Some Video Links Plus Added Rants

I don’t get this. He doesn’t really say anything and his pronoun references are completely vague.  It looks like someone in the GOP lower levels is trying to push the NJ gov for prez.  What about Rick Perry!!!!1!!1!1!

Sarah Palin gets put on the spot.  I can think of quite a number of people more qualified to yap about the oil spill.  Michael Berry isn’t one of them.

White male Seattle idiot police officer punches a young black woman in the face. Commenters say she deserved it.  It’s hard to watch.  I don’t think I could have stood there and just recorded it. Cops can just be criminals with guns.  One Bellaire cop shot a pro baseball player and got off — nothing happened to him.  Michael Berry blamed the baseball player’s mother for the shooting.  FAIR ENOUGH?

Related:  Pasty white boy gets ruffed up by 68 year old.  The same people showing there “balls” about a cop punching a 19 year old black girl get misty-eyed and cry Assault!!!!  Assault!!!!! when it’s one of their own.  These people are insufferable.

Lastly, I am SICK of pasty white people telling African Americans that this that or the other is their problem.  As I have said again and again, why can’t all of the pasty white concern trolls take a look at their own poor white folks and fix that?   Michael Berry and Bill Bennett need to quit acting like they’re black and get with taking care of all of the poor whites.  Wouldn’t that be novel?

Pasty white guy wants drug testing.  Who is going to pay for that?  Does the Utah Senator have some interest in a drug testing kit company?  Does the Utah Senator have a problem with people who are down on their luck?  I’d like to see him submit to a drug test on the teevee first.  Dick.

Lastly, I’m about ready to build a Mexico City style wall around my damn house.  Someone put the nicely bundled vegetation I had ready to go for next month’s green pick up by the city in my recycle cart, destroying the very expensive new freaking green yard waste bag I had ready in the process.  Whoever it was left my recycle cart in the middle of the driveway, too.  Oh, and whoever it was, cut up my Lantana, too.

Dicks — all of them.

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Haiti

It breaks my heart.  Just Monday, The PBS News Hour had a segment on as part of their series on fragile states, detailing how the Haitian textile industry was set for a comeback, particularly through the work of Bill Clinton.  The title of the report?  “Despite Years of Crushing Poverty, Hope Grows in Haiti.”  I can’t even bring myself to read the transcript.

I donated to the Red Cross and UNICEF.  There was no question in my mind.  In listening to wingnut radio this morning, I was happy to hear that both of the hosts were advertising a number to call for a charity to donate to.

This afternoon was quite different.  I pulled up “Katrina Trash” Chris Baker while I was at work and found that his producer was on the air, making jokes about having fired Baker.  (I’ll leave that to another post.)  The producer also decided that he was obligated to mention the earthquake in Haiti, but what he really wanted to talk about was how there is scientific proof that men are better than women.  How insightful producer guy!

Later, on the way home, Michael Berry wasn’t much better.  He just couldn’t decide if giving aid to Haiti was a good thing to do and asked his listeners to call in (or text or email).  Most of the arguments were about Hurricane Ike and how people are hurting here at home and that the government shouldn’t be in the charity business.  A couple of callers I heard used Haiti’s history to decide that it wasn’t a good idea to donate or help them.  Sort of like it’s their own fault that two tectonic plates decided to slide against each other.  (For example:  one caller pointed out that Haiti and the Dominican Republic are on the same island and what a difference there was between them.  How could one plate and another exist under one island?!?  How could one city get hit by a hurrican and not another? How could one part of an island flood and not another?  Gee, I don’t know!!!!)  It’s clear that neither Michael Berry or his listeners saw the News Hour piece — otherwise all of them would have been lamenting the fact that Haiti had it’s hopes dashed.

I would be irresponsible not to speculate that wingnut listeners, after having seen wall to wall coverage of poor black people (“it’s Katrina all over again!”) in a foreign country on their teevees all day, as well as yet another appearance by the president guy reading from his teleprompter, had decided by 5:00 CST that it was just not their problem.  But they have to have some excuse, so they fired up their computers and looked around Free Republic or other websites and decided that, heck, there are houses somewhere along the Texas coast that still haven’t been rebuilt since Hurricane Ike, there are Americans unemployed, our country is in debt, and you know what, fuck those Haitians.  I would be irresponsible not to speculate that many of Michael Berry’s listeners had had about enough of the blacks on the teevee for one day.  And last but not least, for every excuse each had for not giving or doing something for the people in Haiti, none of them did or will ever do a damn thing for anyone else.

It’s a no-brainer — whether or not to help.  In the aftermath of Katrina, many nations offered to help us, though that was more because they had competence in the problem areas rather than something about resources.  Those nations got burned by the Bush administration.  Again.  And wrt to Ike or unemployment, sorry, there is no equivalence.  Problems with Ike recovery are not about a lack of funds on a national level.  Far from it.  If all of Michael Berry’s callers are so worried about Ike victims (I can still hear Berry cry over the air “PEOPLE DIED!11!11!1!1!11!!), then they would have done something about it before now, dontchathink?

So, I send out a big FUCK YOU to Michael Berry’s callers.  The posse leader will keep riling up the troops no matter what I might say.

Sleep in, Deal with the Recorder, or BLOW IT ALL OFF?

I have issues with my DVR.  Sometimes it likes me, other times not.  Sometimes it does what I ask it to, other times not.  Sometimes I ask it to do things and regret it later.

Usually, I record the Sunday morning news programs, mostly just to keep up.

I don’t know if I want to do that this weekend or not.

ABC had Malkin on last weekend and spent useful time swatting her nonsense.  Fox is always interesting though, because they always tout Republicans.  It’s good to see that they still have no ideas.

One thing about the Sunday shows is that they don’t rotate Michael Steele with J.C. Watts like Hannity does (just to please or dampen Quanell X’s chaarge against him).

It’s a mish-mash, but I’ll record it.

It’s Newt free — I guess he didn’t write a book this week.

I still wonder why doctor Bill isn’t on the Sunday teevee shows . . . .

There’s Something Wrong about “There Goes the Neighborhood”

First off,  it’s a reality show and therefore very cheap for the network to run, especially in the summer, but $250,000 as a prize?  What happened to who wants to be a millionaire (but not really)?

Second, the walls made me think about the West Bank, Jerusalem and Baghdad, particularly when the electricity went out.  And the exit gate is just wrong on many levels.

Third, as a game goes, it is completely unfair.  One family only has two members, and they didn’t get booted off, so they will force the game to be a two people thing until they are.  And the families with small children or elderly members will have to depend on their other members if the competition continues to be physical.

It’s a stupid show.  It’s insulting on several levels.  I wonder how long it took them to find a barely diversified neighborhood who would agree to have this done to them.  Hooray for them that they found a block in America with a lesbian couple and an inter-racial couple.

At different points, family members complained about not being able to get beyond the wall or hearing the sounds of outside and being frustrated.   But there was always the reinforcement of the isolation being a good thing for these families — that it made them spend time with each other.  It takes a reality show to do that?  There was the same sort of talk last year here in Houston after Ike.  My family doesn’t have this problem.  Why does yours?

So, when Iraqis were separated from their larger city and the electricity was out, that was good for them?  When Palestinians are blocked from reaching their land and the larger society by a wall that’s a good thing?

Let’s see what regular media critic Ann Althouse has to say about it.  Nothing.  Oh well, it seems she has been busy getting married to a commenter, so I should cut her some slack.  But she’s still sloppy.  No excuse for that.

So You think You Can Dance

My favorite summer show is back on.  I watched some but not all of the run-up to last night.

The couples are strong — all of them.  Last night was a joy to watch.

Pete Seeger on Leterman

I love it.  He started his song, and then taught the chorus to the audience.  His group members were all smiles while singing a song about Dr. King.

His new CD is Pete Seeger at 89.  Wiki link.

Letterman also had a tribute to Paul Newman that made me cry.

This and That

Of course, I am watching ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ tonight.  It started off a little slow, but it has been far better than the first nights from previous seasons.  I don’t vote, so it will be interesting to see who is in the bottom three and out tomorrow.  It seems to me that all of the dancers are better prepared this year.  They aren’t limited in their styles.  I’ve change my favorite already, but my original favorite hasn’t danced yet, so that could change again.  Ok, it’s Twichinton for me — for that one move where she ‘rolled’ him back up.  And it looks like Wade will be back tomorrow.

At school today, a student I teach came to my office and at first, I thought he just wanted to talk. I was wrong.  He accidentally left his wallet on the train yesterday.  As soon as he realized it, he went to the metro office.  The woman he spoke to told him when the same train would be stopping at the nearest location.  He waited and then looked for his wallet, but couldn’t find it.  He called his father back in Korea to tell him to cancel the credit card and then his cellphone battery died.  When he returned to the woman at the metro office, she could tell he was in a difficult position.  He needed to take a bus to get home, but he had no money.  She went around and was able to collect a dollar in change.  When she gave it to him, she told him not to worry about paying her back, just help someone else later.

At this point, I said that what she was asking him to do was pay it forward and started to explain.  He said she had said the same thing — pay it forward.  Still, he felt an obligation to thank her.  He showed me the handmade trinket from his country that he planned to give he — in thanks.  It was beautiful.  I told him she would appreciate it and that I was sure she would like it.

We also discussed the idea of a ‘silver lining’ — he learned more about himself and English that day than I could ever convey in my technical grammar class.  I was able to prep him for what the woman might say — since we have been studying modals:  “You shouldn’t have!”  “You didn’t have to do that!” etc.  It was one of those ‘teaching moments’.

 

So You Think You Can Dance — I’ve got my favorite

I don’t know what her name is, but she’s the girl from New York that was just on.  She was amazing.

Now for Something Completely Trivial — So You Think You Can Dance Started Tonight

I love this freaking show.  I’m not so into the ballroom stuff, but all the rest, I love. 

So far the auditions have been pretty good.  The first girl stood with her back to the judges as a Heart song played and played.  Finally, they asked her if it had been the right song — it wasn’t.  Then she danced.  It was amazing.  Long lines, flexibility, passion.  Then there was the Italian guy who was more aura than substance in my mind, but it led to a Freudian slip by one of the judges that was quite hilarious.

There’s an amazing b-boy on now.  What control and humor.  He’s the second one of the semi-finalists from last year that has returned.  Both got in.

Wow.  I should know the spoken poem that the last dancer performed to.  I’ll have to ask Roberto.  It was a beautiful statement.

Underwear alert!  OMG.  Last year, the 2006 winner — some guy name Benji — did a number and at the end ripped off his pants to reveal U.S. flag underwear.  And peopl give Obama grief about the stupid lapel pin.

Travis is back!  I loved him.  He’s doing the ‘second chance’ thing.

 

Kid Nation, the Weather, and Lightning!

OMG — Kid Nation council vote was incredible!  Greg and Blaine voted in.  The town will burn!

The lightning is pretty amazing and scary for puppy girls.  The thunder is rattling the windows.  And here comes the rain.

OMG — DK joins Greg and Blaine in a textbook “training” exercise.  This is really bad.

The green district meets, Michael apologizes for not pulling his people out of the exercise, and Greg and Blaine eavesdrop on them.  Now that’s META.

The green district is shaken, but they seem to be together.  Where’s Mike of the red district?

There he is . . . getting dissed by DK.  What a mess.  Anjay gave Greg the answers, so blue district gets upper class again.

Good ending.

Also, good luck and safe travelling to all this holiday weekend.