I Still Don't Sleep At Night

TALK DIRTY TO ME

Now on to talk about the evil here and now--at least until 2004. They are reaching out to the e-mailers for some dark reason. I didn't know about the weekly online forums they've been running, apparently since last April. I don't do this often, but anything for my fantastic readers, both of you--I searched for the White House. I thought you might like to get some of those forms to submit questions. I know I have a few; e.g. When does the lying stop? How much money DOES it take to buy back the White House? Did you ever, for a minute, even think there were WMD?

When white house.org came up I searched for Ask the White House Online Forum and this is how it is described: " Ask the White House is a simulated online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Bush Administration officials, then return later to read informative pre-prepared transcripts delivering key policy sound bytes wrapped up in a feel-good facsimile of interactivity."

Don't believe me? Go see for yourself. Last week's guest was Pablo Escapa, Chief White House Gardener and Botanist. I would have guessed he'd be one person that couldn't get into too much trouble; especially not in the 30 minutes allowed for this thing. But I didn't know he raises coca plants in the greenhouse for somebody special. The man has leverage.

A woman wrote in that she wasn't sure whom she should ask, but she was upset about the "plan to stop religious freedom of speech."

Pablo was well-informed yet humble in his reply, " I believe you have chosen the wrong internet contact form. I am but a lowly gardener, and regret that I am not very familiar with the details of the HR 235, better known as the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC). It is my understanding that this bill a brainchild of the National Religious Broadcasters Association feigns outrage over non-existent government censorship in neighborhood churches in an attempt to allow multi-billion dollar Christian TV and radio networks to not only remain tax exempt, but also to transform themselves into shrill political mouthpieces for the GOP and set about convincing all future generations that in God's eyes, voting against Republicans is no different from eagerly deep-throating the monstrous cactus-cock of Satan. And though I am only the gardener, I do not think I am overstepping my bounds when I say that President Bush supports HR 235 just as strongly as the dozens of other Republican bills now being penned for the express purpose of shattering the separation between chuch and state. "

But go ahead and read some transcripts from past guests. Pablo's not the only one to really open up. Tom Ridge was able to admit that he was a child of genuine non-rich people. He also didn't mind sharing that he has installed in his home an advanced infiltration system that will allow his family to bathe, cook and drink their recycled urine. This man is ready for anything and at any color! Condoleezza Rice talked about how truly touched she was by the efforts the staff made to make her feel at home: what with the Friday fried chicken and watermelon buffet, not to mention the addition of what they assumed was her favorite song--Funkadelic's Wars of Armageddon. And do be sure to read Christine Todd Whitman's transcript. Now that she's leaving, she is done spinning. She is saying what Bush's policies really are and what they are doing to the environment. Check it out. (If only this were true in real life but I just saw her on Letterman and same old same old.)

That was from the fun (read "pretend") White House. Pablo came close, and I could be wrong but isn't truth stranger. I think he meant to say H.R. 2357, the Houses of Worship Political Speech Protection Act, which seeks to dismantle the absolute ban on partisan politicking to allow houses of worship to engage in the mechanisms of partisan politics while retaining their tax-exempt status and receive tax-deductible contributions. Churches are already free to endorse candidates for political offices and to give money to those candidates? campaigns, but that they cannot do so as a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization. There are two bills coming up that would be disastrous in terms of separation of church and state. My minister/my alderman. But back to the White House.

So that's the news on the online forum. Oh, on the real White House site (so boring and jingoistic and full of shit), I looked everywhere, and ran all kinds of searches, but they are not telling where the forms are kept for Ask the White House. Do you think they want the likes of us asking questions? They can't risk letting just anyone ask a question. I'm sure these people are hand-picked from Young Republican Clubs and D.A.R. membership lists, if that organization still exists. The best I could get was a page of speakers and their transcripts. (And you have to click on the online speaker box because the page won't let me link it directly.)

Next week on Tues, July 1, they have tested the waters and are brave enough to send out Laura Bush, despite originally saying no Bush would go. She will be on the forum at 1:30 ET. I know we all have some big questions for her, perhaps beginning with "How the hell do you stand..." Next week also, on the 2nd at 11:10 ET, is the lovely Amazon warrior we were just speaking of, Ms. Condoleezza Rice.

And, hey, while you're right there, at the White House, follow page one to the National Do Not Call Registry and get yourself registered. Do it today and by October the telemarketers should stop calling or you can file a complaint. I also learned by actually looking at a real transcript, that the FTC is trying to stop spam. You should send your spam to them at uce@ftc.gov. They say they love to get it.

P.S. And guess who reads the fake whitehouse.org? Mr. Dick Cheney is demanding they remove a parody of a biography and picture of wife Lynne. Vice Pres Dick Cheney asks Web site that parodies Bush administration to remove satirical biography and picture of wife Lynne. In response, they gave her picture a red clown nose and blackened her teeth. (I need to talk about him more I guess. I just focus on George all the time, and I don't know that he can even read.)

Now, more than ever, play George Clinton's Paint the White House Black, real loud. And once again, louder, for the neighbors. I love it, that's why.

NO MATTER WHAT--WE WON!

How many national election primary voters get a personal e-mail about the results mentioning their candidate by name? I did. The results from the MoveOn primary are in. Over 300,000 members cast votes. How about it? We are a force to be reckoned with. CBS, Reuters... here the New York Timesweighs in with the observation that the number of MoveOn voters equals the combined voter turnouts in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in the 2000 election. Pretty impressive. And we can raise money too. Not Bush money, but money.

The outcome, of course, was that we're ready to defeat Bush regardless of the candidate. We are united on this. Vote totals showed that Dean got the majority of the votes at 43.87%. Second was Kucinich at 23.93% and Kerry at 15.73%. The complete results, along with some analysis, are available here.

As MoveOn wrote in their e-mail, "It's been an amazing week for MoveOn org PAC. Every Democratic presidential campaign has invested time and energy into the primary. The national news media have covered the process with gravity. Together, we've begun to shift the balance in how these choices get made--from wealthy benefactors and snarky pundits to ordinary, active citizens."

Hey, guess what? I got linked. By one of my favorite writers too. Glitter Girl wrote a post on June 23rd practically saying she's going to be publishing soon (at least that's the way I read it). Someone else recently told her she absolutely should be publishing her stuff. Go read Chasing Tornadosand look at my link. See there--MsRefusnik. The blog is a side link here too. But read the blog. You won't believe the writing. The level of intimacy blows you away at times, the way good writing does. It is authentic to the core. She puts her whole self into it. No wonder she can't stand not to write. It's her passion. And the reader catches it. She's absolutely got to publish so more people can read her beautiful writing. I forgot to tell her to look into books on marketing your writing online, but she probably knows that.

Hey, that reminds me, did you know, that unlike amazon.com, you can get paid for your music, movie, video and book reviews at epinions.com? No kidding! And a bunch of other products too including electronics, cars, computers, software and travel.

And, you won't believe this, but the strange man who sits in the booth behind this blog, wrecked my typing to insert a link for rateyourmusic.com. Apparently he thinks it would be much hipper or something to write free reviews for people who really love music. I don't know. Don't ask. These things just appear and then I have to fix them. He must have a lot of time on his hands because I know there are a lot of blogs.

I've just come from the virtual voting booth, and it felt great to cast my vote for my candidate, no secret here, Dennis Kucinich. Today is the day of the big MoveOn primary. I sent out e-mails last week to everyone I could think of reminding them to get registered. If you read this, and you aren't registered, here's where you go to get registered, at MoveOn's site . There are also individual letters written by each Dem candidate to members of MoveOn stating their positions on issues. You can only vote once. This isn't Chicago.

And I was just asking what else could happen that would be good news. Why do things happen all at once? Breaking news is that the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan's affirmative action policy in law school admissions. No shit, HIS Supreme Court, the one that gave him the presidency, now let him know by one vote that he has gone too far. Hip, hip, hooray.

"I am not a victim of others, but rather a victim of my expectations, choices and dishonesty. When I expect others to be what I want them to be and not who they are, when they fail to meet my expectations, I am hurt. When my choices are based on self-centeredness, I find I am lonely and distrustful. I gain confidence in myself, however, when I practice honesty in all my affairs. When I search my motives and am honest and trusting, I am aware of the capacity for harm in situations and can avoid those that are harmful." Thought for today.

PEOPLE 1/FCC 1

FCC - "First You Roll Back, Then I Want You To Sit Up and Beg."

I do believe. My dreams are happening quicker than I can read about them. This one occurred the 19th of this month. Okay, reasons to be cheerful: MoveOn (Action) is really getting it together to give grassroots support to a Dem candidate that we, the people, really want. Yeah. Next, the very fact that a man like Dennis Kucinich with all his values, integrity and work for the "little" people (like me) would run for the office of president. Unbelievable. I feel like it's the Sixties again. And now this. What's next in my world of good news? Bush is impeached? (See note at 9:25 above for more good news.)

Not quite, but the power of the people has had an effect. The little people have stormed into George Bailey's bank and kept them from closing it. They had the power but we had the people. That's how we are going to win in 2004 too. We're mad and we're not going to take it anymore. Right? Right!

The big news is that the Senate Commerce Commission (the Senate, yes, those whooses) approved bipartisan legislation that will roll back the FCC's June 2 vote that pretty much called for media monopolies run by right-wing Republicans.

If passed by Congress as now amended, S1046, the "Preservation of Localism, Program Diversity Broadcast Act of 2003" will preserve the rule that restricts one company to owning TV stations that reach no more than 35% of US TV households. (That still sounds like a lot to me.)

"A bipartisan amendment sponsored by Senators Dorgan, Snowe and Hutchinson will also prevent one company from owning a broadcast station and a newspaper in the same market or a radio station and TV station in the same market. An amendment added by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) also passed, responding to the closed process conducted by the FCC before the June 2 vote. The amendment will require the FCC to hold at least five geographically diverse formal public hearings the next time an ownership rule change comes up for consideration. "

Please forgive all the quotes. I will be doing lots of research for my other blog which is only about this issue The Kind of Blog Clear Channel Warns You About I'll be able to put something together there that's more intelligent when I'm awake and have had more coffee. But this news couldn't wait. I just came across it last night. Where have I been?

"Our founding fathers would be prouder still of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who communicated first with the FCC and then with Congress to say that we will no longer accept decisions made behind closed doors without our knowledge and informed consent," said McChesney.

Now I love that. Oh let it be so. I find it so extraordinary that some group stood up against the neocon good old boys and may deprive them of something they want. They used the term "rebuked" I believe as in the FCC was rebuked by the Senate Commerce Commission. But it's far from over. This Free Press newsletter says that it faces a larger hurdle now to get through the House. And we can't give up now. It took people to get it this far, and we're not there yet

This is the first time in decades that Congress has stood up to the powerful media lobbies and acted to defend freedom of the press," said Free Press co-founder Robert McChesney. "Jefferson and Madison would be proud of our Senators for taking a stand." Common Cause and Free Press worked to make an issue of the impact of the media ownership decision.

"Our founding fathers would be prouder still of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who communicated first with the FCC and then with Congress to say that we will no longer accept decisions made behind closed doors without our knowledge and informed consent," said McChesney. Amen to that brother. Right on.

WHAT SO FUNNY ABOUT PEACE, LOVE & UNDERSTANDING?"

I am one of the many who always has to add in answer to the question about musical tastes, that I never cared for country. Well, I just may have to rethink that and try something new. I have got to hand it to those Dixie Chicks. After everything the media put them through, they have come out with both barrels blazing, at Madison Square Garden no less. Either they don't give a damn about radio play and bad press, or they just think they have enough of a fan base that it has proven once and will prove again not to be that important. I was reading here in the New York Times that they started out with Elvis Costello's "What's So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding?". Now wait a damn minute. That ain't country. The article also describes how Natalie Maines, the lead singer, sang their song, Truth No. 2, with the line, "You don't like the sound of the truth coming from my mouth" against a video screen of protesters for civil rights and right to choose. Well now, don't that beat all. Another secret the world knew and I didn't--the Dixie Chicks are cool and they're not really country. I am so out of it. You go girls.

I try to run a good, clean blog here--even with the trashy lapdancers which were only here to make a point. But, my gosh, my golly, I was so shocked this morning I have to pass it on, so to speak. Maybe no one else would be shocked but I am apoplectic. I really felt sick after seeing this.

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. with a rather delicate condition that included abdominal pain and bloating. I was miserable. and I had no instant fixes in the house. As always, I turned to trusty old askjeeves.com to see what my good man could tell me about home remedies for constipation. I was willing to eat or drink most anything. My searches indicated that I should go for the raisins, hot tea and plenty of fresh lemon juice. I did this with some success.

Puhleeze, that's not what I brought you here to tell you. What absolutely disgusted me at 5 a.m. was that I learned that there is a strata of society, a whole lot of them, judging from the number of these sites and posts, who like to use the internet to keep others informed of: their own bowel movements, others' bowel movements, great practical jokes and downright mean-spirited pranks played on others with their feces, fantasy bowel movements, movie bowel movements (big complaint, no women taking a crap, just men), favorite places to have a bowel movement(Walmart and Target). Can you imagine? I really couldn't bring myself to read much, but they get into details. If you want to see a small sample here's The Poop Report, a weblog that promises to be your source for poop. And it ain't pretty--even from its color. And these people all write in and share these poop stories. Just when I thought I'd seen it all.

I am on my way to the library. My conscience is starting to bother me. Other people might be waiting for my overdue books. But I am glad I kept The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry as long as I did because I found a poet who speaks to me. I have always been interested in the Beat Generation anyhow. Now I have to hunt up everything he wrote, and I can't wait. I was just skimming along, reading a poem here, a poem there, when I suddenly read a poem in 3-D. This thing reached out and grabbed me by the soul and shook me. I almost fell over. I said, "Whoa, what's this?" I could not believe that I never had heard of the poet, Bob Kaufman, but after reading his poems I went and read some brief bio stuff and found out why. But first let me share a poem or two. I really like the Jail Poems, but I don't have a scanner and they are too long to copy by hand. Here's a good one:

I, Too, Know What I Am Not

No, I am not death wishes of sacred rapists, singing
on candy gallows.
No, I am not spoor of Creole murderers hiding
in crepe-paper bayous.
No, I am not yells of some asssassinated inventor, locked
in his burning machine.
No, I am not forced breathing of Cairo's senile burglar,
in lead shoes.
No, I am not Indian-summer fruit of Negro piano tuners,
with muslin gloves.
No, I am not noise of two-gun senators, in hallowed
peppermint hall.
No, I am not pipe-smoke hopes of cynical chiropractors,
traffickers in illegal bone.
No, I am not pitchblende curse of Indian suicides,
in bonnets of flaming water.
No, I am not soap-power sighs of impotent window washers,
in pants of air.
No, I am not kisses of tubercular sun addicts, smiling
through rayon lips.
No, I am not chipped philosopher's tattered ideas sunk
in his granite brain.
No, I am not cry of amethyst heron, winged stone in flight
from cambric bullets.
No, I am not sting of the neurotic bee, frustrated
in cheesecloth gardens.
No, I am not peal of muted bell, clapperless
in the faded glory.
No, I am not report of silenced guns, helpless
in the pacifist hands.
No, I am not call of wounded hunter, alone
in the forest of bone.
No, I am not eyes of the infant owls hatching
the roofless night.
No, I am not the whistle of Havana whores with cribs
of Cuban death.
No, I am not shriek of Bantu children, bent
Under pennywhistle whips.
No, I am not whisper of the African trees,
leafy Congo telephones.
No, I am not Leadbelly of blues, escaped from guitar jails.
No, I am not anything that is anything I am not.


Now, that's some far-out beatnik poetry. I am snapping my fingers, drinking three glasses of red wine, two cups of espresso, and smoking five unfiltered cigarettes. Where's my bongos? You know how blogger always has the Edit-Me thing in the corner of its blogs? And people write things like "100 things about me"? For an evil minute I thought, wow, wouldn't I like to just put this poem in the Edit-Me section and pretend I wrote it. But if I learned one thing as an English major, it's that plagerism is a mortal sin, and you are branded with a scarlet letter P on your visage for life. (Too bad they don't teach those kind of ethics in journalism classes, eh?) Anyway, if I'd have done it, can you imagine? Talk about being something you're not! The next paragraph is all info I got from the book but not word for word, by the way.

Bob Kaufman was a street poet, and the book says a "people's poet and a poet's poet." He was a jazz poet, a Beat poet, a New Orleans poet and a San Francisco poet. He was one of the early living examples of the Beat generation but he was overshadowed in reputation by white and formally educated contemporaries like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder and William Burroughs. Kaufman was half African-American, half Jewish.

Anyhow, his books are Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness (1965), The Ancient Rain: Poems 1956-1978, and the Golden Sardine. I am sure I won't return any of them on time either.

I wasted hours and hours the last two days on a ridiculous program that came with my Dell Windows XP called Musicmatch. I wasn't too excited by it to begin with, but I figured I would get the free trial. I went out and got some blank CD's to burn, and signed the agreement after giving up my credit card info that goes into effect if I forget to cancel within seven days. Two days of this time-waster and I do believe I've had enough. First and foremost the music cuts out constantly. I wrote their tech support about it. But who needs that? The worst problem is that this program is so complicated it would take me seven days of solid reading and studying to be able to make a CD I think. I printed a book worth of instructions, read and re-read them and I still can't figure out how to get a track into my music library to play again later. Simple things like that they don't tell you. They are too busy always, always trying to sell you an upgrade to Jukebox Plus or they want to talk about the cool skins you can get. I'm not 17, I just want to be able to record some music on CD's. Too much to ask I guess. I do not recommend this program, and I told them so as plainly as I knew how. It's too bad because the basic idea behind the thing IS cool--ordering an artist on demand to play or matching an artist and others who are like him to play and making yourself a radio station of these songs to play again later. It all sounds good until you try to do it. Oh well.

Wow. I got an e-mail from someone asking if I was talking about him in my blog. Do you know what this means? I have at least one reader. I am overwhelmed. That's one more than I figured. I'd better watch my grammar now. I'll probably continue to split those infinitives though and end sentences with prepositions. But, really, how exciting.

I know my Republican brother will not be a reader. The question is "Do Republicans have a sense of humor?" I sent him some very funny actual quotes of our moron president making up words and tripping all over the English language sounding as stupid as he is. I figured regardless of political view it was funny stuff. He sent me back a very stiff chastising note. He said he is very busy this summer. Please don't send him things I know he is not interested in. He also asked me to refrain from ever again filling in his e-mail address on one of those "e-mail a friend" forms because he guards his e-mail address. I stand corrected, but really--how can even Republicans not laugh at the man? What do they tell themselves and each other when he says things like "Hispanically speaking" and talks about speaking "Mexican"? Just wondering.

Today's e-mailed thought for the day goes along with what we were discussing (like somebody is there) the other day:

"Do not let any prejudice you may have
against spiritual terms deter you
from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.
At the start, this was all we needed
to commence spiritual growth,
to effect our first conscious relation with God
as we understood Him.
Afterward, we found ourselves accepting many things
which then seemed entirely out of reach.
That was growth, but if we wished to grow
we had to begin somewhere.
So we used our own conception, however limited it was."

?1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 47

Who am I to say your conception is limited you ask? That's pride, and I'm really not. But do ask yourself how well your conception is working for you. It may be time to begin to accept more. That's all.