Chuck and Camilla are going to finally make it legal April 8. At least the gossip will be over with about if, not when, they would marry. It's going to be a mostly private ceremony. (David Cheskin, AP)
Susan // 7:56 AM
How big business is implementing its plans for education has been detailed in a recent book, Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools? by Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian (Heinemann, 2004). In 1989, CEOs of the nation’s 218 largest corporations met in the Business Roundtable (BRT) to bring the resources of corporate America behind a specific educational reform agenda. This was deemed necessary “to meet the threat to the United States’ premier economic status in the world.” In other words, they insisted that the education system be geared to produce a low-wage workforce—both unskilled and skilled—to help the US-based corporations compete in the global market.
...
The Queens teachers were protesting over “micromanagement” of their classroom practices. A mandatory plan for all lessons, called the “workshop model,” requires teachers to give 10 minutes of direct instruction, 20 minutes of small group work, and 10 minutes of summary discussion. Detailed instructions tell teachers how to set up bulletin boards and even require that students sit on a rug while being read to. Teachers resent this contempt for their own creativity and ability to interact with the students, as well as the dumbing-down of the education they impart to students. The protesters chanted “Let teachers teach!”
The man was nationally known for his "frugality." He left an estate of $11 million, but he lived in a godawful shack of house (built in 1890 that hadn't been painted in years, if ever) with no indoor plumbing and cooked on a wood stove.
I remember that driving or cycling by that place all of the time and never once thought somebody actually lived in that shack.
There's more:
Neighbors remembered that Howard, armed with a shotgun, used to chase children off his property. Yet near the end of his life, he started a youth sports foundation to which he left his estate — including the 68-acre parcel at Ross and Rossanley. He died in March 2003 at age 87.
Howard’s eccentricity garnered attention across the United States and Great Britain after his death. An estate auction held in July 2003 drew people from several Western states because of valuable items such as an 1850s icebox, 1800s crock jugs, buggy harnesses, lanterns and tube radios. The proceeds went to the foundation.
threatened to commit suicide on the floor of the state Senate last week after finding out he would have to be put on a waiting list of 4,000 names to receive housing assistance.
In other words, Oregon's problems in helping to deal with the poor and other "marginal" groups is found wanting.
Susan // 7:26 AM
Fake president, fake news, fake reporter, fake times. It is embarrassing and shameful, but since when have these Bush hacks and the Bush administration felt any embarrassment or shame? (Salon)
Susan // 10:24 PM
As bad as it sounds, since the Iraq mess is so terrible, people can relate more to something that hits them directly than something happening thousands of miles away. That's why the dictator can't seem to make too much headway with the public.
The only thing we have to fear is Bush himself.
Susan // 9:49 PM
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Fake president, fake news, fake reporter. The White House really thinks people are stupid enough to put up with such a travesty. (Salon)
Susan // 9:41 PM
here is the dictator's exchange with Mary Mornin in Omaha, Nebraska, last week:
The President. Good. Okay, Mary, tell us about yourself. Ms. Mornin. Okay, I'm a divorced single mother with three grown, adult children. I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters. The President. Fantastic. First of all, you've got the hardest job in America, being a single mom. Ms. Mornin. Thank you. The President. You and I are baby boomers. Ms. Mornin. Yes, and I am concerned about--that the system stays the same for me. The President. Right. Ms. Mornin. But I do want to see change and reform for my children because I realize that we will be in trouble down the road. The President. It's an interesting point, and I hear this a lot-- ``Will the system be
[[Page 160]]
the same for me?'' And the answer is absolutely. One of the things we have to continue to clarify to people who have retired or near retirement--you fall in the near retirement. Ms. Mornin. Yes, unfortunately, yes. [Laughter] The President. Well, I don't know. I'm not going to tell your age, but you're one year younger than me, and I'm just getting started. [Laughter] Ms. Mornin. Okay, okay. The President. I feel great, don't you? Ms. Mornin. Yes, I do. The President. I remember when I turned 50, I used to think 50 was really old. Now I think it's young, and getting ready to turn 60 here in a couple of years, and I still feel young. I mean, we are living longer, and people are working longer. And the truth of the matter is, elderly baby boomers have got a lot to offer to our society, and we shouldn't think about giving up our responsibilities in society. Isn't that right? Ms. Mornin. That's right. The President. Yes, but nevertheless, there's a certain comfort to know that the promises made will be kept by the Government. Ms. Mornin. Yes. The President. And so thank you for asking that. You don't have to worry. Ms. Mornin. That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute. The President. You work three jobs? Ms. Mornin. Three jobs, yes. The President. Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. Get any sleep? [Laughter] Ms. Mornin. Not much--not much. The President. Well, hopefully, this will help you get your sleep to know that when we talk about Social Security, nothing changes. Ms. Mornin. Okay, thank you. The President. That's great.
The equally infamous soundbite from his appearance in Tampa, Florida, isn't yet on this site, which is of course absolutely indispensable for finding the "best of" the dictator.
Susan // 9:24 PM
Well, I think it's obvious. From Reagan onward, the media went easy on Republican politicians for fear of losing their broadcast licenses and deregulation goodies while going after Democrats for every stupid goddamned thing (think what was done to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton).
Susan // 9:12 PM
Mike Malloy is talking about him right now, coincidentally.
For those who forgot:
Jurors and others in Judge Donald Thompson's courtroom kept hearing a strange whooshing noise, like a bicycle pump or maybe a blood pressure cuff. During one trial, Thompson seemed so distracted that some jurors thought he was playing a hand-held video game or tying fly-fishing lures behind the bench.
The explanation, investigators say, is even stranger than some imagined: The judge had a habit of masturbating with a penis pump under his robe during trials.
And this:
Thompson's court reporter, Lisa Foster, told authorities that she saw him use the pump at least 10 times during trials. She said the first time in court was in 2000, but she did not tell authorities. "I didn't want to be found dead in a ditch somewhere," she told The Associated Press.
Sotheby's is selling more Kennedy memorabilia, including these candlestick holders. However, the auction should be a more modest affair in terms of prices than the one several years ago. (Sotheby's)
Susan // 7:12 PM
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), a new member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was at last week's meeting on a bill restricting class-action suits. "You know," he said, "I immediately thought about silicone breast implants and the legal wrangling and the class-action suits off that. And I thought I would just share with you what science says today about slicone breast implants. If you have them, you're healthier than if you don't. That is what the ultimate science shows...In fact, there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and, in fact, they make you healthier."
More and more, the financial numbers produced by the White House have come to resemble the cooked books of corporations like Enron or WorldCom. Huge liabilities and expenses are shifted into “off-the-books” accounts like the shell corporations created by Enron to sustain its Wall Street image of ever-rising profitability. If Bush were CEO and Bolten CFO of a Fortune 500 corporation, the budget numbers they have just submitted would be grounds for prosecution for securities fraud.
Pensions—The Bush budget calls for a drastic increase in the premiums paid by corporations with pension plans, to finance the deficit of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, whose assets have been drained by the bailout of the steel and airline industry pension funds. Premiums will soar from $2.3 billion last year to $4.4 billion in 2006 and $5.9 billion in 2007. The effect of this measure will be to encourage private companies to cancel traditional defined-benefit plans, which are backed by the PBGC, and go over to 401(k) plans, where the financial risks are borne entirely by workers and not the employer.
Another scam to fleece the worker and bail out companies.
Michael Dobbs blogs about efforts to rebuild the island of Weligama, one of the many islands affected by the tsunami. (Michael Dobbs, WP)
Susan // 8:03 AM
The more the administration says about its preposterous Social Security "reforms," the less sense they make. Even in "red" states like Montana and Alabama, suspicion is growing that Bush’s own arrogance makes him think he can sell any brand of snake oil he chooses. Here’s the White House transcript of Bush explaining his plan in Tampa during last week’s Magical Mystery Tour: "Because the—all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There’s a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those—changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be—or closer delivered to what has been promised.
The state of Florida is investigating the foundation set up for Terri Schiavo to see if laws were broken.
The link to the foundation is on the first links list.
Baltimore's mayor is accusing the governor's administration of spreading false rumors of an extramarital affair.
And this has gotten a lot of play in the blogosphere, which only goes to show how bloggers get all obsessed over things that aren't jack shit important.
Susan // 10:56 PM
You know why. If the dictator can get a bill voted on before the 2006 elections, then Republicans will have their collective asses on the line. If they vote for it, they are dead. But if they can wait until 2007 in the hopes of getting a filibuster-proof Senate, then they can ram it through.
I hope Democrats can accelerate the process. Their party's future, and the country's, could depend on it.
My landlord, a sailing buff who has NEVER had his sailboat out in the water even though he has had it for 19 years, would love to be in Ellen MacArthur's shoes.
Meanwhile, the landlord's sailboat sits in the backyard gathering dust. When there was a flood in Reno back in 1997, I encouraged him to tow the boat down to the Truckee River, with the flooding only about three blocks from the property and actually get it in the water for once. He refused. (AFP)
Susan // 7:56 PM
to take a look back at the Reagan years and how his administration handled Social Security.
Such a bipartisan panel that actually cared about the program seems inconceivable today:
Finally, there is the purely speculative question: Would something like the Greenspan commission be possible today? It's hard to imagine Bush agreeing to a completely bipartisan commission unless he could stack it with Democrats who were reliably loyal. The “commission” that Bush named in 2001 did nothing but put out option papers prepared by current or former Cato Institute staff, and to avoid public disagreement, was not even asked to endorse an option. The dying Moynihan, we have recently learned, was used as window dressing, his attempt to propose a fourth option suppressed. Given that history, there is little reason to think that the elegant escape route that Reagan found, one that actually secured Social Security for at least 60 years, would be an option that Bush could appreciate.
If the dictator doesn't want to raise taxes for his scam, then expect benefit cuts.
ain't all what they are cracked up to be for singles over 30 (which means under 40), who find the search for somebody they can stand for more than one dinner date or movie or roll in the hay a daunting task.
Susan // 6:21 PM
Peruvian baby Milagros Cerron was born with a rare defect called "mermaid syndrome" or sirenomelia, which is almost always fatal because of defects in major organs. She is one of only three people in the world with fused legs and have survived. However, she is a perfect candidate to have her legs separated, and she will be having surgery on February 24. Much more surgery will be required in the next several years, if all goes well. (AP)
Susan // 5:02 PM
Kurtz has a very bad habit of putting his best stuff at the very bottom of his column:
John Dean was on Keith Olbermann's MSNBC show last night, talking about his Deep Throat-is-ill scenario. The former Nixon aide said he learned that a friend, one of his Throat suspect, is ill, but "I obviously want to honor this man's shuffling off with his denial." He also said that "Woodward had reported to [Post Executive Editor Leonard] Downie that indeed this man was ill." When Olbermann asked about Downie's denial (to me) that he'd had any such conversation with Bob Woodward, Dean said Downie "either has a very bad memory" or "may be parsing words."
Somebody's explanation will turn out to be inoperative. Meanwhile, Dean isn't backing off his last list of suspects: Pat Buchanan, Dwight Chapin, Jerry Warren or Ray Price.
I doubt it's any of those, and Buchanan is an absolutely ludicrous choice.
at the dictator's plan to destroy Medicaid, the insurance program designed to help the very neediest among us, INCLUDING PEOPLE WHO ARE IN NURSING HOMES.
How in the HELL is private insurance going to do a damned thing to help the most disabled? They can't. As it is, nursing home insurance is peddled to those who are already healthy; once people are already in nursing homes, they can hardly opt for any such plans.
Jesus Christ, these assholes are so cruel, it boggles the mind.
Susan // 7:42 AM
All of this explains why it's foolish to imagine some sort of widely acceptable compromise with Mr. Bush about Social Security. Moderates and liberals want to preserve the America F.D.R. built. Mr. Bush and the ideological movement he leads, although they may use F.D.R.'s image in ads, want to destroy it.
This is the gist of the stuntman's testimony if you don't care to read the whole article:
McLarty testified that he and Blake met at DuPar's coffee shop in Studio City. The stuntman said he thought he would be offered a job in Blake's next movie project. The actor then took McLarty back to Blake's home in Studio City.
There, Blake showed him a gun in an unzipped case, McLarty said, adding that the gun looked like a small automatic. Blake asked if the stuntman could get a silencer, McLarty testified, and he replied he couldn't.
Blake and McLarty then went for a walk around Blake's grounds, and later into the neighborhood, where the actor outlined various scenarios for killing his wife. One idea was to shoot his wife shot to death after eating dinner with Blake outside a restaurant, McLarty testified.
Just a sweetheart, that Blake.
The defense tried to descredit him, not too convincingly.
Galbraith was a pragmatist, and Friedman, well, Friedman was and is a crackpot (an Ayn Rand in academic's clothing) whose ideas gained credence first with Goldwater and then with the Reagan administration.
But, because Friedman's nutball ideas are considered "utopian," and more is promised than could be delivered, they are total failures:
A decade after Malabre's reassessment, it's even easier to see the enormous costs and embarrassing contradictions of that new conservative utopianism. Friedman's passionate calls for financial and securities market deregulation played no small role in ushering in the half-trillion dollar S&L; fiasco of the 1980s and the deeply corrupt Wall Street stock market boom of the 1990s. His tax-reduction-at-all-costs policies helped lead to the nation's yawning budget deficits. His trade and foreign exchange advice to two decades' worth of rolling debt crises from Asia to Mexico to Russia, as well as America's seemingly unhaltable and gargantuan trade deficits. And just last month--the GOP's revulsion over ''big government'' and ''free spending'' notwithstanding--White House budget officials made clear that 2005 will bring yet another year of record spending and record deficits, with as much as half a trillion dollars piled on top of the 6 trillion dollars in debt Republican administrations have accumulated since Reagan first took office.
Yet there is one big idea that Friedman persuaded Goldwater to advocate 40 years ago which remains untested: the privatization of Social Security.
Back in 1978, a young Texas congressional candidate named George W. Bush, much enamored of Friedman's thinking, called for privatization of Social Security in order to ''fix'' the crisis that he said would bankrupt the system by the late 1980s. As his State of the Union speech Wednesday night made clear, however, Bush's soaring vision for the future of Social Security--despite its stated principle of substituting individual freedom for the heavy hand of government--incongruously leaves forced taxation to fund the accounts and Washington lawmakers to decide where we'll be able to invest the funds, and when and under what conditions we can withdraw and spend them.
For America's ''party of ideas,'' it is still only their opponents' ideas which have failed. To the fatal contradictions inherent in their own utopian principles, they seem to remain impervious.
It's all rooted in denial. All one has to do is look at history BEFORE the regulations and Social Security came into existence to understand WHY they were put in.
Jack Shafer so long to figure out the obvious about Bush, or more accurately, his administration?
Of course he uses propaganda as do so many totalitarian governments. He is aided and abetted by a lapdog media which refuses to much critical reporting.
If there's one thing Republicans are are good at in general and the White House in particular it's sloganeering, and they think if they can repeat a lie often enough, it will be true.
That's what dictators and dictatorships do, and that's why I refer to Bush as "the dictator" or "our dicator" more than refer to his real name. It's because that's what he really is.
has a column about pundits on the take, whether or not they are paid, with some mention of "Jeff Gannon," whoever that is.
But the best part is at the bottom of his column, which is full of the usual copying-and-pasting that I've kept track of for almost two years, about John Dean:
How does Dean know this? He's got his own Deep Throat, he says. Woodward wouldn't comment on any alleged illness, and the current executive editor, Len Downie, tells me he hasn't had any such conversation with Woodward.
Some day, of course, the story will turn out to be right, unless Throat outlives us all.
If it's L. Patrick Gray or Mark Felt (if the latter is still alive, and, if so, he's even older than Gray), we might not have to wait too long.
Via Democratic Underground, I saw this Nick Anderson cartoon. He obviously has very positive feelings about the Mouth's probable chairmanship.
Susan // 6:22 PM
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And Then There Was One. Well, Tim Roemer is out of the running, so that leaves only the Mouth left to take the DNC chair job. I am cynical as hell about this thing. The Mouth is going to piss somebody off, and it isn't going to be the bigwigs. The cultists hope he shoots off his mouth as he did when he ran for president, but I don't think that's going to happen at all. He's going to be mostly a party man, as in political party, not frat party, as our dictator is. Speaking of Mouthzilla, today he writes about the dictator's war against the middle class. (Tom Gannam, AP/File)
Susan // 6:10 PM
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Thanks to spending too damned much money on an illegitimate war and tax breaks to people and corporations not needing them, Bush proposes deep cuts for programs which actually help people. (AP)
Susan // 6:01 PM
I also recommend the CBS/WP 1992 documentary, Watergate: The Secret Story, which laid out the whole scandal and what it really was about. At bottom Watergate was a series of events designed to guarantee Nixon a second term, including rigging the Democratic primaries via "dirty tricks."
What strikes me about it is how naive or even quaint the documentary is, considering the crap that happened beginning when Clinton got elected later that year, to say nothing of the 2000 and 2004 "elections."
It's still excellent and definitive, though, despite the "how could it happen" air.
Susan // 10:08 PM
Also in the Times Argus is this excellent editorial:
It is far from clear that the American people believe the security provided by Social Security represents a constraint on liberty. Bush, shamelessly appropriating the language of Roosevelt, spoke of "freedom from fear." It was freedom from fear that Roosevelt hoped to foster in providing a bedrock of retirement security. Indeed, a bedrock of security is essential for anyone who expects to enjoy the other freedoms available in a free society. During the Depression the burden of impoverished elders did not broaden anyone's freedoms.
By diverting Social Security revenues into private accounts, Bush would endanger the finances of Social Security, increase the likelihood of individual financial losses, and deepen the chasm of federal debt that has opened up during his presidency. He would do all this in the name of a free market ideology according to which government guarantees of security only sap our economic vitality and the vitality of our individualism. The cost of this sort of rugged individualism is to cast aside the losers — those who bet wrong in the markets — and to give them a taste of the poverty that is their due.
How many Americans agree that the small nest egg helping their grandparents survive is robbing them of their initiative or individualism? The social compact forged by Roosevelt is founded on the notion that it is a proper role of government to provide a foundation of security that will never be provided by free markets. Rather than eroding our freedoms, this foundation allows for their full enjoyment. Securing the retirement of our elders is a responsibility we have assumed in the same way we have assumed responsibility for educating our children. That this idea is now under assault has angered most Democrats and worried many Republicans. It ought to worry all Americans.
Now that the Patriots have won three out of the last four Super Bowls (could this REALLY be the 39th Super Bowl--seems like yesterday when it began in 1967), there is all of this talk about a "dynasty." Just like there's talk of a "dynasty" with the Bush mob. It just about makes me want to move to Britain. (AP)
Susan // 7:48 PM
Last week marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the twentieth century's most celebrated crackpots. Her books still have appeal decades after they were written, perhaps because her target audience consists of adolescents of all ages. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Susan // 4:55 PM
further shows his contempt for college students, especially those too poor to pay their own way through college, which is most people.
Susan // 4:12 PM
According to this study, California lags behind other states in student achievement and in other areas.
Susan // 1:30 PM
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IRS documents show a link between a nonprofit organization and the infamous cult The Family, mentioned on this blog a couple of weeks ago in connection with the Ricky Rodriguez case. Pictured is Rodriguez's mother and head of the cult, Karen Zerby, which was obviously taken years ago. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Susan // 11:59 AM
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While buying a tar paper shack in San Francisco can set you back a cool million, that same amount of money can buy you a lot of real estate in most areas of the United States. Which isn't a surprise around here, as Californians sell their overpriced real estate for a pile of money and "invest" in other markets in other parts of the country, thus forcing prices up there. It's working people who get screwed once again by being priced out of owning a house.
Susan // 11:48 AM
But defeat didn't stop the professional liars and fascists. Finally in the early 1980s the Cato Institute and Heritage decided to incorporate the lie Social Security was going bankrupt to their crackpot notion we can all have private accounts with no fucking security and basically have the same goddamned situation we had in 1929.
It's not that they give a rip about about how "well" the market does or how "broke" Social Security is. It's the idea government helping the elderly, the disabled, the widows, the poor is illegitimate to them.
The reporter mentions the 1983 article from the Cato Institute which lays it all out on what they intended to do.
Susan // 11:26 AM
As mentioned, naturally he is from northern Nevada.
Several related articles are at the link including this piece about public opinion about the convicted killer:
When it comes to Claude Dallas, there's no such thing as middle ground. On one side are those who consider him a draft dodger, game hog and remorseless killer. A man who, instead of being released from prison this weekend, should have been executed.
On the other side of the Dallas abyss are his admirers. To them, he was a proud mountain man who lived by a different set of rules. An Old West throwback defending a vanishing way of life.
Alone in the middle is the real Dallas, who volunteered nothing about himself and became whatever others chose to make of him. The real Dallas was a loner with good manners, a vivid imagination and a mean streak. He wasn't a native Westerner and had few of the attributes of the Old West heroes he emulated. His skills as a trapper were said to have been marginal, and his tool of choice for handling recalcitrant stock was a fist or a club.
And yet the very fact that the f-word can be seriously raised in an American context is evidence enough that we have moved into a new period. The invasion of Iraq has put the possibility of the end to American democracy on the table and has empowered groups on the Right that would acquiesce to and in some cases welcome the suppression of core American freedoms. That would be the titanic irony of course, the mother of them all—that a war initiated under the pretense of spreading democracy would lead to its destruction in one of its very birthplaces. But as historians know, history is full of ironies.
says Deep Throat is ill and his obituary has already been written.
I always believed L. Patrick Gray was Deep Throat because he fit the profile better than anybody else remembering as I do the 1992 CBS documentary which examined the most notable Deep Throat suspects. Mark Felt is another possibility though not as likely.
Both are getting on in years (and this damned fool says Gray is dead, but there's no such thing turning up on a web search, so it's probably news to the former acting FBI chief, and to the FBI), and I just don't buy DT being a much younger person.
I get it. Abortion or gay marriage is a hell of a lot more of pressing concern than whether or not we still have a world left to live in.
Susan // 9:47 PM
will reiterate my skepticism about the Mouth. My skepticism not so much about his ability or inability to head the Democratic Party as much as it is my feeling powerbrokers want to watch him and his fanatical followers go down in flames once and for all.
The Mouth could well be a "good boy" and keep a low profile and rely on some competent people to keep the party in decent shape. It'll be hard given his colorful past as a failed presidential candidate and his goddamned big mouth to boot.
Susan // 9:12 PM
Panzerfaust, the St. Paul-based white-supremacy record label that made national headlines in the fall, has closed shop over questions of the owner's race.
"They are out of business," said Minnesota Gang Strike Force investigator Dan Michener.
Byron Calvert, 33, who was Panzerfaust's spokesman and public face, accuses his former business partner, Anthony Pierpont, 38, of having a Hispanic mother.
-- A nationally known author on violence at abortion clinics has been barred from testifying in federal court because of his opinion that Ohio's attempts to regulate abortion play into the hands of Christians bent on establishing a theocracy.
In his opinion filed in federal court in Cincinnati, Dallas Blanchard wrote that people he characterized as religious zealots have an ultimate agenda to "institute Old Testament sanctions for homosexuality, adultery, abortion and juvenile delinquency: stoning of violators."
Abortion foes dream of turning America into a "Christian" nation with no public schools, no welfare agencies, nor any "other governmental programs beyond law enforcement and the military," Blanchard wrote.
That particular religious movement sounds familiar.
Susan // 7:56 PM
Even Republicans like U.S. Senator Conrad Burns are skeptical.
And there's this:
But Social Security has a power of its own. Mr. Baucus said his constituents were generally "very nervous" about private investment accounts in Social Security, and retirees, who are most likely to vote on the issue, "are quite opposed." He added, "It's new, it's radical, and it's so different from Social Security as they know it."
In fact, the front page of The Great Falls Tribune that greeted Mr. Bush on Thursday with the headline "Bush Arrives with Bold Plan" also included a statewide poll conducted for the paper, that declared, "Montanans oppose switching to personal Social Security investment accounts by a nearly 2-to-1 margin."
comments on the GOP's pitiful attempts to cover Tom DeLay's sorry ass.
Susan // 5:01 PM
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Despite or because of his reputation for being a smear artist who "won" his office through dubious means, shameless Chambliss is gaining more clout in Washington. (Jennie Gertman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Susan // 4:52 PM
Eubanks has had a varied career besides television, including concert promoting and being a personal manager, among other things:
With his own people skills, Bob was able to carve out a career, not only in the gameshow world, but also as a successful concert promoter and artist manager, producing the concerts of such acts as the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Barry Manilow, and Bob Dylan, just to name a few. During that time Eubanks became one of the largest concert promoters in America producing over 100 concerts per year nationwide. And it was because of his people skills that he became the personal manager of Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Barbara Mandrell, and the Everly Brothers.
Eubanks' business background includes being the CEO of a motion picture and television company as well as serving on the Board of Directors of major corporations such as the Tony Lama Boot Company and Head Golf. Currently you can find Bob in 160 cities nationwide as the host of the ever popular "Newlywed Game" for Sony/Columbia Tri-Star Television. You can also catch him seven days a week on Sony's Game Show Network, a 24-hour cable network featuring reruns of classic game shows. Bob's Emmy award-winning performances earned him the honor of being the last person in the 20th century to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Eubanks has also rolled in the bucks as a motivational speaker, and his services don't come cheap.
But in the end, it's his 22 years of fame as the host of the wretched The Newlywed Game, created and produced by the Sultan of Schlock, the King of Slob Culture, and alleged CIA assassin Chuck Barris, for which Eubanks is best remembered.
The show was so impressively awful it made the 1980 Andrews/Dunning book, The Worst TV Shows Ever, alongside such classics as My Mother, the Car and Me and the Chimp (the latter not about George W. Bush). Yours truly did not see the "adult," syndicated version but instead the original one that appeared on ABC in the late sixties.
If there was any factor contributing to the high divorce rate in this country, it was The Newlywed Game. The format wasn't much, just questions about the wives' husbands that the wives would answer while the men were backstage and then when they returned, the men would be asked the same questions and hold up their answers on cards to see if their answers matched the wives' answers. And when that round was over, the wives would go backstage and the husbands would answer a series of questions about their wives.
Andrews and Dunning explain further:
...With hubby's answers now on cards which he holds in his lap, the questions are repeated to the females can furnish their responses. If they answer correctly--i.e., their responses coincide with those of their husbands--there is the obligatory kiss on the lips, but when they are wrong, which is often, host Eubanks attempts to incite a near riot while remaining undeniably neutral. A wife may slug her spouse with her fist or threaten action "when we get home" ("Did you have to say that on the air??? I never worse falsies in my life!") The contestants are putting on a show, and they know it. The producers admittedly favored the ladies who will systematically pout, sigh, and become thoroughly exasperated on camera when they lose a lousy five points.
...
Whichever couple winds up with the most points (if there is a tie, each couple brings forth a card on which they have predicted their final score, without going over) is awarded a "prize selected especially for you," usually a stove, or stereo, or sofa. The prizes are all pretty rinky-dink and somewhat anticlimatic. Chuck Barris, the show's mentor and executive producer, justifies the meager grand prize by rationalizing: "We purposely stay away from big prizes. If we introduced yachts or cars, it would be horrible. They'd kill each other."
He's probably right, but we're surprised gameman Barris hasn't considered such a spinoff. (page 117)
Seeing the original run during the years when I was such an impressionable age, it's little wonder I decided against getting married.
Susan // 3:04 PM
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A bad penny always returns. Arizona's former governor, Fife Symington, convicted of bank fraud in 1997, is considering making another bid for the governorship in 2006. He believes he can beat current governor Janet Napolitano. I expect to read about a return of the equally disgraced Evan Mecham. (Arizona Daily Star)
Susan // 2:04 PM
Who says there isn't life after death? I have mentioned this display of cadavers before, but I thought I'd link the Chicago Tribune article about the display currently appearing in the Windy City. Even though it's sickening and morbid, many think the exhibit is in "good taste." (Bill Hogan, Chicago Tribune)
Susan // 11:57 AM
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When Bush was in Omaha yesterday, he was met with enthusiastic support. But the voters ain't all he has to worry about. A lot of Republicans in Congress don't think much of his ideas, either. Which makes the last paragraph of the article laughable, because even if Nelson did support Bush's proposal, which I doubt, that doesn't mean any bill will be filibustered. A lot of Republicans in the Senate won't go for it, either, not if they care about their careers. (Nati Harnik, AP)
Susan // 11:46 AM
Let's face it, nobody can confidently tell us now what the shape of Social Security financing will be in 2052, 2042 or any other date that far down the road. When human behavior and the march of history are involved, we can perhaps plan ahead plausibly 10 or 15 years in the future, but not 40 or 50.
Social Security long-range financing is working out pretty much as envisioned by the Greenspan commission in the early 1980s. So leave it alone. Concentrate on the 40 or 50 more urgent problems now facing our nation.
Eric Griffiths, a musician who simply didn't have the best timing in the world, died of pancreatic cancer the age of 64. He can be seen here on the extreme right in this 1957 picture with two even more obscure musicians in the foreground. (European Press Agency)
Susan // 9:08 AM
Later he was almost penniless and fought a few more fights for the money. With the money in a Coca-Cola franchise and became rich. Interestingly enough, he helped Joe Louis financially and paid for his funeral when Louis died in 1981.
Susan // 8:58 AM
You'd be surprised. Unfortunately, the opposition consists of typical elitists who have the belief which says everybody should either carpool or take buses and reduce pollution.
That's not a realistic option for a lot of people. Besides, why the fuck pick on the poor?
The guy who says cars depreciate and the money could be saved on things like buying a house is an ass. This kind of shit is aimed at only the poor, but not at the comfortable middle and upper classes who have several gas guzzlers in their garages.
Besides, if you don't have reliable transportation, you can't even GO to work at a lot of jobs in the first place to be able to save for a house or whatnot.
Some people need to walk in others' shoes.
Susan // 8:31 AM
is something else apart from the pornography and the missing person:
Kim, 30, has been charged in Multnomah County with eight counts of burglary as well as theft. He is accused of stealing the underwear of young women at more than half a dozen colleges in Oregon, including the University of Portland, Lewis & Clark College and Concordia University in Multnomah County. Three other counties have charged Kim with similar crimes.
The conventional rap is completely right. But, in a way, Dean is even less suited to run the DNC than he is to run for president.
And this:
The DNC chairman has two main jobs. First, he transmits the party's message — an important role when the party lacks a president and majority leaders in Congress. This job requires one to master the dismal art of "message discipline," boiling down the party's ideas into a few simple phrases and repeating them over and over until they have sunk into the public consciousness.
It's a role for which Dean is particularly ill suited. During his campaign, remember, he fashioned himself a straight talker, delighting reporters by repeatedly wandering "off message." On the plus side, he won friends in the media by appearing honest and human. On the negative side, he did himself enormous damage, when, for example, he suggested that he wouldn't prejudge Osama bin Laden until he had been convicted in a court of law.
And this:
The second major task of the DNC chairman is to run the party organization. And here, if this is at all possible, Dean looks even worse. Garance Franke-Ruta, who wrote sympathetic Dean pieces in the American Prospect during the campaign, spoke with several former Dean staffers. One called the candidate "a horrible manager" and added, "I wouldn't trust him to run a company." Another called his management style "just a disaster."
I really believe the head honchos are letting the Mouth walk off with the chairmanship in an effort to hang him and his cult followers who have done nothing but damage to the party by trashing Democrats who don't subscribe to their simplistic thinking.
One of two things is going to happen: Either the Mouth implodes through his own incompetence, or else he will disappoint his cult followers by being more middle-of-the-road.
Susan // 9:10 PM
UNC-Chapel Hill creates Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity; names former Sen. John Edwards as director
CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is launching a Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity that will be led by former U.S. Senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards.
The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity will be a nonpartisan initiative, bringing together UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and other national public policy experts to examine innovative and practical ideas for moving more Americans out of poverty and into the middle class. The center will have an advisory committee of senior faculty representing multiple disciplines across campus. In addition to leading the center, Edwards also will serve as a guest lecturer on campus.
"John Edwards is a distinguished Carolina alumnus, and we are delighted that he will return to campus to bring together today’s best minds to focus on issues that affect us all," Chancellor James Moeser said.
Edwards spent six years in the U.S. Senate. In that time, he championed policy initiatives such as raising the minimum wage, expanding the earned income tax credit, creating matching savings accounts for low-income families, and providing incentives for teachers to teach in low-income schools. Edwards also focused on poverty during last year’s presidential campaign.
"The time I spent at Chapel Hill gave me many of the tools I have used all my life to help those who are struggling, and I am so proud that I will be able to continue this work and also give something back to UNC-Chapel Hill," Edwards said. "As director of the center, I will work to explore creative approaches to the difficulties that families in poverty face every day."
"John Edwards will be a marvelous resource for faculty and students across campus," said Law School Dean Gene Nichol. "His life experiences as well as his time as senator and vice presidential candidate make him ideally suited to lead this new center."
At UNC-Chapel Hill, Edwards will hold a part-time, two-year, fixed-term faculty position. He will be designated a University Professor and hold an Alumni Distinguished Professorship, which is funded by private gifts to the University. It takes effect Feb. 14.
Edwards is a 1977 graduate of the School of Law. His wife, Elizabeth Edwards, earned her bachelor’s degree in English and a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. She has served on the University’s Board of Visitors since 2001. The Edwards family plans to move to Chapel Hill this spring.
Through its teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an educational and economic beacon for the people of North Carolina and beyond. Carolina was the nation’s first state university to open its doors and the only public university to award degrees in the 18th century. Today, UNC-Chapel Hill ranks among the nation's leading public universities and belongs to the select group of 61 American and two Canadian campuses forming the Association of American Universities.
However, his attorney is exploring all options, including refiling the case in Florida.
Susan // 8:10 PM
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According to the caption in the Omaha World-Herald, the dictator was "impressed" with panelist Mary Mornin that she was holding down THREE jobs while trying to support her kids. And this bastard wants to take away her Social Security should she become disabled or too old to work three or more jobs. (Phil Johnson)
Susan // 8:05 PM
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Even the Republican assholes admit they have just a short time to sell people on the con of privatizing Social Security. Asshole Lindsay Graham is trying to put through a less noxious proposal, but the fucker is dead meat if he does it. ANY private plan is a fucking goddamned fraud, and he and his ilk know it. Bush, meanwhile, traveled to Arkansas, Nebraska, and Florida today to talk to people who mostly aren't buying his bullshit. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)
Susan // 7:45 PM
