jimikeen

Pamela Geller, strip clubs and the "hallowed ground" in Lower Manhatten

2010-10-10T12:27:00.000-04:00

It has been almost 9 years since 9/11 but people are still processing the trauma of event. Some choose to "wave the bloody flag" of 9/11 by piggy backing a personal political agenda to the event. Some view the truther movement people and anyone who challenges the “official” story of 9/11 as conspiracy theory nuts. Building 7 is still an explained mystery to me and the official story sounds very implausible and time will tell about the rest of their version of that days events The most newsworthy group embracing 9/11 and stirring up controversy happened in lower Manhattan started, so I will reserve any judgement on them until more facts are in. The fanatical groups with an agenda about 9/11 are those who are stirring up hatred towards Muslims, like these people in NYC who took a local issue in late July of this year and have escalated into the anti "ground zero masque" lynch mob. The voices of discontent started as a local, a lunatic fringe of tea party types, libertarians and super Patriots of the right, the others are an easily mobilized group of angry inspired sheeple who are piling on the latest emotional charge issue? No doubt though that those who read the NY Post, as it spun the juicy volatile mix of the “hallowed ground” of the WTC site, stirring up fear of the non Jesus believing Muslims and the alleged desecration on an area that has been thus deemed by the certain media elements and kindred spirits on the right. Local NYC or NY state municipal authority who rules stringently for historical landmarks has approved the mosque to be built, being that no “hollowed ground clauses presently exist. It seems as if some people are selective when to enforce issues of some group First amendment rights.

Facebook has a link for supports a link named NO "MOSQUES" next to 9/11 Memorial Site - NO Cordoba House (mosque). I don’t have a problem with those haters who also have first amendment rights. Just don’t look to Facebook if you want to advertise your Freedom of speech on their site, which is their right, being that it won’t allow the “Just say now” organization advertise on to join its group because it has a pot leaf logo on it (although it had gained 6,000 followers and the publicity from their censorship will help the cause in a huge way). Apparently a pot leaf is more dangerous on Facebook than spreading and encouraging messages of fear, hate and intolerance.

The manufactured issue of the “ground zero masque” has become the litmus test of where people stand politically, from the alleged Democrat Harry Reid and the Long Island Loony, Pamela Geller on the right and usual voices from the left, NYTs, Keith Olbermann and everyone else that Sara Palin defines as the “lame stream media”. I had wrongly assumed that the political millage out of 9/11 had exhausted itself with Rudy Giuliani and the 2008 Presidential election but the geniuses at Fox News has blown on the embers of hate, fear and religious ignorance to and has created the hottest manufactured news story on the month. A blogger who lives near ground zero summed it up very well with his observation, At this point the only argument against this project is fear, specifically fear of Muslims, and that’s a bigoted, cowardly and completely indefensible position. The blog entry also points out that the his neighbors are not obsessed with 9/11 and there are all kind of hard working people living and working with a variety of businesses a that is just one of many places in NYC.

The existing masque and a couple of strip clubs which have been around for 8 ½ years without an issues but have been gotten some attention lately. The demonetization of strip clubs in general by a right wing politician threaten to build a strip club next to the, well, take your pick, the Cordoba House, Park 51 project or the future ground zero masque. The issue of what is an acceptable compromise has been debated as far what is an acceptable masque free zone, but there have been mosques in that part of Lower Manhattan for many years, one 12 blocks from the trade center, another a mere 4 blocks away. No one got in lather over those places. Might, then, a four-block gap instead of a two-block gap be acceptable? Mayor Bloomberg has address this issue directly, he hasn’t wavered on his stand that the Masque ought to go up and has even address the hallowed ground zone saying, How big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ around the World Trade Center be?’” He added: “There is already a mosque four blocks away. Should it, too, be moved? This is a test of our commitment to American values. We must have the courage of our convictions. We must do what is right, not what is easy.” The mayor has been the voice of reason through all of this, I hope that lucid wing of the media, the residences of a very tolerant NYC and people who are don’t attach their fears and racism to the issue/no issue of the moment emerge as the winners of the outcome of where Park 51 ends up.

Although I have stressed the non issue of the relevancy of this news story getting this kind of attention, an academic, Eliza Griswold made a good point on public radio today that Islamic leaders may view the controversy in New York City over plans for an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero unfavorably. She believes that "I think it's sending a message that the West is at war with Islam". The extremist on all sides of these situations spin the negative to achieve their own agendas. Hopefully all people who are quick to judge and get upset over this issue will eventually understand it for what it is, a segue for other emotionally charged issues like religion and 9/11. Mayor Bloomberg put it best by saying this, I know that many in this room are disturbed and dispirited by the debate. But it is worth keeping some perspective on the matter. The first colonial settlers came to these shores seeking religious liberty and the founding fathers wrote a constitution that guaranteed it. They made sure that in this country the government would not be permitted to choose between religions or favor one over another.

Update 10OCT2010

I watched the History Channel on the anniversary of 9/11, where they had a documentary called 102 Minutes That Changed America. I have watched hours of the World Trade Towers footage and after 9 years of it, I had almost become numb to the same clips of them getting hit by the planes, burning and falling to ground. The footage has always been filled with narration and commentary, most of it with various agendas, from the right, left, conspiracy theories of how and why they were attached, you name it. This documentary was totally different though, it was 9 point of view cameras, filming the event from start to finish and the only narration was from that of those who were filming the event (for the most part). To say that it was disturbing is a huge understatement. Yet it was compelling in that it gave me a totally different feel to witnessing the event and on more layer of accepting and closure to an day in history that put a whole country and many people through out world a collective post traumatic stress because of the non stop coverage and horrible consequences from that horrible day.

I will continue to dwell on the that day in this blog, the implications of it because time and distance changes one's perceptive, epically when the official version of how and what happened seems as far fetched and the conspiracy theories attached to 9/11. Today, 9 years later, I do recall how I felt when I was at an active duty post at a military school, holding a Stars and Stripes magazine with that iconic picture of the firefighters raising a flag on top of the smoldering ruble. I felt numb, shocked and very sad about New York City loss of these building which was a physical and symbolic loss for the nation. I felt allot of that all over last Saturday but the impact was less intense. Some day the a more focused version of the truth of that days events will emerge and if the truth is difficult to accept because of the implications of it; I will experience those emotions all over again if my worst fears about the events of that day are confirmed.

When the NYT did an article on this horrible woman, Pamela Geller, many people who wrote into the paper had never heard of her. Thankfully, until this article came out, her fame was only known to wonks would follow this type of thing very closely. The very first letter to the editor, aptly named Sad America, had this to say about her and I find it perfect to be the last word on this matter.

It's hard not to get angry about people like Pamela Geller. It's hard not to offer counter-arguments and get swept up in the sensationalism.

But I think the best thing is to just let her be. I think the best way to combat hatred and ignorance is to be loving and informed. And I hope to teach my daughter that hatred is NOT strength, and tolerance is NOT weakness.

MEDIA COMMODITY Pamela Geller inspires, infuriates and influences with hyperbole as well as bikini shots.
Top row from left: RT America; Atlas Shrugs; ABC News; Atlas Shrugs. Second row: Fox News; Canadian Broadcasting Company; Atlas Shrugs; MSNBC. Third row: CNN; Atlas Shrugs (Three photos). Bottom Row: CBS NEWS; CNN; Atlas Shrugs (2 photos)

Bill Maher and his good buddy Hef

2010-03-28T18:50:00.000-04:00

Bill Maher always has a lot to say. I never looked at his HBO site to see his on line presence, which is pretty impressive. Here is his Twitter account and his Myspace account. I guess both are key ingredients as a player and an entertainer but more about the player side and his buddy Hef later.

When there are gays in the military, legal weed in California and a fully implemented reasonable health care plan; I hope that I can blog something as brilliant as Bill Maher said last Friday on his HBO show. Actually, I will be writting on the California situation and health care soon. I watched Bill's show and saw this in the Huffington Post and it was to good not to copy and put into the blog.
Tiger Woods' text messages to his mistress that were made public last week, where he said, and I quote, "I want to treat you rough, throw you around, spank and slap you and make you sore. I want to hold you down and choke you while I fuck that ass that I own. Then I'm going to tell you to shut the fuck up while I slap your face and pull your hair for making noise." Unquote.
And this, I believe, perfectly represents the attitude Democrats should now have in their dealings with the Republican Party: "Shut the fuck up while I slap your face for making noise -- now pass a cap-and-trade law, you stupid bitch, and repeat after me: 'global warming is real!'"
The Democrats need to push the rest of their agenda while their boot is on the neck of the greedy, poisonous old reptile. Who cares if a cap-and-trade bill isn't popular, neither was health care. Your poll numbers may have descended a bit, but so did your testicles.
So don't stop: we need to regulate the banks, we need to overhaul immigration, we need to end corporate welfare including at the Pentagon, we need to bring troops home from... everywhere, we need to end the drug war, and we need to put terrorists and other human rights violators on trial in civilian courts, starting with Dick Cheney.
Democrats in America were put on earth to do one thing: drag the ignorant hillbilly half of this country into the next century, which in their case is the 19th -- and by passing health care, the Democrats saved their brand. A few months ago, Sarah Palin mockingly asked them, "How's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?" Great, actually. Thanks for asking. And how's that whole Hooked on Phonics thing working out for you?

I like Hugh Hefner and what red blooded American male doesn’t. When Bill Maher made a reference on his show to hanging out at the Playboy mansion and talking to girls half his age. Not unlike Joe Rogan, a fellow comedian who makes fun of marriage in his stand up act and living a very single, hedonist lifestyle. Joe has a great stand up on Hugh, which is a little harsh but it is honest and if you give it any thought, true!

Bill isn’t about to get married or even be an advocate for it. The recently divorced friend and fellow playa, Hugh Hefner, is an interesting case of contradictions. Not unlike Howard Stern, it seems like Hef is a guy who loves the idea of marriage but lives in a world of being an entertainer and personality whose persona is that of a man who loves wild, uninhibited woman. Stern leaves his on air persona at work though while Hugh lives a conflicted life of living in his mansion and the “idea” of the playboy bachelor. I am not a hater and I am happy for him but he has paid the price of wanting constant female companionship until it bores him.
This former girlfriend in the picture above, Carrie Leigh, who filed a 35 million dollar palamony suit against Hef after living with him and draining a fortune from him while playing him. Ironically, Hef was about the age that Bill Maher is now when this was going on. This was the 80’s and it was a rough decade for Hef. His empire was collapsing (which it is to a lesser degree presently, he is trying to sell the magazine but he isn’t having much luck). The death of Dorothy Stratten, in 1980, probley to much coke and a stroke at 59 in 1985. The right wing religious zealots; cut into his market share but banning the magazine from stores throughout the country and the Reagon era only encouraged this. The decade ended with an ill fated marriage to Kimberly Conrad in 1989 and the birth of his twin boys in 1990. The boys are grown up and maybe the lesson of their Father will be passed on, often players play, players pay.

Case in point...

Kimberly filed a $5 million lawsuit against Hef last August after Hef sold the house and didn't give her profits. He claims he's paid her nearly $12 million since they separated. The couple married in 1989 and have two adult sons.

UPDATE: In the docs, Hugh is asking the judge to set spousal support at $20,000 per month -- justifying such a small amount by saying he's already given Kimberly close to $12 million since their 1998 separation.

This just came about this year! Maher watching his buddy go through this maybe why he comes out with comments like this...

He hates the concept of marriage, too. "I always compare marriage to communism," he says. "They're both institutions that don't conform to human nature, so you're going to end up with lying and hypocrisy."

Hef may sell the mag or just take it back for himself. With the ego variable a factor, I am guessing that he buys back shares of the business and passes it down to his daughter and his boys.

100 year battle won by the liberal Democrats agianst the party of no

2010-03-23T06:30:00.000-04:00

It is to bad that Teddy Kennedy isn't around to see last Sunday, the day that the haters, the Republicans, who tried to bully, scare and manpulate a victory. The fear mongering feel flat and they were defeated last Sunday.

Here is his son Patrick's summary of the event which was e-mailed to me on Monday, the day after the victory.

Dear Fellow Rhode Islander:
Last night marked a victory that has been a long time coming. Longer than the last year, since the White House Forum on Health Care Reform, that health care reform has dominated the public discourse. Farther back than the efforts during the ‘90s, the failure of which resulted in record numbers of uninsured and premiums doubling over the last decade. It even predates my own father’s lifetime commitment to extend the opportunities he was afforded in life to each of his fellow citizens. It is since Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, that the people of this country have fought to provide quality, affordable health care for all Americans. We have finally reached that day.
Last night was a victory for the many tireless champions of health care reform. My father, of course, was but one of them, committed to fighting for those whose voices would not be heard. It is a victory for people like Martin Luther King, Jr., who stood up to remind us, “Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
But most importantly, last night was a victory for each and every American who will now be treated with the dignity and respect that comes with the equality of opportunity that affordable access to quality health care provides. It is a victory for the estimated 32 million of our friends and neighbors who will now have access to health care because of this legislation. It is a victory for the millions of Americans who have been discriminated against in the past, denied coverage by an insurance company because they have a pre-existing condition. It is a victory for the millions who have been dropped from their policy when they got sick. It is a victory for the millions who face bankruptcy and financial turmoil even though they have health insurance, because they reach an annual or lifetime cap. It is a victory for the small business owners who have been unable to provide their workers with health insurance or remain competitive, and who will now receive tax credits to help them afford to provide coverage for their employees.
I have been proud to serve the people of Rhode Island the last 16 years, helping to lead the effort in the House of Representatives to take control of our nation’s health care system away from insurance companies and put it back the hands of patients and their doctors. Though I wish my father could been here in body as well as spirit, I could not be more pleased that this effort, to reform our nation’s health care system, was accomplished during my tenure here. There will be many more fights down the road that we must win, starting with the necessity for the United States Senate to adopt the improvements to the health care reform legislation included in the Reconciliation Act. I have every faith that the Senate will act swiftly to accept these changes so that at long last we can better provide quality, affordable health care to all Americans.
Thank you,
Patrick J. Kennedy
Member of Congress

The list below are the cowards who voted with their fellow losers...

Democrats who voted against the health care bill included the following Congressmen and Congresswomen:
Rep. John Adler (N.J.)
Rep. Jason Altmire (Pa.)
Rep. Michael Arcuri (N.Y.)
Rep. John Barrow (Ga.)
Rep. Marion Berry (Ark.)
Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.)
Rep. Rick Boucher (Va.)
Rep. Bobby Bright (Ala.)
Rep. Ben Chandler (Ky.)
Rep. Travis Childers (Miss.)
Rep. Artur Davis (Ala.)
Rep. Lincoln Davis (Tenn.)
Rep. Chet Edwards (Texas)
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.)
Rep. Tim Holden (Pa.)
Rep. Larry Kissell (N.C.)
Rep. Frank Kratovil (Md.)
Rep. Dan Lipinski (Ill.)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (Mass.)
Rep. Jim Marshall (Ga.)
Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (N.C.)
Rep. Mike McMahon (N.Y.)
Rep. Charlie Melancon (La.)
Rep. Walt Minnick (Idaho)
Rep. Glenn Nye (Va.)
Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Rep. Mike Ross (Ark.)
Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.)
Rep. Zack Space (Ohio)
Rep. John Tanner (Tenn.)
Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.)
Rep. Harry Teague (N.M.)

I am watching FOX News right now and the conservative gang is freaking out about the bill which is in its final stages and how the fall will be payback for the Republicans. In political terms, Republicans face strong crosscurrents. Polls suggest that a sizable part of the nation is unenthusiastic about the bill or opposed to it. Conservatives see it as a strike at the heart of their small-government principles, helping to explain why Republicans are optimistic that they will make gains in the midterm elections in November. It is only fitting that the Republicans find themselves again being portrayed as the party of no, associated with being on the losing side of an often acrid debate and failing to offer a persuasive alternative agenda. On a certain level, I do have to take a wait and see appoarch on this bill but in lack of an alterniative, this is great. The Democrats have to be given credit for coming up with a solution, attempting a bi partasin solution and coming up with and creating a law. The Republican's have only complained, contributed nothing but hard feelings and disontent and inspite of their boasts of victory for available polictical positions, I doubt it.

The Prophet

2010-03-18T21:03:00.000-04:00

I drove down to New York City a couple of weeks ago to donate 7 boxes of books and one box of movie DVDs and music CDs. I could have just cashed in or traded my books but the cause that I gave to was Housing Works, which provide support to those with AIDS who are having issues with a place to stay while they are dying or dealing with life with HIV. Having lived in Manhattan and taken much of time while living there for granted when living there. When I visit it now, I attempt to do something which is eventful enough worthy of trip, the city and the energy and money that it takes to make the road trip from New England. I had meant to see a some Asian movies but it wasn't meant to be but I did show up on the Upper West Side in time to see The Prophet. I had read some good reviews about the movie but since my glasses were broke at the time. Out of 104 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it had 100 good reviews out of 104 , so I knew that I would see it at some point.

To see a movie with subtitles was ruled out to meet a friend in Chinatown for some Dim Sum. It was a good move, the company was good, the food was excellent and I had no regrets. It was just a movie, granted this movie was only playing in New York and LA (that kind of exclusitivity has always appealed to me), so I knew that I would be able to watch it at some point and I chose to wait.

That wait ended last night when I watched The Prophet was playing in Providence at the Avon Cinema but I only had a number of days until it went somewhere else. Being Irish, it was a strange choice of something to do for St Patrick's Day but I was very curious about this movie.
The movie is about an Arab who goes is in jail in France, young, bi lingual (in French and Arabic) but iliterate in the skills of reading or writing the languages which he speaks. While in jail, he is given an ulitmative from a Corsican crime boss to kill a fellow Muslim passing through or get killed by the crime boss or kill a rat passing through their jail. Once he "makes his bones", he starts climbing through the ranks of the prison, playing event opportunity and groups against each other until he is released from jail; master of his own criminal universe.
Actually, I like this summary of the plot better...
In plot the film appears to be nothing more than middle-of-the-road. A young man from an immigrant background, Malik, is thrown in prison for 6 years. Almost immediately he’s preyed upon by thieves and sexual predators. But worst of all, an entrepreneurial Corsican gangster known as Cesar sees the potential in using Malik to get access to the “Arab” section of the jail. And so Malik must decide to kill the enemy of the Corsican or face being killed for disobeying. But Malik turns the table himself, and begins to develop a drug business through his multiple connections. This movie has won many awards and they are well deserved. I found it very enjoyable and worth the second effort to go and see.

Not so Happy New Year

2010-02-22T05:19:00.000-05:00

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Qing Hong Wo was 15 years old and did some very bad things as a youth and has paid his price, spending some of his youth at reform school. The judge, who remembered the pitfalls of Little Italy in the 1950s, urged him to use his sentence — three to nine years in a reformatory — as a chance to turn his life around. Mr. Wo has done this and made good use of his time. The judge is attempting to help out but even he is somewhat powerless to do anything of the behalf of this young man. Qing is brilliant in math and has a fiancée who he would like to marry. He isn’t able to because he is presently incarcerated, as he has been since 2007 when he turned himself in. The guy has been here since he was 5, his mom; a janitor who used to count on help for money from her son is now legal. His fiancée makes good money but lawyers are eating away at any savings that they may have to get a place for themselves and other family members. An Asian-American civil rights group is meeting with Peter Kiernan, counsel to the governor, to discuss the petition for a pardon, which Mr. Kiernan said was “being seriously considered.” The governor of New York ought to pardon this young man who exemplifies the American Dream! He can be saved from being deported and he should. It would be a great way to start of the Year of the Tiger and a positive message to the Asian Community that America a place for dreams to come true and justice to take place.

More of the same but different...

2010-02-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

Save Polaroid!!!

Photo licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy of flickr user jimifoxxTM

Over the weekend I was able to catch up on reading the NYTs, take in some art on Federal Hill while shoping and see a work in progress being done by an artist friend of mine. I am thankful that it is a three day weekend and that I don't have to work tomorrow. The image above are some of the stories that caught my attention as I read news items on the internet. The Olympics are always a great story so the United States first gold medal by Hanna, the teenage world title holder who choked the last Olympics only to turn around

and kick but in this one to take a Gold medal on the first day of the games is a great story. A darker story of the Olymic runner, Dave Laut got shot and as with most murders, you don't have to look further than the people the vic knows well and things aren't looking good for his wife Jane. I baught a couple of graphic novels this weekend and saw a place that I would like to move to. some day. I have vistied almost every mill and factory converstion in the state of RI, all of which are in Northern RI, outside of Providence for the most part. Every place that I have looked at had some flaw but this one had everything that I would like to have as a space to live in.

I even got to get outside and take in some of the sites in were I presently live. It was a nice and relaxing weekend as it always is when I get some exercise, got to cook and relax. Just a couple of more months and it will be spring and the weather will be nice enough not to have to dress for the cold and I'll be able to spend more time out doors.

The best thing about this month is that I don't have Army this weekend or any other weekend this month.

Evolution of a C list blogger and his growth as a visual artist

2010-02-09T22:01:00.000-05:00

Anyone reading this blog, please note, I do not refer to myself in the third person often, I never liked it when Bob Dole did it or any other famous person (well, maybe Hulk Hogan but that is it!). The picture above does tell a story. All the pictures are layed out on the image that I used to order my best book to date to be published (there are a number of website that allow you to create and then print your own book). The model in the lower left hand corner is Jaye Santi and I used one of her quotes from her Myspace page to motivate me in creating my book and I titled the book Embrace your dreams, to recognized that fact. A young woman whose beautiful spirit matches her physical attractiveness. I just started using a website called Picnik which allows me to play with images. The iconic Chi was the first image that I created yesterday. The two images between Elvis and Chi are techniques that I am trying to master, taking a black and while image and coloring it in and tinting images in tones for an artistic, uconveniental look. The picture of the President and the helicopter in Iraq represent the themes of the book, Iraq from 2007 to 2010, reflecting the concurring Presidential elections of 2008, my last tour in Iraq consisted of most of 2008. The Elvis image is a screen saver on my computer at the moment and the Tarot card is the Tower, a card one gets during a period of ones life when changes are taking place. The lighting represents the truth being exposed due to the light of the lightening.

There is this conversation that takes place mostly offline mostly among self-identified B and C list bloggers, and for years there has been this tension between them and who they see as the A list bloggers, and why can't the traffic or notoriety be spread around a little more?

After reading this, I have considered myself a C list blogger, I do not have the aforementioned conversation with fellow bloggers (I only know one, an Internet friend on Facebook who doesn’t blog anymore!), nor do I crave “traffic” to my blog or even notoriety. I do this as a hobby, I like to write and manipulate images. I just created a book capturing images since about 2007 to present, most of them having to do with family photos and images from Iraq and the election of 2009. This is part of what I wrote to everyone how I sent the book to…

The beauty of a creative project like this, a book in a certain time structured chronologically, that captures a certain period of time, records it and brings a degree of closure to it. It is very similar to a traditional journal that I did in the eighties with glue, scissors and a bookbinding class to keep it from falling apart. Modern technology and the computer software of Picaboo has allowed me to create a book that is something I did foresee in the eighties with the introduction of the Mac. I really enjoyed making this book as it is an out pouring of my artistic expression. For me, making books and blogging is a natural evolution of keeping my journals.

The journal that I mentioned from the eighties was strictly pictures like the book that I just made on my computer. It took a long time to make but I was real happy with it when I was finished. That is when I hit my next level. With the help of the emerging technologies like my I phone has helped me find music that I really enjoy, new technology that is cutting edge and has become a gateway into things on the web that I didn't even know existed. I am coming into my own as I have always known that I would: I am embracing my dream!

Superfast Bullet Trains Are Finally Coming to the U.S.!

2010-01-31T02:04:00.000-05:00

The future is here and it is the high speed train!

Superfast Bullet Trains Are Finally Coming to the U.S. Magazine Wired.com, I saw this at a bookstore today and Googled it and this article came up with this wonderful image in Wired Magazine. Addressing the train issue was the first thing Obama did the day after the state of the union speech. The president had brought up the subject earlier last spring but has picked this time to announce it and go into a little more detail of what he wants to do and the time frame he plans to do it in. There was alot of buzz on this whole event and the annoucements had been made ahead of time, I had read this before the big dog and pony show in Florida...

Smaller awards also will be made for improvements to existing rail lines. Overall, 31states will receive funding.
California is one of the big winners, receiving $2.25 billion to help build a high-speed rail system, as well as additional money for other rail projects.
The grants include $1.1 billion for a Chicago-to-St. Louis corridor, $1.25 billion for a Tampa-to-Orlando, Fla., corridor, $244 million for a Chicago-to-Detroit corridor and $810 million for work between Madison, Wis., and Milwaukee. In Ohio, $400 million will pay for work between Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Washington and North Carolina are getting roughly half a billion dollars each, and Florida will hear its good news directly from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday.

A possible train, made in Monterial, which will be zipping around Floida as early as 2017.
Photo licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy of flickr user SurlygrrrlTM

The President has inherited a recession, a deficit and two wars. My good faith in him, my hope for a better future, has been extended for one more year. Obama's follow up talk on leaving Iraq was very well recieved. From someone who has been there twice, hearing talk like that is always incouraging. What makes me excited is that this is something I have always believed in and God forbid if oil gets very expensive, or if the short sighted masses realize that driving and flying is more expensive than an effent mass transit program, like high speed trains and light rail transit, this will establish an incredible legacy for the President. Even if those things don't happen, this is good business! I got so tired of hearing that Amtrak is a waste of money during the Republican era of running the United States and witnessing the funding for Amtrak be held hostage to add on questionable legislation to fund Republican causes, this makes me a little less cynical about how things work in America.

Mark Reutter of the Tampa Tribune put the situation of the the approach to the high speed trian issues in very good perceptive. I have less apprehension (and less knowledge about all the details like Mr. Reutter does) about how all this will evovle though. Maybe it is wishful thinking but the article in Wired magazine makes the whole project sound very exciting. Florida will be the first state to benefit from this by having the trains operational by 2017. The other regions of the country will be zooming along inbetween 2020-2025, right around the time I would like to retire and be traveling around the country by train as a train buff.

This is a hyperlink to the State of the Union I would like to see.

Quality beer, a story about the beer I love to drink!

2010-01-30T16:06:00.000-05:00

My love for beer was not something that was genetically determined through some genetic predisposition because I am Irish. Well, with the exception of liking and drinking Guiness, which I only really like at a bar from a tap. I visited the Guinness brewery last fall in Dublin and I was very impressed how efficient of the brewery, how their museum had reflected the huge impact of the beer on Ireland and the beers popularity through out the world. The free beer at the end of the tour was one of the best Guinness beers that I have tasted in my life. I didn’t really like beer the first couple of years that I was drinking it.
By the time I was 23 though, I realized that I had a no real love for drunks, hard alcohol and I started to prefer beer, which was a life changing “moment of clarity in the beer being my drink of choice when it came to alcohol. When I went to Germany with a Military Police unit to Mannheim, Germany, (around 1987), I got hooked on good beers, specifically Weiss bier, hefeweizen, wheat beer, white beer, breakfast beer, that I got hooked on quality beer. Around 2000, I started drinking Harpoon IRA, Liberty Ale and Micro brews from the local Micro Brewery. I have been into drinking local quality brews ever since. Because of people like me, Budweiser has attempted to capture a larger market share and has come out with its Golden Wheat, I have not tried it though.
I was on leave during OIF 1, in 2003, on my honeymoon, backpacking around Europe on leave from Baghdad, and I feel in love with the beers of Europe. Since then I have been hooked. I never have liked the traditional American beers and have always been of fan of micro breweries and quality imports, yes, I am a beer snob! Life is to short for nasty beer!
Here are my growlers of choice, at my local micro breweries and the flavor of the monument that I enjoy drinking when I feel like spending a little more than I want on a beer that has a 24 hour shelf life once I open it up. If I go up to the big city, Providence, I like the Rhode Island IPA or Harpoon that I get at the Trinity Brew House , I will settle for a Harpoon IPA if I am lucky enough to be at a bar where they have it on tap. While at home where I live, I like the Winter Warmer this time of year, which I get at the Coodington Brewery.
In New York City, you can get beer where you shop and in at the up scale market, Whole Foods, you can get a "growler" of you beer of choice now. The Whole Foods beer store on Houston Street began its program in 2007. While shopping, you can get what you need and quality beer before you leave the store. This is not legal in all states, like the one that I live in but in NY it is totally legal. But hey, that is life in the big city, you can get everything there for a price!

I can remember watching the movie Scarface, the original, in a film class and people in the movie going to bars and getting beers in buckets from bars. Reading his article in the NYT, I realized that this actually took place. The growlers in a more civilized and sanitary method of procuring beer than back in the day. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, both The New York Times and The Brooklyn Eagle regularly published contentious stories about the containers, which then took the form of small galvanized pails. The articles cataloged the complaints of saloon keepers, who thought growlers they cut into their profit, and those of temperance groups, who hoped to curb home drinking.

Back in New England, I have visited Portland, Maine, and discovered the Allagash White Beer and have fallen in love with it. This is like the hefeweeizen beer that I feel in love with in Germany. Another beer in this genre is Blue Moon beer, the orange slice in actually good but it is always weird getting fruit in your beer unless your drinking a Corona. That is my beer story, so drink up all you beer snobs and maybe I have shared with you a beer that you may find to you liking.

Howard Zinn

2010-01-28T21:13:00.000-05:00

The Tower is a tarot card which represents a change of the way things are, the way one perceives things and ones understanding how things work. Those who get this card in a reading maybe in for a sudden, cataclysmic change, a drastic upheaval to wake us up from ones zombie-like state. With Mars as its ruling planet, the Tower is a card about war, a war between the structures of lies and the lightning flash of truth. The Tower, and its destruction of it by the “truth” of the lightening, represents the "false concepts and institutions that we take for real." When we are so entrenched in one single way of life, or one inflexible way of thinking we sometimes need to get a little rattled to get out of our daze.

Howard Zinn died on January 28th and so many aspects of his persona exist in the Tower tarot card. He is like the lighting in the card, perceiving a different truth and during his life he has exposed the United States, its institutions and our preconceived notions in a different and unsettling light. As a radical thinker, he had many distractors but his contributions as a historian and his insights into 20th century history are highly revered and they will be vindicated as time goes on. His thoughts and ideas will stand up against his critics who uncritical and homogeneous view of historical events will not stand up to the ultimate litmus test of history, time and the historical perceptive that comes with it.

His life was defined by war, as a bombardier in WW II; he fought for our country, educated himself on the GI bill. His education created an opportunity to pursue a career in academia. He was a man who sought out the truth and he fought the injustice of Jim Crow laws, racism and segregation in the south where he was teaching, his protesting which lead to him losing his job as a University professor at Howard University in Atlanta, Georgia. Upon moving up to New England, he was part of the anti war movement. All these events defined him as a person and he wrote about these historical events as an academic and a participant.

Published in 1980 with little promotion and a first printing of 5,000, “A People’s History” was, fittingly, a people’s best-seller, attracting a wide audience through word of mouth and reaching 1 million sales in 2003. Although Professor Zinn was writing for a general readership, his book was taught in high schools and colleges throughout the country, and numerous companion editions were published, including “Voices of a People’s History,” a volume for young people and a graphic novel.

Zinn books and lectures had a recurring theme to them, his perception of “history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past’s fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare."

Though Zinn's radical, bottom-up approach cast aside the America-first tone of mainstream texts, it was still guided by a deep sense of commitment to what he saw as often-neglected American ideals. An example of this is his prose in A People’s History of the United States. This is a summary of the Seventies and it differs considerable from that of a main stream history book.

Chapter 20, "The Seventies: Under Control?", covers American disillusion with the government during the 1970s and political corruption that was exposed during the decade. Zinn argues that the resignation of Richard Nixon and the exposure of crimes committed by the CIA and FBI during the decade were done by the government in order to regain support for the government from the American people without making fundamental changes to the system.

While researching a history paper on the CIA involvement in the overthrow of Allende in Chile in 1973, Chapter 20 goes into International Telephone and Telegraph's involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. Academia has gotten to embrace the truth in defining some not so pleasant aspects of its past straight on and this is because of mavericks like Howard Zinn. Eric Foner, praised Zinn's book in the New York Times as "a coherent new version of American history." From the 1960s onward, scholars, most of whom lean leftward, have patiently and empathetically illuminated such topics-and explained how progressive movements succeeded as well as why they fell short of their goals. Not only has Howard Zinn written about these times, he took part in the progressive movements of the sixties. "He's made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture," Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. "He's changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can't think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect."

This note of thanks is what many kindred spirits probably thought when here of his death. He was a mentor to Matt Damon, who lives a life of activism and uses his celebrity status to endorse a number of causes that he is apparently very passionate about. I know I watched him speak at a college near where I live a couple of years ago and as a public speaker he is very inspirational. I have read A People’s History of the United States. I concur with Michael Moore endorsement of his works…

Thank you, Howard Zinn. Thank you for telling us what none of our leaders are willing to: The truth. And you tell it with such brilliance, such humanity. It is a personal honor to be able to say I am a better citizen because of you."
Michael Moore

Contemplating the Big Game

2010-01-24T18:40:00.000-05:00

Today is my anniversary date for me joining the military, having joined 29 years ago today! It was about 33 years ago that I moved from Minnesota, the last time that they were in the Super Bowl. It would be nice to see Minnesota win today and people are split between wanting the New Orleans Saints win, going to the Super Bowl uplifting the Hurricane Katrina devastated city. It is a game today highlighting the quarterbacks. Drew Brees is far more than a football hero for a Saints franchise enjoying the best season of its 43 years. He is also a focus of the physical, financial and psychological revival of the region that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. People would like to see Bret Farve take the Minnesota Vikings return to the “big game”*1 because he represents the regular guy, who at 40, is still mixing it up in a sport where most have retired long before hitting 40.
I can remember George Blanda was about my age when he retired from the NFL, here is Bret Farve at 40, a semimetal favorite for over forty football fans like me, not unlike when George Foreman was boxing at the advanced age of 48 when he fought his last fight.
So here I sit just before the kick off hoping that the old guy and his team take this game and go off to the "big game" in two weeks!!

Go Vikings!!!

*1, The word Superbowl is trademarked name by the NFL. If you are a bar or a business, you have to pay them something to use it! Or you end up going to court or some such thing! The NFL is vigilant on stopping what it says is unauthorized commercial use of its trademarked terms "NFL," "Super Bowl,"; as a result, many events and promotions tied to the game but not sanctioned by the NFL are forced to refer to it with colloquialisms such as "The Big Game," or other generic descriptions.

Update

The Playboy headquarters in LA, Hef's palace to the players of the world, refers to the Super Bowl as Gameday, chances are that his legal department at Playboy must have recommendation to avoid litigation if the notorious over zelous NFL and their quest to someday trademark the Big Game, which they have tried! What is great about Hef''s big ticket event at the Playboy mansion is the proceeds go to charity, one of them going to causes like The Wounded Warrior Project.

In 2006, the NFL made an attempt to trademark "The Big Game" as well. However, it withdrew the application in 2007 due to growing commercial opposition to the move, mostly from fans of both Stanford and Cal who compete in The Big Game which concludes their Pac-10 season. Some critics say the NFL is exaggerating its ownership rights by stating that "any use is prohibited", as this contradicts the broad doctrine of fair use in the United States.

My Vikings lost in overtime and that is a bummer but the two best teams in the NFL did make the Superbowl and it will be a good game.

Joe Carnahan Smokin movies and not so Smokin Aces II

2010-01-24T11:01:00.000-05:00

Lovley Latinas, Sofia Vergara, left and Martha Higardeda, right.

I watched a little of it and enjoyed Martha Higardeda's character in this move but it was a well deserved trip to direct to DVD. It lacked the star power and the suspense of the original Smokin Aces! Like Jermy Piven, known for his role as Ari Gold in Entourage. Ironically, the director, Joe Carnahan, seemed to consider Sofia Vergara for Higardeda's role, having had a minor role on HBO's Entourage, Adrian Grenier charater Vince, stars in a movie about Paublo Escobar. Carnarhan is making the movie, Killing Paublo , Mark Bowden's excellent book by the same name. Carnahan seems to have a simular relationship that the HBO series Oz had with the the cast and crew of NBC's Law and Order in a weird way. Autumn Reeser had a bit part last seasons Entourage and plays a hillbilly assassin in Smokin Aces II.

Joe Carnahan's great B movie Smokin Aces was followed by a not so great or smoking Smokin Aces II.

To save you from the trouble of watching this movie, here is a synopsis of it.

“Smokin’ Aces 2″ synopsis: Federal agents once again match wits with a cadre of creative killers in the high-octane feature-length film Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball. Walter Weed (Tom Berenger) is an unassuming desk jockey at the FBI when the Bureau uncovers a plot to assassinate him. A team of degenerate, psychotic assassins dispatched by mystery man Hal Leuco to win a huge bounty includes a resourceful beauty who has a unique method of killing her prey (Martha Higareda), a power-tool wielding psychopath (Vinnie Jones) and a deadly master of disguise (Tommy Flanagan). Also in the hunt is the fan-favorite Tremor family from the original film, featuring nympho maniacal gun-nut (Autumn Reeser) and her lethal kinfolk (Maury Sterling, Michael Parks and C. Ernst Harth). Baker (Clayne Crawford), the agent in charge of the operation, puts himself and his team in the line of fire to defend Weed, but it’s not until the smoke clears on the film’s explosive climax that the surprising identity of the plot’s mastermind is revealed.
Working on the film are executive producer Joe Carnahan (Narc), the writer/director of Smokin’ Aces, and director P.J. Pesce (Sniper 3, Lost Boys: The Tribe).
Some of the familiar faces are back including Lazlo Soot and the Tremor Brothers; Tommy Flanagan (Sin City), Maury Sterling (Smokin’ Aces) and Christopher Michael Holley (Smokin’ Aces).
New to the film are Tom Berenger (Training Day, Sniper 1,2,3), Clayne Crawford (Brooklyn to Manhattan, Steel City), Martha Higareda (Street Kings), Ernie Hudson (“Heroes”), Michael Parks (Grindhouse), Autumn Reeser (Entourage) and Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smokin’ Barrels).
“Smoking Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball” will be available on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def, DVD and digital download on January 19, 2010.

Presently, in post production, Carnahan is coming out with the A-Team, with UFC's Rampage Jackson as BA Baracus, Mr. T's eighties character in the original TV show. I am not looking forward to the A team as much as I am Killing Paublo, but I do look forward to watching both.

Update

Another property that is making the leap from one media to another is “The A-Team.” The television show is the basic for a live-action film due to hit theaters on June 11. Now IDW has announced a series of A-Team comic books that will delve into the backgrounds of the movie’s characters. One of the comics, “A-Team: Shotgun Wedding,” will be co-plotted by the film’s director, Joe Carnahan. The comics’ series begin in March.

Haters on Haiti and other Haitian issues

2010-01-17T09:42:00.000-05:00

Before I even comment on this right wing, so called Christian weirdo below of that fat load Rush, I must say this...
Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999!!!

Update: This post was written on Sunday, $22 million has been raised by this fund raising method of texting to donate to the Haitian earthquake victims!

$10 is hardly anything, I just did the text and I can cover it when I pay my I phone bill! I just got a forwarded e-mail and my cousin is down their hustling his ass off trying to save lives while I am here with lots of sleep, food and water.

FYI. I talked to Dan today. He said that they only sleep 4-6 hours a day. Saving lives is their priority. (E-mail forward to my family from his wife!)

Pat Robertson and his millions of minions are proof of that fact that we are still missionaries in any sense we wish to be. His comment only reinforces for me the idea that we Americans believe, by the millions, that we have the right to make these judgments in the Name of God. Can you imagine the hubris here?

The Haitian crisis, their earthquake, has been a tragic event on an island which tragedy seems to be part of the fabric of its being. The United States has been quick to respond with military and humanitarian aid speaks well of this country, especially in light of a history of enlighten self interest on the island of Hispaniola. It should’t be any surprise that Rush Limbaugh has portrayed on this event as President Obama opportunity to parlay this for his own self interest for political gain. That much can be expected from the likes of someone like Limbaugh. Religious loonies Pat Robinson, an intelligent person and a diabolical communicator, came out with some craziness that the country of Haiti had made a pact with the devil. I don’t know what is scarier, that this guy has a huge following with people hanging on his every word like he has some historical insight on how this whole thing went down or that this guy may actually be so delusional he may really believe this dogma that he is putting out over the air ways!

I don’t know how much of an argument that I would make that the island isn’t cursed though. New York Times Op Ed columnist Bob Herbert observed in his column…

Enslavement, murderous colonial oppression, invasions by powerful foreign armies, grotesque homegrown tyrants, natural disasters — all you have to do is wait a while in Haiti for the next catastrophe to strike. On Tuesday, it was an earthquake that crushed the capital city of Port-au-Prince and much of its surroundings and raised the level of suffering and death to heights that defied comprehension.

“The world is coming to an end,” cried a woman in the midst of the carnage.

They rose up against the French and defeated the forces of Napoleon to become the only nation to grow out of a slave revolt. They rose up against the despotic Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier and sent him packing. Despite ruthless exploitation by more powerful nations, including the United States, and many long years of crippling civil strife, corruption, terror and chronic poverty, the Haitian people have endured.

Bob Hebert doesn't even mention that the people of Haiti have suffered a higher number of AIDS victims, a huge refugee population flooding into America and all of the angst that any refuge population faces when being the latest group of unwashed masses flooding to American shores. The AIDS issue is especially troubling in that a popular unenlightened view of AIDS breaks its victims into two groups, babies and those with blood transfusions with tainted blood are often "Innocent victims of AIDS", making gays, inter venous drug users and black Haitians (just by being on a impoverished island) "guilty victims" of AIDS by default. I have written on this issue when blogging about Arther Ashe and the whole guilty or Innocent thing with AIDS pisses me off.

If the Doomsday clock was running in the country of Haiti, it would be at about 30 seconds to midnight. As of January 14th, it is set for six minutes to midnight for the world.
This movie was based on a true story about Clarvius Narcisse. Who knows how much is true, changed for a Hollywood dramatic spin but it scared the hell out of me and Haiti seemed like a very scary place. Voodoo exists down there and is associated with that country more than any other place in the world, not that I want to support Pat Robinson's perceptive on this nightmare or imply that the people of Haiti have brought this on themselves. Nothing further could be true and as the death tolls numbers rise, the magnitude of this horror grows.

As the numbers of dead and injured in Haiti continue to climb, Lt. General P.K. Keen, the man charge of military relief efforts there says, “we are going to have to be prepared for the worst”. When I asked General Keen about death toll estimates ranging between 150,000 and 200,000 people, Keen said, “I think the international community is looking at those figures, and I think that’s a start point.”

FYI, Lt General P.K. Keen is no relation. God bless the people of Haiti!!!

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. P.K. "Ken" Keen, commander of Joint Task Force Haiti,salutes USS Bataan sailors in rainbow sideboy formation after landing on board, Jan. 25, 2010. The Bataan crew has been participating in Haiti earthquake relief efforts. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Christopher Carroll (Photo by U.S. Army)
U P D A T E...

...d a y s B 4 V a l e n t i n e ' s D a y

Last Sunday, I joined a friend of mine for a drink before the Super Bowl. I meet her at an get together she attends with a bunch of other women on Sunday afternoons. On this day they knitting bears to give those who are less privileged child in other countries. The cute little bears were ear marked for Guyana but with the crisis in Haiti, they may make down to the Island as a late Valentine's gift from these hard working knitters. Kim, the founder and director of Infinity Volunteers, and Nikki, were the group leaders of last Sunday's event and they knit in a coffee shop in the town that I live in on Sunday afternoons. The bears are just one small activity for Infinity Volunteers and their involvement in Haiti includes the group having been in Haiti volunteering their time and energy assisting the less fortunate. I was impressed with the volunteers commitment towards helping others and their numerous activities here in America and abroad. My writing a blog few people read and giving $10 to the Red Cross two weeks ago seems less noble than I perceived it a couple of weeks ago.

I will leave on this note, nobody says it better than Keith Olbermann when his is pissed off and indignant with the right wing rabble.

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

Conan gets screwed by NBC

2010-01-13T06:37:00.001-05:00

If NBC could be doing a worse job in handling the gamble that they made in their prime time and late night line up, I don't know how. As it stands, the once proud NBC is taking their franchise The Tonight Show, give it back to Jay Leno, rewarding his failure with his old job and the title The Tonight Show, is a very disrespectful move to Conan and he has guilt as a result of that decision. Conan's statement was well thought out and stated what many Americans were feeling as they witnessed this fiasco.
"Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years, the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely

believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show."

Conan and his staff have moved themselves and their families to California and have their chances to establish themselves impacted by putting a the marginal talent, Jay Leno, into prime time, a place in had no business being it. NYT columnist David Carr put it very well, saying that the not-so-reinvented, not-so-funny "Jay Leno Show" had the ratings of a night light, setting off a revolt from affiliates that, according to Ad Age, had a terrible year... And it didn't help that Mr. O'Brien was pummeled on Mr. Leno's old perch. The fiasco suggest that networks mess with the inertia of viewing habits at their extreme peril.

I have always liked Conan better than Jay, he is smarter, funnier and hipper that Jay! Conan and his staff will find their way with another network and go possibly even go head to head with Jay and then the ratings will show who the better host show is across the nation. It seems as the on going popularity contest explodes into the internet and Coco's fan base seems to support him by about 50 to 1 in twitter posts (of which I have made two posts on Twitter proclaiming my support!).

Conan's Na'vi Assistant

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien | MySpace Video
This skit is one of the reasons why Conan rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T20:09:00.001-05:00

This is the last day of 2009. That means one thing, besides getting blackout drunk, throwing up in a potted plant at the bar, getting kicked out, and walking up a few hours later half buried in dirt and debris on a construction site with no pants. It means it's resolution time. Or not!
Maybe it is time to go to AA. Lets face it, resolutions are kind of changes you could make any time and New Years day is just another day, either your going to change or not from what ever you were New Years Eve.
If you are growing in life, aware of yourself and striving to improve yourself and your given lot in life on a daily basis, then an annual reality of check of positive behavior isn't necessary when the old year gives way to the new.

Traditional media verses the Internet

2009-12-12T10:44:00.000-05:00

As the popularity of the Internet grows, cable monopolies keep profiting off their customers (taking advantage of being a limited numbers of cable providers). Concurrently, more entertainment viewing options become available on line, one's home entertainment options will be through the computer. The combination of the growing costs of cable service and what is accessable through the Internet, the tipping point between tapping into ones computer instead of having the services provided by ones cable service to "watch TV" isn't far off and the computer chances of winning look very good. This is one of those moments, not a clearly defined one like in 1995 when Microsoft came out with windows, along with AOL boom, changed the world with the Internet for the masses but in a subtler way; many households will be upgrading their flat screens and television sets like this couple in a recent NYT article.

The bottom line is this, access to being cable free is as simple as having a computer. Although the equipment cost around $700 and a monthly cost of the Internet connection, with software upgrades and a wireless keyboard and mouse, can replace cable service. This beats adding to the coffers of Cox, Time Warner and Comcast rackets. How it is explained in the article is that this couples comes home from work and watch any number any number of shows, just like the people who continue to pay for cable. We just do it a little differently starting the computer and then using services like Hulu, Boxee, iTunes and Joost. Another interesting twist to this experience is that we're no longer limited to consuming traditional programming.
It revolves around this little device called a Mac Mini, it is a computer without a monitor that you hook up to your TV. It hasn't really caught on in its present form and when people start canceling their cable services it may not be the Mac Mini that they replace it with but it certainly be something very much like it. Two of the three major next works, ABC and NBC both use Hulu and their own websites to broadcast their shows on the internet.

Another appeal to having your TV and your Internet as two devices which work together for entertainment is the opportunities and availability of watching movies and pay per view sports. One doesn't even need to get rid of their cable service but can use their cable service to enhance their entertainment options. I have no idea how to find movies presently playing in theaters on line but I know that it can be done.
Today is Sunday and I can go to the internet and watch any football game in the NFL. Although I live in New England, I am a Minnesota Vikings fan and I watch almost all of their games. Last night I watched Penn verses Sanchez on line for free. I love UFC fighting and Dana White, its promoter, is a huge reason for its success. The idea of paying to see the event (which BJ Penn won having put a huge gash in the face of Diego Sanchez) and money into that jerk Dana White's pocket isn't something that I want to do.

UPDATE January 17, 2010

3:36 p.m. Touchdown, Minnesota. Goodnight, Dallas. For the third time this afternoon, it’s Favre finding Rice for six. He hit Rice for 47 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown in the first quarter; in the fourth, it’s Rice for 45 yards down the left side. The extra point gives the Vikings an insurmountable 27-3 lead. This throw may have been better than the first: a high, arcing pass that dropped right into Rice’s lap ahead of a diving defensive back. Without a defender in sight, Rice walked into the end zone from 10 yards out. As Romo struggles, Favre has been terrific.

Warning: These site to watch the "free" pay per view sports, NFL football, etc, often get shut down and you have to toggle back and fourth between sites. This technolgy is in its infancy though and someday the cable companies maybe at the mercy of those who refuse to pay.
Thanks to these websites http://atdhe.net/index.html and http://www.p2p4u.net/, I have been able to catch the moument written sports section of the NYT. These website broadcasts sports and other items free! This is the future of TV!! I know that the money grubbing NFL would like to catch the people responsible for these illegal rebroadcasts and boil them in oil but the internet is the gennie out of the bottle.

My cat Tarzan and I watching the last minutes of the game on my computer in my living room!

Vikings quarterback Brett Favre after throwing a touchdown in the second half.

This Roku devise uses wifi and you plug it into you TV like a DVD or video player and you can get Netflex movies. It costs between 80.00 to 120.00 and as little as less than $10.00 a month for the Nexflex account. By next year at this time, this whole hybred of the computer and your television could really take off and define the future of TV. This technology is a couple of years old, 2008, so who knows what is being developed now and how much easier this will get.

The internet is proving to dominate the media, from Newspapers to traditional network and cable television, as you can see from this Pew Research Center did on this State of the Media study.

http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/online_summary_essay.php

http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/network_tv_summary_essay.php

http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/newspapers_summary_essay.php

This is an article from Yahoo.com saying that although less than 1% of the 100 million people hooked on cable are defecting, more are leaving and it is a trend that will most likley increase.

TechCrunch has the scoop on a new report from the Toronto-based Convergence Consulting Group, and though the figures may not be a "serious threat" to the big cable and satellite carriers yet, the trend might eventually spell trouble for the like of Cablevision, Comcast, DirecTV, and Time Warner Cable.
To wit: Nearly 800,000 households in the U.S. have "cut the cord," dumping their cable, satellite, or telco TV providers (such as AT&T U-verse or Verizon FiOS) and turning instead to Web-based videos (like Hulu), downloadable shows (iTunes), by-mail subscription services (Netflix), or even good ol' over-the-air antennas for their favorite shows, according to the report.
Now, as TechCrunch points out, the estimated 800,000 cord cutters represent less than 1 percent of the 100 million U.S. households (give or take) currently subscribing to a cable/satellite/telco TV carrier, so it's not like we're talking a mass exodus here. But by the end of 2011, the report guesstimates, the number of cord-cutting households in the U.S. will double to about 1.6 million.

30 Minutes

2009-12-01T22:41:00.000-05:00

What happens when you are famous for something because is associated with something bad. The kind of infamy that goes along with a merger that goes wrong and costs millions of dollars or a television program which takes on a new time slot and its failure becomes the tipping point resulting in the network tanking. Once it gets reported in the media, a public face becomes associated with it. This paragraph in the NYT got me started to think about this...

If Steve Case, the former head of AOL, was the public face of that failed merger, the public face of the proposed NBC-Comcast deal could well be Jay Leno.

The thought that Uchitel may become the face of America's latest home wrecking hottie seems to be a done deal. Having done an Internet search on Rachel, her story is more interesting and complicated than that. Which doesn't mean much in the limited attention span of American pop culture. The case of Rachel Uchitel, this alleged affair with Tiger Woods has thrust her into a temporary notoriety that she had a sample of when she became an icon around the world, looking for a loved one during 9/11.
Rachel Uchitel became an innocent victim on 9/11 when her husband to be died in the South Tower of the World Trade Towers. Uchitel went into shock and was walking around dazed, putting up posters of her missing lover outside of Bellevue Hospital, the press and the paparazzi capturing her in her pain. This is how Rachael describes her first brush with the first instalment of her fame...

Soon, a bunch of photographers approached me and asked me who I was looking for. The next thing I knew I was on the cover of every newspaper in the world. It was good to have my most vulnerable moment photographed like that because it meant people wanted to know who Andy was, they wanted to help find him. Receiving hundreds of letters of support made me feel as if I wasn't going through this alone.

Rachel would end up married a couple of years later, there has been talk of an affair with married actor David Boreanaz and rumors of a romance with Stephen Dorff. She will have another 15 minutes of fame, in an Ashlee Dupre kind of way. She has been quoted in a interview that she said, I will never kiss and tell.
I am willing to bet that in an alternative future, one without 9/11 maybe, Mrs Rachael O'Grady would not know her 30 minutes of fame, the pain of the loss of a loved one, a marriage that didn't work out and this madness because maybe she had sex with a handsome, wealthy married athlete. The only notoriety that this woman would know is that of a beautiful woman from random men noticing her wedding band. After her first marriage, Rachael wrote that despite losing Andy, I had been able to find someone else whom I could love. I don't doubt that she still can!
Although, she seems to be taking this situation and profiting from it, from the alleged 1 million shake down from Tiger to talks of her posing for Playboy. As Rachael takes off her clothes, it looks as if Tiger maybe taking a little break from golf.

Tiger has taken a big hit to his previous clean cut image but Dave Zirin observes, who is a political/sports writer (who I've meet, read one of his books and heard him speak, he is great!) a few of Tiger's endorsements a morally questionable, which brings his character into question even more. Dave Zirin's website is edgeofsports.com, FYI, well worth checking out.

UPDATE

Tiger is looking like he is headed towards divorce and a break from his chosen profession, professional athlete. The news that his prenup may actual hold up in court is about the only break that he has gotten since this whole scandal broke.

What to do about pirates

2009-09-14T20:45:00.000-04:00

See comments

Michael Jackson Dead, RIP!

2009-06-25T18:31:00.000-04:00

I have always liked Michael Jackson, in spite of his strange behavior in the last 25 years. The news of his death shocked and upset me. I have so many memories of Michael Jackson, like the first Europe my first time in the early 90's and he was on top of the world, his music videos being played all of the time, his songs on the radio. Both times while in I was in Iraq, having Iraqis asking me what the matter with Michael Jackson was. Watching MTV in the early 80's back when they actually played videos, epically the Thriller album that had like 7 number one singles
and dominated MTV for months, (Maybe over playing Michael Jackson justified in the executives there not playing any other black artists for years). The NYT wrote, at the height of his career, he was indisputably the biggest star in the world; he has sold more than 750 million albums. Musically and physical appearance wise, it has been all down hill since 1991. Michael came out with Black and White that year, which remained at the top of the singles chart into 1992, for a total of seven weeks, making Michael Jackson the first artist to get number one popular hits in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Yet from here, things get very ugly for him. This is a great link if you want to see how his addiction to plastic surgery transformed him from a regular guy to what he had become. I doubt that any recording artist, especially in this day and age, will ever be as huge as Michael Jackson was. He put MTV on the map. His success as a childhood star with his brothers in the Jackson 5 was a compete career in itself. He will be missed, even though ever since the early nineties his off stage lifestyle and appearance has been disturbing, his accomplishments and his music are a totally separate issue. RIP Michael! BET award show - Weekend ending with tribute to Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson - New Music - More Music Videos

Update

I watched MJ's memorial service today and it was very well done. The two saddest part were when towards the end, one of Michael's brothers said that whenever he told Michael that he love him, Michael would respond that he loved him more. His daughter Paris was the final word that the Jackson family would have on stage and it went like this...

The LAT notes that "the signature moment" of the service may have been when his 11-year-old daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, took the stage. "I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," she said through tears. "And I just wanted to say I love him so much."

That was very sad.

I phone club

2009-06-22T17:03:00.001-04:00

Being one of the last people to use a traditional cell phone that only made phone calls, I joined the everything phone community. The combination of losing my phone and wanting to listen to Sirius on my cell phone (do I even call it that anymore?). I have a good handle on computer software but any technology telephone related I don't have a clue about. The I phone did wear me down. A buddy of mine had one while I was in Iraq on my last tour and I was amazed with the clarity of the images on the phone, the fact that you could read the NYT and it looked like a electronic version of the actual paper. They have been on the market for a while so they have worked out allot of the problems with them, the prices are going down to bargain rates and I can listen to my Sirius radio on this thing! It seems that I will have to make an effort not to be one of those crazy people who are addicted to doing stuff on their cell phones.
Plus, you never know when someone wants to borrow your phone to take a picture of themselves, like this girl below.

The cruel irony of timing and martyrs

2009-06-19T13:16:00.000-04:00

It would be a cruel irony if, in an effort to avoid imposing democracy, the United States were to tip the scale toward dictators who impose their will on people struggling for freedom. And if we appear so desperate for negotiations that we will abandon those who support our principles, we weaken our own negotiating hand.

Today, Hortensia Bussi, the former wife of Chile's President Salvador Allende died, who's husband died on 9/11/1973, after 3 years of trying to make a Socialist government work, was over thrown by an American supported dictator. The irony of Neocon Paul Wolfowitz writing an Op Ed about government intervention in another country to support "our principles" on the day that Allende's widow died. It is ironic that when tyrants are supported by the United States to over throw legibility elected officials yet they never followed an subservient US friendly foreign policy during the Cold War, as happen in Iran in 1953 and twenty years later in Chile in 1973. The blow back effect in Iran lead to the 1979 revolution and put into place the present government, one of the countries making up the trifecca of the Axis of Evil. Of course some Neocon would be fond of the heavy handed, Cold War politics of CIA intervention of the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations.
I think that it is great what is going on in Iran and the only outcome that people are predicting is nothing, nobody knows where the current uprising will lead to. My heart goes out to all of those in Iran fighting a repressive and closed society. Bill Maher had Hooman Majid, who is an author and has a great clip on Amazon's site about life in Iran.
History and life are full of cruel ironies. That in this hesphere, two countries were subjected to attacks on 9/11 which changed everything overnight in their respective nations. That as a reaction to a puppet government the United States supported in Iran, was overthrown by a cabal of religious zealots who now run the country of Iran. Those very people who are scrambling to resolve a revolutionary uprising who no one has and idea where all this activity is going to end and the consequences of it.

Update

The President has come out speaking against the Iranian government with his usual clear thinking and insightful comments, just what the world expects of the leader of the United States.

Throughout the Iranian crisis, Mr. Obama has tried to strike a difficult balance. On one hand, he has carefully modulated his response to minimize the chances that the Iranian government will cast the conflict as one driven by meddling from the United States, and to avoid closing off the possibility of talks with Iran over curbing its nuclear program, a signature element of his foreign policy since his election.
Wolfowitz's and his ilk will never see the wisdom of Obama playing the middle and reacting in a way to portray the right message, being tough but leaving enough wiggle room so that some diplomacy can take place.
Stats for the crack down in Iran...102 political figures, 23 journalists, 79 university students and 7 university faculty; the human rights organization said. By official reckonings, at least 17 demonstrators have been killed.
Unfortunately for the present government of Iran, one of those 17 deaths was an 27 year old Iranian named Neda whose death had been captured when a snipper bullet hit Neda in her chest and the clip shows her bleeding out, dying in two minutes. In a part of the world where martyrs and part of the culture, this death and this person become a rallying point for the revolutionaries. With the world being connected to the Internet, this image of this young, beautiful girl's death has been witnessed by the world! The death of a young woman, an student showing her solidarity for her cause will continue to have an impact on the Iranian situation.
Allende was a martyr too, but his "suicide" and a ruthless fascist government locking the population down, the people couldn't resist the way the Iranians are going to. The world is watching.
Frontline is one of the best things on TV and thanks to the internet, one of the best things to watch for hard hitting, unbais current issue reporting. Frontline did a show called A Death in Iran, it tells Nada's story and helps her legacy as a marytr for the cause against tryants in Iran.

Lakers take it in game 5

2009-06-15T04:51:00.000-04:00

The Lakers do it again and Kolbe is the MVP! Living in New England and being a Celtics fan, I will live on last years memories but I am happy for Kolbe and his place in sports history.

Kolbe has overcome being in the shadow of Shaq, put his sex scandle behind him and become a leader. His dedication to his sport, his focus and incredible natural talent makes him of the greatest players in basketball history. If Kolbe's career never hits this level again, I hope that he is enjoying the pinical of his brillant career.

Funemployment

2009-06-06T07:05:00.000-04:00

Who is unemployed, employed or FUNEMPLOYED????
I had never heard of this word until last week. I had only heard of the word "unenjoyment" because I always perceived being unemployed as a bad thing. Living in a resort town I know people who work seasonally in the restruant business, as well as painters who are in a simular work rythem. Apparently, the word funemployment has been around long enough to exsit in the urbandictionary. The least popular use of the word is how I perceived the concept of funemployment, defined as to be unemployed and collecting unemployment, welfare, SSI or other means of income from government. This is especially true if you are on unemployment, and obtaining benefits with no desire to try and find a new job. Instead, the time is used to do other things, like travel, chill, etc.
Before I go into that though, the use of the word in these tough econmic times are for Gen X — workers now entering their late 30s and early 40s — who had little faith in sanctioned career paths and developed a high tolerance for job turnover and freelance work. The first time I came accross this funemployment conceipt was the LA Times and San Fransico News articles who described it best as people who describe themselves as happily jobless are generally single and young. They live with their savings, unemployment checks, severance packages, or their parents' money and "do not spend their days poring over job listings." Instead they go to the beach, travel cheaply, volunteer, and drink lots of margaritas. Many people have become disillustioned with the traditional idea of the American Dream. Those who havn't got the pressure of having a family, having a mortgage to pay and their only attachment to responsiblity was a job that they just lost, the time has come to take a break and reflect on what they want to do while they take a break from life and enjoy themselves. While the maximum weekly benefit of $475 (raised under Obama from the previous $450) is relatively low, from the perspective of a young, healthy worker without kids or a mortgage, this may be one of the most propitious times to be receiving unemployment-insurance payments in the nation's history.

Arthur Ashe - One of the greatest in many ways

2009-06-03T02:22:00.000-04:00

While in New York I drove past the former World Fair grounds which presently hosts the US Open. I used to take the 7 train to Ft Totten, Queens and pass the grounds and I always figured that I would go to the Open while I was living in NYC. I never went to the US Open until the mid 90's. The main court is Arthur Ashe stadium and I watched some great matches there. I went again about 4 years ago and I realized that I missed some of the greatest years in American tennis by not watching the Open live in the late 70 to the early 80s. The slam eras first champion at the US Open was also the first black man to win a grand slam, Arthur Ashe. I always like Ashe and respected him for his quite intensity and a regal dignity which he carried himself. I am glad that one of the greatest stadiums at the US Open is named in his honor. In his book Days of Grace, which was finish just a week before his death, he writes of why he didn't feel sorry for himself inspite of the fact that he was dying a horrible death with the AIDS virius. One question that he did not ask was one that he says people--well meaning people--inquire as to whether he ever asked, in the face of his diseases, "Why me?" Ashe responds: "I never do. If I ask Why me?' as I am assaulted by heart disease and AIDS, I must ask Why me?' about my blessings, and question my right to enjoy them. The morning after I won Wimbledon in 1975 I should have asked Why me?' about my blessings. . . If I don't ask Why me' after my victories, I cannot ask Why me?' after my setbacks and disasters. . ." The book talks of the evolution of a distinguished athlete, sagacious scholar and humble humanitarian.

One thing that he did have issues with was racism and he felt that “being black is the greatest burden I've had to bear.” That is the only item which he comes across as being bitter about. He acted on his convictions with his activities as a civil rights activist and his being active against apartheid in South Africa, the later costing him coaching the US Davis Cup. Having been one of the most successful coaches that the Davis Cup has ever had, it seems a cowardly and unwise act of the USTA to do this.

In Ashe's biography, there is a brief passage in which he criticizes two prominent black basketball stars, Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain, for publicly bragging about their sexual conquests. His opinions on race, highly controversial under normal circumstances, have failed to stimulate serious debate.

Ashe's death in 1993 from his 1988 blood transfusions from one of his two heart surgeries was tragic as it was ironic. The stigma of AIDS in the late 80's and early 90's was very intense at the time. No celebrity at that point had gotten the AIDS virus who wasn't a drug user or gay. I remember the madness of discourse between "innocent" victims of the decease and everyone else who was perceived as responsible, I guess guilty or deserving of a painful death sentence(which at the time, that is what it was). I think that in Arthur Ashe's situation, it was discovered late in its development. Yet when Magic Johnson came up with the AIDS virus, between him catching it early, the new drugs that were being developed, he was able to live and thrive to this day. Magic seemed to benefit from Ashe's battle with the decease, not being subject of some of the harassment and speculation that Ashe endured when he went public with his announcement that he was ill.

Modern ways of entertainment and emerging media

2009-05-18T21:37:00.000-04:00

I think that the some of best things in life are free. I bought the NYTs today. Something that I don't often do because it is free on line. TV was free until it went digital, which I guess isn't the
case until next month. I love hulu.com because if you miss a show it can be watched on your computer when it is convent for you.

As I blog this evening, I am relaxing and watching one of the few shows on TV that I follow. So that I am not tempted to purchase the this season, I am watching the show tonight, as the season comes to its last hours in Jack Bauer's seasonal long days. I was totally hooked on the show in its first couple of seasons and have watched a couple of seasons while deployed, the addictive back to back method one can while watching it on DVD.

What is nice about the the the old way of reading the New York Times is that you read items that you would not usually read.

I read this nightmare version of the American Dream gone wrong and it reminded me of David Carr and his story, only his had a happy ending. He did an abbreviated version of his book, The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. His Own, for the NYT's magazine. His latest piece on the the struggling business of reporting the news. He wrote that finding the sweet spot between protecting the newspaper’s digital ad sales and extracting additional subscription revenue is paramount.

The future of the times lies in its Internet website, the way that I love to read the Times is dated and more people than not will get what they can for free, they will get hostile when what was previously free is then something that your charged for. The print media of the paper has become less profitable too.
On the Web, there is a profound abundance of not only content, but also advertising space, and the decline in ad prices reflects that reality.

I always get more out of reading the paper the traditional way but I do read as much as I can, free on line. I will often decide not to buy the paper because I know that I can just turn on my computer and read the same thing, free, on line.

I have seen enough of 24 this season so the temptation to go out and buy the profitable season is highly unlikely too. Another enjoyable item offered for free.

UPDATE

I had no idea that the price of the times had doubled in price and I had even bought it a couple of times in the last couple of weeks. Yet in the Op Ed section I read today that ON June 1, The Times raised its newsstand price to $2 for the daily paper and $5 or $6 for the Sunday paper, depending on the part of the country where you live. No one likes to having something that is free taken away from them and then asked to pay for it. Having said that, I agree with those readers feel “they have a relationship with The Times. They’re not just reading a newspaper.”
The NYT is the paper of record, all the news that is fit to print and the greatest source of information produced in the United States. I hope in this tough times for printed media live the NYT, it continues, thrives and doesn't suffer quality wise or its integrity suffer. The Times is indeed the strongest news brand in the United States. Preserving it through what amounts to an advertising depression and the Internet revolution may be the greatest challenge the newspaper has ever faced.

If I had to pay to read the NYT on line I would, I may not like it but the Internet adds allot to the experience of reading the times. The one in eight million segment if a perfect example of that. If you hyper link to this, find these stories, which I found the most enjoyable.
Steven Marmo, The bar fighter
Jim Romano The tabloid photographer
Omika Jikaria The type A teenager

Shepard Fairey

2009-05-10T04:40:00.000-04:00

The summer has officially started for me, which start with a trip to Boston, where I saw Shepard Fairey's show and my first Red Sox game ever! I am a official New Englander now. I have had a day where I have got to do nothing but sleep and veg, something I never do and every once in a while, a person has to day that. I did watch the remade, some what lame and mildly entertaining, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Which I found bearable to watch and I enjoyed it.
I like his art because it is bold, it is political and iconic. It has a message and takes a stand!!!"These Sunsets Are to Die For!" stencil collage and mixed media on canvas.

In one of the most stunning and powerful pieces, "These Sunsets Are to Die For!" a man and a woman hold hands on a rock in the left foreground, watching as a city across a bloody river shoots polluted smoke and fire into the sky, the huge canvas bathed in (communist) red, with the title words at the bottom signifying that the American dream is now a living nightmare.

I havn't seen bold, polical and relivant political art like Shepard Fairey's since I was living in NYC in the eighties. I have seen alot of his art though. I lived in RI where he was a student at RISD and live in NYC and I have seen his stickers everywhere in both places.

The later added the word OBEY to his art, borrowing it from the cult classic “They Live” - a film starring another wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. OBEY quickly turned into an international fad, and the moniker became Shepard Fairey’s calling card.

In the show I saw a manifesto on Shepard's Experiment in Phenomenology and it said this...

The process of letting things manifest themselves. It attempts to enable peopel to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured, things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation."

I wasn't going to go into this but I just found this image while I was in Iraq, watching the Republican's Convention (on the internet!). I thought of it while at the show yesterday. The movie They Live also had an impact on me and as I watched the Republicans manipulate images and use slogans, manifesting consent (well, attempting to), I made the connection on a similar level that Fairey does when using Obey so often in his art work. I feel a conection to what he is saying through many of the images that he is creating and I agree with many of his public statements he has made in the press on how he feels and the way that things are in America.

He had this to when he was promoting a couple of his shows last year in NYC.

He had this to say about Giuliani. Fairey and I agree on Giulaini and what he is all about. I definitely don’t want Giuliani; I hate Giuliani. Giuliani got a lot of credit after 9/11 but it’s just because he seemed like he maintained his composure and was a leader or whatever – which was his fucking job. And he was a totally Nazi about people having an open container on the street or doing graffiti or doing any of that stuff. His quality of life and zero tolerance regulations – I mean if this is going to make me look bad because everyone loves Giuliani don’t print it but he’s a fucking piece of shit.

When asked about how his work has grown more political during the Bush administration, he had this to say.

I’ve spent a lot of time in New York, I have a lot of friends who are new Yorkers and I was really distressed by 9/11 – as much as the next person. But I think it created a climate of fear that was an easy way for Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld to push through an agenda that ordinarily wouldn’t have gotten through. And so there’s one side of me that’s totally sympathizing with the idea that maybe there is some sort of benefit in the placebo of finding a scapegoat and everyone’s venting. But it just went way, way too far.

I think the war in Iraq was completely unrelated to 9/11 but I think it happened because people were just looking to take action; you know you feel so vulnerable and powerless after something like that. So I guess where a lot of artists started censoring themselves because they felt like it wasn’t a good time to speak out because people were feeling sensitive about everything going on, I felt like it was the time to speak out the most because I think democracy and being a patriot is about trying to make the country the best it can possibly be. And I saw a trend of going towards a decrease in civil liberties; privacy and a lot of things happening I did not think were healthy for democracy in general. So yeah, I got more political during the Bush administration but especially during the build up to the war and ever since it started.

This is how he feels about what art needs to be to be effective.

Art needs to hit people on a visual level that they enjoy and intuitively they’re going to respond to when they see it. And if you can have a message in there that’s great too but you don’t want it to be so heavy handed and depressing that people don’t want to look at it. That’s my problem with activists; they’re just no fun to be around.

I have others that I liked alot but I will blog about Shepard Fairey someday soon and go to what my thoughts are on him and his work.

Truman as War Criminal

2009-05-02T02:29:00.000-04:00

As I sit down to write my final exam, my 8 to 10 page final is about the influence of the Atomic Bomb on Japanese Film, using the movie Hiroshima Mon Amour. It is yet another classroom setting where I get beat up for disagreeing with the American party line of it being acceptable under the circumstance which the United States were faced with a that time in history. I disagree with that being the case but I have never perceived Truman as a war criminal for making the decisions (although I strongly disagree with it).
John Stewart did go on record for saying something to the effect.

JON STEWART: I try and draw the line where our country has drawn it for 200 years.
CLIFFORD MAY: Do you think in World War II we did not inflict pain and suffering on suspects in the war in Japan?
STEWART: I would hope we didn't water board people. I would hope we didn't...
MAY: We did do Hiroshima. Do you think, do you think Truman is a war criminal for that?
STEWART: Yeah.
MAY: You do?
STEWART: Yeah.
MAY: Okay. This is a, this is a...
STEWART: Here's what I think of the atom bombs. I think if you dropped an atom bomb fifteen miles offshore and you said, "The next one's coming and hitting you," then I would think it's okay. To drop it on a city, and kill a hundred thousand people. Yeah. I think that's criminal.

I agree with Jon Stewart's idea of having given the Japanese people a demonstration of the destructive force of the bomb without having nuked them!
Last Thursday, Jon Stewart did retract his statements though. I am glad that he did speak from his heart about his views and I would guess that some suit working for Comedy Central had a sit down with him and had him to the retraction of his statements below.

The other night we had on Cliff May. He was on, we were discussing torture, back and forth, very spirited discussion, very enjoyable. And I may have mentioned during the discussion we were having that Harry Truman was a war criminal. And right after saying it, I thought to myself that was dumb. And it was dumb. Stupid in fact. So I shouldn't have said that, and I did. So I say right now, no, I don't believe that to be the case. The atomic bomb, a very complicated decision in the context of a horrific war, and I walk that back because it was in my estimation a stupid thing to say.

Although I wouldn't concider President Truman a war criminal, I think if America had lost the war and a clip like this one above was viewed by the world, I have no doubt that he would go down in history as just that.

New Miss California Tami Farrell

2009-04-21T22:05:00.001-04:00

Alicia Monique Blanco

CALIFORNIA - Carrie Prejean CONNECTICUT - Monica Mary Pietrzak FLORIDA - Anastagia PierreGEORGIA - Kimberly Gittings HAWAII - Aureana Tseu KANSAS - Courtney Courter MINNESOTA - Erica Nego NEVADA - Georgina Vaughan NORTH CAROLINA - Kristen Dalton TENNESSEE - Kristen Motil TEXAS - Brooke Daniels UTAH - Laura Kirilova Chukanov VERMONT - Brooke Werner VIRGINIA - Maegan Elizabeth Phillips
Carrie Prejean — Miss California USA — told a national pageant audience that she opposed gay marriage, debate has raged on several fronts. What she siad says "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage," Prejean said. "And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." Not the most PC thing to say, for sure. This is a event that is hosted by Donald Trump after all, not a feminist or a liberal. Her opinion isn't really that offensive because she is a silly beauty queen, winner of a genetic lottery and been blessed in beauty, not brains, tact or sensitivity.
Miss Arizona was my choice on beauty, an ethnic beauty queen and maybe someone with more progressive view more in sync with an America which embraces diversity!

Updates

The beauty queen's chances about losing her coveted tiara are getting better every day. There are over possible contract violations as a result of public appearances supporting opponents of same-sex marriage.
Not to mention those revealing sexy underwear photos taken when she was a teen that she failed to divulge.
It has emerged that state pageant officials had paid for her breast implants just prior to the competition.

Miss California is in risk of losing her shot at representing which makes Miss Arizonia the back up choice by default. It there is a Vanessa Williams type scandel, the right Miss America will regein sepreme!

Tami Farrell

Carrie Prejean has been dethroned as Miss California USA for "contract violations," including missing scheduled pageant events, according to a state pageantofficial. The drama has come to an end and Tami Farrell is now the new Miss California.

Senator Al Franken

2009-04-15T04:19:00.001-04:00

A winner for the Senate race and seat formally occupied by Republican Norm Coleman in Minnesota has been officially declared. The winner is Al Franken, a fact which makes me happy in a couple ways. The biggest one is that Coleman couldn't be more dis likable, even for a Republican. His hubris after the close election in commenting that Franken ought to just concede defeat in a close race. NYT's columnist, Paul Krugman said over the weekend when observing that the Republicans have become embarrassing to watch. Coleman is in the middle of a battle between Republicans in Washington to keep Mr. Coleman in the Senate and Minnesotans eager for the race to end. The winner of this will be the Democrats in the long run unless Coleman manages to salvage some grace in this a bows to Franken.
The Republican governor will take the political fallout from the folly that this close race has become. Coleman has almost exactly half of the 3 million votes from Minnesota but I doubt the race would even be close now if the election were to take place tomorrow. Gov. Tim Aplenty does have a job and this event has placed him in the National spotlight because he can endorse the verdict allowing Franken to become Senator or play partisan politics and not sign off, waiting for s Supreme Court ruling on this issue.Although I do take a perverse pleasure in Norm Coleman's aguish in the prolonged agony of defeat moment, I had thought that this drawn out nightmare had ended on the first of this month. I don't see Coleman bowing out, the Govenor steeping up and declairing Franken the winner and now the country can witness more shamful Republican pouting in losing an important seat in the Senate to one of their least favorite Democrats, Al Franken.

UPDATE

Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, is to announce this afternoon he will not seek re-election. This is ofcourse as a result of being a Republican and having to make an unpopular call for Minnesota's newest Senator. Plus, with the Minnesota Supreme Court perhaps weeks away from rejecting Norm Coleman's (R) appeal in the Senate race (that's my guess), Pawlenty would be in the unenviable position of having to decide whether to certify Al Franken (D) the winner. Either decision would have been met with an outcry by one side or the other.

I totally agree with this NRP observer and it is all over for two Minnesota Republicans!

Officially it is over, welcome Senator Franken!

Culture of “excess greed”

2009-03-20T03:10:00.000-04:00

Gekko’s most famous line is “Greed is good,” even more emblematic is his defiant summation of his brand of capitalism: “I create nothing. I own.”
In Oliver Stone's movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas Oscar winning role, his character does his famous diatribe on how "greed, for lack of a better word, is good". The 80's segued into a couple of slumps, Black Monday in October of '87, a recession in the early 90's and of course, the Dot com meltdown in the late 90's. The latest meltdown, as a consequence of the housing bust, is no surprise that it happened yet many are shocked at the severity of the economic slump the world in presently experiencing.

Douglas's character, Gordon Gekko, is the personification of evil, greed and amoral cooperate soullessness for the 80's. Rightly or wrongly, AIG is the symbol for everything that is wrong with the complicity of Wall Street corporations and their role in the housing bubbles bursting. The issue of the bonuses going to the cooperate executive of AIG, have put the media, the politicians and the majority of Americans into a feeding frenzy. The populist uprising is on the cusp of reaching vigilantly justice.

Things in life are not as simple as good and evil though, nothing is black and while but shades of grey. The governments inaction, lack of regulation and incompetence amounts to some responsibility for the crisis that the country finds itself in.

In retrospect, more regulation of AIG would have been prudent. Obama is demanding more regulation and the issue of the bonuses are being recouped by taxing 90% of them. That is certainly more agreeable than Edward M. Liddys suggestion that they keep half of them.

The A.I.G. affair prompted President Obama to declare that a "culture of greed" demonstrated in A.I.G.'s dealings should have no place in a new Wall Street.

Jon Stewart captures through humor the shameless, pandering politician on this issue as well as their need to promote themselves, epically Representative (D) Paul Kanjorski, wanting to simplify the blame onto one person. I also find Senator Christopher Dodd's shameless reaction to be called out on his role in this, with allowed the loophole, which thus allowed the bonuses which formed the basis for the AIG scandal. I lost the clip while editing this entree.

Update: Here is another point of view which isn't in vouge but ought to be put in perceptive with all of this letter to the editor from Bill Mullin from Minneapolis, MN

The grandstanding members of Congress who questioned Edward M. Liddy on Wednesday ignored the substance of his testimony. He told the subcommittee that the bailout of A.I.G. is going well (the company’s exposure to its calamitous bad bets has been reduced from $2.7 trillion to $1.6 trillion). He made a management decision that reneging on A.I.G.’s contractual commitments to the people who are trying to work A.I.G. out of this disaster — made long before he got there — would be detrimental to the effort.
Mr. Liddy has more experience running businesses than all the politicians in the room put together. He came out of retirement to help save our nation and the world from the disaster that would be A.I.G.’s collapse. He is working for a dollar a year. His judgment was entitled to thoughtful study, if not the benefit of the doubt. Instead, he got vitriolic abuse from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Mr. Liddy is a hero who deserved better treatment from our representatives. Bill Mullin

Count your blessings

2009-03-17T03:46:00.000-04:00

I had my first drill since November 2007, I am back from Iraq! I am happy about it and feel blessed to be back in my life, working and picking up where I left off. When a person deploys, they change, the experience is life changing. Coming home is always kind of weird too, it is great to be home but their is an adjustment period and you are adjusting to your new life, whatever that has become. The world that you leave changes too.
I live in Rhode Island and although the economy has tanked, here in RI and nationally. That effects me mentally but not in a major way. As long as I don't get laid off and I don't dwell on the concept of my very humble retirement just got a whole lot humbler. It is all relative though. When I was making like half of what I do now, I was eligible for qualify to get a property because I was so broke. Now, the agency that funded that program is broke itself. While the world was going crazy though while I was in Iraq, the vortex of the world gone crazy, gas hit $4 and I vowed to to do public transportation as much as possible. While biking around I often pass a tent city of homeless which isn't total uncommon in this day and age . There are even homeless cats living in the tent city. I haven't seen stuff like this since I lived in NYC in the late 80's with the homeless tent cities in Alphabet City in the Lower East Side.
I see all of this and I feel blessed, only in that I am not in a hopeless situation. Like this guy in California...
"So the company I'm working for, I get laid off," Cutch says. "I qualified for unemployment — 24 weeks. My car's paid off, my truck's paid off, my bike's paid off, everything except for my house payment, right? But I feel like I'm still going to pull out of it."
Months went by without work. Cutch lost his house, his car was stolen, his savings ran out. This past August, he took up a friend's invitation to come to California, but that didn't work out, either.
Life can be hard, over whelming and the crumbling around you but you can always be grateful for what you have.

Observations from myspace friends that I agree with

2008-10-12T00:22:00.000-04:00

Life's not about expecting, hoping and wishing, it's about doing, being and becoming. It's about the choices you've just made, and the ones you're about to make, it's about the things you choose to say - today.

http://www.myspace.com/adriennektu

I like this thought because life is about taking responsibility, making choices and thinking before you communicate. Dreamers expect, hope and wish while others hedge their bets by doing.

That you get what you give. If you surround yourself with negative vibes & negative people you attract that into your life. I've realized I am in control of what happens TO me and around me.

http://www.myspace.com/theresacorrea

This is a deep yet simple thought. Life is full of choices and I don't have time for angry, negative haters around me if I can help it - and I can.

"People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person. When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on. Some people come into your life for a SEASON,because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.!

http://www.myspace.com/modeljenniferfox

The laws of attraction!!!!!!!!!

Anger at the forecasted loss of another Republican tool

2008-10-10T19:55:00.000-04:00

My time in Iraq is coming to an end. While taking the bus on base, I had no choice but to listen to this fat idiot Rush talk about the polls and the "left wing media's" mean spirited and distorted perception on Senator McCain campaign. I obviously like politics and in spite of an intense personal dislike of that hypocrite Rush. I find him a harmless blowhard with little credibility and I find him informed (misinformed is more like it though) and amusing. Like Faux, I mean Fox News.

I have had my first attacks on my thoughts, which I have found amusing that anyone actually reads this blog, let alone would take the time to respond to it. Even better, I have been attacked personally, in an insulting way, in a flurry of misspelled words and raw anger that I find motivating and encouraging. I must be hitting a nerve because the truth hurts. Anger is a more Republican power souse than other parties, as well as the exploitation of fear, bigotry, ignorance, and intolerance. Not that the Democrats don't have their own issues too, I will be the first to admit that. I will leave it to the fear mongers at Newsmax.com to bash the Democrats though...

....enter these fricking morons at Newsmax.com

I get an e-mail from my Father, which I will making another entree about later and the Newsmax misinformation Repubican propaganda put out! But today, I am addressing the "close polls in the race" myth. These guys at Newsmax hit all of the "talking points" like Rush did and them came out with this line...

"But the numbers don’t lie. The latest Zogby poll had John McCain trailing Obama by two points."

Hmm, well maybe numbers don't lie but I guess it is all relative to who is going the counting. Like the way Newsweek and the LA Times is counting it, Obama has a double digit lead in their respective polls.

The Newsweek article goes on to say an historic boiling over of dissatisfaction with the status quo. An astounding 86 percent of voters now say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States, while a mere 10 percent say they are satisfied.
Newsweek has never seen those kind of numbers before in America's dissatisfaction over the way things are. We need a change and McCain, the Republican, the party of George Bush, who is candidate of the generation of 20th Century thinkers and Cold War mind sets, is not what the country needs at this time!!! Wake up America and vote for a change that we can live with!

Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and race

2008-10-07T15:34:00.000-04:00

In 1989, Spike Lee put out Do the Right Thing, which is my favorite Spike Lee movie. I was living in NYC when the film came out and it captures the feel of Brooklyn, the racial tension which was present in the area and the neighborhood feel that big city area like New York actually has to it. Often Mr Lee complains, and rightfully so, that his film was over looked that year by the Academy Awards. "Nobody is watching motherfucking Driving Miss Daisy today. Do The Right Thing is being taught in classes at major universities and high schools all over the world. That's how you're supposed to test art. Does the work stand up?"
It is ironic, that a film that deals with race is over looked and the film given the Academy Award has a black man in a subservient role to some old white lady in that forgettable film. I watched the directors commentary to Do the Right Thing where Spike said almost verbatim what he is quoted saying above. The NYT movie critic, A.O. Scott did a critic's picks on this movie and he does a brillant review of the movie and it's place in America cinema. I have meant to blog about this every since. The racial rants in the movie is one of my favorite scences.

Worst day eva

2008-10-06T21:31:00.000-04:00

Fembot or Web Bot?????

Today the Web Bot Project predicts that today the stock market is going to tank and it will be the worst day since 9/11, whatever that means.

The Web Bot has accurately predicted a number of other natural and man made disasters such as:

-the 2001 anthrax attack on Washington DC
-the East Coast power outage in 2003
-the earthquake which resulted in the December 26, 2004 tsunami
-hurricane Katrina and the events that followed

The Web Bot also warns of a global cataclysmic event expected to take place in late December 2012.

I guess this credible enough to be on the History Channel and according to Redrat 11 from Club Conspiracey (.com)....

A web bot or 'bot' is a software application that crawls the internet in a repetitive fashion performing tasks or searching for information. Web bots are used in a myriad of ways online. These bots can find all types of websites and locate important keywords in them. Web bots then analyze the information they find from various sites and are able to find keyword trends. Web bots also can complete tasks much faster than humans in a majority of cases, and have been used widely for posting messages to newsgroups and delivering other media to multiple sources. You will also find them on many instant messaging services such as AIM and IRC. They do various automated tasks from reporting sports scores to chatting in chat rooms. Technology today is advancing at such a fast rate, there's no telling what these bots will be able to do next.

I have no idea if this is true but Jim Kramer seems to feel that now is the time to bail out of the stock market.
I hope that the stock market doesn't tank and that today is a normal day. Here in Iraq, it is tomorrow but the day hasn't even started in America yet. Lets hope that in 24 hours from now that the United States hasn't changed all that much from right now.

Update

It appears that if the Web Bot was correct, the "worst day since 9/11" is going to hit later in the day. Although the last year, the Dow hasn't been the best... The country is in about the same place that it was 5 years ago..

OK, I am sold on the Web Bot, the market tanked again!!

Senator McCain, of the Keating Five

2008-09-24T19:12:00.000-04:00

John McCain will go down in the history books if he becomes President this November with his running mate Sara Palin, in that she will be the first female Vice President. Senator McCain can be found in one history book already, in Mark Grossman's Political Corruption in America, his appearance among the infamous has been made for future generations.

The Senator's ploy of avoiding the upcoming debate with Senator Obama is seen by "some Democrats warning that Mr. McCain’s intervention could derail progress being made on the rescue package. " This is a serous charge that McCain may not be putting "America first" but his own self interest and politics first. Without Senator McCain, the Keating Five would be the Keating Four after all.

McCain role in the Lincoln Savings and Loan scandal and his association with the poster boy of the Savings and Loan bail out, Charles Keating, cost the American taxpayers just shy of 25 Billion dollars. Senator McCain took $112,000 by 1987 and Keating would demand some returns on his investment in McCain political campaign when Congress started to investigate Mr. Keating. McCain denied any wrong doing until an Arizona newspaper uncovered in 1989, the Senator came clean about investing $350,000 in Keating property. Several trips were paid for Senator McCain and his wife and traveled in Keating’s plane. In McCain's defense, he was found guilty of only poor judgement and obvious conflict of interest.

The Senator's history of unethical behavior towards acting on the behalf of those who contribute to his campaign is a genuine concern. When Googled, this is what all Americans ought to find about Senator McCain's role in this very similar situation that our country finds itself in.

The core allegation of the Keating Five affair is that Keating had made contributions of about $1.3 million to various U.S. Senators, and he called on those Senators to help him resist regulators. The regulators backed off, to later disastrous consequences. 747 S n L s tanked and just under 25 Billion dollars were spent in the Saving and Loan bail out. The combination of the finance industry and real estate market tanking lead to the recession in the early 90s. Deregulation lead to this under a Republican President.

Olbermann commented on Fox News and their way of handling their canadates past role in the scandel above.

UPDATE

It seems as if that nearly two decades later, John McCain is still haunted by his role in the Keating Five scandal. The race has turned nastey and Obama has pulled out one of McCain's darkest mouments in his political career.

Empty space

2008-09-04T04:41:00.000-04:00

I watched the Republican Convention last night, watching Rudy and Governor Palin and Rudy “the Mayor of 9/11” Giuliani speak last night.

The pain of 9/11 isn’t a picture of them as they were or as they were burning to the ground but it is the empty space of them on the Manhattan skyline.

I love New York City. I lived in New York in the late eighties and was a bike messenger for a while. The towers were a like a light house while I was in the non gridded part of downtown were I could look up and get my bearings where I was while I was on my bike. I look at the space where they were now and it just pains me. Sure, it isn't a fresh pain but a numb spot where I feel melancholy and anger that this part of the skyline was blown out of the city on 9/11. I felt this pain while looking at the backdrop of the screen in St Paul, the empty space of the towers and the Manhattan skyline. In front of that image was the sneering, condescending Giuliani up on stage. Taking a page from Joseph Goebbels’ playbook on propaganda and using it to a crowd of Republican sheepeople.

It takes a Machiavellian mind, like Giuliani, and his minions, to manipulate that nightmarish day and use it to there own political gain. I expect no less from an opportunist like Giuliani though. He certainly isn’t the only hack among the Republicans to manufacture consent towards their agenda by using 9/11 as a tool to do so. He won’t be the last either.

UPDATE: I missed this when it was aired at the convention. I read about it on a blog and I have gotten this clip through the Internet. This clip reinforces my point and Keith Olbermann can't restrain himself by vocalizing what many watching this live on TV must have been thinking at the time. If you missed this, what the clip and Olbermann's comments afterwards, you be the judge.

The New Orleans threat Gustav rolls in, St Paul on hold

2008-09-01T19:31:00.000-04:00

The images above show Gustav headed towards and passing New Orleans 31 Aug - 1 Sep 2008. The image in the right hand corner is Fox news playing at the convention in St Paul, MN. Gustav rolling into New Orleans as the convention plays on as a dramatic secondary news story.

It was the middle of the night in Iraq when I was watching the Republican Convention and Hurricane Gustav breaking news on MSCNBC. I am hoping that tonights line stays as scheduled.

Former Gov. Tom Ridge (R-Pa.)

Former California Secretary of State Rosario Marin

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.)

Gov. Linda Lingle (R-Hawaii)

Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R-Md.)

Tuesday primetime (10 p.m.-11p.m. EDT)

Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska)

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.)

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — KEYNOTER

Tom Ridge used to run the Office of Homeland Security, which FEMA is part of. FEMA would be very busy with the Hurricane passing through New Orleans as I type this.

Yet in yesterday's NYT, I read this....

Some observers have pointed out that daily briefings on preparations for Gustav, which should be coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — which is, you know, supposed to manage emergencies — have been coming, instead, from the U.S. military’s Northern Command.

I am glad that the military is in charge of this because I want the best people on the job when American lives are on the line. That isn't the way it is suppose to work but we don't live in a perfect world. The editorial goes on to say...

It’s not hard to see why. Top positions at FEMA are no longer held by obviously unqualified political hacks and cronies. But a recent report by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security said that the agency has made only “limited progress” in the area of “mission assignments” — that is, in its ability to coordinate the response to a crisis. So FEMA still isn’t up to carrying out its principal task.

This is something that I am not so happy about. That is something the current head of Homeland Security ought to be addressing. I wonder if Tom Ridge will share any insights on this if and when he speaks tomorrow.

The image above is from a crazed blogger. I replaced Pelosi's pic with Chertoff's!

UPDATE

The hurricane has seemed to left New Orleans empty of people, for the most part. I am sure that there are people who don't have a hole lot of faith in the Feds efforts to assist them during this difficult period. The levees have seemed to hold up though. Lets hope that the assistance that the government gives the people of New Orleans comes through quicker and more organized than it did 3 years ago. It has been announced that people can start returning to there home this Thursday. If any good comes out of this, the recovery process for those down in New Orleans won't be forgotten and people will do what they can to help and encourage their elected politicians for the government to do the same.

It is 5:00 ish in the morning in Iraq and Fred Thompson is addressing the convention as I write. He is talking up John McCain with his good 'ol boy southern accent. He seems just like his character from Law and Order. He just said “has got the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic. And no wonder. She’s a courageous, successful reformer who’s not afraid to take on the establishment. Sound like anybody else we know?” Well Fred, I am on the other side and I am not in a panic over the VP choice.

W provided a quick motivational speech. It is business as usual now, although the Republicans have mixed up the convention some what. The show must go on!

An unbending traditionalist??

2008-09-01T18:46:00.000-04:00

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I like how this "defines" me but I don't know if I am an unbending traditionalist. I took the test though so who am I to challenge the verdict of an internet tarot card test? Which on are you?

29 AUG 08 - 3 years later - Where were you?

2008-08-31T17:22:00.000-04:00

Ironically, I was in Minneapolis 3 years ago on that date. The MP unit that I was in Iraq with the year before was down there doing MP duties. I had enjoyed my first summer home in the house I bought after I got back and decided to visit friends and relatives out in Minnesota.

Like 3 years ago, I am watching the hurricane as it heads towards New Orleans. Instead of me being in Minneapolis watching the hurricane, the Twin Cities is now watching the hurricane as it could be a show stopper for the big Republican convention.

"Convention planners and delegates arriving in St. Paul said it would be politically perilous to hold a four-day party as Americans were evacuating New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in advance of Gustav, a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of up to 125 miles per hour, that is expected to make landfall sometime on Tuesday. The Bush administration’s unsteady response to Hurricane Katrina, which left New Orleans in ruins three years ago, outraged Americans and remains, for many, a stain on Mr. Bush’s record."

Senator McCain, having learned from the birthday photo op which has come back to haunt him 3 years later, had this to say about the up coming convention. Although his birthday back in 2005 was a "party event" while the hurricane took place; President Bush was rightfully perceived as the neglect one at that time. McCain was enjoying his B day and a VIP showed up for the party while in retrospect, he might have thought of addressing the hurricane in New Orleans. The fact that the two were together is just a coincident. As the the timing of this hurricane.

“We have to go from a party event to a call to the nation for action, action to help our fellow citizens in this time of tragedy and disaster, action in the form of volunteering, donations, reaching out our hands and our hearts and our wallets to the people who are under such great threat from this great natural disaster.

I saw this clip on MSCNBC on Keith Olbermann's website. Michael Moore has guts to say this on national TV and it sounds horrible to verbalize it but honestly, how many people are thinking the same thing and not saying anything out loud?

The new GI Bill

2008-05-26T09:58:00.000-04:00

Not all Vets will be able to use the GI Bill.

Memorial Day 2008, RIP all Veterans who have died for this country.

It is Memorial Day and the legislative branches of the United States Government are in the final stages of enacting the New GI Bill. Any soldier who has served 3 years on Active Duty, since 9/11, which many of us Veterans have, are eligible.

The New York Times has had a number of Op Eds on this subject, to include one today. The "greatest generation" would not have been as great in a post WW 2 world if not for this legislation. On an anniversary of this historic event a few years ago, the then under secretary of Veterans Affairs for benefits said...

Historians say the GI Bill contributed more than any other program in history to the welfare of veterans and their families and to the growth of the nation's economy. The bill is credited with preventing a post-war relapse into the pre-war Depression.

I don't understand why certain Republicans, the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt (before his Bull Moose party), wouldn't advacate this bill, but they didn't. Fortunately, many of them did and it looks as if it is a lock to pass. This vet said it very well!

"To withhold opportunities ... because they know we can't afford college is a terrible way to treat us after all we are doing. "

Sgt. Aaron Edwards, Baghdad

I think this speaks for many of the Veterans who are looking past their military service and mulitple deployments!

Emily and the Blog from Brooklyn

2008-05-25T10:33:00.000-04:00

To have a blog has a certain amount of narcissism to it, to a certain degree. It is a way to write, to be published, in a way, to have your voice heard. I do write about myself in a oblique way because I am a private person and I do not want the world to know my business. The other reason is that being in the military there are just things that you don't write about, which are work related. I do admire people who do put themselves "out there", it just isn't for me.

This girl in Brooklyn, Emily, did like 10 Internet pages talking about her life, her blog, and there were a couple of pics of her, tats and all. She is young and attractive (in a artsy, girl from Brooklyn and being an individual way).

The article about Emily and her blog are here, and once at the article, you can see what everybody who reads the NYT have to say, here are some of my favorites...

Comment 46: Not to offend Ms. Emily Gould but we are in the middle of a war, an economic crisis and an election year. This is not the type of article that i expect to see in the front page of the New York Times website.

Comment 37: Emily, you have real talent as a writer but you need to learn to step back from yourself. I recommend you go to Iraq and practice some real journalism. God knows we need more truth tellers in that sorry corner of the world. A mission such as this will not only cleanse your soul of the stench of the shady self indulgent Internet world you are now rightly repudiating, but it may give you the opportunity to use your considerable gifts in the furtherance of a cause greater than yourself.

Comment 7: Dear Ms. Gould: Thanks for exhibiting the empty narcissism of so much blogging. As for "Josh"'s article on you in the NYT Post, all one can say is, what goes around comes around--and the hypocrisy of your talking about it like a "personal betrayal" is either audacious in its flagrant, cynical hypocrisy or depressing in its utter lack of self-awareness. Like your tattoos, I'm fairly sure you'll regret all this by the time you get into your 40s. From now on, I'd urge you to refrain from mutually polluting your private life, and public discourse, with such things.Best regards,

Yikes, that hurts. God bless you Emily and good for you for your courage to bear your soul on line like you do. I have to agree with comment number 7 though, chances are good that may have regrets about your total discourse with your public journal on line. I don't know about your tats though, maybe you have no regrets about those. I respect her being brave enough to just expose herself to the world like that.

I thing that Emily is a very good writer though and I like her own reflections on her blog...

"My blog post was ridiculous and petty and small — and, suddenly, incredibly important. At some point I’d grown accustomed to the idea that there was a public place where I would always be allowed to write, without supervision, about how I felt. Even having to take into account someone else’s feelings about being written about felt like being stifled in some essential way."

"...I wasn’t generously sharing my thoughts; I was compulsively seeking gratification from strangers at the expense of the feelings of someone I actually knew and loved."

I am looking forward to how you answer all of these people who have commented on this article.

Joe Rogan - Joe Cool

2007-10-27T04:35:00.000-04:00

Joe Rogan - Joe Cool

I have sat on doing something with this image and this blog for a very long time. I wanted to talk about his bit on being married, which is very funny and has some truth to it. I was then going to balance it out with something really lame. Instead, I am just going to talk about who this guy is, why he is cool, which is why I am bothering to write about him in the first place.

Joe does not believe in being married but he has a kid with his girlfriend and he just went public with that. He is a man's man but he is a Father and that is pretty cool. He seems like the kind of guy wouldn't be clingy and always be, well, cool about handling his business with the ladies.

I just saw him do the UFC 84, pay per view, commentary. I got to see it for free cause I am on R n R in Iraq. I watched a couple of quick fights and the main event where BJ Penn beat this totally stacked guy from Minnesota, Sherk. It was a great fight and BJ Penn is an amazing fighter. I really like the UFC but it is kind of sad to see Ortiz, once one of the UFC biggest draws, on the downside of his career. Joe Rogan does a great job as an announcer for this.

He is a fighter himself and knows the sport. As an athlete and a fighter, he carries over the type of lessons and attitude people do when these things are Incorporated in their respective lifestyles. This guy speaks his mind, has the moral courage to do so - he is a fighter.

This guy has a lot of heart and speaks his mind about stuff honestly. For someone who is a public figure to say stuff about, Building 7 on 9/11 looked like they were imploding and not exploding, contradicting the official story goes. I know that Charlie Sheen has done this with all of the events of 9/11 but his Father is such a big activist, I see where that influence comes from.

He has the same birthday as my wife, August 11th. I know a little something about Leos. They are lions, fighters! They are loyal and honest, people who fight for what they believe in. So many celebrities are so phony, PC and full of shit. This guy has a stand up that risks offending some and I think that there is a part of this guy who likes to sound off and tell people how it is.
That is why I am taking time and writing about Joe because I have a lot of respect for people in this world who have the moral courage to be honest, regardless of the consequences of what their ideas might be.

The myth of Iraq and 9/11

2007-09-22T05:29:00.000-04:00

In the state that I grew up in and still love dearly, there is a debate about the war. This debate is taking place throughout the country but a brave broadcaster put out what a reasonable person already understands. That being that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq.

That said, CBS did a poll and claims that 33 percent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein was directly involved in 9/11.

If these Orwellian ads are giving affirmations to those who support the war that is one thing. If these ads actually lead people to think that this connection exists, that is pathetic.

The deep pockets of Freedom's watch, founded in part by former White House spin doctor Ari Fleischer, are leading the sheepeople of America to the RIGHT perceptive of how things are.

I hope that this poll is wrong, that one out of every three Americans don't really think that this is true. Is this a ploy of the "liberal media"? Apparently, this was an ad to sway Norm Coleman, a Republican, to continue to support the war. He did vote with many Democrats to support the measure establishing minimum periods between deployment of units and members of the Armed Forces deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Maybe the Republicans who did this spot are worried that one of their own in this progressive state may sway on their support of the war. Senator Coleman's vote is totally understandable having a National Guard Bde in Iraq longest deployment in the history of this war.

Public transportation - Train to the airport in RI

2007-08-24T05:30:00.001-04:00

Rhode Island is entering the 21 century and connecting their state airport to the train tracks that run through the state.

It is very exciting to see how this little state has grown in the 30 years that I have lived here and to have an International airport that is linked with public transportation (on this level, a train, not a couple of lame buses).

Cut and paste journals and books, old school vs eletronic

2007-08-13T09:29:00.000-04:00

Old school way of doing my journals, cut and paste included glue, color copies, pictures developed in dark rooms. Pre-dating digital photos, color printers and personal computers.

Revolutionary changes take place!!!!!!!!

So far, my cyber oriented hobbies include making these "computer-books and updating custom calendars tracking my retirement and deaths in Iraq of US servicemen.

I can now take images from the Internet, construct a "book" and get it published! To date, I have created 3 of these books and I have finished the 4th, which will get published when I can afford to do so.

The beautiful thing about doing this is I can create pages on PowerPoint, save them as a JPEG and put the finished product in these books. I can also make calendars, hand the images on my wall or like I did in my last entree, post it to my blog.

The Tall Ships came to my town this summer and made this with images I got on line.

I love this medium, the Internet, computers and blogging. My Father just gave me a color printer. My goal is to go back to old school journal keeping, using my computer, printer and PowerPoint created images to take my journals even better.

Happy Birthday USA

2007-07-05T02:58:00.000-04:00

Endgame in Iraq?

2007-05-12T07:06:00.000-04:00

The majority of the American people what a time line for the departure of US troops in Iraq as does the majority of the Iraqi Parliament. I would say that the administration is out of touch but at least the Vice President has conceded yesterday that there was no end to the fighting in sight. This reality check coming about from the guy who had claimed that the insurgency was in its "last throes" must be at least listening to what his Generals who are in country are telling him.

Does this flack vest make me look fat?

Gates, Petraeus and this administration understand that this is their last stand on Iraq, the funding for the war isn't a lock and support for the war decreases every day. The extension of tours in Iraq and the increased troops deployments on an already over extended military are being felt. The military has offered lots of cash incentives, especially for Captains, the ones with multiple tours and valuable combat experience, to keep military personnel. It isn't about the money though and that is just a quick fix.

The cost is to high to stay in Iraq. Everyone wants to know when and how this will all be resolved. The military can't sustain two wars in the Middle East AND grow to the proposed levels it wants to in a peace time force.

President Bush feels "It makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing," There are another 35,000 troops who will be out in Iraq this Christmas and chances are very good that I will be one of them. I am not bitching that I have to go back to Iraq 'cause this isn't about me. I just don't agree that telling the country who we are "saving" what are plans are is empowering the enemy. We need to let the majority of the people in this country, the ones paying for this war, how this is all going to end.

The Moderate Republicans are freaking out because the see the writing on the wall, especially Representative Tom Davis. There is a section in his northern Virginia district where the president's approval rating is 5%. This is Virginia too, conservative, patriotic and pro Bush Virginia showing a single digit approval rating.

The President telling the country that it doesn't make any sense to let the enemy know when we are leaving Iraq.

Citizen Murdock says the internet is media golden age

2007-05-04T00:20:00.000-04:00

He is right too!

I have to admit, the man who is the head of Fox News and the New York Post isn't someone who is on my hero list. Yet, this is a guy who does come into ones radar.

I know him mainly 'cause when I worked at the New York Post, he was the boss, he owes myspace and his messy falling out with his son, Lachlan. His son, walks away from being groomed for the throne; not a easy move but good for him. He has a couple of kids, married a model and lives like a prince; who needs the bullshit of corporate life? It isn't like he is going to miss any meals or worry about paying a mortgage.

"Rubert Murdoch is really good at thinking three to five years out. That is his forte."

The NYT article goes on to say...

The site combines the social networking of Friendster, the photo posting of Flickr, the invitation function of Evite, the classifieds of Craig's List, the brutal measurement of Hot or Not and the dating possibilities of Match.com. Users relentlessly check their rankings - the most searched guys and gals, based almost exclusively on their photos - to see how many new friends they have made and where they rate in the digital clubhouse. The site is a testament to the power to the power of small affinity groups, which can scale pretty quickly once everyone is on the same network.

Here is the quote that I like...

At $580 million, the two-year old site was hardly a bargain.

He is the boss of my first friend on myspace...

So if runs the Wall Street Journal, I could care less. I do watch Fox News, The Simspons, 24 and have a myspace account. This guy has the money and the vision to make a major impact on the world and that ought to put him on every ones radar.

Interview back in the day

2007-05-01T18:15:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the magazine that died with its creator.As a person who lived through his twenties in the 80's, I found Interview Magazine so inspirational as a visual person. Like the NYC of the 80's, that has changed. That in itself is not totally a bad thing because such is life.

Once is a while though, like a cool summer breeze, the 80's come back to me nostalgically. I remember getting my hair cut in Kuwait, dreading another convey to Baghdad and I caught a string of early Madonna music videos. It was totally enlightening. It brought back to another time and place, my youth, the 80s, it was a very cool monument.

I get like that when I see the old Interview magazines. Looking at the ones now, it is like looking into the skyline in NYC where the Trade Towers used to be, it isn't the same at all. It isn't good or bad, just different. It is a feeling and the feeling is gone.

The inspiration that the magazine gave me influenced my visual skills and abilities which motivated me to live in New York City in the late 80s and I will always have that.

Blood of my Brother

2007-04-30T20:46:00.000-04:00

Wed, May 3rd, 2006/6:30 pm/34th Street/$12

This is part of an e-mail I sent to a teacher of mine where I go to school in RI. It was about a year ago that I sent this and I have one more year behind me and having been in Iraq. I will find out what my status is during my next drill if I am going back. I would love to be at the Tribecca Film Festival again but I am down south on biz.

Hi Dr. John,
I was down in NY for the Tribecca film festival and I managed to catch this movie. It was Blood of my Brother in which an American soldier kills an Iraqi guard on duty at one of the mosques. It was subtitled and mostly in Arabic. It was brutal, like Iraq, it told the story from a POV of the brother and his family. NOt a feel good movie but a story that needs to be put out, not that it will have any real legs because it isn't what most people want to see about Iraq.

Seeing this movie really gives one insights on what was going on about a month ago in Sadr City.
Iraqis in Sadr City, a Baghdad district, responded strongly to a speech by the cleric Moktada al-Sadr that condemned the American presence.

Tila Tequila famous in a world gone mad!

2007-04-28T08:07:00.000-04:00

Click here if you want to see what Tila is all about, FYI, only if you can stand that totally annoying, yuppie, non dancing, conservative fuck, Tucker Carlson. I do love this picture of her though!

The world has gone crazy when a girl who is totally self created, no talent, establishes millions of followers, gets an article in Time Magazine and a record contract. I like the way this blogger put it, "it is not so difficult being big on the internet - all you need is to wiggle you boobs around and look vaguely available to nerds. Abi Titmuss has done it, Paris Hilton has done it and now Tila Tequila is doing it all over the place with her MySpace page."

It gets more painful, like when she narrates her pics on her myspace page...

"I was featured in TIME MAGAZINE! Now THAT"S an accomplishment!"

Sorry Tila, that isn't really an accomplishment because Time Magazine has written their freak of week story on you. You are news worthy because your a self promoting, no talent, "wiggling your boobs and looking available to nerds".

In my speech class I made my first speech on internet presence, and while I was getting ready on the day of the speech, I threw in a couple page or two on my power point presentation to talk about Tila. She is attractive and beauty has been worshiped since Helen of Troy launched 1000 ships. Yet as pleasing as she is one the eyes...

She sings too, and yes, she is a sexy in a video as she is in this picture but if you watch this video, you may want to play it without your sound on.

So Tila, if you randomly come across this, we can still be friends on myspace and I am still a fan. Just humble yourself with the reality that your 15 minutes is because your hot.

Line in the sand

2007-04-25T03:12:00.000-04:00

Tense times for W....

...the long wait over Iraq....

...while soldiers are pending deployments....
....and other soldiers deployments are extended...
...the showdown over Iraq continues!
President Bush and Dems - The showdown is now!!!
Is compromise on the table?

Cheney's attack on Sen Harry Reid after he declares that the "war is lost"

President Bush on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday, after making a statement criticizing the war spending bill.

What is at stake is the $24 Billion dollar spending bill which orders troops to be pulled out of Iraq with in 6 months of October 1st, day 1 of the new fiscal year.
There are people like me, looking to go over with my Army Reserve Unit this fall, wondering what is going to go down and how it will affect out lives. I know that the debate going on makes me as uncomfortable as President Bush looks in the pictures posted about. It would be nice to see some kind of compromise. As the threat of leaving the troops in Iraq without the funds they need to accomplish the mission, Bush has even made the had a photo op with his leading General within the last week.
This isn't a good time right now with 9 soldiers dying and 20 being wounded in Iraq last Monday, the negative stories about the spin gone bad on CPL Pat Tilman's death in Afghanistan and PVT Jessica Lynch's fable in Iraq being rehashed and the weakness of the Maliki government is becoming very apparent. GEN Petreaus will be pitching to push the bill through to Congress today. I like this General and his credibility is impeccable. So was Colin Powel's when he made a speech for our President.

Like this classic National Lampoon Magazine cover, Bush seems to be saying to the American public, fund this war my way or leave the troops stranded in Iraq without the resources you need to survive.
Update
Round one, 218 - 208, War Bill Passes House, Requiring an Iraq Pullout
Round two, 51-46, Senate logs in, go time Mr. President!
Your move!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inspirational Artist - journal keeper - the man

2007-04-23T01:12:00.000-04:00

Peter Beard

Gangs of Iraq aired - US deaths in Iraq mounting

2007-04-17T06:58:00.000-04:00

However, in GANGS OF IRAQ, a joint production of FRONTLINE and the America at the Crossroads series, FRONTLINE takes a hard look at how the four-year training effort has failed and how these coalition-trained forces have themselves been infiltrated by various sectarian militias. While President Bush's new "surge" strategy is sending thousands of new troops to Iraq to help control the violence convulsing the country, the effort to stand up Iraqi forces and go after the militias remains a centerpiece of America's strategy.
But can it work?

The verdict is still out on that one, meanwhile, the causalities for US service members continue to pile up. Watching the War and Acknowledging the Dead, an article in the NYT came out the day before this aired. It makes reference to "the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the first with significant United States military casualties to take place in the Internet age. And while there have been debates over how much public attention to give members of the military who have been killed in combat, a string of Web sites has plunged ahead." For those who do keep track of this type of thing, this month has been extremely deadly for US forces.

I have watched the war in Iraq and Afghanistan from my computer since I got back from Iraq in 2004 and I take note of who died in Iraq every day on the Internet. Maybe it doesn't seem as crazy that I do this. The article also make reference to a blog that goes into details about the lives, and deaths, of these brave heroes who have given their lives to our country.

http://iraqnam.blogspot.com/

If I did it - The OJ Simpsons

2007-04-16T06:37:00.001-04:00

The Mind Power Academy

2007-04-16T05:30:00.000-04:00

I found a friend of mine who I deployed to Iraq with. He is a great guy and very much an indivual. He is homeless on the streets on Boston, by choice, off finding himself. While in Iraq, we talked of his ideas, in lack of a better word, and his Mind Power Academy, which I just joined at myspace.

It is in the spirt of the Mind Power Acadmey which I post this.

It took man over a million years to progress from using stones as he found them to the realization that they could be chipped and flaked to better purpose. It then took another 500,000 years before Neanderthal man mastered the concept of stone tools, and a further 50,000 years before crops were cultivated and metallurgy was discovered. Hence, by all scales of evolutionary reckoning, we should still be as far removed from any basic understanding of mathematics, engineering or science - But here we are, only 7,000 years later, landing probes on Mars…So, how did we inherit wisdom, and from whom? - Laurence Gardner
In the book Atlantis, Alien Visitation and Genetic Manipulation, I revealed the manner in which evil came into the world and into the consciousness of human beings.

Exerpt from : Shiva,The Holy Spirit & The age of Aquarius by Michael Tsarion

Compromise

2007-04-10T20:27:00.000-04:00

In front of the American Legion in Virginia, President Bush spoke about his disappointment with the Democrats for not supporting his Iraq-Afghanistan supplemental-financing bill. This has been a reoccurring theme in his speeches.

I think about this magazine cover when I hear about these appeals.

“The bottom line is this,” Mr. Bush said. “Congress’s failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. Others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than anticipated. This is unacceptable.”

I think about how great it is to be in a country where I can have an opinion and voice it. This needs to be resolved and I can voice my opinion and do so often through my blog. I have beeen over there, since that was OIF 1, chances are good that I will be going back. Tours are going 15 months now and the military is stretched as thin as it has ever been. There needs to be more focus with a strategy which the majority can support.

COMPROMISE. I have friends over there, my fellow soldiers. Lets not play political games with the lives, safety and extended tours of these heros who are risking their lives daily.

Can a person recreate themselves to fit a modern age?

2007-04-09T20:06:00.000-04:00

Or what the "handlers" of Unlce Ben can teach the handlers of Don Imus.

I think that morning Radio Host Don Imus on his show would have been overlooked if one of Imus’s side kicks, Bernard, hadn’t of made reference to Spike Lee’s movie School Daze. But it is the I man’s show and he did add the comments which have caused all of this controversy. Yes, Imus may have gotten away with Nappy head hos, not that it is cool or funny if he had, but Imus often makes inappropriate remarks and that is the kind of humor that is on the show. That does not make it right or wrong, it just is. Imus has a history of this type of talk thus accusations made by Imus being racist aren’t new. I feel that the “I man” is not an overt racist but harbors racist attitudes. Calling a black, female, college athlete a ho is bad enough, but a nappy headed ho, to be comfortable enough just to say it on live radio, this is hateful language. A talking head on the television was commenting on this noted that these statements had to come from some place within Imus. Not that it ought to be censored. Maybe he thought it was OK because black comedians get away with this type of language and since he is hip enough to use the slang it was all in good fun. Only Imus knows what his intent was. Imus has a certain folksy appeal to the common man; he is hip enough to be relevant on the coasts and down to earth enough to be embraced by everyone in between. On the 16th of this month, Imus will be suspended for two weeks. This will all blow over by May and Imus will be a lot more PC on his show.

Changing ones racist attitudes to something more enlighten is growth for humanity. When the icon for a subservient black man becomes the a CEO of his company, this is something that I endorse this whole heartily. I have written about how I feel about Uncle Ben, his image, its legacy and its place in modern society. This is a brilliant marketing ploy by the Uncle Ben people. I write about Uncle Ben while commenting on Imus because there is some common ground. The Uncle Ben people realize that times have changed. That is becoming pretty clear to Imus about now. Racism, even in subtle forms, isn’t as acceptable as it used to be and this is progress in a positive way. I hold the rice company in greater esteem because they are making an effort in addressing what COULD BE PERCEIVED as a racist notion. I am already used to Uncle Ben as the CEO and I can accept that he is, as I would hope that most of America can accept this fictional character as an American icon.
Although I doubt it but I maybe wrong about Imus and maybe he is not a racist. I like him, I watch him and I am convinced that he is very sorry about what he said. I think that the racist in Imus, the radio personality, will remain on the radio and cable networks. Like Uncle Ben, the two can overcome racist labels and ascend to a better place. America doesn’t care enough about Imus to get him fired and he is one of few audience draws for the number deficient MSNBC.

Update
OK, so I was wrong about all of this blowing over. This does get the subject of race debated and that is never a bad thing to have a discourse on that. The fact that Imus got on Rev. Al Sharpton’s radio show was in itself not a bad thing. Except for the fact that it is Rev Al’s show! Yes, Imus could learn a thing or two from Rev Al; he is the master of reinvention. I don’t want to make this about the Rev. but I lived in NYC during the Tawana Brawly, Howard Beach and the rest of those divisive racist events that Rev. Sharpton stirred up. Good for him to be outraged about Howard Beach, I was too! Least any of us forget that shameful debacle around the Brawley case that he was right in the middle of and it will haunt him forever. What about all the lives he has impacted in an incredibly negative way? The image of him wearing those tacky sweats suits, the big medallion and that “hair don’t” will always be one that lingers in my head. Now that he has matured into the nation stage of politics I am impressed with his makeover. I agree with the person who bloged this comment in the NYTs “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Can you say Tawana Brawley, Rev. Sharpton? Any regular listener knows Imus is no racist. He mostly abhors stupidity. He was wrong here and admits it. He makes no excuses. I say he deserves a second chance.”
I remember the 80’s Rev Sharpton and I have given him a second chance! Even if he has never apologised for his well meaning yet disgraceful behavior “back in the day.”

Yes Rev Al, lets keep it real and not be a hypocrite.

The Starbucks dichotomy

2007-04-08T14:18:00.000-04:00

In the movie Full Metal Jacket, Joker is questioned by a Marine General on why he has both the phrase Born to kill and a peace sign on his helmet. His answer very eloquent but not worded in a cliché or in a manner that the General can comprehend so he just dismisses Joker. That great scene from that Kubric’s classic I only mention because it is the standard for how one ought to expound on how one feels strongly about two conflicting ideas.

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term which describes the uncomfortable tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts at the same time. More precisely, it is the perception of incompatibility between two cognitions, where "cognition" is defined as any element of knowledge, including attitude, emotion, belief, or behavior. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that contradicting cognitions serve as a driving force that compels the mind to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to modify existing beliefs, so as to reduce the amount of dissonance (conflict) between cognitions. Experiments have attempted to quantify this hypothetical drive.

Until Starbucks stopped their free WiFi access for laptops, I suffered from this cognitive dissonance. I had been torn on how to feel about Starbucks. Let’s start on a positive note on Starbucks because that won’t take long. Their product is very good, their staff well groomed, perky and very eager to please. You know that what you order in your hometown will taste like a similar item that you might order in an airport while leaving town. That’s it is all bad from there. They have relaxed on the “Starbucks speak” so that when you order a small, they don’t correct (as much) and say, “OK, one grande, milk no sugar”. That is just semantics and a gimmick to ones snob appeal. Their coffee is over priced, they pretend to support the little coffee growers of the world and they really don’t and they have spawned in NYC, killing off local coffee shops merchants. NYC isn’t the only place. I don’t have anything against ones choice to go where they want for coffee. I just don’t personally like them. By making a buck at the expense of their customers on some internet racket with some service provider, they could offer a free service to their customers.

The price that they will pay is my business and like minded people like me who see Starbucks for who and what they are, a money grubbing multinational based in America turning a buck at every angle.

Yesterday's NYT

2007-04-07T04:53:00.000-04:00

In yesterday’s issue of the NYT I have read reviews on Entourage and GI Jesus. I am looking forward to seeing both of these.
This season, with new last run of the Sopranos on HBO, I am also looking forward to a new season of Entourage which I think is one of the funniest things that I have watched on TV. I have a feeling that GI Jesus, which seems like an interesting independent which will most likely go quickly to DVD. I hope it has better legs than that because issues like illegal immigration, redeployments to Iraq and PTSD are great ones to be the subject of a movie. I miss not living in NYC and being able to catch some of these esoteric indies before they disappear to DVD and movie rental stores like Acme videos.

If this is the media log in I have to touch base with what I am looking forward to on regular TV, one series, a block buster movie and a special. The series I love is The Shield, which I missed the first episode earlier this week. The show that I am looking forward to on PBS is Gangs of Iraq, which premiers on April 16th, 2007. The movie that will to is Grind house, it is like all of the drive in late seventies flicks I saw at the drive in. My favorite female movie stars are multiethnic actresses and one of my favorites, Holly Berry, just got her Hollywood star. Congrats!

Daughter of Mesopotamia

2007-04-06T15:42:00.000-04:00

The Lebanese version of American Idol is a show called Star Academy and out all these contestants…

Khaled Fardan, Bahrai
Imad Al Jalouli, Tunisia
Abdulaziz Al Aswad, Kuwait
Ahmad Daoud, Kuwait
Ali Al Saad, Saudi Arabia
Mohammad Al Qammah, Egypt
Ayoub Al Zadjli, Oman
Dani Shamoun, Lebanon
Carlo Nakhleh, Lebanon
Maysoon Sidqi, Egypt
Iman Moulabi, Morocco
Nelly Maatoug, Lebanon
Marwa Ben Sghaiar, Tunisia
Sally Ahmad, Egypt
Shatha Hassoun, Iraq
Intisar Lazhar, Tunisia
Shurouq Ahmad, Bahrian
Tina Yamout, Lebanon
Amal Alanbari, Morocco

Shatha Hassoun, an Iraqi girl (who has never been to Iraq but she embraces her nationality) has won. The girl is very pretty and the country very proud of here. It is a cool story and the video is an intersting blend of a music video and Middle Eastern music.

Diagram of a blog

2007-04-05T09:32:00.000-04:00

New York Times April 5th, 2007

Healing

2007-03-29T06:28:00.000-04:00

President Bush made reference to a couple of Iraqi bloggers and how things are getting better in Iraq. Retired General McCafferty has been quoted, by an Iraqi dentist (not the ones the President has made famous) and for the most part agrees with the retired General. I think both of these people make good points.

I would add this though. The burden on the military is tremdous and mulitple tours in Iraq and Afganistan are soon to be the rule rather than the exception. Deploying is an occupational hazard for those in the military and that is accepted. I add this because many of the comments to the Iraq blogger talk about Iraq healing. Yet, in the back of my mind, I think of the time it will take for America's military to heal from the strain of going into the 5th year of a war with the "Army we have."

An anniversary suggestion for your vet -The Ground Truth

2007-03-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

Watch this clip and if it is something that you like, order it.

After four years, it is good to see this type of documentary being out. There are those who may see it as anti war, liberal and not in the spirt of "supporting the troops."
I don't see it as that at all.
It is how many of us vets feel. Everyone who comes home after Iraq knows that the reajustment stage to getting back into your life is difficult. Talking about the experience is not an unpatroitic act but one of communicating. Other vets who can get an afformation that they arn't the only ones going through what they are experiencing when they get home. Those who are going to Iraq can brace themselves for what is ahead.

A Families Grief

2007-03-17T06:40:00.000-04:00

Carlos Arredondo's son Alex Arredondo, a Marine from Boston who died at age 20 in Najaf, Iraq in August 2004. The first I heard about Alex's father is when he attacked the vehicle, which carried the Marines who told him about his son's death, by setting it on fire.

The next time that I heard of Carlos was in late January and there was a rally in Washington DC where Mr. Arredondo set up his memorial to his son. I keep an electronic journal of articles and images and I keep his. While I was surfing the net this morning and checking out some fellow bloggers, I found this site, Iraq Veterans Memorial and I started to watch it. It takes me a couple of attempts to watch these kind of things, if I can even watch them at all, they are very moving. I want to honor those who have died and I do! It is very difficult to watch the family members who have survived their loved ones death to talk about their losses but there is a part of me that is drawn to that too I guess. Alex's step mother, Melida, is also a vocal anti war protester and wrote a heartfelt essay on her grief.
The hardest part of this war are the stories like this one which don't go away. Alex's parents grief has taken on a Cindy Shehan like publicity, yet without the parents becoming a target for the right as people who are exploiting their son's death.
It is all very sad.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious FIve

2007-03-12T05:36:00.000-04:00

It took three attempts for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to recognize on of the most influential musicians in modern music. Grandmaster Flash is long overdue to be a member of the Hall of Fame because he is one of the founding fathers of Rap which presently dominates the music business and has created a world wide culture. True to his legendary status, I am posting his statement that he put on his website which is so eloquent and respectful to his long over due acknowledgement to the Hall of Fame.

In the above video, The Message, it is one of the first videos which about life in the inner city. In the late eighties and early nineties, Rappers like NWA and Public Enemy would put out videos with messages and controversial topics. These groups did this and could do it because it all started with Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five. The Hall of Fame ought to recognized for giving Grandmaster Flash the respect and place in music history which he unquestionably deserves.
I can't say it better the man himself did on his website about being nominated. "This is bigger than me. This induction is total acceptable from one of the most prestigious music associations in the world. This introduction says that for the decades of work that was put in which later co-created an entire culture, they honor us. Its a wonderful feeling to be remembered as one of the architects that pioneered an idea that the whole world fell madly in love with. It is called Hip Hop."
I am not really comfortable with the NYT's spin on this, "Its official, Hip-Hop is Rock and Roll." No, it isn't official, Hi-Hop, or Rap is not Rock and Roll just because it is in a Hall of Fame.
Rap had taken second class status, often being segregated to Yo MTV for year in the nineties, until the MONEY and its popularity made it finically unsound for Viacom - MTV not to embrace it. For years, the only black artists on MTV were non threatening, Micheal Jackson/Lionel Richie, pop artist. It was during what can be looked back on as a golden era for Rap, the late eighties and early nineties, that Rap with a message which didn't just have to do with hos, pimping and ghetto fab alcoholic beverages. I loved that era of old school rap and the music of NWA, Ice Cube and Public Enemy will live forever. These artists all came in behind Grand Master Flash and his RAP music.

Libby takes one for the boss

2007-03-07T04:27:00.000-05:00

I. Lewis Libby Jr. is not only the highest ranking White House Official to be to be convicted of a felony since the Iran -contra scandals. He is also a loyal foot soldier who isn't going to talk. Not unlike a similarly named G. Gorden Liddy, the man who kept his mouth shut and did his time old school style.

The VP after hearing news of the verdict yesterday.

New Assignments for two Generals and thoughts from a retired General

2007-03-06T01:36:00.000-05:00

MAJ General Weightman and LT General Kiley are here in Senate subcommittee in the wake of the Walter Reed Hospital scandal.

I understand that in this picture, MAJ General is apologizing to CPL McLeod and his wife for the treatment he got while in the care of Walter Reed.
The spouse was on Hardball tonight on CMSNBC. The press has taken this issue and given it allot of attention since the Washington Post article and this is a good thing.

What happens now? In the wake of this, Army Secretary, Francis Harvey has "quit" and his appointment of LT General Kiley lasted a day. It is easy to fire people, do the blame game and public admonishments. I just hope that when the spotlight leaves, the concern is still there.

Secretary Gates is handling this decisively and isn't putting up with what I feel was a dismissive attitude by those who were in charge.

Now that it is becoming apparent that what is wrong with care for returning veterans isn't an issue limited to Walter Reed. I support the moves the Defense Secretary has made, I just hope he has the follow through to fix the mess that is the system which our injured troops return home to after becoming injured in combat.

Updates

RET MAJ GEN Paul Eaton wrote in the OP ED section of the NYT on 6 Mar 07 about a conversation that he had with "Mr. Robinson, a former Army Ranger who works with Persian Gulf war veterans and their health disorders."

"This problem with Walter Reed and the nation's defense health program is much more than money, old and mice." he said, "It is about leadership."

Things often come in threes, it seems as if they do when famous people die. LT General Kiley's career was dead when he had his old job back for a day. It was official this week, Kiley, 56, who headed Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004, has been a lightning rod for criticism over conditions there and has been a frequent target of hostile questions at congressional hearings. Lets hope the blame game is over and solutions are being sought now.

Leaders Visit Walter Reed, Express Resolve

2007-03-02T06:04:00.000-05:00

Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey and GEN Richard A. Cody, vice chief of staff of the Army, speak with a medical hold Soldier about his living conditions in Building 18 outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In comments to reporters afterward, Secretary Harvey stated that he and GEN Cody visited the building after learning of Soldier complaints. Both Army leaders expressed concern and found the facilities "disappointing," and "unacceptable,".

Yes, these conditions and what happened near Walter Reed is disappointing and unacceptable. A fall guy has been found and hopefully, positive changes will now be made.

That resolve has been expressed today as Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman has been fired, which is a big deal because he is a West Point Graduate and a two star General. In the New York Times article, it stated that Officials refused to provide the specific reasons for General Weightman’s firing. I have been in the military long enough to know that regardless of the event and who is responsible, someone always takes the fall.

Hmmm, maybe the General lost his job running Walter Reed Hospital has something to do with the Washington Post article, Building 18 or the fact that some Vets are coming home to some substandard care by the military and the VA. Here is a good example, Lance Corporal Jonathan Schulze from a little town in Minnesota, near where I grew up reported into a VA hospital with severe PTSD and reported that he was suicidal and he was told that they were very busy. This young Marine, award winner of a couple of Purple Hearts, who had lost buddies in Iraq, killed himself a few days later.

Schulze death didn't make the impact on the Building 18 situation but to Vets like myself, who read of it in the Army Times or heard about it else where, it pisses you off. I am sure that MG Weightman was a fine General and meant well but there is no excuse for any vets to come home so substandard care and a over worked and underfunded VA giving who can't address the needs of war wounded.

Today, I doubt the General is smiling and there are many wounded vets that won't have much to smile about until conditions for their healing process from war injuries are worthy of their sacrifice.