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Democrat Game Rules May Change
March 11, 2008
No, this is not about the Democratic Party rule that deletes
two of the 50 states from the upcoming party convention.
This is about the contestant rules I wrote about in my March
9 blog.
Now that the Obama “campaign” has crucified a trusted
advisor for being honest (as required by the rules), it is
Clinton’s turn to stage a crucifixion. As if by design, a
unique opportunity has presented itself.
Remember Geraldine Ferraro. Most people won’t, but she was
actually the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential nominee in
1984. Her nomination to that status effectively killed that
year’s Democratic Party quest for the presidency. Walter
Mondale built the Democratic Party coffin and Ferraro
hammered in the nails.
Ferraro is now spending time bilking people out of their
hard-earned money to pay for Hillary Clinton’s contest entry
fees. Go figure. Not that Ferraro is very successful at fund
raising. If she were, Hillary would not have had to
contribute personal funds to her own campaign a few weeks
ago. Apparently Ferraro is about as successful at fund
raising as she was in marching the Democratic Party to
victory in 1984.
Ferraro offered herself up for crucifixion on Friday when
she said publicly, “If Obama was a white man, he would not
be in this position. And if he was a woman he would not be
in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he
is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”
As expected, a senior Obama campaign advisor called on
Hillary Clinton to “repudiate” Ferraro’s comments. Hillary
could crucify Ferraro either by dismissing her from the
campaign finance committee or with an appropriately worded
response to Ferraro’s comments. But will she? I don’t think
so.
After all; Ferraro has raised a few pennies for the Hillary
boondoggle, but how would it look if Hillary fired at
another woman? That would not endear her to her female
supporters. Votes are at stake here. The only way to handle
this situation is to change the rules of the game.
OK. from now on we stop crucifying supporters and staffers
who become emotional about the competition. We will
relinquish that role to Al Sharpton. Come on Al, where are
you? Someone uttered a sentence with the word “black” in it
and you are strangely silent. Are you ill?
As fate would have it though, Ferraro, like Power is
absolutely correct in her assessment of a candidate. Obama
would NOT be where he is now if he lived in a different
color skin. He would never have garnered the attention of
the press if he wasn’t black. His message (whatever that is)
would never have received airtime. Imagine a white candidate
with no credible experience and no intelligent position on
any major issue announcing a run for the presidency. We
would all have a good laugh and go about our business. It
might not even be worth a good laugh.
But Americans love entertainment and what could be more
entertaining. Here we have running for president an older
white woman who claims everybody is ganging up on her
because she’s a woman, and an inexperienced, well-spoken and
intelligent black man with no agenda except to “make
history.”
This is the stuff successful sit-coms on television are made
of. Remarkably, this show even stayed on the air during the
writers strike. In this sitcom game show, neither candidate
has the courage or honesty to take on the other candidate,
so they both assign that task to staffers and supporters who
can then be crucified for doing exactly what they were
expected to do.
I suppose this television sitcom will be cancelled about the
time of the Democratic Party convention and we will all move
on to the business of electing the white male Democrat
candidate for president, McCain. This game show is losing
more and more viewers every day because the cast members are
poor actors and totally unbelievable.
But what of Ferraro? It gets more and more interesting. She
is definitely honest but also divisive. Criticism of her
comments about Obama motivated her to respond that she is
being criticized for her remarks because she is white. Wow,
another Hillary. I'm waiting for Ferraro to cry on national
television.
Ferraro then implied if Obama defeated Clinton in the party
selection game she would not raise money to support his race
for the presidency against McCain if he continued to
criticize her. Don't you just love politics?
Get this Geraldine; “If Hillary was a man, she would not be
in this position. And if she was black, she would not be in
this position. She happens to be very lucky to be who she
is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” Damned if
it doesn’t fit both of the Democratic Party losers running
for president.
TOP
Off The Record
March 9, 2008
Samantha Power is the latest casualty in America’s greatest
comedy of all time, the 2008 Democratic Party presidential
candidate Marathon and Dirty Tricks Show.
To liven up this televised spectacle for the American
public, the Democratic contestants make up the rules as they
go along. The rules of course, are secret but apparently
require the periodic crucifixion of one or another
contestant’s trusted advisors for being honest (and of
course for game publicity).
Samantha Power is no lightweight. A graduate of Yale
University and Harvard Law School as well as an experienced
journalist, Power won a Pulitzer Prize for General
Non-Fiction in 2003. I accord her a moderate degree of
credibility even if she does tend to support no-chance
causes like an Obama presidency or US military intervention
in out-of-the-way places with no oil reserves, like Darfur.
Unfortunately, Power dropped her guard during a newspaper
interview last week when she referred to Hillary Clinton as
“a monster.” She allegedly made her remarks “off the record”
but should have known better. She was once a journalist and
understands full well that nothing is ever “off the record.”
Following publication of Power’s remarks in a Scottish
newspaper, the Clinton “campaign” demanded she be crucified.
Although settlement terms were not publicly disclosed, Obama
somehow avoided personal involvement in the crucifixion by
convincing her to nail her own self to the cross. She
complied by resigning.
Too bad. It distresses me deeply when someone is punished
for being honest. That is exactly what happened to Power,
even though she went out of her way to be polite during the
interview. The truth is that Hillary Clinton is worse than
any mere monster. Hillary is the impending scourge of our
beloved American way of life. Hillary deserves to be labeled
worse things than “a monster,” but I try to avoid profanity
in my blogs. So I will restrain myself and merely echo
Samantha Power’s accurate yet understated honest statement
of fact that Hillary Clinton is a monster.
Hillary intends to tax me into oblivion while she gives away
my hard-earned money to lazy people who don't work. Hillary
intends to take away my health care and redistribute it to
lazy people who don’t pay for their own. Hillary intends to
make it easy for every terrorist in the world to enter and
stay in the United States. She will even give them free
scholarships to attend our institutions of higher learning.
Hillary intends to starve us all by turning our food into
fuel. Hillary believes husbands should be permitted to
commit adultery. Hillary believes personal opinions carry
more weight than scientific evidence in matters related to
alleged global warming. Hillary believes any criticism of
her or her ludicrous positions is a gender-oriented personal
attack. Hillary is schizophrenic. Hillary is out of control,
out of her mind and well . . . she’s a monster.
Samantha, I’m still a fan. Please take things in stride and
continue supporting the causes you tend to gravitate
towards. Without you it would be difficult to point to a
textbook example of the stereotypical left-wing extremist.
But you’re honest. I’ll give you that. Dinner at my house
any time. I just need three or four days advance notice and
I promise everything you say in my home will be “off the
record.”
TOP
Republican Party Murdered by Rush Limbaugh and Sean
Hannity
February 10, 2008
Conservative spokesmoron Rush Limbaugh and Reagan worshiper
Sean Hannity have finally been bitch-slapped by the ice-cold
breeze of political and social reality.
God long ago recalled his talent on loan to Rush (with
interest) and Sean still believes Ronald Reagan was once
president, even given the fact that everybody else knows
Ronald’s wife Nancy and her personal astrologer ran the
country, not Ronald. Ronald had departed on a tour of
alternate universes.
Radio entertainers like Rush and Sean with delusional
fantasies are amusing. After a while though, their lack of
an anchor in reality renders them bothersome and pathetic;
but mostly just plain pathetic. Rush and Sean claim to be
influential. And they are. The irony is that together their
influence has motivated a mass exodus of American
Republicans away from the Republican party due to
disillusionment with Rush and Sean’s concept of
conservatism.
Rush and Sean’s personal definitions of “conservatism” are
unrealistic, presumptions and religiously bigoted. No amount
of blabbering on the radio will ever cause a rebirth of
Reagan conservatism. Times have changed. The world has
changed. Politics have changed and American values have
changed. Americans are disgusted with
self-proclaimed “pure” conservatives who believe government should
stay out of peoples’ lives while the conservatives themselves
still dictate how people live and think.
The results of Super Tuesday’s primary circus stand as
irrefutable proof that “pure” conservatives have lost their
stranglehold on the Republican party. Public disdain for
ultra-conservative doctrine has caused an event unique in
American history. It is now certain the only candidates
running for president this year are Obama, Clinton (not sure
which Clinton), and McCain. I believe this is the first time
the Republican party has ever permitted a Democrat to be
selected as the Republican party nominee for President. The
Republican party as we know it is in its death throes. Good
riddance.
Republicans find themselves in a lose-lose situation for
America. No matter who wins the general election, we end up
with a Democrat in the White House. That bodes ill for the
middle class, it portends the end of credible health care in
this country and invites every terrorist in the world to
ignore our immigration laws and take up residence (and their
war) on our territory. Thank you Rush and Sean, and all of
your “pure” conservatives out there for
turning almost all of the Republicans in this country
against their own political party. It would not surprise me
to discover you are both on the Clinton payroll.
It is time for a new definition and practice of
conservatism; one that truly respects the principle of less
government (including state and local government) and a
position that champions the right of American citizens (and
I mean American “citizens”) to privacy and
personal choice. The American people have had enough of the
ultra-conservative religious influence on our lives, our
government and our country’s foreign politics. It appears
quite the paradox that the ultra-conservatives conveniently
ignored the intent of our founding fathers to separate state
and religion.
The only current path left for Republicans is to wait out
four disastrous years of a Democrat administration and in
the meantime work very hard at rebuilding a new Republican
party that is more in touch with the realities of today's
world. Hopefully, time is on our side. With any luck, all of
the ultra-conservative old farts with their finger up the
Republican party’s asshole will have succumbed to old age
before the Clinton-style Democrats (including McCain)
totally destroy America and the American way of life we are
allegedly entitled to enjoy.
TOP
Christina Aguilera Shines
May 2, 2007
It isn’t often that a contemporary music artist comes to
Raleigh, North Carolina. To be sure, we have our fair share
of concerts but they are usually performed by old-timers
like Chicago, Huey Lewis, Billy Joel and the like. Not that
I’m knocking the old-timers. They all performed superbly. It
would be nice though to see someone under the age of 50
shaking their badonkadonks on stage for a change.
That’s why I looked forward for months to the Christina
Aguilera concert. Imagine; Christina coming to Raleigh.
Miracles do happen. This miracle was all the more astounding
because I suspected she was bringing along The Pussycat
Dolls to open the show. Ticketmaster didn’t mention the
Dolls, but I’d heard things.
Why my fascination with The Pussycat Dolls? Having
(repeatedly) watched all of their music videos (including
their live tour performance) I wasn’t convinced they really
exist. Sorry, but who can believe five women singing that
good, looking that good and moving that good could occupy
the same space on the same stage at the same time? That
would undoubtedly create a critical mass of estrogen that
would explode with cataclysmic devastation surpassing a
high-yield nuclear bomb.
The Pussycat Dolls have to be some kind of advanced CGI
animation from Dreamworks or Pixar. I just wanted to see how
they intended to fool us with a live performance. Disney
doesn’t make animatronics “that” good.
After months of excited anticipation, Sondra and I ended up
at the RBC Center in Raleigh. For once we even arrived early
and beat most of the traffic. Armed with warm, fresh
pretzels and drinks, we sat down in our cramped stadium
seats to watch the concert.
A group called Danity Kane began the show with a talent
contest. Apparently there was no winner. Five energetic
young women ran all over the stage for what appeared to be
their first day of cheerleading practice, all the while
screeching several songs I never heard before (and hope I
never hear again). I was thankful when they sang their last
song “Showstopping,” which actually did stop the entire
concert for about 15 minutes.
During the intermission I couldn’t suppress a horrible
thought that the Pussycat Dolls had called in sick and
Danity Kane was a last-minute replacement. Or maybe as
originally suspected, The Pussycat Dolls aren’t real and the
show producers had decided not to try fooling us with a
contrived live performance. It seemed to take forever for
the next part of the show to start. I was expecting
Christina, but when the curtain went up, there they were.
Honest. Six very live, vivacious, beautiful and sexy
Pussycat Dolls, just like in the videos. Singing and dancing
for real. Ladies and gentlemen, The Pussycat Dolls are real.
I’ve seen them. My CGI theory is down the drain. But there
may be something to my explosive estrogen theory.
Sporadically during The Pussycat Dolls performance there
were blinding flashes of white light from the stage whenever
the Dolls got too close together and started throwing down
moves. I’m not making this up. The flashes were so bright
everyone on the stage would fade out momentarily. Luckily
there wasn’t any permanent optic nerve damage although I did
have trouble reading direction signs on the way back to the
hotel after the concert.
We’re lucky they didn’t all come together for a group hug or
something like that. It would have been the end of us all.
How could anyone follow The Pussycat Dolls? I was beginning
to think Christina had made a tactical mistake. You can’t
watch Christina after you’ve been blinded by The Pussycat
Dolls. At least, that’s what I thought.
After another agonizingly long intermission the music
started up, the curtain rose, the background videos came on
and Christina appeared at the center of a spectacular mosaic
of light, dancers, musicians and costuming.
This was no concert. This was a two-hour extravaganza with
Las Vegas, Broadway, Paris, and Hollywood seamlessly woven
together with Christina’s incredible voice in a two-hour
orgasm of audiovisual teasing, foreplay and fulfillment.
I’ve been to the Moulon Rouge. I’ve seen the shows at Las
Vegas, Tahoe, and Reno. I’ve attended a lot of concerts in
my life and many of them have knocked my socks off. But
this; this was . . . absolutely the best.
From the first time I saw a live performance video of
Christina, I predicted she would eclipse any female
performer before her. Christina sings so effortlessly with
such unerring pitch and precision there is only one way she
can possibly move for the forseeable future, and that is
“up.” This is pure, raw talent and I suspect we’ve only
witnessed the proverbial tip of the iceberg thus far. I
think 30 years from know I’ll still be saying “I was right
about Christina,” because she will still be there proving me
right.
Thank you Jamie King, for choreographing and directing
Christina’s concert. Thank you Roberto Cavalli, for the
costume design. Kudos to the dancers, musicians and
background singers. I have never seen such a successful
collaboration of vision, talent and presentation. This one
would be difficult for even Christina to top. But I hope I
can be there for her next concert tour, when I’m sure she
will.
To the girl who sat behind me at the concert and screamed “I
love you Christina” several times in my ear, I only want to
say; “She was 100 meters away you little groupie and she
couldn’t hear you. I’m glad you lost your voice. The
Pussycat Dolls took out my vision and you managed to take
out my hearing.” But somehow it was all worth it, for Christina.
Thanks Christina, for coming to Raleigh. You outshine them
all.
TOP
Paris Hilton Chickens Out
April 26, 2007
During a concert in Las Vegas on 20 April (according to Us
Magazine), Prince invited Paris Hilton to join him on stage.
As he handed over the microphone, Prince said to the crowd,
“Let’s see if she can really sing.”
Apparently she can’t. Paris reportedly became angry, stormed
off the stage and left the club shortly thereafter. Prince
is not commenting on the incident and a representative for
Paris claims it never happened. Be that as it may, I
congratulate Prince on his brilliantly executed plan to
terminate any lingering public suspicion that Hilton has
musical talent.
For more than 20 years, Prince has offered up a steady
stream of musical masterpieces, electrifying performances
and artistically sensual music videos. His influence on
generations of performing artists is significant and
undeniable. If anyone exemplifies natural talent, hard work
and passion, Prince ranks at the top of the music industry.
It would be sheer folly to question his musical judgment. So
I join him in a chorus of “Ode to Paris Hilton’s Singing
Career.”
Yes, in August 2006, I was one of the first purchasers of
her newly released music CD. You’ve undoubtedly heard of
vanity presses that writers use to self-publish books. The
Paris CD was published by . . . Paris. She founded Heiress
Records, which released (coincidentally) her own music CD. I
believe hers is the only CD the company has released to
date. Like that’s a big surprise. Now I know why no credible
music publisher would handle her material.
I didn’t buy her CD for myself though, I bought it as a gift
for Sondra. Sondra loves music. All types. In fact, Sondra
loves a broad variety of music so much she will probably
evolve far beyond the iPod generation to become one of the
first consumers on Earth to have a satellite-radio music
channel receiver chip implanted directly in her brain. I
thought it would be nice to give Sondra the new Paris CD on
the day of its release. After all, would Paris embarrass
herself by making a music CD if she couldn’t sing? I guess I
should have taken the hint from her famous (or infamous)
porno video. Paris is not easily embarrassed.
The only talent related to her music CD belongs to the
photographer who took her pictures for the case cover and
insert. Paris does photograph well if the angles are right.
Her music is another story. Paris sings about as good as
Bumble in Happy Feet. If I wanted to listen to a
high school chorus singing obscure songs to unimaginative
musical arrangements, I’d have tuned in to NPR on a Sunday.
As for the CD, all wasn’t lost. Sondra was able to swap it
the next day at LaLa.com for a different CD by someone with
talent. Paris redefines the concept of oblivious. She
obviously thought she could sing well enough to sink a ton
of money into a recording business to publish herself.
Publicity or no publicity, I’m sure there are infinitely
more positive things Paris could do with her money than
burden public eardrums with her mediocrity.
Rumor has it Paris is working on a second music album.
Perhaps she just doesn’t care or maybe she has a trick up
her sleeve (no pun intended). I find it interesting that
Paris recently involved herself so closely with Britney
Spears. In the grand tradition of Milli Vanilli, it wouldn’t
surprise me if the next CD credited to Paris isn’t really
Britney pretending to be Paris. We’ll all have to see if
Britney can stay sober long enough to sing a few complete
songs from backstage while Paris lip-synchs at a live concert.
Hopefully, Paris will learn that curiosity really can kill
the cat when she releases her next CD. Consumers probably
got over being burned once (on the first CD), but they’re
not generally so stupid as to voluntarily ask for it a
second time. Paris should forget her music career and return
to her home video career. People with no musical talent can
not learn how to sing, but practice goes a long way towards
improving performances in the movies
TOP
4/24/07 –
Bush Lacks Confidence in U.S. Troops in Iraq
4/19/07 –
Virginia Tech and the Aftermath
4/14/07 –
McCain Fails The “Honor” Test
4/11/07 – U.S. Media
Loves “Nappy-headed Hos”
4/10/07 – Al Sharpton
Urinates On U.S. Constitution
4/5/07 – Japanese Naval
Officers, Pornography And Missiles
4/1/07 – CDC Declares
National Autism Crisis
2/12/07 – Japanese Men Can’t Get It Up
2/8/07 – Houston, We
Have a Problem
2/7/07 – Manipulation by
a Master
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