Now Playing - The Real Donald Rumsfeld
Topic: Political

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the not so funny pest within, "now that Rumsfeld is gone I can hope he'll be tried for war crimes."

'Are you kidding me?'

"I'm as serious as I've ever been," I answered, "and I think you will be too if you take the time to watch this Jon Stewart Daily Show clip where Rumsfeld is the target."

'Jon Stewart's a comedian."

"Yes," I responded, before adding a question. "Have you ever heard of the saying 'honey makes the medicine go down?"

Forgetting to play dumb, Tiger answered, 'Sure.'

I came back with, "Comedians know that it's through the avenue of humor," I said, hoping Tiger understand what I meant, "that people are more able to swallow what is otherwise hard to take."

With that I posted the YouTube video.

Who's BLUE Now?
Topic: Political
"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the petulance within, "the Democrats have gained and so have we."

'How so?' asked Mr. Tiger who must have have spend the last twenty four hours under a rock.

"They've taken control of the House of Representatives and Senate," I answered, "for the first time in 12 years," I added, "which translates to, a loud message for Bush."

'Too close to call,' yawned the stubborn pest, 'absentee ballots, recounts, etcetera, etcetera. Too early to tell.'

I knew there were glitches in the electronic voting machine (what else is new?) but I didn't follow up with that because it won't change the results of millions of votes. I chose to say instead, "The economy, government corruption, scandals, the illegal war in Iraq, etcetera, etcetera," thinking as I said it that the timing for the Saddam guilty verdict did not work as the Republicans had hoped it would.

I thought of the genius of our system created by our founding fathers and ended with, "Congratulations to the American people. And congratulations as well to Duval Patrick."

---
Duval Patrick wins by a landslide. The first African-American elected governor of Massachusetts. See page one of Boston Globe article: It's Patrick in a romp - Bay State win makes history.

Voting Today
Topic: Political

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who actively tracks my thinking, "those phone calls during dinner last night were so so soooo annoying - the ones from everyone and his brother wanting a vote for their candidate. It's enough to cause me to stay away from the polls."

The close-minded beast said, 'You're finally smarting up.'

I laughed, for indeed I had asked for that one. I said to him, "Yeah, finally."

He didn't expect that from me, nor would he accept it. 'What'd out of your mind?' he asked, his voice growing considerably smaller.

"Yup," I answered loudly and through another laugh, "I'm so out of my mind, I think my vote will make some kind of difference, when in reality I know otherwise."

'You do?'

"I do."

Our conversation kick-started my thinking.

Could the "Get out the vote" slogan be over tired and over used? Do most people assume their vote really counts one way or the other? Or could the reason some don't even cast one, be because they feel it's a waste of their time? Has what was once a source of pride - voting - become a duty instead of a novel idea that helped make our country great? Can we trust the electronic voting software? Could the huge cost of campaign spending - a hefty $42.8 million for the gubernatorial candidates in Massachusetts - be part of what's gone sour? Or is it the negative campaigning that tastes so bad? Who still thinks it's possible for anyone to grow up to become governor or president? Is money what it takes, or are our steadfast values still part of the equation?

So many questions.

One that is downright scary for me is; what will happen if we continue along the same road we've been traveling since Bush took office?

I knew I'd be voting today.

The Tipping Point
Topic: Political
"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger the contumelious pest of my psyche, "Yesterday when we were talking, I said to you - "Speaking of the gubernatorial race, did you hear that John DePetro, one of the conservative mouth pieces on WRKO, called Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross a fat lesbian while on the air?"


'Yeah, I heard that,' answered Mr. Tiger, for the second time in two days.

"Well," I said as I collected my thoughts, "Seems as though DePetro's derogatory comments won't keep him off the air for long."

'Good,' said Tiger, 'the station is taking him back? Good,' he said again.

"No, thank goodness, not WRKO," I answered. "Jessica Heslam of The Boston Herald reports - DePetro, who has retained an attorney, said yesterday that a number of radio stations in Boston, New England, Washington, D.C, New York City, as well as talent agents and a network program have reached out to him since Friday's firing.
All of them have said they did not regard what I said as a fireable offense," said DePetro, whose board operator, Jimmy Kiesling, was also fired.

'Your point?' snarled the pest.

"My point matches Paul Sullivan's, the morning host at WBZ-AM, another Boston radio station, and is mentioned in the same article where he said, "I am sure that he would not have been fired for that if it had just been for that. This is something that had reached a tipping point, evidently."

I thought of the late Jerry Williams - the dean of talk radio - who I tip my hat to for sparking my interest for things other than what was my life at the time; wife and mother. After my memories settled down, I said to Tiger, "I used to listen to talk radio a lot. But it sure has changed, along with the politics of old and before LIBERAL was considered a four-letter-word."

'What has this got to do with the talk jock, DePetro?' asked Tiger right on cue.

"Everything!" I screamed before calming myself enough to say, "While driving, I still listen to talk radio and once in awhile, if I could stomach him, I'd listen to the insensitive and ignorant DePetro. He and other blabmeisters from this new and alternate universe, most definitely are not what they used to be and are NOT, these days, my means of gathering information. To get to the real truth, I now prefer to examine the views of those from another medium - the blogosphere."

I stated firmly, "While good news is not in demise, this YouTube video, which I first viewed over at Below Boston, articulates the tipping point that many of us are feeling since the days of good talk radio with the one of a kind - Jerry Williams."

what's in the news and what's not...
Topic: Political
"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the passionless inner pest, "maybe this is just a bad dream left over from all those hours I slept yesterday when I was sick, but for Christ's sake, look at this!"

'Calm down,' said Mr. Tiger before he even knew what I was talking about.

"How can I calm down? If this is true the American people should know about it," I said all at once while reading from an email sent to me by a friend who keeps a close eye on politics.

'Some friend,' snorted the pest with a sideward glance, 'it takes you days to open it?'

Not bothering to explain that I found K's email when I was cleaning out my overflowing mailbox this morning, I said, "That's besides the point Tiger." I carried on with, "She wrote to tell me about a U.S. ammo dump that was blown up in Iraq, at Camp Falcon on October 10th. The official story," she informed me, "is that no one was hurt but somehow 300 of our soldiers died," I cried out as I read the last sentence, "it's not being reported because of the upcoming election!"

'Do you believe that?' asked Tiger.

"Looks as though plenty do," I responded with a sinking stomach. "Here are some of the links she provided."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq082HmtPEM
http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications219606&Category=publications&Subcategory=0
http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=106565&list=/home.php
http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/10/14/5964.shtml
http://www.pissedonpolitics.com/2006/10/300_us_soldiers_killed_us_falc.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2552679

"What does that tell you about what the people running our country?" I sadly asked. "A full and complete account of this incident should be reported, but NO - it's election time. All we get to hear are those campaign adds which are conveniently nothing more than smear after smear after smear."

'They're just stirring the pot,' said Tiger in an all too undisturbed voice, 'and sex sells,' he added.

I agreed. "They're picking on works of fiction too," I said in reference to Virginia's Senate campaign. "The opposition's selecting passages from the fictional novels of former Navy Secretary Jim Webb to accuse him of demeaning and dehumanizing women. It's a novel for Pete's sake! Since when is a work of fiction supposed to sway the people one way or the other?' I asked.

'People love this stuff,' said Tiger.

I knew he was right but I said nonetheless, after pointing to a Boston Globe article - Roundly condemned, mudslinging ads thrive under shift in laws - that articulates better than I, "I want the truth - even if it's the sad facts that aren't getting reported."

Dannatt speaks out
Topic: Political

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the inner pest who lacks an emotional side, "who said, "I am going to stand up for what is right for the Army. Honesty is what it is about. The truth will win out. We have got to speak the truth. Leaking and spinning, at the end of the day, are not helpful."

'President Bush? wrongly guessed the pest.

"Ha!" I exclaimed.

Tiger guessed again, 'Mahatma Gandhi?'

Rather than ask how he could go from one extreme to another with his guesses, I just told him, "Those statements were made by The chief of the British Army, Gen. Richard Dannatt, in an interview with London's Daily Mail."

I doubted Mr. Tiger would bother to look, but I quickly posted the link to the UK newspaper, Daily Mail, and a few more quotes from the wise general.

"...get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems". "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear. "As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited into a country, but we weren't invited, certainly by those in Iraq at the time. Let's face it, the military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in.

"That is a fact. I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing around the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them."

October Surprise?
Topic: Political

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who talks me out of what I want to know, "what do you think of the new crisis for the Bush administration?"

'We don't even know yet if North Korea's underground testing was a true nuclear explosion,' answered Tiger with a shrug of his shoulders.

I shrugged mine too, not because I didn't care about the threat and proliferation of nuclear weapons but because I really didn't know what to think at this moment with so much going on. I am of the opinion that whatever is happening in government is planned. And along with that I worry about that HR 6166 enabling act - the bill that does away with habeus corpus, authorizes torture, and applies to American citizens.

I didn't feel ready to talk except to say, "It all worries me."

"It should,' said Tiger for a completely different reason.

"By the way," I said while I was at it, "I don't know who this Hal Turner guy is - having never listened to his shows - but since this kind of thing has been done before, I've decided to post it."

Playing ignorant Mr. Tiger questioned, 'What'd mean? What's been done before?'

To dodge a long story, one he'd never consider, I answered his question with two words, "Pearl Harbor."
I then posted from the Hal Turner Show what I hoped would not be worth the worry.

Updated Saturday, September 30, 2006 3:04 PM EDT

IRAN WAR PLAN EXPOSED!

PREPARE FOR THE SINKING OF A U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER - The USS Enterprise CVN!

The existence of a hideous plan to sacrifice a U.S. Aircraft Carrier as a pretext for war with Iran is presently being uncovered!

The Hal Turner Show has been told that within the next five (5) weeks, the United States will "suffer" a missile attack upon the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, presently on patrol near the Persian Gulf. This attack will appear to be from numerous "Silkworm" and/or "Sunburn" missiles which will sink the vessel and kill most of the 5,000 crew onboard.

The "attack" will be blamed on Iran and thus provide the Bush Administration with an excuse to go to war with that nation.

The Hal Turner Show has learned that the missiles used to attack the USS Enterprise will not be fired from or by Iran, but rather will be a "false flag operation" made to LOOK as though Iran carried out the attack!

The USS Enterprise is the worlds first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. It was Commissioned in 1961 and is due to be decommissioned in 2014 or 2015. The ship was selected to be the "victim" of this "attack" due to its age.

THOSE PLANNING THE ATTACK ARE INSIDE THE U.S. AND ISRAELI GOVERNMENTS and view the loss of the Enterprise crew as a necessary sacrifice to induce Americans to support war against Iran. Put bluntly, the ship and crew are to be cannon fodder.

Movie Night
Topic: Political
"Well, that's kind of a sorry state of affairs. In essence, what you're saying is that members of Congress can't be trusted to be around young people." - CNN's Miles O'Brien

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the pest who aims to be star of my film, "it's movie night!"

'What'ya gonna see?' he asked right away, 'that flick by Martin Scorsese about the state police and Irish mafia? The one that took place in your own back yard - South Boston?'

"Nope," I replied thinking that I was too tired to go out tonight. "I will be going to see The Departed eventually - but not tonight. Tonight I'm watching this YouTube video about the child predator - pedophile Mark Foley."

Before watching for the second time I ended with, "Jon Stewart hit the nail on the head with this one."

Busy Monday
Topic: Political

"Hey Tige," I said to Mr. Tiger, the predator within, "there's so much going on today, I hardly know where to begin - a shooting by a milk-man in a Amish schoolhouse and talk of two resignations. One, which is said to have been offered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice following Bush's 2004 Re-Election. And two, the bombshell from the Florida Republican Congressman, Mark Foley about his sexual instant messaging to a male teenager."

Tiger stopped me before I could get into full swing, not because he wanted to talk to me about any of the above mentioned topics but because he hoped to divert my attention with petty issues. He asked with a snarl, 'So where have you been all weekend?'

"Busy," I answered back sharply. "And as a matter of fact," I put in in a softer tone, "let's not bother with talk now Tige. Instead here's a video from YouTube that speaks for itself about one of the stories circulating the news and internet."

Topic: Political

"It seems silly to be in America and not mention Vietnam as if nothing was happening." - John Lennon


"Hey Tige," I began to say to Mr. Tiger the pest who aims to beguile my character, "today I think I'll go in another direction..."

Mr. Tiger steamrolled right in with, 'It's not a good idea to wobble about. In fact, your readers expect you to stick to one subject and stay with it. Learning about your family was fun. Let's have more of that.'

"What are your unexamined assumptions here Tige?" I asked aloud as I wondered about Tiger's flip flop. For days he had been heckling me about my 100 Things topic and now he wanted me to stick with it.

Bewildered, I said, "You don't even know what I'm going to be talking about, and besides," I added, "On my blog, before it was accidently deleted, I tried to include an array of different topics. Today as people go to the polls, I want to talk about politics, and precisely, how the political machine looks at those who express an opinion against the war, as a national threat.

Mr. Tiger became somewhat interested. He asked, 'Are you talking about Cindy Sheehan?'

"In a round about way," I answered before a more direct reply, "Moreso I'm talking about the poets, novelists, playwrights and songwriters, as articulated here by Howard Zinn and presented by the Poets Agaisnt War. Let's go back before the war in Iraq and parallel what's happening today to activist John Lennon who in the 70's spoke out against the war in Vietnam," I suggested.

Spitting as he growled, Tiger cut me off again with, 'Let's not.'

I ignored him. "Richard Nixon was afraid that Lennon's influence would derail the upcoming election," I continued only to be cut off again.

'And rightly so,' confronted the striped pest. 'That long haired rebel was preaching against the war and upsetting an entire generation.'

"A simple message, with universal appeal, that caused people think," I countered. "All he was asking was to give peace a chance and what he got was an FBI dossier, tapped phones and," I added with a chill, "silenced."

Tiger quickly shot back, 'He was influenced by the likes of Hoffman, Rubin and Black Panther Party activist Bobby Seale. Of course his activities were monitored.'

Kinda like what's happening today, eh?" I said as thoughts of the current administration's illegal wiretapping and failed military and political strategies ran through my head.

For those who were interested I provided a link to the documenatary at amazon.com and a suggestion to read the reviews here, written by those who have already seen the 96 minute September release, The U.S. vs. John Lennon.

From there I turned to a quote by one of the film makers, John Scheinfeld who said of Lennon, "He was willing to speak to power, to stand up to power, in a way that we'd never seen a pop personality do before. It may be that his greatest work of art was his campaign for peace in terms of his post-Beatles career. He spent years and years using his fame and fortune to actually try to make the world a better place. I don't think it had ever happened before. We live in a time where everything's a reality show. John and Yoko were essentially pioneers in that, but they weren't using it to promote an album. They weren't using it to promote a movie. They weren't doing it to promote anything except peace and that's what makes them heroic artists here. And then to have the courage to stand up to the power of the United States -- the presidency, the White House, the FBI and the INS -- (shows they were) courageous artists and courageous people."

I wasn't naive enough to think it would much difference, but I finished up with the lyrics to Lennon's Give Peace A Chance

Two, one, two, three, four
Ev'rybody's talking about
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism,
Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, That-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
All we are saying (You got it!) is Give Peace A Chance
(Yeah!, C'mon!)
Ev'rybody's talking about ministers,
Sinister, Banisters
And canisters, Bishops, Fishops,
Rabbis, and Pop eyes, Bye, bye, bye bye
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(What do we say? Give Peace A Chance!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Give Peace A Chance baby, do whats right!)
Let me tell you now
Ev'rybody's talking about
Revoluton, evolution, masturbation,
Flagellation, regulation, integrations,
Meditations, United Nations,
Congratulations
All we are saying (keep talkin!) is Give Peace A Chance
(They can't stop this one!)
All we are saying (Lets hear it for¿?) is Give Peace A Chance
(Oh Lets listen here)
Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary,
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan,
Tommy Copper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer,
Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna,
Hare, Hare Krishna!
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Come on! Come on! Come on!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Lets hear it for the squares!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Lets hear it for the hippies and the yippies..Yeah!)
All we are saying (Come on!) is Give Peace A Chance
(Lets hear it for people now...Yeah!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Lets hear it for hare krishna...Yeah!)
All we are saying (Hare Krishna!) is Give Peace A Chance
(Everybody now, Come On!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Whadda we say? Can you hear it?)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Everybody now, Come On!)
All we are saying (You won't get it unless you want it...and we want it now!) is Give Peace A Chance
(Yeah!)
All we are saying (Come Together!) is Give Peace A Chance
(Come Together all together!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Can anybody hear me? Yeah!)
All we are saying (We can get it tomorrow..today!) is Give Peace A Chance
(If you really want it now, OK now!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(Yes, Yeah!)
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance
(OK, beautiful yeah!, We made it!, )