I made cornbread stuffing with broccoli florets and two cod filets for dinner tonight. Well-fed, I took the Online Jeopardy Contestant quiz, 50 questions with 15 seconds to answer each. We'll see how I do if they contact me in the future. It was a lot harder than watching it on TV, even without having to buzz in or phrase it in the form of a question. I also didn't have Dinah beside me chirruping inquisitively every time I shouted out an answer.
My number one choice for Presidential candidate dropped out today -- no, NOT Guiliani, you scalawag, I meant John Edwards. I'm disappointed, mostly at the treatment he received for talking about issues no one else is, but I still have two grade A candidates to choose from and I'm contented with either.
I bring this up particularly to contradict the hydrophobic spew of so-called pundit Dick Morris, who announced on Faux News today that Edwards' supporters "are those that can’t decide which they don’t like more—a black or a women getting elected". Yep, that sums me up to a T -- me who wouldn't object if all U.S. property got returned to people of color and at least 80% of ALL positions of leadership were held by women.
As a momentary aside, I seriously don't understand how these sorts of people get named "pundits" or why their opinions are ever sought. It's clearly a WBC (White Boys Club) for the most part, and they of course always choose each other -- you don't even have to watch Survivor to know that. But why do we let them get away with it? I remember in the early 70s, there was a commercial for some product which was introduced by "celebrity Rula Lenska". The first time it came on, my mother, the queen of pop culture, turned to us and said "Huh? Celebrity? Have any of you ever heard of her?" I guess she was the forerunner of Fabio and Ryan Seacrest alike, Gumby figurines they can pose however they want.
John Edwards, I believe, would have taken on both the wealthy elite and the corporate media, with somewhat of an insider's understanding. He was willing to utter the words "poverty" and "class", and didn't have to a cleansing palate rinse with kiwi sorbet afterward. Furthermore, he was an enthusiastic parent from a relationship which had survived the death of a child. That either makes you or breaks you (if you don't pawn it off onto someone else). I believe it had made him. Everyone always talked about his hair and his boyish grin -- the same morons who claimed Dubya looked friendly and "fit". (Dubya may have toned muscles but he still looks like shit on a stick, and his eyes are the deadest in the world except for maybe Gunner Dick's.) What I saw on John Edward's face, however, was maturity and the kind of compassion conservatives can't even acknowledge existing, the compassion that Buddha refers to: the compassion of grief.
Yes, even rich white boys can be good leaders for us. You know, in that 20% I'm willing to allot them, which is likely more than they karmically deserve. As a group, they've been running on empty for a couple of millenia.
(Image by Amelie Chica)
There's some good writing out there in Cyberia today. I'm going to snag the juiciest of it to share with you. First, over at Daily Kos, DHinMI posted in It's A Change Election a message so short and powerful, I'm copying the whole dang thing (it's homage, DH, please don't come down on me for theft!):
"Next time you hear someone extol the virtues of "traditional family values," or call on the country to seal the borders and not allow in new immigrants, or declare that we need to go back to the good old days (that often weren't very good), there's something you should remember. Something that demonstrates the profound changes in this country since the 1950's, before the civil rights movement and the feminist movement helped to greatly advance the cause of equal opportunity for ALL American citizens, something that demonstrates that we will not go backward, that America has irreversibly changed, and that we have changed for the better:
"Never before in the history of the United States of America have the voters and delegates of a major political party had to choose their nominee for President from a field that did not include a white male.
"We may or may not win this election, but in the greater social and cultural conflict fought out in this country for the last 50 years, we have won. Democrats liked all our candidates when John Edwards was still running for President, and we still like our candidates now that we no longer have a white male to choose. We are not threatened by having to chose between a woman and a man of color. We not only accept this as our current American reality, we embrace it as our future. WE are the party of tolerance. WE are the party of diversity. WE are the party of solidarity. And WE are the party of change."
("Blue Rudder", photo and copyright © 2007 by Liza Cowan)
Over at Digby, Dday in The Legitimate Change That Should Come From This Primary explains in easily understandable language why our current primary system is BROKEN:
"If 1-2% of all voters can whittle the field down to two candidates, and deliver a nominee on the Republican side, we have a serious problem and everyone knows it...It needs to be reformed in a big way. The fact that Florida broke the rules, moved up, delivered no delegates on the Dem side, but obviously succeeded since they PICKED THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE, should tell you something. We need a spread-out process and maybe earlier conventions to end this bad front-loaded system. It's terrible for democracy."
("Field Labor #5", woodcut by Michele Ramirez)
Back at Kos, Markos himself delivers two excellent commentaries on anti-Hispanic racism playing out in this election. First, in Bashing brown people to the electoral abyss, he begins with quoting Tim Dickinson's article in The Rolling Stone, Blame Pedro:
"Back in 2005, when Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee fought against an 'un-American' and 'race-baiting' proposal to deny undocumented workers access to health care and other government services, he declared that the bill 'inflames those who are racists and bigots and makes them think there's a real problem.' Impugning the piety of the bill's state-senator sponsor — like the governor, a Baptist preacher — Huckabee quipped, 'I drink a different kind of Jesus juice.'
"That was then. Today — with the nation bogged down in a disastrous war, oil prices at $100 a barrel, climate change cooking the planet and the economy veering into recession — the geniuses vying to lead the Republican Party have decided what's really wrong with America: Mexicans. Even the Rev. Huckabee is chugging the GOP's nativist Kool-Aid: In December, the same man who two years ago called on America to 'be a place that opens its arms, opens its heart, opens its spirit to people who come because they want the best for their families' unveiled his 'Secure America Plan,' which would target 12 million of these good folks for mass deportation 120 days into his first term.
"The immigrant-bashing had the desired effect, winning Huckabee the coveted endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, leader of the Minuteman Project border vigilantes. Gilchrist — who, in a nod toward moderation, clarified to Rolling Stone that his group does not believe that undocumented workers ought to be 'mowed down with machine guns at the border' — has high praise for Huckabee's plan. 'It appeared to me that I had written it myself,' he says. 'It was that strong.'"
Markos goes on to explain how and why racism came out from under its partial wraps in the Republican camp.
In a second post, Immigration issue killed Romney in Florida, Markos quotes Simon Rosenberg:
"According to the exit polls Mitt Romney and John McCain tied 33% to 33% among the 89% of the Florida voters last night who were not Hispanic. Among Hispanics, who where 11% of the Florida GOP electorate last night, the vote was 54% McCain, 24% Rudy and 14% Romney. So it was the vote of Hispanic voters who put John McCain over the top in Florida, and gave him the most important win of his fight for the GOP nomination.
"Thus, John McCain, the candidate who championed immigration reform, may have had the nomination delivered to him by those Hispanic voters he has been fighting for. And Romney, who has led the anti-immigrant crusade in the GOP field this year, saw this strategy explode on him - as it has virtually every other Republican who has invested in it - last night."
If you ask me, the explosion wasn't big enough.
In a related story, Alternet reports:
"The National Council of La Raza, which includes nearly 300 affiliated organizations, will launch a new initiative on Thursday titled 'We Can Stop The Hate,' aimed at curtailing the influence of CNN's Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck as well as MSNBC political commentator Pat Buchanan. In addition, the organization is petitioning for Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to renounce the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, a cofounder of the Minuteman Project, an anti-immigration group."
This is a good place to remind us all that when we are addressing the lies and malignancy of hate speech, "la raza" translates to "the people", NOT to "our race" as the xenophobes are prone to claim.
("Tuberculosis Ward, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island 3", photo by Stephen Wilkes)
Also at Kos, BarbinMD reports on today's Justice Department oversight hearing in The Nuremberg Defense, including a chilling exchange between Sheldon Whitehouse and current Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Thank g*d there's SOMEBODY in our government who understands that "I was only following orders" is not a defense. Check it out.
("Rhino in Fog" by Geert Goiris)
Other enjoyable reads right now include:
Jesse Wendel's insider understanding and predictions concerning the WGA strike, along with a definitely provocative video from Speechless, at "We've Got Everything We Need".
Kat at her new blog BitchCraft has been grabbing my attention with her musings on the disturbing youth of figure skaters, and defense of the "healthy choice" that divorce can be.
LaDoctorita at Unconventional Beauty outlines another example of Nobody Listens to Women, Part 2.
To close, a little Judy Grahn, from her book Confrontations With The Devil in the Form of Love:
I only have one reason for living
and that's you
And if I didn't have you as a
reason for living,
I would think of something else.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
POLITICS AND POETRY FOR $400, ALEX
Thursday, January 10, 2008
BROAD CAST 10 JANUARY 2008
Updates from David Letterman: He continues to mention the WGA strike every show. One night they played a fake ad from AMPTP explaining their side of the disagreement: It showed a graphic of two whole pennies plus a penny cut in half, saying "The Writers Guild of America is demanding we pay them two and a half cents of every dollar we make. We ask you: How can we cut a penny in half? It's an outrageous request." Another night, at the top of the show Dave was announced as "Stooge for the WGA!" He and Paul regularly make comments about how their material shows what can be produced by WRITERS -- usually after a joke or bit has bombed.
Two nights ago, Dave resurrected a stunt he's done before, tormenting the businesses around the Ed Sullivan Theater. This time his target was again the Jamba Juice across the street, which has a wide expanse of plate glass windows revealing the interior to a camera nearby. They sent in a WGA striker from the picket line, who stood in the front window and waves his sign. After a few seconds, they sent in three more strikers. Then six strikers -- at which point Dave said the Jamba Juice employee dialing the phone in the background was probably calling the cops. Then another five strikers, then all they had left, another dozen. By this time the Jamba Juice was crammed with strikers. Nevertheless, as is always the case with this stunt, no passersby paid any notice whatsoever, and one guy in a suit threaded his way into the place to the counter without acting like anything was out of the ordinary.
Next, Dave sent in somebody dressed as Spiderman. Then Moses. And the last to join them was somebody in a bear costume. Never once drawing a second glance from anywhere. I find this irresistibly funny.
Last night during his monologue, Dave mentioned that Dubya had gone to Israel, adding "It's always risky when they let him leave his comfort zone. He made a speech today in which he said 'Ich bin ein Jewish guy.'"
I am paying new notice to the late night format, monologues and shtick after watching the second installment of the PBS series on Pioneers of Television, this one about late night talk shows. They covered Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson, with entirely too much blather from Jay Leno but some interesting comments from Arsenio and Dick Cavett. They'd filmed an interview with Merv Griffin before he died, and he was nice to see the old queen again. The only really new nuggets for me was the fact that the late night concept was dreamed up by Pat Weaver, who was Sigourney Weaver's father, and she had some interesting things to say about how her father refused to underestimate the intelligence of the average viewer, aiming instead for real conversation and commentary.
(Thanks for Shadocat for sending me this cartoon.)
I always appreciate it when I get an e-mail that says "Do you really need to print this out? If not, save a tree". (Pam I., this means you, I recall.) Well, Tamara Krinsky at Change the Margins has an even Greener idea that I want us all to adopt and pass on: Her suggestion is that we change the default margins on all our documents to .75 inches instead of the 1.25 inches that Windows sets it at.
Currently her campaign has three goals:
1. Convince Microsoft to change the default margin settings in Microsoft Word to .75 on all sides. The more convenient it is for people to change their habits, the better chance there is that they will actually do so.
2. Persuade five corporations to officially sanction narrower margins for all company documents. In this way, people will get used to seeing documents with this formatting as the standard, as opposed to the exception. Never underestimate the power of peer pressure.
3. Challenge five universities to adopt narrower margin settings as the standard for their students and faculty, and include this information in their course guidelines.
She's focusing initially on Coca-Cola, Toyota, Continental Airlines and S.C. Johnson, so if you have a good contact at one of those corporations, go to her website and get in touch with her. Her website also has a petition you can sign urging Microsoft to change their defaults before the software leaves their factory.
Here are the stats from her website about paper consumption:
In prehistoric times, 60% of the earth's surface was covered by forests - today that amount has been reduced by 30% and is still shrinking.
-It takes 17 pulpwood market-sized trees and 390 gallons of oil to make a ton of paper
-That ton of paper, when disposed of, takes up nearly 8 cubic feet of public landfill space.
-That public landfill is approximately 36% waste paper products.
-Each one million pages of paper not printed saves 85 pulp trees.
-Each person in an office on average uses 2.5 pounds of paper each week. In the U.S., a ton = 2000 pounds, so that means every 2 years and 70 days, each person in an office on average uses a ton of paper. Now re-read the stats above and see how those numbers hit you. Suddenly, a ton doesn't seem like such an abstract number.
-Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year -- enough to build a 12 foot high wall of paper from New York to California.
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MARGINS
OK, so until we can get Microsoft to change the default margins in Word, here's how to do it on your own. It should take no more than twenty seconds and just a few clicks of the mouse. I suggest setting your margins to .75", which will save an immense amount of paper over the long haul, but still leaves you with a little bit of space on the sides. For those of you on the metric system, I'd recommend setting your margins to 2 centimeters, which is just over .75".
ON PCs:
On your WORD screen, go to FILE, then PAGE SET UP.
Click on the MARGINS tab, and fill in your desired settings. Then click on the DEFAULT button (it's on the bottom of the Margins tab). You'll be offered "Do you want to change the default settings for the page set up? This change will affect all new documents based on the normal template." Click YES.
ON MACs:
On your WORD screen, go to FORMAT, then DOCUMENT.
Once on DOCUMENT, click on MARGINS and you'll be able to fill in the settings for your margins.
I've a great article to recommend, by Courtney E. Martin in her book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body. Posted at Utne Reader, her essay Love Your Fat Self points out:
"Sizeism remains the only truly socially acceptable form of discrimination on the planet. We see living in a fat body as an insurmountable disability. Nearly a decade ago, the feminist therapist Mary Pipher wrote that 'fat is the leprosy of the 1990s.' Today fat is the death penalty of the 21st century. Skinny girls, counting their carrot sticks for lunch, can’t imagine being lovable at that size, applying for a job at that size, even living at that size. When I asked 14-year-old Manhattanites how their lives would be different if they were fat, they were struck silent. After a few moments, one responded, 'I would be dead.'"
It's a great read, complete with an image gallery. Love your body and lead the way.
And, lastly, here's a link to a FABULOUS Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon posted at Angry Black Woman blog, the definitive answer to essentialists who claim there's a biological explanation for why blacks score lower on some IQ tests than whites. Pass it on...
(Another classic from the mind of little gator)
Thursday, January 3, 2008
TV DONE RIGHT
Last night David Letterman didn't just return to the air after having made a completely union-friendly deal with the WGA, he gave the strikers a loaded 9 mm and told 'em to fire at will. It was wild fun.
In his usual guise as political idiot (never let that fool you), he said the basic reason for the strike was because the producers refused to pay for the writers' pencils. Which got a big laugh, but four cents actually translates to a sharpened pencil or two. He entered the stage among a chorus line phalanx of "striking" dancers he introduced as the Eugene V. Debs. He pointed out that his show was the only show featuring jokes by union writers, which got a huge round of applause. He took staged questions from the audience about the strike. He allowed Bill Sheft, Late Show strike captain, to interrupt a sketch that was about to show Dave igniting a pair of men's boxers by pointing out that the strike wasn't over, then delivering a rant against AMPTP that was searingly funny.
And for his Top Ten, a group of writers still on the picket line for other shows (including Nora Ephron and several writers for Colbert and Jon Stewart) delivered ten demands that ranged from sly jabs to a plaintive skinny pale guy's plea for "A date with a woman." You can read the list, watch Sheft's rant or hear Dave's monologue at the Late Show website. Yeah, Dave's grown out a beard (which he intends to shave on air), Hillary did a pre-recorded message, and Robin Williams was his usual off-the-charts funny (especially doing Walter Brennan having rough cowboy sex in Brokeback Mountain, you had to see it), but the glory of this episode was the unabashed support for the Writers Guild of America. You ROCK, David Letterman. Let's show him how much we appreciate it.
Also on the air last night was the first installment PBS's four part documentary series "Pioneers of Television". This one focused on the situation comedy, specifically on five key sitcoms that shaped the genre: I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Make Room for Daddy, The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show. The interviews were great (including a rare extended interview with Andy Griffith) and the details helped me understand exactly why these shows excelled, beyond the sentiment of them being from the "golden age". Catch it in re-run if you can. I'm looking forward to the future examinations of Late Night, Variety, and Game Shows.
And, making this a trifecta week for me, our local PBS station aired their American Masters' special on Cole Porter. It was fascinating to contrast his life story and career trajectory with that of George Gershwin, who was also recently featured in a PBS documentary. I was glad to see they treated his gayness openly, with frank interviews from straight friends and wonderful old queens alike. I was also intrigued by the details about his upper class upbringing, the role wealth played in his private life, and the details of his disability, all of which was news to me. It's clear that the previous film biographies of him are either off the mark or just flat-out lies. As usual, reality is a lot more interesting.
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