Baron Dave Romm
'Birthers'
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Happy New Year!
In writing this column on Sunday, the hoopla surrounding the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon just slipped by. So a belated... Happy New Year! July 20, 2009CE was the beginning of the Year of our Moon Landing 40. Let's hope the new year will bring greater space exploration, since knowledge of without only increases knowledge of within.
And if you'll allow me to quote myself, here's my letter as printed in salon.com as a comment on my brother Joe's article Goodnight, moon travel (Premium membership, or wade through the ads):
The US Space Program was the most successful endeavor in human history. There is nothing that comes close.
The food you eat, the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the phone you use, the internet you are reading this with, the medical care you receive, the weather report you take for granted, the Biblical history revealed, the military intelligence gathered, the data we use to determine everything from global warming to broadcast interference: All this, and much much more are spinoffs and/or directly affected by the US Space Program.
Nixon shut down much of the Apollo mission because of his insane jealousy of Kennedy, but the space program continues to justify any and all money spent. We should spend more -- a lot more -- as the practical applications of pure research has justified American optimism. We aren't as rich as we were rebuilding the world after out of WW II, but we can and must lead the way in science and unexpected technology. Otherwise, we wither and cede leadership of the world to others.
I disagree with brother Joe that we have to be 1960s rich to fund such a wide ranging effort, but I agree that the greatest challenge lies in climate change and maintaining our moral leadership. What further benefits can there be from goal-oriented research? We don't know. All we know is what has worked in the past, and that's the US Space Program.
Happy New Year, everyone, in this, the start of the Year of our Moon Landing 40.
The GOP is shooting themselves in the foot, again
"I'm for total honest democracy. I also believe the American system can work." -- Woody Allen, Stardust Memories
I believe in the two party system. Increasingly, the Republican Party demonstrates that it shouldn't be one of them. The un-American actions of Bush/Cheney and their fellow travelers, the reduction from Grand Old Party to the racist and regional Dixiepubs, their arrogant stance on virtually all issues, their treatment of Sonia Sotomayor, and now the birther conspiracy nutjobs.
I'm beginning to hope that Democrats will be the large and disorganized centrist party that it was from roughly WWII until Clinton shifted it to the right, and a new party will be the socially liberal and fiscally moderate party that the GOP was, off and on, from Teddy Roosevelt through Nixon up until Reagan dragged it to extremism.
The current Republicans Party will remain the Dixiepubs, the remnants of the Strom Thurmond's "Segregation Forever!" party that took several states in the 1948 presidential election. Let the extremists, those big government elitists with no personal responsibility, remain a fringe element of the US political process.
The Born Conspiracy
(Yes, I stole the subhead from The Daily Show.)
The Birthers are those on the right who claim Barack Obama was not born a US citizen and therefore not eligible to be president. They offer no facts proving their assertion. They just make shit up.
As near as I can figure out, their angry denunciations rely on a few hairy things:
During the campaign, Obama released a Certificate of Live Birth, not a Birth Certificate. (Michael Dare points this out, even as he disparages the fools.) This doesn't actually prove he wasn't born in the US, please understand, just that it is not an official statement of the place of birth. Lots of peole have seen it. The birthers shot themselves in the foot by claiming this was a forgery. They lied; the Certificate of Live Birth is legit.
Since the question had been settled, Obama has basically ignored any further calls to release the Birth Certificate.
Some claim he has signed an executive order barring release of his birth certificate. That's not precisely true. Executive Order 13489, singed January 21, 2009CE, on Presidential Records, establishes policies related to "executive privilege by incumbent and former Presidents in connection with the release of Presidential records by the National Archives and Records Administration". I'm not a lawyer, but as I read the document a) it applies to former and current presidents' claims to Executive Privilege, b) has all such claims going through the Attorney General, not just a blanket "no" and c) only applies to records in the National Archives. A birth certificate is a state document and has nothing to do with Executive Privilege. Frankly, it looks more like a deal Obama made with Bush about Bush going AWOL from the National Guard more than anything else. Once again, Republicans are not merely making things up, they're pointing fingers at the exact opposite culprit.
And once again, Obama is playing it cool, letting the nutjobs spin in circles, further eroding the credibility of the right. Face it, facts never get in the way of a craven Republican charge or convince a gullible GOP "base". Might as well play them for saps.
Of course, what would a conservative screed be without a complete and total lie? Can the religious right go a week without bearing false witness? No virgins for them... oh sorry, wrong fanatics, but you get the idea.
It seems that one insecure and self-proclaimed evangelist called up Obama's 84-year-old step-grandmother. She started to say that she was present in Kenya when Obama was born... which was interpreted as being present at Obama's birth in Kenya... when she realized what she had been tricked into and reversed herself.
So what was an phone call affirmation that Barack Obama Jr. was born in Hawaii became, to convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy, "a deposition which is a sworn statement", indeed, a "written statement", that he was born in Kenya. So much for integrity. So much for "personal responsibility". Seriously, these "Christians" need to worry about their immortal souls. But I digress.
This should be in the next section, as I'm going to let CatM regale you with the facts, but here is: Liddy Lied: There is no Deposition from Obama's step-grandmother Daily Kos Dairy, 7/23/09But don't take mere facts get in your way.
Shooting down the birthers
As is often the case, Jon Stewart, the most trusted newsman in America skewers the subjects so well they don't know they've been busted:
Stewart to Dobbs: "Do you even watch CNN?"
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Born Identity | ||||
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Media Matters covers the same ground, wide ranging but succinct, and almost as funny:
The full segment: Chris Matthews Smacks Down Birther Rep. Campbell; Makes Him Admit Obama is U.S. Citizen
The GOP implosion starts at home
Oh, but don't take the word of comedians and/or newsmen and/or actual documents. How about taking the word of the nominal party leader, Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate for president in 2008. The rumor was brought to him. His campaign, no stranger to mud slinging, rumor-mongering and pandering to the far right, took a pass on this one. McCain Campaign Investigated, Dismissed Obama Citizenship Rumors.
When your party is crazier than a cynical old coot, your party is in trouble. Rumors and outright lies such as The Born Conspiracy is fed by the conservative news media, from Lou Dobbs to to anyone who doesn't challenge the ranting on factual grounds. One might say that Fox News Is Killing The Republican Party. So lets.
Palin Secedes From Reality
And lastly, let me just stomp a little on the nation's #1 quitter, Sarah Palin, who resigned today (7/26) amid ethics probes and dwindling popularity. Say it ain't so, Joe! Sarah, come back! You're one of the biggest reasons to vote Democratic in the history of the Republic. Without you, we'll be stuck with Michele Bachmann, John Boehner, Joe the Plumber, Lou Dobbs and Fox "News". I want my Tina Fey!
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, 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.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Bill Maher: New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit (huffingtonpost.com)
How about this for a New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. It used to be that there were some services and institutions so vital to our nation that they were exempt from market pressures. Some things we just didn't do for money. The United States always defined capitalism, but it didn't used to define us. But now it's becoming all that we are.
Susan Estrich: Help Wanted. Not. (creators.com)
I got my first job when I was 15. Before that, I baby-sat, did piece work for a leather company that didn't care how old you were and worked at a dusty day camp.
Froma Harrop: The Logic of a Locavore (creators.com)
"Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008," read the headline in 'Mother Jones' magazine. You can imagine the snark that followed.
Open-plan living on a budget (guardian.co.uk)
Extreme salvaging is the way to go. 'It's a game for me to spend as little as I can' says Leo Ribbens of his Antwerp warehouse.
Richard Roeper: Conspiracy theorists' stream of thought on Obama is baffling (suntimes.com)
When I get an e-mail with the subject header "Saint Barry the Savior," I'm pretty sure it's not about Barry Bonds, Barry Manilow, Barry Switzer or Barry White.
Farhad Manjoo: Fix Your Terrible, Insecure Passwords in Five Minutes (slate.com)
A foolproof technique to secure your computer, e-mail, and bank account.
Daniel Gross: Who Is Killing America's Millionaires? (slate.com)
It isn't the tax man.
Lewis Black Blasts Health Care Reform
Some hilarious lines in this "Back in Black" segment about health care reform on the 'Daily Show': I've always had a great health care plan; I plan to someday care about my health.
Mark Morford: God is not your bitch (sfgate.com)
This just in: It is hugely unlikely God cares much about your sex life.
Jessa Crispin: Good Times (thesmartset.com)
What's the use in being kind? A host of benefits, it turns out.
JEFF KIRBY: Shirtless, Peerless (thestranger.com)
An Interview with David Yow of the Jesus Lizard.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Return of Pretty Boy FloydS
They will come back in one form or another?
"Return of Pretty Boy FloydS"
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Disappearing Dailies' Edition
Newspapers are in major trouble. Some notable dailies such as The Rocky Mountain News, Cincinnati Post and Baltimore Examiner have folded completely. Others such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and my home town paper, The Bay City Times, among others, have adopted a hybrid on-line only and/or partial printing scheme trying to survive. All papers are losing money hand over fist, laying off workers and renegotiating labor contracts. (newspaperdeathwatch.com)
Everyone blames the Internet and 24/7 cable news availability.
Do you subscribe to or otherwise pay for and read hard copy newspapers?
What do you think?
Send your response to
Results tomorrow.
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Muggy and stuffy.
Visits Nepal
Joanna Lumley
Hundreds of Gurkha war veterans and their families swarmed Katmandu airport Sunday to welcome British actress Joanna Lumley, who helped secure their right to settle in the United Kingdom.
Lumley, 63, was mobbed as she arrived in this Himalayan nation, home to the storied Nepalese soldiers who have fought for the British army for nearly 200 years.
"My friends of Nepal, I am your family coming to Nepal for the first time. I want to thank you so much. I want to say in the time-honored cry, 'Ayo Gurkhali!'" Lumley told the crowd from the top of an SUV, reciting the soldiers' traditional battle cry.
In May, the British government gave the thousands of Gurkhas the automatic right to settle in Britain. Lumley - who played Patsy, a chain-smoking magazine editor who slept her way to the top in the TV comedy series "Absolutely Fabulous" - brought her fame to bear on the issue and became the face of their campaign. She said she was drawn to the cause because her father fought alongside Gurkha soldiers in World War II.
Joanna Lumley
Christens Eco-Friendly Golf Course
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake celebrated the opening of his renovated, environmentally friendly golf course in style on the 10th tee - by smacking his drive 291 yards.
The singer and actor smiled Saturday after the tee-off, saying "nobody's happier about this course" than he is.
Timberlake was the first to play a round at his Mirimichi golf course near Memphis, Tenn., after he spent $16 million renovating the course to make it more eco-friendly.
He played Saturday with his mother, stepfather and an old family friend from Tennessee.
Justin Timberlake
Directors Guild President
Taylor Hackford
Taylor Hackford, director of movies including "Ray," "Dolores Claiborne" and "An Officer and a Gentleman," will succeed Michael Apted as president of the Directors Guild of America.
Hackford was chosen Saturday during the guild's biennial national convention at Directors Guild headquarters in Hollywood. Steven Soderbergh was re-elected national vice president, and Gilbert Cates was re-elected secretary-treasurer.
The 135 delegates on hand also elected members of a new national board of directors. The union represents more than 14,000 members.
Taylor Hackford
Winner Credits Sweater
Hemingway Contest
Wearing a wool fisherman's sweater in 90-degree heat, a Texas man won an Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest at a Key West festival honoring the late Nobel prize-winning author.
White-bearded David Douglas, 55, bested 139 other contenders at the "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, staged Saturday night at Sloppy Joe's Bar, the author's favorite watering hole.
Douglas' attire emulated Hemingway's appearance in a famous 1957 photograph by Yousuf Karsh.
Judged by a panel of former look-alike winners, 30 prospective "Papas" made Saturday night's contest finals to parade across the stage at Sloppy Joe's. Finalists included Denis Golden of Rockport, Mass., who sang a parody of "Hello, Dolly" onstage with lyrics pleading for victory.
Hemingway Contest
Acropolis Film Censored
Costa Gavras
Greece's new Acropolis museum will drop some scenes of a short film by director Costa Gavras after protests from the country's powerful Orthodox Church, the museum's director said Sunday.
The row over the film, which informs visitors about the history of the 5th century BC Parthenon temple and depicts early Christians ruining the monument, erupted just weeks after the opening of the new Acropolis museum in June.
The Greek-born filmmaker, famous for movies such as the Oscar-winning "Z" and "Missing," contributed a 1 minute and 40 second animation film showing figures in robes hacking at the temple to the museum's 13 minute video presentation.
"We don't want to offend anyone," the museum's director Dimitris Pantermalis told Reuters. "We will exclude this piece from the material he (Gavras) gave us," he said, noting that a 12 second scene would be edited out of the film.
"What the clergy did back then, smashing the marbles, they are doing today (to this film)," Gavras said on the private MEGA TV channel. "If they want to show it this way ... my name can't be on the film."
Costa Gavras
Putting Kids To Work
Octomom
Octuplet mother Nadya Suleman has signed agreements for each of her 14 children to earn $250 a day to star in a reality television show.
The contracts filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court guarantee the children will collectively earn about $250,000 over three years. The contracts require a judge's approval.
European production company Eyeworks has inked the deal with Suleman. Eyeworks lists "Breaking Bonaduce" and "The Biggest Loser" among its television credits.
The contract also states that 15 percent of the gross compensation will be deposited by Eyeworks into a "Coogan Trust Account," as required by California law. The monies can't be touched until the children turn 18 or become legally emancipated.
Octomom
Tip Of The Iceberg
Fort Carson
Soldiers from an Army unit that had 10 infantrymen accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter after returning to civilian life described a breakdown in discipline during their Iraq deployment in which troops murdered civilians, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Some Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldiers have had trouble adjusting to life back in the United States, saying they refused to seek help, or were belittled or punished for seeking help. Others say they were ignored by their commanders, or coped through drug and alcohol abuse before they allegedly committed crimes, The Gazette of Colorado Springs said.
The Gazette based its report on months of interviews with soldiers and their families, medical and military records, court documents and photographs.
Soldiers interviewed by The Gazette cited lengthy deployments, being sent back into battle after surviving war injuries that would have been fatal in previous conflicts, and engaging in some of the bloodiest combat in Iraq. The soldiers describing those experiences were part of the 3,500-soldier unit now called the 4th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team.
Fort Carson
Re-Enacts 1st English Channel Flight
Edmond Salis
A French pilot on Saturday recreated the first-ever flight across the English Channel in a monoplane like the one that Louis Bleriot flew in 1909, complete with a wooden propeller, bicycle wheels and an engine about as powerful as a lawnmower.
Edmond Salis took off from Bleriot Beach, near Calais on France's northern coast, at 9:13 am local time (0713 GMT), arriving 40 minutes later in Dover. That's just slightly longer than it took Bleriot, who made his historic crossing July 25, 1909, in 38 minutes.
"The takeoff was a bit delicate because there were crosswinds at Bleriot Beach," said Salis, decked out in a leather aviator jacket and hat and a flowing white scarf, in an interview on I-Tele television. "Once I was in the air, I could already see the English coast. Listen, the closer the English coast came, the more I enjoyed it."
Before the flight, Salis dismissed any fears about flying the wooden and canvas craft, which dates from 1934.
Edmond Salis
Weekend Box Office
'G-Force'
An elite squad of guinea pigs has worked its own brand of magic at the box office, taking the No. 1 spot from boy wizard Harry Potter.
The 3-D "G-Force" was the top movie at the box office this weekend, opening with $32.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney release from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, with its mixture of live action and computer-generated animation, is a "Mission: Impossible"-style adventure. It features voiceover work from Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Tracy Morgan and Penelope Cruz as resourceful rodents.
Last week's No. 1 film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," came in a close second with an estimated $30 million. That's a whopping 61-percent drop from its huge opening last weekend of $79.5 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "G-Force," $32.2 million.
2. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," $30 million.
3. "The Ugly Truth," $27 million.
4. "Orphan," $12.8 million.
5. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," $8.2 million.
6. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," $8 million.
7. "The Hangover," $6.5 million.
8. "The Proposal," $6.4 million.
9. "Public Enemies," $4.2 million.
10. "Bruno," $2.7 million.
'G-Force'
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