Hucka-Bite-Me

Mike Huckabee seemed like such a nice guy--for a rabid right-wing Republican that is. I was taken in by his gentle demeanor, I guess. Compared to other conservatives he appeared actually sane. And he defended Michele Obama for campaigning against obesity which was at least decent. But this week, he's totally lost it with his crazy talk about Natalie Portman's pregnancy and his inaccurate criticism of Obama's life history.

Let's take Portman first. First of all, she is getting married to the father of her child, the guy who choreographed Black Swan. Secondly, she's not holding herself up as a model to all young girls or saying hey, I'm having a baby and you can to. Thirdly, where was his righteous indignation when Bristol Palin got preggers--and that skank's STILL not married! Why didn't Mikie make some noise about Sarah and Todd being awful parents and how they should force Levi to do the right thing and get hitched to their little filly? Why pick on Natalie? I'll tell you why--because she just won an Oscar and Huck saw a chance to throw his base some red meat in the form of Hollywood-bashing. Natalie can support her child, what has that got to do with offering a bad example? He later said he never meant to criticize her and he really enjoyed that ballet movie. Right.

Then Huck went on some crazy radio show and said the Prez couldn't relate to average Americans because he was raised in Kenya where they don't have Boy Scouts and Little League. It also explained why he removed the bust of Winston Churchill because granddad Obama was part of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya which occured when Winnie was Prime Minister. WHAT? A spokesperson later clarified the remark by saying Mike has misspoke and meant Indonesia where Barack did spent five years of his youth--incidentally sources say young Barry was a Boy Scout in Jakarta, so there.

The "misspoke" gambit doesn't make sense because Huckabee said some very specific things about Obama's supposed Kenyan upbringing like being instilled with an anti-British anti-colonial mindset by his evil Kenyan rebellious relatives. Indonesia was a Dutch colony and had nothing to do with the Mau-Maus. And anyway, weren't George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams rebels like Obama's paternal grandfather? Didn't we rebel against British imperialism like the Kenyans? And do we know that the grandfather was involved in the uprising, that's not even clear.

I read that there were other lies and exaggerations in Huck's talking points. Like the fact that the Winston Churchill bust was not returned to the British but moved to another part of the White House to be replaced by a bust of Abraham Lincoln. Is Huckabee coming out against Lincoln now? I am appalled!

And speaking of Boy Scouts, did you know that Huckabee's son David was fired as a Boy Scouts camp counselor for torturing and killing a dog? And that Huckabee who was governor of Arkansas at the time hushed up the investigation? This was about 10 years ago, but the son was 18 at the time which is pretty old for excusing cruelty to animals as a youthful prank. Why doesn't someone ask Huckabee about his family values if he can raise an animal torturer? If any of Obama's kids did something like that, we'd never hear the end of it from Fox and Friends.

Huckabee seems to be testing the waters for a presidential run, but I doubt if he'll do it. He wants to finish building that house in Florida and his Fox salary is too high for him to give it up. But look for more lies and distortions and "misstatements" about Obama from Huck and his pals.

Forget About Jobs Coming Back, Plus ruminations on Kathy Griffin and Joan Rivers

Despite victories on financial reform, capping the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the fine for Goldman Sachs, Obama and the Democrats are still trailing in the polls. Just as Dems hated Bush's guts, Repubs can't stand Obama's audacity to try to do something for people--and spending money doing it (even though Bush did the same thing.) It all boils down to--where are the freakin' jobs? The average American is saying "I don't give a crap about gays getting married or in the miltary, oil spills, stocks, bail outs, or any of that shit. Just give me a job so I can watch American Idol in peace."

Unemployment hovers at around 10 percent and it's probably going to stay there for a while. The reason is employers have discovered they like it like this. During the recent economic crisis, thousands if not millions of people were laid off and the companies realized, "Hey there was a lot of waste the ways things were before. Now one person can do the work of three and we only have to pay the one salary and benefit package. Why should we hire back anybody when we can work those remaining like dogs and make bigger profits?"

The repubs will use this in their bid to take back Congress in 2010. Their soul aim is to stop any sort of meanigful legislation, say NO to everything and get back in power. Fortunately Scott Brown and the women from Maine went along with financial reform. Speaking of Scott Brown, I had no problem with Kathy Griffin's joke about his daughters being prostitutes. They are both grown women and Brown set it up with his comment them being available during his acceptance speech. I also find it ironic that all this moral indignation is coming from a former Playgirl model. She's a commedienne, it was a joke. Similarly Joan Rivers was very funny in the new documentary on her life and effectively dealt with a heckler objecting to her making Helen Keller jokes. "I have a deaf son, that's not funny," he yelled. She responded, "I'll have you know I have a deaf mother and I lived with a man for 17 years who lost his leg in World war I and then went back to get it." It was pretty funny that she ad libbed all that. I haven't always found Rivers all that funny, but you have to admire her for perserving through all kinds of setbacks. Not many people of her age (77) are still on top and in the public eye. She also pointed out during her rant to the heckler that we have to be able to laugh at anything--including pompous Scott Brown. I do still like him for having voted the right way on occasion.

Surprise! Obama is NOT Superman

During the past few weeks, being the comic book geek that I am, I imagined now would be the perfect time for Superman. He's plug up that erupting volcano so air traffic in Europe would not be disrupted and for an afternoon follow-up, he'd stop the oil from flowing into the Gulf. But guess what? Superman is not real. And guess what else, America--Barack Obama is not going to find a convenient supply closet in the White House and switch into his super-suit and fly down to the New Orleans to stop the leak all by himself. I believe a lot of people think he has the power to do it, but is just being lazy going off the fundraisers for Barbara Boxer. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there were unrealistic expectations for Obama. So many were so relieved he wasn't Bush, they thought he could do anything. "Hey, he's un-Bush-Man! That's just as good as Superman!"

The ironic thing is the oil spill is not Obama's fault, but he's going to get the blame for it because it happened on his watch. What every rock-dumb American voter angry with the President does not realize is that this situation and the financial crisis and quite a few other crises were caused by his predecessor--if not W directly that the philosophy of the Republican Party, which is the less government interference in big business, the better. So Bush and his dad and Ronnie had been dismantling regulations to keep companies like BP from indulging in risky behaviour. As a result, we get lax safety standards, and big oil spills. Drill, baby, drill, indeed. I hope Sarah and Rudy can sleep at night after having chanted that dumb slogan. Maybe they will wake up to find an oil-coated pelican in their beds.

What's really ironic is Obama will get the blame and we'll have a Repub Congress and President who will push for even less regulation. These Tea Partiers want no government in their lives--and this is the direct result. People like Rand Paul are popular in Kentucky and states like that because they preach that junk--I heard he was named for Ayn Rand which makes sense since she believed if you had the right philosophy and were talented and smart enough and looked like Gary Cooper, it was perfectly all right to blow up a building if it offended your aesthetic sensibility. (Fountainhead reference)

Now it looks like the oil will continue flowing into August until they can finish drilling a second hole to relieve the pressure. I have a bad feeling Obama will become associated with this just like Carter became synonomous with the Iran hostage crisis. Then the repubs will cast some white knight--literally--to ride in to the rescue and then we'll find out he's not Superman either. Or if it's Sarah Palin, that she's not Wonder Woman.

Scenes from the Life of an Amatuer Comic Book Collector (16)--Easter in Allentown

Allentown, Pa., is famous as a place people need to get away from. In both the movie and Broadway stage version of 42nd Street, Peggy Sawyer hails from this hamlet. When she tells Julian Marsh "Show business isn't for me, I'm going back to Allentown," he erupts "I'm giving you the chance to star in the biggest show Broadway has seen in 20 years and you tell me Allentown???" Rose in Bye Bye Birdie and both Frankie and Johnny in Terrence McNally's play Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune are also escapees.

So where else did I spend last Saturday but in said burg? My friend Diane was visiting her mother for Easter weekend and I was visiting my folks in Consohocken near Philly. Conveniently, the Merchants Square Mall was hosting the Great Allentown Comic Con that day. I drove the hour to visit, met Diane and her mom at the mall, shopped for comics, then we had lunch at the IHOP--I had the strawberry pancakes with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausages--and we had the guided tour of Allentown. Highlights include the diner where President Obama had lunch last December and they saved the remains of his food for weeks, and the building where they hid the Liberty Bell during the Revolutionary War figuring no one would look in this hick burg. But I kid because I love, as Krusty the Clown says.

The comic con was actually a comic show with about 15 dealers selling their wares and maybe about 100 attendees, five of whom were in costume. Why do they always come as stormtroopers from Star Wars? There is always one table where they sell for half-price and I find it right away, spending over $70. I did find another table where they had really good stuff from the early to late 1960s with no covers and pretty beat up for only $1 a book, so I bought seven of those including two Mystery in Spaces with Adam Strange stories I have in the DC Showcase Adam Strange collection, but two absolutely beautiful sci-fi back-up stories with fantastic art by Murphy Anderson--The Answer Man of Space and The Trojan Whale of Space.

Here are the comics I bought:
Action 349 (coverless), 389
Adventure 385
The Atom 25
Captain America 102
DC Showcase 41 (Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers)
Detective Comics 301, 360, 443
The Flash 161
House of Mystery 163
Jimmy Olsen 79, 80, 106, 127, 130
Journey into Mystery (with Thor) 119
Lois Lane 27 (coverless)
Metal Men 37
Mystery in Space 73, 76 (both coverless)
Strange Adventures 122, 140
Superboy 132, 156 (giant)
Superman coverless giant spotlighting Lex Luthor with first seven pages missing, 230
Superman Family 165
Thor 133, 137
World's Finest 148, 181, 203 (last two coverless)

Health Reform--But at What Cost to Obama?

I watched the Health Care Reform vote on Sunday as if it were the Academy Awards. I was happy that it passed, but I'm fearful of what comes next. Yes, it's a triumph of political maneuvering on the part of Obama and Pelosi, but can the President sell it to these angry town-hall disrupters?

What's missing is an honest, dispassionate debate on the bill and what it does and does not say. We need to get beyond the name-calling and fear-mongering and spinning--on both sides. Yes, it's reprehensible that the n-word and the f-word were flung at congressmen by a few angry protestors and that Congressman from Texas called Stupak a baby killer (or that he said "It's a baby killer" referring to the bill, though nobody has found the "It's a..." on tape). But I want to see a calm, cool discussion on why those angry people are so angry and what are they so afraid of? I want Obama to talk to people like them and allay their fears and explain that most of the stuff they think is in the bill (death panels like on that episode of The Twilight Zone with Fritz Weaver and Burgess Meredith, rationing of care, etc.) just isn't there. Or is all this just ginned up by Fox and Friends? I feel sometimes we're living in two different worlds. One says this is the best thing that ever happened since Social Security and the Civil Rights Act, another says this is the worst thing that could ever happen and it's the end of America.

I'm genuinely worried that the congratulatory ink spilled by Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd isn't gonna mean shit in November and possibly in 2012 when these red-state yahoos and tea-baggers try to take back Congress and the White House.

Project Runway Skips a Week, Health Care Takes Precedence

So I get home last night after a hard day of reviewing plays expecting to watch the latest fashion smackdown on Project Runway and for some reason, the damned thing ain't even on. They're showing last week's episode and then some lame Will and Grace rerun (the one with Matt Damon pretending to be gay). We turn on Hardball with Chris Matthews who has an extra-long show to dissect the health care summit. Obama was on fire telling those obstructionist Republicans where to get off with their "Let's start all over again with a blank slate so we can get the credit" crap. When he told that smarmy congressman who favored health-care saving accounts, "Well that's fine for you because you make six figures, but what about the average American making $40,000 a year?," I was like "YEAH! Stick it to that smug bastard."

This is what the Prez should have done MONTHS ago, but he was too afraid of looking partisan and worried about another dose of Hilarycare with the Congress not being allowed to put together the legislation. He needs to go before the public every day of the week and sell the hell outta this bill. He needs to tell the people who don't watch Fox, CNN and MSNBC 24/7--"Look, don't listen to these right-wing talking heads, I am fighting for you every minute to get you affordable health care. Bohner and those other guys just want to help the insurance companies. Just listen to what they say--you don't need unemployment insurance or stimulus-created jobs, just suck it up. That's how they think. They think government shouldn't help ANYBODY except big corporations and you know where that leads. I am here for YOU, the mom working two jobs at Walmart and the Stop and Shop, the dad taking an extra shift at the toothpaste factory, the freelancer who can't afford a decent TV." Please make that message clear, Barack. People will listen.

Nightmare Scenario for 2012

I've stopped watching the political shows because I'm so disgusted with the scene--particularly the Democrats who have allowed their supremacy in Congress to slip through their fingers in a year. They've still got a big majority, but now they're so scared of filibusters, they won't do anything. I recently found a New Yorker from 2008 with Norman Mailer's letters chronicling his attitudes towards the changing political scene from 1945 to 2005. In a letter to Sal Cetrano (I have no idea who that is) in 1999, he sums up my feelings:

"While the Democrats, and Clinton first, disgust me with what I call their 'boutique politics'--a little bit here, a little bit there, and served with loads of bullshit slathered over it--the Republicans are a psychotic monstrosity. On the one hand, they're God, flag, family--although few of them would know Jesus Christ if he were standing at the next urinal pissing along with them--and an astonishing number never served in the armed forces nor heard a bullet, and being politicians they cheat like jackrabbits on their wives and families."

Some members of the left are furious because Obama has not remained pure and will probably go more centerist as he loses ground. There was a post today from a gay website about punishing the democrats and the president for not eliminating Don't Ask Don't Tell. Yes, let everyone know your displeasure. But in the next election, who else are you going to vote for? Republicans will never support gay causes until they think it will help them--which is never.

The way things are going, here's a possible nightmare scenario: Scott Brown, the new Rep. senator from Mass., gets real popular. He runs for President in 2012 on the platform: "Hey, I haven't been in Washington long enough to be an insider. I'm an outsider just like you, middle America. I've been in the Senate about as long as Barack Obama was, and besides, I'm hot, sexy, and white! Vote for me!" Maybe he'll get Michelle Bachman to be Vice President, sort of a sexy dad and mom thing going on. They throw cases of tea into Boston Harbor. It gets played all over Fox. There are enough idiots who buy this crap that the best government is no government. "Brown and Bachman: We Won't Do Shit for You!" They are swept in on a tide of anti-government resentment. They dismantle the entire Congress except for a Bureau of Morals to contain homosexuality, capitalists do whatever they want, we return to the Gilded Age with no unions, medicare, social security or abortions, and Pat Buchanan dies happily.

Obama Gets Caught Off Base

While driving to Philly to visit my parents for News Years weekend, my partner Jerry and I were listening to an African-American-interest show on NPR. There was a segment called From the Barbershop and they were reviewing both the year and the decade past. One of commentators noted that the actor Danny Glover recently stated that he didn't see much of a diffference between the policiies of Barack Obama and George W. Bush. The commentator said Hollywood people should not talk about politics and that included Spike Lee. But Glover's disillusion with Obama lead me to think about why the "left-wing base"--and there is one, it's just not as vocal or nasty as the right wing base and they don't dress up in 1776 costumes and throw tea parties, maybe they should--is disappointed with the president.

The left base is angry because Obama is turning out to be too much like every other president--he makes noises to appease those who elected him and then in order to get any legislation done, he compromises with the opposite side and winds up governing to the middle--which, like it or not, is where most of the country is ideologically. The voters who were enthuiastic for Obama from the very beginning of his candidacy loved him because they took his talk of change literally. They thought if he were president, he'd close Gitmo immediately, withdraw all the troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan (although he never said he would do the latter), repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, get at least a public option for health care if not single-payer, and give all their children college scholarships and run in a marathon and win every event in the Olympics all at the same time.

These idealist Democrats rejected Hillary Clinton because they thought she represented "old" Washington. She wouldn't stand for anything, she'd just get stuff done and how boring is that? I voted for Mrs. Clinton in the NY primary because I thought she would make the better president--she had been in the White House and in the Senate and she knew how the game is played. You cosy up to your opponents (she's friends with McCain) and give them something in return for what you need. Now Obama is doing the same thing--look at the all the compromises in health care, Nebraska's getting everything for free just because their senator wouldn't vote for it otherwise. The extreme left is all downhearted because Obama is playing the game. It would take a truly revolutionary person to change Washington--and they don't always succeed. Woodrow Wilson ruined his presidency and his health, suffering a stroke when he tried to get America to take a leadership position and join the League of Nations. Lincoln saved the country from disunion, but gave his life.

Obama's popularity is slipping because he's playing for the middle and is pissing off both extreme left and right. It's interesting there were parallel situations in both Congress over health care and Copenhagen over climate change with negotations producing results which made all parties angry. He accepted the Nobel Peace Prize yet maintained the importance of military force when necessary. Obama is trying for a balancing act and it's a difficult task. I hope he strikes the right balance so the Republicans can't use him as a target to make gains in the House and Senate and possibly take back the White house in 2012. Progressives need to grow up and realize nothing gets done with some compromises.

Why Are Republicans Eating Each Other Alive?

I hate to admit it but the GOP is in a fairly good position for 2010. There is growing dissatisfaction with Obama because he doesn't seem to be able to clean up the enormous pile of shit left behind by the previous administration with a wave of his magic wand. The economy hasn't been fixed and it's been almost a whole year. C'mon already, what are you waiting for, the impatient babies of the nation are whining. So the Repubs can take advantage of that by seizing the volatile independents in the middle who have no political convictions, they just want their meals on the table, cheap tickets to NASCAR and for their asses not to bet blown up.

But the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt seems to shooting itself in the collective foot--or rather the right foot is stomping on the left. But skewing to the extreme right with these tea bag nut jobs, they risk losing the center. You win elections by kissing up to the middle. Just ask Barack and Bill and both Bushes. Even Ronnie knew enough not get too Archie Bunker-ish.

The tea parties will definitely help them in the south, but it will kill them up north. Ironic isn't it since tea parties started in Boston.

So I am kinda worried about the midterms, but I still feel OK for 2012. How have they got to challenge Obama? Palin is a joke but a dangerous one that some take seriousky. Huckabee is even-tempered and presents a pleasant front, but is too religious. Romney is an insincere stiff and the evangelics think he's a heretic because he's a Mormon. Maybe someone will emerge we haven't even thought of yet. But Obama's saving grace may be that independents will think he's not so bad when you compare him to the crop of losers on the other side.

Obama: Nobel and Gays

With regard to our president winning the Nobel Peace Prize, conservatives are acting like Kayne West at the Video Music Awards. Michael Steele, the RNC chairman is like the rapper who rudely grabbed the trophy out of Taylor Swift's hands and whined it should have gone to Benoyce. Every talking head in the media and the prez as well said West acted like a jerk and now the right-wing is doing the same thing and no one is calling them on it (except for my crew at MSNBC prime time.) Last week Obama lost his bid to bring the Olympics to Chicago and these morons were cheering that America lost. Now America wins a distinguished award from the international community and they sneer and jeer. I could not believe some of the reaction. I saw on Morning Joe (MSNBC not prime time) they were actually saying "There is no up side." (And I actually was liking Joe before this because he admired Obama for going to Copenhagen to campaign for the Olympics.)

No up side! How about the world respects our president and looks to him to bring peace unlike his lame-ass predecessor who ruined our economy and got us into an unnecessary war (I will give him a pass on Afghanistan, but Iraq was just revenge for Daddy Bush). I understand the criticism that it may appear that the award has been presented for Obama's promise of leadership and setting a tone of cooperation among nations rather than substantive results. You can certainly say that without calling the award an embarassment. I think these people (Rush, Glenn, etc.) just can't stand that the world loves--I mean loves--Obama. They thought they had him in a box when he lost the Olympics, but now he's won a victory and they can not stand it. And it's not like he campaigned for it by taking out an ad in The Hollywood Reporter: "For Your Consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize."

Let me tell you a little story. When I was in Turkey last year, I took the wrong bus and got lost. Nobody spoke English, but the bus driver told his assistant to got off with me and wait for the right bus which was going in the opposite direction. While we waited, we communicated through a few words and signs. "Where you from?" he asked. I answered "America, New York." "Oh, Obama," he smiled and gave me the thumbs up sign. This little anecdote may not mean much, but to me it indicates that countries that mistrusted before as a big bully superpower, now see us as a friend. Maybe awarding the President the Nobel Peace Prize is trifle premature, but there is definitely an up side: the world trusts us again.

The next night, Obama addressed the Human Right Campaign. Many of my fellow gays are pissed he's only given us lip service and very little action. While I am impatient too, I don't know all the stuff going on behind the scenes with the military in order to get "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repealed and I know it's going to be a long uphill battle before the Defense of Marriage Act joins the Dred Scott decision on the ash-heap of history. At least this president has publicly said "There is nothing wrong with being gay, I believe gay people should be treated equally and same-sex couples and families are just as good as straight ones. Get over yourselves, homophobes! Your attitudes are a part of the past and we are moving into the future" or words to that effect. That's more than any other prez has done, and I'm grateful for that much.

Mad Tea Party

(Sung to the tune of "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music"):

Right-wing goons

Looney tunes

Every tea party you show up

Flat earth

Obama's birth

You make me want to throw up

That little ditty occured to me last week as the coverage of the Sept. 12 Tea Party march on Washington unfolded and the inflated numbers were rolled out. I got especially enraged when I saw that Fox was promoting the event as if it were the Second Coming and then had the nerve to take out a full-page ad in the Washington Post asking the rhetorical question: "How could ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC miss this story?" Forget the fact that all five of those networks coverd the event to one degree or another, what really made my blood boil was remembering when I marched on Washington--TWICE--as part of a gay rights protest and we got almost NO coverage from anyone--zip, nada, snoozeville. Our numbers were given short shrift by almost every news outlet--the ones that did cover us--and I will bet you any amount of money that if there were some objective, reliable way to count the marchers, we drew just as many people, if not more, as these loony birds. How come no one said "How could you miss that story?" And when gay people march again later this month, there will almost no coverage--AGAIN. You know why? Because we're not backed by big political interests like the Tea Pot Domers are (I just coined that one, like it?)

And now it's revealed a Fox producer was directing the crowd in one of her shots to cheer and yell. OK, maybe they would have been excited anyway, but Foxy lady, you're not supposed to manipulate the story you're covering--in any way. That's called titling the story towards the outcome you want--not being fair and balanced, you know, your network's motto.

It's late at night and I may ramble a bit here: I don't think Carter was right saying an overwhelming motive behind the anti-Obama vitriol is rooted in racism. Some of it is for sure. But a lot is based on fear that the repubs are ginning up. Fear that this big bad boogie man Obama will take away their insurance and cars and guns and country music and grits and NASCAR races and fatty foods and trips to Disneyland. They'd do that if Obama was white, but his being black adds to the fear for some people.

I heard Glenn Beck say he thought John McCaine would have been worse for the country than Obama. What? He said Mccain was a crazy progressive like Teddy Roosevelt. What a whacked out sense of history. Teddy broke the trusts and helped the average working man--the people Beck supposedly loves and wants to elevate. Now we see his real agenda--keep the proles in line, let the corporations control their lives, as long as it's not big government. Also these tea baggers may form their own third party. Oh please, oh please, do it! Do it! Split the conservatives right down the middle and give the Dems the White House and Congress for sure. This was based on an iterview with some former Rep strategist who believes this whole nutbag movement is based on frustration and dissatisifcation with government in general.

Obama explained it really well on Letterman tonight: this whole economic and health care mess is the result of too little government regulation in the first place (under repub adminsitrations) and now these dimwits think as little government as possible is the answer. Just let private enterprise and capitalism run wild and do whatever the market will bear. You know where that will lead? back to the 18th century before unions, anti-trust laws, Medicare, Social Security, etc. etc. right where Fox, Beck and O'Reilly want us.

Hey, Mister Wilson!!!!!

The first thing I thought of when the media uproar started over Rep. Wilson shouting "You lie" to President Obama was "These people has obviously never watched the House of Commons in session." I recall seeing the Prime Minister adressing that body and being assailed by members with cries of "No! No!" But then the PM is not technically the head of the British government and he or she traditionally appears before the House every week and answers questions. I was disappointed that Wilson's outburst is receiving more coverage than the President's speech and the subsequent catfights between the right and the left on Fox and MSNBC, on chatboards, etc., and the stupid arguments it has engendered. Right-wing people are saying "Oh, but Obama called Hillary a liar during the primary. And Democrats booed W. during his state of the union. What a double standard." Yes but I don't think one Dem ever called W. a liar during an address before Congress--and if one did, the Reps would have called for a trial from treason. Wilson has a right to call Obama a liar if that's what he believes--just as every Dem. had a right to call Bushie and his dark overlord Cheney a liar. But it's incivil and inappropriate to do so during an address to Congress. BTW, I loved Nancy Pelosi's expression at the outburst--like a strict principal with an auditorium full of unruly high-school students making her look bad in front of a distinguished visitor.

The heckling and signs and texting are indications that this is how the Reps want to conduct the business of the people now--like the ugly town halls this summer. They think it's OK to act like it's the Jerry Springer show. Scream real loud to make your point.

Also I love that Wilson's opponent Miller raised $500K in the past two days while Wilson has collected $200K. The people who have given money to Wilson probably love that he shouted at Obama. They probably think the man has no right to be President and is trying to destroy the country they are used to--a country where everyone in charge is white and thinks like they do; a country where if you can't pay your way or if you have some bad luck, you wind up in the gutter and you deserve it--until it happens to them.

I do think there is too much reaction to Wilson's brief outburst and we should concentrate on the the President's speech and how it has changed the landscape on health care reform. Through his eloquence, the President was able to change the minds of several people; another similarity between himself and Lincoln. I'm reading Gore Vidal's novel about the 16th President and there are a lot of parallels between him and the 44th. Both several briefly in Congress, are from Illinois, came into office in times of trouble and are being villified by insurrectionists who want to secede from the union.

Note: The title of the blog is a reference to Dennis the Menace who would call to his neighbor Mr. Wilson at the top of his lungs. Keith Olbermann used the same reference last night.

Old Books, Deep Are the Roots, and the Passing of Ted Kennedy

While driving toward Pennsylvania on vacation, my partner Jerry and I stopped at Doylestown, after visiting friends near Quakertown. We had heard it was a lovely little place with cute shops. (It also has a place in my family's history since my father drove us there once instead of taking my sister and me to our swimming lesson. So we also joked about how much we hated Doylestown because it made us miss our swimming at the Norristown Y.) Anyway, Doylestown was indeed a cute burg with quaint shops. We found a used book store and I bought a play from 1945 called Deep Are the Roots (pictured at left, a scene from the show on the cover of Theatre World magazine). Today it is chiefly remembered because it was directed by Elia Kazan and starred a very young Barbara Bel Geddes before she did Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with him. The play by Arnaud D'Usseau and James Gow was a hit in its day and deals with an intelligent African-American veteran returning to his Deep South home after WWII. He has grown up in the home of a racist Southern senator where his mother was employed as a housekeeper. All kinds of trouble results when Brett, the vet, attempts to improve conditions for his people and--worse--he is attracted to the senator's youngest daughter.

The play is dated and obvious--there's a visiting Northern writer who is engaged to the senator's older daughter (played by Bel Geddes) to represent the liberal viewpoint. The senator melodramatically frames Brett with stealing a valuable family heirloom. Brett is arrested but escapes for a climactic confrontation with the white family. What's interesting is this kind of play used to be done on Broadway with a degree of regularity--controversial topics like race prejudice and interracial romance would never be touched by Hollywood and TV was still in the planning stages. Broadway had its share of silly comedies and escapist fare in those days, but you saw thoughtful work too. Also, the liberal views espoused were given full voice and the evil--yes evil, I said it--of the old racist Southern way of life was exposed for what it was. Significant sidenote: Gordon Heath, the actor who starred as Brett later left America and settled in Paris because as a handsome, intelligent African-American actor who wasn't a Stephin Fetchit type, he couldn't find work on stage or screen. He decided to stay in Europe after the play's run in London. He also was gay and had a white lover whom he had met in America so he was fleeing both homophobia and racism. Also Kazan later cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee, resulting in the blacklisting of several of his friends who had views like those put forth in the play. One character even accuses Brett of being a Communist because he wants to change the Jim Crow South.

Today a play like that would never make it to Broadway. Too political. Too "liberal." The passing of Ted Kennedy calls to mind another passing--that of the word liberal. It's still a tainted word thanks to Ronnie Reagan. You notice that politicians and commentators now say "progressive" instead. I am liberal and not ashamed to say it. I believe government can and should help people who are down on their luck. I believe everyone should be treated equally. I believe religion should be a private matter and have no place in the public sphere. I should be able to marry my partner in any state in the union. Affordable health care should be a right, not a priviledge. Kennedy was an advocate for all of those things. With more people identifying themselves as conservative than liberal, I worry about the future of these issues. To me conservative means "Leave things the way they are; never change. Our health care may not be the best in the world, but I'm scared to lose what I have. So don't bother fixing it, you might make it worse."

I think most people associate liberal with "tax and spend" when if they really thought about it, they'd agree with liberal principles. President Obama said Kennedy helped him to achieve his goals through his legislative efforts including repealing the poll tax which prevented African-Americans from voting. Ironically, that's one of the wrongs the Brett character tries to end in the play. One of the plot points of the Deep Are the Roots involves Brett entering the public library by the front door and asking for a book without a note from the white family his mother works for. This causes a minor scandal in the town. Now we have a black president, how far we've come. But the roots of prejudice are still there.

Late Night Ramblings: From Politics to Continuity on the Golden Girls

I despair of civil discourse in this country. Corporate lobbyists and radical right wingers are encouraging people to riot at town hall meetings--filling their heads with lies about health care reform. ("It will kill your grandpa, and your daughter will be forced to have an abortion.") They are employing the tactics they deplored 40 years ago when kids protested the Vietnam war. Limbaugh compares Obama to Hitler every chance he gets. Olbermann and O'Reilly have broken their truce and are ratcheting up their attacks.

For every piece of good news--Sotomayor is confirmed, the two journalists are released from North Korea thanks to Bill Clinton--there's more bad: health care reform is in danger, crazies are getting into the mainstream media.

It's so much easier to watch Jonny Quest at midnight on Boomerang and the Golden Girls 24-7 on the Hallmark Channel or WE. Did you ever notice Blanche, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia never mention their children, grandchildren, siblings, etc. except on the episodes where said relatives appeared. It's as if they vanished from mind when they weren't present. Let's see, Blanche had a sister (played by Barbara Babcock and Sheree North on separate episodes) and a gay brother (Monte Markham). But her father Big Daddy (David Wayne and some other guy in another episode) never mentioned his other children when he would visit Blanche. Meanwhile Dorothy also had a sister played by two different actresses (Doris Bielack and Dena Dietrich, Mother Nature on those margarine commercials) and a brother Phil who was into cross-dressing. Yet when Blanche had a tough time dealing with her brother's sexuality, Dorothy never mentioned her experiences with her sibling's transvestitism. Neither did Sophia. Strange.

Jonny Quest is a different story. Jonny's mother is dead before the series starts and she's only mentioned briefly in the first episode. She never comes up again. I guess Dr. Benton Quest is having too much fun with Race Bannon.

Birther Da Blues or I Don't Know Nothing 'bout No Birthers, Miss Scarlett!

The Birther movement may be dead before I had a chance to mock it--as so many others already have--but I doubt if it will go quietly. (A post on Huffington states that the news director at CNN told Lou Dobbs to kill the story since the proof was conclusive.) This insane conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama has no US birth cerificate and therefore is not legally our head of state has gained credence because seemingly normal conservatives such as Liz Chaney and some in Congress are saying stuff like, "Well, there are some questions here, there's room for doubt. Why can't you liberal media types listen to the other side?" Because there is conclusive proof of Obama's birth in Hawaii--like the birth certificate authenticated by the state's Republican govenor and contemporaneous birth announcements in the Honolulu papers. The fact that the state has produced only the short form rather than a long version has added fuel to the birthers' furor. What they don't see is that the State Dept. of records went paperless in 2001 and discarded all the longer forms of records including --probably--the original long version of Obama's certificate.

Some of these whack jobs have taken the tremendous leap from no original long form of birth certificate to Obama being really born in Kenya as that whacky lady in Delaware suggested. At least I think that's what she was getting at. She's the one who hijacked Rep. Castle's town hall meeting on health care to quiver in rage about her country being stolen from her by this foreign, socialist, Muslim guy. Maybe she meant that because the original long form had been destroyed by the Hawaii people in order to save paper, Obama's birth did not really happen or that he's really a Kenyan because that's his father's country of origin. What? She went on to scream about her father fighting in WWII and Americans sacrifising at Valley Forge only to have a non-American take over. I thought her head was going to explode. (This video is surely on YouTube. I first saw it on the Rachel Maddow Show. I'm too hungry right now to find you lazy people the link. It's pretty scary.) This woman needs help. I hope she is seeing someone for anger management.

Liz Chaney is the most disingenous of all the mainstream, non-whack job Repubs pushing this birther thing. Larry King asked her if she believed Obama was not the rightful president. She didn't answer but instead said the birthers had a right to express their displeasure with a president who was not protecting us from terrorism and palling around with our enemies and leading us down the socialist path to hell. (She later admited to Politico.com that Obama was the rightful President. Look it up yourselves, people, I'm still hungry.) Of course they have a right to state their opinions if they think Obama's the worst thing since mouldy old sliced bread. Go ahead, say he's the devil incarnate and have all the tea parties you want with the Mad Hatter (Rush), the March Hare (Joe the Plumber) and Alice (Sarah Palin) thrown in--hey, that would be a great political cartoon if I could draw. But don't pretend you really believe all this nonsense and expect us to take you seriously. The fact is these people just cannot stand to think an African-American with a broader world view than Dubya is their President so they cook up crazy schemes to explain that he's really not.

Remember when all the talk was about Obama being a Muslim, then he was too close to Rev. Wright, then Bill Ayers, not he's not really an American. Get over it, right wing flakes, you lost. Your image of America as an all-white country club has forever been changed and you'll just have to live with it.