E. Michael Harrington

___________________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT's WRONG WITH THE United States Patent and Trademark Office? Many things. Patents are being awarded foolishly and recklessly. Many people comment seriously and in depth on this. Great examples of watchdog/activist/informative sites include the EFF's Patent Busting project:

http://www.eff.org/patent/

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Lately I've been thinking about this absurd and potentially harmful patent awarded to Microsoft last year. Despite its name - "System and methods for training a trainee to classify fundamental properties of media entities" - it really is a patent on a music appreciation course. MS wants to prevent anyone from doing certain nontraditional teaching of music appreciation using nontraditional methods all collected under this esoteric and quite flawed series of approaches to the subject.

This deserves a lot of ridicule so I'll start now and come back to it later. This patent would be very humorous if it wasn't a real patent granted to a Goliath-sized bully by some very incompetent examiners at the USPTO. Patents are to be enforced - anyone found to be doing something similar must be stopped.

"THIS IS WHAT CONSERVATIVES REALLY WANT - GOVERNMENT BY FOX NEWS." - George Will speaking about the new White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow from Fox News, on ABC's "This Week," Sunday, April 30, 2006

___________________________________________________________________________________________

One of my heroes, John Kenneth Galbraith, died yesterday. I was always inspired by his intellect, wit and kindness. I once heard him say that he was put on Earth to afflict the comfortable. Those words immediately struck a chord with me.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2006/04/30/john_kenneth_galbraith_writer_economist_dies/

___________________________________________________________________________________________

STEVE BRIDGES http://www.barberusa.com/attract/bridges_steve.html and George Bush were great last night at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. I would buy their performance if it was available as a DVD. Maybe it can be YouTube'd or BitTorrent-ed by now? They both delivered excellent comedic lines with perfect timing in their exchanges and delivery. It's a damn shame that George Bush is president and not a comedian or worker outside of politics. I think he'd be great at a horse and livestock supply store. And wouldn't you just know it..... Fox has such a store:

http://www.foxfeed.com/horse_livestock.html#anchor_horse_livestock

If his last name wasn't Bush, he would not have gotten so far to cause such problems and pain for so many. As a president he has been a failure. But I love his work in comedy. It's Sunday and it's a good day to emphasize his good qualities. And they are.....

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

___________________________________________________________________________________________

ON THIS DAY IN 2003, Apple began its iTunes Music Store. If the RIAA had their way, there would be no Apple iTunes Music Store and more importantly, no iPod. As one who was passionately against the RIAA on this issue and many more, I feel they owe me and my people a big thank you for helping to save them from themselves.

Like every technology, the new tech - the MP3, the MP3 player, the iTunes store with its overpriced 99-cent DRM-laden songs - is good for society. There are some casualties with every new tech, but there is always more good than bad emanting from the new developments. And who wants to be like Little Kim (Jong-il) http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/dictators/kim-jong-il/ and spoil things for the masses? Other than THE TROIKA - Mitch Bainwol, Dan Glickman and Mary Beth Peters and their lapdog lawyers - most people eagerly anticipate the progress brought about by science and technology.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

I WAS ON THE TODAY SHOW yesterday. I heard from a lot of friends, friends of friends, and even strangers. I did not get to see it because I was busy at the workplace. My mom and my family thought I looked good, but that's why they're family. It was tolerable to wear a suit for the interview.

I think because I have a lot to say about American Idol (I didn't know I did until my mouth opened), I think I'll opine about A. I. in the near future.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

MORE GREAT ANNIVERSARIES ARE COMING - I love May, especially May 1 as it is

INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY

and being from the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIK OF CAMBRIDGE, we of the working class like to look out for each other.

There is a lot floating 'round the Net about this, much of it too damn serious for me. I am no good at following or joining organizations. I'm very delicatessen when it comes to picking anything. I naturally and unintentionally offend people because I don't buy completely into any of the organizations to which I belong.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

AND THIS MAY 1 WILL BE THE 3rd ANNIVERSARY OF George Walker Bush's donning the cute jumpsuit (something that looked more ridiculous than Michael Dukakis riding around in a tank), flying on the fighter jet and landing on the large U. S. aircraft carrier with that so timely and accurate declaration hoisted from on high from the ship.......

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

___________________________________________________________________________________________

This May 1 WILL ALSO MARK THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR THAT Evil Empire - the New York Yankees - will play the Boston Red Sox and the MAN OF LITTLE SUBSTANCE and CHARACTER, Johnny Damon, ex-Red Sox turncoat, will return to Fenway Park (aka GOD's PARK).

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Bush's Brain, Karl Rove, might be in trouble as he how appeared five times before the grand jury. Life is easier when one is truthful and more straighforward than sly and devious.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/MSNBC_reports_Rove_believes_he_in_0427.html

___________________________________________________________________________________________

an easy SPINAL TAP question:

What is the most serious problem that happens to Spinal Tap shortly before their Cleveland concert?

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

It's good to see that Tony Snow and Fox and The White House are doing the logical move - the INTERDEPARTMENTAL TRANSFER. Fox News has been a strong and usually passionate spokesmouth for the White House. So why hire from outside when the solution and able body lies within?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193093,00.html

__________________________________________________________________________________________

And yet this article cites numerous negative remarks Snow has made about Bush and his administration. I am puzzled by this. Either Snow has really said all of these things, some of these things or none of these things. If he said some of these things, perhaps he was saying them to show that he, unlike Fox White House (Fox House), is not completely in bed with Bush, or Snow was trying to show independence and that he has "cred" as a journalist. It's too early to ponder such probing thoughts.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

SNOW on BUSH:

"George W. Bush and his colleagues have become not merely the custodians of the largest government in the history of humankind, but also exponents of its vigorous expansion." [3/17/06]

"President Bush distilled the essence of his presidency in this year's State of the Union Address: brilliant foreign policy and listless domestic policy." [2/3/06]

"George Bush has become something of an embarrassment." [11/11/05]

"Bush 'has a habit of singing from the Political Correctness hymnal.'" [10/7/05]

"No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives." [9/30/05]

"Bush 'has given the impression that [he] is more eager to please than lead, and that political opponents can get their way if they simply dig in their heels and behave like petulant trust-fund brats, demanding money and favor -- now!" [9/30/05]

"When it comes to federal spending, George W. Bush is the boy who can't say no. In each of his three years at the helm, the president has warned Congress to restrain its spending appetites, but so far nobody has pushed away from the table mainly because the president doesn't seem to mean what he says." [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

"The president doesn't seem to give a rip about spending restraint." [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

"Bush, for all his personal appeal, ultimately bolstered his detractors' claims that he didn't have the drive and work ethic to succeed." [11/16/00]

"Little in the character of demeanor of Al Gore or George Bush makes us say to ourselves: Now, this man is truly special! Little in our present peace and prosperity impels us to say: Give us a great man!" [8/25/00]

I WOULD HATE TO DISAGREE with someone so respected at Fox News. LOL

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I will be on the TODAY SHOW tomorrow (Thursday, April 27, 2006). I was interviewed about American Idol. Wynona Judd was also interviewed for the segment. I love how DADA this entire strange juxtaposition is - Fox, American Idol, Wynona and me. This seems more like eating odd food late at night and the resulting disturbing dream.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

JONATHAN PAPELBON keeps doing it and doing it and doing it. The Boston Red Sox reliever still has not given up a run in 2006 - 12 and 1/3 innings of perfect relief!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=6373

Mariano Papelbon? No - if said that, it would show a NY Yankees player respect and I'd rather not go that far.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The workplace calls.....

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

___________________________________________________________________________________________

I SPENT 14 hours on planes and at airports, especially gates E & F at O'Hare, last Sunday (4/16) and it lead to me getting sick. I don't do sick well but I've been convinced that making other people sick is inexcusable so I've been staying home and "enjoying" being sick. I'm taking three drugs and experimenting with cough drops, cough syrups, saline nose sprays (do they ever really go bad? I'm comparing my 1998 exp version to my 2008 exp version) and pillow formations and angles. If there weren't a lot of news on cable, I might have to read law or watch reality TV or soap operas. This could be worse.

We in Nashville will be having our April CopyNight meeting on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 7:30 PM (normally it is at 7 PM) at Tabouli's, 2015 Belmont Blvd. (between Bongo Java and PM).

http://www.copynight.org/

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Last week many of us who were in Nashville attended Leadership Music's Digital Summit (http://digitalsummit.org/schedule.html) held across the street from Tabouli's at the Curb Events Center. Except for the dour, regressive, one-sided "consumer-is-the-problem," 9:30 AM panel, this was a very good and surprisingly enlightened event.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

But with any progress, comes many more obstacles and those willing to bend in any direction to serve the master lobbyists of the Music And Film Industry Association of America (MAFIAA).

The worst of all is the new digital copyright bill that the Troika - Mitch Bainwol (RIAA), Dan Glickman (MPAA) and Mary Beth Peters (U. S. Copyright Office) - are pushing upon their workers (AKA, members of the House and Senate). The Troika are taking a very bad DMCA and making it much worse.

http://news.com.com/Congress+readies+new+digital+copyright+bill/2100-1028_3-6064016.html?tag=newsmap

___________________________________________________________________________________________

And as if the new North Korean-style digital copyright bill that Congress is trying to pass is not enough, this same Troika and Congress are also trying to please many of the telcoms and large corporations by radically altering the landscape of the Internet:

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1539607&auid=1606312

___________________________________________________________________________________________

But since our last CopyNight meeting, a lot has happened and fortunately, there is a new lobbying group that can help. It is not the EFF or Public Knowledge, the two most enlightened non-academic groups, but unlike EFF and PK, this group CAN lobby. The group is:

IPAC

http://ipaction.org/

I proudly made my first donation to IPAC this afternoon. Their logo: "Defending the public interest where culture and technology meet."

___________________________________________________________________________________________

MAURY POVICH

Maury Povich (www.wchstv.com/ synd_prog/maury/) said that Jon Gibson, http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mediamatters.org/static/images/tv_clips/john-gibson.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mediamatters.org/items/200512010018&h=172&w=320&sz=17&tbnid=yGx60oNFn1StrM:&tbnh=60&tbnw=113&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJon%2BGibson%2BFox%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG of the Official White House News Bureau, FOX, was a decorated veteran of the War on Christmas.

I am so glad the War on Christmas is over or at least seems to be in suspended animation. I was amazed at how little Christmas there was this past December. I hardly saw any red or green, there were almost no Christmas carols, the stores were quiet, the malls were abandoned, there were no SUV's filled with packages or children.... it was so quiet. It's a good thing that Jon Gibson and others are trying to keep Christmas alive and surviving despite that major war by those insurgents.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you George Bush. You did just what I expected. You stood by your man. You stayed stubborn, pigheaded, shortsighted, arrogant, steadfast and no matter how tempting, you did not bother to "rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic." You have made my life better. There will be more comedy - sadly, more deaths too - because of your efforts to maintain and reward the incompetence and keep Donald Rumsfeld in place.

But let's leave the negative - the deaths - out of this. You "freed" Iraq, even if it was freedom from law and order and more daily hours of electricity, and have let the inept Democrats keep a good campaign issue for the 2006 elections. Many Democrats are very inept, cowardly and without conviction - in other words, politicians with barometers rather than people with values worth expressing. These Democrats need outside help and you have given them that help. Many Democrats thank you for keeping the Donald where he is.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I have probably written this before. I certainly have spoken it. I hope that HILLARY CLINTON does not run for President. She has pandered as much as John McCain. She, like most politicians, cannot be ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE. She and McCain have been on both sides of many issues and in doing so have lost some of their bases. I might have been in her base as I really like intelligent woman who are sure of themselves. I would love to see a strong confident woman as President of the United States but I doubt I'll ever see it. When a woman who is a Democrat gets far in politics, many men and women "come out of the woodwork" to demonize her. (Sadly, many women are other women's worst enemies, something I'll never understand.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The sad thing is that this damn country is not ready and will not be ready for a woman president in my lifetime. WE WILL ALWAYS say we are ready but we do not mean it. We will have a woman VP (Geena Davis needs to really run - if you can act, you can serve/lead - there is no significant difference between acting and doing - that's a done deal, isn't it?). If the President dies, then we will have a woman president but only in that case or an impeachment OBVIOUSLY we better have a good looking male Democrat (with a woman as sidekick Veep) who can get caught doing someone (not his wife) or having someone do him, orally or more. This mythical male Democrat might be straight or might be gay and married but these are the real things that matter to many of the "family values" crowd who like to get aroused by immorality. War and WMD's and invading countries that have not harmed us are not as big a deal. Sad "state of affairs." But this is how we will someday have a woman President. Those Hollywood writers are right.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

THE RED SOX HAVE ONE HELL OF A GREAT FIELDING infield.

The Red Sox keep winning 2-1 games.

The Yankees lost 5-1. With that payroll and a city population of 8,000,000, they are 5-5 and with our small payroll and a city population of 595,000, we are 7-3.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

THE THRILL OF PATENTS

I need to try French toast bagels at Panera. Have they patented the FTB? I need to do a USPTO search, don't I? Won't my FTB taste better if I know the degree or lack of degree of IP protection? I just checked and could not find a FTB. Should I experiment and reverse engineer a FTB at home? Maybe. Should I sell my successfully reverse engineeered FTB and risk being sued for not having done a thorough enough search at

http://www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm

????

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The pine forest that is most of Callahan State Park in Framingham, Massachusetts, where I spend most of my time, is heavenly. Most state parks are quite controlling and heavy on the rulemaking when it comes to paths and what is and is not a path and whether or not you can walk on a non-path. But this is not true at CSP as it is quite wild and untamed. YEA!

Callahan State Park (God's Park in God's Country):

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/call.htm

__________________________________________________________________________________________

And having spent quality time in the Republik of Cambridge yesterday, I too feel wild and untamed again, thank God. But in 48 hours, I'll be back in my most domesticated and staid neighborhood, damn it. At least I'll have my thoughts and good technology and friends within 20 miles.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

________________________________________________________________________________________

THIS DOES NOT LOOK GOOD FOR DONALD RUMSFELD. Now there are six (6) generals who think he should step down. Fortunately, with the cockiness, arrogance and swagger of this administration, as well as G. W. Bush's usual refusal to change his small manageable mind, Rumsfeld might just get to stay. As always, I appreciate the comedy and tragedy DR "brings to the table" and hope that Bush does not back down, like he did with the United Arab Emirates ports deal. This time I hope George Walker Bush's word means something.

I don't remember ever seeing six different generals, in what appears to be a non-coordinated attack on the S of D, speak out in such a strong way on such a political subject. These are usually the guys who continue "to do things they do," "stay the course," "defend until the end," "go down with the ship," and any other cliches I've missed.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm looking forward to Fox TV and BOR's "TALKING POINTS," I.E. "SPIN" on this subject. I think I'll help them get started on their politics of personal attack.

Maybe Fox/BOR will say.....

these must be Six LIBERAL Democrats (most generals are liberal Democrats, aren't they?)

these must be six traitors

these must be six cowards

these six are part of the LIBERAL MEDIA

these six have been working with the LIBERAL MEDIA to undermine the war efforts

these six are unpatriotic and not fit for duty

these six are old and senile

these six must be Al-Qaeda sympathizers

these six must have drank from the same punch bowl at a John kerry fundraiser

________________________________________________________________________________________

BETWEEN THE SIX GENERALS, they have fifteen (15) stars. Whenever you come across fifteen (15) stars, surely there must be a barrel load of purple hearts, bronze stars, and other awards. Surely there must be some swift boat veterans who can disspell this and attack their character! Those swiift boaters have been quiet lately as, unfortunately, their fifteen minutes of fame has expired. Time to revive some dragging careers, I suggest, and get out and BEAR WITNESS on these six malcontent subversive generals.

Major General Paul D. Eaton
General Anthony C. Zinni
Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold
Major General John Batiste
Major General John Riggs
Major General Charles H. Swannack Jr.

I hope that Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and all Democrats will, in the words of Elmer Fudd the Hunter (not Dick Cheney the Hunter), "be veh-wee quiet," and don't ask for Rumsfeld to step down. The Democrats are in another Harriet Miers period - Democrats just need to be very quiet and let the Republicans and the military do their dirty work.

STAY DONALD STAY.

________________________________________________________________________________________

There's an excellent new group in town - IPAC.

http://ipaction.org/

FROM their website:

"IPac is a nonpartisan group dedicated to preserving individual freedom through balanced information policy.

We believe that technological innovation and individual creativity are vital to the future of this country. We believe that a prosperous and democratic society depends on freedom for all individuals to pursue scientific invention and artistic expression. Unfortunately, new, more draconian copyright and patent laws threaten to stifle these freedoms and restrict public participation in science, art, and political discourse."

God bless these people - finally we have a non-non-profit that can lobby on our behalf. Of course I will always be a supporting member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org./), Public Knowledge (http://www.publicknowledge.org/) and other organizations who take freedom, privacy and gadget euphoria seriously.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I saw my first girlfriend - we first kissed at age four after I let her in my house and helped her take off her raincoat - yesterday at Panera. WOW. Amazing. We instantly recognized each other and were thrilled to see each other. I think we had not seen each other since 1972 or perhaps for a moment in 1982. She's as nice, honest and straightforward as ever. She was one of my favorite neighhbors and the middle child in a pack of five. In my neighborhood, a family with five kids was not extraordinary as there were families of five, six, seven, eight and ten kids. (A family with only three kids was unusual.) I grew up in a great neghborhood - it's been really cool to see that all of us did well and got to lead good lives.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Off to Harvard Square in my hometown Republik of Cambridge. My subversion genes are in need of repair/enhancement/alteration.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

________________________________________________________________________________________

I LOVE BOSTON. I flew here on Monday night via United Airlines. I need to fly United more often -the chardonnay is excellent in comparison to that served on other airlines, the flight attendants - male and female - were fantastic and lots of fun - and they serve Starbucks on UA and not the normal atrocious stuff many Americans drink. (Americans' taste for coffee is often on a par with Americans' taste for "beer" - lite yellow-colored water-like liquid without taste. I'll never understand how a process that goes for thousands of yards through so many machines and chemical changes produced something devoid of taste.).

________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to the Berklee College of Music (http://berklee.edu/), I got to stay at one of the best hotels I ever experienced - the Eliot Hotel (http://www.eliothotel.com/). My suite was amazing and looked like this: (http://www.eliothotel.com/rooms/index.html). I got to spread out and make a mess out of everything very quickly. I knew I'd regret that as I had to then find all of my things before I checked out the next day but I had fun making the mess, eating the special chocolates and cookies and stealing wi-fi from the Harvard Club of Boston (http://www.harvardclub.com/) [non-membership has its advantages], located next door to the Eliot on Commonwealth Avenue ("Comm Ave" to its friends and us locals). I got to steal wi-fi from another source as well - one I did not recognize - and I also had the option of paying for my wi-fi. But with two out of three options being free and not requiring registration and a credit card, I chose free. I read that police arrested someone who was similarly stealing invisible microwaves from outer space and fined him $200.00. So far, I am still criminal and freely roaming the streets.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I spoke at Berklee on Tuesday, met great students, faculty and staff, ate at Steve's on Newbury St. and at the Cactus Club (http://www.cactusclubboston.com/) and saw hundreds of great looking people dressed in Red Sox green and Red Sox red and Red Sox pink as it was OPENING DAY at nearby Fenway Park, God's preferred choice of baseball venue. I'm rarely lucky enough to be in Boston for OPENING DAY so this was a special treat, and GOD's TEAM won. One of our great new guys, Josh Beckett, pitched very well and won, and another of our great new guys, Mike Lowell, got four hits in four at bats, aka "4 for 4" and performed much better than any of the overpaid tempermental divas from the New York Yankees.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I HOPE THE NEW WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, Josh Bolten (fortunately he is not "Bolton" as in "Michael," the assassin of music, or John, our infamous angry bully at the U. N.) does not get too crazy and make any more changes. It's sad that the White House has lost their sole Boston accent, the incompetent Andy Card.

I fear losing White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan, aka "the quintessential frightened deer in headlights" get emotional and defensive at his daily press briefings. I also fear losing Donald Rumsfeld as I love seeing that very irritated very macho very elderly Secretary of Defense squint and get testy with the press. I am afraid they might get jettisoned - that would be cataclysmic for those of us who expect comedy from our elected leaders. And for those of us mourning the loss of Tom DeLay, we don't deserve any more chipping away of the comedy infrastructure of the White House.

My prediction - Rumsfeld will stay, McClellan will go, and Cheney will resign (I was wrong about Cheney resigning on a Friday afternoon in late March but I am convinced (and stubborn and thickheaded), that he will not last for all of Bush's term. Isn't Cheney overdue for a fifth heart attack and another shooting/maiming from out of a car window?

________________________________________________________________________________________

Of course the Internet Archive and its "Wayback Machine" (http://www.archive.org/web/web.php) are too damn cool for words, and they are a non-profit. Non-profits, especially those that provide very valuable services and are benevolent by nature, should be left alone.

But of course there have to be bad guys lying in wait, in this case, HEALTHCARE ADVOCATES, Inc. of Philadelphia. Napster was extremely HELPFUL for the music industry and consumers and showed all of us how the Internet should work, and how we should be able to get what IP we want when, where and how we want it. The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine shows us how the Internet has evolved by providing a fantastic living history of the Net's evolution. It does this by taking pictures of every website (reproducing it - yes, infringing every copyright in its path but for the right reason - to manifest "the progress of science and the useful arts," a phrase that is at the core of Article 1 Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution).

But along comes HEALTHCARE ADVOCATES, Inc. of Philadelphia, the bad guys, the COPYRIGHT THUGS. Like other useless thugs, they decided that it is time to show muscle and whack a little victim.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Internet_Archive.html

I hope that the copyright bullies lose and feel shame.

________________________________________________________________________________________

I now choose Panera over Starbucks. Panera's coffee is not quite as good but free wi-fi makes up for it. I'll miss my friends at Starbucks here in Framingham but I am glad to be out of range of one Starbucks employee. I have just learned Panera back in Franklin and this could be the start of something special. They serve a lot of food here. I'll have to learn what is good. Does anyone reading this have any recommendations?

________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

THE FUNNIEST THING I SAW TODAY, and one of the funniest in a long time, is this important news story. Finally, they got it right. They decided to brokeback it and put their fear of the future and authoritarian proclivites together to forge a new (erotic) business model. No more separate RIAA and MPAA but the fusion of two regressive and tired naturals. The Music and Film industries have agreed to "call it like it is."

_______________________________________________________________________________________

They will now be known as the Music And Film Industry Assocation of America, aka

The M A F I A A

The website announcing the Brokebacking is here:

www.mafiaa.org/

Sometimes love happens when you least expect it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

THERE HAS BEEN TOO MUCH GOING ON LATELY, a lot of it not the inspiring change the world kind of things. And all of this stuff has kept me from some of my favorite pursuits. For one, I wanted to write a lot of April Fools type things. I was going to put forth fake news as real news as they are often similar in the same way as reality and unreality frquently slurp and slide into one another. In high school, I concocted one of my favorite sayings (I've stopped concocting sayings, I think) to convey this: Adjust reality to suit your needs.

One of my April Fool stories - Britney Spears is killed when her son falls off the steering wheel landing on the automoatic shift causing the car to roll down the driveway and over his mom as she is behind the car picking up the Lincoln Logs she bought for second husband Kevin. As Edith Bunker might have said, "it was a fluke accident." But I never got to write this story and, fortunately, she and Donald Rumsfeld are OK, and no volcanoes erupted in Iowa or Illinois.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

And Tom DeLay is upset and disappointed that three of his close friends/pals/workers are in big legal trouble. That's maximal chutzpah and hypocrisy.

Will they rat out Tom the Extreminator? (I'll stop on the pest/rodent references).

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I hope Cynthia McKinney resigns. That is drastic and quite excessive but the alternative is perfectly implausible. The alternative? SHE SHOULD APOLOGIZE, but she's too damn arrogant for that.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

WHEN TOM CRUISE'S WIFE GIVES BIRTH, TOM, who sadly keeps publicly playing the role of heterosexual husband, will demand that she be the lovely little Scientologist Cult wife and not make a sound. Real women Scientologists do not feel pain when they give birth, or so S-tologists are programmed to believe.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

My most unusual friend, JEROME HURWITZ (yes, that Jerome Hurwitz), knows that I so enjoy ALL Katherine Harris (the Britney Spears of politics) news - to me it's on a par with the MAFIAA (the ex-RIAA) suing 12 year-old girls and dead 83 year-old widows. So Jerry H (to his friends) sent me this confessional piece from a similarly entrenched/obsessed KH fan:

http://www.tbo.com/news/columnists/danielruth/MGBUQRTNLLE.html

She's gone beyond her normal paranoia (men altering her facial cosmetics in photos) and now knows her close friends are also out to get her. I think if she tightens her facial skin (through surgery or additional wind tunnel work) and remembers that she and Jeb might be able to once again share what they once had, she'll be OK. Please run for the Senate, Katherine, and please pay attention to those who are in this for laughs only, like the author and me.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

How can CBS think that Katie Couric as mega-teleprompter reader can save their unpopular evening news program?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

It's time for the pampered priviliged Ivy-wannabe Duke lacrosse playing boys to come clean. I hope their trials are televised.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

________________________________________________________________________________________

Tom DeLay has crushed me again. How can he deny us the pleasure of watching him lose his seat in the House of Representatives? It was bad enough when his mug shot was the biggest smile of his life, and now this! No DeLay in DC. Damn it - it's a sad day for all of us to the left of Genghis Khan.

This reminds me of the sad time when Robert Livingston, one of those VERY MORAL AND ETHICAL House Managers in the Clinton Impeachment circus, resigned because of his marital infidelities. Judge not..... how does that saying go?

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/19/livingston.quits/

I'll miss Tom DeLay. I love caricatures, comedy, parody, nastiness, and mean spirited pest exterminators. Like Barbra Streisand, I hope he comes back many times for farewell tours.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Cynthia McKinney is one obnoxious arrogant woman who is invoking the race card without any merit. She is not as famous, well known and photogenic as she would like to believe - she is "not all that." A white male security person on the Capitol did not recognize this not-famous black female representative and she cannot live with that. It is just too undignified and disrespectful for this $158,000 +/year representative to have to pause and show her ID. And it's also a blatant example of racial profiling, or so this been-there-too-long member of the privileged class would have us believe.

It is a damn shame that she should recklessly and disingenuously use racial profiling and accusations of racism - real problems that happen to real people each day - in this way. I feel sorry for the constituents in her district who have elected her. Hopefully they can do much better next time.

Here is her statement on the incident. Of course she "deeply regret[s] that the incident occured," and of course that sly statement does not hint that she did anything wrong. But her wording earlier in the statement - that "most Members of Congress" are known by "Capitol Hill Police officers" is problematic. Yes, most Capitol Hill Police officers know who the 535 priviliged are but not all do. She needs to "get over heself."

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ga04_mckinney/incidentstmt.html

I like her smile in this photo. It's a shame she has to go further and talk and walk and work for the government.

http://www.house.gov/mckinney/

________________________________________________________________________________________

NATO, the movie theater trade group (http://www.natoonline.org/), is having one very bad year. They are knowing the fear of the future that their cohorts in the recording industry have known since 1998. They too will live in fear. But unlike the RIAA, they will probably not be able to hire as many lawyers and sue as incessantly. Their fight to prevent the future will be somewhat marred by fewer resources.

The future is here and movies are being made available - via download (legally and the old fashioned pirated way) - as soon as they are released. No longer will we have to watch movies in places with bad overpriced "food," cell phone users and sick people perpetrating airborne sicknesses. YEA! Cheney NATO.

Movie theaters - NATO - will have to improve in order to not lose too much of their business. As long as there are people to love and people to avoid there will be theaters as places of potential love and escape from people we need to avoid. These are good times.

________________________________________________________________________________________

GOD's TEAM wins

The BOSTON RED SOX were wonderful in yesterday's game in Texas. Schilling is the old, pre-2005 Schilling, and Coco Crisp in much younger and better than Johnny Damon.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/04/04/jump_start/

To be continued...

________________________________________________________________________________________

Posted by EMH at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)