Last two days I've been dealing with a bunch of medical nonsense -- an abnormal mole here, a whacky thyroid there. Nothing major but I find it ironic that it all happens just days before my COBRA insurance from A&E runs out. And I'm not sure which is more disturbing -- the premiums for health care for the self-employed or that fact that I was laid off 18 months ago and have been unable to find a full time job in my field.
Which is a large reason for my decision to pursue a masters in education degree. But the more I read about what's happening in schools today -- not to mention the insanity of the NCLB debacle -- I'm starting to have my doubts there too. Or maybe it's just Saturday morning and I haven't had my coffee yet.
The NCLB has the right goals and it sounds good in theory -- but it's not a piece of legislation that's based in reality. Or real dollars. And the second irony of the day (all before 10 am) -- for years, I interviewed town board and school board members who railed against Albany legislators over unfunded mandates. Now it's the state legislators who know what it feels like on the really local level. And who'd have thought that
education would be the subject to resurrect the ever-present states rights v. federal rights debate in this country. Who da thunk it?
We are on the cusp of a new era of censorship and government interference that may be unprecedented. And when the head of a major radio network goes before Congress -- CONGRESS -- and
apologizes for talking about sex and body parts, we have just entered the Twilight Zone.
I'm not a big fan of Howard Stern -- but
the decency police are starting to scare the shit out of me. I have a long drive to my current project and I listen to him on occassion. I don't find alot of what he does funny -- but there are something's he says that have me laughing out loud and I could really use that some mornings. See, the point is if I don't like what I'm hearing...I turn the station. Gasp. What a concept.
Update - Feb. 28: There is one political stance Stern took -- highway construction should be done at night rather than during rush hour -- that I agree with and was brilliant in my opinion. Now, it appears we agree once again as Stern joins
the ABB party.
Okay -- here's the next Kerry ad -- opens with Dick Cheney headshot and the numerous quotes attributed to him by Paul O'Neill saying deficits don't matter and really aren't anything to worry about. Then we move to
the graphic that shows quite clearly our deficit timeline (thanks RG) over the past 20 years. Next move to
Alan Greenspan talking (R.R.) about trimming
Social Security benefits as the best way to deal with the deficit and the looming economic crisis it will bring.
I'm having trouble deciding on the closing scene -- either a sea of cubicles, filled with 40- and 50- something worker drones - or we show a sea of older people opening up what are obviously Social Security checks in the amount of $0.00 - I'm envisioning the equivalent of the scene in Gone with the Wind: Scarlett O'Hara looking for Dr. Meade at the Atlanta railroad station when Melanie's about to have her baby. Start small and then pan out slowly until the viewer realizes the enormity of the situation. Go ahead - use it. No job is too big, no fee is too big, as my friend Dr. Peter Venkman would say
I've been watching with interest what's happening in Massachusetts and San Francisco with regard to
gay marriages. And I've been doing it analytically, rationally. I cannot imagine what gay and lesbian couples, or singles for that matter, must be feeling right now. Outrage doesn't seem to do it justice. This
New York Times editorial put it succinctly: "President Bush's amendment would be the first adopted to stigmatize and exclude a group of Americans."
My husband's no help. As far as he's concerned of course gay marriage is okay. "Why should only straights suffer?" He's a barrel of laughs, believe me. But what I can't figure out, is how EXACTLY does gay marriage threaten or harm the institution of marriage. If more people are getting married and staying married, doesn't that improve the state of marriage? Speaking of states, boy oh boy is this a conservative Catch-22 if there ever was one -- so which is worse, gay marriages or having the big, bad federal government involved in one of the most intimate and personal decisions a human being can make? Let the squirming begin.
Or even worse. Every one of the SOBs behind this amendment knows it isn't going anywhere. Bush's speech hits all
the right buttons (pun intended) and makes all the homophobic fascists happy -- without any intention, or expectation that this becomes reality. Then when it fails they can blame it on those crazy liberals. Everybody wins. Or is that just way too cynical?
I have three words for you -- E - R - A. Remember that one? Everyone's still into 70's nostalgia. Can't some forward thinking Democratic resurrect that puppy? Now that's
an amendment whose time has come. Just be sure it covers everyone - regardless of their choice of a soulmate.
A new study indicates that a double mastectomy
reduces the risk of breast cancer by 90 percent. (And ladies, throw out a couple of ovaries and your odds are another 5 percent improved.) How extraordinary. Following this logic, I'd like to see a study on testicular and penile cancer and what they recommend cutting off to reduce the risk there. Want to bet we'll never see a study that suggests cutting off someone's penis if they're in a "high risk" penile cancer group? I know it's a sucker's bet any way you look at it. Better yet, how about cutting off someone's head to reduce the risk of brain cancer? Or who needs a pair of lungs? Absurb? You bet. But no more outrageous than this study. Is this really what medical researchers do?
I watched the finale of Sex and the City on Sunday along with millions of others. I read the articles leading up to showtime -- and some of the reviews after it aired -- both
positive and
negative.
I read about Carrie leaving Petrovsky for a number of reasons: his work, her work, Paris, New York. But did anyone mention "the slap?" And anyone who did accepted the "it was an accident" excuse. Are you kidding me? And shame on the writers for making it seem worse for a woman to be eating alone in a Paris cafe than it would be to be slapped and have your diamond necklace ripped off. Okay, the necklace breaking was largely symbolic. But the slap gets so little pickup in the media. Why is that?
I like Ellen Goodman -- and not just because we share the same first name. Although I must admit, I've never met an Ellen I didn't like. But I digress.
She has
a new book out. I wish she had checked with me about the title. It should have been called "(Press 8 for Outrage.)" Oh, well...
So as far as anyone connected with the Bush II administration is concerned, anyone who disagrees or challenges them is a terrorist? So now it's
the teachers union that's so labelled -- and they're appropriately outraged. I think I'm going to start a new party -- the Outrage party. Will get back to you when I work up a platform that goes beyond "I'm outraged." It's a start though...
That annual
Economic Report of the President is a goldmine of informatin...and revelation. First, the Council of Economic Advisors thinks
offshore outsourcing is a really good thing. Have they spent any time
online or checked out a message board about the subject recently? I don't care if it makes sense in economic theory - that's not what this is about. It's economic -- and political -- reality.
And now they want to classify
a job at McDonald's as a manufacturing job? Besides hamburgers, what are McDonald's employees producing? Obesity in America's children? I sense a frivolous lawsuit here somewhere...
No big surprise here - Ralph Nader, despite intense pressure
not to, is running for president as
an independent candidate. Well, at least I won't have to worry about finding something to be outraged about for the next 10 months or so.
I don't disagree with everything Nader says. But this seems to me to be more about an old man taking on General Motors -- er' I mean the political establishment -- than about a real candidacy. Nader needs to be fighting something -- something big and awful -- and when he isn't, he's looking for the next fight. It's probably rooted in some unresolved issue -- parental abandonment, schoolyard bullies, whatever -- a good therapist might help.
In the interest of full disclosure, my father was counsel to the auto safety subcommitte that called Nader to testify in the 1960s. I always admired him for that -- my father, that is.
I remember a time in the 1980s when the insurance industry was under attack. I remember talk of Nader or one of his organizations going after insurance companies -- but nothing ever came of it. I never could figure out why. Maybe a little research is in order.
If you saw him on
Meet the Press this morning, it's clear this is a man with a mission. Not only that, a man who has been treated in a "contemptous" manner because he's fighting the corporate devil that's taken over Washington. I'm trying to figure out how winning the White House would change the entire make up of our Nation's Capitol -- K Street would empty? academic institutions would vanish? news organizatons -- all of which are in league with the corporate devil -- would close up shop? It's not reality. And idealism without reality is lunacy. And dangerous.
I started working in politics full of ideals -- I was sure Mondale had a chance to win in 1984 (as my family continually reminds me). So while I'm a bit older, I'm still idealistic. And I don't need Ralph Nader calling me a puppet of the Democratic Party. My goal remains removing GWBush from the White House. Too bad Ralph finds it necessary to get in the way.
One last point - Ralph is disingenuous when he talks about "civic groups" being shut out of the process. I've covered local politics as a community news editor and environmental issues for a trade newsletter. In no way can anyone say with a straight face that civic groups are shut out -- often, it's the civic groups who cannot see beyond their own individual cause. Under the banner of civic duty.
Just in case there was any doubt, despite any tension Nader's game-playing may cause, I still have my sense of humor. File
this one under: good to know.
I will quit my job, divorce my husband, abandon my cat, neglect my family -- if
this egomaniac (r.r.) announces he's running for President. (And I've only mentioned this a dozen or so times before, but Nader is ground zero for the outrage that started this blog. I'm not kidding.)
So let me get this straight.
Mel Gibson's father thinks that the Holocaust didn't really happen and that European Jews "got up" and moved away -- to Brooklyn, no less. And somehow we're not supposed to connect this to a movie that many fear will inspire a new wave of anti-Semitism? Hmmm...
What scares me even more? There are way too many people out there like Hutton Gibson who really believe the revisionist bullshit. My first month at A&E Television Networks involved numerous bulletin board posters who used The History Channel message boards to publish their nonsense. It got everyone's attention when the ADL threatened to make noise. I'm having trouble giving
Mel Gibson the benefit of the doubt after hearing a few quotes from his father. Can you imagine what it must be like living with such a person? Or the dinner table conversations?
There are some news stories that make me laugh out loud, like
this one on CNN. President Bush isn't a statistican? You don't say.
Oh yeah -- and I said more than a year ago that outsourcing will be
a big issue in this campaign. Now everyone's jumped on the bandwagon.
Interesting turn of events following yesterday's
results from Wisconsin. Alright -- here's what I want to know: since the "Edwards Surge" is being credited to a larger than normal Republican turnout for the most part, how many of those same GOPers say they don't plan on voting for Bush in November? If exit polls show that those same Republicans would vote for Edwards over George W. Bush on November 2, then Edwards really did accomplish something. But I don't think that's what happened here (remember, this is the state that elected Joe McCarthy to the Senate - not once, but twice!)
Speaking of McCarthy, I'm not sure I get
Howard Dean . I thought I was starting to just before the Iowa caucus. But I'm starting to see him less as a trailblazer, and more as a demagogue. The jury is still out though -- as it has been with him from the beginning. I think that's what his problem has been -- he presents a good case but I still resist making a final decision about him.
I updated my Feb. 12 post on this subject but thought it was worth mentioning again. Somebody must be really scared to have taken
this rumor so far -- or we're witnessing rat-f---ing of epic proportions not seen since Nixon. Thankfully, the appropriate
denials have been made. Once the international press gets a hold of itself, the real story will be who started this in the first place. In the widely-quoted article in
The Sun (UK) (a cross between the NY Post and the Nat'l Enquirer here) an interview with a US TV network, allegedly ABC, was reported to be the source. Can someone at ABC, or any US TV network for that matter, confirm or deny this -- so that we can all move on?
As Cindy Adams would say -- only in New York -- would
this story get this much play. But if you've spent any time in NYC, the NYPost and the NYDaily News get along in similar fashion as the NY police department and the NY fire department. Classic.
It's been a banner year for US-Canadian relations. But none have been as funny as
Triump the Insult Comic Dog(r.r.).
I'm not sure how I feel about
the Gospel According to Mel. But I do know that what he's depicting is right on target with the "passion plays" of the four Gospels. Matthew is said to be the worst -- it's John and Luke who are read on Palm Sunday and Good Friday respectively. If we're going to be honest here, let's talk about what occurs weekly in Catholic Churches across the country -- especially during the Lenten and Easter seasons.
The
passion plays are the least of it actually -- my favorite gospel reading is the one that's read for (I think) Pentecost Sunday -- "The apostles gathered behind locked doors -- for fear of the Jews." Every time I hear it, I cringe and imagine the mental image that sentence alone conveys to Irish, Italian, Polish -- or any other nationality -- Catholic children. As I said I don't know what impact Mel's movie will have
on anti-Semitism -- all I know is that he's actually really late to the party and the Catholic Church should examine its portrayal of Jews every Sunday.
I'd count Jesus among my heroes. But my fascination has less to do with religion than it does politics --
the politics of his life and teachings -- he was the world's greatest troublemaker of all time -- and I mean that in the most complimentary way -- challenging the status quo and proposing a radically new concept for living, loving, working and dying. No wonder the politicians wanted him gone.
Speaking of gone, why does New Zealand have
a chief censor? Does that mean there are lesser censors? Just curious.
I must confess -- I watched
Extreme Makeover Thursday night -- and couldn't turn it off. I've been feeling guilty since. I've railed against reality TV more than once here -- so I was more than a little surprised to realize I couldn't resist the stories. And I cried...twice! Not sure what it is about the show -- it's amazing how many people feel really awful about themselves and how grateful they are to not feel that way anymore. Oh well -- at least I'm not sitting and watching Fear Factor - Couples -- as husbands watch tarantulas crawl all over their wives. (I only saw the commercial -- I even turned that off).
More TV news: looking forward to HBO's
Iron Jawed Angels tomorrow night. And received word today from my friend James that my favorite
Angel -- quite arguably the best show on television -- will not be renewed. On the WB. Then I remembered that Buffy found two more seasons on UPN, right? It could happen.
Does anyone at CBS have a backbone? It seems that they react to whatever wind is blowing the strongest. This time around it's
an ad about Medicare -- produced with public money -- that may not be completely accurate. Alert the frigging media -- a commercial that's not accurate? Oh the horror of it all.
Or so I was thinking until I get to the very last paragraph of the AP story. According to it, the 30-second spot was created by National Media Inc. of Alexandria, VA (my former hometown) -- the same firm that's producing ads for the Bush-Cheney re-election effort. So I'm not as outraged at CBS -- they've probably done the right thing. There's no question in my mind though that the Medicare ad is really a Bush re-election ad in sheep's clothing.
A story about the vice-presidential
mating dance (R.R.) on Valentine's Day. How poetic. Some editor at the NYT must be tickled pink.
How old will I be before it's unnecessary to constantly remind people that "content is king." And I don't care if you think it's cliched. It's only cliched for those of us who figured it out early. There are still too many "them's" out there that
still don't get it. So it's always nice to see an article like
this one. Check out the last line. I hope he's right.
It's been so long since I've seen Trent Lott's name in the news, I'd almost forgotten about him. Almost. (He is after all the subject of my very first blog post on Outrage.com so he'll always have a special place on my outrage scale.) So now Lott and the rest of our esteemed Congressional representatives are weighing in on the
Super Bowl half time show -- forevermore to be known as
Nipplegate. Give 'em a few days -- we'll have a constitutional amendment in the works. Because there's really nothing more important for them to focus their attention on, now is there?
P.S. - You have to love Dingell's quote at the end of one of the stories -- "We find ourselves faced with an industry that has failed to control itself." Hello, speaking of lack of control....if that isn't an example of the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is.
I couldn't agree more with
this headline. Too bad they spelled it wrong though. It's C-A-R-E-Y.
So some say that it's
Clearly Kerry.
But Matt
Drudge reports today -- I'd seen this before but can't remember where -- that Kerry may have an intern in the closet. My reaction? Who cares. I'd rather have a president that's more interested in making love, than making war. Bring it on.
Update (Feb. 16.): First things first - will these denials make this rumor disappear? Unfortunately not. And second, I had seen the rumor discussed before I saw it on Drudge - a week before on Watchblog, a political blog I contribute to.
Salon.com has a great article titled "
Outlawing Dissent." (Thanks for the link RG) (subscription only)
Unfortunately, most of it is unavailable due to the "subscription only" thing. This topic is of such importance I think Salon.com should make an exception and make this article available to everyone. And I've told them so -- but I'm not sure it'll do much good. I'll keep an eye out to see if it's reprinted anywhere else.
I can't remember the last time I saw
a story that made me happier. My outrage? What in god's name took them so long to figure this one out?
I'm back at school -- for an MS in Education. During class tonight, the professor talked about the growing "struggling class" that is rapidly replacing the middle class in this country and the emergence of "
two Americas." What's happening here can't be summed up in a 30-second commercial -- but Americans had better start paying attention.
I recommend one of the assigned readings for the class - "Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too?" -- by John W. Gardner. While it's tied in to education it raises political and social issues that are as timely now -- maybe more so -- as when this was written, first in 1961, then revised in 1984.
According to
this article, Spirit has uncovered a surprise on Mars. I think
this picture -- which is making its way around the world via email I think -- gives us a more accurate picture of just what exactly is going on up there.
I find it hard to believe that I actually am feeling a little bit guilty. Of the 38 mouse traps the exterminator -- Sandy's his name -- laid on Friday afternoon, one was tripped this morning. In the upstairs storage closet -- which I visit only twice a year when I hold my bi-annual seasonal clothes migration.
So the great mouse infestation at Ellen's house was not quite so bad as I feared last week. He pulled the one trap out of 38 and an adult field mouse was laying there dead, in a fetal position -- all for want of a little peanut butter. And now I'm starting to think -- how bad is it really if there's a mouse or two in the house.
I saw a mouse in my kitchen this morning. It scurried from there to under our bear claw table and I lost sight of it. Tilly the cat seemed more traumatized than I was. And while I've gotten some well meaning advice, it doesn't help my trauma. I can't stand the thought of a mouse -- or two -- running around the house. If it were the basement, I'd be less freaked. But the kitchen is a foyer and hallway away from our bedroom. I'm not sure I'll sleep tonight.
You know,
this decision is like one big "triple dog dare you" from the honorable justices on the Massachusetts Supreme Court to our Fearful Leader GWB. It's like they've said -- just try and go ahead with a Constitutional amendment, dammit.
Boy oh boy, I'm starting to think that that time traveller who warned of civil war starting around 2005 may be legit. We're heading into some very amazing times. I used to always think that I should have been a twenty-something during the Revolutionary War. My favorite biographies as a kid were of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Adams, Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher -- if you're my age and spent any time in a library you remember the series of books. Makes me wonder what a revolution today would really look like? And would we know it when it started?
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you" is one of my favorite expressions. So according to
this article about bribery and the Medicare bill, I can now add "just because a complaint hadn't been filed, you can't say we're not going to pursue it." Same thought process anyway, right?
But what's missing here is a truthful discourse about politics. This is how those people work -- whether it's in a Town Hall on Long Island or the Cannon House Office Building in our Nation's Capitol. These guys have been strong-arming to get what they want for so long they don't know how to do it any other way. Calling it bribery doesn't do it justice. It just reinforces the fallacy that all we need to do is get rid of a few bad apples. The problem isn't with one -- or a dozen -- public officials. The problem is the system that creates them in the first place. This one should be interesting to watch as we near Election Day. From
Abscam to
Wilbur Mills (or any of the
other famous scandals), the House is a petri dish for this kind of behavior.
Here -- I'm going to fill every one in on a little secret. (And if you've worked more than two weeks in any office with a hierarchy, I'm preaching to the choir.) Ready?
Ellen's Law of Hierarchy
The higher up you go in the chain of command, the less likely you are able to read.
I don't buy the "too busy to read" nonsense. I really believe that they cannot read. That must be the case, since so few executive actually do read what they're given. That's why I'm ready to save the US a major expense. There's no need to create a commission into
WMD intelligence -- or lack thereof -- blame the "I only read bullet points" generation. They haven't read anything beyond two paragraphs at a time in a dogs age. Believe me.
I think David Kay agrees with me, according to this quote from CNN:
"There are caveats that clearly dropped out, dissenting opinions that clearly dropped out, as you moved higher up and people read the headline summaries," Kay said. "I think this is something that needs to be investigated and looked at."
I couldn't agree more.
No I am not outraged over the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake
derobing, something Timberlake called a "
wardrobe malfunction." Although the
FCC says they are. Outraged, that is. What I am outraged about is that the ENTIRE halftime show consisted of women ripping their clothes off while lyrics about sex became increasingly more explicit (not to mention hard to understand but that could just be a sign that I'm officially old.) Who could buy this publicity? Though
Tom Shales came close, I haven't seen one mention of my outrage in the media. Show a boob and you get the whole world's attention. Degrade and humilate woman and it's art. Sigh.
And CBS had the nerve to turn down
MoveOn.org's commercial blasting George Bush? What -- it didn't have any sexual references or dysfunctional animals in it? What in god's name is wrong with this picture?
Update (Feb. 5): I've been waiting for the press to catch up. Here's
a good one.
