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

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.

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

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)

13

19

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

24 (wow!)

27

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.

Oh, for the love of . .

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?

The other side of an e-mail campaign

Have you ever wondered, my fellow liberals, what it must be like to be on the receiving end of an e-mail campaign to get advertisers to stop advertising on a TV and/or radio program that makes our stomachs churn and offends our senses?

Colorofchange.org has been running a campaign to get advertisers to avoid Glenn Beck's daily Fox News program.  The count of big-name companies who are avoiding that one hour of programming on Fox News each day is up to twenty.

This, of course, does not mean that you won't find these companies' ads in every other Fox News program.  While voicing our opinions and putting economic pressure on the most irresponsible commentators is a most noble cause, this has the feeling of avoiding one rain puddle yet traipsing through 10 others to get from point A to B when all you have to do is cross the street and avoid puddles altogether.

Now, I'm not saying that this movement needs to come to a halt because of its futility.  In fact, if this helps to rally liberals behind one idea and cause it to move in the same direction, it will be nothing short of a minor miracle.

I have seen some of the e-mails that people have sent in to one of the many advertisers on Glenn Beck's program and, as a public service to those who want to continue their boycott and move it along to other programs who permit the most loopy/nutty notions to go out over the airwaves, I wanted to tell everyone what I see when I help filter out the "Glenn Beck" e-mails.  In addition, I have a couple of suggestions for catching the eye of those companies who you are trying to talk into joining the movement:

1)  While using the template provided by websites to gather your thoughts is a huge help (I've done this myself), copying the text verbatim or making minimal changes to the template serves to make your e-mail blend in to all of the others.  It also plugs a great big neon sign on your e-mail that says "hey, I just sent this because all of my fellow liberal buddies told me to".  It really fails to pack the punch you think it might.

2)  Please stop entitling your e-mails "Glenn Beck".  Some of the writers of recent e-mails have eschewed this generic subject line in favor of more emotional slogans (i.e. "Please stop wrongheaded advertising").  Instead of flagging a bunch of "Glenn Beck" e-mails and moaning about the mind-numbing volume, we readers have to actually read your e-mail to find out what you are talking about. Isn't that really why you are sending the e-mails so corporations have to read what you are saying?

3)  Spelling, grammar and punctuation count.  Though I'm as liberal as the next out gay man, I cringe at poor spelling, bad grammar, run-on sentences and poorly constructed thoughts.  If you are sending a protest e-mail, please read it through twice before hitting "Send". The more errors we find, the less seriously your e-mail will be considered.

Now that you know a little about what it's like to read your e-mails, I am now expecting more unique, better composed and overall smarter e-mails from everyone. 

Keep the cards and letters coming!

Yet another weighty matter . . .

Sitting in the middle of Hollywood Blvd earlier this evening was a great big crane with a basket attached to the end. I don't think the writing on the basket shows very well, so I'll let you know that Jimmy Kimmel Live! is written all over the side. It airs way past my bedtime, I'm afraid - maybe I can catch it somewhere on line to see where the basket was placed in the show.

Sometimes, it not the big things that catch my eye.  Sometimes, just a simple traffic snarl will do it for me.

Time to let my expertise out

Inspiration has struck.  I'll address the woman with the red-covered book in her hand at the 12 second mark in this video a little bit further down:

It's time to put aside the rhetoric, the hollering and every last cable news talking head.  I had not wanted to write until I thought I had something original to say. Well, that may still not be true (the original thought thing, I mean) but I  have 9 years experience working in managed care (better known as the health insurance industry) and am learning more about legal documents used to designate someone to act on ones behalf in all things financial and medical.

First:

The public option being sought in health insurance reform works like this:

Go to your doctor for an exam, check up, etc.

Your doctor submits a claim to the "public option" people (yes, these will be government employees)

"Public option" pays the claim.

My partner has had government run health care (better known as MediCare) for most of his life as he is disabled.  In the 20 years I've been with him, a doctor has never turned around and billed him in full for a service they provided yet Medicare chose not to pay.  As we receive an Explanation of Benefits (a piece of paper that says what the doctor bills, what MediCare pays and what portion of the bill, if any, my partner needs to pay as a co-pay) for every visit and every set of lab work ordered, it's pretty easy to see for us that what my partner needs in terms of basic, regular care for his conditions, he gets.  Six doctor visits and three sets of lab work a year for a disabled man is not a big drain on the system.  Here's the math:

Doctor's visits: 6 visits at $35/visit = $210.00 a year

Lab work:  3 sets of lab work at $150/set of labs = $450.00 a year

All is not cheap these days under MediCare, though.  Sadly, my partner needs medication.  A bunch of it.  With a great deal of effort from the pharmacy and my partner, the private company that manages the MediCare Part D plan covers nearly all of the medications and only asks anywhere from $1 to $3 from my partner per medication.  

The thousands of dollars paid out for the medications would drop your jaw.  Having spent all my adult life working in businesses, the notion that a group like MediCare cannot negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies for a large-quantity discount is just bizarre!  It's as if the MediCare went to Sam's Club and was told that instead of being able to buy a 10 pack of Mac N Cheese for $6 they'd have to pay $12 for it or go to the local market and buy a box of Mac N Cheese for $1.20.

You'd laugh at that "bargain" and put the 10 pack back, wouldn't you?  Makes me wonder what would happen if our country's senior citizens and disabled could do the same with their medications.

And I know that all of us working people, small business owners and/or people on COBRA have had issues of maintaining eligibility with our insurance plan.  If there's a lapse in eligibility AND/OR the doctor bills for a service not covered by the plan AND/OR a diagnosis not covered AND/OR the physician's assistant billed instead of the M.D . . well, you get the idea

WE pay in full!

Two:

Please stop believing the whole "the Government is out to kill Grandma" talk being bandied around.  The portion of the bills to which this twisted statement is attributed speaks about MediCare now officially paying for a once every five year visit with a doctor to set up, in essence, a "Living Will".

A Living Will is a legal document (though the version you and your doctor would set up would apply, most likely, to just the hospital at which your doctor has admission privileges) that says just what you want done should you wind up hooked up to life support in a hospital.  A Living Will can say (and I am translating from the legalese I have recently learned) "Keep me hooked up to a machine forever and a day." or "Keep me hooked into a machine until three doctors agree that my condition will never improve" or "Keep me hooked to a machine until my wife says it is time to turn the machines off" (which also bleeds into a Health Care Directive/Health Care Power of Attorney.  Basically, you assign a living breathing human to act as a Living Will on your behalf).

Living Wills can also say things like "I want every last organ in my body donated to everyone if the machines are turned off" or "Only donate my liver to the local University for medical research" (my local University could write volumes on mine, what with the cholesterol meds, etc.) or even (gasp!) "Keep your freakin' mitts off my body parts. Where I'm going I need every last molecule!".

The nice thing about this doctor/patient agreement is the burden is taken off of you to decide if/when grandma is removed from life support.  Grandma and her doctor have had a heart-to-heart ahead of time and have written up directions to be followed.

If you really want to usurp Government's overreaching authority, get yourself to an attorney or at least a document preparation company with attorney oversight and have a Living Will written for yourself.  Keep the original signed version for yourself, give a copy to your doctor's office and make sure the family member you trust the most has a copy of this document as well.

Finally:

If you are just not sure what to think about all of the changes being proposed in Congress (and likely to be voted upon in late September), please have an honest conversation with your friends and family.  Ask if they have ever had to pay for medical services in full or have had to max the credit cards to afford antibiotics, pain medication or high blood pressure pills OR if they've had to go without coverage because of the month by month expense.

If you find out that you or someone you love had to "just pray that no one gets sick", you need to seriously consider a "public option" to cover those who get stuck between this rock & a hard place.

I've been there and, in the right set of circumstances, could be there again someday soon.

AND:

As a Christian, regarding the woman in the video talking about the book in her hands being the "only truth she needs", contained in the version of the Bible she clutches and holds out as a shield is this version of 1 Samuel 18:1-5 (thanks to biblegateway.com)

Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that ^{A)" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">(A)}the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and ^{B)" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">(B)}Jonathan loved him as himself.   ²Saul took him that day and ^{C)" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">(C)}did not let him return to his father's house.   ³Then ^{D)" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">(D)}Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.   ⁴^{E)" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">(E)}Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.⁵So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and prospered; and Saul set him over the men of war. And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

It's one of my favorites as it references a love shared between two men united only by that love (not family). I'd plan my own wedding to my partner by exchanging robes, armor, sword and belts in the church, but our pastor frowns on guys getting married in their underwear (though, I swear, it would only be a couple minutes of exposure.  Nothing extreme and nothing, I'm sure, out of line with the above passage).

I'd imagine my newfound Bible totin' buddy may hold her copy a little further ahead of her if she really had a good, long, hard read through that Bible.  As a liberal, I'm partial to the version found in The Message.  Though, something gets a little, uh, watered down in the translation.

Wonder what version of the truth would work best for her and her fellow "protestors"?

The most offensive idea for a TV show yet?

I only had to read a couple of paragraph's in to this story for my stomach to churn.

First, marriage is so sacred there's no way that two consenting adult men or two consenting adult women could marry each other . . not in this country, right?

Now, at least in Turkey, a person's eternal soul is up for "redemption" for fantastic prizes & cash (or something like that).  At least some of that country's religious leaders are against this.

I cannot imagine who would be in favor of making such a sleazy display of such a private choice.  What an odd world in which we live!!

One weekend later

Well, I had little to worry about today as far as the Boulevard was concerned.  There was even rumors of summer-like weather starting today.  This didn't come to pass -- a cool breeze blew up and down the Boulevard all day.  Someone was thoughtful enough to set up the metal gates so visitors could queue up on the left and passers by could walk more quickly on the right.

or, I suppose, somewhere for someone to leave a dog while the someone went who knows where.

I'll let the rest of these photos speak for themselves.  Though the scale is hardly comparable, I kept flashing back to 1997 and the expressions of grief and support over the passing of Princess Diana.

I'll see how long this continues and, if anything changes, I'll take out the cell phone camera and . . uh, that sounds a little more like a threat.  Or, maybe I'm being too hard on myself?

What the pictures may not capture is that, in spite of the t-shirt, button, flowers, concert photo book-styled publications being sold, there was a genuine feeling of visitors walking past a body lying in state on the Boulevard.

With the recent deaths of well-known infomercial king Billy Mays and impressionist Fred Travalena, it's enough to throw anyone off balance.  Even I, who has a pretty even-keel philosophy on life and death, am not sure what to make of all of this.

While I chew on that, I suppose I need to dip my toe back into all things political.  Slowly.

When I appeared back to the surface this morning . .

. . . from my daily light rail trip into Hollywood, I thought I had the whole day figured out.  In fact, Hollywood Boulevard was already shut down early this morning in preparation for tonight's world premiere of "Brüno".  I had a few places in mind to walk to for lunch that were well away from the Boulevard.  All of the tourists (God love 'em!) tend to clump like dust bunnies to the underside of a bed when all of the barricades, grandstands, carpeting and Krieg lights are trotted out onto the Boulevard.

Then, as I'm getting close to my morning break, the news of Farrah Fawcett's passing spread.  Truthfully, her death was not a huge surprise.  She had spent a good deal of time battling cancer.  Having lost three family members to cancer, I could only feel relief when I heard of her passing, knowing that all of the pain and suffering were no more.  Her fans set up a beautiful tribute on her Walk of Fame star. It was the nicest one I had seen in the many months I have worked in the Hollywood area:

Gossip abounded in between calls at work today about her death.  News vans queued along the Boulevard:

I left for lunch at 12:30 and returned an hour later to news from CNN about singer Michael Jackson being rushed to the hospital.

More gossip continued in between calls during the early afternoon until after I returned from my afternoon break to hear/read about Michael Jackson's death.

Now, just about after 4 pm Pacific today, where I was becoming accustomed to a fast paced last hour of work, a pall had descended over the office and the call volume slowed to a crawl.

I knew that the walk to the Metro station would easily take twice as long between the movie premiere, fans of Farrah paying their respects, Jimmy Kimmel's show being taped, a private event at the El Capitan theatre and, as I mentioned earlier, tourists clumped together in larger groups in a now even smaller space.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jackson's star on the Walk of Fame resides under the "ü" in "Brüno":

So, flowers, etc., for Michael Jackson were placed about 2 feet away from where I took this photo.  As was always the case in the last three months of my grand Hollywood adventure, it was European tourists who were taking photos of the makeshift Jackson memorial.  Every time I walked past Michael Jackson's Star, there were always a European tourist or two (I can tell this by the fashion choices -- believe me, the same is true when Americans travel in Europe - our fashion sense makes us stick out like sore thumbs) snapping photos of Michael Jackson's Star.

It seems he has never really left the hearts of people outside of the U.S.  It's too soon to tell if the U.S. had left Michael Jackson behind and we are just now trying to make up for lost time.

While I was never really a fan of Farrah, I liked Michael Jackson as much as anyone else.  In fact, at the age of 10, the first album I ever bought was "Off The Wall".  I wore down the grooves in the vinyl and was happy to be able to replace it with a CD years ago.

I'm signing out and headed to iTunes to try and build a Michael Jackson cover tunes playlist (such as Alien Ant Farm's version of "Smooth Criminal" -- one of the best Michael Jackson covers of all time) to enjoy over and over this weekend.

Even if you were never a fan of either star, please take the weekend to let those you love know that you love them, you appreciate them and you cannot imagine your life without them.  Days like this serve to remind all of us that we really don't know how much time we have left to say the things we want to say.

Peace!

First, Denis Leary. Now, Rachel Maddow

I might as well lay all of my cards on the table.  These next few factoids will, undoubtedly shatter a few stereotypes about gay men and shed all kinds of light on what kind of man I really am.

I watch "Rescue Me" -- have done so every summer since Season 2.  While the notion of a drama centering around a firehouse should easily every gay man's delight, every character on the show is extraordinarily dysfunctional.  Every. Last. One.  It makes this show all the easier for anyone to relate to -- who didn't enjoy some level of dysfunction in their own family as they were growing up?

I was more of a casual (read: I'd be in the room glancing up now and then as the show played) watcher before the next to last episode of Season 2.  (yeah, I know I'm sourcing Hulu. Sign up is free.  No captions on this episode - oi!).  I do not remember laughing so hard and crying so hard within the space of an hour.

Anyone that can illicit laughter and tears in the space of an hour is someone of which I'll be a fan for life.

Oh, yeah, and I listen every now and then to Playboy Radio and enjoy a good long belch every now and then.  Really.

And, if there was any doubt before, I'm now a fan for life of Rachel Maddow.  She got me to mine new depths of outrage, then had me howling with laughter . . in the space of 30 minutes!

So, there, multi Emmy-nominated actor on a basic cable show!

First, the "cover sheets" of the Worldwide Intelligence Updates presented to our previous President.  Full color photos.  Bible verses. BIG FONT.  I can't help but imagine that there had to have been, at least once, a finger puppet performance of one of these Updates in lieu of having to *ugh* read one of these things.

Not even me trying to reenact the possible puppet show relaxed my jaw and unclenched my fist.  The color photos I could let slide. But slapping Bible verses under the report titles . . that set me off!  OK, so as a rational grown up there are plenty of incidences of the Bible being used as justification for all sorts of atrocities (here is one directly from someone far more familiar with the Bible than I).

Then, the litany of voices from the right wing over Speaker Pelosi's alleged involvement with torture (I can't call it anything else) of prisoners years ago (and maybe even now? anyone's guess) just so some kind of frail link between the attack in NYC in '01 and Sadaam Hussein.  Newt Gingrich slathered the icing on this bizarre cake.  The outrage I can, again, let slide.  But Gingrich spouting off at someone for lying?  Check this out:

I have a confession

I watch This Week with George Stephanopoulos.  Every.  Sunday.

And, nearly every Sunday afternoon, I read the liberal blogs about some politician saying something on "This Week" that sets stomachs to heartburn and, in the writer's opinion, goes unchallenged by George.

Having watched these sorts of shows for a while now, I'm getting pretty good at finding when the host lets the guest speak their mind, getting away with blatant opinion instead of an honest analysis of fact.  Once in a while, a Democrat gets to wander down their own path.  More often, the Republicans get a hold of the reins and run roughshod over what's actually happening.

The first segment of today's show was a real test of restraint for me.  Fortunately, the TV is still in one piece and I didn't strain any muscle or tendon from tossing things across the living room.

Things got off to a start with Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch from Utah stating confidently:

We all know he's going to pick a more liberal justice.  Their side will make sure that it's a pro-abortion justice.  I don't think anybody has any illusions about that.

Then, less than a minute later, the dog-piling of Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy begins:

LEAHY: . . I have a pretty good sense of what (President Obama) has in mind for a justice.  What I would argue . .

STEPHANOPOULOS: What is it?

LEAHY: What I would argue . . 

HATCH: I would like to know that, Pat.

LEAHY (the transcript incorrectly attributed this next quote to George): What I would argue is you walk into the Supreme Court, over the doorway there is a great big piece of Vermont marble, and engraved on it, it says "equal justice under law." That is what you want to have.

and on and on the overwhelming push to the right continued.

In all fairness, the reaction of at least one Democrat in the Senate to the last Supreme Court Justice nominee, Samuel Alito, was not all that much less bellicose.

Still, I was feeling like I was getting the overheated leftovers from a Fox News . . uh . . news program (?).  Well, at least with Fox, everyone knows what kind of spin to expect (or, for that matter, the kind of spin one gets when watching an MSNBC . . news-esque . . show).

I'm saving Fareed Zakaria for later today . . like a treat.  An actual news program withan actual journalist/editor talking with interesting guests with a different take on political and international issues.

Then again, how else would my pitching arm get a workout every week?

And still more silliness!!

To close out a dizzying week of big gay news, this big gay blogger will cede to this not-gay blogger to deliver a counter-point to the "we straight folks are a'feared of teh gays getting married!" video/advertisement released this week.

HRC does a very thorough job of dissecting the advertisement.  A shame the "behind the scenes audition" for that commercial is no longer available for viewing.  I will say that it does a good job showing not too terribly good "actors" mauling the lines (aren't they supposed to learn the script before coming in to audition?  Please correct me if my assumption is incorrect).

To be fair, I'd imagine actors are used for all sorts of political ads on all points of the political scale.  So, perhaps these "political PSAs" should also come with a "I'm MetalHead39 and I approve this message" tag at the end like we hear in ads for political candidates.  Or maybe a "the views expressed in this advertisement do not reflect the views of the people in this advertisment"?

Or have I gone well past the point of silly in all of this?

You pick the story, I'll supply the outrage!

OK, "outrage" may be too strong a word.  Lots of things have popped up from the satellite as I drove home from the Park n Ride today:

Baseball fans were surveyed recently by the Associated Press.  They were asked what the biggest problem with Major League Baseball was.  45%, the largest percentage listed, said the cost of seeing an MLB game live at the ballpark is the biggest problem with MLB.

Fans also mentioned player salaries, steroid scandals and the length of games as other problems.

I'm still somewhat of a novice baseball fan.  I do understand how the game is played.  I have no problem at all with players using steroids.  I imagine fans will be able to spot the tell-tale physical signs of regular steroid use quickly enough (if they don't already see them by now).  Fans can decide if they want to support teams with a large number of steroid users or not.

Vote with your admission tickets.  Which brings me to my other semi-informed opinion.  I wish MLB well with increasing ticket prices.  If prices are a barrier, then there will be more empty seats over which TV cameras may pan as the games are broadcast.  If the trend continues, I would expect to see more "fan appreciation" nights OR "family nights" where kids get in for 1/2 price, etc.

Not that I'm becoming a bigger fan or anything . . .

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Fox News' Glenn Beck is either stark raving or just crazy like a . . .well, you know.  I'm having problems thinking of the liberal equivalent of this guy.  So, I'll entertain suggestions as long as you back your suggestion with links to transcripts and/or audio/video.

Here (thanks to C & L), Beck carries on about wind power's impractically.  Mr. Amato kindly posts Wikipedia's write-up on overcoming issues inherent with wind power.  It gets a little technical, but I'm sure that's just fine.  It would be quite presumptuous to insist that Beck, oh, I don't know, research for maybe 10 minutes to see that a method exists to harvest wind power without needing to build more nuclear power plants.

For hammy acting and needless carrying-on, I'm sure a Sci-Fi (or SyFy) made-for-TV schlockfest (I say that with much love) will work just fine for me.

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If big-business sports and TV news-ish hosts aren't your cup of tea, try this.  Good article and plenty of pictures to click and view.  Ooh, so pretty !

Mama gets overshadowed by the guy who used to wear bow ties ?

And, by "Mama", I mean the affectionate term fans of Stephanie Miller (like me) use to address her during her daily political/humor radio show.

I recorded CNN's "Reliable Sources" this morning with a short cup of coffee and waited to see Mama set up and knock down the host and pundits with her sharp commentary and goofy humor.

Sadly, all the accounts written talk about Tucker Carlson and all of the shrieking he did about Jon Stewart.  Does he get that the comedy dude should not have to be a news reporter AND that someone who works on an all financial news channel should not mostly be know for the comedy?  I'd safely say that those fans of The Daily Show (like me) are fully aware that Stewart is all about the comedy yet is sharp enough to use the news to create the comedy.

Huffington Post has the transcript of the exchange -- just look for MILLER in the transcript to read what Stephanie contributed.  Again, so very odd to watch this and have the very funny lady have to deliver the most insightful commentary on this guest spot on an all-news channel.

Corruption! Corruption!

Now, what kind of political blogger would I be if I passed up the opportunity to write something up about corruption in politics?  However, while most bloggers would pick a team and stick with them, I'd like to think I can take a seat in the bleachers and train my binoculars at both the left and right field to get a better idea as to how the game is played.

So, I took a look at a video report filed at Pajamas TV by Jason Mattera of Young America's Foundation (there's a pop-up window I got when I visited - just thought you deserved a warning).  I do look forward to a future report from Jason on corruption in the Republican ranks; however, this report was all about House of Representatives Democrats.

I'm not going to be able to sift through it all here - the report can be viewed for free and you're welcome to catch what I could not and add comments to this blog or start your own.  From the looks of things, practically anyone can start a blog, so why not start one over this issue?

Here's what I'll share:

Charles Rangle (D-NY):  Jason mentions the "17 foot Cadillac DeVille" Mr. Rangle leases at "$800.00 a month".  A local NYC TV station wrote about this in May 2008 and mentioned other U.S Representatives and their car leasing choices.

For a little perspective, the Saturn VUE I have measures 15 feet in length.  I am only 12% off  - - so close to the Corruption! standard.

Accusations of taxes not being paid by Mr. Rangle were also made by Jason and, with a simple Google Search using the words Charles Rangle tax, can easily be confirmed.

John Murtha (D-PA):  Jason confronts Rep. Murtha about "eight Haditha Marines" whom Jason said Mr. Murtha said "killed innocents in cold blood".  A Pittsburgh PA TV station reported that one of the eight U.S Marines who were " . . charged after 24 Iraqi civilians were killed in Haditha (Iraq)" was "planning to file suit in federal court against Murtha on (September 25, 2008)".  The article also reports that, at the time the report was written, seven of the eight Marines had been cleared of those charges.

The bastion of liberal media MSNBC talks about what was said and when in this article from May 2006.  Oh, wait, I must've missed the uber-liberal pinko-commie bias MSNBC injects into practically everything they "report" - - I could only find an account of the incident and what Mr. Murtha said at the time.

Jason seems to not be able to tell the difference between this Pennsylvania Representative and a certain notorious organization based in the Middle East.

Jason also seems to be very proud of rehashing Corruption! today which local TV stations had reported over six months ago.

As a budding blogger myself, I have no business quashing enthusiasm nor attempts to shed new light into old news.  It's usually best to just let us on-line folk speak/write as we choose then fact check on your own.

Oh, what fun!  Ooh, and I've left Nancy Pelosi, William Jefferson (who was not reelected in November 2008 back to the House), Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank to you all to watch Jason's report then make up your own minds.

I have already made up my own mind on this.

Morning View

As I type this, the sun hasn't even risen over the left coast.  The coffee and donuts I got an hour ago have not quite lifted the fog yet.  With all of that, I have both the TV on and am bouncing between four different feeds at http://www.facebook.com then search for the link to CNN.  There's a facebook status scroll on the right of the screen and a choice of 4 feeds from CNN on the left.  Had I know watching this would be so filled with choices, I would've gone to bed earlier last night.

I've had "Nice to know you" by Incubus rolling around my head since I walked out the front door to get donuts.  Good song to ease anyone into the morning and a good song with which to start a party.

Enjoy the day, everyone!

Bits and pieces and more party music !

I'll start with the cynical and build up from there.

• With many thanks to the General (what, you're still not reading this freakin' hi-larious blog yet? Shame on you!  What're you waiting for??), here's yet another story of hypocrisy involving sex. 
• Watched Oprah today and was not surprised in the slightest.  If you must check this pre-Inauguration show out, click here.  Otherwise, it was just too saccharine for my taste. 
• Took my partner to the movies this afternoon where we saw Gran Torino.  Really good drama well acted and directed by Clint Eastwood.  I had to fight back the tears toward the end, so grab a couple of extra napkins at the snack bar.
• It took the last 5 minutes of the drive home from the movies to pick tonight's party song.  I can't help from bang on the steering wheel and dashboard like a set of bongos to this song.  Here's "Renegades of Funk" by Rage Against the Machine.  Click here for lyrics.
  

Reaching out to the neighbors

In my time in between gown commentary, interior design critique, financial bailout investigations and job hunting, I consider myself a VERY amateur astronomer.

That's why this news is more exciting that I could express (but I'll try)! While it will be amazing to discover an Earth-like world somewhere in our galaxy, my guess is that the next step will be trying to figure out if life exists in this Earth-like world.  

As it is, the potential for life exists in our own solar system, and not just under the surface of Mars.  I caught the tail end of an episode of "The Universe" on the History Channel (yeah, I know -- whatever is planet hunting doing on a History Channel . . oh, well) last night which illustrated this new orbiting telescope and outlined how the search for Earth-like planets outside of our solar system has gone so far.

Would be nice to get more folks interested in this.  I'll definitely be watching March 5!

Quick Takes

Lots of political news out there and good writing to peruse.  Here's a sample of the writing and my "quick takes" on each

Gene Robinson tapped to say a prayer at the Inauguration.  This should satisfy most in the LGBT community who are still sore over Rick Warren being tapped to give the Invocation.  I'm perfectly fine and pleased that whomever sees Robinson deliver the prayer will see not a gay man saying this prayer; they'll see a messenger of God delivering a blessing.

President GW Bush's press conference from this morning.   Eight days left in his administration and the President decides to defend his administration's most controversial decisions and continued to try reframing the results so it appears he did his best every time.  This is no surprise to me.  The emotion in his voice was more visible than ever.  I had guessed that GW Bush would, one day, consent to an interview with someone perceived as a "softball interviewer" but would do the work needed to ask difficult questions that would illicit the closest thing to a confession we would ever get (think: David Frost interviewing Nixon years after Nixon's resignation).

While the semi-confession came from Nixon over three years after the end of his presidency - I am willing to bet it will take far less than three years before we are given the satisfaction we need over getting GW Bush to convey genuine remorse and/or regret, permitting the forgiveness we'll need to give him one day in order for our country to move forward.

Hubble found something new.  Fascinating article and I love that we'll continue to find things we cannot explain and will explain things we keep finding AND we'll soon have a President who will be far more likely to let the truth of so many more scientific discoveries see the light of day, unfiltered through politics

www.pjtv.com.  Registration to view the video clips is free (no sacrificing a calf or a first born, unlike what you might think) and watching that infamous unlicensed plumber grumble out his opinions to his boss is just chock full of funny and head-shaking moments.

AND FINALLY

The View becomes . . well . . like cats in a burlap sack.  No transcription yet and I pity the person who has to sort out all of the cross-talk to figure out who said what. I watched the show's conservative co-host, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, to see if she stays silent, supports Coulters account of the facts used in her book or does the peculiar thing of confronting Coulter on Coulter's assertions.   That is truly the most interesting part of this melee.

I'm off to a nap to battle off a three-day off and on headache and a sour stomach.  Oddly, none of the above caused my physical distress.  Once I reset, I cannot wait to see if I get lucky and find out who got what amounts of money in the $290-$350 billion government "loan" to financial institutions.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence . .

I was enjoying a lovely evening of Canasta and word games with a buddy when I turned the topic of conversation to recent events in Nigeria and Mumbai.  I'm fairly comfortable being a Christian but really struggle with the organization of faith when acts of violence occur in the name of a religion.  I have looked far enough into most of the world's major religions to realize that there is a great deal of overlap in the basic philosophies.  I asked what would be the best way to help others focus on the similarities and not let the divisions fester into the need to become violent.

My buddy, who has a vast amount of experience with and has done a good deal of research in all things biblical, was explaining why the question I posed would be far more disastrous.  In a "why don't we all just get along" scenario, some Christians believe that this would signal the "end of times" and would be cause for the second coming of Christ.

Later on in the evening, I had made a reference to Homer Simpson and my buddy confessed to never having seen an episode of The Simpsons.

Well, I'm in church this morning and the Gospel reading today is Matthew 24: 23-36.

During the offering, the woman talking about the importance of tithing mentioned an episode of the Simpsons where Homer is doing the mathematics to figure out when the world is going to end.  Unfortunately, I could not find this episode listed anywhere and, I suspect, she was reaching all in the name of doing something good for the church and tying the offering into the sermon.

But, what were the chances last night's conversation topics would be revisited again this morning by a different group of people?  I'm sure my buddy, well familiarized with the ecumenical seasons, probably just had "end of times" Scripture filed somewhere in the back of his mind and my referencing The Simpsons was just an effort on my part to change the tone of conversation.

Right?