CBS Sunday Morning

On a happier note for the music folks who visit me here I got to start off my morning on a great note: R.E.M. was on the CBS Sunday Morning Program. If you missed it go here.

Makes my little liberal heart go pitter patter. ;)

[NP: Neil Young - Heart of Gold]

Bush's War

If you have any doubts that the current administration isn't the absolute worst, most deceitful, incompetent, arrogant, paranoid and despicable on so many levels, go here: Bush's War

I'm so angry I'm at a loss for words. Enjoy it while you can.

[NP: 10,000 Maniacs - Trouble Me]

Criminal Intent Returns This Summer!

Julianne Nicholson and Chris Noth at USA Upfronts.

Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe USA Upfronts.

My favorite detectives are returning June 8 to USA. I'm counting down the days! Wish they had a shot of Eric Bogosian, too. Ah well, we'll be seeing all of them on television soon enough. Guess I'm on a Criminal Intent kick these days.

Bear with me music friends. I'll be back at it in no time. April 1 is the release date of R.E.M.'s new album. Also I've been checking out a lot of music videos on YouTube. It's quite addicting! Of course that's how I found the previous video of VDO. I do take side trips often. LOL Been discovering Monty Python, too. Television? What's that? Oh yes, it's what I watch Law & Order: Criminal Intent on. ;-)

[NP: Kate Bush - Rubber Band Girl]

Vincent D'Onofrio - Guy

Forgive my moment of weakness but I came across this on YouTube and quite frankly, I'm beside myself. I'm not usually one to drool but oh my God!

This has got me all hot and bothered and Vincent D'Onofrio has moved to the top of my most 'f^2%able celebrities' list, surpassing Henry Rollins and Johnny Depp by light years. LOL

And the answer to his question in the middle of the video is "YES!!!"

The clips are from the movie "Guy" and the song is The Cure - Maybe Someday.

I've seen this movie before but having gotten to know more about the actor, I must say he gets better looking the more I know about him. Give me an intelligent man and I'll show you sexy. ;)

All right, back to my usual calm, cool, restrained admiration. LOL

A Favorite

A clip I found from The Posthumous Collection with one of my favorite Goren and Eames undercover scenes.

Eames is adorable. If you watch the show you know she's not the naive young woman she's pretending to be. She can catch perps, escape from a serial killer and keep up with the big guy.

Goren is his usual charming self - when he wants to be. Glad I stuck around to watch the show after initially finding him overbearing.

Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe make this show worth obsessing over!

Oh and the perp they're about to arrest is played by actor Glenn Fitzgerald who I last saw on Dirty, Sexy, Money as the most mean-spirited priest you ever could see. Great character he's created. LOL

[NP: Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes]

MSNBC is the Liberal Version of FOX

All right, so the three conservative friends of mine who called me out on the whole FOX propaganda rant are correct. Having watched hours of MSNBC, I have to admit, they are the liberal version of FOX. So, they are very biased towards the liberal. But it's a nice balance to the conservative right wing rantings of FOX. I don't agree with them all the time either but I agree with them more than I do FOX so they're more tolerable.

So I concede there's a liberal bias there but not elsewhere as it seems all paranoid conservatives seem to think. Want proof? Why is John McCain's 'senior moments' and other missteps not being focused on as opposed to everything Hillary says and Obama's pastor? McCain is in bed with some really out-there right wing nuts and no one is getting on his case like they are Obama. Only on MSNBC do they make a case out of it and then only in context with the Obama story.

Is it just that we're so jaded and are expecting right wing nuts to be that way and to support whatever Republican runs? I don't know but it bothers me. McCain solicited the support of some of these people. Isn't that just as bad if not worse than Obama belonging to a church with a racist minister? Oh, McCain doesn't belong to the churches of those nuts? But he did apparently court their support. The man sold his soul so he can win the presidency.

The media is harping on Clinton over and over again. McCain is doing stupid things and no one seems to notice. So where is the liberal media now? The whole Obama situation with his church is being discussed by every talking head you can find. McCain and the nuts? Not much. Just on MSNBC. I'm sure on FOX McCain's missteps probably aren't even mentioned. Then again my stress level is high lately so I've been avoiding FOX instead of my usual monitoring their hypocrisy and obnoxiousness.

Okay, now it's time to turn the station away from MSNBC. They're now yelling. Yep, they are sounding more and more like that pathetic excuse for a news channel FOX. Guess it doesn't matter if you're liberal or conservative, if you get a lot of them together it becomes loud and obnoxious.

[NP: AC/DC - Highway to Hell]

A True Man of God

The problems in Tibet have me rather preoccupied. Seems China is flexing it's muscles as the new world superpower on the rise. Not a pretty sight. Kind of makes me understand how other countries see the United States sometimes.

If you really want to find a true man of God, you have to look no further than the Dalai Lama. He is not judgmental, he believes there are many paths to God and doesn't tell you you are going to hell if you don't follow what he believes. He is peaceful and non-violent and for China to accuse him of inciting those riots is blatantly stupid. China knows better but because of the power they have - economically speaking - they believe they can bully the rest of the world. They're so used to being able to squash dissension amongst their own people they probably don't realize the rest of the world may finally get fed up with them. Even we - the United States - couldn't be as much of a tyrant as past superpowers in this modern world where we are all so connected.

We have the power to boycott sponsors of the Beijing Olympics. We have the power to speak out and stand up to tyranny. Don't be like most Americans who have suddenly lain down in surrender to tyranny in our own country. Don't be brainwashed into thinking you can't make a difference. You can. Start here if you don't care that your own country has been hijacked by dishonest, selfish, mean-spirited people who are only out for themselves and their friends.

Stand up and speak out and say something. More of us need to get angry. I'm tired of doing it all by myself. Well, me, my husband and Lewis Black anyway.

Support the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet. Go here:

http://en.beijing2008.cn/90/53/column211995390.shtml

And boycott these companies. Sadly, I love Coke but am not in the process of not buying any. There goes my fast food fix of McDonald's french fries and a coke. Oh well, small price to pay to get a message across. A small group here where I live are planning to send a letter demanding those sponsors drop out. I don't know if it will do any good but we have to try. If everyone who thought what they do doesn't matter DID SOMETHING, we would accomplish a lot.

Don't let China win.

4000 Dead - How Romantic is that George?

It's a sad milestone. 4,000 Americans killed in Iraq. I wonder if the idiot in chief finds that romantic? I can't believe he actually used that word to describe combat in Iraq. Spoken like a man who has never seen combat in his pathetic, useless life.

There are thousands more Iraqis dead, too. Every life is special, not just American ones. Add that to the 4000 Americans and that is the cost of the war. All that plus all the 'fast tracked' death penalty cases in Texas has a long list of dead attached to Dubya. Wonder if his evangelical supporters think this guy is going to make it to heaven with that kind of record?

All those deaths, all the lying and dishonesty and not keeping his word and I'm sure the 'faithful' still find him to be great man.

[NP: Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army]

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (HQ Stereo Audio)

Peter Gabriel is a great live performer, isn't he? So full of energy. This is one of my favorites from him. Beautiful song.

Michael Stipe Press Announcement

LOL I love this man.

For those of you who don't know, Michael Stipe recently ended speculation about his sexual orientation. He stated he is indeed gay.

Glad to see he's got a great sense of humor about it all. Personally it annoys me that he should have to make such a statement at all but I understand why he felt a need to at this time.

Hopefully we'll one day get to the point where it's no big deal whether you're gay or straight or bi-sexual and we can just be.

From Tiger Beat to Rolling Stone Magazine to AARP Bulletins

There we were this morning, me and Mr. Musicwench, having coffee in bed and watching CBS Sunday Morning as we do every Sunday when I'm not working or when we have no grandchildren visiting. And then they announced R.E.M. will be featured next week on this fine program!

It was a very happy moment for me. Then I realized that they went from being alternative ground breakers to part of the mainstream and laughed. They're growing old with me. I am the same age as Michael Stipe, after all. Well, I believe I'm six months older actually. Yikes! They used to be the darlings of MTV and then VH1 and now CBS Sunday Morning. Not that it's a horrible show. It's wonderful, in fact. Very genteel and a great way to wake up in the morning.

However, it brought the following to mind. Something I wrote over a year ago and this is just another milestone, I guess. LOL


From Tiger Beat to Rolling Stone Magazine to AARP Bulletins


It's funny how quickly time passes the older you get. I remember at age 10, time crawled by so slowly it was almost like torture. I was in such a hurry to grow up and get out into the world. Only during the summers did time fly by too quickly for my liking. The school year dragged on forever it seemed. . .

As a child I started reading magazines geared for teeny boppers. I loved Tiger Beat cause I could read it and keep up with my faves like Bobby Sherman, Donny Osmond, David Cassidy. I would bug my parents to let me buy them and keep them all neatly stacked in my room. I'd take out posters from the magazines and put them up in my room. I bought their records and I watched their television shows. Don't even get me started on The Monkees. My cousin Amy and I loved the Monkees. We'd watch their show every Sunday and call each other and talk about them.

When I got to high school, all those embarrassing teeny bopper crushes were forgotten and the magazines tossed to hide all evidence of any little girl crushes. Except for the Donny Osmond sticker I had which was stuck to the inside of my journal and I couldn't remove it without ruining the artwork I had drawn inside it. I felt it was safe in there because no one else ever saw it but me. Yes, we all have secrets, even 12 year old girls.

I started reading Cream magazine and Rolling Stone magazine. My musical interest turned to Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles - John Lennon in particular, The Kinks, Neil Young and all kinds of other artists my father could not stand. Thanks to Led Zeppelin blaring from my stereo and heard by my father from the driveway as he pulled the car into the garage, I got a pair of headphones with the caveat that my father would never have to hear my "music" ever again. He figured it wouldn't matter if I went deaf. I was a teenager and never seemed to listen to him anyway. However if I wanted to make myself deaf, I could just do it to myself and leave him and my mother and the entire neighborhood out of it.

When I got to college I was still reading Rolling Stone and added College Music Journal to my list since I was working at the student radio station and got into the "alternative" wave of bands appearing on the musical landscape. The two bands I really liked were R.E.M. and U2. No one else except my fellow radio station DJs knew who the heck they were at the time.

It was amazing when the darlings of the college radio circuit suddenly became household names. The new cutting edge as it were. That didn't last long before they suddenly got thrown into the Adult Alternative category. Suddenly they were considered in the "lite rock" category. Just like Elton John went from rock and roll to pop music.

My how quickly things go from being "hip" to being "old people music." That's the term my stepson used when he discovered I liked bands like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, etc. We were driving in downtown Honolulu and I was listening to 98 Rock. Jimmy wanted to listen to another station that played newer stuff - Rap at that particular time was big with my young stepson. My husband and I were seriously concerned about the boy. Pretty much like my parents probably were when I started listening to Mick Jagger singing "Let's spend the night together..."

"No, I don't like Rap because it's not music," I declared, wincing as I reminded myself of my father.

"Well, what do you like then?" Jimmy asked.

"Rock and roll. You know, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who. You've heard of them, right?" I quizzed the 8 year old.

Jimmy nodded, "Oh yea! Old people music."

There I was, all of 26 years old being told the music of my youth was "old people music." I'm sure if my father had been there he would have had a great laugh at my expense.

And now at age 47, I am once again realizing music which wasn't even around when I was in high school, is now considered "old people" music.

On the up side, I still like newer music being made by groups with members who resemble fetuses to my old person's eyes. At least I didn't turn into one of those people who stop appreciating new music once they hit 30 or 40 or whatever the magic age is when you think your children's music is stupid. Kind of like I used to think Rap was stupid but have learned to understand it even if I still don't care for it very much.

By the time the 90s came around, I still found myself occasionally reading Rolling Stone magazine among the Newsweeks and National Geographics. Also some other music magazines like New Music Express, Q Magazine and a few others that seem to have slipped my mind at the moment - that age thing again. I also still kept up with newer music. Loved Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam.

In this current decade, in this new century, I find I still enjoy discovering new groups but I'm also happy to see my old classic rock favorites still putting out great new music. I still look up music information online and check with CMJ online. However, the only magazine subscriptions at my house are Newsweek and AARP. I haven't picked up a copy of Rolling Stone magazine in about ten years. Other people say it's not as good as it was but I think I'm just older and my interests have changed.

Funny how one day I'm reading teeny bopper magazines and the next I'm reading AARP. Funny how I just graduated from high school what seems like a few years ago but yet my driver's license says I'm 47. It's also funny how the people who are turning 50 and 60 suddenly look much younger than people who used to turn 50 and 60 when I was reading teeny bopper magazines. Do we really look younger or are we just looking at it from a different perspective? Perhaps it's a little bit of both. They say 50 is the new 30. I saw Ann Curry in the AARP magazine. She's turning 50 but looks like she could still be in her 30s. Hmm....looks like maybe they have a point.

Oh and one more good point. Jimmy now actually borrows some of my CDs to listen to these days. When he asked me to borrow one of my Kinks CDs, I remember handing it to him saying, "So, you're listening to old people music now, eh?"

We both laughed.


[NP: Coldplay - Clocks]

It's Spring? Really?

Spring, eh? These photos taken with my cellphone this morning. 12 inches of snow doesn't say 'spring' to me.





Where oh where is spring? This has been the snowiest winter I've ever experienced since moving to Michigan. I'm so sick of shoveling snow.

Hope you all in the warmer climates send some sunshine and warmth our way. Just enough to keep the snow away.

[NP: R.E.M. - Seven Chinese Brothers]

Goren and Eames

My favorite Goren and Eames moments - one from each season.

Season One: From Art


Season 2: Anti-Thesis


Season 3: Unrequited


Season 4: Great Barrier


Season 5: In The Wee Small Hours


Season 6: Siren Call


Season 7: Amends

Random Fluff

So my mind is mush. I've had a rather stressful day so I came home and watched a couple of my favorite Law and Order: Criminal Intent episodes. I avoided some of the more angst filled episodes and ended up watching more earlier episodes since the last couple of years have been incredibly depressing for Goren and Eames. I love the backstory we get on them and all but I wish they would smile once in a while.

In season 6 the last smile Goren and Eames shared was in Blindspot and then she got kidnapped and things went downhill from there.

In season 7 the only time they smiled was in Depths.

They discover the Harpers are having a child.

Eames just told the Captain about the two different pairs of men's underwear they found on Dana's boat.

Now I'm not asking for 'Shiny Happy' Goren and Eames. I like the darker side of LOCI but every once in a while I would like to see them share a brief warm and fuzzy moment like the first pic and a shared joke.

The smiles we saw here makes this my favorite Goren/Eames episode of season 7. Great case file, great teamwork between Goren and Eames. You'd think it was from an earlier season.

Oh well, whatever they have in store for us, I can't wait for June 8 and new Criminal Intent!

[NP: Kinks - Celluloid Heroes]

Foo Fighters - All My Life - Live Earth 1/5

All right, I already heard from a couple of you who think I've lost my mind cause of the whole NASCAR thing. LOL So just to make sure people know it's really me and I'm not crazy. Well, I am crazy but not the way you think...then again maybe I am. Never mind. The following video is to assure people I'm still me. LOL

Love this band. Love Dave Grohl's sense of humor. This band is fun and I they rock. Enjoy!

Thank You Dale Jarrett

Who's Dale Jarrett you ask? Yes, I know, it's odd for someone like me to actually watch and enjoy NASCAR. Not the bleeding hearted liberal you all know and love? LOL I'm just well-rounded (and I'm not just talking about my shape, which I often describe as 'round').

Today is Dale Jarrett's last NASCAR points cup race. He's a great driver with a lot of class. He's been number 88 for years now but he gave up his number and switched to number 44 so Dale Earnhardt, Jr. could take his number. Dale Jr. left DEI (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.) and they wouldn't let him take his number 8 with him. If you're not a NASCAR fan just trust me that it was a big deal.

In any case, Dale Jarrett is a Winston Cup Champion who's leaving makes me sad. A couple of years ago it was Mark Martin. Martin still drives but he's not in the chase anymore. Mostly he drives a set amount of races but he's not competitive.

It's made NASCAR not as much fun to watch for me anymore. The young guys are all great drivers but there's something about the older drivers who paid more dues to get where they are that makes me enjoy watching the race. No offense to the 'young guns' who are among the best of the best but they look like they're too young to have driver's licenses.

The whole 'car of tomorrow' thing is just something that makes me think, what's the point of calling them Chevy, Ford, Dodge or Toyota if they're all the same?

So with the departure of Dale Jarrett, I have another reason to not bother to watch NASCAR anymore. Hey, Jeff Burton is cool. He just won Bristol, in fact. Jeff Gordon is great. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is wonderful and there are a lot of drivers to watch. But for some reason I feel it's not the same and I'm not fond of all the changes. Except for the better music - they're more rock oriented than they used to be. The whole country thing just didn't appeal to me, you know?

Ah well, thank you Dale Jarrett for being such a class act and good luck to you in whatever you're moving to. I believe he's going into broadcasting and I'm sure he'll do a great job.

Oh and I will also miss those UPS commercials! My favorite was one where Joe Walsh tried to sing about getting Dale to 'drive the truck' to the tune of 'Life's Been Good.' I loved those spots. LOL


[NP: Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere]

Super Delegates?

Now I'm beginning to wonder if Obama will actually win the Democratic nomination. There's this whole "super delegate" hunt that seems to be going on now. Both sides courting super delegates to vote for them. Apparently they - they being the Clintons - don't mind that in courting super delegates they're pretty much saying they don't care what the popular vote would be. Never mind that the the person most people want is Obama, they want to get back to the White House at any cost.

It's disconcerting. I'm beginning to dislike the whole concept of super delegates just as much as I dislike the electoral college. Perhaps these are two things that are now outdated and have outlived their usefulness?

Then again, the general public is pretty stupid. That's why the founding fathers probably put the electoral college in there as a fail safe? Back when a lot of the population was uneducated and....hmmm....these days you could say the same considering all the people I've come across who are actually grown up adult type people with jobs who have families of their own and everything but they can't write a sentence to save their lives.

When I was living in Hawaii I used to think it was just that most of the population there were children of recent immigrants and English wasn't their forte. Not that they didn't speak it but many speak 'Pidgin English' and that could contribute to their inability to spell and put together a grammatically correct sentence.

However, having moved to the mainland where English is supposed to be their primary language - I'm not talking about immigrants, I'm talking about people who were born and raised here for generations. Caucasian people. You would think they would have a better understanding of the English language than the folks in Hawaii. Not so.

Also, talking to people it's amazing the kind of things they believe without question. In Hawaii it's all about evil Republicans and here it's all about flaky Democrats. It's just so easy for people to spread propaganda if it's what people want to hear.

Perhaps the founding fathers foresaw this dilemma and set the electoral college in place. I have mixed feelings. I want the people to have their choice and their voice and their vote. But, on the other hand, do I really want people who can't tell the difference between your and you're or there and their and they're to be electing my president?

Do I really want people who saw the 'swift boat veterans for revenge' ads about John Kerry and believed it without question to elect my president? I mean it got us Dubya for a second term! That's just not right, you know?

Sadly, I'm afraid we've become fat, lazy and stupid. By "we" I mean my fellow Americans. We're so caught up in our own personal lives we don't want to look at the big picture. We don't seem to care that the president and his staff are liars. We do care if the obnoxious get loud enough. Republicans do the impeaching thing really well while the Democrats just mutter about it and it makes it sound like whining. Unfortunately, the Republicans only want to impeach when it includes some sort of sordid sexual scandal. Democrats would like to impeach on things like lying and obstructing justice but they just can't seem to find their backbone lately.

I'm beginning to understand the mentality of people who just don't care anymore - if they ever cared in the first place. This is how a great nation slowly dies. We get more concerned over the lives of pathetic little starlets and celebrities while our country falls apart around us.

For those of us who are aware, it's painful and it's sad.

[NP: 10,000 Maniacs - Cherry Tree]

R.E.M. - SXSW Concert

You want to hear a great concert, go here:

http://www.npr.org./templates/story/story.php?storyId=88155007

Some new songs from Accelerate and a few classics. This band is a great concert for longtime fans. They also played Auctioneer, Second Guessing, Drive, Fall on Me, Man On The Moon. The new material sounds more rocking than they've been. Kind of harkens back to their 80's music but definitely with a new feel. This band doesn't like doing retreads. I like that. They don't stagnate.

I'll post my review of the album as soon as I can get my hands on it and give it an in depth listen. So far I like what I hear! A politically impassioned Michael Stipe always inspires me. This is my second listen through on this concert. I love the internet!

[NP: R.E.M. - Fall on Me at the SXSW concert at Stubbs in Austin March 12, 2008]

Criminal Intent - Under Pressure

Ah, the talented Jenncho. I just love her LOCI videos. Great clips of all our favorites from the show in this one. I especially love the last scene of Capt. Deakins making his final departure. Nice tribute video, I think.

To all those who want me to get back to the political ranting, I'm sure I will soon. So much to be angry about, so little time. LOL

Speaking of angry, check out Lewis Black on Comedy Central. The Root of all Evil series. LOL Titles are: The Catholic Church vs. Oprah; Donald Trump vs. Viagra; Beer vs. Weed; Paris Hilton vs. Dick Cheney. I love Lewis Black.

R.E.M. - Disturbance At The Heron House 4/28/91 MT STAGE

Love this song. Great version of this song. R.E.M. is a fantastic live band. I can't get enough of them. Here's hoping April 1 comes quickly! Then it's just two months until June when I can get my Goren and Eames fix.

So Blogger Went A Little Nuts On Me...

Apologies for the multiple, repeated posts today. Seems I was having trouble uploading videos to my blog and apparently when blogger fixed the problem, it allowed everything I've been trying to post to upload all at once. I had 119 posts after only having about 80 last night so it might have been confusing.

Thanks to Kristi at one of my music forums for the heads up! LOL Love the question she asked. "Okay, MW, so you've discovered crack?"

Looks like I was really trying hard to get stuff posted! I must have really wanted the Criminal Intent and R.E.M. videos to post cause it was just non-stop.

So all is well now. I guess it makes up for the angry rants I had the two posts before these posted. ;-) I'm not always so bitchy. Just when I watch the news and see or hear anything about the Bush Administration. LOL

God Says Nothing Back

Music by the Wallflowers - great song! It's combined with my favorite show. Thought it was very well done. I'm loving the creativity out there, folks.

David Bowie - Rebel Rebel

Came across this one while checking out favorite song performances on YouTube. Bowie from his Reality Tour. The man is ageless!

Henry Rollins - Civil Liberties Under Attack

Warning, it's Henry being Henry so there's obviously a language issue. LOL If anyone is easily offended, don't watch. I love this man.

Walk Unafraid 2005

This song fits my mood for the evening so I thought I'd share it with you all. Put a video with it as well. For those of my friends who don't care for R.E.M., apologies for my indulgence but hey, it's my blog after all. LOL

Thanks to those who have been interested enough to contact me. I do enjoy some feedback from time to time. Hey, I even like it when you whine. At least I know you're there. ;)

And no, I still don't want to allow comments. That way some random reader who doesn't know me can't make stupid, childish comments. :D



Walk Unafraid
By: R.E.M.

As the sun comes up, as the moon goes down
These heavy notions creep around
It makes me think
Long ago I was brought into this life, a little lamb
A little lamb
Courageous, stumbling
Fearless was my middle name
But somewhere there I
Lost my way
Everyone walks the same
Expecting me to step
The narrow path they've laid
They claim to

(chorus)
Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love me or leave me
High

Say "keep within the boundaries if you want to play"
Say "contradiction only makes it harder"
How can I be
What I want to be?
When all I want to do is strip away
These stilled constraints
And crush this charade
Shred this sad masquerade
I don't need no persuading
I'll trip, fall, pick myself up and

(repeat chorus)

If I have a bag of rocks to carry as I go
I just want to hold my head up high
I don't care what I have to step over
I'm prepared to look you in the eye
Look me in the eye
And if you see familiarity
Then celebrate the contradiction
Help me when I fall to

(repeat chorus 2x)

Serious Bitching Time Now

I got my petty little whine out of the way so now I can go ahead and practice for a couple of op-eds. First one:

The media is definitely not liberal nor conservative. They just don't like Hillary. The 'liberal' element of the media is outraged over what Geraldine Ferraro said about Barak Obama. Granted it might not have been a smart thing. However, I think there was truth to what was said. Just like Ferraro wouldn't have been in the position to be the vice presidential candidate if she weren't a woman. In the politically correct atmosphere we are in, that sounds rather suicidal.

Quite frankly I don't like but it's working to show Obama's combative side. He's not all nice touchy feely, is he? I suppose being called a person who is only getting ahead because of his race is worse than being called a monster?

I hope Obama takes the high road and let's it slide and moves on. It seems like a ploy by the Clinton campaign and quite frankly, it's working. The media is in such an uproar! They're outraged and stunned. They can't believe this of her! Really? Why not? They painted her as a monster to begin with!

What really gets me angry is when people talk about Hillary being such a bitch but when a real bitch, Lynn Cheney, goes on Wolf Blitzer's show and gets all in his face she's 'feisty' and 'she knows how to stand up for herself.' Is it because the general public finds conservative bitchy women acceptable because they still buy into the barefoot and pregnant at home scenario? Why wasn't she called a 'castrating bitch' like some have called Hillary?

Now I am not all that keen on Hillary either but you know, all this media bashing is starting to make me want to support her over Obama. It's so annoying I don't now what to think. I can't stand the mean spiritedness that is creeping up on this campaign season and this is just the Democrats. Wait until the general election when the gloves really come off. Is McCain going to be 'swift boated?' Will Obama have to hear his middle name repeated over and over again so people's little prejudices and blind fear make the feeble minded actually think he's a terrorist?

I'm just so pissed off with the whole lot of them. Don't even get me started on Mr. 'Paragon of Morality' Eliot Spitzer. That's a whole month's worth of op-eds right there.

But, Karl "The Architect" Rove was certainly correct when he said the bickering will be bad for McCain because he'll be out of the spotlight. Never underestimate the evil little bastard. Rove does know what he's talking about.

Second One:

Did anyone see the film from the 'Gridiron Dinner' where Bush was joking about helping Scooter Libby evade justice and about all kinds of other disgusting things. Joking about Dick Cheney withholding documents? About the whole Hurricane Katrina debacle? People were laughing.

Why does this not surprise me? We are all living in denial. Oh, wait, I'm not. I am outraged. The president thinks this is funny? Aiding and abetting in helping one of your old cronies evade justice is funny? The bungling of the whole Katrina debacle was funny? Dick Cheney withholding information and breaking laws is funny? Not finding weapons of mass destruction is funny?

Wait, maybe it is to him. He's gotten away with all of it and no one in Washington has done anything about impeaching his sorry ass. Him and the evil Dick Cheney. Not to mention Karl Rove should be investigated and prosecuted and thrown in jail as well.

But no. Why? The Democrats just don't know how to impeach someone? The Republicans are good at it. They did it to Clinton. They're talking about doing it to Spitzer in New York.

What's the rule here? If it's a sex based offense and breaking of the law it's impeachable but if it's life-threatening, security threatening, thumbing your nose at the law type of breaking the law it's okay?

Oh, that's how it works. No one told me. Had I known I wouldn't have bothered to complain in the first place.

Why aren't more people pissed off? We're too worried about paying our heating bills, making choices like should I get medical care for my illness or buy food, trying to keep from having our houses go into foreclosure and watching the cost of living rise faster than our paychecks can keep up. Congratulations, President Bush. You do have a lot to be laughing about. You did your job for your have and have more constituents. The rest of the country is totally screwed but then we didn't elect you, did we?

[NP: David Bowie - Rebel, Rebel]

Stop Whining, It's FREE

So here's a quick bitch. Just got done speaking with someone who knows I work at the newspaper and she wanted to let me know they're not happy that they get the Extra - a free paper weekly paper we put out with ads from the Saturday paper for people who don't subscribe or buy the paper so it gives our advertisers full county coverage - on time anymore.

We used to get them on Friday and the drivers put them out that day or on Saturday. It's dated for Monday. However, since our printer changed the deadlines on us and moved it up, we don't get the papers as early and they are actually delivered on Monday - the day they're supposed to be out there.

So I get a complaint that it's very inconvenient and why can't they get it on time? I explained the above situation and pointed out she was getting it EARLY. Well, she was not happy about that at all and then said she might as well just buy the Saturday paper then. I smiled and agreed.

Duh! That's really a good idea. Then if you don't like what you PAID FOR you can bitch. It's free, you cheapskate. If you want something delivered ON TIME - which technically it now is ON TIME and not EARLY - then pay for it.

All right, bitch over. Back to work so I can take more abuse.

[NP: John Trudell - Rant and Roll]

Kathryn Erbe Rocks!

I've been having a very nice Sunday. Spent the entire morning in bed and actually managed to get some laundry done. Sitting watching NASCAR with my hubby, pot roast is cooking and I'm computing. Except for some horrible children running through the halls unattended by their negligent parents, it's been quiet.

I've been going to my regular sites and it's been rather quiet so I went in search of new ones. Seems there aren't too many Kathryn Erbe sites and that's a shame. She's such a wonderful actress and she's absolutely lovely! She's pictured above with Vincent D'Onofrio and Eric Bogosian in the season 7 premiere of Law & Order: Criminal Intent [photo credit to Strange Visitor website - one of the few KE fan sites where you have screen caps of her in just about everything she's done, not just LOCI]. I just adore this actress.

It's wonderful to have a someone of petite stature go out there and believably portray a character like Detective Alexandra Eames. Just looking at her I remember thinking, hmm...she's supposed to be a cop? Then I started watching the show and thought, yep, she's a cop all right. LOL She is the reason I continued to watch the show. At first I couldn't stand D'Onofrio's Goren. Now I adore him, too. I love the line in The Wee Small Hours where Eames describes him as an acquired taste because he certainly was.

She however was definitely a find. The actress herself seems to be a very grounded person. No pretentions there. She's a single mom and she takes the train regularly from what I understand. Does her own shopping, takes her kids to school and happens to work on my favorite television show. There's just something very likable about her and I wish more people would discover her. Vincent D'Onofrio has enough of a following. I found so many sites of dedicated fans it was overwhelming.

Kathryn Erbe deserves so much more recognition than she gets. She really is a lot like her alter-ego Alex Eames. She works in the shadow of her taller, more flashy partner and does so with such grace. No ego problems for this lady. I love that! I know the main attraction of LOCI is Goren but I love it when they feature Eames a little more. The scene pictured above is from Amends, an Eames-centric story. I highly recommend you watch this one. You'll see she is most exquisite and she shines in this one especially.

Ah well, it's Sunday and Bravo has a LOCI marathon. I love Sunday nights. :-)

[NP: Beatles - Here Comes The Sun]

Indulgence

My stepson posted this on his blog a long while back but I saved it for posterity since the boy changes blogs and websites so often it's hard to keep up and sometimes things get lost in the process. I wanted to save it here. He's got a great story telling ability. Pardon my pride. LOL I just really enjoyed this when he told us the first time and even more so when he wrote it down. So pardon my indulgence.


The Story of Simi Asato

Funny how one reacts under pressure. Must have been 18 or 19 at the time, before I moved all the way to the Midwest. You know, the good ol' days, where responsibilities were null and my days and nights spent surfing, partying, and playing a lot of Super Mario Kart. Yeah, the good ol' days. The days of a lot of relaxation, and a lot of strange experiences. One strange experience in particular left me with a new alias, and an appreciation for those of us who choose to go to bed at a decent hour.

It must have been about one or two o'clock in the morning. A bunch of us, in one of our normal night owl rituals, were over at Chad's house playing Super Nintendo (although I can't recall if it was another Mario Kart or Madden 95 marathon). It was late, my eyes were burning, and I needed some rest. So I left. But I was out of smokes. Damnit. You smoke a lot when you're deep into a gaming marathon.

On the way home, not far from Chad's house, I stopped at a 24-hour gas station to replenish my stock of tobbacco. I don't recall what the name of the station was, but "Gas Express" comes to mind. Regardless, it was big and had one of those mini marts, and even though they locked the doors to the mini mart around 11 PM or so, you can still buy things throuh the big window with the sliding drawer, where you go to pay for your gas after hours. I didn't need gas, so I drove right up to the window. However, as I was approaching, something inside me said, "TURN AROUND... DON'T STOP HERE".

Did I listen? Nooooo. And about what was this voice inside my head trying to warn me? Well, as I pulled in to the station, I saw a very large man (as in tall and beefy, not fat) talking to the two female attendants through the big window. He appeared to be yelling at them, and judging from the lack of coordination in his arm gestures, I also assumed he was drunk. As I drew closer, I could tell that he was either Samoan or Tongan, and even bigger than I had sized him up to be from further away. Great. A big, beefy, beliigerent drunk Samoan guy standing between me and my cigs. But I needed my smokes.

So as I pulled into the stall directly in front of the big window, the big Samoan noticed that he wasn't alone (aside from the two attendants). He turned around, drunkedly, and sort of stubled away from the window so as to let me know that I could do my business and then leave. I was almost relieved that he was taking a pause from his tirade, because it kind of implied that he didn't see a reason to involve me in his little drunken scene. But what about the girls behind the window? What would he do after I left? As I got to the window, I asked for my smokes and then asked in a hushed voice what was going on.

"He's just drunk. He shows up with a cube of Mountain Dew and bought a bunch of Marlboro Lights from us, and now he's yelling at us about buying beer. We have no idea what his trip is. We're not going to sell him beer anyway."

"Oh," I said. "Are you guys gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine."

"Oh, okay."

Now I don't quite remember where the Samoan guy was between the time I walked away from the window and the moment that I got to my car door, but I do remember looking up as I was opening my driver's side door, and seeing the big Samoan getting into the passenger seat of my car, cube of Mountain Dew and all.

F&*k.

"Um, hey, what uh, are you doing?" I asked in the most non-threatening way possible.

No answer. F*@(.

"Uh, you, uh, need a ride somewhere?" I asked. Yes, that was a stupid question.

He looked at me. He nodded. Double f#*!.

I contemplated for about four milliseconds what it would take to go over to the passenger side, pull his drunken ass out of my car, and then speed off. But instantly I came to a scenario that invovled a drunk and ENRAGED Samoan, and the two girls behind the window. So I hopped into the driver's seat, and reluctantly asked, "Where to?"

Funny how one reacts under pressure.

Well, he started mumbling something about his parents' house, and pointing in general directions. So I drove in those general directions. We ended up in a neighborhood I wasn't too familiar with, but it wasn't a bad neighborhood. That was a plus, considering I was planning for the worst at this point. As every second passed by, the image of this guy strangling or stabbing me to death in my driver's seat became more and more vivid. I started doing one of those "Let's Make a Deal" prayers to God, you know, the kind where you promise to never mastrubate or give tourists false directions ever again. It appears though, that God was having too much fun observing my predicament like some twisted sitcom to be swayed with any offer I could throw at Him. Yeah, ha ha. Eh.

We ended up pulling up to a house deep within the neighborhood, and he asked me to wait while he checked if someone was home. A million more thoughts ran through my head: Is he going to rob this place? Is this really his parents' house? Should I drive away?

Yeah, driving away that instant sounded like a fantastic plan. However, he left his cube of Mountain Dew and five packs of Marlboro Lights in my car, and I really didn't want to steal his stuff. But, this was my "out", my escape, my glimmer of hope to rid myself of this predicament. Maybe I should just lay his stuff outside, and then drive away. Yeah! Okay, grab the Moutnain D...

He came back. F&%*.

Okay, so Plan #1 was out the window. The light at the end of the tunnel just got a whole lot dimmer. He then slurred out a command, asking me to take him to Kihei. Kihei? That's like a 20 minute drive on a long, dark highway! For an island local, that's a long way away, and I got to thinking of all the things that could happen en route. It'd be easy for him to hijack my vehicle and dump me off on the side of the road. No witnesses, no way to get help except to make the trek back to town. But what could I do? Well, I drove. To Kihei.

Funny how one reacts under pressure.

On the way there, I ran through all the horror-filled scenarios about how my night would end, as we drove along the dark, deserted highway to Kihei. I was starting to get pissed and annoyed at my situation, yet not quite pissed enough to forget that he'd probably squeeze me like a tomato before I'd ever be able to get a single swing in. I'm not the aggressive type usually, especially with men three times my size. As I kept running through the scenarios in my head, he mumbled something...

"Uh, what was that?" I asked out of morbid curiosity.

He mumbled again, this time a bit louder, "thank you, man."

Hmm. He was thanking me. Well, how nice. Makes this whole ordeal worthwhile (interpret: sarcasm). He then turned to me and thanked me again. And again. And again. I was surprised I was able to make out what he was saying, because coating his Samoan accent with copious amounts of alcohol was like listening to someone pull up in your driveway with two flat tires. Then he started saying how I was like a brother to him, and that he loved me. Then, he leaned over and hugged me.

F^!#.

"What's your name man?" he asked while embracing me with his stinky, alcohol-reeking body.

"Simi," I blurted in an uncontrollable false-name-giving talent I developed as a teenager (who made way too many prank phone calls and had far too many run-ins with the authorites). I didn't mean to lie. It just, well, came out. Instinct, you know.

"Simi Asato".

And there we have it. Of all the fake names I've thought up since junior high, this one takes the cake. I can only imagine my brain tried to blurt out "Jimi", but was so distracted by this large Samoan man, that it somehow got morphed into "Simi" instead. And Asato? I only knew one family with that last name, and how they entered my brain at that very moment is beyond me. I barely knew any of them, just one of their daughters, and it's not like we were close friends or anything. Anyway, it was obvious my brain was operating out of desparation and pulling from memory slots in a very random manner. But it happened, and I had to deal with what came out of my mouth. Luckily, he was so intoxicated that he bought it without thinking twice. Simi Asato, the official chauffer for big, drunk Samoans. We were on a first name basis now, although he never told me his name, but for the next fifteen minutes, I was showered with hugs and thank-yous from this man who apparently was very grateful for my existence that night.

"You are like a brother to me, Simi." Hug.

"I love you Simi." Hug.

"You are so good. I love you like a brother. I love you, Simi." Hug.

And at this point, the scenarios of being stabbed and dumped on the side of the road faded a bit, and were replaced with worries of being man-raped. My mind conjured up this horrible vision of me in a wedding dress, walking up the aisle to meet this goliath of a man on our wedding day, who had now taken me to be his ***** forever and ever amen. If you know me, I'm not very touchy-feely, so this whole situation was getting much, much worse. Let's summarize, shall we? Driving 65 MPH, down a dark, deserted highway. Scared asain guy in drvier's seat, being hugged by an outrageously drunk, large Samoan whose arms were probably larger than said Asian guy's torso. Somewhere between 2 and 3 AM, no cellphone, no apparent way out. I hope God had a bucket of popcorn, because this was turning from a sitcom into a feature-length film.

To make a long story short, I wasn't man-raped on the way to Kihei, thank goodness. We made a few more stops, one at another house (no one home, and another failed chance to escape), one at a nightclub (where he insisted I go in with him, but was thankfully closing up for the night), and then finally to Denny's. I guess he wanted some bacon or something. The thought of accompanying this man into a public place had me worried. I kept thinking back to the scene he caused at the gas station, and wondered if he was going to go from his "brotherly love" mode, back into "crazy drunk guy" mode. The last thing I need to is get arrested with this guy for disorderly conduct. I was nervous, afriad, and wishing that I was home, laying in my comfy bed, fast asleep. I needed out, and I needed out NOW.

We walked up the large flight of stairs to Denny's, which is on the second floor of a shopping plaza, and my brain was working furiously to come up with my final escape plan. We walked in, and he immediately made his way to a booth, bypassing the hostess. I don't know if he didn't notice her, or just didn't care, but she was a bit surprised. Sadly, she didn't see the cry for help embedded in my facial expression because she just shrugged us off and went about her business. My brain kept working, and waiting, ready for the moment that I could break free. Maybe he'd have to use the bathroom or something. Drunk guys piss a lot, so I had a good chance. Hmmm, I hope he didn't piss in my car...

We sat down at his selected booth, and I was worried about what kind of conversation to strike up with a big, beefy, drunk Samoan man at Denny's in the middle of the night. The bright lighting in the restaurant was an odd change of scenery, and the night went from frightening and strange, to frightening and surreal. Maybe this was a bad acid trip... but then again, I'd never taken acid. I kind of wish I had at that point, though. Still, I was waiting for my moment of opportunity.

Not twenty seconds after we sat down, he notices a couple playing pool in a dimly-lit room off to the side. He got up and headed over. Uh oh. I watched for a second as he approached them, muttered something, then started making what I assume were lewd or suggestive comments to the female. The guy, which I assume was her husband or boyfriend, looked pissed. That was it, I needed to call it a night, do something about this guy, and get the hell home.

I walked briskly over to the hostess at the door.

"Look, the guy I walked in with, he's drunk out of his mind. I don't know him, but have been driving his drunk ass around for the past hour, and haven't found anything resembling his home. He might cause a scence, in fact, he's causing some trouble in your pool room right now, and I recommend you call the police. Now. At least they'll give him a place to stay for the night. But me, I've gotta go."

And with that, I made my break. I was down the stairs, into my car, and driving off in 20 seconds flat. I was out. I was free. RELIEF.

As I headed home, I looked over at the passenger seat where the big, drunk Samoan sat, grateful that it was now empty (and checking to make sure he didn't piss in the chair). But wait, I had his cube of Mountain Dew and his cigarettes! Crap. Well, I certainly wasn't going to turn around. No way in hell.

Needless to say, I was set for smokes and soda pop for a while. I considered it my taxi fare for the night. When I got home, it felt wonderful to crawl into bed. I stayed awake for a while, staring at the ceiling, processing the night's events. I was safe. But Simi Asato? Well, there might be a giant Samoan guy looking for his Mountain Dew.

Funny how one reacts under pressure.

Oddities

Life is full of things that just baffle me. Today I'm wondering how the hell Michigan can be considered a "blue" state. I figure the bulk of the population must live in Ann Arbor, Detroit and Lansing, because the population where I live and in the surrounding counties, tend to be rather conservative. So much so it makes me understand how conservatives living in Hawaii feel. But then Hawaii is a blue state. I say the bulk of the population lives in the aforementioned cities because they're generally thought of as liberal.

Sometimes it gets annoying to live in the middle of conservativeland when you're generally a liberal minded person. The upside is most conservatives are nice and not obnoxious like the ones who froth at the mouth on FOX all the time. The downside is some of the people are just like the obnoxious ones who froth at the mouth on FOX. After a while it just gets tiresome dealing with them.

The other oddity is daylight savings time. Having lived most of my life without it in Hawaii, I find it to be somewhat annoying. Being at the end of the time zone makes it even stranger. At the height of daylight savings, it stays light until 10 p.m. here. Try getting grandchildren to believe you that it's time for be when the sun is still shining brightly.

It's most odd because basically we're all walking around pretending it's an hour later than it really is. Mass delusion. Kind of like people walking around thinking we're safer with the Bush Administration in charge and because we're in Iraq. Not as many people suffer from that delusion but enough that we had a second Bush term. What a sad commentary on the state of our union.

Here's hoping with the upcoming elections no matter what the result, we will stop the decline of this country somehow.

[NP: Guided By Voices - Closer You Are]

Bad Day 2005

The primaries in Ohio and Texas and other states are being held today. I think no matter how it comes out, as long as Huckabee is out, the country will be in better shape than it has been under the current administration.

That leads me to this video. LOL It certainly has been a bad 7 years under the Bush Administration. I'm hoping for a brand new day.

Here's my favorite band singing a song that reminds me of the past seven years. Enjoy!

R.E.M.'s Love Is All Around (best cover ever)

I have to agree, it's the best cover ever. R.E.M. does everything so well!

Hillary or Barak?

Well, here it is the Sunday before the big week for Hillary. All the pundits say she needs big wins in Ohio and Texas to stay alive in this campaign. I'm rooting for her. I know she scares some people - mostly those evangelicals to whom she probably represents everything they hate, a strong, intelligent, independent woman with a mind of her own. I like that.

Yes, I know, I've been uncomplimentary about some aspects of her personality and I also don't know how much I trust her, but the issues on which I don't trust her aren't make or break issues for me. Besides, I can relate to her on many levels.

In the end I can still support Barak Obama if he does indeed win as it seems he is going to. I'm even okay - just barely - with John McCain. At least he's not the nut job I believe Huckabee is. The man shows signs of being an extremist when it comes to everything from religion to his newfound healthy life-style. The man can be very charming and if you didn't check into him and pay attention to what he's really saying, you could be fooled into thinking he's reasonable. If the right-wing evangelicals like you, there's definitely something wrong there.

Hillary's been getting some bad press and has made some bad moves but she was on Saturday Night Live last night making fun of herself and that was rather fun. It also helped - well, it helped with me anyway - that Vincent D'Onofrio popped in for a quick cameo as his alter-ego Detective Goren, in the skit. LOL It was cute.

I've heard Hillary is much more personable and at ease in person. Kind of the opposite of that bitch Elizabeth Dole. It's a shame that a woman who speaks her mind and can fight back is criticized for it when she does. I know there's more to it than that but seriously, if Hillary was a man, many of the things the press and others have criticized her for would be assets.

So here I sit, actually getting nervous about the primaries in Ohio and Texas, hoping she pulls off the wins. I'd like to see her go all the way to the convention. Guess I've forgiven the Clintons for NAFTA and the clipper chip thing. They seem like no big deals compared to the hell we've had to live through the last eight years.

Maybe if Hillary pulls off the wins I might get fired up about the general election again. I need something to get me feeling more positive about the whole process. My father taught me the importance of voting and I can't not vote. It's just that I used to enjoy it more when I was voting FOR someone and not AGAINST someone.

[Watching NASCAR right now so no music.]

Harmonius - Eric Bogosian

Came across this the other night and wanted to share it. This is the infamous Captain Ross of Criminal Intent. I just love his monologues and find he's just amazing! His addition to LOCI has made the show even better. Eric Bogosian has a most interesting mind, I think. Check him out on LOCI if you haven't yet.

Oh and new episodes of LOCI will be airing in June on USA! The summer is going to be a very good one.

In the meantime, enjoy this piece by the very talented Mr. Bogosian. The information on this says it's from 2006.