Looking back on the last 20 weeks of 2010, we published 28 posts here at The Burning Love Institute. Since you read this blog, you’re probably not that quick with the math, so let us help you out. That’s a little better than a post per week.
With that in mind, the stats monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how our blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads: This blog is doing awesome!
By The Numbers
Clearly the WordPress stats monkeys are functional morons. But they did provide us with some additional information of interest. For example, a Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers (or 20 people from Wisconsin). This blog was viewed about 2,000 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s…crashing into the ocean.
The busiest day of the year was Oct. 5th with 95 views. The most popular post that day was New Sex Study Proves To Be A Tease, which is where this prophylactic graphic comes from (they actually sent this to me in a lovely little summary). And it’s also where one of our favorite search terms comes from: “pubic hair removal among women in the united states: prevalence, methods, and characteristics.” Yes, apparently that has brought the Internet’s finest surfers to our fair shores.
A close runner-up for our busiest day was after we posted about the Sonny Rollins concert. But traffic for that was spread out over a few days, as it was picked up by NPR and other outlets. In fact, A Sonny Night at the Beacon received 60 percent more traffic than the New Sex Study post.
But our most viewed post was our review of the San Matteo Pizza & Espresso Bar, THREE THINGS I LIKE: Pizza, Espresso, & Bars. That page alone has received more than 280 views since it was posted back on Sept. 24, 2010 (scooping The New York Times, by the way). And searches for the exceptional little restaurant are easily our most common source of traffic.
Our primary source of traffic came from Facebook, which is odd since only three people have “liked” our Facebook fan page (which means the rest of you will suffer dearly in 2011!). NPR was actually our second biggest source of traffic. And now that San Matteo has its own site, we do get some ricochets from there (awesome fricken eats, by the way…and good people too).
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
What will the new year have in store for The Burning Love Institute? Like it or not, probably more fo the same. Several of our staffers will continue to focus on our even more popular soccer blog, Total Footblog. So posts here will be periodic at best.
With that said, we are always open to suggestions. We encourage you to subscribe to the blog so you can receive an email notice as soon as we post something new (look over to the right-hand column, just above the Facebook link). And we thank you for your patronage over the past 21 weeks. Burning Love.
The following is a holiday greeting from the archives of the Burning Love Institute, circa 2003. I’ve added a few videos, but that’s about it. Because I was up late last night, dipping my balls in chocolate (a joyous holiday tradition). And now I have to make my macaroni & cheese (from the Elvis cookbook, Are You Hungry Tonight?) for the Jews in my family, who insist on having this Kwanaza staple as part of our holiday celebration. Enjoy!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Few things in life move me like the holiday season. And when I say the holiday season, I am referring to all of the different religious and ethnic celebrations that traditionally occur around this time of year. But to understand why this season is so special – for me and so many others – let’s begin by taking a brief look at each of the major holidays.
Christmas
Christmas is a celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe was the son of God. As the story goes, Jesus’ parents arrived in the ancient city of Bethlehem late one night. They hadn’t called ahead and there were no rooms available so they ended up spending the night in the manger (kind of a mini-stable). Wow…now that I think about it, the story of Christmas starts off a lot like one of those jokes about a traveling salesman and the farmer’s daughter. I bet Joseph heard about that every time December rolled around, with Mary bitching to anyone who would listen about how he forgot to make a reservation…oye vay!
Anyway, Jesus is born there in the manger that night and three wise dudes show up, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (with the latter two of ending up on eBay the following morning). You see, these guys were at Beaudoinpalooza out in the desert when they spotted a bright light in the sky. Naturally, they followed the light, a star, which led them to the manger in Bethlehem (though, given that our planet is rotating and revolving, technically they would still be circumnavigating the Earth to this very day). But they were kings, and they brought gifts, and it makes a nice story.
Over the years, this once purely religious holiday has evolved into a more secular celebration. In fact the Romans, who created what we know today as modern Christianity in an effort to pacify their subjects, co-opted many popular pagan rituals and traditions of the time – including the timing of the holiday itself (most Bible thumpers believe Jesus was a Virgo or Libra). Today, Christmas is celebrated on December 25th and its traditions include the giving of gifts, decorating of trees, singing of carols, and – of course – eating of cookies and other yummy foods.
For many, Santa Claus – the mythical transformation of a religious figure, St. Nicholas – has replaced Jesus Christ as the holiday’s focal point. It is said that he lives at the North Pole and brings toys to all the children of the world on Christmas Eve, using a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer to get around and chimneys as his point of entry. Seem far-fetched? It’s not any crazier than the Bible.
Chanukah
Another popular celebration of this holiday season is Chanukah. And so is Hanukkah. As well as Hanukah. No, it’s not a celebration of indecisive spelling. It’s a Jewish holiday celebrating the Maccabee revolution against the oppressive Syrian king, Antiochus. After an extended intifada, they drove the infidels from Jerusalem and began work on cleaning up the city – particularly the temple (apparently the Syrians pioneered the art of graffiti).
Naturally, they shopped around to get the best price. And once the place was kosher, they held a celebration to rededicate the temple and light the N’er Tamid, which is the eternal flame that is found in every Jewish temple.
The catch was that they only had enough oil for the light to burn for one day, as opposed to all of eternity. But they lit it anyway and it lasted for eight days, which some consider a miracle whereas others see it as the impetus behind the faith’s legendary frugality. Yet I’m left wondering what they did on the 9th day…let the lamp burn out?
Today, Chanukah (I’ll use this spelling, since it seems the most ridiculous of the three) is celebrated on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, so the actual date on calendars here in America varies from year to year. It lasts for eight days, commemorating the “miracle” of the oil. And that is probably why the holiday has the official subtitle of The Festival of Lights.
Traditions of this celebration include the lighting of the menorah, a candelabra with eight candles, with an additional candle being lit each day. There’s also the spinning of the dreidel, a clumsy type of top. And, of course, the eating of some fairly bizarre foods.
Like the Christians, modern Jews have managed to secularize this holiday to some extent. They have also started giving gifts and decorating their houses with colored lights.
Kwanza
Another holiday plagued by indecisive spelling is Kwanza, or Kwanzaa. And that makes no sense, given that this is a relatively new holiday.
Kwanza was conceived and developed by Dr. Maulana “Ron” Karenga as a celebration of African-American culture. It was first celebrated on December 26, 1966. The celebration lasts through January 1st, with each day focused on one of its seven principles:
1) Unity - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
2) Self-Determination - To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
3) Collective Work & Responsibility - To build and maintain our community together, to make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems, and to solve these problems together.
4) Cooperative Economics - To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit together from them.
5) Purpose - To make as our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
6) Creativity - To always do as much as we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.
7) Faith - To believe with all our hearts in our parents, our teachers, our leaders, our people, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
The holiday grew out of the civil rights movement. It was created to help strengthen the sense of community among African-Americans as well as to celebrate their traditions and culture. Though some, probably those who spell it Kwanzaa, consider the holiday a chance to rectify the cultural and economic exploitation perpetrated against African-Americans during the months of October, November, and December.
While they don’t specify exactly who be perpetrating against them, the underlying sentiment leads me to believe that they have grossly misinterpreted the lyrics to White Christmas. And, though I certainly can understand a backlash against the commercialism that has largely overtaken this holiday season, the reality is that the greed and indifference of corporate America is universal, crushing all the less fortunate – regardless of race or religion.
It’s not clear exactly how Kwanza is celebrated today. For some, it appears to be a blend of Christmas and Chanukah, tapping traditions from both. For others, it is more of genuine celebration of African-American culture. Either way, it’s safe to assume that the celebration will involve family and friends as well as some good music and a lot of great food.
Festivus
Another holiday born of hatred for and anger against the commercialism of others is Festivus. And, in comparison, it makes Kwanza look as ancient as Chanukah and Christmas.
Festivus began as a joke. On December 18, 1997, an episode of the NBC television show Seinfeld featured Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) celebrating a holiday he invented: Festivus. He felt alienated by all of the denominational celebrations, which he felt had become grossly commercial, so he boldly declared “a Festivus for the rest of us.”
The Festivus celebration is more like an anti-holiday, though. Instead of a tree as a symbol to gather around, it features a simple, unadorned aluminum pole. No trimmings or other distractions are allowed, especially tinsel because that can be particularly distracting.
Celebrated on December 23rd, Festivus has two primary components. The first is the Airing of the Grievances. This is when you take the time to tell those you love – family and friends – how they have consistently disappointed you during the past year. Then there is the Feats of Strength, in which the head of the family selects one lucky person to test his or her strength. The celebration continues until the head of the family has been physically pinned down.
Despite its roots as a fictional entity (which, frankly, could be said of all of these holidays), Festivus has evolved into a legitimate holiday. A quick Web search shows that there are indeed a large number of people actively celebrating it.
Sure, Festivus may seem silly. But, having read the history and traditions of this season’s other holidays, is it any sillier than the rest?
As a devout atheist who is painfully white, I hold no allegiance or claim to any of these celebrations. However, having been raised by Catholics, there is a special place in my heart for the Christmas traditions – the giving, the tree, and even the music. And, though only the offspring of Sammy Davis Jr. can legitimately claim the right to celebrate all of the season’s holiday traditions, I do like to take elements from all four of these holidays and roll them up into one big bamboo of a celebration.
Some people really detest the holidays, feeling cynical and disenfranchised by a season run amok. Sure, our market-driven economy has turned it all into one giant heap of commercialism. Whether it is a dreidel made of chocolate or a Santa doll that shakes his booty to some country tune, it’s easy to feel like you have sold out while celebrating.
But I believe that there is still something special, something magical about this season. And no matter how bad things get, whether in my life or the world at large, I still feel the warmth and joy – and a glimmer of hope.
The Christmas Spirit
For me, Christmas is a time of giving. No, it’s not about what you get. Nor is it necessarily about what – or how much – you give. It about the act of giving and, more importantly, the spirit of giving. I know it may seem corny, but I do believe it’s better to give than to receive. And that’s true for everything, from oral sex to naval artillery.
After all, what could be more rewarding than making someone you love happy? And regardless of your religious or ethnic affiliations, that’s what this season is really about. Whereas Thanksgiving is about gathering family and friends to be thankful for what you have and for one another, this holiday season is about gathering family and friends and showing them how much you love and appreciate them.
No matter which holiday you choose to celebrate this season, it’s all about sharing your love with others. And love, by definition, is giving yourself to someone else because that someone means more to you than you do to yourself. And that is why the spirit of giving, if not the act, is so central to the celebrations.
Maybe I’m just sentimental. Maybe my belief in love and giving stems from the way I was raised, my own holiday memories and traditions. After all, I had a wonderful childhood. I think back to Christmas’s past, and they were all so wonderful. I don’t remember any of the gifts. Not a single one. But I do recall the joy of giving, and quite fondly. Not to mention all the glorious traditions.
I grew up on the campus of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. We always had a white Christmas up there in Central New York. That and fires in the fireplace. And there were plenty of pine trees around, so we would often go with my dad to a tree farm and cut our own.
I remember watching all the Christmas specials on TV. Of course, they weren’t running them as early as they do now. But my favorites – A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, & Santa Claus is Coming to Town - still warm my heart every time I see them. And most of them are as old as I am.
Another one of my favorite holiday traditions is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with a strong preference for the 1984 film version starring George C. Scott. But I must confess that it all goes back to my childhood – when my father, in the first and only time I ever saw him take to the stage, was in a performance put on by the faculty and students at Colgate one year.
Though it is a lot like another of my holiday favorites, It’s A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol is the quintessential portrayal of the holiday spirit. It’s about a man – Ebenezer Scrooge – who sees no value in giving. To him, the only things that are important are earnings and savings.
Of course, in the end, Scrooge learns the joy of giving. He sees the true value of his wealth, realizing that it is most meaningful when bestowed upon others. He discovers the treasure and pleasure of kindness and generosity. And he savors, for the first time in many years, the feeling of love.
Perhaps I love this story simply because it’s a somewhat subtle way of annually reminding all those realists and pragmatists out there – who feel that ideals are fine but at the end of the day what is mine is mine and that’s all that matters – that what really matters in life is what you make of it rather than what you make in it. And though Dickens penned the tale in the 1843, it is just as appropriate today – perhaps even more so – as it was back then.
The Joy of Giving
Our society certainly has nourished the notion that money matters, that wealth must be amassed and that love – along with everything else – can be bought and sold like a mere commodity. It seems that many of us have forgotten the true joy of giving, the true joy of love.
For example, I was flipping around the television a few nights ago. It was late and I was having trouble sleeping. And I came across one of those televangelists. He was in this magnificent cathedral. In fact, it was more like a palace – like something Saddam might have built for himself.
This preacher was a young man, though well schooled in the ways of persuasive speaking. And, as he stood amid this opulence in his well-tailored suit, he spoke of helping those in need. He said that we have to “spend more time sowing the seed and less time chasing greed.” He told the people that if they give, Jesus will return their generosity many times over. The bible, apparently, says so.
I was able to overlook the hypocrisy of the moment, including the fact that the cost of regularly staging this nonsense and bringing into my home could easily feed a large portion of the hungry and house many of the homeless. But what stuck with me is how false the sentiment was. This is not what the holidays are all about. This is not the true spirit of giving.
People should give because they want to give, and because they can give. And because the act of giving brings them a joy like no other. People should not give simply because they think they’ll be rewarded for it, whether it be with gifts from others, or from Jesus or some other spiritual facsimile. That, my friends, is not giving. When you give because you expect something in return, it’s called investing.
I fear that this sentiment has come close to overtaking the true spirit of our holiday season. All too often we give because we feel obligated to. Or we give only because we expect something in return. I am still of the belief that giving, like love, is best done when you expect nothing in return. And not because you feel obligated to do so, but because you love that person and want them to be happy.
Holiday Traditions
Despite all this, and though commercialism may have clouded this holiday for many (and overtaken it for some), my spirits cannot be dampened. I will still celebrate the holidays.
I will buy a tree. A real tree, not one of those artificial things. Though these days I have begun using a live tree, which I then plant in Central Park as an annual act of civil disobedience (it’s illegal to plant things in a city park without the proper paperwork).
I will get gifts for those I love. And I will give eagerly, simply to see the joy on their faces rather than expecting anything in return.
I don’t have a fireplace, but I do have candles. I even have a few that smell like apple pie. And I’ll light them, along with my colored lights.
Of course I have a solid collection of Christmas music. I’ve got a few of Elvis’ Christmas albums, including a collector’s edition on green vinyl. I also have an old record of classic carols, released by Columbia back in 1968 as a special promo for Goodyear. It features songs by Tony Bennett, Perry Como, The Ray Conniff Singers, Percy Faith, Robert Goulet, Johnny Mathis, Barbara Streisand, and Andy Williams. But my favorite track on the album has to be The New Christy Minstrels singing Sleigh Ride.
I must confess to having a soft spot for these Christmas classics, especially The Little Drummer Boy, White Christmas, Oh Tannenbaum, Christmas Song, Winter Wonderland, and Silent Night. Unfortunately, I can’t sing – not even when stuck with a sharp stick. But I used to live with this lovely Jamaican girl who had the most beautiful voice. Every Christmas Eve she would sing me to sleep with Silent Night.
But my all-time favorite Christmas album is The Ramsey Lewis Trio’s Sounds of Christmas. Released back in 1960, it remains the undisputed king – the best Christmas album ever. I know you are probably thinking I’m nuts, that jazz renditions of classic Christmas tunes seems like a bit of a stretch, but they make them sizzle: Merry Christmas Baby, Here Comes Santa Claus, Christmas Blues, & Winter Wonderland. My dad was a big fan of The Ramsey Lewis Trio and occasionally caught their sets at The Bohemian Caverns in DC (where they recorded The In Crowd in 1965).
Another one of my favorite holiday traditions is dragging people to The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. As you can imagine, the ballet has never been one of my passions. I hate to dance, and I certainly have no desire to see others do it. But the reason I dig The Nutcracker is the music. That Tchaikovsky boy has got it going on, in spades. To me, nothing sounds like Christmas quite like The Nutcracker.
And maybe the reason why the holiday season remains so special for me and countless others is because of the warm memories it invokes. It is the memories and traditions, regardless of where they came from or how silly they may seem now, that remind us of better times – of friends and family, childhood, innocence, joy, and love. To quote the last line of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, “These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives.”
So whatever you choose to celebrate this season, try to do so with love in your heart. Give what you can and cherish what you receive. For, just like life, the holidays are what you make of it.
I went to see Fair Game, the Hollywood portrayal of the Bush administration’s scandalous exposure of a “soldier in the field,” a relatively successful effort to draw attention away from their misleading the American public into a war with Iraq, not to mention some harshly petty retaliation for questioning their honesty.
The film is good entertainment, with Naomi Watts playing CIA agent Valerie Plame and Sean Penn as Joe Wilson, her husband and former Ambassador to Gabon as well as Sao Tome and Principe. The storyline closely follows historical events, and does a good job of capturing the political tension of the time. Plus, it’s an important story to be told, now more than ever.
In the film Fair Game, Sean Penn plays Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame's husband and target of a Bush administration smear campaign. (image source: filmcritic.com)
For those of you unfamiliar with Joe Wilson, he dedicated his life to public service, primarily in the US State Department. He began his career in Niger, and served in six other African nations. He was also the Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq during the first Gulf War. And for his public defiance of Saddam Hussein and protecting of civilians the Iraqi dictator threatened to use as human shields, President Bush I (the smart one) called Wilson “a true American hero.”
After Iraq, Wilson was tapped to be the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of US Armed Forces, Europe. He then served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs on the United States National Security Council. Interestingly, it was the Bush II (the dumb one) administration’s National Security Council that – according to Bush’s Secretary of the Treasury, who was in attendance – met on Jan. 30, 2001 to discuss plans to invade Iraq, more than seven months before the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
After serving as an advisor to President Clinton’s National Security Council, Wilson retired from public office and started his own consulting firm, specializing in international business management. It’s no coincidence that this is the same year he married Valerie Plame, who was an active Central Intelligence Agency Operations Officer. Her father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force who also worked for the NSA.
Former CIA agent Valerie Plame (l) and Naomi Watts (r), who portrayed her in the movie Fair Game. (image source: coveringmedia.com)
For those of you unfamiliar with the duties of a CIA Operations Officer, it is part of the organization’s Clandestine Service – meaning their secret agents. Plame was a CIA case officer, responsible for the actual recruitment of agents and assets in addition to collecting intelligence information on her own.
It is important that you know this about Plame and Wilson, because the Bush administration did their best to portray them as anything but loyal Americans, in a smear campaign that was reminiscent of Tricky Dick Nixon. Why? Wilson exposed the Bush administration’s lies about Iraq, and Dick Cheney doesn’t like to be caught lying to the American public.
After 9/11 (and clearly even before 9/11, it seems), the Bush administration had a hard-on for invading Iraq. Some say it was because of the oil. Others think it was Junior’s effort to out-do his dad, who didn’t overthrow Hussein in the first Gulf War.
Regardless of whatever the real reasons were, the Bush administration knew that they had to feed a plausible reason to the American public in order to justify America’s only unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation in more than a century (though we could certainly debate whether or not we had adequate provocation for Vietnam). The catch was that there was no credible link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and anyone familiar with the two would find such a notion ludicrous. The only thing Hussein had in common with Al Qaeda was hairy forearms and a penchant for evil.
All of our nation’s intelligence services – the CIA, NSA, DOD, QVC, etc. – looked into every possible connection. With the Bush administration breathing down their necks, they exhausted every possibility until they all came up with the same undeniable conclusion – that Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda and the attacks on 9/11.
President Bush (r) fed the American public lies - produced by Dick Cheney (l) - about Iraq in his 2003 State of the Union address. (image source: about.com)
But Bush and his boys really wanted to invade Iraq. They had already invaded Afghanistan, and rightly so. They had toppled the Taliban regime, but George W. didn’t have the guts to put troops on the ground to capture Osama bin Laden. With the leaders of Al Qaeda still at large, he needed to change the story – and quick. But rather than go after Pakistan – which created the Taliban, was (and probably still is) harboring Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders, and has WMD - he opted to invade Iraq instead. WTF?
The problem was that all the credible intelligence put Iraq in the clear, on all fronts. No Al Qaeda connection and no evidence of WMD. So the Bush administration decided to “create” their own “intelligence.” Cheney set up the administration’s own intelligence organization that cherry-picked raw data from all the legitimate intelligence services and then ignored anything that didn’t support their conclusions that Iraq was a terrorist state with WMD.
That is how George W. Bush infamously claimed in his 2003 State of the Union speech – before the American public, and the world – that we had evidence that Iraq attempted to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger for the purpose of building nuclear weapons. Someone made that false accusation, the CIA investigated the allegation and found it had no merit whatsoever (which proved to be the truth). Cheney’s “intelligence” team latched on to the initial report and intentionally ignored its refutation. That’s called lying to the American public, folks.
While some would argue he controlled the entire Bush administration, Cheney was clearly the mastermind behind the Wilson-Plame smear campaign. (image source: politico.com)
Which brings us back to Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame. In 2002, the CIA asked Wilson, with Plame’s permission, if he would travel to Niger, where he still had good contacts, and investigate the allegations. He did that, and he did a thorough job because he had met Saddam Hussein and knew what kind of a threat the man would be if he ever developed a nuclear weapon. But he found absolutely no evidence of it, which he reported to the CIA, who then reported the news to the Bush administration.
Now there is some debate as to whether Bush himself was ever told that there was no basis to the Nigerian yellowcake allegations before his State of the Union speech. However, we do know that the allegation was intentionally removed from an earlier speech he made because the information had been discredited, so someone – either his aides, speechwriters, or Bush himself – knew that the claim wasn’t true before he stood up and said it was before the entire world.
The American public bought the lies Bush sold them, that Iraq posed an imminent threat, and the media went along with it. As a result, the US invaded Iraq, and we never found any evidence of WMD (which proved our legitimate intelligence reports to be accurate).
The story might have ended there. But after the unjustified invasion of Iraq, Wilson decided to submit an Op-Ed piece to The New York Times, entitled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” refuting the lies that Bush told in his State of the Union address to convince the American public – and the world.
Cheney's man, Scooter Libby, was the only one convicted of a felony. (image source; foxnews.com)
Dick Cheney was pissed. He put his boy Scooter Libby on it. He, along with Bush’s political advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, decided that they needed to discredit Wilson and get the lap-dogs of the media excited about something other than the fact that the Bush administration falsified evidence in order to invade a sovereign nation. Again, they needed to change the story – creating more lies to cover up their initial lies.
And the crux of this smear campaign was exposing Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA agent. That, of course, is a federal offense. But when has that stopped people like Cheney? He just lied to the world in order to start a $900 billion-dollar war that would cost thousands of lives and fill the bank accounts of his former company. What’s a federal offense to a guy like him?
Well it was a big deal to Valerie Plame, effectively ending her 20-year career in the CIA. And apparently it was an even bigger deal to the Iraqi scientist she had tapped as intelligence assets, assigned by the CIA to get to the bottom of the WMD controversy once our soldiers were in country. Rather than receiving protection and asylum from the CIA, as promised, they were all abandoned once Plame’s cover was blown. Most were executed, while others disappeared, taking their WMD knowledge with them – along with a well-earned hatred for our government. So much for keeping WMD out of Al Qaeda’s hands.
Karl Rove walked free from his role in the smear campaign. (image source: life.com)
Wilson’s career as a consultant was ruined as well. The Cheney-Rove political machine, with its puppets at Fox News, tore the couple apart. They painted them as know-nothing second-rate lackeys, reaching for the limelight to escape the hollowness of their lives. When, in reality, they were loyal Americans, doing their jobs, and doing them well – none of which could be said for the likes of Cheney, Rove, and Libby.
After a federal investigation (into the leaking of Plame’s identity, not Bush’s perjury), no one was found guilty of leaking Plame’s identity. However, Libby was indicted on four counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice, and sentenced to 30 months in prison along with a $250,000 fine and 400 hours of community service. Bush commuted his sentence so that he wouldn’t have to spend any time in prison, calling it “excessive,” but he did not pardon Cheney’s righthand man.
Once again, Cheney was pissed. There is evidence that Bush asked Cheney to offer up a fall guy, which was Libby. Karl Rove was exonerated, whereas Libby proved the sacrificial lamb. But when Bush refused to pardon Libby, Cheney became “furious” – according to Bush, in his own memoirs – and said, “I can’t believe you’re going to leave a soldier on the battlefield.”
Ah, the irony. They were so willing to leave a soldier in the field – Valerie Plame - as long as it wasn’t one of their own. Not to mention the more than 4,400 US soldiers, left dead in the field, or the 32,000 who returned wounded.
Despite films like Fair Game, Dick Cheney (l) and Scooter Libby (r) were among the Bush administration leaders who were largely successful in covering up their lies to the American public. (image source: getty images)
President Ronald Reagan was one of the most famous people to have suffered from Alzheimer's disease. (source: and1grad.wordpress.com)
1) It is an incurable, degenerative, and terminal brain disease that slowly destroys memory and cognition. The earliest symptom is typically the inability to acquire new memories. As the disease progresses, long-term memory begins to disappear, confusion and irritability become common, language skills break down, and there is a sense of general withdrawal as the individual’s senses decline. Eventually, bodily functions are lost, which leads to death.
2) I think Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia. If I recall, anywhere from 2.5 to 5 million Americans suffer from the disease.
3) It’s…you should. Hmmm. Give me a second. I’ll…let me get back to this one.
4) I seem to be drawing a blank here. What was four? Was there a four?
5) Five what?
OK, had a good laugh? Yeah, that was funny. Now ease your guilt with a donation: Alzheimer’s Association. Do it now. You may forget tomorrow.
Or are elections, like the World Series, just another excuse for us to get drunk and shout at the TV?
I enjoyed my voting experience. Though I would have preferred if they had vuvuzelas being blown in the polling site. It would have made things a little more exciting, like I was actually accomplishing something. Or at least let me dip a thumb in ink, so the wankers on the street corner wouldn’t try to hand me their propaganda every time I walked by.
I didn’t mind doing the paper ballots, though I was a bit nervous about filling-in the ovals. What if I went outside the lines? Or didn’t fill it in completely? This was a new method of voting for me, and I also had a new polling site. While many had already had this experience, I was unable to vote in the primaries because I don’t have a political party that truly represents my interests.
And I did vote for candidates from three different parties. Having worked at a local non-profit, I was fortunate to have met a few of them, which made some of the choices easier. I must say that I did a great job, winning every single one of my races except for the State Comptroller (which was fairly close). I also lost both ballot issues.
But that wasn’t as disheartening as learning that Californians failed to pass Proposition 19 by 530,448 votes, with 93.8-percent counted. Vermont seemed like it would have been a better fit for a ballot measure providing limited legalization of marijuana. Plus it would be a lot easier for me to shoot up there for a weekend in the high country. But you have to put the defeat in perspective. Californians elected Jerry Brown as Governor again. Maybe they need to cutback on the chronic. Worse yet, this means Arnold is going to start making movies again.
Jimmy McMillan, candidate for New York State Governor, dressed for the televised debate. (image source: libn.com)
The Governor’s race in New York State was a great source of amusement. You had Jimmy McMillan, a world-class whack-job reminiscent of Mr. T, made for entertaining debates as “The Rent Is Too Damn High” candidate. He ended up with barely 40,000 votes. And then you had Kirsten Davis, a small business owner (she ran an escort service with clients like Eliot Spitzer) who campaigned on a same-sex marriage platform (“Vote Homo, Not Cuomo”). She scored almost 23,000 votes.
The only candidate on the ballot with fewer votes was Charles Barron, a former Black Panther and current City Council member (thanks, Brooklyn) who ran because he thought there were too many white people in office. Sadly, this is now true of the U.S. Senate, which – thanks to this election – will once again be an all-white organization.
Easily the scariest character in the race for New York State Governor was Carl Paladino. He claims not to hate “fags” and “niggers” but his leaked emails say otherwise. But using this kind of language, evident of repressed bigotry, is not the problem in his beady little eyes. No, it’s the media – and his “enemies” – who leaked the emails. Paladino claims they are to blame for his hateful transgressions, because apparently exposing inappropriate behavior is more inappropriate than the behavior itself.
Tea Party candidate Carl Paladino proved absolutely batty, suggesting in a rambling concession speech that New York State Governor elect Andrew Cuomo runs the risk of having a bright red baseball bat wielded against him if he does not embrace Paladino's constituents. (image source: mediaite.com)
This classic Tea Party candidate gave a bitter, petty concession speech. It’s something you don’t see often in politics, but Paladino proved true to his portrayal – that of an angry, unstable douchebag. His jack-booted supporters called out insults to the media and democrats throughout his loony ramble, like it was some sinister religious rally. If this is how the guy behaves when he loses, I’m horrified that he went as far as he did – finishing second for governor. The clown was wielding a baseball bat on stage, like some mafia thug, threatening that he may need to use it against Cuomo.
If you want to hear a good concession speech, listen to Dan Donovan, who lost the race for New York State Attorney General. A class act. Carl Paladino could learn a lot from him. But then he got more votes than Paladino.
As always, the news media’s coverage of the election was hard to stomach. CNN had Eliot Spitzer providing commentary on why voters are angry. Classic. At least I could go to sleep knowing that Sarah Palin’s Tea Party posterchild, Christine O’Donnell, was soundly defeated in Delaware. Chalk one up for the pros from Dover.
As for the election in general, I don’t see it as much of a change. Yes, a lot of seats changed butts. But that was the case two years ago, and many of those we elected failed to deliver. Once again, people voted for change. Yet only the names and faces seem to change; the parties and platforms remain the same.
What will this change mean? The filibuster-mad Republicans had been blocking a lot of legislation for the past two years. Even though they now control the House, where filibusters are not allowed, they still will have to use it to stymie progress in the Senate, in hopes of sand-bagging the biggest change America voted for – Barrack Obama.
Because, all jokes aside, this election wasn’t about change. It was about winning and losing. And both sides will sacrifice genuine change in order to achieve power and further their own agenda. That’s politics. You want real change? Start a revolution.
Perhaps I’d be more concerned about the results of this election if I was a gay Mexican-American atheist concerned with the environment and the suffering of the less fortunate. Those are the people who are really fucked. That and renters. Because… THE RENT IS STILL TOO DAMN HIGH!
Be sure to vote on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 2. (source: pclinuxos.com)
Tuesday is Election Day. Perhaps we should rename it Vote Day, in hopes that more people will take the hint.
I’m still undecided on several of the candidates. For example, I’ve got to cast a vote for the 14th district of the US House of Representatives. Carolyn Maloney has been our congress person for 18 years. That seems like a very long time. And while I’m eager to see some new blood – and hopefully some new thinking – I look at her record on the issues and she has represented me well.
Which leads me to one of the ballot questions I’ll be voting on: term limits. Frankly, when I see a politician that is doing a good job, like NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I’d like to see him stay in office as long as possible. On the other hand, since I don’t belong to any political party (none of them seem to represent me well), I don’t have a chance to vote in primaries, so I’m basically stuck with whomever these parties run. Which makes me wonder if term limits would force the parties to keep bringing in new blood as opposed to tapping professional politicians. Of course, looking at many of the candidates running on third-party tickets, the true amateurs of the political world, I suddenly find the status quo very comforting.
The tea bag has come to symbolize a desire to change America's political landscape, but if you look a little closer you will realize that they are using voter frustration to sell the same old swill. (source: mercerconservatives.blogspot.com)
Brewing Tea
Frustration among voters with flawed candidates and professional politics is nothing new. But the way some candidates and political interests have tried to hijack this powerful sentiment is a relatively recent phenomenon. The whole Tea Party movement is designed to take advantage of voter frustration, to play off a public that has become disenchanted with the political status quo over the years. Which is brilliant because the very same people behind this movement are some of the people whose political extremism has alienated us in the past.
Sarah Palin is the textbook example. She was the darling of the Republican Party in the last election. After a humiliating defeat, she has taken the same basic platform – added some more nuts – and now calls herself a Tea Party reformer.
But, if you look at the facts, you are getting the worst of both worlds with the Tea Party candidates. Often cloaked in lies and misinformation, the salt and pepper of political campaigns, most Tea Party candidates offer a very familiar agenda (conservative/right-wing) packaged as something fresh and progressive. Voters think they are getting change, but its many of the same faces and ideas, just wrapped in a different packages.
Which would be amusing, if so many people weren’t falling for it. Frankly, I don’t know if I’m more offended as an American or as a tea drinker. Either way, much of the Tea Party rhetoric doesn’t even make sense. Tea Baggers aren’t offering solutions. They are just preying on anger and fear.
For example, tea baggers tend to favor a strong military and a tough stance on immigration, because foreigners - both here and abroad – are out to get us. They also are fans of a smaller government and major tax cuts, because government (meaning these very candidates who are selling you this) is not your friend, and they only want to waste your hard-earned pay (which is why you should donate your hard-earned pay to these candidates). Of course, it doesn’t take a political science degree to figure out that you can’t run two wars half way around the world and build and patrol a wall on the Mexican border (not to mention cleaning up after irresponsible bankers and oil companies, who naturally prefer a smaller government too, so there is even less regulation and enforcement which allows them to be even more irresponsible) without a strong, active Federal government funded by a lot of your hard-earned tax dollars.
Rejected by voters two years ago, Sarah Palin has repackaged her agenda under the Tea Party movement. (source: lgbtpov.com)
You’d think that the fiasco of the Bush administration would have taught these people something. He put forth a similar agenda as the tea baggers and turned our nation’s budget surplus into a record trillion-dollar debt. Unfortunately, given the prevalence of personal financial mismanagement in this nation, it’s sadly not surprising that a lot of people don’t make the connection between such things. Stuff costs money, and unless you pay for it with taxes, you are just putting your nation in debt…and you may end up losing it, just like your house.
Fear and Lies on the Campaign Trail
It may sound crazy, but with all the misinformation and misunderstanding – fueled by the Internet and a news media that has succumbed to generating ratings through sensationalism – it’s amazing the kind of crap that people will believe. Here are some of the more popular myths being put forth by tea baggers and other political spinsters:
While many will claim that Obama raised taxes, the truth is that he cut taxes by $116 billion – an average of $400 a year for individuals and $800 for married couples. Not bad, considering that he inherited a trillion-dollar deficit.
Which leads us to our next fallacy – that Obama and his rampant government spending has burdened the American taxpayer with a huge deficit. The truth is that Bush was the one who spent money he didn’t have, taking a record budget surplus and turning it into a record deficit, which Obama was able to reduce by 8 percent in his first year…without raising taxes
These same nit-wits will tell you that Obama’s health care reform is costing the American taxpayers more than $1 trillion. The truth is that the reforms actually saved the government $138 billion.
They’ll also tell you that Obama ruined the economy, and cost you your job. The truth is that Bush lost more jobs – and faster.
From Dec. 2007 - Jan. 2009, Bush lost 4.4 million jobs, or an average of 338 thousand per month. This includes the addition of 250 thousand government jobs, which tickles me considering how Republicans fancy themselves the party of small government (at least until the tea baggers came along). From Jan. 2009 – Sept. 2010, Obama lost 3.3 million jobs, or an average of 110 thousand per month – 67 percent less than the Bush administration.
And one of my personal favorites is the claim that Obama bailed out the banks. Again, that was the Bush administration, who pushed for the bailouts, passed the legislation, and actually began the process before Obama and his colleagues were even elected.
So before you buy in to this Tea Party rhetoric, do a little research. It’s easy to say “throw the bums out.” But, after some digging, I think you’ll find that many of the “bums” have already been thrown out.
Vote wisely, my friends. (source: people.com)
Vote Wisely
The moral of the story is that voting isn’t easy. It takes a little homework to do it right. Even if you do not share my political views, you should still put in the time to make sure that whoever you do vote for sincerely represents yours.
Here in New York City, the Board of Elections and the League of Women Voters both produce election guides that give candidates a chance to summarize their views on a number of issues. Some candidates cannot be bothered, which tells me that they aren’t prepared to tackle the tough issues and therefore aren’t qualified to govern in the real world. But these voter guides, reviewed by all candidates, offer the most unbiased comparisons you will likely find.
I imagine that such information, made available by neutral sources and inclusive of all candidates, is available to most voters across the nation. I’d also like to think that, for all the bitching people do about politics throughout the year, they’d be willing to spend an hour or two of their time making sure they are backing what they believe in.
Like most, I began my “Beat” literary journey with Jack Kerouac and then went on to William S. Burroughs before getting around to Allen Ginsberg. After all, Ginsberg wrote poetry, not the kind of stuff you necessarily sit around a read. At least not if you are a red-blooded American male hopped up on testosterone.
Sure, I do have a collection of Robert Frost, which my father once owned. I also have collections by Rimbaud and Thoreau. There’s Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and Elliot’s Waste Land as well. Some Neruda and Mistral from my travels in Chile. And I even have a collection entitled Poems of the Sea. I suppose Between Thought and Expression: Selected Lyrics of Lou Reed counts too. Damn, I do have a lot of poetry lying around.
But Howl stands out. If you haven’t read it in a while – or ever – pick up a copy. Amazon is selling it for a mere $8, which is about the cost of a pint in Manhattan these days.
I hadn’t read Allen Ginsberg seminal poem in years, not since I bought a copy back in my Beat renaissance. But I dusted it off for another read once I learned they made a movie about the poem, Ginsberg, and the trial of City Lights Books publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti for obscenity.
Ferlinghetti was tried for publishing obscene material after Howl and Other Poems came out in 1956. The District Attorney claimed the book used obscene language and had no literary merit. True, the poem does use words like cock and cunt, but the real issue here was not just bad language but open sexuality – and, ultimately, homosexuality.
The poem discuss topics such as casual sex, homosexual sex, drug abuse and addiction while capturing the highs and lows of characters – many of them real – who the mainstream society of the time would rather pretend did not exist. Sadly, we still see pockets of this in society today, whenever issues still considered taboo are forced into public discussion. Clearly, it is much easier to be gay today than in Ginsberg’s time. But being bullied to the point where you want to jump off a bridge isn’t much better than being sent to a psychiatric hospital to receive shock treatments until you renounce your primal desires.
Written as a performance piece, Howl celebrates the passionate zeitgeist of Ginsberg and his friends – many of who went on to become literary greats of the Beat movement. These guys loved life, and tried to live it to its fullest, embracing the independence, freedom, and liberty that would lay the foundation for the counterculture movement of the 60s and beyond.
With an introduction by William Carlos Williams, the poem is dedicated Carl Solomon, who Ginsberg met at a psychiatric hospital, where they both were undergoing “treatment” for thinking homosexual thoughts. But the poem covers so much more than the relationship between the two. In fact, the more you know about the Beat generation – Burroughs, Cassady, Ginsberg, Kerouac, and their lives - the more you appreciate the piece.
It begins with:
”I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly
connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,
who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat
up smoking in the supernatural darkness of
cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities
contemplating jazz.”
With phrases like that, how can you not love it? It’s like lyrics of some crazed jazz piece that captures fringes of a generation. Two more verses to enjoy:
“Who chained themselves to subways for the endless
ride from Battery to holy Bronx on benzedrine
until the noise of wheels and children brought
them down shuddering mouth-wracked and
battered bleak of brain all drained of brilliance
in the drear light of Zoo.”
“Who howled on their knees in the subway and were
dragged off the roof waving genitals and manuscripts
who sweetened the snatches of a million girls trembling
in the sunset, and were red eyed in the morning
but prepared to sweeten the snatch of the sun
rise, flashing buttocks under barns and naked
in the lake.”
It’s this very passion for living life to its fullest, pushing it right to the edge, that has always moved me towards the Beats. These are the people who, as Kerouac wrote famously in On the Road, “burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.” And reading about their exploits – whether in Ginsberg’s Howl or the recently published And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, co-authored by Kerouac and Burroughs back in 1945 – comforts me in the knowledge that there has always been a counterculture in this country, a group of people willing to challenge the status quo and strive for a better way. I imagine this was true long before the Beats emerged, towards the end of World War II, but – without such great literature – history has managed to sweep them under the proverbial carpet.
Howl, the film, stars James Franco as a young Allen Ginsberg, which I assume he would have quite enjoyed. Franco does an exceptional job, worthy of awards and accolades.
The film jumps around from Ginsberg’s first public reading of the piece, in front of all his friends (and subjects), to an interview he gives during Ferlinghetti’s obscenity trial, to the trial itself, featuring talented actors like Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, and Bob Balaban. All of these settings are woven together with animation that illustrates the poem and a jazz soundtrack. It seems daunting, like the poem itself, but works just as well.
True, the movie – like poetry – is not for everyone. But if you enjoy literature, poetry, freedom of speech, jazz, or counterculture, then there’s a good chance you will enjoy this film.
“O victory forget you underwear we’re free.”
Aaron Tveit as Peter Orlovsky (left) and James Franco as Allen Ginsberg (right) in the movie Howl. (source: vanityfair.com)
The real-life Peter Orlovsky (left) and Allen Ginsberg (right). (source: neverpleadguilty.blogspot.com)
