Baron Dave Romm
Inauguration Thoughts
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Franken vs. Coleman: The Saga Continues
Why won't Gov. Tim "Mayor Daley" Pawlenty let Minnesota have two senators?
Just to show up Illinois and Minneosota (and possibly New York), Delaware has two senators even though the guy who won the election is going to be Vice President: Ted Kaufman was sworn in on January 16th. Makes it look easy.
"Barack The Magic Negro"
Haven't heard from Paul Shanklin about We Hate The USA. Oh well. I listened to "Barack the Magic Negro" via YouTube. Quick thought: Not particularly funny, but hardly hate speech. The song continuously talks about the LA Times article from March 19, 2007, 'Obama the 'Magic Negro' by "L.A.-based DAVID EHRENSTEIN writes about Hollywood and politics. " The article opines, "The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture" who is "there to assuage white 'guilt'" at least in the movies. Obama is compared to "Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle".
Yeah, I voted for Obama because he reminds me of Scatman Crothers...
Filking "Puff the Magic Dragon", changing "Obama" to "Barack" presumably for scansion purposes, and having the song come from an unnamed person obviously Al Sharpton works moderately well. The song makes it's point. Indeed, it's a point I have made many times: Obama doesn't come from that tradition of black preachers and doesn't sound like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson or Rev. Al Sharpton. He sounds like a lawyer. I consider this a plus.
Unfortunately for the attempt at humor, so does Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton, both of who supported the lawyer in his quest for the presidency. Shanklin can riff off minor grumblings -- that's what satirists do -- but his wit was neither sharp nor incisive.
But to repeat the point I've been making for weeks: The controversy isn't about the song itself (though some have expressed outrage in its direction), but that someone who was trying to lead the Republican Party was using the CD of parodies as part of his resume. As usual, the right wing thinks that playground taunts are the political commentary. Relying so heavily on one of the conservative Hollywood elites doesn't help his case.
Meanwhile, my opinion of Chip Saltsman remains the same: A right-wing blowhard with no values worth promoting, who is pandering to the mean-spirited "base" of the GOP. As of this writing (1/18/09), the RNC agrees. According to YourRNC.com Saltsman is dead last among the six candidates with zero pledged votes.
Hatemongering works for fundraising among conservatives, and too often wins in general elections when the complacent conservative news media prints only GOP talking points. Now, partly thanks to the uplifting campaign of Barack Obama, Saltsman is headed for obscurity in the In much the same way that Rick Lazio lost badly for senate in 2000 and faded into the darkness with the campaign "I'm running against Hillary Clinton."
There. That was fun. Now on to actual news.
Keith Olbermann Sums Up the Bush Administration
Keith Olbermann sums up the Bush administration in 9:27. A damning and wide-ranging list, hardly complete.
The Big Party
I predict that the Inauguration of Barack Obama will go pretty well, and the conservative news media will spend altogether too much time on protestors and those trying to disrupt the festivities. Most people will have a great time, and Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.
Assuming all goes well, I think we can bask in the euphoria for a while. Yes, there's lots of work to do. Obama and crew can't sit still, and they won't. Neither can we. We still have to pay attention to our politicians. We'll be digging ourselves out of right-wing rubble for a long time. We can be happy, but we can't be complacent.
I haven't decided what I'm going to do. There are parties galore, and I may go to one or more, camera in hand. I may just stay home and work on the computer with the news in the background.
And I won't be complacent.
He gets the benefit of the doubt, at first, and I'm expecting to be
pleasantly surprised far more than I'll be disappointed. I don't
agree with Obama on everything, and he doesn't get a free ride. As a
political observer, he's squarely in my sights. As a humorist, he'll
be the butt of some jokes. Of course, unlike his predecessor, he'll
probably find them funny as well.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
The Weekly Poll
New question tomorrow.
BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jo Weider: Coffee Can Be Your Friend (creators.com)
Q: I'm a 28-year-old woman, and I'm trying to build up my shoulders. I think nicely developed shoulders on a woman is sexy. Unfortunately, my boyfriend doesn't want me to develop them because he believes women should look soft and "feminine," and not lift weights. I know he respects you, Joe. Could you please set him straight? His name is Todd.
Joe: I hope you will embrace rather than reject the changes your girlfriend wants to make to her body, Todd. And if you don't, I know a ton of guys who I'm sure would love to meet a young lady who likes to keep herself in shape.
Scott Burns: Bernard Madoff and the Full-Time Equivalent of Murder (assetbuilder.com)
Roy Bean, the famous "hanging judge" of Texas, would be disappointed. Most of the 3,000 readers who wrote in response to my recent column said that hanging is too good for Bernard Madoff. The same column asked readers to suggest the appropriate punishment for a crime so large.
TOBY YOUNG: The recession is not a 'much-needed reality check' - it's a source of great suffering (spectator.co.uk)
Puritans love disasters. No sooner has some calamity befallen mankind than some hair-shirted scold emerges from his priest hole and starts wagging his finger. The message is always the same: 'You are being punished for your immoral lifestyle.'
FROMA HARROP: Taxes Will Have to Be Raised, Eventually (creators.com)
During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama portrayed his tax plan as a way to help "spread the wealth around." That was an unfortunate choice of words, though not as silly as the "conservative" formulation that raising taxes "punishes success."
Nora Ephron: It Ought To Be A Word (huffingtonpost.com)
It's true what he said: we misunderestimated him. He was misunderestimated in every way. It was hard to imagine that this feckless leader could do so much damage. But even as the worst emerged, he was given the benefit of the doubt because of the ongoing mysteries of his administration -- mysteries that have remained unsolved in spite of the skills of hundreds of gifted journalists who have attempted to uncover them.
Daniel Gross: Will Anyone Give Bush a Job? (slate.com)
Given recent history, Bush probably expects to profit from ex-presidency. Bill Clinton reported income of more than $90 million from 2000-07. But Bush is very unlikely to earn Clintonian numbers. Ex-presidents peddle image, presence, and experience. In Bush's case, each is tarnished. To aggravate matters, many of the industries in which ex-presidents make easy money are a) doing poorly, and b) based in the Washington-Boston corridor where Bush hostility runs deep.
Ted Rall: OPRAH'S BOOK SNUB
How Winfrey Elevates Lowbrow Tastes and Hurts Reading.
Johann Hari: Homophobic? Then You're Probably Gay (huffingtonpost.com)
Hip hop has long been the ultimate in gay-bashing hate music. Why do they do it? Why do hip-hop artists -- often the victims of bigotry themselves -- incite this hatred?
Jody Rosen: It Was All a Dream (slate.com)
How Biggie changed hip-hop.
Roger Moore: Q&A with 'Notorious' star Jamal Woolard (The Orlando Sentinel)
Before this month, Jamal Woolard was an obscure rapper going by the stage name of Gravy. And Gravy was best known for a 2006 shooting outside of a New York rap radio station.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Your Woman. My Woman! Your Wife - GILDED 3 SUM?
Another partial risque prequel to eight years of disasteer?
Humor Gazette
Inauguration Day
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not as hot, but very dry.
Iraqi Playwright
Jawad al-Assadi
After nearly three decades of self-imposed exile, Iraq's well-known playwright and director Jawad al-Assadi returned to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, believing that the new Iraq was going to be better.
He discovered he was wrong.
Shocked by the violence and fear among his people, al-Assadi decided last year to settle in Beirut and open his own theatre.
But violence has followed him. Lebanon is gripped by its worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war, and about a dozen politicians, journalists and soldiers have been slain since 2005.
Al-Assadi is now wondering if it was a mistake to come here. But he harbours no regrets about leaving Iraq. Returning to his homeland right now, he said, would be like "offering yourself as a cheap and ignorant martyr."
Jawad al-Assadi
Earpiece Controversy
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey is at the centre of controversy over his recently postponed London play - amid accusations the show's star Richard Dreyfuss has to be fed his lines through an earpiece.
The premiere of the Spacey-directed Complicit was due to take place at the city's Old Vic theatre, where the Hollywood star is artistic director, on Monday.
But opening night was pushed back until the following week because the show needs "more development time", according to a spokesperson.
And now Jaws star Dreyfuss has been accused of failing to learn his lines properly and being told what to say on stage through an earpiece, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Kevin Spacey
100 Trillion Dollar Note
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe will introduce a 100 trillion dollar note, in its latest attempt to keep pace with hyperinflation that has left its once-vibrant economy in tatters, state media said Friday.
The new 100,000,000,000,000 Zim-dollar bill would have been worth about 300 US dollars (225 euros) at Thursday's exchange rate on the informal market, where most currency trading now takes place, but the value of the local currency erodes dramatically every day.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is introducing three other notes in trillion-dollar denominations of 10, 20 and 50, the government mouthpiece Herald newspaper said.
The last official estimate put inflation at 231 million percent in July, but outside experts now believe it is many times higher.
Zimbabwe
Museum Receives Musical Gift
'Big'
A Philadelphia museum has received a musical gift for children and "Big" kids alike.
The 16-foot walk-on piano Tom Hanks played in his 1988 film "Big" will be on display next month at the city's Please Touch Museum.
The instrument is a gift to the children's museum from a couple in suburban Merion who bought it after the movie's release.
It was built in Philadelphia by Remo Saraceni who called his invention a Walking Piano.
'Big'
Own Google Channel
Pope
The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI is getting his own channel on Google.
It says the Vatican TV Center and Vatican Radio are collaborating with Google on the project.
The Vatican's press office said Saturday that texts and video of the pope's speeches as well as news about the pontiff would be posted directly onto the channel.
Pope
Threatens Orangutans
Palm Oil
Hoping to unravel the mysteries of human origin, anthropologist Louis Leakey sent three young women to Africa and Asia to study our closest relatives: It was chimpanzees for Jane Goodall, mountain gorillas for Dian Fossey and the elusive, solitary orangutans for Birute Mary Galdikas.
Nearly four decades later, 62-year-old Galdikas, the least famous of his "angels," is the only one still at it. And the red apes she studies in Indonesia are on the verge of extinction because forests are being clear-cut and burned to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations.
Galdikas worries many questions may never be answered. How long do orangutans live in the wild? How far do the males roam? And how many mates do they have in their lifetime?
There are only an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 90 percent of them in Indonesia, said Serge Wich, a scientist at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa. Most live in small, scattered populations that cannot take the onslaught on the forests much longer.
Palm Oil
Future Funding For Failed Policy?
Abstinence-Only
With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program.
How quickly and completely they reach their goal is uncertain, however, as conservative supporters of abstinence education lobby Congress and President-elect Barack Obama to preserve at least some of the funding, which now totals $176 million a year.
And even if federal funding is halted, some states - such as Georgia - are determined to keep abstinence programs going on their own, ensuring that this front in the culture wars will remain active.
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of American, depicted the federal abstinence-only program as "an utter failure that has wasted more than $1.5 billion" over the past decade. Like other critics, she noted that several major studies - including a federally funded review - have found no evidence that the abstinence-only approach works in deterring teen sex.
Abstinence-Only
Canarsie
Djumbala Club
Police say four men were stabbed at a New York City nightclub advertising the "official" after-party for the film premiere of "Notorious" about rapper Biggie Smalls.
Police said Saturday a 21-year-old victim stabbed numerous times was in critical condition at Brookdale Hospital. Three other who were stabbed were in stable condition.
The Djumbala club is in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn about three miles from the slain rapper's home. Police did not immediately release further information.
Smalls' debut CD, 1994's "Ready to Die," helped re-energize the East Coast rap scene. He was killed in Los Angeles in 1997.
Djumbala Club
Punches Photographer
Grace Mugabe
A British photographer said Sunday he had been beaten up and punched repeatedly by the wife of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe as he was trying to snap photos of her in Hong Kong.
Grace Mugabe, 43, flew into a rage when she saw photographer Richard Jones waiting outside as she left the five-star Kowloon Shangri-la Hotel with a female friend and a bodyguard in the southern Chinese city on Thursday.
Three or four large African bodyguards appeared from the hotel and tried to approach Jones following the assault. But they were stopped by security officers at Tsim Sha Tsui Centre near the hotel, Sheridan said.
The Sunday Times said Mugabe's trip to Hong Kong was part of a Far East holiday with her family. She had been in Singapore with her husband before flying to Hong Kong on January 9, the report said.
Grace Mugabe
Weekend Box Office
`Paul Blart: Mall Cop'
Kevin James bumbles and stumbles to take down the bad guys, but his "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" had no trouble nabbing the top spot at the box office this weekend.
Last week's No. 1 movie, "Gran Torino," dropped to second place but only by 25 percent. The Warner Bros. drama, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood as a bigot who becomes a reluctant neighborhood hero, made $22.2 million this weekend for a cumulative gross of $73.2 million.
Fourth was "Notorious," about slain rapper Notorious B.I.G., which made $21.5 million. That's the biggest opening ever for Fox Searchlight, which previously released such critical darlings and crowd-pleasers as "Juno" and "Little Miss Sunshine."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," $33.8 million.
2. "Gran Torino," $22.2 million.
3. "My Bloody Valentine 3-D," $21.9 million.
4. "Notorious," $21.5 million.
5. "Hotel for Dogs," $17.7 million.
6. "Bride Wars," $11.75 million.
7. "The Unborn," $9.8 million.
8. "Defiance," $9.2 million.
9. "Marley & Me," $6.3 million.
10. "Slumdog Millionaire," $5.9 million.
`Paul Blart: Mall Cop'
In Memory
Bob May
Bob May, who won a cult following as The Robot in the hit 1960s television show "Lost in Space," died Sunday of congestive heart failure. He was 69.
He was a veteran actor and stuntman who had appeared in movies, TV shows and on the vaudeville stage when he was tapped by "Lost in Space" creator Irwin Allen to play the Robinson family's loyal metal sidekick.
Although May didn't provide the robot's distinctive voice (that was done by announcer Dick Tufeld), he developed a devoted following of fans who sought him out at memorabilia shows.
The grandson of famed vaudeville comedian Chic Johnson, May was introduced to show business at age two when he began appearing in the "Hellzapoppin" comedy revue with Johnson and his partner, Ole Olsen.
He went on to appear in numerous films with Jerry Lewis and in such TV shows as "The Time Tunnel," and "77 Sunset Strip."
He was also a stuntman in such 1950s and '60s TV shows as "Cheyenne," "Surfside 6," "Hawaiian Eye," "The Roaring 20s" and "Stagecoach."
May and his wife lost their house in November when a wildfire destroyed their upscale mobile home park in the San Fernando Valley's Sylmar section.
Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Judith; his daughter; Deborah, his son, Martin; and four grandchildren.
Bob May
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