The Songs of Summer

The Chicago Cubs play their first night game at Wrigley Field. The Democrats nominate Michael Dukakis for president. The Republicans nominate Vice-President George Herbert Walker Bush. The Iran-Iraq war ends. And the summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.

'twas the summer of 1988. And this classic rocker was all over the radio...

"Rev It Up" by Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads)

The Dumbing Down of America Continues

Defense Attorney to Lindsay Lohan:

Whatever you have done in the past, do a 360-degree turn and go the other way.

Yes...that will fix the problem. Lindsay should definately spin around completely and walk backwards!

Fixed

Thanks to Gil for recommending I download the Firefox internet browser to fix the problems Blogger was having with the Safari browser on the new iMac.

Problem somewhat fixed. There are still a few bugs but it's functional for now.

The San Francisco Marathon

Congratulations to everyone who took part in yesterday's San Francisco Marathon; and to Andrew Cook of Denton, Texas, the winner for the second year in a row!

The Songs of Summer

From the hot summer of 1995...

"Waterfalls" by TLC

Grim Kitty

Oscar the cat is reportedly able to sense when residents are about to die at the Steere House Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, curling up next to patients during their final hours.

The New England Journal of Medicine has even investigated Oscar's other-worldly abilities. David Dousa, who carried out research for the Journal :

He doesn't make many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die.

Oscar's accuracy rate is so astonishing that Steere House staff now alert the families of residents when he sits down next to their ailing loved one.

(Photo: Stew Milne / AP)

Massacre at ABC News

Now that they've been beating NBC Nightly News as the #1 rated network news cast by essentially removing most world news from "World News Tonight" (in favor of more light feature fare), ABC News has parted ways with four longtime news veterans, who essentially formed the last iota of credibility the network's news division had left.

Gone are national correspondent Dean Reynolds (a 23-year veteran of the network and son of Frank Reynolds, the anchor of "World News Tonight" prior to Peter Jennings); Bill Redeker, a 32-year international correspondent with the network; Mark Litke, ABC's chief Asian correspondent, who has been with the network for 27 years; and Bob Jamiemson, who has been with ABC since 1990 after spending 20 years at NBC News.

"World News," which has now virtually stripped its ranks of veteran foreign correspondents, on Tuesday night had three sports-related stories and no international news.

Memo to the powers that be at ABC: Don't you think it's time to change the name of your product? You don't exactly specialize in international news anymore now do you?

If you listen carefully you'll hear Peter Jennings rolling over in his grave.

The Songs of Summer

A number 1 smash from the summer of 1974...

"Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney and Wings

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Impeachment Now

25 percent. Frankly, I'm surprised the President's approval rating is that high! The lawlessness of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney has become exasperating. And the only way to save our republic is for the House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against both men immdediately. The Senate should follow with conviction of the two men and their removal from office.

Chutzpah

Quote of the Day:

You have to give Republicans points for consistency. They bring the Senate to a halt and then blame Democrats for not getting anything done. They destroy FEMA's ability to respond to natural disasters and then hold it up as an example of why you can't trust government to do anything right. They lose a war via unparalleled military incompetence and then claim that liberals are defeatists for pointing it out. They spend 20 years claiming that Social Security is going bankrupt and then use the resulting public insecurity about Social Security as an explanation for why the whole system needs to be privatized.

-Kevin Drum, on the Republican plan to paint Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as "all talk and no action."

Impeach Gonzales

Like a child who has been caught in a mountain of lies, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced Papa Patrick, Grandpa Arlen, Grandma Dianne, and Uncle Russell earlier today and proceeded to trip over those lies, sputtering and blathering to the point that only the most rabid Republican (read: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney) could possibly still support his remaining as Attorney General.

Behold what happens when an ideological imbecile president nominates an ideological imbecile lawyer to run the Justice Department...





Impeach Gonzales now! And I mean today! I know the votes are there in the House, and following today's testimony it probably won't be too hard to find 67 votes in the Senate to convict.

The Songs of Summer

The # 1 single in the country this week in 1986. (To put that in perspective, those born that week are now old enough to drink!) The video is still a superb piece of filmmaking...

"Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel

The YouTube Debate

It worked quite well. Most of the questions were relevant and a few were rather softball, but the overall concept was a major step forward for democracy; a nice example of government by the people.

The highlights? The questions on political dynasties (Clinton's answer was classic); how long we'd remain in Iraq after the inauguration of a Democratic president in January of 2009; the Dafur situation; and the question from the snowman about global warming. :-)

Leaving me scratching my head? Why the Iraq questions didn't come first and foremost.

You can see the questions asked here.

Light Blogging

The new iMac has just been set up and unfortuntely the internet browser that is included with the computer (Safari) isn't all that compatible with Blogger. While I try to figure it out blogging may be light. But be prepared for a site change, as it looks like I'll probably wind up moving to Mac's iWeb service or to WordPress.

TV News Anchor Pete Wilson, 1945 - 2007

Longtime San Francisco news anchor Pete Wilson died unexpectedly Friday night, a day after suffering a massive heart attack during hip replacement surgery at Stanford Hospital. He was 62.

I've only been a San Franciscan for a year, but in all the years of visiting and vacationing prior to the move, it was obvious that Wilson was THE face of TV news here. He arrived in the Bay area in 1983 at the ABC station (KGO-Channel 7) before moving across the street to the infamous independent NBC affiliate KRON-Channel 4, where he spent 12-years as the station's principal anchor. Following that station's disaffiliation with the NBC network, Wilson returned to KGO-TV where he has anchored the 6pm newscast - and hosted an afternoon talk show on their sister radio station - since 2002.

He ruffled some feathers last year when he publicly criticized San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is in a same-sex partnership, for having a baby with a friend, Rebecca Goldfader, who is a lesbian. The Board of Supervisors demanded that KGO fire him, but Wilson addressed the issue on his radio show and reiterated his support for same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption.

For a brief moment over the weekend, as news of Wilson's death hit the newswires, some Californians outside of the Bay area thought that the former California Governor, also named Pete Wilson, had died.

As a follower of local TV news since I was a teenager, Wilson was indeed a pro. Not one to simply sit down and read a teleprompter, Wilson always gave the impression that you needed to sit down and listen to what he had to say. And he was infamous for his deep sighs and eye rolling at some of the absurd stories that would make their way to his newscasts.

Wilson is survived by his wife and a son.

(Photo: KGO-TV)

Heck of a Job

The trailers supplied to Hurricane Katrina refugees seem to have a big problem. They contain unhealthy levels of formaldehyde. 66,000 people live in these trailers. One man has died from the resulting respiratory problems related to the chemical. Yet, when confronted with the first complaints in June of 2006 FEMA lawyers argued against an investigation of the trailers. "Once you get results and should they indicate some problems, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them," wrote one of the agencies lawyers at the time.

This organization - and the administration they are part of - have failed the people of New Orleans and Mississippi at every level. "Brownie" was incompetent, but the current FEMA is just plain corrupt.

The Songs of Summer

July of 1979, the peak of America's love affair with disco...

Following the depature of founding member Leon Sylvers III (to become the in-house producer at SOLAR Records) the Casablanca label teamed the remaining Sylvers family with uber-producer Giorgio Moroder. Having just produced a string of hits for Donna Summer and winning that year's Academy Award for best original score for "Midnight Express", Moroder was the hottest producer in the business in the summer of '79.

The result of the collaboration with the family was the aptly titled LP "Disco Fever." The first single from the album was a dance club favorite and disco radio smash. With top notch production and superb vocals from brother Edmund and sister Angie, that track is posted here as part of the Songs of Summer series. Enjoy...

"Mahogany (Do You Know)" by the Sylvers

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The Right Wing Fascist Nut-jobs

Ok...so, the Prez is having a tube stuck up his ass on Saturday and, while under anesthesia, will turn the reigns over to Vice-President Cheney. All in all Dick will be Acting President for about two-and-a-half hours. It's been done before; it'll be done again. That's what the Constitution is for.

BUT...

...the right wing fascist nut-jobs are absolutely jizzing over the prosepct of "President Cheney." Suggestions for his brief tenure:

Bomb Iran.
Pardon Scooter.

See the list over at the conservative National Review.

Dive Deep

When Morcheeba released their first post-Skye Edwards CD ("The Antedote") back in 2005, I was among the many who were deeply disappointed. The replacement lead singer had limited vocal range and the songs were a bit rough-edged when compared to the band's previous catalog.

The singer on that album has been jettisoned and, over the last few months, the band has been in the studio recording some new material. The final product, expected to be released sometime this autumn, will be called "Dive Deep" and will feature rotating "guest" lead singers.

Two of the new tracks have been posted on the band's MySpace page, and if they are any indication of what the entire album will sound like, then it would seem Morcheeba might just have their groove back.

Click here for the two new tracks. They are called "Enjoy the Ride" and "Gain the World."

Impeachment Now

So, it seems that President Bush's latest point man in Iraq is just another Republican Party hack, sent there to do the administration's political bidding. Rather than sit down with a major network reporter, Gen. David Petraeus has agreed to be interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, the conservative fascist who also does the administration's bidding by way of his conservative radio show and blog.

Petraeus also wrote an op-ed in 2004 supporting the re-election of the Republican presidential ticket.

Yes, I know it shouldn't surprise me that Gen. Petraeus is a Republican. Most members of the military are. But high-profile generals usually keep the politics out of war management, maintaining at least the illusion of objectivity while in uniform. Even Dwight Eisenhower and Colin Powell resisted the urge to declare their political affiliations until after they retired from the armed services.

In related news, the Pentagon now seems to be part of the Bush/Cheney propoganda effort to marginalize those who publicly criticize the administration's utter incompetence. Specifically, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman sent a letter to Sen. Hillary Clinton (Democrat-NY) stating:

Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.

Sending such a letter to any member of Congress from the halls of the Defense Department is way over the top, but that this one was sent to the opposition party's leading candidate for president makes the political aspect of the Pentagon's motives reek to the heavens.

President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have twisted the machinery of government that is supposed to remain free from the partisan politics to benefit their own radical fascist agenda. And unless the Democratic leaders in Congress begin impeachment proceedings against both men, the remaining 18 months of their term could become a very dangerous time for America.

Update: Sen. Clinton has challenged Defense Secretary Robert Gates to back-up his undersecretary's position or distance himself from it:

I request that you describe whether Under Secretary Edelman's letter accurately characterizes your views as Secretary of Defense.

...Under Secretary Edelman has his priorities backward. Open and honest debate and congressional oversight strengthens our nation and supports our military. His suggestion to the contrary is outrageous and dangerous.

While I still think the Democratic Party should deny her the nomination based on purely electoral reasons, I do have to admit that situations like this reinforce my perception that should she win the White House, Hillary Clinton would be one hell of a president.