TUESDAY POLITICS

If you’re not sure how you feel about Michael Moore’s proaction, you’ll probably really feel stressed about this development. Meet the new Democratic National Committee boss. In my opinion, one of the worst dirty tricks pulled by the conservative media during the campaign season was to plunge like a hawk upon the moment when Dean got overenthusiastic during that one speech and shouted just a little too loud and long for some people’s taste. Then cleverly (thanks to Karl Rove no doubt) they played it over and over and over again. Guess what – now that Dean is in at DNC Chair, they’re playing it again – over and over and over. I was really kind of surprised he won the position, because most of the party stalwarts are falling over themselves to appear more conservative than they probably are in order to impress the Red States. But in the end they must have realized that Dean has some qualities that are sorely needed to rebuild the base (I heard Bill Maher refer to it as needing a defibrillator) – namely, organizational moxy, vigor, the balls to speak out against the war in Iraq, smarts, and a proven track record for running his own state in an admirable way as Governor. Stand back worrywarts, hold on faithful, we’re in for a ride.
Deep Thought:  “To me, clowns aren’t funny. In fact, they’re kind of scary. I’ve wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.”
Today I am grateful for: Chocolate
Guess the Movie: “We all lived in the neighborhood for a couple of more years-mostly through junior high school-and every summer was great. But none of them ever came close to that first one. When one guy would move away, we never replaced him on the team with anyone else. We just kept the game going like he was still there.” Answer: The Sandlot, 1993. Winner: thenarrator.
Meet The New Boss
by Bob Burnett
If you’re not active in Democratic politics, you may wonder why there has been so much interest in the election of Howard Dean as chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Indeed, you may ask why it is better to have Dean in this position, rather than as an early contender for the Democratic Presidential Nomination in 2008 (Dean promised that he would not run for President if he was elected DNC chair.) (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: Eeek forgot to sign out last night.
+ = Nice day at work.
- = Leaking toilet running up ghastly water bill – crappy plumber working on problem (pun?)

MONDAY BOOK

Sicko

OK, it’s not a book, it’s the name of Michael Moore’s next film that takes on the pharmaceutical industry, but I READ about it in my newest issue of Vanity Fair in an article called “Moore’s War.” This is great news and I can hardly wait to see how it all plays out. Already six drug manufacturers have issued alerts, including Pfizer which ran a story in its online newspaper saying, “if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap, you’ll know who it is.” Other Moore alerts have been from: GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Wyeth. With undoubtedly more to come. He plans to discuss members of Congress who are on committees that oversee Medicare, health company mergers and regulatory actions, as well as insurance companies, HMOs, and the Food and Drug Administration. The film is expected out by early 2006. With the competition from Canadian drugs that are much less expensive and the disastrous side effects incidents that have caused various drugs to be taken off the market lately, it’s not a comfy time for the very powerful industry that makes a drug for every single one of those little spots in your head on that graphic I posted and every little spot in your body too. I work in a medical clinic and there isn’t a week that some sales rep doesn’t spring a free lunch for some section of our staff or drop off free calendars or, of course, drugs, or pay for out-of-town speakers to come talk to our residents, etc. etc. Meanwhile I just thank Whoever the Great One is that the only prescription I have to buy each month is for a thyroid gland that gave up years ago, and it’s relatively cheap. For those of us who depend for our lives and health on much more than that, you’d better root for Moore to get the dope he needs on these crooks.

Deep Thought: “One of the worst things you can do as an actor, I think, is to forget your lines, and then get so flustered you start stabbing the other actors.”
Today I am grateful for: Squirrels
Guess the Movie: “This is a good one. We don’t go out when it rains, this is a real good one. I hope you appreciate this because my business is going down the fucking toilet. I should be in L.A., instead I’m in the Honeymoon Haven motel in Bumblefuck, Missouri because you won’t go out when it rains. Mystifying. Fucking mystifying.” Answer: Rain Man, 1988. Winner: thenarrator.
Sick and Broke
by Elizabeth Warren
Nobody’s safe. That’s the warning from the first large-scale study of medical bankruptcy.
Health insurance? That didn’t protect one million Americans who were financially ruined by illness or medical bills last year.
A comfortable middle-class lifestyle? Good education? Decent job? No safeguards there. Most of the medically bankrupt were middle-class homeowners who had been to college and had responsible jobs — until illness struck. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:37 pm
+ = Discovered Condaleezza Rice has a 2nd cousin named Constance Rice who is an activist on the Left.
- = Fighting off Serious Winter Gloom.

PEOPLE WHO KNOCK ME OUT
(See sidebar for others)

Jon Stewart

Anyone who has felt frustrated and/or powerless about the role of the media in shaping the events of our daily lives was astounded, admiring, and deeply appreciative to stumble upon (either live or recorded) the October 15 appearance of our favorite comedian on CNN’s Crossfire (see transcript and video here.) It was a moment of personal vengeance and supreme uppityness for all of us in the world of minions. But what do we really know about our hero? Here is a web site that lists every detail you could possibly imagine, but a few of my favorite facts are:

Name at birth: Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz
Born New York City 1962 but raised in New Jersey.
Dad is a physicist who has never seen him perform.
Pets – a cat named Stan and two pit bulls.
Graduated from William and Mary in Psychology but was miserable there and racked up his knee playing soccer.
Proposed to wife via crossword puzzle.
Wife is a vet and they both love animals.
Among many early jobs – Live Mosquito Sorter for the NJ Department of Health
Most of us know he came from standup and slowly gained momentum until on January 4, 1999, he moved into his office at The Daily Show, where he had just seven days to prepare for his first show as host and co-executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Favorites:
Basketball Team: NY Knicks
Baseball Team: NY Mets (also frequently photographed wearing a Giants cap)
Musician: Tom Waits
Ice Cream: Mint Chocolate Chip

There’s been talk that he’s being courted for a big-time talk show and while I’d love to see that too, I kind of hope he’ll stay where he is to keep my/our hopes up that out of the darkness will keep coming those tiny rays of light he represents. Find one today. (And oh by the way Crossfire is coincidentally no more.)

Deep Thought: “If you’re being chased by an angry bull, and then you notice you’re also being chased by a swarm of bees, it doesn’t really change things. Just keep on running.”
Today I am grateful for: Indoor toilets
Guess the Movie: “I’m so damned fast I can wake up at the crack of dawn, rob two banks, a train and a stage coach, shoot the tail feathers off a duck’s ass at 300 feet, and still be back in bed before you wake up next to me.” Answer: The Quick and the Dead, 1995.
Fast-Food Documentary Heading to Schools
by Noreen Gillespie
HARTFORD, Conn. – What happens when a man eats nothing but McDonald’s food for 30 days? It’s a lesson that schoolchildren across the country are about to find out.
Morgan Spurlock, director and star of “Super Size Me: A film of epic proportions,” is releasing an edited version of the film for classrooms. The school version of the Academy-Award nominated film is scheduled to be released after the Feb. 27 Oscars ceremony. (Rest of article here.)

THURSDAY WHATEVER

Before the map of Iraq disappears off the page (see Tuesday) here is a little more info on the current happenings there. This guy is Ayatollah al-Sistani, 75 years old, born in Iran, highest ranking Shia cleric in Iraq. Cheerful-looking dude isn’t he?
Fact: The voting is still up for grabs from the famous election – you think we had voter fraud here! It’s looking like the al-Sistani slate of candidates is ahead but doesn’t have a clear majority – in which case the Kurds might have a hand in determining who gets elected President whenever in the hell that happens.
Fact: To get this far, let’s see oh approximately 1450 Americans have died and almost 11,000 have been wounded with reports of up to 100,000 Iraq civilian deaths (much harder to count) and god knows how many wounded. If you’d like to see the faces of some of the American dead to make them slightly less unreal visit here.
Fact: We had hours, days, and weeks of coverage of the Scott and Lacy Peterson families but basically none of any of the American soldiers’ fathers, brothers, wives, sisters, mothers, children, etc. And
Fact: Bush may not be pleased if the religious Shia faction gains power after all this bloodshed. See excerpt from article in
Power and Interest News Report back in December 2003:

Al-Sistani’s disagreement over U.S. plans is causing a serious dilemma for Bush administration policymakers. The difficulty with complying with al-Sistani’s demands is that if Iraq were allowed to follow a thoroughly democratic path, it is likely that the new government would run counter to U.S. interests. On the other hand, al-Sistani is too influential of a figure to ignore. Since he is the religious leader of Iraq’s 15 million Shi’a, he has the ability to completely disrupt civil society by simply calling his religious community to action.
Al-Sistani also has the support of other influential Shi’a leaders in Iraq; in addition to al-Hakim, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Taqi al-Modaresi, who is based in Karbala, argued on Tuesday that the national assembly should be elected through national elections rather than through regional caucuses. Al-Modaresi gave a strong message to the U.S.-led coalition: “I am concerned about increasing frustration among Iraqis and I am telling everyone that they are a peaceful people. But it will be a different story if they run out of patience. I fear sedition.”
Al-Modaresi’s warning should be heeded. Iraqi Shi’a have largely accepted the U.S.-led occupation thus far. Their acceptance stems from the fact that if Iraq were to have democratic elections, Shi’a leaders would take power simply because of their majority status. If U.S. officials try to avoid this outcome — such as by rejecting al-Sistani’s and other Shi’a leaders’ recent demands — the Shi’a community could quickly resort to violence, fearing a return to political disenfranchisement. Needless to say, if the huge Iraqi Shi’a population were to revolt, it would cause the situation on the ground to deteriorate rapidly for U.S.-led forces.

Hmmm, wonder how many families we won’t see on the news today as the killing goes on?

Deep Thought:Isn’t it funny how one minute life can be such a struggle, and the next minute you’re just driving real fast, swerving back and forth across the road?”
Today I am grateful for: Being alive
Guess the Movie: “I am going to destroy your life and eat your soul. And I can’t wait to do that.” Answer: Paparazzi, 2004.
Sistani’s Vision for Democratic Iraq has Cricket but No Chess
by Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
Cricket is allowed but chess is “absolutely forbidden”. Women may not shake hands with men. Music is permitted but only if it is not for enjoyment. Men cannot pray when wearing earrings.
These are the views of the most powerful man in Iraq. After the US invasion, various American officials and generals believed they occupied this position. They turned out to be wrong. As the election victory of the Shias has confirmed, the most influential figure in Iraq, dressed in tattered gray robe and black turban, is Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:03 pm
+ = That 70′s Show cracks me up.
- = Water bill skyrocketed because of toilet leak must fix tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY MOVIE
Ray

Of the five films nominated for Best Picture for the Academy Awards, I’ve seen three: The Aviator, Ray, and Sideways. I’ve reviewed the other two already, so that leaves Ray, which I watched on video a few weeks ago. (The ones I haven’t seen are Million Dollar Baby and Finding Neverland.)

My first real memory of Ray Charles was in the ‘60’s when “I’ve Got a Woman” came out and suddenly it was mandatory to learn how to Twist. I was in a little turn-up-the-music, dance your brains out, get drunk, and get laid interlude in my life, so that gospel/boogie-woogie style fit right in. Of course, he was like Dylan – he could switch gears and did throughout his career. The movie gives you plenty of variety to listen to and history of his early life and how he became famous and kicked heroin addiction, but the real reason to see it is the performance of Jamie Foxx in the title role. This guy was definitely in a zone last year with four films in the can (also Redemption, Collateral, and Breakin’ All the Rules). He is the first person ever nominated for three different roles at the Golden Globes in the same year. Part of his fit for this role was that he took piano lessons starting at age 3 and attended Juilliard to study classical piano. In the film, he wears prosthetic eyelids which made him virtually blind. Bottom line – he disappears into the part. You completely forget you’re watching an actor. It’s been 15 years since In Living Color and what a rise. So hope you see this film – if not for the music, for the magic.

Deep Thought: “Instead of a trap door, what about an area of the floor that just shoots up real quick and smashes the guy against the ceiling?”
Today I am grateful for: Microwaved leftover coffee from yesterday
Guess the Movie: “In every class there is a joker who thinks that he is smarter than me. In this class that happens to be you isn’t it, mayonnaise?” Answer: An Officer and a Gentleman, 1982. Winner: here_at_home.
Pro-Soldier, Anti-War
My Experiences as a Conscientious Objector and the Launching of Peace-Out.Com
by Perry O’Brien
I joined the Army on August 27th, 2001, just two weeks before the terrorist attacks of 9/11. As naive as its sounds, I wasn’t thinking about going to war when I signed up. I was thinking about jumping out of planes, learning medical skills, and getting a tangible experience that would be somehow more “real” than the previous two years of college. Enlisting was totally spontaneous, and I never took time to sit down and consider how I really felt about war. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:26 pm
+ = Vanity Fair came today.
- = Chocolate is evil.

TUESDAY POLITICS

I don’t know about you, but even though this country has been at war in Iraq for years now I still have never learned exactly who they’re fighting. Do you know what a Sunni, a Shia, or a Kurd is? Well, let me tell you when you start trying to figure this out, you will run into a mindboggling morass of religious and ethnic differences in Iraq. There are, of course, more groups than those three but they seem to be the main ones that pop up on the news. So here’s a map that will help with the geographic part and here’s just a scratch on the surface of how those groups are defined. Most of the 26 million people in Iraq live in the eastern half of the country and most are Muslims who follow Islam as their faith. This religion was founded by Mohammed in the 7th century and their holy book is the Koran. Now, there is a further breakdown inside the religion into Sunnis and Shias, and a breakdown ethnically in Iraq between Arabs and the Kurds who live in the northern mountains and are ethnically Turkish. The rift between Sunnis and Shias is basically that when Mohammed died 1400 years ago they could not agree on a successor. The Sunnis believed that any qualified person could succeed, but the Shias wanted only a blood descendent of Mohammed. Now that’s as far as I got for now and it’s 100% more than I knew yesterday. Obviously, over the years there have undoubtedly been many more layers added to the mix, so if someone can offer some additional information about how the land lays now between these three groups, I’d enjoy it.

Deep Thought: “I don’t think God put me on this planet to judge others. I think he put me on this planet to gather specimens and take them back to my home planet.”
Today I am grateful for: Lugnuts
Guess the Movie: “It’s just murder. All God’s creatures do it. You look in the forests and you see species killing other species, our species killing all species including the forests, and we just call it industry, not murder.” Answer: Natural Born Killers, 1994.
Conscientious Objector Launches Web Site
WINTHROP, Maine — A 22-year-old veteran from Peaks Island, Maine who was granted conscientious objector status from the Army last November is taking to the Internet to share what he learned with others. Perry O’Brien, who served a tour in Afghanistan as an airborne medic before he was honorably discharged, on Saturday launched his online guide – http://www.peace-out.com – at a Winthrop Area People for Peace breakfast at the Winthrop Congregational Church. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: Oops, forgot to check out last night.
+ = ACLU membership card came in mail.
- = Lieberman’s voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

MONDAY BOOK

Still reading This Cold Heaven by Gretel Ehrlich but nearing the end. She is describing Knud Rasmussen’s “Great Sledge Journey” in 1923-24 at this point. Rasmussen was born in Greenland to an Inuit mother and a Danish father so he spoke the Inuit language fluently. He was the first person to traverse the Northwest Passage by dogsled. He established a base in Thule, Greenland in 1910 and from there tried to visit as many Inuit groups as he could, making sketches and notes and collecting artifacts and legends and songs. See here. When he pulled into Barrow, Alaska in the spring of 1924 having trekked by dogsled all the way from Greenland to Siberia, he proved that there was a circumpolar Arctic Inuit homeland bound by common language, culture, and kinship. But I thought I would regale you today with Ehrlich’s description of the birth of his son along the way:

Sometime during their stay there, Arn [short for Anrakaphaluk] gave birth to a boy fathered by Rasmussen. The two travelers had been together since 1921. It is said that no special house was built for her as her time drew near. She simply kneeled on the platform, supporting herself with one arm and leaning against another woman until the child came out. After, she tied a piece of caribou skin between her legs and rested for a day. During that time she had to wear the hood of her anorak. Knud came in. She immediately leaned over and lit the fire under the cooking pot. Doing so meant the child would learn to walk quickly.

Rasmussen helped tie the umbilical cord with a piece of braided caribou thong. Then one of the women cut it with her ulo (knife). A bandage of caribou skin was applied. When the end of the navel fell off, it was sewn into his inner coat as an amulet. The ulo with which it was cut was also given to the child and saved.

Arn gave the boy his first “bath” by wiping him with the forehead skin of a caribou, then the soft skin of a northern diver (duck). Before she nursed him, the angakok came and sang a song. Then she gave the child a piece of meat to suck, to ensure that he would never go hungry. It was then time to give the child a name. Rasmussen held the boy up in the air and said, speaking for the boy, “With the strength from the one I have been named after, with strength from the one I have been named after, I who am insignificant myself, may I soon be allowed to hunt.”

On February 15, Arn put the infant in her amaut – the hood on the back of her anorak in which children are carried – stepped onto the sled, and, with Rasmussen and Qav, bade the Eskimos of the Northwest Passage good-bye…..The Greenlanders were about to begin the final stretch of their long journey during which they traced (backwards) the ancient migration route of the Inuit to Alaska. Little did Rasmussen know that the Copper Eskimos represented the last subsistence hunters who were still wild and free.

Those women of the Arctic Circle could seriously keep up. Like someone said, “Ginger Rogers could do everything Fred Astaire could do and she could do it backwards and in high heels.” (And if you know who said that you get a gold star.)

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Deep Thought: “Whenever someone asks me to define love, I usually think for a minute, then I spin around and pin the guy’s arm behind his back. Now who’s asking the questions?”
Today I am grateful for: Indoor childbirth
Guess the Movie: “Hell of a situation we got here. Two on, two out, your team down a run and you’ve got the chance to be the hero on national television… if you don’t blow it. Saw your wife last night. Great little dancer. That guy she was with? I’m sure he’s a close personal friend, but tell me, what was he doing with her panties on his head?” Answer: Major League, 1989. Winner: llcj65.
What’s Up with Everyone Besides Barbara Boxer?
by Simon Floth
Carefully note that by self-evident logic not all the following 4 propositions can be true.
1. As regretted by most Americans and without historical precedent, the US undertook a dubiously provoked unilateral invasion, a determining factor being Rice’s distortion of fact.
2. On an occasion for the express purpose of addressing Rice’s suitability for the role of Secretary of State, Rice is called out on 1 by Boxer.
3. Rice brushes it off as inappropriate impugning of her integrity, correctly anticipating the consensus of politicians and pundits on all sides.
4. The US is a sound democracy. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:13 pm
+ = Good day sunshine.
- = I’m afraid to inspect the Budget Cuts details.