"There are people dieing ... make a better place for you and for me." Michael Jackson
As you go to sleep tonight, let's think of a different Michael, the one who mourned for the children of the world, and longed for peace.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Chuck Maxon
I decided to do some online searching about the musical career of my father, Chuck Maxon. He was a trombone player. I never knew him because my mom and the rest of my mom's family never let him anywhere near me or my sister. Not because there was anything wrong with him, it just was what "they" wanted. In fact, in my entire life, no one ever said a bad word about my father. To the contrary, I was told all kinds of stories about what a great musician he was and how well liked and famous he was in the music world. Which, of course, begged the question of "why?" Why the fuck was I never allowed to see him or get to know him.
The only really famous person in my family was my uncle Sid. Sure, my aunt was in a few movies, made commercials, and toured in movie musical productions, and my cousins (the girls at least) all sang and wrote music. I was conveniently steered away from that lifestyle and encouraged to finish high school and go to college and forget a career in entertainment.
Whatever.
I was surprised, however, to find the extensive library of music that contained my father playing his 'bones, as they are called. I am in the process of trying to obtain as many recordings as I can. He played with everyone from Stan Getz to Jimmy Dorsey to the Duke, and to everyone in between. He was older than my uncle, so his era was mostly 1930/1940, while my uncle rose to fame 1950/1960 style.
This little tidbit caught my eye today:
The only really famous person in my family was my uncle Sid. Sure, my aunt was in a few movies, made commercials, and toured in movie musical productions, and my cousins (the girls at least) all sang and wrote music. I was conveniently steered away from that lifestyle and encouraged to finish high school and go to college and forget a career in entertainment.
Whatever.
I was surprised, however, to find the extensive library of music that contained my father playing his 'bones, as they are called. I am in the process of trying to obtain as many recordings as I can. He played with everyone from Stan Getz to Jimmy Dorsey to the Duke, and to everyone in between. He was older than my uncle, so his era was mostly 1930/1940, while my uncle rose to fame 1950/1960 style.
This little tidbit caught my eye today:
Dizzy was a Baha'i. I knew him through uncle Sid. Sid also knew Maynard, which is again, how I knew him. I do find it strange that I never set out on my own to try and track my father down, or at least talk to the damn musicians that I knew growing up.It was not uncommon for a budding musician to take private lessons at home, and young Gene learned a great deal from professional musician and strict disciplinarian John Schreiber. He knew exactly what to say to motivate you to practice harder, Bockey said in a recent interview in his living room. He would take out a chart and say, The kid down the street was able to play this without a mistake. So naturally, you wanted to do better than that kid.
For the price of 35 cents, Bockey and his parents frequented the movie palaces in downtown San Diego, in particular the Orpheum and the Fox. The bills usually featured a film, a Movietone reel, a cartoon, a short subject, and an on-stage vaudeville act including a famous name band, wrote Bockey in his memoir On the Road with the Jimmy Dorsey Aggravation. The bands were led by American music icons Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Paul Whiteman.
[snip]
During his two-year stint with the Jimmy Dorsey Aggravation, Bockey, who was the second alto saxophonist and clarinetist for the band, traveled, ate, and partied with a colorful assemblage of musicians that included drummer Ray 'Mother' Bauduc, trumpeter Charlie 'T' Teagarden (brother of bandleader Jack Teagarden), trombonists Brad Gowans and George Masso, and a 16-year trumpet prodigy from Canada, future bebop great Maynard Ferguson.
The touring itinerary of a big band in the 40s makes most contemporary musicians' concert dates seem lightweight by comparison. A December 1948 schedule compiled by Bockey showed that the band performed 28 nights, had four days 'off' for travel time, and once traveled 550 miles between two dates. And no plane rides either, just a temperamental bus prone to frequent breakdowns.
[snip]
Although the Jimmy Dorsey Aggravation was a popular live group, recordings of the big band are rare. Through no fault of their own, the group (and many others) was subjected to a recording ban by the International Musicians' Union. Bockey said that while their recording sessions were sent to radio stations and played by deejays, the discs were not for sale in record stores.
Bockey wondered what became of those recordings until he received a pleasant surprise nearly 30 years later. Working in the orchestra pit for a 1978 musical revue called 4 Girls 4, starring Rosemary Clooney, Helen O'Connell, and Rosemarie and Margaret Whiting at the Fox Theater, a young musician informed Bockey that Tower Records on Sports Arena Boulevard stocked recently issued vinyl recordings of the old 1948-49 sessions. Now, more than 50 years later, it is a revelation to hear Bockey dueling with Ferguson and trombonist Chuck Maxon. Particularly worth tracking down in used record stores is the album Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra Featuring Maynard Ferguson: Diz Does Everything on the Big Bands Archives label out of Burbank.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Hot August Night, 38 Years Later!
Needs no introduction.
Drinks on the house -- it's a Hot August Night in Los Angeles, and obviously Neil Diamond is in the house!
More "Hot August Night"
"Well I'm New York City born and raised and nowadays I am lost between two shores. LA is fine, but it ain't home, New York is home, but it ain't mine no more."
Drunk Mexican Dance
"This is the new dance thats catching on fire down in Mexico. You should try it for yourself dont take my word for it. Hahahaha"
FRT, Imagination
I am tempted to forgo tonight's FRT based on the DMCA take down notice from my last week's version. I had planned on loading up the songs from Neil Diamond's Hot August Night album, which was a taped performance of his concert at the Greek Theater back in the 1970's.
I don't care if any of you like Neil Diamond at all. He is a rather erudite songwriter/musician, whose works are standards in music.
I am listening to the album now. I'll probably put up ONE song, and hope I pass the DMCA smell test!
Growing up in Los Angeles, many of us avoided paying to see acts play at the Greek Theater by climbing up into the trees that surrounded the stage and seating area (the Greek is in the giant Griffith Park area). We were always noticed because after the regular seated audience would finish their applause, then we, the "tree people" would be heard clapping and whopping it up. In this album, it's nice that Neil "acknowledged" the tree people after he thanked the people in the audience.
You have to play these back to back.
I don't care if any of you like Neil Diamond at all. He is a rather erudite songwriter/musician, whose works are standards in music.
I am listening to the album now. I'll probably put up ONE song, and hope I pass the DMCA smell test!
Growing up in Los Angeles, many of us avoided paying to see acts play at the Greek Theater by climbing up into the trees that surrounded the stage and seating area (the Greek is in the giant Griffith Park area). We were always noticed because after the regular seated audience would finish their applause, then we, the "tree people" would be heard clapping and whopping it up. In this album, it's nice that Neil "acknowledged" the tree people after he thanked the people in the audience.
You have to play these back to back.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
DMCA Take Down Notice
Well, after five years, the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) group filed a complaint with blogger about my Friday Random Ten! Ha ha. Blogger put last Friday's into "draft" mode so that I could decide what to do with it, which is nice that they didn't just delete it.
I was wondering if anyone was going to make a stink about the songs I was uploading using DivShare. The complaint was made regarding three songs on last week's list, but it does not identify the three songs. Funny, none of the other songs posted using DivShare have been tagged, but for whatever reason, last week's songs bugged someone. I am not even sure how they track it, because I can pretty much account for all the users ISP numbers, and most are regular readers that have nothing to do with the music industry's gestapo.
I'm not going to try and guess which three songs someone didn't like -- I'll keep it in draft and not re-post. But, that does sort of put a damper on my continuing FRT posts, although I might be able to get around it by giving the song titles, but put the link in the FRT title to my DivShare and one can simply open up that week's file and listen to the music. Although, I am not sure that will work either.
Oh well. Considering that I've been downloading music since 1998, more than 12 years now, and sharing it, and I've had this blog for five years, I've only had one (well three to be exact but in one post) take down notice. I should consider myself lucky, I guess.
I was wondering if anyone was going to make a stink about the songs I was uploading using DivShare. The complaint was made regarding three songs on last week's list, but it does not identify the three songs. Funny, none of the other songs posted using DivShare have been tagged, but for whatever reason, last week's songs bugged someone. I am not even sure how they track it, because I can pretty much account for all the users ISP numbers, and most are regular readers that have nothing to do with the music industry's gestapo.
I'm not going to try and guess which three songs someone didn't like -- I'll keep it in draft and not re-post. But, that does sort of put a damper on my continuing FRT posts, although I might be able to get around it by giving the song titles, but put the link in the FRT title to my DivShare and one can simply open up that week's file and listen to the music. Although, I am not sure that will work either.
Oh well. Considering that I've been downloading music since 1998, more than 12 years now, and sharing it, and I've had this blog for five years, I've only had one (well three to be exact but in one post) take down notice. I should consider myself lucky, I guess.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Republicans' Long, Hot, Racist Summer By Kirsten Powers
Good read about the climate of hate that is the rage of the Republican party leading up to the November 2010 election.
Since Obama became president, the fact that he is black really ticked off many white southern men. But since spewing racial epitaphs at black people is somewhat politically incorrect, the right wing Republican nutjobs have latched onto this "Obama is a Muslim" meme with such vehemence that it is as if they have replaced the N-word with Muslim.
It's ok to be a religious bigot in today's America, just not a racial bigot, because obviously, we have a black man in the White House. The demonizing of Islam has increased since Obama took office. People who want to use slur words in the same sentence with Obama feel quite comfortable calling him a Muslim, and not in a nice way, and many even go further to claim that Obama was born in Kenya, not in Hawai'i (although I am sure that a number the concur he was born in Hawai'i still think he was not born in the United States because they think Hawai'i is a "foreign" place!).
What the hell is wrong with these people, and why do they get so much air time? Why do we always cater to the bigots? What has bigotry ever provided that advanced mankind?
Since Obama became president, the fact that he is black really ticked off many white southern men. But since spewing racial epitaphs at black people is somewhat politically incorrect, the right wing Republican nutjobs have latched onto this "Obama is a Muslim" meme with such vehemence that it is as if they have replaced the N-word with Muslim.
It's ok to be a religious bigot in today's America, just not a racial bigot, because obviously, we have a black man in the White House. The demonizing of Islam has increased since Obama took office. People who want to use slur words in the same sentence with Obama feel quite comfortable calling him a Muslim, and not in a nice way, and many even go further to claim that Obama was born in Kenya, not in Hawai'i (although I am sure that a number the concur he was born in Hawai'i still think he was not born in the United States because they think Hawai'i is a "foreign" place!).
What the hell is wrong with these people, and why do they get so much air time? Why do we always cater to the bigots? What has bigotry ever provided that advanced mankind?
Sunday, August 22, 2010
I See You, New York Times Person
It continues to amaze me just who reads my blog. The New York Times ... hmmm, so who at work has enough time on their hands to take a peak at my blog?
A Re-Thinking Of One's Stupidity?
Given all the outside right wing media push over the really non-issue of "hallowed ground" and the Islamic community center's proposed building, this little tidbit from today's pro and con rally caught my attention:
Mr. Rose was escorted by the police back to the "area" where the "for the building" group were allowed, and as the reporter was talking to him, this happened:
Michael Rose, 27, a bespectacled medical student from Brooklyn, approached the opponents of the mosque around noontime with a handwritten sign, reading “religious tolerance is what makes America great.” He was immediately surrounded by protestors, some of whom angrily pointed a finger in his face. One man, his face red, leaned in to Mr. Rose and hissed, “If the cops weren’t here, you’d be bleeding right now.”
Mr. Rose was escorted by the police back to the "area" where the "for the building" group were allowed, and as the reporter was talking to him, this happened:
Just then, the red-faced man who had threatened Mr. Rose re-appeared. He had followed the medical student a block from the protest. He stuck out a hand and, in a terse voice, said: “I’m sorry.”
“You have a right,” the man continued. (He would not give his name.) “I am sorry for what I said to you. I disagree with you completely, but you have a right.”
Is there a scintilla of hope in that gesture that maybe, just maybe, the stupid people can be woken up from their stupor?
Chrissie Hynde Laughs At Music Industry Demise
You Go Girl!
Rocker Chrissie Hynde is revelling in the "collapse" of the music industry, insisting record company bosses should not treat bands as "investments".
The rise of illegal file-sharing on the internet has led to a huge downturn in label profits, leading many business experts to warn that the industry is on the brink of disaster.
But The Pretenders frontwoman refuses to join the chorus of rockers calling for action to protect their livelihood - she's adamant she would rather be bankrupt than treat rock 'n' roll as a business.
She says, "The industry collapsed because of its own greed. That's very exciting. I like that, even if it collapses on me. I'd rather go out of here with nothing, the way I came into it, and still be having a laugh. That's not why I got in a rock band, to make wise investments."
Amen to that!
New RFK School To Finally Open At Old Ambassador Hotel Site
Photo by Damian DovarganesFor years, I have watched the construction on the old Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd., which is being turned into a state of the art K-12 school, and which will open this fall as the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools.
I am concerned about traffic, and the sudden influx of thousands of school children into what is essentially a business district. I am unaware of any vehicle entrance on Wilshire Blvd., as it appears the entrance will be off Catalina, and of course, my office is located on the corner of Catalina and Wilshire. And, since I do ride the bus, I am positive my bus rides will now include hundreds of kids going to and from school, which will make the buses very much over-crowded and unpleasant to ride. Anyone that has "enjoyed" a bus ride after school has let out and the bus is overtaken by the "kids" knows exactly what I mean.
But, the school itself is beautiful, and the remembrances of RFK's shooting legacy is all around. To a certain extent, I look forward to being able to walk over and sit on the public benches and just enjoy the atmosphere, not to mention the abundance of "green" grass everywhere!
Stupid America Month
Remember, readers, I started this one!
As karoli asks over at Crooks and Liars: "Is anyone else burned out on da stupid yet?"
Read the rest of the post. You'll enjoy it.August.
Every August something happens that reminds me just how stupid America has become. This month is full of fresh reminders of our dwindling National intelligence.
It has traditionally become the month to celebrate how stupid America has become. It is the month when stupidity in America goes on full display with a vengence.
As karoli asks over at Crooks and Liars: "Is anyone else burned out on da stupid yet?"
Republican Calls For Putting Unemployed In Jail And Teaching Them Hygiene
I don't know which is worst here, the idea espoused by the politician quoted in the article, or the comments made by the people following the article.
I'm really not sure what he means by taking lessons in personal hygiene. A lot of the people I know that are out of work are lawyers and secretaries that have been recently laid off from big firms that are downsizing. I don't see any need for them to be taken from their families and housed in a jail, retrained (for god's sake, retrain the lawyers who went to school HOW LONG just to be trained in the first place), or learn hygiene! This is so ludicrous. The Republican party as a whole now, has started this meme of demonizing the unemployed, to the point now we are talking about hygiene? As if anyone who suffered the misfortune of losing their job, automatically is dirty and needs to learn how to be clean?
The dialogue between the haves and the have nots is getting sicker by the day. The haves, who are supposed to be the ones opening up the facilities and creating the private sector jobs, are instead, hoarding their wealth and, indeed, firing more people to keep their profit margin and their wealth, thus continuing the downward spiral of unemployment. And let's not forget that many of the haves are also using the system to their own advantage (um, how about those two prominent Florida Republicans who walked away from their shared home and let it be foreclosed upon rather than make the payments - something we all know those haves were capable of doing - but just like all real estate these days, it was upside down, so they just walked) while blasting those have nots for doing the same thing.
What part of this man's brain came up with this idea, and who the fuck would actually think it a humane idea? "Sorry, son, daddy lost his job and has to go to jail now, because I have to learn how to take a shower and clean my clothes."
Stupid, stupid, stupid - and these are our up and coming "leaders" of America. God help us all as the insane start running the asylum.
Republican candidate for governor Carl Paladino said he would transform some New York prisons into dormitories for welfare recipients, where they could work in state-sponsored jobs, get employment training and take lessons in "personal hygiene."
I'm really not sure what he means by taking lessons in personal hygiene. A lot of the people I know that are out of work are lawyers and secretaries that have been recently laid off from big firms that are downsizing. I don't see any need for them to be taken from their families and housed in a jail, retrained (for god's sake, retrain the lawyers who went to school HOW LONG just to be trained in the first place), or learn hygiene! This is so ludicrous. The Republican party as a whole now, has started this meme of demonizing the unemployed, to the point now we are talking about hygiene? As if anyone who suffered the misfortune of losing their job, automatically is dirty and needs to learn how to be clean?
The dialogue between the haves and the have nots is getting sicker by the day. The haves, who are supposed to be the ones opening up the facilities and creating the private sector jobs, are instead, hoarding their wealth and, indeed, firing more people to keep their profit margin and their wealth, thus continuing the downward spiral of unemployment. And let's not forget that many of the haves are also using the system to their own advantage (um, how about those two prominent Florida Republicans who walked away from their shared home and let it be foreclosed upon rather than make the payments - something we all know those haves were capable of doing - but just like all real estate these days, it was upside down, so they just walked) while blasting those have nots for doing the same thing.
What part of this man's brain came up with this idea, and who the fuck would actually think it a humane idea? "Sorry, son, daddy lost his job and has to go to jail now, because I have to learn how to take a shower and clean my clothes."
Stupid, stupid, stupid - and these are our up and coming "leaders" of America. God help us all as the insane start running the asylum.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Closing Out Night With Chuck Mangione
I was introduced to him by my then boy/friend (cough, cough), Howie, that took me to gigs of Mangione both with his full orchestra and with the smaller group (not quite a quartet, I think).
I was fortunate to hear this song with Esther Satterfield live. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and still do.
Land of Make Believe
I was fortunate to hear this song with Esther Satterfield live. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and still do.
Land of Make Believe
Mellow Jazz Night
Just chilling. Some Bob James and Earl Klugh on the play list. Enjoy.
New York Samba
Secret Wishes
Whiplash, featuring Harvey Mason
New York Samba
Secret Wishes
Whiplash, featuring Harvey Mason
San Diego Chargers!
Well, it's pre-season again, a time when everyone's team has a clean slate.
As usual, for the past 31 years, I am rooting for my San Diego Chargers. For starters, I was sure that the Chargers had released Darren Sproles, but much to my relief, he's still a Charger (yeah!).
Now, this rookie running back, Ryan Mathews ... he's pretty damn good (and cute too!) in this game I am watching (against the hapless Dallas Cowboys, who by the way, finally scored an offensive touchdown in this, their third pre-season game).
Best play of the first half? After Rivers throws an interception to Barry Church who runs it down the field toward a touchdown, but the last player Church has to get by is Philip Rivers, who fucking tackles him down at the 8 yard line!!!
I love watching Rivers play, even in pre-season, he has his game face. The man never stops trash talking and there's always an emotional high watching him play. I am also liking newcomer Brandyn Dombrowski.
As usual, for the past 31 years, I am rooting for my San Diego Chargers. For starters, I was sure that the Chargers had released Darren Sproles, but much to my relief, he's still a Charger (yeah!).
Now, this rookie running back, Ryan Mathews ... he's pretty damn good (and cute too!) in this game I am watching (against the hapless Dallas Cowboys, who by the way, finally scored an offensive touchdown in this, their third pre-season game).
Best play of the first half? After Rivers throws an interception to Barry Church who runs it down the field toward a touchdown, but the last player Church has to get by is Philip Rivers, who fucking tackles him down at the 8 yard line!!!
I love watching Rivers play, even in pre-season, he has his game face. The man never stops trash talking and there's always an emotional high watching him play. I am also liking newcomer Brandyn Dombrowski.
Time For Me To Go Organic
Growing up and coming of age in the era of hippies and communes and getting back to nature, was the beginning of a certain way of life that I practiced and espoused for nearly 50 years.
I was exposed at an early age as well to organic foods by my aunt, who would eat at offbeat restaurants with her toddlers in tow (I being five years older than her oldest), which I remember had food that tasted like shit, but we ate it, to doing the weekly grocery shopping every other week at the only organic grocery store in the Valley.
Hell, I even did a three year stint as a total vegetarian (not vegan). To this day, however, I still won't eat brown rice (laughing).
I raised my daughter on organic food, and I was a practitioner of homeopathy, so I was big on cell salts and other important nutrients that our bodies needed. I was around 15 when I was administered my last real antibiotic, and never took them from that age on. I had only one childhood illness, the chicken pox, which both my sister and I got at the same time, and my grandmother, who was a registered nurse, took care of us. When I had my first bout of tonsillitis, I did not see a doctor or take any antibiotics -- my grandmother made me stay in bed for a week, she took a small stick, wrapped cotton around it, stuck it in a bottle of Mercurochrome and swab my throat, and picking any of the little (turn away if you are squeamish) puss balls! Oh, and make me drink lots of hot tea with honey and eat crackers, which kind of scraped my sore throat, but then again, that was the purpose.
Gradually, though, with the kid out of the house and having a kid of her own, and getting older and not really wanting to "cook" so much, I ended up back at the old traditional grocery store (Ralphs) even though they do have a large selection of healthy and organic foods.
The past couple of years under the Bush administration, where corporate overseeing was at its lowest, and more and more foods entered the mainstream that were contaminated, I've begun to re-think my current eating style. With the Gulf oil spill, and the threat of contaminated fish and shell fish, not to mention the egg recall, I am officially embarking on an organic eating regime.
Although I am at odds with the CEO of Whole Foods' position on global warming (he's a denier), and I have officially boycotted that store since day one of this discovery, it is, in many ways, the only place to do a full on grocery shopping for the week. Strolling down the aisles had two impacts on me. One, was a reminder of what I used to see on a regular basis, that is, names and brands that you do not see at traditional grocery stores, and the lack thereof of those traditional brands. Only in today's environment, there are more and more of "green" brands to choose from, than I had as a 30 something, and most assuredly more than were there when I was a teenager.
The second thing I noticed was the price, and boy did I encounter "sticker shock!" My daughter keeps telling me to go to Trader Joe's, but I just don't like the one near me, it's so small and it only has a handful of things that I would actually buy on a regular basis, meaning I would still have to do extra shopping somewhere else. Whole Foods is definitely a one stop grocery store, like a Ralphs, just healthy, organic, and expensive!
However, I got some ground beef (for my home made chili) that certified the cows were grass fed, and the same same with some cubed steak (for my beef stew), as well as some free range organic chicken thighs, with skin and bone (I use these in the crock pot, with baked beans, bbq sauce and an onion). And, yes, I bought organic baked beans and organic bbq sauce, and organic onion! Not to mention a few carrots and a few potatoes for my stew, again all certified as grown by organic standards. I also bought two prepared meals that I could re-heat. I got out of there paying just $45, but I could have bought all of that for one-half the price at Ralphs (although none of it would have been organic or without preservatives or additives or other crap in it). However, I feel better just knowing I'm limiting a lot of things that could be introduced into my system by food. Hell, I was one of those that had those eggs that were tainted, and yes, I actually did get sick, but did not know what the source was until I read about the recall and confirmed my eggs. When I cook eggs, yes, I do undercook them, and for a reason. Scrambled eggs will continue to cook and get "harder" even after you've turned off the heat and moved the eggs to a dish. So I tend to cook my scrambled eggs "wet" as the term is applied. I also like soft-boiled eggs, again, something that is not fully cooked like hard-boiled eggs. I got very bad stomach cramps and a little bit of nausea, but experienced nothing more than that. But, that was the last straw, really, having those salmonella eggs in my house, and having eaten them (I almost made french toast with those eggs for my grandson, but for whatever reason, I never did -- and thank goodness for who knows what would have happened to his little stomach).
So, I'm back on the range again, where the food I am eating I can at least identify where it comes from and what is in it, even if I am paying through the nose for it!
I was exposed at an early age as well to organic foods by my aunt, who would eat at offbeat restaurants with her toddlers in tow (I being five years older than her oldest), which I remember had food that tasted like shit, but we ate it, to doing the weekly grocery shopping every other week at the only organic grocery store in the Valley.
Hell, I even did a three year stint as a total vegetarian (not vegan). To this day, however, I still won't eat brown rice (laughing).
I raised my daughter on organic food, and I was a practitioner of homeopathy, so I was big on cell salts and other important nutrients that our bodies needed. I was around 15 when I was administered my last real antibiotic, and never took them from that age on. I had only one childhood illness, the chicken pox, which both my sister and I got at the same time, and my grandmother, who was a registered nurse, took care of us. When I had my first bout of tonsillitis, I did not see a doctor or take any antibiotics -- my grandmother made me stay in bed for a week, she took a small stick, wrapped cotton around it, stuck it in a bottle of Mercurochrome and swab my throat, and picking any of the little (turn away if you are squeamish) puss balls! Oh, and make me drink lots of hot tea with honey and eat crackers, which kind of scraped my sore throat, but then again, that was the purpose.
Gradually, though, with the kid out of the house and having a kid of her own, and getting older and not really wanting to "cook" so much, I ended up back at the old traditional grocery store (Ralphs) even though they do have a large selection of healthy and organic foods.
The past couple of years under the Bush administration, where corporate overseeing was at its lowest, and more and more foods entered the mainstream that were contaminated, I've begun to re-think my current eating style. With the Gulf oil spill, and the threat of contaminated fish and shell fish, not to mention the egg recall, I am officially embarking on an organic eating regime.
Although I am at odds with the CEO of Whole Foods' position on global warming (he's a denier), and I have officially boycotted that store since day one of this discovery, it is, in many ways, the only place to do a full on grocery shopping for the week. Strolling down the aisles had two impacts on me. One, was a reminder of what I used to see on a regular basis, that is, names and brands that you do not see at traditional grocery stores, and the lack thereof of those traditional brands. Only in today's environment, there are more and more of "green" brands to choose from, than I had as a 30 something, and most assuredly more than were there when I was a teenager.
The second thing I noticed was the price, and boy did I encounter "sticker shock!" My daughter keeps telling me to go to Trader Joe's, but I just don't like the one near me, it's so small and it only has a handful of things that I would actually buy on a regular basis, meaning I would still have to do extra shopping somewhere else. Whole Foods is definitely a one stop grocery store, like a Ralphs, just healthy, organic, and expensive!
However, I got some ground beef (for my home made chili) that certified the cows were grass fed, and the same same with some cubed steak (for my beef stew), as well as some free range organic chicken thighs, with skin and bone (I use these in the crock pot, with baked beans, bbq sauce and an onion). And, yes, I bought organic baked beans and organic bbq sauce, and organic onion! Not to mention a few carrots and a few potatoes for my stew, again all certified as grown by organic standards. I also bought two prepared meals that I could re-heat. I got out of there paying just $45, but I could have bought all of that for one-half the price at Ralphs (although none of it would have been organic or without preservatives or additives or other crap in it). However, I feel better just knowing I'm limiting a lot of things that could be introduced into my system by food. Hell, I was one of those that had those eggs that were tainted, and yes, I actually did get sick, but did not know what the source was until I read about the recall and confirmed my eggs. When I cook eggs, yes, I do undercook them, and for a reason. Scrambled eggs will continue to cook and get "harder" even after you've turned off the heat and moved the eggs to a dish. So I tend to cook my scrambled eggs "wet" as the term is applied. I also like soft-boiled eggs, again, something that is not fully cooked like hard-boiled eggs. I got very bad stomach cramps and a little bit of nausea, but experienced nothing more than that. But, that was the last straw, really, having those salmonella eggs in my house, and having eaten them (I almost made french toast with those eggs for my grandson, but for whatever reason, I never did -- and thank goodness for who knows what would have happened to his little stomach).
So, I'm back on the range again, where the food I am eating I can at least identify where it comes from and what is in it, even if I am paying through the nose for it!
Friday, August 20, 2010
FRT Recap
Listening to the tunes, which once you hit play on the first song, no matter where you go on the net, as long as you keep "this" window open, the songs will play in order.
Hey, I'd hire me as a DJ (laughs).
I challenge my readers to come up with their own FRT playlist.
Hey, I'd hire me as a DJ (laughs).
I challenge my readers to come up with their own FRT playlist.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
"You Got Me Rated From Studs To Fumblers:
Billy Vera & The Beaters - Someone Will School You
Back in "the day," the song that me and my dancing partner (Woods, you know who you are) would "break the ice" and start dancing ... since the usual first two or three songs Billy played had an obvious vacant dance floor.
Back in "the day," the song that me and my dancing partner (Woods, you know who you are) would "break the ice" and start dancing ... since the usual first two or three songs Billy played had an obvious vacant dance floor.
Finally, A Partial Ending In Iraq
"Let me say this as plainly as I can," Obama told the Marines. "By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."On a good note, I am definitely very uplifted and happy that the last of the "combat" troops from the United States is leaving Iraq, although they are still leaving 50,000 troops, ostensibly not in combat. Regardless, that many troops finally out of Iraq's fire line (even though all Iraqis and Americans in Iraq are vulnerable to suicide bombs and other things aimed not entirely against the military, both Iraqi and America) it is one less American that is putting his or her body on the line for certain stress, disaster and death.
So, what 7+ months since "Mission Accomplished" was uttered by some little guy in a military flight suit on an aircraft carrier out in the middle of the ocean ...
Welcome home, soldiers! Really.
So, Who Actually Buys The Government's Statement That 75% Of The Gulf Spill Is Gone?
I'm really having a difficult time understanding the Obama administration's position with regard to the BP oil spill. At each and every step in what should have been a government controlled investigation, the Obama administration sidestepped the issue and allowed BP to call all the shots.
Now, the government is saying that "all is good," that 75% of the oil has been cleaned up, and in proving that the water is safe, Obama even orchestrated a photo op with his daughter and him in the water off the coast of Florida!
What part of all of the above reminds you of Bush, his "good work, Brownie" comment, and his planned photo op with firemen in NOLA after Katrina?
Yep, all of the above, gosh darn it! No one has been allowed to investigate, tabulate, videotape, explore, examine, view, work at, work with, work for, or even fucking view the spill site unless you either "work" for BP (wherein you signed a document that says you'll be fired if you so much as sigh in the direction of media, and probably contains a lot worse, but I can't say for sure right now, except I would not put it past BP to have a "we'll sue you" clause in it as well), or your are controlled by our corporate government, which of course, means again, you work for BP and not the American people.
Just like the Bush administration refused to let reporters into the really bad areas of NOLA, how they controlled the "reports" of the levees being fixed, and withheld pertinent information about the trailers they tried to herd NOLA residents in (especially those from the Ninth Ward), and basically ignored anyone's opinion about the conditions that didn't work for the inner circle of the Bushies. It was all about "the right party" during that era, and making sure that all the public agencies were staffed by those that bought the party agenda, and regurgitated it verbatim.
Now, with our new and viewer friendly president, whom we expected "change" in how government was going to be run, is pulling the same shit as the Bush administration did! No transparency, no cracking down on the parties responsible, no real investigation, and whooooaaaa nellie, the unbelievable cover-up of the depth of the disaster such that Obama was willing to put his own daughter at risk by actually getting into that seriously infested water. That's a mind blower to me.
Is our president really that beholding to major, non-American corporations, and to the bloody oil money, that he'd put the entire American population at risk just so that BP can "save some money?" This doesn't just impact the gulf area, we are talking about saying it is ok to fish and SELL the fucking fish and EAT the fucking fish (and shellfish) that are in these waters, when they don't even have a test to determine the toxicity of the Corexit used to disperse the oil? They are relying on SMELLING THE FISH? You have got to be kidding me.
You put tainted fish into the open markets across America, and you have no clue the level of contamination contained, and that's ok with you as POTUS? Wow ...
I realize that Obama hasn't lived up to his various promises such as comprehensive health care reform, repealing DADT, rejecting DOMA, closing Gitmo, having an open and transparent government, etc. But to literally put the entire American population at risk by falsely claiming that 75% of the oil has been cleaned up from the Gulf is not about not living up to any promise, but is a clear and deliberate act to expose the American people to real danger at the expense of allowing a corporation to skate through. That's pretty darn bad.
When it is factually provable that Alaska has not fully recovered from the Exxon Valdez oil spill many moons ago, it is not believable that a spill that was so much larger and dangerous by the tenfold than Exxon Valdez, magically in a few months, has just cleaned itself up! This is horse pucky as my grandfather would say. I am just amazed that these statements can come from the Obama administration, and that they don't feel any sense of duty to humanity to double down on the safety factor. No, it's business as usual. Drill some more, it's ok, there's no oil here ...
We should start a campaign to send Obama and his family fish caught from the Gulf waters on a daily basis and see just how much of it he eats, or he allows his family to eat. Any takers? Any guesses as to whether or not he'll actually eat anything caught in those still contaminated waters?
Uh huh. I thought so.
Now, the government is saying that "all is good," that 75% of the oil has been cleaned up, and in proving that the water is safe, Obama even orchestrated a photo op with his daughter and him in the water off the coast of Florida!
What part of all of the above reminds you of Bush, his "good work, Brownie" comment, and his planned photo op with firemen in NOLA after Katrina?
Yep, all of the above, gosh darn it! No one has been allowed to investigate, tabulate, videotape, explore, examine, view, work at, work with, work for, or even fucking view the spill site unless you either "work" for BP (wherein you signed a document that says you'll be fired if you so much as sigh in the direction of media, and probably contains a lot worse, but I can't say for sure right now, except I would not put it past BP to have a "we'll sue you" clause in it as well), or your are controlled by our corporate government, which of course, means again, you work for BP and not the American people.
Just like the Bush administration refused to let reporters into the really bad areas of NOLA, how they controlled the "reports" of the levees being fixed, and withheld pertinent information about the trailers they tried to herd NOLA residents in (especially those from the Ninth Ward), and basically ignored anyone's opinion about the conditions that didn't work for the inner circle of the Bushies. It was all about "the right party" during that era, and making sure that all the public agencies were staffed by those that bought the party agenda, and regurgitated it verbatim.
Now, with our new and viewer friendly president, whom we expected "change" in how government was going to be run, is pulling the same shit as the Bush administration did! No transparency, no cracking down on the parties responsible, no real investigation, and whooooaaaa nellie, the unbelievable cover-up of the depth of the disaster such that Obama was willing to put his own daughter at risk by actually getting into that seriously infested water. That's a mind blower to me.
Is our president really that beholding to major, non-American corporations, and to the bloody oil money, that he'd put the entire American population at risk just so that BP can "save some money?" This doesn't just impact the gulf area, we are talking about saying it is ok to fish and SELL the fucking fish and EAT the fucking fish (and shellfish) that are in these waters, when they don't even have a test to determine the toxicity of the Corexit used to disperse the oil? They are relying on SMELLING THE FISH? You have got to be kidding me.
You put tainted fish into the open markets across America, and you have no clue the level of contamination contained, and that's ok with you as POTUS? Wow ...
I realize that Obama hasn't lived up to his various promises such as comprehensive health care reform, repealing DADT, rejecting DOMA, closing Gitmo, having an open and transparent government, etc. But to literally put the entire American population at risk by falsely claiming that 75% of the oil has been cleaned up from the Gulf is not about not living up to any promise, but is a clear and deliberate act to expose the American people to real danger at the expense of allowing a corporation to skate through. That's pretty darn bad.
When it is factually provable that Alaska has not fully recovered from the Exxon Valdez oil spill many moons ago, it is not believable that a spill that was so much larger and dangerous by the tenfold than Exxon Valdez, magically in a few months, has just cleaned itself up! This is horse pucky as my grandfather would say. I am just amazed that these statements can come from the Obama administration, and that they don't feel any sense of duty to humanity to double down on the safety factor. No, it's business as usual. Drill some more, it's ok, there's no oil here ...
We should start a campaign to send Obama and his family fish caught from the Gulf waters on a daily basis and see just how much of it he eats, or he allows his family to eat. Any takers? Any guesses as to whether or not he'll actually eat anything caught in those still contaminated waters?
Uh huh. I thought so.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Jury Deadlocks On 23 Counts, Find Blago Guilty Of One Count
So ..... does anyone think that Blago's high profile television campaign that aired just before the trial (think Celebrity Apprentice where Donald Trump mumbled at the end of the episode Blago was voted off, something to the tune of "I hope you beat the charges") tainted the pool across America of possible jury members?
The jury was deadlocked on 23 of the 24 counts. Deadlocked. That means that they couldn't come up with enough people that felt the prosecutor (Patrick Fitzgerald of the outing of Valerie Plame prosecution that really only got as far as getting Libby convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice) presented a coherent case.
PATRICK FUCKING FITZGERALD? The one we thought would really give us the "perp walk" we all wanted to see re kkkkkKarl Rove do?
We really are doomed. The stupid people are taking over, and no smart person has a key to the room they are escaping from.
Come on, stupid people! Do the right thing and stop being enamoured by faux famous people.
UPDATE: 8/18/10 - It appears that the jury had one renegade holdout and that the other 11 jurors were ready to convict.
The jury was deadlocked on 23 of the 24 counts. Deadlocked. That means that they couldn't come up with enough people that felt the prosecutor (Patrick Fitzgerald of the outing of Valerie Plame prosecution that really only got as far as getting Libby convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice) presented a coherent case.
PATRICK FUCKING FITZGERALD? The one we thought would really give us the "perp walk" we all wanted to see re kkkkkKarl Rove do?
We really are doomed. The stupid people are taking over, and no smart person has a key to the room they are escaping from.
Come on, stupid people! Do the right thing and stop being enamoured by faux famous people.
UPDATE: 8/18/10 - It appears that the jury had one renegade holdout and that the other 11 jurors were ready to convict.
"He was lucky," [John] Grover said of Blagojevich. "I hate to put it like that, but the amount of evidence that prosecution presented to us — there was so much of it. I don't see how anybody could come to any other conclusion."
FDA Smell Test Ok's Gulf BP Oil Spill Contaminated Fish
Stay on track, readers. Gulf Oil Spill. Let's not get behind the corporate controlled government and their internal organizations (FDA) that have given the "go ahead, it's ok to fish in this area, there's no oil, nothing to see here, move along" ok to Louisiana fishermen. The fishermen are not totally buying it. Me? I'm not buying any fish, period, unless I either caught it myself or I bought it live in Santa Monica at a fish market. Done.
The FDA's test for dispersant contamination? SMELLING THE FUCKING FISH. Got that? Just smelling it.
This smells WAY MORE than the Cordoba House non-controversy.
The FDA's test for dispersant contamination? SMELLING THE FUCKING FISH. Got that? Just smelling it.
I'd compare it to enacting the “5-second-rule” on food you dropped on the grounds of Chernobyl...
This smells WAY MORE than the Cordoba House non-controversy.
GET OVER IT, NUTJOBS, AND LET CORDOBA HOUSE EXIST
It's good to see all the "professional" left bloggers on top of this Cordoba House bullshit and calling out Harry Reid and others for their "stupidity" (my word, though I don't "own" it, I will stand on my "stupid" posts as pre-dating the new "stupid" meme that seems to be turning up on a lot of big political blogs, ahem).
No imbed, but view this video here.
"Fueling a national debate?" Debate? National? I think not.
"Park 51 is a community center that will be serving all of lower Manhattan. That's going to be helping in the revitalization of lower Manhattan. It's going to establish much needed jobs. It's going to help establish much needed construction jobs. This is a community center that is going to help us understand New York and the world that we live in."
This is a MUST SEE video. As Keith Olbermann says, this is the "non news that Republicans want you to focus on."
I'm glad to hear that the people responsible for building this community center are not backing down. I am sick and tired of the stupid, stupid, stupid people in America that want to place the label of terrorist upon all Muslims (um, didn't some white guy with a beef against the IRS recently fly his little airplane into an IRS building, but HE'S not a terrorist?).
As noted by Olbermann's show tonight, this Cordoba House crap (non story) is being pushed mainly by the right wingers in order to avoid having the people of America talk about what is really the problems relevant to Americans at this point in time, like really, really high unemployment, the economy, oil spills in the Gulf, etc. You get the drift. Find something that's a hot button that will take you off script, the Republicans will go with it.
No imbed, but view this video here.
"Fueling a national debate?" Debate? National? I think not.
"Park 51 is a community center that will be serving all of lower Manhattan. That's going to be helping in the revitalization of lower Manhattan. It's going to establish much needed jobs. It's going to help establish much needed construction jobs. This is a community center that is going to help us understand New York and the world that we live in."
This is a MUST SEE video. As Keith Olbermann says, this is the "non news that Republicans want you to focus on."
I'm glad to hear that the people responsible for building this community center are not backing down. I am sick and tired of the stupid, stupid, stupid people in America that want to place the label of terrorist upon all Muslims (um, didn't some white guy with a beef against the IRS recently fly his little airplane into an IRS building, but HE'S not a terrorist?).
As noted by Olbermann's show tonight, this Cordoba House crap (non story) is being pushed mainly by the right wingers in order to avoid having the people of America talk about what is really the problems relevant to Americans at this point in time, like really, really high unemployment, the economy, oil spills in the Gulf, etc. You get the drift. Find something that's a hot button that will take you off script, the Republicans will go with it.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Holy Shit! Talk About Security
Man, like seven to ten cop cars, sirens blazing, pull a car over at the gas station across the street, and the cops come out of their vehicles with GUNS DRAWN. I saw rifles, for god's sake! Shit!
Took my video camera out. Ran downstairs. By then, the guns were holstered, the perps handcuffed. Still don't know what they were pulled over for. A guy and a girl. The girl was cuffed and put into one car, the man was cuffed, but he was left standing outside of a car, waiting. Finally, after about 15 to 20 minutes, he was put in a car.
Not sure what's up, or how long they will be there. Here comes another cop car as I am typing, I can hear the siren.
Took my video camera out. Ran downstairs. By then, the guns were holstered, the perps handcuffed. Still don't know what they were pulled over for. A guy and a girl. The girl was cuffed and put into one car, the man was cuffed, but he was left standing outside of a car, waiting. Finally, after about 15 to 20 minutes, he was put in a car.
Not sure what's up, or how long they will be there. Here comes another cop car as I am typing, I can hear the siren.
Good Grief Charlie Brown! Now Harry Reid Joins The Insanity
More stupidity in Washington over the planned Muslim community center in NYC. This time, it is Democrat Harry Reid, of all people!
I totally, totally, totally do not understand these people. The foaming at the mouth, over the top level of hate, astounds me. The demonizing a religion that is fast overtaking the world is sheer stupidity, coupled with an enormous amount of ignorance. From claims that Islam is not a religion, to claims that Islam is the voice of the devil or demonology, just blows my mind.
America is NEVER, ever, going to go backwards, people. This land that was invaded to begin with back before it became the country we know as the United States of America, already was populated with indigenous people of dark skin, from the south and from the north. And yet, despite the fact that white people were not the natural population of this continent, white Americans believe that somehow, the good ole USA is supposed to be for white people only. The meme is to get back to our roots, which really is inane when one actually ponders that thought, because the roots of white people were never in this country to begin with!
The religious superiority claims of the white Christians who somehow have been brain drained and fed some sort of crap that God wants America to be white and Christian totally belies the fact that this country was founded (however illegal it may have been) on immigration -- of people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds. As each successive wave of immigrants arrived, however, older Americans (whom I can pretty much say with some sense of truthfulness probably cannot trace their origins to a purely white background, given the merging of cultures throughout the world -- many white people who have their DNA tested for their origin of race find out that they have percentages of Native American, sub-Saharan and eastern European in their DNA!) I would bet that one would be hard pressed to find a "pure" white American these days.
I am totally opposed to those that are stirring up untruths about Islam and Muslims, and who are projecting their rancid ideology onto the general public under the guise of concern for the sanctity of ground zero. The idiocy of such concern is borne out by the very REAL fact that there is currently a mosque in the Pentagon! The fucking Pentagon, which was also attacked on 9/11! Where are the crowds calling for it to be closed because of the "hallowed ground" theory? Um, not gonna happen. So, next time you hear someone voicing a very stupid opinion about the Cordoba House, why not ask them about the mosque in the Pentagon. Come to think of it, why not ask Harry Reid why it's ok to have a mosque in the Pentagon, which was also attacked, and where people lost their lives, but it's not ok to have a community center, albeit, a Muslim center, a few blocks from ground zero?
Another reminder of the fact that the Democratic party is spineless, inept, seriously afraid of its own shadow, and clearly not representative of the progressive and liberals that it is supposed to represent.
Harry Reid -- you are one stupid individual. You need a good slap upside your head.
I totally, totally, totally do not understand these people. The foaming at the mouth, over the top level of hate, astounds me. The demonizing a religion that is fast overtaking the world is sheer stupidity, coupled with an enormous amount of ignorance. From claims that Islam is not a religion, to claims that Islam is the voice of the devil or demonology, just blows my mind.
America is NEVER, ever, going to go backwards, people. This land that was invaded to begin with back before it became the country we know as the United States of America, already was populated with indigenous people of dark skin, from the south and from the north. And yet, despite the fact that white people were not the natural population of this continent, white Americans believe that somehow, the good ole USA is supposed to be for white people only. The meme is to get back to our roots, which really is inane when one actually ponders that thought, because the roots of white people were never in this country to begin with!
The religious superiority claims of the white Christians who somehow have been brain drained and fed some sort of crap that God wants America to be white and Christian totally belies the fact that this country was founded (however illegal it may have been) on immigration -- of people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds. As each successive wave of immigrants arrived, however, older Americans (whom I can pretty much say with some sense of truthfulness probably cannot trace their origins to a purely white background, given the merging of cultures throughout the world -- many white people who have their DNA tested for their origin of race find out that they have percentages of Native American, sub-Saharan and eastern European in their DNA!) I would bet that one would be hard pressed to find a "pure" white American these days.
I am totally opposed to those that are stirring up untruths about Islam and Muslims, and who are projecting their rancid ideology onto the general public under the guise of concern for the sanctity of ground zero. The idiocy of such concern is borne out by the very REAL fact that there is currently a mosque in the Pentagon! The fucking Pentagon, which was also attacked on 9/11! Where are the crowds calling for it to be closed because of the "hallowed ground" theory? Um, not gonna happen. So, next time you hear someone voicing a very stupid opinion about the Cordoba House, why not ask them about the mosque in the Pentagon. Come to think of it, why not ask Harry Reid why it's ok to have a mosque in the Pentagon, which was also attacked, and where people lost their lives, but it's not ok to have a community center, albeit, a Muslim center, a few blocks from ground zero?
Another reminder of the fact that the Democratic party is spineless, inept, seriously afraid of its own shadow, and clearly not representative of the progressive and liberals that it is supposed to represent.
Harry Reid -- you are one stupid individual. You need a good slap upside your head.
Obama's In Town
I couldn't figure out why there was so much traffic going home after work. In fact, the bus made a detour, and it took twice as long to get home. All of Hancock Park area was detoured, and as my bus which usually goes down Wilshire Blvd. was traveling down Third Street, I saw no less than thirty cop cars, and about five media trucks with their satellite dishes. I had no clue until I got home and turned on a news radio program that gave traffic updates every twenty minutes. The traffic reporter, who is usually in the air in her helicopter, indicated that ALL helicopter traffic was banned -- because of Obama's entourage. The ban was in effect until 9 a.m. tomorrow. Apparently he is making his way across town from his appearance earlier in Century City, and he must be heading to somewhere in Hancock Park, since that was where all the detour signs were and where all the cops and reporters where camped out.
So, the President will be only a few blocks away from my home. Hmmmmmm.
So, the President will be only a few blocks away from my home. Hmmmmmm.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Friday Random Ten, Updated
Back a few years ago, there was a blog viral of FRT, where one would upload all their music into a player, and hit "random" play. Of course, we would only post the title of the song, sometimes with a comment. But one could not really "hear" the songs.
Well, I'm starting a new tradition. I've loaded up all of my 35 gigs of songs, hit random, and this is what came up for my Friday Random Ten. The numbers in parenthesis are what number they show up, as in number of the song on my player. I upload off my computer, using Winamp, believe it or not! Plus, when I actually do play music, I play off my computer these days, because I have a great sound system attached to my computer.
1. (8783) Gangstarr - Straight Talk
2. (1680) Don Johnson - Heartbeat
3. (4284) Loverboy - Heaven In Your Eyes
4. (1644) At The Drive-In - Speechless
5. (4176) Linda Rondstadt - Tu Solo Tu
6. (6886) Soweto String Quartet - St. Agnes Nokusha
7. (6363) Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last
8. (4643) Mott The Hoople - Sucker
9. (700) Cheryl Lynn - Got To Be Real
10. (3448) Jack Jones - She
BONUS TRACK:
11. (7641) David Guetta - Love Don't Let Me Go
Well, I'm starting a new tradition. I've loaded up all of my 35 gigs of songs, hit random, and this is what came up for my Friday Random Ten. The numbers in parenthesis are what number they show up, as in number of the song on my player. I upload off my computer, using Winamp, believe it or not! Plus, when I actually do play music, I play off my computer these days, because I have a great sound system attached to my computer.
1. (8783) Gangstarr - Straight Talk
2. (1680) Don Johnson - Heartbeat
3. (4284) Loverboy - Heaven In Your Eyes
4. (1644) At The Drive-In - Speechless
5. (4176) Linda Rondstadt - Tu Solo Tu
6. (6886) Soweto String Quartet - St. Agnes Nokusha
7. (6363) Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last
8. (4643) Mott The Hoople - Sucker
9. (700) Cheryl Lynn - Got To Be Real
10. (3448) Jack Jones - She
BONUS TRACK:
11. (7641) David Guetta - Love Don't Let Me Go
Thursday, August 12, 2010
YES, YES, YES! LAUREN WINS SYTYCD SEASON 7!
Congrats to Lauren.
Kent, you were absolutely fabulous as was everyone this season!
Black Gold - Shine
Kent, you were absolutely fabulous as was everyone this season!
Black Gold - Shine
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Gibbs Is An Ass, But Hold That Thought -- My Comments Later
I' m not silent on the Gibbs fiasco today, but I can't really post a cognizant comment today. Besides the initial outrage, which has been covered immediately by the big blogs (we of the "professional left" whatever the fuck that means), which I share, there's everyone on the "professional left's" comments that have to be absorbed and commented on, as well.
Expect light and airy posts this week. In my legal real work world, I have an opposition to a summary judgment motion due Thursday morning, and so my office is busy, and I am exhausted by keeping up with the other day to day stuff and still assisting on the opposition creation (from discussing law and research on that law to basic clerical stuff like typing).
Expect light and airy posts this week. In my legal real work world, I have an opposition to a summary judgment motion due Thursday morning, and so my office is busy, and I am exhausted by keeping up with the other day to day stuff and still assisting on the opposition creation (from discussing law and research on that law to basic clerical stuff like typing).
My Short Take On Katy Perry
"Shut up and put your money where your mouth is, that's what you get for waking up in Vegas." Great line.
Katy Perry - Waking Up In Las Vegas
I'd post a video, but she's disabled all embeds. Shit, even Lady Gaga finally "unembedded" her videos once she realized the enormity of YouTube. Katy, honey, grow a set and tell your record company to allow YouTubes!
She's more happy with Twitter, cuz it makes you put out soundbites in 140 characters rather than actually fully express yourself as in a blog (a comment made regarding why she prefers tweeting to her early forays into blogging - although she still maintains a blog).
I sort of agree. I've gotten into tweeting since I realized I had created an account back in 2008 during the elections when I was blogging for CSPAN. It's like texting, but to more people at once. 140 character soundbites.
Katy Perry - Waking Up In Las Vegas
I'd post a video, but she's disabled all embeds. Shit, even Lady Gaga finally "unembedded" her videos once she realized the enormity of YouTube. Katy, honey, grow a set and tell your record company to allow YouTubes!
She's more happy with Twitter, cuz it makes you put out soundbites in 140 characters rather than actually fully express yourself as in a blog (a comment made regarding why she prefers tweeting to her early forays into blogging - although she still maintains a blog).
I sort of agree. I've gotten into tweeting since I realized I had created an account back in 2008 during the elections when I was blogging for CSPAN. It's like texting, but to more people at once. 140 character soundbites.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
FOOTBALL!!!!!!
It's Sunday, 5:00 p.m., and the best sports announcers since the old days of Monday Night Football, are calling the game!
Sunday Night Football, to me, has replaced Monday Night Football in announcing, camera angles, color commentary, and opening song (Faith Hill kicks ass!)
I know it's pre-season, but it's football, baby!
Sunday Night Football, to me, has replaced Monday Night Football in announcing, camera angles, color commentary, and opening song (Faith Hill kicks ass!)
I know it's pre-season, but it's football, baby!
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Be Afraid Of Oligarchy, Not Obama
The slide to oligarchy is evident everywhere. With the wars bleeding America dry, and the give-away to the rich mentality on the backs of the dwindling middle class, the question on most people's minds (well those that are actually aware this is happening and understand it) is will America stand for this, or will America fight the takeover of their lives by the few rich.
Does anyone doubt that once a society ceases to be able to afford schools, public transit, paved roads, libraries and street lights -- or once it chooses not to be able to afford those things in pursuit of imperial priorities and the maintenance of a vast Surveillance and National Security State -- that a very serious problem has arisen, that things have gone seriously awry, that imperial collapse, by definition, is an imminent inevitability? Anyway, I just wanted to leave everyone with some light and cheerful thoughts as we head into the weekend.Read the piece. Become aware. Stop the takeover.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Seven Going On Thirteen -- HELP!
My grandson is seven, but going on 13, seriously. The shows he watches are of a a slightly older group from him, albeit almost scrupulously clean. The tween appeal, post Hanna Montana. So, Zaire is into shows like Victorious and Big Time Rush. Zaire wants to sing like the characters in these shows.
Fortunately, I can find songs from these shows, on YouTube and/or download them. I know a lot of the vocals are soprano, but hey, he's just 7/8 (laughs). At least he's on pitch, so "Randy" and the rest of AI can't call him on that!
BTR (acronym, wink wink - keep RIIA police off track, LOL)
Fortunately, I can find songs from these shows, on YouTube and/or download them. I know a lot of the vocals are soprano, but hey, he's just 7/8 (laughs). At least he's on pitch, so "Randy" and the rest of AI can't call him on that!
BTR (acronym, wink wink - keep RIIA police off track, LOL)
Hipocrasy, Thy Name Is ADL
The overreaction by the right wingers concerning the planned Muslim community center in Manhattan has been comical, at best. But, as many bloggers have pointed out in recent days, the Jewish organization ADL's coming out in support of the right wingers in wanting to prevent the Muslim community center from being built has proven how hypocritical said organization is.
The group behind the recently opened "Museum of Tolerance" museum in Manhattan has come out against a planned Islamic community center, which includes a mosque, near Ground Zero.
"Religious freedom does not mean being insensitive...or an idiot," Rabbi Meyer May, the Wiesenthal Center's executive director, told Crain's New York.
"Religion is supposed to be beautiful," he said. "Why create pain in the name of religion?"
It's a topic he knows something about. The Wiesenthal Center caused an uproar in for building one of its Museums of Tolerance on top of an old Muslim burial ground in Jerusalem.
The building of that museum has "resulted in digging up the remains of people who had been buried in a Muslim cemetery for generations," according to City University professor Marnia Lazreg. Indeed, in 2006, workers dug up bones, and an Arab group sued to stop the project from going forward.
The Wiesenthal Center has pushed forward, however, and in 2008 the Israeli Supreme Court declared that the center was allowed to build its museum on the land.
So, basically, IOKIYAJ, but INOKIYAM.
Talk about being disrespectful.
Talk about bullshit.
UPDATE: What about the mosque inside the Pentagon, where regular prayer meetings and such continue well after 9/11! H/T to DailKos.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
"Over The Rainbow"
Saw this YouTube on C&L. Pretty awesome for a six year old. In the background, though, is Eva Cassidy's version ... sounds like little Connie has heard Eva's version a few times.
Eva's version:
Eva's version:
Happy Days Are Hear Again For The GLBT Community
Cheers for the rainbow coalition! The news was agog yesterday over the ruling by Judge Walker in the Prop 8 case. I still have my "No on 8" sticker attached to my book case at work (which I am sure irritates a few people)!
While watching and listening and reading all the different responses to the ruling, the most important thing I've learned is the way in which the ruling was set out, with approximately 25 different sets of "statements of facts." See, in our legal world (of which most people have no clue since they don't work in the system - and let me stress for those that do not work as lawyers, judges, clerks and whatnot, that the law is not based on common sense -- the law is the "law" and law is set by rulings that become precedents for future rulings) the process of appeals is not about "hey, I don't like how this proceeding ended, I want to appeal and get a different ruling." Once a decision in a court of law is rendered, the appeal process is a very narrow process, and procedurally bound by certain rules. One of these rules is that an appeal does not allow "new" ideas or arguments -- in essence, a re-hearing. An appeal requests the next court above to review the manner in which a court or judge made a decision, and absent a clear "abuse" by the court or judge, the higher court is bound by that ruling if it appears, by the "statement of facts" that no other ruling could have come out in the case.
Judge Walker's statement of facts, a longer list than is typically normal, sets the stage for complete "refutation" (laughs) of Prop 8. The proponents for this proposition (the defendants in this case) did not present a credible argument to the court, nor did they put on any credible witnesses (Judge Walker ripped a new asshole into each of the defendants' witnesses, finding them to be whack jobs at best), and stuck to the legal framework of existing law that prohibits discrimination in this State, and that by singling out one identifiable group of people and stripping them of rights, is not based on any legal authority as is statutorily written in our laws.
The argument that the majority rules falls on deaf ears when it comes to the judiciary. Mob mentality is abated by the use of the judicial system, so that when, despite a majority held belief, a principal adopted is so egregious to another group of people, the judiciary is where such acts are generally struck down. It has been repeated over and over so the stupid people (my meme!) can understand that if the majority rules process really were the law of the land, women would still be in the house, having as many babies as the Duggars, would not be voting, blacks would still be using a separate entrance to buildings, and male blacks would still be lynched for looking at a white woman. The stupid people can yell all they want about the majority ... it's the legality of the issue the majority is touting that has to be looked at by the judicial review. And, in the case of Prop 8, finally heading its way to the Supreme Court, that will be our Roe v. Wade for the GLBT community to finally get equality in marriage. SCOTUS, regardless of any one individual judge's opinion on the issue of marriage, will have to review this case from the standpoint of rights. And as has been ruled time and time again, a law cannot be formed that enshrines personal rights to one group while at the same time prohibits those same rights to another group.
Get over it - and that includes YOU, Mr. President. This was a HUGE victory for equal rights, and it will be upheld all the way through the Ninth Circuit up to SCOTUS.
While watching and listening and reading all the different responses to the ruling, the most important thing I've learned is the way in which the ruling was set out, with approximately 25 different sets of "statements of facts." See, in our legal world (of which most people have no clue since they don't work in the system - and let me stress for those that do not work as lawyers, judges, clerks and whatnot, that the law is not based on common sense -- the law is the "law" and law is set by rulings that become precedents for future rulings) the process of appeals is not about "hey, I don't like how this proceeding ended, I want to appeal and get a different ruling." Once a decision in a court of law is rendered, the appeal process is a very narrow process, and procedurally bound by certain rules. One of these rules is that an appeal does not allow "new" ideas or arguments -- in essence, a re-hearing. An appeal requests the next court above to review the manner in which a court or judge made a decision, and absent a clear "abuse" by the court or judge, the higher court is bound by that ruling if it appears, by the "statement of facts" that no other ruling could have come out in the case.
Judge Walker's statement of facts, a longer list than is typically normal, sets the stage for complete "refutation" (laughs) of Prop 8. The proponents for this proposition (the defendants in this case) did not present a credible argument to the court, nor did they put on any credible witnesses (Judge Walker ripped a new asshole into each of the defendants' witnesses, finding them to be whack jobs at best), and stuck to the legal framework of existing law that prohibits discrimination in this State, and that by singling out one identifiable group of people and stripping them of rights, is not based on any legal authority as is statutorily written in our laws.
The argument that the majority rules falls on deaf ears when it comes to the judiciary. Mob mentality is abated by the use of the judicial system, so that when, despite a majority held belief, a principal adopted is so egregious to another group of people, the judiciary is where such acts are generally struck down. It has been repeated over and over so the stupid people (my meme!) can understand that if the majority rules process really were the law of the land, women would still be in the house, having as many babies as the Duggars, would not be voting, blacks would still be using a separate entrance to buildings, and male blacks would still be lynched for looking at a white woman. The stupid people can yell all they want about the majority ... it's the legality of the issue the majority is touting that has to be looked at by the judicial review. And, in the case of Prop 8, finally heading its way to the Supreme Court, that will be our Roe v. Wade for the GLBT community to finally get equality in marriage. SCOTUS, regardless of any one individual judge's opinion on the issue of marriage, will have to review this case from the standpoint of rights. And as has been ruled time and time again, a law cannot be formed that enshrines personal rights to one group while at the same time prohibits those same rights to another group.
Get over it - and that includes YOU, Mr. President. This was a HUGE victory for equal rights, and it will be upheld all the way through the Ninth Circuit up to SCOTUS.
Who's Copying Who?
I haven't posted much this week. I've had enough of the oil spill spin and propaganda, I'm done with the parsing of the Wikileaks drama (although I did blurb that I was for and not against), and all the riling up by the right wing nut jobs this week over trivial stuff, seemed to have been covered by all the big blogs.
Speaking of being covered ... I've noticed a growing use of the word "stupid" in some of the major blogs, mirroring my latest meme of stupid people that has been a general thread through most of my posts lately. Ahhhhh, someone is reading my blog quite regularly. In fact, there are a handful of ISP addresses that check my blog out two to five times a day, and I just have absolutely no clue who these people are. I haven't noticed any outright copying of my material (hell, I'm only commenting on other people's material anyway), but like I said, I've been the only one using the "stupid" people meme.
Just saying.
Speaking of being covered ... I've noticed a growing use of the word "stupid" in some of the major blogs, mirroring my latest meme of stupid people that has been a general thread through most of my posts lately. Ahhhhh, someone is reading my blog quite regularly. In fact, there are a handful of ISP addresses that check my blog out two to five times a day, and I just have absolutely no clue who these people are. I haven't noticed any outright copying of my material (hell, I'm only commenting on other people's material anyway), but like I said, I've been the only one using the "stupid" people meme.
Just saying.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
More Examples Of Deluded Stupid People
According to anonymously-sourced reports pushed by right-wing blogs last weekend, members of Mexico's notorious Zetas drug gang crossed the border into Texas and, "in what could be deemed an act of war," seized two ranches near the border town of Laredo. The situation was dire, wingers warned, but a government enforced media blackout kept knowledge of the raid from the general public.
Really?
No, not really.
Here's the thing: the "raid" never happened.
If you keep reading the piece from TPM, you'll find out that no such raid happened. The police department allegedly contacted doesn't have jurisdiction in the area where the alleged farms were seized (captured, stormed, whatever the nut jobs were calling it), and when the whole story was debunked, those really over the edge stupid people decided that it did happen, but Obama government is covering it up!
At least this time I'm laughing, not banging head against the keyboard. I mean, come on! It's one things to take something, a shred of a truth, and rip it with lies until the kernel of truth can no longer be found. It's another to just make shit up that never, ever happened! It shows you how gullible the stupid people are.
Stupid is, as stupid does, so the saying goes.
Who Doesn't Love A Good (Hot) Dog?
For those that may not remember that I owned a hot dog cart, enjoy!
I'm watching a food show on best hot dogs in the world. It's funny that the ladies at Pinks said there's nothing like the aroma a fresh dogs and buns steaming ... it floats over the neighborhood.
I could smell our dogs all the way up the block from where the cart was. Our most ardent customers where the actual residents of the neighborhood. Second were those that worked in the area and could smell the dogs a block away.
In Los Angeles, there are rarely places to get good dogs. The main thing I went for were more expensive dogs, but Kosher and great tasting. I always told my daughter that people will come back for a great dog!
Here are pictures of our business/menu card:
I designed them myself (grins). That's my daughter when she was preggers with Zaire, and Yoon, who oversaw the operation at that time.
Republicans Kyl And Boehner Stupid People Of The Week
It would be funny if it weren't so utterly stupid. But, what is to be expected by the Stupid People in Washington, eh?
When presented with factual evidence to counter certain claims made by the Stupid People in Washington, they simply state, in essence, they don't care about the facts, they have their own opinions! LOL!
That's the exchange between Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) and Harry Smith on Meet the Press.
And that's the exchange between Chris Wallace and Rep. John Boener (R-Ohio) on Fox News Sunday.
Never mind that the claim by politicians supporting SB1070 that those pesky Mexican illegals are kidnapping, murdering and smuggling drugs and people into Arizona, the statistical numbers kept by those that do that sort of number keeping say none of it is true. The stat people say all of crime (from property damage to murder) is DOWN in Arizona, and has been going down steadily for several years now. But the Stupid People in Washington, those older white men, just keep wanting to scare the older white stupid people into believing that it is the government's duty to just round up the brown people and throw them over the border.
As for Boehner, he's just one stupid ass, albeit one orange (let's not say tan, for his skin tone doesn't come close to "tan") heck of a dude! He's following the Stupid People in Washington's meme that jobs were not created by the stimulus -- that any reports of jobs being created is just an urban myth.
Welcome to reality -- well the stupid people's reality. Maybe I should go back to taking hard drugs. It's better than constantly banging my head on my computer keyboard.
H/T to Think Progress for the above statements by the Stupid People in Washington.
When presented with factual evidence to counter certain claims made by the Stupid People in Washington, they simply state, in essence, they don't care about the facts, they have their own opinions! LOL!
SMITH: One of the things that’s come to light over the past last couple weeks is that in some of these border towns that were thought to be susceptible to lawbreaking of illegal immigrants. Crime is actually down. Crime in Phoenix for instance is down significantly over the past couple of years.
KYL: Well, that’s a gross generalization. Property crimes are up, certain violent crimes on certain parts of the citizenry are up. Phoenix is a very large source of kidnapping. It’s called the kidnapping capital of the United States…So there’s a great deal of violence and crime associated with illegal immigrants.
That's the exchange between Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) and Harry Smith on Meet the Press.
WALLACE: Congressman — a number of top economists say what we need is more economic stimulus.
BOEHNER: Well, I don’t need to see GDP numbers or to listen to economists. All I need to do is listen to the American people, because they’ve been asking the question now for 18 months, “where are the jobs?”
And that's the exchange between Chris Wallace and Rep. John Boener (R-Ohio) on Fox News Sunday.
Never mind that the claim by politicians supporting SB1070 that those pesky Mexican illegals are kidnapping, murdering and smuggling drugs and people into Arizona, the statistical numbers kept by those that do that sort of number keeping say none of it is true. The stat people say all of crime (from property damage to murder) is DOWN in Arizona, and has been going down steadily for several years now. But the Stupid People in Washington, those older white men, just keep wanting to scare the older white stupid people into believing that it is the government's duty to just round up the brown people and throw them over the border.
As for Boehner, he's just one stupid ass, albeit one orange (let's not say tan, for his skin tone doesn't come close to "tan") heck of a dude! He's following the Stupid People in Washington's meme that jobs were not created by the stimulus -- that any reports of jobs being created is just an urban myth.
Welcome to reality -- well the stupid people's reality. Maybe I should go back to taking hard drugs. It's better than constantly banging my head on my computer keyboard.
H/T to Think Progress for the above statements by the Stupid People in Washington.
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