The 16th Minute

I want to shed some "lyte" today on the fleeting nature of fame.  As Andy Warhol so famously predicted, in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.  I am confident that Warhol would have loved reality TV.  It is so his medium.  Can you image "Survivor, The Factory"?  Who can take the most speed?  Who can make the most mundane movie?  Who looks best dressed in aluminum foil?  The possibilities are endless.

But what I want to talk about is the crash and burn of the Gosselin family.  "Jon and Kate Plus 8" has been a tremendously successful show for TLC.  I watched the initial special and then followed the show for the first 2 years.  My husband and I had our twins through fertility treatments and then went back when they were 3 to try again.  We were not successful.  It is a fact I grow more thankful for every year.  My little darlings would have been turning 10 this year and I cannot imagine what my life would look like.

Actually, I can, thanks to Jon and Kate Gosselin.  Well, we would have had quadruplets at the most, but still, when I first saw the show I told my husband, "OMG!  That could have been us!"  I admired Kate's outspokenness and Jon's laconic demeanor.  She was OCD like me.  He was Zen like, just like my husband.  I applauded how honest they were about the struggles they were experiencing in raising two sets of multiples.

I felt the show jumped the shark when they started having product placement.  To me, that action caused the show to cross the line from entertainment to exploitation.  Kate always said that her goal was to give her family the most normal life and experiences possible.  In real life you are not given free stuff just because you were born.  You don't grow up with a camera crew following your every move.

I grew increasingly disdainful as the perks increased.  Free trips, tummy tucks, hair plugs.  The new ginormous house.  Jon is no longer working and it seems like Kate now sports a perpetual tan.  The renewal of their vows in Hawaii.  When Steve Thomas of "This Old House" showed up to install solar panels and other green goodies for them, I was appalled at how snarky Kate acted.  I hadn't seen the show for awhile, but her air of entitlement was disgusting.

Now their family is caught up in the meat grinder of the tabloid press.  Has he cheated?  Has she cheated?  Will they stay together?  Even her brother is getting into the act.  This drama is playing out to record ratings for the show, but how long before America gets bored with watching the destruction of a family?  We watch that play out in our neighborhoods, workplaces, even in our own households everyday.  And nobody gets a single perk.  Andy would be proud.    

I Got My Baby Back

Today I am celebrating.  My Mac is back.  After three long weeks, Baby is back home where she belongs.  As you noticed, I didn't blog much during her hiatus.  Operating in a PC environment on a fairly ancient laptop was pure hell.

And there was so much to blog about!  But I must admit the vacation was nice, I get a little crazy trying to keep up with the latest news, especially on the political side of things.  Now we have a Supreme Court nominee.  She both Hispanic and a woman! They are only allowed to be maids in the right wing universe.  She feels too much!  They hate empathy and all who practice it.    

Unless the person doing the feeling is former President Bush.  The right loved how he went with his mythical "gut" to make decisions....all the time.  So I want to get this straight, a Republican who feels is compassionate, a Democrat who feels is a socialist.  Okay, got it!

I have also noticed that if nominee Sotomayor says it, it is bad.  If a sitting conservative Supreme Court justice says it, it is good.  Hypocrisy always finds fertile ground in the Republican party.  And they love saying that her nomination is a form of affirmative action, conveniently ignoring that the nomination of Justice Clarence Thomas by Bush the 1st was a blatant show of replacing one African American Justice, Thurgood Marshall, with another.

So, I am back, and not a moment too soon.  

A Fair Fight?

I want to shed some "lyte" on balance. The MSM continues to pursue a mythical balanced approach when reporting stories. Networks like CNN feel compelled to present both sides of a story, a laudable goal, but it made harder when one side is not equal to the other.

For example, the MSM is all over itself presenting President Obama's speech to the Judge Advocates Group at the National Archives and former Vice-President Dick Cheney's speech to the American Enterprise Institute as mano on mano battle about enhanced interoggation techniques and Guantanamo. It is not. Cheney is simply no match for Obama. Cheney's speech, peppered with references to 9/11, was the same old rehash of the tired argument that the ends justify the means. Obama, once again, took a more nuanced approach, reiterating his call for the closing of Guantanamo. He understands that there is no easy way out of the legal and moral quagmire created by the previous administration. Cheney continues to hammer away at the false premise that it is okay to lock up people indefinitely as long as you have really good reason. Which you can't share because it would compromise our national security.

Cheney again demonstrated the complete lack of irony that is now a Republican party hallmark when he blasted the New York Times for leaking details about our torture program. He took issue with the newspaper for outing the program, conveniently forgetting that it was his right-hand man, Scooter Libby, who actually outed a CIA operative and her entire covert operation. All in the name of justifying an unnecessary invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation. Oh! And he tried once again to tie Saddam Hussein to 9/11. Can't blame a guy for trying.

Another stunning example of false parity took place on Lou Dobbs. He pitted Michelle Bachman against Barney Frank. I think Frank should have been a gentleman and bowed out, saying he doesn't get into battles of wit against unarmed people. But that's not how it played out. Instead, Frank schooled her big time. Bachman tried unsuccessfully to attach an amendment a House bill, banning any organization with "a history of indictments" from receiving government funds. This was aimed at ACORN, the organization that Republicans love to hate. Frank deftly countered her by pointing out 1) an amendment was attached that stipulated that any organization that was convicted of voter fraud could not receive funding, and 2) ACORN was funded year after year by the Bush administration and nobody said a thing about it then. Poor Michelle was so outmanned, Dobbs tried to step in and Barney smacked him down too.

I am tired of competence and facts having to do battle against feelings and ideology. Come on Republicans, get some game. I love a fair fight.

Won't Get Fooled Again?

Today I want to shed some "lyte" on change. Change is the new black. Ever since Obama began campaigning under the theme of change, it is a word that has almost jumped the shark. While the Democratic party embraced and embodied that change, we are watching the Republicans founder. Isn't it a bit ironic that the party that dismisses evolution as "just a theory" is having trouble evolving?

I don't know even where to start. How about the brilliant idea that the RNC had for changing the Democratic party's name to the Democratic Socialist party? My first thought was that they were kidding, but no, as always they were serious. I thought fine, then the DNC should rebrand the Republicans as the Republican Fascist party. All in the name of truth in advertising.

Then came the great misdirection on torture. Let's blame Nancy Pelosi for it! Like the ranking Democratic member on the national security committee could do anything to stop the Bush administration, the CIA, and the Republican-lead Congress from torturing anyone. And that's if she knew everything, which as the days pass and the revelations mount, she didn't. The fact that she is totally down with a truth commission should tell the Republicans that their dog ain't huntin'. But let's remember, Republicans never let a little thing like facts or reality get in their way.

Now Newt Gingrich is joining the National Council for a New America. The official rebranding effort for the GOP that is being spearheaded by Eric Cantor. What an awesome idea! Why not just dig up Ronald Reagan while you're at it too? What's that smell? Oh, just the mold on our "new ideas".

It also seems that the new wave of Republicanism is female. Meghan McCain, Liz Cheney, Bristol Palin (and her mommy), Carrie Prejean. All the fresh young faces of the GOP have lipstick on them. But as Ms. McCain demonstrated on the "Colbert Report" last night, the inability to recognize hypocrisy and irony is passed down generationally in the Republican Party. Ms. McCain was explaining that the GOP and gay marriage are more simpatico than previously thought. The Republicans believe that government has no place in people's private lives....except when they are pregnant. Then they get real personal.

It will be interesting to watch how all this plays out. It was easier for the Democrats to embrace conservatives than it will be for Republicans to embrace liberals. But they are good at "faking it 'til you make it", just look at how long they have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of religious conservatives.

Baby Come Mac

My apologies for the delay in blogs. My so-called invincible Mac was hacked into and is now out of commission for the next two to three weeks. I am making do with my husband's laptop. Thank goodness we have it.

But this leads to my topic, Macs vs PCs. We switched to the dark side about 2 years ago when our PC's hard drive crashed for the second time. As I have mentioned before, I am very much the analog girl and needed a computer that worked like a toaster oven. I thought I had found it in my Mac, but it seems that every computer is vulnerable.

Of course, it was my bad. I joined an offsite group on Facebook at my kid's urging, and I am pretty sure that that was how someone got the opportunity to hack into my world and turn it upside down. So, now I am much wiser and much more cautious about Facebook. Happily, we purchased the extended warranty on our Mac so we are not paying out of pocket for my little mishap.

And I am suffering the logical consequence for my poor choice and having to deal with a PC. I forgot what they were like. Kind of like old people's driving style: slow and irritating. I must admit, I like my husband's laptop though. Not having to wrestle with a mouse is a definite upgrade.

I missed so much during the last week and I promise to be back on the beam. Apparently Nancy Pelosi is in big trouble for not being completely truthful about what she knew about torture and when she knew it. I find it a bit disingenuous that the same people who were totally comfortable with the Bush administration's lies about, well, everything, now are aghast at Speaker Pelosi's awkward fumbling. Just a quick reality check: One, everything she was told was also shared with Republican House leaders. Two, everything she was told was classified information. Three, have we forgotten the atmosphere that existed back then? If she had come forward, she would have been vilified and labeled a traitor. Four, she was the House Minority Leader, the key word being minority. What could she have done? I wish she had just come out and admitted exactly what she knew and when, and then reminded everyone that she was not the one in charge. Talk to the hand, and then go and talk to the Republicans.

Now, Newt Gingrich wants an investigation of Speaker Pelosi. I want to make sure I understand this; we shouldn't investigate the people who actually ordered or performed the torture, but we need to investigate a person who was told about it? Umm, Mr. Gingrich, I don't know if you've noticed, but Congress has some important stuff on their plate. And you are no longer a part of that body, so stop running for President and shut the f*ck up. Try coming up with some new ideas. You already got to have your witch hunt, remember?

Well, it is nice to be back and hey, it only took me 22 minutes to figure out how to upload an image. Sigh...

Have It Our Way

I want to shed a little "lyte" on condiments today.  The batsh*t crazy folks over at Faux News are going well, batsh*t crazy over the President Obama's visit to Ray's Hell Burgers earlier in the week.  He took along Biden and the press pool.  He sprang for lunch for the pool.  But that isn't the problem, the problem is he is a socialist.

And what a dyed-in-the wool socialist has on his cheeseburger is Dijon mustard.  OMG!  Stop the presses, forget about the economy, Pakistan, the Wesleyan shooter on the run, the President dared to leave off ketchup on his burger!  Folks, we are in big trouble now.  

I must admit, the rabid right press impresses the hell out of me.  Just when I think they can't get any nuttier, that they must have reached their nougatty center, they take nuttiness to a whole new level.  Funny, I don't recall a breakdown of the toppings that were on the pizzas served to Rommney and company on Saturday.

Of course, the sad, junkie clown has not weighed in on this controversy yet.  Maybe he likes Dijon mustard too.  And don't forget, the patron saint of the right; Reagan himself, liked Dijon mustard on his salads.  But I digress, Obama's choice of condiment is big news people.  

So much for having it your way.  

The New Coke

I want to shed a little "lyte" on reinvention.  Last weekend, a few Republican leaders:  Mitt Rommney, Jeb Bush, and Eric Cantor, had a little get together at a Virginia pizza parlor.  Calling themselves The National Council for a New America, these gentlemen sought to kick start a rebranding effort for the Republican party.

I love the term rebranding.  It really sums up the Republican ideology.  It is all about perception, not substance.  Ignore those inconvenient facts and that annoying thing called reality, let's focus on how we feel and how we seem.  You rebrand a product, not a political party.  A party is supposed to represent the ideas of their people, not a dogma in a new package.

But already this rebranding effort is in trouble.  The sad, junkie clown, Rush Limbaugh took issue with the idea of a listening tour.  He said that the Republicans need to run an education tour, not a listening tour.  Now, wasn't there an election last fall?  Wasn't McCain's campaign a form of educating the public as to what the Republicans had to offer America?  Remind me, how did that turn out?  Oh right, they got their butts kicked.  America said, "No thanks, had enough" to the Republican holy grail of tax cuts and divisive politics.  After the emperor deemed listening wrong, Eric Cantor quickly backed off the term "listening tour". 

The Family Research Council was also scathing in its rebuke of the council.  They took issue with the council's agenda of the economy, education, healthcare, energy and national security.  They wanted to know where the "values" were.  Like creating jobs, improving education, providing healthcare, building a sustainable future, and keeping us safe is devoid of values.  They pointed to a Pew Research poll showing that support for abortion has dropped by 8%.  They used that to say that social conservatism is on the rise.  They hailed Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin as the future of the Republican party.  Wasn't Huckabee rejected as a presidential candidate by his own party?  And again, didn't America get a chance to vote for Sarah Palin?  

Once again, I am going to date myself.  Does anyone remember the "new" Coke campaign?  Coke changed its formula and everybody hated it.  So a whopping 79 days later, Coke came out with Coca Cola Classic and quietly pulled the new Coke off the shelves.  Maybe that's what the Republicans are doing.  Rolling out a "new" Republicanism, test marketing it, failing and then going back to classic Republicanism.  Change in appearance only, seeming to change, but not.  Yep, that's classic. 

Losing Their Religion

I am shedding "lyte" on trends today.  New research conducted by the Pew Forum on Faith In Public Life has found that younger Americans are significantly less likely to go to church than their parents and grandparents.

Typically the group of people who do not attend church are affectionately referred to as "nones".  I am sure no pun is intended, but I sincerely hope it was.  Anyway, historically this group has been small, averaging somewhere between 5 to 10%.  Not anymore, this rate has shot up to between 30 and 40% for young people.

Now these young folks are not atheists.  They just don't identify with a particular organized religion or attend services.  They may be more inclined to identify themselves as spiritual as opposed to religious. That's my conjecture, the poll did not ask that question.

To some, this is the end of civilization.  They claim that the more religious you are, the more likely you are to give to charity, volunteer, and vote.  But if the only charity you support is your church, and the only place you volunteer is your church, just how much of an impact is that going to have on society as a whole?  And given the turnout of young Americans in the last election, I don't think they are suddenly going to stop engaging in our political process.  Part of the reason that many young people have turned away from Christianity is that many denominations have grown increasingly political.  They have seen their churches turn away from their spiritual path to a more rigid, conservative and judgmental one.

Does this mean that America may no longer be a Christian nation?  I don't know or much care.  We don't have a national religion and thank goodness for that.  But I do know that I personally became disenchanted with Christianity when it became clear that to be considered a "good" Christian, you needed to vote Republican.  When members of my church stopped following the words of Christ and started using the Bible to support ideologies of hate.  Like I used to say to my Bible study group, "We killed Christ the first time he showed up, do you think we would do anything differently when she shows up again?"  Of course, my choice of a female pronoun would cause consternation,  another reason that Christianity just didn't "take" for me.  The whole idea that God couldn't possibly be female.  

So for me, I am comforted by the idea that young Americans are less religious.  If this leads to a more tolerant, diversified citizenry, I think our country will be better for it.  But then again, we don't want to turn into France..or do we?  

Eye On The Ball

Today I am shedding some "lyte" on focus.  After 9/11, the Bush Administration invaded Afghanistan.  I totally supported this idea.  I also thought we should sit down with the Saudis and ask why 17 of the 19 hijackers came from their country, but that never happened since they are our oil suppliers.  Kind of like a junkie lecturing their pushers.

Then we invaded Iraq.  I never got this.  Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.  Saddam was a paper tiger.  Every justification that the Bush administration trotted out just insulted my intelligence.  WMDs, the central front in the war on terror.  No, I thought we wanted to control a major source of oil and picked Iraq as the easiest country to knock off.  Boy, were we wrong.

While we were busy in Iraq, the Taliban quietly took over Pakistan.  Moving across Afghanistan's porous border and taking advantage of the Pakistanis obsession with India, the Taliban has infiltrated and possessed the Swat valley.  Now they are within shouting distance of Islamabad and all those nukes.

Thanks George, Dick, and Donald.  While you guys played "Let's Make A Democracy" in Iraq, Al Queda slowly and patiently moved towards getting their hands on some nuclear weaponry.  Now it seems that Pakistan has woken up to the fact that India isn't their most pressing problem.  But their army isn't well-trained in counter-insurgency.  Doesn't this sound distressingly familiar?  

Where would we be if the previous administration had focussed on Afghanistan and Pakistan?  The real front on the war on terror.  Where the people who actually attacked us have been hiding.  Then we could say that they did keep us safe after 9/11.  

Instead, we are facing the unpleasant possibility of our avowed enemies possessing weapons of mass destruction.  For real this time.  I am confident that President Obama and his team will do everything they can to prevent this from happening.  But Pakistan needs to step up too and so far they have been reluctant.

At what point will Obama call for a time out?  He has been handed a plethora of problems created by former President Bush:  the economy, the environment, healthcare, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan.  The sheer level of incompetence and the consequences of that incompetence boggles my mind.  Obama is going to have to step up his game, big time.  Good thing he is a baller.  Or I couldn't sleep at night.  

    

Do Unto Others?

Today I am shedding "lyte" on Christian charity.  A new Pew Research Center survey is out and it was asking about support for torture and religious affiliation.  And guess what group is most likely to support torture?  Evangelical Christians!

More than 6 out of every 10 self-identifying Evangelicals support torture.   Apparently what most born-again Christians want to do is disregard one of the two commandments given by their personal savior.  "Love thy neighbor" only applies if there is not a ticking time bomb scenario.

The more often you go to church, the more likely you are to support torture.  Maybe because you are subjecting yourself to torture by going to church in the first place?  Of the religious, mainstream Protestants were least likely to support torture.  So does only being born once make you more compassionate?

This does not surprise me.  I am sure a majority of the folks who watch Fox News, listen to Rush Limbaugh, and attended a tea party are Evangelicals as well.  I have noticed a tendency towards smugness in born again Christians.  A strong sense of "I'm saved, and you're not."   I guess when you think you have a lock on heaven, how you treat others here on Earth just doesn't matter that much.