To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.
Emily Dickinson
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Sunday, March 09, 2014
Sunday's Blessings on Saturday
Rain or shine (in this case, rain), the CCC's are on the job. These fabulous guys and gals, in keeping with the California Conservation Corps' mission of service to the community, showed up on their day off to help at El Chorro Dog Park. Rain couldn't stop them and several hours later they had re-graded a large flood-prone area and restored the wood chips, thereby improving an already fabulous Dog Park.
These young men and woman are amazing. All over the state, they're out there working to make our public lands -- parks, wilderness areas, forest, watershed resources -- safer, better and more beautiful, all for all of us! So when you see these hardy crews at work, give them a shout-out of thanks!
They are a blessing. Thanks CCC! You're the best.
Friday, March 07, 2014
Darrell Behaving Badly
Time for Darrel ("I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille") Issa to step down. This mini-Joe McCarthy, a guy who never met a camera he didn't love, this blatantly self-serving scoundrel who's been using his position on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee as a personal showcase for his overweening, self-assessed wonderfulness and as a handmaiden for Fox New and the GOP has finally gone and done it.
Nobody who's followed this guy over the years is the least surprised. They know him by his true colors --a bully-boy whose job isn't "oversight" or "reform," but is, instead, an opportunity to use the Committee he heads to manipulate facts in order to mislead the public and thereby further his personal and political career. It's ultimately all about Darrell, 24/7.
Like Joe McCarthy before him ("I have here in my hand a list of names . . . ."), Issa is a demagogue willing to wave about carefully edited "facts," misleading "findings," out-of-context details, all carefully crafted into fake, misleading sound bites and all carefully fed into the 24/7 news cycle to be amplified by the Republican/Faux News sound machine.
Meanwhile, the actual facts that the Committee uncovers (almost all of which runs totally contra to what Issa is claiming) sinks into the media Dead Pool. Which is what Issa is counting on. I mean, when you're conning the Rubes, you don't want them to catch on.
But, eventually, every demagogue goes too far. In this case, closing down the hearing without allowing ranking Oversight Committee member, Congressman Elijah Cumming, his (proper procedural) opportunity to speak. Instead he cut off his mic, told the sound-men to "shut it down." Which is the wrong thing to say to Mr. Cummings. Who had plenty to say and didn't need a microphone to say it.
This astonishing breach of Congressional protocol resulted in a call for Issa's censure and/or removal from the Committee. Fat chance. But the uproar did force Issa to "apologize" to Cummings by claiming that he "should have been much more sensitive to the mood of what was going on . . . "
Like all things Issa, that statement has only a glancing acquaintance with the Whole Truth.
Ultimately, the great misfortune here is that, unlike the McCarthy Era, we don't have an Edward R. Murrow. Or a Joseph Welch to take the microphone and say to Issa, "Finally, Sir, have you NO shame???"
Shame? Not in this Congress.
And, finally, the greatest misfortune here is that Americans apparently are fine with a partisan "oversight" committee chaired by a guy who repeatedly cries wolf to advance his career.
And when an actual wolf, a real wolf, shows up during a committee's investigation?
What then?
Nobody who's followed this guy over the years is the least surprised. They know him by his true colors --a bully-boy whose job isn't "oversight" or "reform," but is, instead, an opportunity to use the Committee he heads to manipulate facts in order to mislead the public and thereby further his personal and political career. It's ultimately all about Darrell, 24/7.
Like Joe McCarthy before him ("I have here in my hand a list of names . . . ."), Issa is a demagogue willing to wave about carefully edited "facts," misleading "findings," out-of-context details, all carefully crafted into fake, misleading sound bites and all carefully fed into the 24/7 news cycle to be amplified by the Republican/Faux News sound machine.
Meanwhile, the actual facts that the Committee uncovers (almost all of which runs totally contra to what Issa is claiming) sinks into the media Dead Pool. Which is what Issa is counting on. I mean, when you're conning the Rubes, you don't want them to catch on.
But, eventually, every demagogue goes too far. In this case, closing down the hearing without allowing ranking Oversight Committee member, Congressman Elijah Cumming, his (proper procedural) opportunity to speak. Instead he cut off his mic, told the sound-men to "shut it down." Which is the wrong thing to say to Mr. Cummings. Who had plenty to say and didn't need a microphone to say it.
This astonishing breach of Congressional protocol resulted in a call for Issa's censure and/or removal from the Committee. Fat chance. But the uproar did force Issa to "apologize" to Cummings by claiming that he "should have been much more sensitive to the mood of what was going on . . . "
Like all things Issa, that statement has only a glancing acquaintance with the Whole Truth.
Ultimately, the great misfortune here is that, unlike the McCarthy Era, we don't have an Edward R. Murrow. Or a Joseph Welch to take the microphone and say to Issa, "Finally, Sir, have you NO shame???"
Shame? Not in this Congress.
And, finally, the greatest misfortune here is that Americans apparently are fine with a partisan "oversight" committee chaired by a guy who repeatedly cries wolf to advance his career.
And when an actual wolf, a real wolf, shows up during a committee's investigation?
What then?
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
And the Envelope, Please
Now that was a very satisfying Academy Awards Ceremony. And the folks and films I wanted to win, won. (Especially glad that "20 Feet From Stardom" got the gold. That was a remarkable documentary that I hope Jim Dee brings back to the Palm, in case you missed it the first time around.)
And I'm especially glad that "Twelve Years a Slave" took best picture. "Gravity" was a game-changer, technologically, but "Slave" was in many ways, a kind of cultural place-marker, a book-end, as it were, to the original "happy darkies" narrative of "Gone With The Wind." Seventy-five years later, we finally get a far more honest picture of our dark history.
And in keeping with the seriousness of "Slave," I can't recall a better performed, more touching and dignified performance from a winner than the beautiful acceptance speech given by Lupita Nyong'o, who won for best supporting actress. The spirits of the long-dead were indeed watching. I hope that talented lady has a long, challenging, successful career.
With pizza for the starve-to-get-into-the-couture stars, a record-breaking group-selfie Twittering around the globe, hostess Ellen DeGeneres set the perfect laid-back vibe that reminded everyone that, Hey, this is an awards ceremony/party, not curing cancer, so lighten up. Toss in Mathew McConaughey conjuring up a picture of his late father proudly celebrating his son's win by doing a happy-feet dance in his underwear, lite-beer in hand, gumbo-pot nearby, and the image was "all right, all right, all right." Which about summed up the whole evening.
Including the one delicious jaw-dropping turn at the podium by Mrs. Baz Luhrman (Catherine Martin) who won the gold as best Costume Design for "The Great Gatsby." At the podium, she reached into the top of her gown and rummaged around her breasts until she finally located and pulled out a crumpled, damp-looking sheet of paper, upon which was her list of "thank-yous," and proceeded to read them off. Substitute a crumpled pack of Camels instead of the paper, add in a kitchen match for a light-up, and the move would have been pure Trailer-park Queen!
Give that woman a Fosters!
And I'm especially glad that "Twelve Years a Slave" took best picture. "Gravity" was a game-changer, technologically, but "Slave" was in many ways, a kind of cultural place-marker, a book-end, as it were, to the original "happy darkies" narrative of "Gone With The Wind." Seventy-five years later, we finally get a far more honest picture of our dark history.
And in keeping with the seriousness of "Slave," I can't recall a better performed, more touching and dignified performance from a winner than the beautiful acceptance speech given by Lupita Nyong'o, who won for best supporting actress. The spirits of the long-dead were indeed watching. I hope that talented lady has a long, challenging, successful career.
With pizza for the starve-to-get-into-the-couture stars, a record-breaking group-selfie Twittering around the globe, hostess Ellen DeGeneres set the perfect laid-back vibe that reminded everyone that, Hey, this is an awards ceremony/party, not curing cancer, so lighten up. Toss in Mathew McConaughey conjuring up a picture of his late father proudly celebrating his son's win by doing a happy-feet dance in his underwear, lite-beer in hand, gumbo-pot nearby, and the image was "all right, all right, all right." Which about summed up the whole evening.
Including the one delicious jaw-dropping turn at the podium by Mrs. Baz Luhrman (Catherine Martin) who won the gold as best Costume Design for "The Great Gatsby." At the podium, she reached into the top of her gown and rummaged around her breasts until she finally located and pulled out a crumpled, damp-looking sheet of paper, upon which was her list of "thank-yous," and proceeded to read them off. Substitute a crumpled pack of Camels instead of the paper, add in a kitchen match for a light-up, and the move would have been pure Trailer-park Queen!
Give that woman a Fosters!
Sunday, March 02, 2014
Your Saturday and Sunday Miracles
Saturday's Miracle
Sunday's Miracle
Even after all this time
the sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens
with a love like that --
it lights the whole
world.
Hafiz
From "Love Poems from God," Daniel Landinsky, Penguin Press. Available at your local bookstore.
Sunday's Miracle
Even after all this time
the sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens
with a love like that --
it lights the whole
world.
Hafiz
From "Love Poems from God," Daniel Landinsky, Penguin Press. Available at your local bookstore.
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