the original out. I continue to encourage rock's youngest fans that love new covers to seek out the original version of the cover and to check out the new artist's influences to start broadening their musical palette. Zayra's performance, in a way, foreshadows the last half of this decade's growing love of outrageous looking performances with talent to match. Feels like a return to early 70's glam-rock, at least style-wise, is well underway.

. . . and, from this past year:

It only took me until this past season of American Idol to find a 2nd singer from this show that I can't stop watching: Adam Lambert. This guy has an amazing set of pipes and has the chops to sing bubble-gum pop in one moment, then roar out glam/theatrical rock-n-roll the next. His debut CD takes a stab at capturing his range and, from the few listens I've given it, is kind of hit and miss. I'm not much of a fan of what tops the pop music charts in the last few years because a lot of it sounds mass-produced with interchangeable voices, so I cannot fault Adam for covering the ground into which a typical AI teen fan would hook. My favorite track on the album is one written by Justin Hawkins from The Darkness called "Music Again". It's great to hear him easily soar in and out of falsetto and rock the bejesus out of this one.

Finally, I now self-identify as a fan of Susan Boyle.

Like a few million others in the past 6 months or so, I watched the viral video of her first performance on Britain's Got Talent and was very moved. The months since that first performance have been worthy of conversation as to how she handled the knockout punch of fame she received. The album she released a few weeks ago has, hopefully, silenced those who may have thought her fame would overwhelm her.

I rolled my eyes a bit at on-line chatter about the huge number of albums sold versus the level of promotion over the release of a much-anticipated album from a much beloved artist. Selling over 700,000 albums in the first week these days is quite an accomplishment. If most of the folks who bought the album wind up giving the CDs to relatives, it doesn't decrease album sales nor is it any sort of bellwether of the type of fans she will have in the years to come.

The original versions of "Wild Horses" from the early 70's by both Gram Parsons and the Rolling Stones pretty much stand untouched. Ms. Boyle's version works for me because it's her choice of song and, compared to many of the other songs on the album, her voice is most expressive here.

Favorites/decade - Just because they're fun

2009-11-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

Gay man cannot live by heavy metal alone. So, here are some of favorite pop tunes which I cannot imagine anyone finding offensive :-)

"Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon. Yes, I remember that song. Why haven't the oldies stations picked up on this one yet? Maybe in a few years.

"Extraordinary Machine" by Fiona Apple. She'll make the most of it - she's an . . well, Ms. Apple's talent for wordy, poetic lyrics and a lighthearted melody and arrangement make this a fun ditty. And, btw, the song doesn't start in the above link 'til about 1:25 in, but it's worth the wait.

"Speed of Sound" by Coldplay. Normally, I find the band itself pretentious and annoying. There's just something hypnotic and toe-tapping about the "wall of sound" style of this song. Do any other Coldplay fans like this song? Maybe that's why I do.

"Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad" by Matt Dusk. The song was written by Bono & The Edge of U2, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell this from this traditional pop arrangement and smoky Sinatra-style singing. While Michael Buble may enjoy better success, Matt Dusk's music is well worth seeking out and he's taken more chances in his albums that most traditional pop singers.

"Makes Me Wonder" by Maroon 5. Yes, Adam Levine is fine looking. The video has him dressed up really nice. In an "airport". Any chance I could fly out of that airport with Adam on the plane -- you know, to conquer my fear of flying one and for all -- strictly a psychological thing. Anyway, with a breezy, hook-laden guitar riff throughout the song. Really makes me wonder what Maroon 5 is up to now. Or, what Adam is up to now . .

"Fidelity" by Regina Spektor. This one of two of her tunes I really like. In this song, her nearly trademark soprano yodel (?) pops up with the chorus and makes the song hard to forget. Take those hiccups out, and it's still a nifty little pop song which leads nicely to a great album she put out this year (more on that in a future post)

"When Did Your Heart Go Missing" by Rooney. Of the non-top-of-the-charts songs I adored this decade, I cannot for the life of me figure out why this song wasn't a huge hit in the summer of '07. Maybe a fan figure it out?

4 police officers shot dead at Wash. coffeehouse

2009-11-29T12:50:00.001-08:00

Anytime there is a story involving violence this extreme, it has to be viewed as an opportunity to ask ourselves what our society has done to lead someone to do what was done earlier today and could we have halted this before it even started.

Then again, perhaps the way these sorts of stories are being told is part of the problem. Do we tell these stories every time they happen no matter where they occur or are the media trying to paint a big picture of events in our world in the interest of charging higher ad rates? I'm no media expert; the media and advertisers will have to ask themselves that question.

Here's the challenge: what can I do to affect change in my world so this sort of thing doesn't happen where I live? It's really a question only I should ask myself. Time will tell if the right people ask themselves that question at the right time.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Favorites/decade - Boys (and girls) and their Toys

2009-11-26T19:34:00.000-08:00

Technology is a pretty good thing. While I'm just as annoyed with "auto-tuned" vocals in recent years as most long-time music fans are, in the right hands, musicians with computers can make some amazing music.

Six songs from the past ten years come to mind as tops in the "playing in the studio with the PC" category:

"Til the day that I die" by Garbage. It's far too long in between albums for my taste, but I love the DJ cuts with guitar riff samples that roll all over this tune

"Only" by Nine Inch Nails. Very cool music video; however, it's Trent Reznor's restraint with technology that makes this one my pick for the best NIN tune of this decade.

"Dawn of the Dead" by Does It Offend You, Yeah?. This band's name cannot stay in my head, but the electronic siren beats that pulse throughout and the steel drum sampling make the song a delicious piece of ear candy

"Author" by Shimmerplanet. (once you click the link, scroll to the bottom of my post for a link to the song itself.

"Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani. Boom-chik-boom. Chik. Ba-boom-boom-chik-boom. For nearly four minutes. As many love this song as detest it. When it came out in March 2005, I was one of those who couldn't stop playing this song, stomping my feet, clapping my hands and thumping the dashboard. Music fans need the occasional sinful, fat-rich, high fructose corn syrup piece of pop and this was one of the best of the decade.

I heard this last song for this category for the first time in the opening few minutes of an episode of "NUMB3RS" from last season entitled "Disturbed". It was one of those cases of love at first sight. I'm not ashamed to admit that several of my picks in the coming posts were first brought to my attention by watching the song being performed on TV or featured somewhere in episodic TV. It was a great episode and, like many a music fan, I scoured the net looking for the name of this track and finally found it. The song was released five years earlier to little fanfare by a duo called "I Monster". Full of creepy music-box samples, echoes and "auto-tuned" vocals which actually worked for this song

My favorite songs of the Decade - Robbie Williams

2009-11-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there'll be a ton of bloggers offering their "best of" lists in all sorts of topics as 2009 draws to a close (there's only 36 days left!). Some may go so far as to post a "best of the decade" list and have the good sense to keep their list to ten of something (newsmakers, bible verses, potato recipes, etc.).

From the guy who wrote 22 posts about Metallica, would you expect me to just post a list of ten songs then go on to something political, religious or otherwise daffy? C'mon!

I did narrow down my list to 63 songs over the span of the last 10 years. I've got each and everyone in my MP3 player, so my list is free of a professional critic's "who-the-heck-is-that" picks.

At least, in my own mind.

If you lived in Britain or most anywhere else in Europe, you'd be talking about Robbie Williams like folks here talk about American Idol winners. I've never figured out why he's not become a bigger star here in the U.S. Maybe a quick listen to my three favorite songs of his from this decade will change a few minds:

"Feel" - a nice, breezy, piano and slide guitar pop ditty. The first verse got me hooked.

"Difficult for Weirdos" - a Pet Shop Boys-inspired cut from his newest album. It really captures what his appeal to the gay community has been all of these years.

"Tripping" - the first song of his I ever heard. Pop music with steel drums and soaring falsetto. I've been hooked ever since.

Waiting for a bus

2009-11-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting start to an otherwise routine Monday.

Metro in Los Angeles had a portion of their light rail service closed all along Washington Blvd. for the weekend. The closure was due to end last evening. As what sometimes with any construction, it went a bit past schedule.

The light rail I ride stopped at the Washington Blvd. stop, everyone disembarked and slowly started to queue for Metro buses which arrived every few minutes to pick up commuters from across the street from the stop, then shuttled through four remaining stops in the route.

I could use this forum to grouse about the construction delays, the bumpy bus ride, the 30 minute wait on my still recuperating legs (never mind the rest of the walk and ride to work after the bus trip with stiff joints and sore thigh muscles).

I'll write about the mass of humanity shuffling along while others skipped ahead of the queue by skipping into the street only to be abruptly placed back into line by one of the many Sheriff's Deputies keeping the foot and motor traffic running.

I met two teachers while waiting for the bus: one an ESL teacher of adults and the other a literature teacher of high school juniors. We and others around us kept reminding each other that it could be colder outside, it could still be prior to sunrise, it could have been raining.

A large black bird on top of a telephone pole squawking, ruffling its back feathers was causing the crowd around the pole scattering in different directions and the bird was having its . . uh . . morning constitutional.

Each comment, each turn around to view the crowd in front of us and the never-ending mass of commuters from more arriving trains, every wisecrack and passing catering truck with cruel promises of hot coffee on a cold fall morning, elicited laughs, giggles, snorts (from me - freaking deviated septum!) and a far more relaxed atmosphere than it could have been.

So, I got to work 45 minutes late today. I took some comfort that a few thousand others were in the same figurative boat as I was and was grateful to God for all the ways a potential disaster was turned into a chance to interact with fellow commuters and find the basic goodness in most everyone.

2009 World AIDS Day 2009 in Whittier California

2009-11-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

My apologies for the long break in between postings. With the ebbing and flowing of politics in Washington D.C over health insurance reform and everyone with an educated opinion (and some without) guessing how the Bill will look and whether or not it will pass through Congress, it's a bit easier to just find a nice large piece of driftwood and watch the show.

It's virtually impossible to let a day go by without health on anyone's mind. I am certainly no exception.

One of my employers was kind enough to extend to me an immunization shot for Influenza A & B early last month. Even with this precaution, I managed to still pick up an intestinal virus this past weekend that had me .. uh .. occupied .. for much of this past week. Even as I type this, some of the muscles in my legs were weakened enough that I've had to walk with a cane for the first time in my life. Blessedly, as each day passes, my strength returns.

My employer gave me the paid time off so that I could rest. I have health insurance so I could see the doctor who could figure out what was wrong with me and give me the go-ahead to indulge in a sugary sports drink to rehydrate. Then, with the prescription benefit I have with my employer, I was able to get some anti-nausea medication and recuperate my waning appetite.

Too many of us in this country are not as fortunate as I am. Whether the legislation in the works will give more of us access to the kind of coverage I have is out of my hands.

Here is what I can do:

A week from Tuesday is World AIDS Day. Remembrances, red ribbons and other events are planned for that day and an event near you may be listed by clicking here. (dates are listed European style, meaning day/month/year). I will be at this memorial service:

Good Samaritan Metropolitan Community Church (click for address & directions)

Tuesday December 1, 2009

Service starts at 7 pm. Please bring a photo of someone who has died from AIDS and/or who is battling with this disease and has inspired you.

No matter whether people gather at a place of worship, a community center and/or process through their town holding lit candles, there is no observance too small to make a difference to someone. With few exceptions, I am at a World AIDS Day services/marches/observance each year. Unlike most my age, I have only lost person I loved to AIDS. Like most who are younger than me, I know so many more friends who live with the virus every day and stories of survival with HIV of 10, 15 or even more than 20 years are becoming the norm.

Though my loss came at a time when AIDS was a "death sentence", December 1st brings the feelings up as if it just happened. It helps me to be with others who know how this feels and maybe provides some comfort to someone else there.

If I am fortunate to live long enough and we are smart and hard working enough, I look forward to the day when World AIDS days are mentioned in history books.

Until then, I hope to see you on Tuesday, December 1.

My therapy

2009-11-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Some smoke up, some head to the local waterhole for libation and conversation. I write.

Whatever you to work out the tensions of the week, be sure to do some of that this weekend and make the most distressing thing you do is take in the lousy sci-fi/horror flick of the week. I checked out "This is It" and shamelessly sang along with Michael Jackson and it felt so good. Oh, and avoid the news for a bit.

That said, I'm tapping this one out while riding the rails. Sadly, inspiration to write after ten days has been wrung out of the horrific events yesterday in fort hood. I'm not a soldier, but I've been kept in a room for hours on end waiting for a nearby act of insanity to pass. I'm not a mental health professional, but I make my living listening to people's problems and finding quick solutions. I've spent of my adult life trying to find meaning to existence through God while excluding as little as possible as I wander.
My life experiences tell me that this U.S. Army Major, who is frighteningly close to my age, chose to do what he did based on a series of decisions made that, metaphorically, painted himself into a corner where he felt the only way to ease the ache was through creating a whorl of violent chaos. The right question to ask is this: What happened in his life that led him down his path where nearly everyone would have exited the same path a few off-ramps ago.

Since tapping out the text above on Friday 11/6, the Major is now conscious. However, no work as to whether or not he'll be interviewed and, even if he is interviewed, what sort of "truth" will we hear about the situation at Fort Hood.

If you believe the media, he's a hop, skip and a jump from the 9/11/01 terrorists and he has gone from a faithful Muslim to an extremist.

I still believe this was more of a case of a mental health professional who was not taking his medications as he should have and, because the meds were not doing what they should have, he felt free to do what he wanted.

We should, of course, hang on for a bit until all of the facts are in and are spoon-fed to us.

Meanwhile, I baked up a batch of macaroni & cheese from scratch and passed it out to my co-workers. Nothing like eggs, butter, pasta and lots of cheese to siphon out the tension and anger.

And the tension/migraine headache I'm nursing, I'm sure, is yet another way of keeping my anger in check. Hard to be mad when your head's in a vice.

We can save HOW MUCH?

2009-10-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

OK, so Olbermann chatted tonight with a representative of the California Nurses Association. Not surprising. The topic? The information in this article from Reuters.

When they say the US Healthcare system, they don't just mean Medi-Care. They mean the WHOLE healthcare system.

So, who might not want to save as much as $800,000,000,000.00 ?

Whoa-oh-whoa it's OK

2009-10-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's Friday night and I'm in a mood to celebrate!

Congress has passed a significant piece of hate crimes legislation by extending the existing federal hate crimes laws to cover crimes committed against lesbians and gays. I feel just a little bit safer and a little more at peace that violence done because of "those f***ots" or "those dy**s" will hold increase penalties for offenders. I can even dare to hope for future conversations about the reasons people commit such crimes in the first place and try to put a stop to that crime before it begins.

On top of that, my partner and I are celebrating 21 years together tomorrow and we're celebrating the recent wedding of one of our relatives (if this blog were about them, I'd name them) !

While I'm in a celebratory mood, click play on the YouTube clip below featuring Christian singing duo Jason & DeMarco (and they are boyfriends in real life! Yikes! Yippee!!) a fairly recent hit song "It's OK"

Because maybe it really is

One of the best kept secret stories in the liberal blogosphere . .

2009-10-21T21:11:00.001-07:00

. . . has been told and augmented with comments from some of the accused in, of all places, military.com!

Not MSNBC.

Not the New York Times.

Not even the (insert name of your favorite liberal newspaper/magazine here) !

Finally, Brad Friedman's months long efforts to write about and talk about, write about and talk about, then more of the same, the testimony of Sibel Edmonds (seh-BEEL ehd-MUHN-dz) is FINALLY starting to get a little traction. Here is part of what Brad wrote this past August, just to whet your appetite for what an interesting story this really is:

Thanks to a subpoena issued by the campaign of Ohio's 2nd District Democratic U.S. Congressional candidate David Krikorian, her remarkable allegations of blackmail, bribery, espionage, infiltration, and criminal conspiracy by current and former members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking State and Defense Department officials, and agents of the government of Turkey are seen and heard here, in full, for the first time, in her under-oath deposition.

So, if you are interested in the details and can't find the time to sort through his chock-full-of-info-and-brightly-colored blog, check him out on the radio later this week (though, I still don't understand how he doesn't yet have his own nationally syndicated show -- he's got a great voice for radio and a rapid-fire, jam-packed interview style when he's on air). Just search for Green960 this Friday and listen on-line between 6 pm and 8 pm Pacific as he is filling in for the regular host of "Live From the Left Coast".

If there really is an investigation ongoing into what Ms. Edmonds testified to this past August and even half of what she testified to is true, this could get ugly.

And, while it's tempting to brand this one a full-blown liberal smear job, then how would one rebrand this story when it was also reported here?

It took this to get me to write again

2009-10-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

I was checking out the top of Malloy's program earlier tonight and he was talking about the opinion piece (well sourced, btw) from truthout.org regarding how children of military families these days are handling one of their parents being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I won't rehash Ms. Bannerman's article as it's already easy to understand and the questions asked should be obvious to anyone.

Maybe because my father was in the military while I was growing up, I'm presuming that everyone should feel the same as I do. My father did go to war; however, I was a little infant at the time, so the trauma wasn't so profoundly felt -- unless you count hearing stories about how adorable I was walking around in the dry heat of the desert southwest in only a diaper as my mother took care of the laundry at the local laundromat.

Silly aside, I could not imagine how a child must feel knowing mom or dad is halfway around the world for the next 12 months or longer with no guarantee of quick visits around the holidays. And, with my father having to take frequent, sometimes weeks at a stretch, temporary duty assignments, at Uncle Sam's behest, phone calls and postcards (this was the 70's and early 80's, mind you) just don't fill the gap completely. Nor, I'm sure, would a video or audio call or any frequency of e-mails from the front.

But even the opinion piece would not have fired me hot enough to write. Not until the start of the last leg of my commute home tonight. My apologies again for the poor photography:

For the first time since I began riding the Metro light rails earlier this year, there was a table set up at the bottom right of the stairs which connect one rail line with the other. While I carry a satchel containing sunglasses, the iPhone . . oh, to hell with it -- it's a small purse, I narrowly escaped the random bag searches being conducted this evening. I was not aware of any specific threat toward public transportation, unless you consider how many folks are using public transportation while being sick with something (yes, hand sanitizer is in my purse, but it only works when it's used and too much use just looks pretentious. Besides, I got my flu shots on Friday, so I can look reasonably cool on the train and use the sanitizer sparingly.

Keeping in mind that my (ugh) purse would have been tossed about at any major airport should I have chosen to fly to work today, I suppose I should not have been so jarred by the mere presence of the Sheriff's department's presence tonight.

Perhaps I should save my indignant attitude for another night where the Deputies bring in the dogs to sniff around? Or maybe practice a little deep breathing and relax until they start patting random passengers down?

The only question to ask is: did I feel safer tonight because of the random bag search? If the random pieces of contraband (I haven't a clue for what exactly the Deputies were searching) taken and the odd passenger was whisked away in cuffs this evening because of this, I'd say this was a colossal waste of time. If, however, there was another motive to the random searches . . .

Nah, still a waste of time. And, the deep breathing ain't working.

I love a good speech

2009-10-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

As I type this, I'm watching C-SPAN's broadcast of the Equality Across America rally at the foot of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. I'm about an hour into the 3 hours being broadcasted live while I watch it off of a DVR. I can pause and reflect on each speech . . literally!

As is often the case with LGBT marches and rallies, there is a rainbow of participants on the stage, 18 years old to AARP eligible, every shade of skin color, all heights and widths and everything else that makes watching one of these events so joyous for me.

Before today's march and rally even began, Representative Frank has already weighed in on what the LGBT community really should be doing instead of marching and rallying and making speeches in D.C: lobby your congressional representatives to get pro-LGBT legislation passed the Congress and signed into law. While today's speakers are happy to use this "wet-blanket" proclamation as a springboard to justify the frustration and vehemence in their tone, when the last of the trash is policed from the Mall and everyone has been bussed and flown home later today, Representative Frank's words will find their place in the hearts and minds of even the most verbose participant.

Now is no time to stop pressuring our Representatives to get pro-LGBT legislation from being passed and signed into law.

While "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the overturning of the "Defense of Marriage Act" and repealing a ban on persons with HIV/AIDS from entering the U.S. are most certainly issues our community can support, we also need to be mindful of pending legislation that also affect us directly but does not name us specifically. Here, I'm referring to the passage of meaningful health care and health insurance reforms and a peaceful end to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If you're like me, and you're trying to decide which issue you should support with your money (not issues plural -- times are tight for everyone), before trying to take a large enough bite into these nationwide concerns, each of us can lend support in ways besides clicking in a credit card number.

Volunteer a few hours a month to knock on doors in support of a pro-civil rights candidate for a city, state or nationwide elected office.

When you hear a defamatory joke being told, or a person perceived to be gay/lesbian being taunted, teased or picked on, stand right next to them and look the bullies in the eye. No words are necessary -- your presence next to the victim will make a difference. This 18 year-old who took the podium today in D.C testified to this today.

Click on the banner that will stay atop my blog and find out what you may do to help support the Trevor Project. Anyone who is contemplating suicide because they do not believe they can live with pride about who they are must know this group existence. One more person dead because they think they are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and/or transgendered is too horrible a tragedy for me to contemplate.

If none of these opportunities resonates with you, there's a quote you can write down and keep with you as a promise you can make to yourself:

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

Obama Says He Will End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy

2009-10-10T20:44:00.001-07:00

I may roll my eyes over the lack of a timetable on the promises the President made again in tonight's speech. However, it was pretty terrific to see a sitting President give a speech to the HRC and speak in as definitive a tone as is possible without the full support of a Democratic-controlled Legislature.

BTW, the finger-pointing from us LGBT people needs to really remain on the "blue dog" Dems. Give the President legislation worth signing, he will sign it.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Video via audio

2009-10-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

The top two photos are views to the west toward tonight's sunset and to the north and the skyline of downtown Los Angeles in the far distance as Southern California's marine layer starts to creep in for the night. I'm going to miss coming home in the sunlight when we lose Daylight Savings in a few weeks!

The 3rd photo was from another world premiere earlier this week at Graumann's.

Now that you're sufficiently relaxed and bedazzled . .

In the interest of full disclosure, I heard bits and pieces of Rep. Gohmert's ramble on Randi Rhodes' show this afternoon and heard Mike Malloy reading a post from someone who attended a rally/protest march in Rochester, NY yesterday. If you ever wondered what the state of freedom of speech is in the U.S these days, these two videos illustrate this well.

While the Gohmert clip is edit-free thanks to C-SPAN, please note that the Rochester video has edits a-plenty. While the editing is likely due to time constraints (who would watch an entire rally and protest when it's unlikely you know anyone there?), it's a bit difficult to know if there was any provocation on the part of the participants or if all of the aggression came from the police offers who swarmed in. The clip is most telling when a female off camera toward the end of the clip begins to pan around and count the number of police cars (around two dozen) on scene to end the protest (number of participants I would guess at around 60).

Now, editing aside, I couldn't help but notice how ignorant the Representative sounded while at least two rainbow pride flags appear in the midst of the Rochester clip. Remember what I wrote about fear? I can't help but think that while the Rep's words ring of fear, the presence and passion of those protesting in Rochester, NY, may, in some small way, overcome the fear of changing the course of whatever it is we are doing in Afghanistan.

Finally, in the spirit of love overcoming fear, while the efficacy of last night's Countdown Special Comment is open for debate, his fund-raising / political statement idea could only do good: stage Free Clinics so folks can get basic health care for a day in five states (or as many of those five as possible) where Democratic Senators have not yet supported the Public Option or are working against it.

Got insurance? Please share of your blessings with those who cannot afford it.

holy, holy, ho-oh-ly!

2009-10-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Some interesting articles with a religious tilt:

The Shroud of Turin, apparently, is a fake. Perhaps a gentle reminder to be a little more cautious before granting a measure of holiness in anything?

Conservatives are feeling the need to cobble together a right-wing version of the Bible. I had no idea the versions of the Bible out there were starting to wear thin from all the thumping of the Bible all over teh gays, women who have had an abortion, non-Christians, etc. This is apparently going to be a everyone-can-contribute version on-line. Seems a little odd that there are not enough funds to create a hard-copy version of this work-in-progress Bible. Personally, I'm fascinated to read a "final" version of the new "Conservative" Bible -- kind of like I'm fascinated to see what's lying in the middle of a rural road (I'm a city boy - I'm not lying when I say I'd be fascinated)

Even after over 15 years at a fairly liberal Church and, as I was reading the Gospel lesson this past Sunday, I still found myself needing to better understand just what Jesus was talking about when He, yet again, was dressing down the Pharisees. When my Pastor explained that in Jesus' time, women were treated much like property and far too many men seemed to have taken more than one wife at a time and/or may have had socially acceptable outlets for their unsatisfied sexual urges (i.e. concubines), suddenly the reminder that when a man and woman joined in marriage they should remain so. Instead of a man just signing off on a certificate to end his relationship with his wife and leaving her to grovel to her brother(s) and/or parents or to become a prostitute, men need to work on their relationships with their wives and, only after exhausting all attempts to restore the relationship, should divorce be an option. In addition, if a man cannot treat his wife with respect and as a partner in the relationship, the man is at fault for violating his marriage vow and his wife should have the option to part ways with her husband. These acts include physical and/or emotional abuse, neglect, etc.

Whew! And I typed the condensed version. It really was quite the sermon.

So, was Jesus a Liberal? As far as a group of folks who are determined to keep as much of Christ's teachings as is, He may as well be. I suppose I invite trouble when I mix politics with religion, but that's why I'm writing and not starting up conversation.

Quick update to the blog on the left

2009-09-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

In light of the two large earthquakes in the south Pacific recently, I've gone to the Red Cross site and have installed a widget to the left. Click on the story of interest and be taken to the Red Cross site to read the latest update. Then, click on the Help Now link just above that story in the new page to find ways to make donations.

As getting supplies flown/shipped to Sumatra and the Samoa/American Samoa area is difficult and time consuming, a contribution placed on plastic (credit card) is the fastest way to help.

I'll be offering prayers as well.

A little nip in the air at dusk

2009-09-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful Southern California sunset. Unlike the one six days ago, this one came with a nice cool breeze from the ocean. Sadly, the cool breeze is fast on its way out of here.

I'm also getting the impression that a "public option" component of health insurance reform is slowly sinking down the drain after today's Senate Finance Committee meeting and 13 votes against both proposed "public option" amendments.

Other bills in the Senate and Congress include a "public option" for those whose employers do not or cannot provide group coverage for their employees. A comfortable majority of Americans want to see a "public option" in the health insurance reform, yet there were some Democrats in the Senate who get all kinds of nervous about having this "option" in legislation.

Are they filled with dread at the promise of folks in the U.S. that will thank them endlessly and re-elect them when they pass insurance reform with a "public option" component?

Who could pass up all of that love and support from their constituents?

My guess is it's those Legislators who are well funded by those who want nothing to do with health insurance reform. Nothing in politics speaks louder than love these days than money and fear.

******************** ******************** ******************* ***************

P.S. I'm an SEIU member as a home health-care worker. I still haven't seen any benefit to me directly with SEIU's affiliation with ACORN. If there's a left-wing conspiracy between my union and the much-maligned community organization group, no one is inviting me to the secret planning meetings.

When/if that happens, you know I'll write about it here.

Hotter than blazes today

2009-09-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

The only upside to the miserable hot, dry Santa Ana winds today is a beautiful sunrise Los Angeles skyline.

For the moment, the newest wildfire in the Moorpark/Fillmore CA area has not blown its smoke in the direction of L.A. However, I am reading/hearing predictions of full containment of this fire by this weekend.

Then, speaking of wildfires, at least the metaphorical sort, comes a story of a Census employee who was found hung in eastern Kentucky earlier this month. The story itself hints at all sorts of circumstances, from suicide or a crime committed by someone with which the man was related to the not-so-big-of-a-leap toward this being some sort of creepy hate crime. Will have to wait to see what happens, but it appears readers of this blog have a whole slate of theories of their own.

And, if you haven't been enjoying the General lately, check out today's post on the fight against Halloween. I'm still one of those odd gay dudes who does not like Halloween at all. However, if there's a good scary movie playing on that night, you'll find me there. Better to be in a group than on one's own on such a creepy night like that.

Maybe this year's Halloween is well worth looking forward to if it's at least 40 degrees cooler than today was!

Peggy Noonan: Obama Media Tour "Boorish" (VIDEO)

2009-09-20T13:27:00.001-07:00

It was right after Ms. Noonan made this comment that I shut off the TV. Normally, I enjoy the back and forth of the Roundtable on This Week, even when the right-wing panelists are just parroting the talking points of the right.

However, I suspect the President would not have even considered appearing so frequently on TV lately had we not had to face the bombardment of shrill, stupid, dead-headed empty thought drones we've had to endure sound clips from in the past few weeks. The only way to try to match that piercing whining is to start doing so on the left, but louder, more shrill and more empty-headed.

Liberals are just too nice, too smart and too rational to take that approach. So, we just try and show up often, speak the same coherent facts often and hope for the best. What a surprise, then, when the best we can do to back up the facts is the critique "boorish".

In the words of our President: "ENOUGH!!"
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Fresh from the Blvd.

2009-09-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

A scene becoming awfully frequent these days -- another wreath, flower and candle arrangement at one of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Blessedly, the daily struggles for Patrick Swayze are over. On the Blvd, the camera operators, photographers and tourists (and me) are all struggling for the best view/photo of the newest temporary shrine.

One post-September 12 question

2009-09-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

I suppose most people who blog use this outlet to provide answers they have crafted to questions that have been asked over and over again in the two topics no one should bring up in polite conversation: religion and politics

And while this is a Sunday and it would seem apropos to ask questions about religion, I cannot get out of my head the briefest of clips of yesterday's protest march/rally in Washington D.C. It seems to have incited such partisan passion in many in the media that it was nearly impossible to find an unbiased yet thorough coverage of this event. BBC's reporting seemed most dispassionate, yet it was all too brief. Fox News went into the most detail, but there's not much need to go into the point of view their written reporting adopted.

I'm just left with one question to ask: Why hasn't the debate about health care insurance reform been based in love rather than fear? It could well be that some in the crowd yesterday were willing and able to express their opinion from a place of love (how to make something work better for the most number of people); however, all of that got overshadowed from those who . . uh . . "argued" from a place of fear. The words, pictures and voices I kept experiencing yesterday all came from a place of fear.

If ever I write opinion from a place of fear, please call me on it. I'm a little worn out of the "place of fear" discourse I keep hearing and reading. So, for the moment, I'll let the video below be the line which I'll not cross. It's the first time I'd heard of Rammstein and the video splices in scenes from the movie XXX. Strong song whose title in English means, roughly, "Fire at will". I cannot wait for the new song from them later this week and the new album next month.

I'll try to listed from a place of love.

As the work week ends

2009-09-11T20:31:00.001-07:00

One of the great joys of living in Southern CA: gorgeous sunsets nearly every day! While I know that moisture, dust, smoke and other particulates in the atmosphere and the sun's position in the sky determine the colors present in the sunset, the little child in me can't help but stand in awe and give praise to God for the amazing artwork done just for lil' ol' me.

I do the same thing with star-strewn skies or a full, bright moon in the night sky and photos from the Hubble telescope, knowing full well the science involved in it all.

A nice way to end a very turbulent week for many around the nation.

"We don't need no water let the m*erfker burn . ."

2009-09-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

(the post's title comes from the chorus of the song "Fire Water Burn" by Bloodhound Gang)

The latest photo from my little corner of SoCal of the Station Fire. The website for our local "The CW" station is reporting the Station Fire is over 70% contained (basically, 70% of the fire cannot burn any further in any direction without dying out). Part of the containment efforts today was setting backfires to the east of Mt. Wilson (the large hill on the left in the background) and you can see the smoke still rising from the backfires on the far right of the photo.

While we're talking about backfires, I'm with Rep. Frank on the "You lie!" cat-call from the right side of the Chamber. Here's what he had to say on the Rachel Maddow show last night about Rep. Wilson's little outburst:

I don‘t think it‘s a big deal. Look, I think free speech—you know, heckling is a tradition, obviously, in the British parliament. They even have mikes that come down to hear the heckles.
I think what we should take it as—it is unusual—it‘s a sign of how effective the president was. These guys just couldn‘t handle it. I looked at John Boehner and he looked about as glum and as dour as—as possibly he could be.
So what Joe Wilson did was just scream out in frustration because the president was nailing it. So we‘ve got to be very clear, Wilson lied when he said the president lied. And he talked about illegal immigrants. It‘s clearly excluded from the bill.

My guess is that those who are participating in fanning the flames of nastiness in last month's Town Hall meetings across the country realized the truth was being spoken at the front center of the room last night and the "You lie!" was a feeble last gasp at trying to draw attention away from the President and the message of the evening.

If you believe the polls taken after the President's speech, it makes it even more clear that the demonstrations being put on by the far-right conservatives and health insurance industry lobby are much like the Station Fire has become around here in SoCal.

Something easier to defeat with every passing day by starving the fire of its fuel. Let the fires from the far-right. No water necessary -- let the (metaphorical) fire burn so everyone sees what the "argument" from the far-right is fast becoming:

Lots of wispy, white smoke - the last gasp of fire soon extinguished on its own.

Day 2 - "indoctrination" speech

2009-09-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

If you missed today's "indoctrination" speech by the President today, click here to read the transcript because, well, the "indoctrination" works extra well with the full video, the background and complete audio. And, as it is, apparently, "indoctrination", I'd hate to be responsible for "catapulting the propaganda"

Or, just gaze at the hypnotic toad (direct from Futurama. I'm sure Matt Groening had something to do with today's "indoctrination". Hypnotic toad/"indoctrinating" President of the U.S. Po-tay-toe/Po-tah-toe, anyone?) below:

GAZE!

Obama Labor Day Speech At AFL-CIO Picnic: FULL VIDEO, TEXT

2009-09-07T15:02:00.001-07:00

How nice is it to have a President who speaks eloquently at a labor union event and refers to those in government in attendance by their proper names. Please remember, in spite of whatever disappointment the current President may be delivering all of us liberals, that we have a President who can speak at a Union-sponsored event (the last one wouldn't be seen within a hundred miles of one) and not have cutesy, annoying nicknames for everyone.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I lasted about 36 hours

2009-09-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

I was all set for a politics-free weekend. The "honey-do" list I had was long and, as of now, is not yet complete so I can finish it up today and still have tomorrow to goof off. I finally saw Inglorious Basterds (expected gory and chatty, got both. Didn't expect funny and got that, too) and am rocking out to the Sonisphere festival, highlights of which are being broadcast on Palladia as I type.

I had only heard of Van Jones in the last few days from various radio chat show hosts. I then checked in with Crooks and Liars to find that he had resigned effective yesterday. I would be the first person to call this sort of thing routine, supposing that many an Administration's appointees had resigned in the past rather than sink deeper into controversy and bring their President down along with them.

Then, the comment in the article I read said:

So this is what we can expect from Obama: When the right gets into full-froth rabid attack-dog mode, he folds. He'll even throw one of his best friends and most loyal liberal allies under the bus.
Best of all, he's just handed the most rabid of the haters who are undermining his agenda -- namely, Glenn Beck and the rest of the Fox crew -- their biggest scalp yet. The crowing that will follow is just the start.
They certainly won't be satisfied with this. Hell, this is just the appetizer. Beck has already made clear that Valerie Jarrett is the next one in his sights.

I'm watching Press Secretary Robert Gibbs chatting with Stephanolopolous and it seems to underscore the C & L article above. In the long term, sunny, sweet and smart wins over all else. Sadly, this is not a long-term fight . . the Legislature will have some sort of bill to vote on in the next three months and either it passes or it falls to pieces for another 10-15 years.

By my nature, I'm not inclined to anger, vitriol or puffing up grains of truth in to a tubful of b.s. I've signed an online petition posted by Howard Dean making my opinion known about health insurance reform. Whatever your take on all of the facts may be, it is time to make your voice heard as well.

So pretty, so cool and so weird

2009-09-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Yet another smoke and humidity and heat inspired cloud tower appeared on my ride home tonight. Finally, the fires in the area are getting more and more in control and, for the first time in over a week, the setting sun looked like . . . a setting sun!

I even watched a 10 minute clip of Sen. Franken of Minnesota chatting with a few of his constituents at their State Fair. As to how those who appear in the video were chosen or if this crowd was grown organically, I cannot say. As these sorts of things go, it was just lovely to hear people with genuine disagreements with Franken speaking in a civil tone and wonderful to hear an elected official who had studied up on the Health Insurance reform movement in the Legislature!

For those who need to cut their pure, unfiltered political chat with something non-sensical and not nausea inducing, please feel free to cue up the video clip below after you pause the 10 minute Franken video at the "10 minute" link above:

Creepy Yet Cool, day two

2009-09-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Today's "creepy yet cool" photos were taken on the Blvd. The top photo is facing west toward the Pacific. The smoke from the Station Fire has drifted over the Hollywood Hills and has turned a normally bright blazing ball of sunlight into . . well . . something like an amber traffic light (like the one I photographed today just a minute after I took the photo of the sun).

I keep swearing I'm going to stop noticing the atmospheric changes caused by this fire; however, every day has been something different and fascinating. However, I'll enjoy the first day with no big event in the sky.

Whenever that's supposed to happen

Kind of creepy and kind of cool

2009-08-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, the hills in the far background (just north of L.A -- that would be downtown L.A toward the back left side of the first photo where the tall buildings are) are indeed smoking! Most of the largest of the wildfires in Southern California are burning in an area between La Cañada and Acton. The first photo shows the south edge of this fire.

In the second photo, I captured a little bit creepy yet beautiful sight a little closer to home thanks to the eastward push of smoke from this fire, some hot dry weather and a set of meteorological circumstances I'm not quite bright enough to explain. The smoke clouds are stacked up on top of each other like oversized mushroom caps.

Temps were not quite so high today and I even started to feel a slightly cooler breeze coming from the west late today as I walked down the Blvd. Hopefully, we turn the corner on the temps and humidity before the fire reaches more homes.