Time for a NEW REPLACEMENT Party?

[This blog entry has been edited

and supplemented -- mainly

at the bottom -- since initial posting.]

Caught Jon Stewart on Larry King last night and he expressed the same frustration with the current political parties and how they simply engender a deep feeling of disgust. (okay the repugnacons are far more disgusting but the dems are a close second). Jack Cafferty on the also-ubiquitous Wolfie's Situation Room saw Jon, too and is asking today whether people are sick of the current state of political parties and whether we need something else. I've been mulling this very question for at least the past zillion years -- probably more if I'm honest.

After seeing Robert Altman's brilliant Nashville again just the other day -- how prescient it was about so many things -- especially impressive now is how the film's ever-present, always in the background, finger-wagging "Replacement Party" foreshadowed Ross Perot. Perot spent much of his time warning us of some critical truths that have certainly come to fruition -- the loud sucking sounds of jobs leaving this country -- and he was awfully similar to another crazy film character Howard "I'm as Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it Anymore!" Beale -- the wacky truth-telling newsman from another genius work of art from the mid-seventies, the film Network).

So anyway, after I saw it again -- click! Maybe it's time for "The NEW Replacement Party" -- yes?

I know I'm sure sick to death of the two parties that have held (misused and abused) power for far too long. We can dream can't we? Actually, we can do more -- and we must. At the very least, refuse to keep sending the incumbents back during the next go-round.

And if you haven't seen Nashville or Network in a while, time to take another look.

Footnote: Peter Baker at WaPo puts the kibosh on any third party possibilities. What do you think?


And just one little doggone minute! While we're on the subject of cinematic genius Robert Altman, another all-time favorite film ever ever ever (which could only have been made by Altman) is the high desert identity-shifter, dreamstate stream of consciousness, (rarely seen) transformational mindbender -- 3 Women. I truly love Nashville, but this film is in a universe all its own.

Shelley Duvall is .... there are no words for her brilliance, innocence, naiveté and initial hilarity in this film -- a deeper, broader, more complex expansion of the barely-glimpsed minor character in Nashville.

One scene that stands out for me is of Shelley's character driving away in her Ford PINTO -- that is hysterical, recognizable (to some of us anyway), disturbing and so touching all at once -- one teeny little simple but voluminous scene that tells us so much about this character and her level of self-awareness and world-awareness -- that as I said, some of us will identify with in such a way that it can actually bring sharp pangs and tears of bewildering pain immediately following hysterical laughter.

Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule can likewise be described in this character exploration triptych, together with Shelley, as sweet perfection. Sissy and Shelley have never been more peerless than in this film.

Post Script 3/6/06: Nice to see Altman finally recognized even by the Hollywood-narciss-o-rama-self-congratu-fest known as the Oscars.

It had to happen sometime...

The "Official Dick Cheney Hunting Party" T-Shirt

Anyone else read this?

Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer
By DOUG THOMPSON Feb 22, 2006, 07:35

Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was "clearly inebriated" at the time of the shooting.

From CapitolHillBlue.com

PS: I finally figured out how to turn on the comments feature -- DOH!!!

PBS reduces Dickens to a generic Fox-news hissy-fit on its website

How disappointing -- (but how expected and in-step with the overall plans* of the Shrub admin to scrub all public and governmental websites of all info that does not toe the right-wing-fundamentalist-conservative line) -- that PBS of all the 'republican-controlled' government-related entities has so missed the mark on its own website in describing a work of fiction.

Of course, it is a work of fiction written by Charles Dickens and brilliantly adapted for (a joint BBC-WGBH of Boston production of) Mystery!/Masterpiece Theatre under the masterful hand of Andrew Davies.

With deer-in-headlight dismay, as we've seen frightfully come to fruition, the stealth efforts of the fundamentalist radical corporate-controlled right which began in the late seventies has become far less stealth as it has racked up success after success of dismantling governmental transparency, protection of human and civil rights, and participatory democracy of the people, by the people and for the people in these last 30+ years.

(And by we, I don't mean ME, I mean the collective not-so-royal 'bourgeois, working class, peons, paupers and plebeian" WE. Hells bells, I've been screaming, jumping, working, railing in some form or fashion about this crap since I can't remember when!!)

What am I all in a tither about? It's only the (incomplete) description of Bleak House -- more specifically of Dickens' 'intentions' and conclusions in Bleak House -- but that description while technically correct is incomplete and therefore both damning and telling in what it leaves out.

The PBS-approved summary concludes that Bleak House is a "passionate indictment of the convoluted legal system" -- and so it may be at its most simplistic and least relevant 'lesson.' However, what this sanitized, unoffensive, dull description leaves out is that Dickens is far more furious and enraged about the injustices, oppressions, poverty, ill-health and bleak lives of the poor and uneducated at the hands of the unimpeded powerful and rich during his time.

It is also an indictment of the indifference granted by entitlement to human suffering (Mrs. Jellyby and Skimpole) and other ways the rich, powerful and especially a society's smug judgmental moralists use bigotry, artificial social etiquette and even religious fervor to trap, corner, blackmail, intimidate and manipulate the weak, the less educated, less powerful into keeping secrets that would ultimately cause them to lose at least part of their power (the merciless grip at the throat of the weak and frightened) and thus benefit all through revelation and transparency, not secrecy.

Hmmmm ... that all sure sounds familiar doesn't it?

Bleak House certainly is as relevant on MANY levels today as it was in the 1800s when Dickens first lashed out at such injustice and social, political and economic inequities.

And I am VERY disappointed that PBS chose such a safe, innocuous, INCOMPLETE and therefore inaccurate description of what Dickens was truly infuriated about and railing against in his insightful, ultimately truth-telling richly told works of fiction.

Luckily, despite the cowardice of PBS in its 'safe' inoffensive, whitewashed written summary, there are actual broadcasts that are courageous and undaunted by the republican right's efforts to squash truth, justice and the american way (see Frontline and NOW, for especially fine examples, in addition to Bleak House).

And this BBC production of Bleak House is no exception. The unrepentant vision, talent and concrete results of Andrew Davies and the talented writers, adaptors, producers, actors, editors and the director have stayed the course, stayed true to Dickens and in fact have focused us like a laser on the sparkling diamonds of Dickens' ULTIMATE TRUTHS about secrecy, injustice, poverty and the evil hearts of powerful, greedy, frightened men who bully and harass others to their wills.

Don't misunderstand me, this screenplay and production is finely nuanced and not the brick over the head so often preferred by the purveyors and consumers of American entertainment, especially by those in the mainstream film and TV business (news included).

Anna Maxwell Martin stands out as the lovely, warm, ethical, compassionate, strong and appealingly vulnerable orphan-with-a-devastating-secret, Esther Summerson. In fact, all the cast members are wonderful -- fabulous! -- a pure mélange of Dickens & Davies. They invest themselves so fully that they truly inhabit the roles. So enjoyable to watch what is now considered 'high art' but in its time was literature frequently scoffed at and dismissed.

The two-hour finale of Bleak House airs on PBS on Sunday, Feb. 26. If you haven't had the pleasure, or if you simply want to linger over the finely honed performances, the DVD will be released Feb. 28.

PS: I'm so giddy and relieved that someone finally dispatched with that dark-hearted, villainous, priggish, greedy, evil, stalking Tulkinghorn (a Snidely Whiplash caricature gleefully played with genius restraint by the more than talented Brit actor Charles Dance).

*Please see my most recent entry which reiterates a concern/disturbance shared by many about this Admin's scrubbing, over-classification and outright deletion of previously web-accessible publicly owned/funded information, data, databases, articles, research, etc.

China's internet censorship efforts aided & abetted by Yahoo and other internet giants

Yahoosuks.com reports on a chance for concerned citizens to interact and chat online, offer feedback, opinions and questions regarding China's internet censorship which has been effectively promoted and supported by Yahoo, Microsoft and others for profit:

Washington Post will have a live online chat on China's efforts to censor the internet which will be led by Rebecca Mackinnon, former CNN Beijing Correspondent and a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society who now writes the blog Global Voices Online. Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 2pm.

Footnote/UPDATE: While we're at it we should all be more than concerned about this administration's actions to censor, remove, 'classify' and delete what once were public documents prior to Bush taking office. The removal began in January of 2001, as soon as he took office, not after 9-11 as many purport (documents, databases, articles, research and more -- funded by the citizens -- on topics like nonviolent parenting, effects of spanking and other forms of family violence, domestic violence, gay-lesbian issues, child development, parenting education, teaching/teachers, mental health, public and community health, AIDS, addiction and millions of pieces of many other 'innocuous' non-defense related, formerly public materials have been DELETED by this administration simply because they didn't conform to the right-wing, fundamentalist belief system).

And of course, little or no press coverage/context/investigation or holding this administration accountable. Have we lost the fourth estate? (collectively, not all, there are some notable, little-heard/read exceptions) Will they continue to fail in their duty to protect and inform the citizenry about the actions of their government and power holders? Who watches the watchers indeed?


There may be some rousing to an awakened state among the slumbering sheep -- with Bill Moyers at the forefront. Recommended reading:

• Bill Moyers: In the Kingdom of the Half-Blind,


• Increase in the Number of Documents Classified by the Government, and


• U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review, NYT 2/21/06

Google & Yahoo & Big Bro are watching you, your loved ones, your hated ones, and all your/my/our internet queries, research, posts, blogs, sites.....

Censorship in China isn't the only internet issue to be concerned about these days. Hot on the heels of the outing Valerie Plame and our US Government (NSA, FBI, et al) spying on its own citizens (ALL of us you numbnuts, not just the terroristas) is this must-read piece at TruthDig:

In Google, Yahoo, Should We Trust? A Dig Led by Mark Malseed
subtitled: It's time we started asking better questions about our queries.

An unsettling reality has begun to descend on the millions of fans and devotees of the Internet giants Google and Yahoo: They know an awful lot about us.

Every Google search ever typed, every Yahoo news article ever read -- all are logged and stored indefinitely in these companies' massive databases. Think about that for a moment. We whisper a lot into the ears of these shadowy search engines, including plenty of secrets that we'd want to keep from our spouses and kids. And we do so without ever bothering to check what is being done with that information.

If you don't already know, let me be the first to tell you: Google, Yahoo and their less-well-known brethren are keeping tabs on what is being searched, viewed and clicked on, all across their sprawling Web empires. You know all those e-mails you've sent using free services such as Yahoo Mail or Google's Gmail? They are kept for posterity on company servers, even in cases when they have been deleted from users' accounts. And instant messages? A new service from Google leaves a digital record long after the conversations have been forgotten....

Consider for a moment what a complete history of just your Internet searches alone might reveal. Chances are the list would offer pretty good clues as to your political leanings, your health condition, your finances, your job satisfaction, your marital fidelity, your obsessions and addictions, and plenty else that you may want to keep private.

Add to that the full archive of your Web e-mails -- and depending on what other Yahoo or Google services you use, a partial or full record of your Web surfing habits?and these companies have got a fairly comprehensive digital dossier on you, me and several hundred million other people.

Complete article here. Here's an anonymous surfing proxy site in case you want to visit there, or here, or elsewhere incognito.

Cheney Shoots Hunter in Texas (TX republican mistaken for quail, not Quayle)

Breaking news from ABC, NYT, WAPO -- apparently broken, originated by the Associated Press:

Cheney Accidentally Shoots and Injures Fellow Hunter in Texas

WASHINGTON Feb 12, 2006 (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.

...Cheney sprayed Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington.

...."The vice president didn't see him," ......"The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

Okay, so allegedly it was an 'accident' -- (I doubt if there were any Democrats on this hunting trip).

Just what we need: more hard of hearing, myopic (on so many levels), demented, old crotchety, angry, entitled white guys carrying loaded guns and shooting at people and other living creatures. Pro-life my ass.

This is one of the world's major political power dominators who oppresses countries and tells everyone all the 'shoulds' and 'ought-tos' and rules for living? One of the GOP's big, bad, pro-gun, pro-militarism guys who never served in the military because he got, what FIVE or so deferments? And he's next in command after the bubble boy in chief? These guys like Cheney run the world? Gimme a great big fat effing break -- puhlease!

Can't wait to hear Comedy Central, Jay Leno, David Letterman, et al on this freak's accident.

ABC story here, NYT here, WaPo story here has more details, cuz it was filed later than the original.

Focus on the Pro-Gay Family of Blogs, Articles, Movies, Quotes

Recent PRO GAY/ LESBIAN / SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIP clips, quotes, articles of note:

Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ex-Gay Cowboys by Dan Savage in the NYT.

Evangelical Christians seem sincere in their desire to help build healthy, lasting marriages. Well, if that's their goal, encouraging gay men to enter into straight marriages is a peculiar strategy.

Yeah!!! So why don't they focus on all those wife-beating, woman-hating, child-spanking, baby-molesting, bomb-dropping, poverty-creating, race-baiting, gun-wielding, power-corrupting fuckers out there who think of themselves as 'god-fearing, law-abiding, righteous believers' and who are STRAIGHT and doing alot more damage everywhere in this country & WORLDWIDE than our gay brothers!

(and PS: another of the wishywashy MSNBC personalities, Don 'big-dumb-gripey-grumpy-ugly-homophobe' Imus, insists it's important to know that Ennis & Jack are sheepherders, not 'real' cowboys. BFD. In his favor, he did think one of the numerous parody images of Bush & Cheney in Dumbfuck Mountain was pretty cool. There's also one called Blowback Mountain, and another with Delay & Abramoff entitled Kickback Mountain. Again: why aren't the homophobe hatemongers concerned about all the havoc straight guys are wreaking on the world? I personally don't think Jesus would be very happy hanging out in their churches, 'big-tents', and hate-rallies.)

Coretta Scott King Quote of the Day from Tennessee Guerilla Women:

"A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."

Amen and rest in peace, Mrs. King -- someone who really walked the talk and 'got it' -- how all forms of oppression are interconnected/linked to the core.

Finally, got to see Aimee & Jaguar on LOGO today -- it's been a while (first saw it at Outfest, the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in LA around '98 or '99, I think). A smart film with a back-drop at the intersection of all sorts of banal evils (see Hannah Arendt): anti-semitism, nazism, homophobia, sexism, murder, sociopathy, indifference to human suffering, sadism ...And still, like a flower pushing up through cracks in concrete in the urban center, love managed to eek out an existence for a short while in such deadly circumstances.

But I really loved the music (wish there was a soundtrack!), the parties, the dancing and especially the romance between Lily and Felice!

Although I think it's a perfectly wonderful film as it is, we all know how few 'mericans are capable of reading subtitles on foreign films. So here are my picks for the main stars in the English-language remake: Gillian Anderson as Lily and Mary Louise Parker as Felice.

Fred the Undercover Alley Cop ... Cat

Fred the Alley Cat helped NYPD snare a dangerous scamming fake veterinarian that hurt Burt the Boston Terrier. Yay Fred!

Click photo to get the full effect of how cute these two furry critters are, especially Fred.

NYT story, written in the 50s noirish true-crime report style here.

Rove Determined to 'SwiftBoat' Hillary Rodham Clinton

From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Rove Aides Meet with Clinton Foe

Karl Rove is "getting directly involved in the effort to defeat" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), according to the New York Post. "Top Rove aide Sara Taylor and one of her staffers met for an hour at the White House yesterday with former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer -- the leading contender for the GOP nomination to challenge Clinton -- to discuss campaign strategy."

My guess is it has more to do with early preparation to 'swiftboat' HRC in 2008 should she get the presidential nomination. At this point, I would never tell HRC to run for Prez -- in fact, I don't think Senators or Congress people should be allowed to on principal (only half serious).

But I do think the Dems should at least try to use it to their advantage: let Rove focus all his evil energies on Hillary as the likely dem nominee for '08, they should string him along as much as possible, for as long as possible. He should put his heart and soul into swiftboating HRC and it should be all for naught because someone else (someone actually electible) should ultimately be the Dem nominee. I'm sure I'd like HRC as a person, maybe even as prez, but honestly, not now, not as a presidential candidate. I just don't think it's meant to be and I'm sick of the Dems being such bumbleheaded idiots. But, hey, I've been wrong about a lot of things.

Direct link to Political Wire blurb here.

Boo Hoo Hoo! The Military Chiefs Got Their Feelings Hurt.

Once again, instead of dealing with the legitimate issues raised by FREE SPEECH in the form of a political cartoon which criticizes the Imperial Prez & his Imperial Court Jesters, the 'Just Following Orders' Gang at one of the higher rungs of the ladder known as the Military Industrial War Profiteering (especially for Halliburton) Machine Complex would rather point their fingers and wag their tongues at the messenger while draping their scoundrel selves in the politically expedient refuge of patriotism, flags and apple pie.

The Joint Chiefs sent this 'misses-the-point' we - are - whiney - victims - further - sacrificing - the - brave - soldiers - on - the - ground - by - using - them - as - our - shields letter to the editor here.

Excerpts from Howie Kurtz's newest WaPo column:

Dave Autry, deputy communications director for Disabled American Veterans, said he was "certainly not" offended by the cartoon.

"It was graphic, no doubt about it," he said. "But it drove home a point, that there are critically ill patients that certainly need to be attended to."

..."It is the nature of cartooning that someone can read an analogy a cartoon uses to mean things other than what was intended," Toles said. "The only way to avoid that problem is to draw [political] cartoons that have no impact."

And that's just the way the GOP likes it.

Kurtz's analysis of the dust-up over the Tom Toles cartoon at WaPo here.

Just Another 'Bubble-Head in the Sand' SOTU

Once again, Froomkin has his pulse on reality:

I for one was most interested in whether the speech would originate from within Bush's protective bubble -- where he doesn't have to face ugly realities -- or from without.

This is one of the SOTU throw-away lines that seems to have gotten little or no analysis by the tongue-wagging, butt-kissing pundits, analysist and spinners ("Spitball" anyone?):

What the President said: "Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care."

What the Republicans did: (APPLAUSE)

What the President meant: "Keeping Americans believing in the myth of 'affordable' health care is actually a privilege which only the rich truly deserve (since they can afford it) and everybody else has to scramble and beg and go bankrupt for, and if they can't afford it too bad 'cause it just means all my rich fat cat buddies like Senator-Doctor Frist, the Health Care Corporate Industrial Complex, (including the Pharmaceutical and Insurance companies) will continue to get rich, richer and richest at the expense of all you idiots who keep believing that 'free markets' for health care services has any legitimacy at all (you suckers!)."

What the President said: "Our government has a responsibility to help provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility."

What the Republicans did: (APPLAUSE)

What the audience, especially the Dems, and Americans everywhere should have done: ROTFLMAO

The ugly reality the Imperial Prez would rather ignore, does not understand, has no interest in understanding much less doing anything about: "Keeping America competitive requires keeping Americans HEALTHY, EDUCATED and EMPLOYED (at living, decent wages while covered by health care and retirement benefits like most competitive industrial nations).

Go to hell Bubble Boy.