DeRosaWorld

Saturday Musings

- Tim Russert didn’t want to learn the lesson all working class Irish, Italians and Jews learn the hard way. Never trust the WASPS.

- The Great Game in Afghanistan took a hit this week. About 870 prisoners escaped during a Taliban bomb and rocket attack on the main prison in southern Afghanistan that knocked down the front gate and demolished a prison floor, And in western Afghanistan today, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle, killing four Americans.

- Bush, Jr. is still in Europe.

- The Cedar River was a force to be reckoned with this week in Iowa. And Des Moines’ levees were ruptured by the Des Moines River today. Let’s hope the government response matches the task.

- The Supreme Court decided that habeas corpus is an important part of the American Constitution. Bush, Jr. said he would nod his imperial head and abide by the Court’s ruling, although it was only a 5-4 decision….huh?

- The world continues to shake and quiver. Northern Japan took a hit yesterday. Is mother nature trying to tell us something, like “get off”.

- Speaking of getting off earth, NASA’s latest Mars lander, Phoenix has collected particles that offer a snapshot of millions of years of life on the Mars. NASA is hoping to find evidence of the existence of water and life-supporting organic minerals in the polar region. Now wouldn’t that be a kick in the head?

- I hope that lift off clip thing that fell off the Space Shuttle doesn’t fall and hit me in the head. Something else to worry about.

- I’ve been under the weather lately, knocked down by one hell of a cold, with a slight fever, heavy chest congestion and lots of runny nose. Yesterday I made a lunch out of a can of imported tuna in olive oil from Genoa, Italy, a clove of fresh garlic and some rigatoni. I felt a lot better. I try to hold off the American over the counter medicine if I can, but not this time. Mucinex and Afrin are my bff.

- Glen Campbell has an album coming late summer in which he covers his favorite rock songs. I am so excited. There will be some Green Day and some U2 and god knows what else. That old boy can sing and play the guitar.

- Emmylou Harris, the reigning queen of alt-country also has a new album. All I Intended To Be. I need to catch up with Emmylou. She’s keeps churning out records and changing partners and I just can’t get enough of her.

- Don DeLillo’s Underworld…okay, so the opening is Pafko At The Wall, a tour de force of sports writing that seems like he turned his manuscript over to Oliver Stone to edit. I don know. There is something so un-noble about this so noble a moment in baseball. The kid listening alone on the rooftop and the people spilling out in to the streets captures the uniqueness of the moment, but most of the characters are out of the film noir era, post WW2 America that scared the hell out of the Republican Party and J. Edgar Hoover (and enamored the French). It is a big book and I will blog about it here each week until finished. The opening is certainly crafty, but am I reading the great American novel? I’ll let you know.

The Fat Lady Sings

Eileen Farrell sings the aria 'Un bel di' from Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly for Senator Hillary Clinton.

Thanks, Hillary! 

Dear Jim,

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,

Saturday Musings

- As the primary season comes to a close with a surprise progressive hero, Senator Barack Obama coming from nowhere to claim the leadership of the Democratic Party in the post-Bush, Jr. (and maybe the post-Republican) era, the party bosses are gathering this weekend to try and wrap up the confusing and fucked up nomination process before the actual convention.

With the final primaries being held this week, Obama hasn’t actually won, yet. Arianna Huffington has the champaign on ice, though. The celebration is about to begin. Change and hope and pride in America is right around the corner. Out with the old. In with the new.

- Republicans have no wins on their card to run on. If Democrats don’t sweep both houses of Congress and the White House this year, they might as well shut the Party down.

Conservatism has lost and lost big time. Hit McCain on the issues: The Republican economy. The Republican health care system. Republican Party perversion and corruption.

Make John McCain defend the last eight years: Republican gas prices. Republican-run war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republican Veterans Hospitals. Republican Education.

How can he defend any of it? Just ask McCain if he is a neocon? I’d like to see him answer that question.

- Isn’t is awesome having oil men in the White House? And after taking over the country with the 2nd largest oil reserves in the world….Americans can’t afford to fill both their cars and their bellies at the same time. How’d that happen?

- Sydney Pollack is a great loss to Hollywood and movie lovers. He was one of the last producers of films made for grown-ups. Since he died, I can't get scenes from his films out of my head: Robert Redford in the snow in Jeremiah Johnson. The dancers in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Barbra Streisand's sad face in The Way We Were. Sally Field's indignation in Absence of Malice. Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in the airplane from Out Of Africa. Robert Mitchum kicking through paper walls in The Yakuza. Dustin Hoffman walking down a New York City street in drag from Tootsie. Thanks Sydney!

- I have not seen Iron Man. I will not go to see Sex and the City.

- I’ve been listening to a lot of The Doors’ music lately: Strange Days and Waiting  For The Sun. They are my drive-time background music. Ever since I watched the season finale of American Idol I have not been able to get David Cook’s mock-rock screeching out of my ears. Jim Morrison had some pipes and some spooky rock chops.

- Hey, John McCain’s favorite book is Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls.

- I was told recently that I needed to read Michael Chabon. He’s the pseudo-gay writer of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (a memoir of the 2008 Pennsylvania Primary) The Wonder Boys (The secret love story of John McCain and Joe Lieberman) and something called The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the Pulitzer Prize winner from 2001. I picked that book up and put it down a half dozen times. (One of them decides he’s gay). So now I have Summerland, a children’s book about baseball and elves. I’ll try, but it is an awfully fat book for a children’s book. I haven’t finished Julian Green’s Memoir’s yet, and I’m getting old.

- I’m goint to try to eat more apples.

Saturday Musings

- Sandra Day O’Connor has joined the ranks of Republican women raising their voices for Alzheimer’s disease research. Her fellow Republican stalwart and care-giver, Nancy Reagan also has pleaded the case for the proper funding of the proper research. I guess God doesn’t want Republican men to be haunted by their memories in old age.

- Invading countries and hanging their leaders is a new global benchmark for justifiable invasion. (See Iraq). It is being debating concerning Myanmar.

- The A-list progressive blogosphere has a new strategy for their Presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Hussein Obama. Ignore the fact that he has not secured the nomination and run stories and headlines that treat him like the candidate and ignore Senator Hillary Clinton…ignore at your own risk.

- Listen up fellow liberals. A progressive agenda the likes we haven’t seen since LBJ’s Great Society and FDR’s New Deal could be yours if the Senator from New York lands the Senate Majority Leader’s job. And if we have a veto-proof Congress, the President will be inconsequential….well he can go to parties and dignitary functions where he can drink and do the least harm.

Maybe the reign of the Imperial American Presidency is at an end. Bush, Jr. proved no one deserves the power. A new balance of power for a new American century.

- It is interesting watching Bush, Jr. trying to pull the gas pump out of his ass.

- Dick Cheney, anyone? Anyone seen Dick?

- I’m stumped. I can’t imagine who Senator Obama is going to pick for his Veep candidate. I don’t know enough about him to guess. I will make a crazy suggestion: Patrick Murphy, the young Congressman from Pennsylvania. (he’ll be 35 by election day) Hope and Change!

McCain will go with Joe Lieberman (I hope). And Senator Clinton, (yes, she still is in the damn race so we have to include her.) can go with Wes Clark. (John Edwards and Bill Richardson are out of the running for a Clinton II Administration) This should be interesting.

-Two words for Appeasers: Prescott Bush.

Saturday Musings

- Should Americans have taken to the streets after the election of 2000 and physically prevented George Bush, Jr. from entering the White House?

- Should the next Democratic President redeploy the US troops from Iraq into Afghanistan and put a violent and bloody end to terrorists there?

- Should Americans begin marching on Washington and demand that President Bush, Jr. do something to lower gasoline prices?

- Should Americans start marching on Health Care Providers’ Corporate Headquarters with stones and smashing their windows?

- Should American citizens begin following and harassing TV and Radio news anchors who propagate the Republican Party line?

- Should Hillary Clinton quit the campaign before Barrack Obama actually wins the nomination?

- Will Hillary supporters vote for Obama if Obama wins the nomination?

- Will Obama supporters vote for Hillary if Hillary manages to win the nomination?

Oh, For Christ's Sake

"Rudy Giuliani should not have received Holy Communion during the pope's visit because the former presidential candidate supports abortion rights, New York Cardinal Edward Egan said Monday.

Egan says he had "an understanding" with Giuliani that he is not to receive the Eucharist. The Catholic Church teaches "that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God," Egan said.

The cardinal said Monday that Giuliani broke that understanding when he received the Eucharist during Pope Benedict XVI's visit earlier this month. He received Communion during the April 19 service from one of the many clergymen who offered the sacrament.

Egan says he will be seeking a meeting with Giuliani "to insist that he abide by our understanding."

Giuliani's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, said Monday that he is willing to meet with the cardinal but added that his faith "is a deeply personal matter and should remain confidential."

Egan's statement does not address the fact that Giuliani is on his third marriage. Catholics who divorce and remarry without getting an annulment from the church cannot receive Communion."

Far be it from me to come to the defense of America's Former Mayor, but the current Pope and the current Cardinal covered for their priests when they were sticking their thumbs up children's asses.

The hypocrisy is sickening.

Americans Get Pissed.

"A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky.

Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public "doesn't know how to interpret the information" and might be unduly alarmed.

How do the drugs get into the water?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue."

So half the country is seriously worried about their water supply and the other half damn well should be.

Saturday Musings

- The President doesn’t see a problem with the economy right now. Always the optimist, he thinks his policies are working just fine and no immediate action is needed, as he crosses off the days on the calendar until he can retire. Presidenting is hard work.

- Oil is at another all-time high this week. The price of gasoline at the pump heading straight for $4 per gallon as summer 2008 approaches. The President doesn’t know this, doesn’t understand this, but we still love him.

- The price of wheat is also breaking records. No one seems worried here in America though.

- Maybe we should start gathering around our firesides (or giant plasma screens) and recall tales from our Grandparents about the Great Depression and FDR. Here are some movie suggestions: Little Caesar, King Kong, My Man Godfrey, Man’s Castle, John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath,  Frank Capra’s American Madness, Meet John Doe and Mister Deeds Goes To Town, Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels and of course there was Shirley Temple.

- The Democratic Primary may be coming to a dramatic conclusion this Tuesday. The Party faithful may finally put an end to the campaign of Senator Clinton. If not and she disappoints us all by winning in Texas and Ohio, the fight goes to Pennsylvania, where Ed Rendell and the quiet giant of Pennsylvania politics awaits to save Hillary Clinton.

- I seem lost in this year’s tide-turning Presidential election. I’m being told that the Millennial Generation is taking over from the Baby Boomers and by supporting Senator Clinton; I’m on the wrong side of American history’s latest generation gap, etc.

Well, kids I hope you know what you’re doing. I hope this century’s doers can achieve wonderful things like the Internet. You seem to like that.

I hope you all have plans for global competition for jobs and oil and resources and water and food and peace. I hope you have educational plans for your children and grand children. The last half of the 20th Century saw some amazing and powerful changes in America and the world. The Millennials have inherited a great treasure. Watch your back, though, The Republican Party doesn’t give up that easily.

Take a lesson from two generations ago. Who ever thought the Party that gave us the Great Depression in the 1920s would rule the second half of the 20th century. The Republicans are like the Terminator: They never stop coming and all they do is kill.

- On the East Coast, States like New York and New Jersey are banning hand-held cell phone use and text-messaging while driving. From what I see in Los Angeles, California’s economy would collapse if similar laws were passed out here.

- The little red-headed, spare Prince of England took up the Crusade in Afghanistan. Doesn’t seem like such a good international PR idea, British royalty shooting up the Muslim countryside and all that. None of my business I guess. Just saw it on the news.

- Hey, why is American royalty not fighting? The sons of the rich and powerful? …and the famous? …why are our Football heroes, those monsters of strength and over-muscled toughness not kicking ass on the front lines? What about our Basketball stars, giant athletes like Kobe, on the front lines? What about other young people like Justin Timberlake and Usher taking up the fight to protect America? What about all those Country Music Stars, they seem pretty tough…whiskey for my horses and all that stuff. Why aren’t the American Idols fighting?

- Sacre Blue! The French are winning US military contracts. I guess that is what happens when they finally elect a real man as their leader. A wedding gift from Uncle Sam.

- The person who wins the Best Original Screenplay Oscar is considered the best American writer for a year (face it, novelists don’t count anymore). This year Ratatouille was up for BOS, it didn’t win, but I think the nomination says a lot about Hollywood.

Louise Schumacher: Get out, go anywhere you want, go to a hotel, go live with her, and don't come back. Because, after 25 years of building a home and raising a family and all the senseless pain that we have inflicted on each other, I'm damned if I'm going to stand here and have you tell me you're in love with somebody else. Because this isn't a convention weekend with your secretary, is it? Or - or some broad that you picked up after three belts of booze. This is your great winter romance, isn't it? Your last roar of passion before you settle into your emeritus years. Is that what's left for me? Is that my share? She gets the winter passion, and I get the dotage? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to sit at home knitting and purling while you slink back like some penitent drunk? I'm your wife, damn it. And, if you can't work up a winter passion for me, the least I require is respect and allegiance. I hurt. Don't you understand that? I hurt badly.  - Paddy Chayefsky, Network

Cheney Wastes Energy

From the BBC: "US Vice-President Dick Cheney has had minor surgery to replace the battery that powers his heart pacemaker. 

Doctors discovered last month during a routine physical check that the pacemaker's battery was running low.

The pacemaker, called an implanted cardioverter defibrillator, monitors and maintains Mr Cheney's heartbeat.

Mr Cheney, 66, has had four heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery and operations to clear blocked arteries. He was fitted with a pacemaker in 2001.

He has also had operations to clear blood clots in his knees and in March started taking blood-thinning medicine to treat another blood clot in his lower left leg."

At least it is just the battery this time. He does not need to feast on 7 prepubescent male hearts at his bunker in Wyoming.

The California Universal Healthcare Act - SB 840

California State Senator Sheila Kuehl wants to talk about healthcare.

"SB 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act, is California’s plan to establish a system of health insurance to cover all residents of the state with comprehensive benefits, stabilize growth in health care spending, improve the quality of care and guarantee the right of every Californian to choose his or her own physician."