Baron Dave Romm
The Campaign Begins
By Baron Dave Romm
Friend
me on Facebook
Mention Bartcop-E in the Friend
Request
Watch short and idiosyncratic videos on Baron Dave's You Tube Channel
The Enthusiasm Gap
A liberal is someone who can't admit that they've won.
A conservative is someone who can't admit that they've lost
Much as been made of The Enthusiasm Gap. Essentially, Democrats aren't as excited about their candidates as Republicans (or teabaggers) are about theirs. That's because Democrats, at least the ones on the left, can't see their great success for the missed opportunities. Meanwhile, the Republicans, at least the ones on the right (or the ones on the extreme deep end) just can't see that everything they have done in the past thirty years has been a major failure.
Ronald Reagan, who had a terrible first two years, kept his base active by the by reminding supporters, We are the change.
Of course, Reagan and the right changed the US from being the world's largest creditor nation to the world's largest debtor. As I wrote here in 2003, Reagan campaigned for 16 years as a staunch defender of a balanced budget, but changed instantly to shove the largest budgest deficits up to that time, which created Cognitive Dissonance in his supporters: He literally drove the right crazy. By firing striking air traffic controllers, he helped change America to a place with strong workers into a trickle down nightmare that has done nothing but help the rich get richer while moving jobs overseas. He changed Carter's successful campaign to diminish the Soviet Union into one where he had to prop them up to justify his obscene debt. The Soviet Union eventually collapsed anyway, and Reagan's sycophants have been misassigning credit ever since. Reagan changed Carter's successul policy of not negotiating with terrorists which led to the suicide bombs in Beirut and eventually Al Queda and 9/11.
But I digress. A good list of Reagan's failures (and a few successes) in The Reagan Legacy. This is old news, but needs mentioning because Fox "News" and the mainstream media have been lying about Reagan/Bush/Bush for so long. The left, despite winning the last two elections, hasn't controlled the debate.
The right and the extreme right is not so much enthusiastic as angry. Angry at being so wrong. Angry at people who don't look like them. Angry at losing. So far, this is translating into votes.
Remember: Obama and the Democrats are the change. We want to continue moving forward.
So it's time. Time to A) revel in our victories, which have been many and B) time to be active, not reactive.
Be passionate! We're the good guys!
The accomplishments of President Obama and the 111th Congress controlled by the Democratic Party
The 111th Congress was very busy. Democrats did very well. Major accomplishments were many. A few highlights:
What are your favorite
accomplishments of the first year and a half of the Obama
administration?
Send replies to me or Marty.
Quietly returning to a reality-based system of government
Thanks to Fox "News" and the 24-hour news cycle that covers the immediacy of the horserace and ignores context and consequence, Americans have a very short attention span and a very short political memory. Remember how bad Bush was? Remember than he just ignored the law and made signing statements and Executive Orders even if they were the opposite of what the law said? (Bush is another Big Government Republican who doesn't believe in State's rights... )Fortunately, adults are in the White House now. Some people were paying attention but the Democrats didn't control the debate enough to make more than a splash for doing the right thing. A few examples:
Moving forward
We are the change. In a very short amount of time, the good guys have undone a lot of damage created by the Bush administration and the Gingrich Congress. Obama and the Democrats have accomplished a lot. This isn't television where everything gets wrapped up in an hour and all issues come to a resolution before the credits. Politics is messy and ofttimes unpleasant. But you can't let go, or the bad guys win.
To be a conservative these days, one must believe lies and not believe the truth. As liberals and progressives, you have to live in the world G_d made; and you have to live in the country governed by people. My plan: Pay attention to people who were right in the past and marginalize those who have been consistently wrong. And let's face it: In almost every issue, liberals have been right and conservatives have been wrong. Say this often.
I'll have more of this later. For now, you need to start getting your dander up. This is an important election; they all are. You have an advantage over your right-wing friends: All you have to do is speak the truth.
If the Republicans take either the House or the Senate, disaster looms. Ensuring large majorities of sane legislators is the only way to keep America strong. Do your part.
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. A nascent collection of videos are on Baron Dave's YouTube channel. 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
Jim Hightower: LABOR DAY: ORGANIZE! (jimhightower.com)
America's corporate chieftains must love poor people, for they're doing all they can to create millions more of them.
Nice Dunlop: "Experience: I tracked down a man who killed 14,000 people" (guardian.co.uk)
'I knew immediately who he really was. It was the same face I'd been carrying around with me for over a decade.'
What I'm really thinking: The incapacity benefit claimant (guardian.co.uk)
'I sometimes feel it is indecent of me to hang on to life, when I'm clearly no longer a productive member of society.'
Lucy Mangan: Toryboy's turning into a weight on my mind (guardian.co.uk)
He won't eat veg, he loves junk food and he won't exercise. So why is my husband in the least bit surprised that he's getting rather flabby?
Kids' Q&A with Daniel Pinkwater (powells.com)
What fictional character would you like to be your friend, and why? ?Moby Dick, because except for Ishmael he is the only character who does not get killed at the end of the book, and having a gigantic white whale for a friend would be cool.
"Prejudices" by H. L. MENCKEN: Reviewed by Katherine A. Powers
Published in six series between 1919 and 1927, H. L. Mencken's Prejudices is an extended Bronx cheer from the smarty-boots side of the culture war and the first full-bore expression of the animus of East coast intellectuals toward the South and fly-over country.
Stuart O'Connor: "William Gibson: 'I'm agnostic about technology. But I want a robotic penguin'" (guardian.co.uk)
The science fiction writer tells us about his relationship with technology.
MATT RICHTEL and CLAIRE CAIN MILLER: Of Two Minds About Books (nytimes.com)
Auriane and Sebastien de Halleux are at sharp odds over "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," but not about the plot. The problem is that she prefers the book version, while he reads it on his iPad. And in this literary dispute, the couple says, it's ne'er the twain shall meet.
"Zero History": Review by Paul Di Filippo (barnesandnoble.com)
William Gibson assembles a slyly potent thriller that cocks an eyebrow at our trend-maddened culture.
"The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Soccer" by David Goldblatt: A review by Nathan Weatherford
After this year's World Cup had ended in July, I found myself still ravenous for soccer and started looking for books to read on the subject. When I came across David Goldblatt's The Ball Is Round, its 900+ page count was initially off-putting, not to mention its purported goal of providing an entire world history of the sport from humans' earliest attempts at kicking around stones to the current merchandising empire that is the English Premier League and everything in between.?
"Composed: A Memoir" by Rosanne Cash: A review by Jeff Baker
When Johnny Cash was in ill health a few years before his death, his daughter wrote a remarkable song called "September When It Comes." Rosanne Cash's husband, John Leventhal, suggested she ask her father to sing it with her as a duet. She put him off twice until Leventhal, who wrote the melody, insisted that now was the time and this was the song.
"Saxophone Colossus" By BOB BLUMENTHAL, photographs by JOHN ABBOTT: Reviewed by Ted Panken (barnesandnoble.com)
Executing the impossible-spontaneously sculpting cogent, poetic musical architecture on the tenor saxophone while navigating the high-wire of performance night after night-is the operative trope of Sonny Rollins's astonishing career.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"These Chains of Pains"
Beyond Rubicon?
The Weekly Poll
NEW POLL SEPTEMBER 7th... Stay tuned!
BadToTheBoneBob
wrote:
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Marsha in TN
Mantids
Hey Marty:
I took these pictures today in our back garden. I've been watching the mantids since they hatched in April, now a few of the big females are getting ready to put down their egg cases.
Link from RJ
The Indian Giant Squirrel
Hi
I thought you might like this one. Hadn't come across these before....
make our squirrels look like oompa loompas!
BadtotheboneBob
Recommended Reading
Mexico's Ciudad Juarez is one of the world's most dangerous cities. There's a new wave of disappearances in the city, which is largely unnoticed because of the increased focus on the region's problems with drug-associated violence. The victims are all young women, police have no clue what has happened to them...
BBC News - Audio slideshow: The missing women of Mexico
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Government agencies are seeking broad new authority to ramp up killings and removals of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, despite two recent court actions that restored the animal's endangered status in every state except Alaska and Minnesota. Various proposals would gas pups in their dens (Ack!), surgically sterilize adult wolves and allow "conservation" or "research" hunts to drive down the predators' numbers...The Detroit News Online
Endangered or not, wolf killings set to expand
Recently, it has been determined that wolves have crossed the winter ice into the northern lower peninsula of Michigan and are reproducing. There are large tracts of wilderness there with pockets of farms and ranches whose owners, I assure you, will not tolerate their live stock being preyed on by the wolves. They will take matters into their own hands if the DNR doesn't do something about the predation. Having lived 'Up North' I know some of those people and despite being basically decent folk, they have little confidence in and less patience for, government policies, actions and/or inactions. It's a hard life those people live with slim profit margins. They will kill the wolves and be-damn'd to the consequences...
BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, B2tbBob!
Lake Michigan
Surfs Up
Surfs up on Lake Michigan!
It was a tad choppy out on 'The Big Pond' Friday afternoon, dontcha think? Picture taken at the Holland, MI breakwater...
BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, again, B2tbBob!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Thick, soupy marine layer kept it quite pleasant.
Vows To Return
James Cameron
Film director James Cameron said Sunday he will return to Brazil this year to make a 3D film on indigenous people of the Amazon who oppose construction of a huge dam for fear it could flood tribal lands.
"I want to return to meet some of the leaders of the Xikrin-Kayapo tribe who invited me," the Canadian director said in an interview published in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
"I want to take a 3D camera to film how they live, their culture," said Cameron, whose blockbuster movie Avatar tells the story of the peaceful Na'Vi people who live in harmony with nature on the planet Pandora and wage a bloody fight against strip-miners from Earth.
The filmmaker has already come to the Amazon twice in a show of support for the indigenous tribe and to film a short piece on their resistance to the damming project on the Xingu River, which will be included on the "Avatar" DVD to be released around Christmas.
James Cameron
Lifetime Achievement
John Woo
John Woo built his reputation with stylish Hong Kong action thrillers, then moved to Hollywood where he directed such big-budget blockbusters as "Mission Impossible II."
Woo was awarded a Golden Lion award for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, which recognized the director "as an innovator of the contemporary language of cinema" and for renewing action films by introducing extreme stylization.
Woo, 64, has directed more than 26 films in nearly 30 years, beginning his career in Hong Kong in the 1970s before moving to Hollywood in the 1990s. His U.S. feature debut in 1993 was "Hard Target" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and his first Hollywood hit was 1995's "Broken Arrow," with John Travolta and Christian Slater. "Mission Impossible II," starring Tom Cruise, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
Woo more recently has returned to Chinese filmmaking, directing the epic period war drama "Red Cliff," based on a war that took place in China in the 3rd Century.
John Woo
Makes Comeback
Seiji Ozawa
Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa made a brief comeback on Sunday after surgery and several months of treatment for esophagus cancer, according to concert organisers.
The 75-year-old Vienna State Opera musical director, who was diagnosed with the illness in January, directed at the Saito Kinen Festival in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto, his first concert in about nine months.
Ozawa, however, waved the baton only on the first movement of Tchaikovsky's serenade for strings for about seven minutes while resting on a stool set the podium before some 2,000 people.
"I'm sorry. I can't keep standing," Ozawa told the audience, explaining the reason for cutting short his performance. "I promise to make it next year."
Seiji Ozawa
Revives Cat in the Hat For PBS
Martin Short
Challenged to create a figure that would make children more interested in reading, Dr. Seuss came up with an engaging feline with a red- and white-striped top hat. With his anarchic style and penchant for adventure, the Cat in the Hat led several generations of youngsters to appreciate the written word.
Now the ever-smiling creature has been reprogrammed to interest young children in science. But is it possible to teach an old cat new tricks? With PBS' new toon series "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That," the answer is yes, and for pretty much the same reason the rhyming Cat has been a hit with fledgling readers since 1957. He diverts young minds with wild adventures and makes learning almost incidental. By incorporating scientific concepts into wacky stories, young children become more aware of the world around them almost effortlessly.
For this to really work, the Cat has to sound like the free spirit he is intended to be. Credit in this regard goes to Martin Short, reportedly the first choice of Audrey Geisel, widow of Dr. Seuss. Short makes the character merry and mischievous without going over the top.
Each half-hour episode consists of two 15-minute segments in which the Cat in the Hat takes neighbors Nick (Jacob Ewaniuk) and Sally (Alexa Torrington) flying in the Thingamajigger to solve a mystery of science. (In deference to modern parental caution, the kids always ask one of their mothers if it is OK to go with the Cat. The out-of-sight mom, thinking it's all a figment of their imagination, gives her blessing.)
Martin Short
Defends Kazan
Scorsese
Martin Scorsese's latest film pays a personal tribute to Elia Kazan, one of Hollywood's and Broadway's most influential directors but also a controversial figure who turned anti-communist informant in the McCarthy era.
In "A Letter to Elia," an hour-long documentary screening at the Venice film festival, Scorsese credits Kazan and his emotionally-charged, raw and realistic style as the inspiration for his becoming a filmmaker.
Scorsese discovered Kazan as a young boy going to the movies on his own in New York and was at his side with Robert De Niro when Kazan, whose films won 20 Academy Awards, received a lifetime achievement Oscar in 1999.
That special award was hotly disputed because in 1952 Kazan had handed over to the House Un-American Activities Committee the names of eight members of the Communist Party who had worked at the Group Theater where he had started as an actor.
Naming names cost Kazan, himself a member of the party between 1934 and 1936 before resigning in protest, many friends in Hollywood and among U.S. intellectuals.
Scorsese
Appeals Court Rules In Royalty Lawsuit
Eminem
A federal appeals court has found Eminem's former production company is entitled to more money from downloads of the rapper's songs and ringtones.
A federal jury last year had ruled against F.B.T. Productions LLC in its lawsuit against Universal Music Group seeking a greater share of revenue from downloads made between 2003 and 2008.
But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Friday that F.B.T.'s contract entitled Eminem and his producers to a 50-50 split with Universal for recordings licensed to digital distributors such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes.
The record label had paid F.B.T. and Eminem 12 percent of sales, the agreed-upon rate for physical albums.
Eminem
Macau Auction
Michael Jackson
The auction house that is putting Michael Jackson's memorabilia under the hammer in Macau has dismissed accusations that the sale goes against the singer's wishes, a report said Sunday.
More than 100 items once used by Jackson -- including a pair of crystal-studded gloves and a set of Jackson 5 jumpsuits -- will go on a sale by US-based Julien's Auctions in the glitzy gambling haven of Macau in October 9.
But in an interview with British tabloid Daily Star in August, Jackson's former lawyer, Brian Oxman, said the late star had tried to stop the auction, and the sale in Macau would be tantamount to selling off his children's estate.
In response, Darren Julien, president and chief executive of Julien's Auctions, told the South China Morning Post that Oxman was "only seeking publicity" in levelling accusations against the auction house.
Michael Jackson
In The Cornfield
Alligator
A man gathering sweet corn in southern Michigan is the latest to have an unexpected encounter with an alligator. The animals have been showing up far north of their traditional habitats this summer. Jeff Adamski of Burr Oak said he was picking corn near the Michigan-Indiana border when two women who were a few rows over came running and screaming, saying they had seen an alligator.
Adamski told the Sturgis Journal that the alligator darted toward him and kept coming as he backed away. Adamski moved faster, but then he began to worry about a child being attacked by the nearly 3-foot reptile.
He grabbed a 4-foot bar from his truck and killed it.
Alligators also have been seen in recent weeks in the Chicago River, a Boston suburb and New York City.
Alligator
No Longer 'Gay'
Kookaburra
An Australian school was under fire Thursday after erasing the word "gay" from iconic song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" to stop children tittering.
Garry Martin, head of Melbourne's Lepage Primary, said he did not mean to insult gay people by replacing the word with "fun" in the chorus, which normally goes: "Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra, gay your life must be".
"I knew if we sing 'Gay your life must be' the kids will roll around the floor in fits of laughter," Martin told commercial radio.
"I just suggested to kids, 'Nowadays that can mean different things, so let's just sing fun'," he added.
Kookaburra
Backyard Volunteers Help Track
Firefly Numbers
The yellow-green streaks of fireflies that bring a magical air to summer nights, inspire camp songs and often end up in jars in children's bedrooms may be flickering out in the nation's backyards as suburban sprawl encroaches on their habitats.
Scientists concerned by reports from the public that they are seeing fewer of the luminous insects each summer have turned to a network of backyard volunteers spanning much of the nation to track their range and numbers. Their observations may shed light on whether fireflies are indeed declining - a trend that could dwindle the targets for the childhood rite of passage of chasing fireflies.
As this weekend marks summer's unofficial end in America, the Firefly Watch volunteers' work is winding down now that the insects' annual light show is over in all but southern states.
About 200 firefly species found east of the Rocky Mountains produce through a complex chemical reaction lights ranging from yellow-green, yellow-amber to a pale blue. Light-producing fireflies aren't found west of the Rockies.
Firefly Numbers
Weekend Box Office
"The American"
George Clooney outgunned his rivals at the Labor Day holiday weekend box office in North America with a low-caliber opening for his assassin drama "The American," as the lucrative summer moviegoing season wound down on a traditionally weak note.
According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "The American" earned $13 million during the three-day period beginning September 3; its tally stands at $16.1 million since Wednesday, when it got a two-day head-start on the competition.
The opening is slightly better than industry forecasts, but is similar to that of his 2008 flop "Leatherheads," which ended its brief run with $31.3 million.
Also new were 20th Century Fox's violent fantasy "Machete" at No. 3 with $11.3 million, and Warner Bros.' Drew Barrymore romantic comedy "Going the Distance" at No. 5 with just $6.9 million. Both opened on Friday.
"The American"
In Memory
Corneille
The Dutch painter Corneille, co-founder of the avant-garde Cobra movement, died on Sunday at the age of 88, the Dutch Cobra museum said on Sunday.
The Dutch news agency NOS said he had died in France, where he lived and worked.
Born on July 3, 1922, as Guillaume Cornelis Beverloo, Corneille became one of the driving forces behind Cobra, the movement founded by artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam and active from 1949 to 1952.
The group preached complete freedom of color and form and drew inspiration from children's drawings, primitive art forms and the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miro.
Corneille was a close friend of Karel Appel, who died in 2006. Together they founded the Dutch Experimental Group in 1948, which later became absorbed into Cobra.
Corneille
In Memory
Mike Edwards
A founding member of rock group Electric Light Orchestra was killed when a giant bale of hay tumbled down a hill and crashed onto his van.
Cellist Mike Edwards died after the 94 stone bale careered down the side of a steep Devonshire field before it smashed through a hedge and onto the road.
The 62-year-old died instantly in the accident on Friday afternoon.
Police are now investigating whether the bale may have fallen from a tractor working on farmland next to the A381 in Halwell, near Totnes. They believe the musician was killed after the loose bale gathered momentum as it rolled down the hill before landing on the front cab of his white van.
Sergeant Steve Walker of the Devon and Cornwall police traffic unit, said: "This was a tragic accident and we have now identified the victim as Michael Edwards, a founder member of ELO.
"We have used photographs and YouTube footage to identify him but we now need help contacting his family for formal identification. We don't believe he was ever married and we have identified an ex-girlfriend but she is currently abroad."
Officers were hoping to contact a man named David in the Yorkshire area who is believed to be Mr Edward's brother.
The musician is understood to have no immediate family but may have taught cello in Devon.
Mike Edwards
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
