Anyone old enough to remember when Elvis died will also remember the small industry that began shortly afterward. You could buy Elvis Commemorative Plates. Late night commercials sold compilation records and tapes of his greatest hits (only $19.99 plus shipping and handling, delivery in 6-8 weeks, NO COD). Graceland opened and became a theme park/shrine/cemetery. Elvis Inc. became big business. The King of Dead Celebrities.
The King is dead, long live the King's Image. And now we will see it all over again, but updated for the 21st century. There will be a Michael Jackson channel on SIRIUS. iTunes will have special deals on MJ MP3's. Oprah will have entire shows dedicated to Michael Jackson's housekeeper. There will be books! And just wait until they open up Neverland Ranch to tourists (they already have rides!). You will be able to walk through MJ's version of The Jungle Room. For an extra five dollars you can tour the bedroom.
And people will pay! We all love a good freak-show. It will be a like driving by major car wreck on the freeway -- but frozen in time so the viewer can linger. The post-respiratory phase of Michael Jackson's career has now begun.
Who cares if a politician cheats on his wife? I do not, I actually sort of expect it. Powerful men have powerful libidos. Big deal.
The real Sanford story is that of a hypocrite -- a politician who voted to impeach President Bill
Clinton for lying about a blowjob has now engaged in a weeklong exotic
erotic bangfest with a married woman. This same Governor actually
turned down money to help the poor people of his relatively poor state,
just to make a few political points with Rich White Assholes.
I would be happy if our politicians could at least be good politicians. Instead, we now have perhaps the least effective congress in a long time. Our country faces a dire situation, and one party has a rare lock on the executive and legislative branches, yet very little is happening. We are still hemorrhaging money in Iraq. Our healthcare system is going to collapse within five years. Our entire economy nearly died six months ago, and is still on life support in the intensive care unit. Unemployment is growing. Stagflation will probably be next on the list. And the military industrial complex has become the beast that Ike warned us about. World War is still a real threat. At least the US Government isn't as bad as the crazy California system. Despite all this, I still hope Obama can make a difference.
Yet our "newsmedia" is run by adolescents. CNN is a joke, Fox News is a criminal conspiracy, even NPR has been weakened. Political reporting in the US is beyond pathetic. The average US citizen is such a victim of propaganda, they no longer really have any sort of working knowledge of the world.
Clinton, Spitzer, Edwards, Craig, Sanford, and that other recent guy whose name I can't even remember -- who cares who they fuck.
Well, except Edwards, I still think he is a super douche...
One final thought, how bad would things be right now without Blogs like TPM???
Only totalitarian societies punish citizens for thought. In a free society one is free to hate as well as love. Any person is free to think as they wish. Murder is currently illegal and should be punished with fairness and justice. Murder, the act itself, is the crime. The motive for the murder is not the crime. If one man chooses to kill another man in order to rob him, he should face the same punishment as the the other man who chooses to kill based on thoughts hate. If you punish the same acts differently because of the motivation of the killer, then you are, in essence, making thought a crime. It is wrong to punish thought.
Once again the US Media has gotten the story wrong and
missed the point. It isn't about the 9/11 terrorists -- it is about Abu
Ghraib! I still remember the day I found out about Abu Ghraib, I was in
the US Air Force and I wore my uniform with a great deal of shame on that day,
and for weeks afterward. I was surprised by how many of my fellow service
members felt pride and joy at the news, it was deeply disturbing.
Think back to how you felt on September 12, 2001. Anyone in US custody that
was involved in planning or carrying out that attack deserves what they
got. These people are not protected by the Geneva Conventions.
Torture is not an effective way to get information from these people, but who
really cares if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was tortured?
The big story here is that this torture was allowed to creep into the US military and
undermine respect for the Geneva Conventions. It led to illegal treatment
of innocent civilians in an illegal war. US Soldiers willingly and
enthusiastically promoted a reign of terror and torture over the detainees in
the Abu Ghraib prison. It is a fundamental failing in the US military
command structure, yet only a few enlisted people actually served jail
time. The whole story of Abu Ghraib has never been widely told and it was probably much worse than we were led to believe, especially if you believe Seymour Hersh.
The big story here is that Bush and Cheney are directly responsible for the
horrific treatment of innocent people in the name of every US Citizen.I may have missed it, but I have yet to see a
single report linking these two concepts.
I remember way back in 2004 when Edwards was running for President. My wife thought he seemed like a good politician, but I couldn't stand him. He just seemed fake and slimy. His populism rang hollow. He was trying to hard to be like Bill Clinton without the gravitas or sincerity.
Now he is being investigated for paying too much campaign money to his hooker. I guess anyone who pays so much for a haircut thinks nothing about blowing over 100K for an ongoing sexual encounter.
In an interview today, his wife Elizabeth said she asked for only one wedding gift -- no affairs.
For anyone who is a regular listener to This American Life, you already were scared this week. For those who missed it, here is a story about the current banking crisis. Long story short: the largest banks in the US are currently insolvent.
I was lucky to be able to attend the Inauguration and it was a great day. Even though it was over a month ago, the glow persists. I finally finished editing a video from the footage I filmed that day and posted it on youtube. It is just under ten minutes long and contains nothing new or shocking...
I have always admired Abraham Lincoln, but I never figured how anyone could be ranked higher than George Washington. There would be no USA without George, but I guess he did that before he was President.
However, how can George W. Bush be the 36th best? Are these historians serious?
William Henry Harrison. He was only the US President for about 31 days. What could he have done in 31 days that would make him worse than Bush? He didn't even have time to screw anything up.
William Henry Harrison was definitely a better President than George W. Bush.
This is a quick post regarding this post from the main page. It is a quick post I felt compelled to write, so I won't have time to attach footnotes...
#1 - We need infrastructure improvements first.
No we don't! Now is the time for everyone to buy an electric car. You would recharge them overnight when demand is low. Our current power grid can adequately maintain increased demand as long as it is off-peak. We also need people to get used to the idea of having a car with less range than a gasoline car, but adequate range for daily driving.
Some say we need to wait for wind/solar power, but that is a "pie-in-the-sky" scenario which will take years (or decades) to accomplish. The time is now!
Also, we are the "Saudi Arabia" of coal. The time to start using it is now. Unless you are willing to live like the Amish, then you need to become realistic about energy; solar or wind just won't keep things going right now. Solar power may someday provide all our needs, but wind will never do that.
#2 - The Chevy Volt will be an electric car:
The Volt will be a hybrid with a gasoline engine. However, unlike the current crop of "parallell hybrids" it will be the first "series hybrid." All of the power delivered to the wheels will come from an electric motor, but it will also have a gasoline engine.
The Tesla is an all-electric vehicle. No gasoline engine involved.
I say we bail-out Tesla and let GM manage on their own.
In the wee hours of November 4th I delivered a baby. It is always an enriching experience helping to guide a new human being into the world. It was even more interesting because this child was born into a new country that didn't exist yesterday. This child's mother is white and his father is black.
The second thing I did was vote for Barack Obama, the next President.
It is interesting to think about how this child's life will be different because of our new President.
Now if I can just score a few tickets to the Inauguration...
Assuming that Obama will win California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii -- if Obama wins Florida or Ohio it is over. If he wins two out of the three of Indiana, Virginia, or North Carolina it is over.
A good friend of mine just started a website that is, in essence, an homage to Barack Obama. He is offering free email addresses at the domain yeswecan.com. Be the first one on your block to get a new email.
Sorry if this is considered spam, but this is a dream my friend has been trying to get off the ground for months, and he finally did it!
Favorite Books Who has time to read a book anymore?
Favorite Quotes "I will be able to die knowing that I had met (and had lots of adulterous sex with) my soul mate" -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford
Bio
As a former new-age organic free-range rat farmer, I bring a unique perspective to my career as a guerilla accountant for a large multinational holistic defense contractor. In my precious spare time I engage in two hobbies -- celebrity impersonations and astral projection. As a community service, I also dabble in psychotherapy, providing marriage counseling to foreign taxicab drivers.
Yes We Can! 
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