Adventures in My Mind
 |
 |
 |
 |
Sep 20, 2005
'Makeover' sued over woman's suicide - Sep 20, 2005
Yet another sad drama that the participants were happy to parade in front of our demented and voracious TV-watching audience. Only this time, there were complications that no one had anticipated.
The plaintiff admits to being ugly and she wanted the producers of the television show to make her pretty. But most of all, she wanted them to make her famous. They do produce a highly successful television show with millions of visitors after all. Let's not kid ourselves, she was not attempting to assuage her feelings of inadequacy through the cool salve of a surgical scapel. She was pumping up her deflated self-image with the highly addictive drug of instant fame.
And her sister was going along for the ride. The suit alleges that the (now deceased) sister was coerced into saying that her sibling was ... oh, the horror ... ugly. Guess what she is. Of course that is no fault of her own, but I don't doubt that the sisters had hundreds of conversations, and even fights, over the years about her obviously repellent visage. This time, however, the cameras were rolling. Oops.
Of course, this would've not been a problem if the producers wouldn't have cancelled her appearance. The celebrity of primetime television would've wiped the slate clean. But alas, it wasn't to be. So torn with guilt over how she was prepared to call her much loved sister an ugly beastie on national TV, she comitted suicide.
And one more of course, the fault lies completely with the producers of the show. At least that is what the plaintiff and her attorneys allege.
Yes. The producers have some culpability in this, but it is minor. Their culpability begins and ends with their desire to exploit those who wish to be exploited and to extract a profit from the ugliness of human nature.
Because in the end, its not her face that she should be worried about. It is the dark place in her soul that allowed her to put her ugliness on display for our pity and believe the lie that beauty begins from the outside.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 6:12 PM
A Few Treasured Possessions
Yes, W. is actually proposing to make permanent the tax cuts he gave to his wealthy friends even as he proposes an estimated 200 billion in Federal money to repair Katrina-damaged New Orleans. None of that money, btw, has so far been earmarked for rebuilding the coastal wetlands surrounding New Orleans, a natural barrier that would've spared the city from such catastophic damage.
Treasury Secretary John Snow, in a fit of near omniscence, has predicted sustained budget defecits for the next 18 to 24 months. Jeez, thanks Mr. Secretary.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 9:01 AM
Sep 15, 2005
One nation (not always), under God (since 1954)
E.J. Montini of the Arizona Republic writes about the hyper-sensitivities surrounding our wrestlings with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Here's my favorite part ...Why not reinforce the idea that as politicians and the courts argue over the "under God" part, no citizen can be forced to pledge allegiance to the flag, because the "republic for which it stands" protects the rights of everyone, even those with whom the majority of us disagree.But then rational thought and reasoned discourse doesn't buy votes among the uber patriots and Bible thumpers does it?
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 3:24 PM
That wasn't hard was it?
Of course not, he can't be held accountable in the next election. If he takes full (non) responsibility, the succeeding Republican candidate in '08 can wash his hands of the federal disaster mishandling. Katrinagate, they're calling it I believe. And with Brown gone, the lightning rod for criticism is removed.
Anyway, of course it was easy. He has nothing to lose.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 10:03 AM
Sep 14, 2005
Seth's Blog: Bureaucracy = Death
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 10:53 AM
Could you repeat the question, Senator?
If only that was a look of terror, but alas it is not. Roberts will be approved along a strict party line vote. And we are all in for a good 25 to 30 years of his lack of regard for privacy, voting, and due process rights.
Of course, their is a possibility that he could pull a Suter, who was nominated by Bush the Elder, and turn out to be much more progressive than his supporters thought. Or maybe that he will be much more concerned about running a good court as Chief and be less concerned about pushing his clearly visible conservative agenda. Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt!
Actually, I'm very much in wait and see mode. We've had far more Republican years than Democratic over the last 40 years and we don't have a radical right court. Not yet, you say? Well, maybe so. But I do want to wait and see. Clearly Bush's two nominations at once will swing the court for a period.
Do any of you know Justice John Paul Stevens? If so, see if you can persuade him to retire in 09 and not before.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 9:55 AM
Sep 11, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dennis Roddy writes about Hysteria 101, wherein he describes the fictions that are told in the absence of, or in spite of the truth.
I consider myself a storyteller. I am a published writer, filmmaker, blogger, Internet marketer, and all around raconteur of various other persuasions. I am not afraid of stories. In fact, stories are how we communicate. Everything that we know and do is transferred to us via a story of some type. The forms and varieties are numerous: fables, legends, myths, parables, religions, cultures, brands, etc.
Most of the time the truths represented in our shared stories are timeless. The characters, facts, and events are fictional, but the themes portrayed are perceived as truths valuable to the human condition. These themes often include selflessness, obedience, loyalty, dedication, committment, veracity, and temperance.
Over the course of human existence we've used stories to move these values from generation to the next particularly in the wrappings of our shared cultures. Stories are responsible for transferring the best that we have to offer each other to one another, ensuring a cultural integrity that provides value and truth to the participants.
Stories are also used to create negative experiences, artificially manipulating and controlling thought and behavior (See my post from 9.07.2005). We know these stories as lies, fabrications, half truths, and misrepresentations. Sometimes we are capable of seeing through the falsehoods and dismissing them for the fraudulence they are.
The Bush administration which has relied heavily on our inability to make such distinctions is wipping up a fresh batch of libels, forgeries, and distortions to spin its response to Katrina. Not satisfied with labeling our efforts in Iraq as a war against terrorism, they are hard at work spinning the events of the past two weeks. As Roddy writes Iraq became synomous with Bin Laden. And in so doing Bush swept the nation along into a war, a la our friend Mr. Goering.
Roddy concludes:This talent for conflating one thing with another to create alternative truths went into full bloom as the Gulf Coast turned into a swamp and people died for lack of a coordinated rescue.
The White House and Bush's apologists, stung by criticism that federal response was lacking, went in search of everything from the political registration of the New Orleans mayor to 100 school buses swamped in a lot, to shift blame for people stranded days after the storm.
They dealt with New Orleans the same way they dealt with Iraq. Confronted with inconvenient facts, they constructed an alternative narrative. When one reality doesn't suit, they retreat to the madrassas of Fox News and talk radio.
Two conflicting realities, fact and opinion, stand like Twin Towers of unreality, a ready target for the next enemy we misjudge and the history that will someday wonder how an empire could enwrap so much of the world and not comprehend what it embraced.I, for one, do not believe the hype.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 11:47 AM
Sep 9, 2005
Disaster chief's bio overstated record
Assistant to the city manager! Are you kidding me!
Obvisouly, this is about patronage. And even more obviously this is shameful.The Washington Post reported on Friday that five of eight top FEMA officials had come to their jobs with virtually no experience in handling disasters. The agency's top three leaders, including Brown, had ties to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign or the White House advance operation."Mike you've done such a great job helpin' me get elected, I'm gonna have somebody put you in charge a somethin'. Karl, find this man a job!"
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 11:56 AM
Sep 7, 2005
KATRINA TIMELINE
It's incredible how quickly republican hacks and apologists have started deflecting heat from W's administration.
I am convinced that these people are totally lacking in what we euphamistically call souls. They are borderline sociopaths who have no internal mechanisms to tell them to behave differently than they do. Either that or those internal checks and balances have been squashed and abused so badly by their vituperate attacks on truth and common decency that they can no longer muster any sort of resistance.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 4:23 PM
It works the same ...
Naturally the common people don't want war,
but they can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
Tell them they are being attacked
and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism
and endangering the country.
It works the same in every country.--Reichsmarschall Herman Goering at the Nuremburg Trials
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 1:30 PM
Sep 6, 2005
Daily Kos: Bush's response, in pictures
There is some hyperbole here, but if the shoe fits ...
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 4:33 PM
After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game
To be sure, someone is responsible for the woefully inadequate and tardy response from the federal government toward Katrina relief efforts. It's a week later and they are still playing catch up. What is not sure is whether anyone will take the fall for this gross dereliction of duty.
FEMA director, Mike Brown, whose work with the Arabian Horse Association was apparently the type of crisis management skills that W. was looking for in a FEMA director, should be run out of D.C. on a rail for his miserable performance over this last horrorific week. Michael Chertoff, his boss, should have a seat right next to Brown on their egress from Washington. Has our vaunted Homeland Security director helped you to feel safer since Katrina struck New Orleans? Or do you, like me, wonder what type of response we can expect in the event of terrorist attack against a major metro area?
At a minimum, Brown and Chertoff should be replaced post haste. I'm sure there are some people within the Louisiana EMA and HSA that could also use a good sacking over this.
More likely, however, W. will see the fine jobs that these people did in planning for and handling this crisis and promote them. Holler if you hear me, Condy Rice!
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 10:59 AM
Sep 3, 2005
George Bush doesn't care about black people.
I am at a loss over the apparent ineptitude of this government's response to hurricane Katrina. Accusations are flying. Some more relevant than others. But rapper Kanye West really dropped some bombs on live TV last night. NBC's A Concert for Hurricane Relief became West's stage to bash George Bush. After ranting about the media's portrayal of blacks in postg-storm New Orleans and scaring the shit out of Mike Myers, West finished up with what will surely be a long remembered quote, "George Bush doesn't like black people."
I have no personal knowledge of W's affection for persons of dark complexions, but I do know that he has killed them by thousands in Iraq and has seemingly sat by while thousands more are dying in New Orleans.
I also have the sneaking suspicion that the feds would've moved a lot faster had similar events transpired in TX or FL. Can you imageine Brother Jeb being reduced to begging for federal help during a radio interview like New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin? No. Me either.
I suppose W's confusion comes from the inability to declare war against a now defunct hurricane.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 10:23 PM
