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Just maybe the beginning of the end?

(5.17.13) Just a thought: If all politics are local, then all political edifices, especially those shamelessly media touted, that crumble is personal, at least for me. More than once I've stood bereft in front of a door as a woman declared, in most cases with good reason, "Its over!" and slamming the door to make a point.

Could the Obama-media romance really be over? Are media finally waking up and slamming the door? Do the ever so professional and high-brow members of the media, adorned with fairly empty credentials to start with--hey, inspite of their constant self congratulations they are not brain surgeons--now really expect a serious response after four years of spectacular in-your-face evidence that Obama's polices as well as personality and leadership capabilities were destined not to crash?

Where have they been for the last four years and even before? At fund raising cocktail parties with celebrities? Taking talking points from Bill Mahr, who laughingly scoffs at the idea government may actually make a list and eventually take your guns? (Hey, Bill, we now know government has been taking a list.)

They were in love with Obama. Somehow deep inside he fulfilled a need. In drug parlance, they were hooked from the start. He was one of them. Like a lover wooing, he said the right thing, had the right touch. Others have recorded their lover's obedience to the point of slavish prostration. He stroked their liberal sensitivities just right. They completely abandoned their duty, opting for easy reporting on topics like strategy instead of analysis. They were in love. That's their only defense.

Now that they are out of love, some are embarrassed as they emerge from their emotional caves and peer around the damage bleary eyed.

Now is the time for independents, Republicans disgusted with their own party, libertarians and conservatives to form a political coalition to build a rock steady base leaps ahead of institutional RINOs to secure small government and vibrant capitalism, engendered by a flat tax and elimination of the IRS and other unnecessary remnants of liberal fantasy.

The Klan visits Memphis, again, but did police restrictions go too far? Or is it just one of those things that's impossible for any police to get right?

(3.30.13 Memphis) Assembling reportedly to protest the name change of a park eponymously honoring their organization's founder Nathan Bedford Forest, members of the Ku Klux Klan was to have gathered here between 1:30-4:00 pm. They did but like bad boys who had to stay inside and practice the piano they chose or were "advised" to stay inside. One station got the bunch entering one of the buildings in the legal complex downtown and they never came out to play. Much to everybody's, especially the media judging by a local TV report, disappointment, ' twern't a white sheet nor pointy cap to be seen.

(story and pix continued here)

(3.30.13) Two pics of events in Memphis, left the "Klan Rally" that really was an "Anti-Klan Rally" and the Heart of Memphis counter event to the KKK at the same time.

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Ghosts of the Mississippi--The Klan to demonstrate again in Memphis //Redux// Photos coming

(3.24.13) A family of civil war reenactors taken overlooking high bluff of the Mississippi River near Ft. Pillow Park where Nathan Bedford Forrest is reported to have massacred black Union soldiers during the Civil War. The "optics" of this picture is a little aggressive. The young woman on horseback wants to be a veterinarian, the man is a combat Vietnam veteran and his wife is on the opposite side. Throughout the event I never heard a racially conscious word from anybody. That goes to the question of racism, culture and history--and how those categories can be separated. I believe the Civil War to be the formative influence in Southern culture.Not unrelated, the Ku Klux Klan, anachronistically enough, will demonstrate in Memphis next week over the renaming of Forrest Park. More coming with pix of the demonstration and "Heart of Memphis" counter event the same day. We'll try to have pictures of both.

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Kucinich says private debt nearly as bad as public debt,
adds to the fray: "forgive student loans"

(3-15-13) Fox News interview-Outspoken liberal and former House Dem OH Rep Dennis Kucinich, said he railed against the bailouts, warning at the time that the "yoke of debt" in mortgages, credit card and student loans were coming "dangerously close" to surpassing public debt. He said consumber debt could trigger another economic blowout the type of which triggered the Great Depression. Further, perhaps for the first time in major mass media, we heard "forgive student loans."

A smarmy Lauer, a smarmy network, stomach churning morning TV

(3.12.13) Well, we certainly don't watch it regularly unless you consider channel surfing as you click your way up to the cable networks qualifies. Apparently the 25 million dollar co-host of NBC's Today Show blew it with critics and the public yesterday as he tried to make nice with canned co-host Ann Curry. He virtually groveled at her feet to prove he was a nice guy. Hey, they got me all wrong! Regardless, the nypost.com went to town on poor Matt. We find it amazing anybody would watch the show when you have actual content options on Fox, Current, CNBC and even MSNBC, but there's no explaining taste...

3.16.13) Related: Just heard in CPAC: Every young person now has a $220,000 mortgage, not in a home but in national debt.

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Kommie Kat Mourns: Now Hugo is with Vlad

(3.7.13) In memoriam to the passing of the great Venezuelan communist leader Hugo Chavez, beloved by his party aparatchiks and Sean Penn, Kommie Kat meditates in reflection to the workers' God Vladimir Ilych Lenin. Though he robbed billions from his grateful people and did God knows what to his opponents, the mass media called him, like, "lovable" and all but lionized him as a revolutionary hero, Comrade Hugo courageously shut down the press that criticized him and did God knows what to his political opponents. Reportedly, his last words were, "I don't want to die," no doubt thinking of the years of unlimited power and endless money he would not get to bleed into his foreign accounts. Kommie Kat can relax. We're sure a similar true believer will find plenty reason to carry on the glorious revolution.

But his memory is not lost to Kommie Kat. Instead of waiting for May Day, we have rolled out the famous capture of our lefty feline worshipping Vlad in some sort of stupefied political state, not unlike the worshippers who still attend the Church of Obama. You can remember to. Just click the pic and you will go to an assortment of Leninist wares with Kommie Kat--from refrigerator magnets to framed pictures. You, to, worker peasant, can worship. more about this lefty

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NOT LIVE NOW--The Great Filibuster against presidential fiat to send in drones to kill you without warrant nor due process while you sit in a cafe in Memphis

(3.05.13) "...realize when someone tells you America is a battlefield, that the battlefield is here, they are telling you your rights don't apply," said Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), leading a filibuster now live (as of 1614 hours) in the Senate. And thus the Obama administration has taken yet another one of those steps of no return (unless you don't believe there's a slippery slope on the bluffs of executive power) that gives him the authority, according to Eric Holder before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, "to use drone strikes to kill Americans on US soil."

"It is an affront to the constitutional due process rights of all Americans," said Paul in the Senate hearing prior to launching his filibuster with a group of Democratic and Republican senators. It was said in the fili that it finally took four times to get a definite "no" answer from Holder to the repeated question of whether the president can kill someone on American soil sitting in a cafe presenting no eminent threat.

That left the filibustering senators decidedly inconfident of future abuse of not only (though Paul did not say it) this president, but for presidents to follow, not only in this particular area but in the outright destruction of constitutionally mandated balance of powers.

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It's the Tea Party stupid

(3.5.13) No surprise politicians are now vilifying the only effective grass roots tool to emerge in the last few years to control government spending-the Tea Party or parties. Rep. Jim Hines (D-Conn) said repeatedly on C-Span this morning both Dems and Reps are afraid to work together to manage government spending because the Tea Partiers will be all over their ass (my wording). Suddenly the sequestration lets everybody know both parties have failed America, both are willing to saddle oppressive generational debt on its children and reduce security, the latter the nation's first obligation. Almost embarassing as his effort to convince us a video caused Benghazi, is his most recent orchestration of cabinet members sent out to boo-hoo the public into thinking their precious progrms were collapsing around them. Another crass manipulation that is sure to backfire. Good.

More people are reaching the realization that while some may experience pain, the great majority of these so-called cuts will be absorbed into the endless, redundant, ever folding fat of government. Robert Levinson, a Bloomburg government analyst, said (following Hines in another program segment) sequester cuts mostly impact big items like ships and planes and services on the small end. But guess what? The government can cut back on its defense contracts without breaking them. So instead of ordering ten advanced fighter jets, it can order eight. Get it? It ain't that hard. He said even Republicans are not making noises that the military can be trimmed.

Anyway, sequestration is just the beginning. It is the little dog that has pulled back the curtain exposing the Oz of Obamaland. The lesson unintentionally provided by Obama himself is that painful cuts are better than no cuts at all.

ARGO, but is that Ben's piece?

(3.03.13 by Papi LoQuacious, Kulture Kritik)
By now everyone knows that ARGO won the Academy Award for best picture of the year. I have viewed this film on my DirectTV and it is best viewed with a drink in hand.

Now, I liked it overall. That Ben Affleck is not a very good actor-few if any nuance-and I kept wondering if that was his hair? But Alan Arkin and John Goodman are always entertaining. Since the film is not a deep character study or expose on the politics of 1970-80s Iran, dont be surprised that the Iranians and the hostages are never really shall we say , “fully embodied” but rather one dimensional presentations. (All the Iranian revolutionaries are US educated.)

Film built to last action 15 minutes or so when the hostages were trying to slip out of the country disguised as a film crew scouting for locations in rebellion torn Iran-- but hey this is a true story.

Tension is high at airport as the hostages plan to board and flee by airplane assisted by CIA operative Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck). Cleverly slipping by the Iranian guards, boarding the plane and just as Air Canada lifts off the landing field is swarmed by Iranian police. I doubt this truly happened – a little tooo Hollywood and little tooooo reminiscent of THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY.

Overall a B+ not great material-dont want to see if again - but ok. Best picture material? Well it did make Hollywood look awfully good. Does Ben Affleck wear a piece or what?

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Thanks Bill--Memphis was never the same

(Kulture Kritic, 5.17.13) I was sad at word this week that Bill Kendall, Memphis Art Leader, had passed unceremoniously alone in Atlanta last month.

I knew Bill and worked for him for many years when I was a film student at MSU. He brought Memphis an open door to film adventures-- like no other. And he paid a price for that innovation. I remember long lines around the block at the Studio Theater on Highland to see The Stewardess in 3-D; and the sold out Lavender Midnight Cinema at the Guild Theater on Poplar. But beyond high camp porn, which then attracted a variety of Memphis media and establishment types, he also brought real art films that made for even more unforgettable times with the showing of works like Romeo and Juliet, El Topo and most if not all John Cassavetes films, to name only a few. Regarding Cassavetes, he and other members of the cast came to Memphis when their movies opened here.

When these venues closed, there were no others even remotely like them and Memphis remains the less for it.

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I only know what I read in the papers:
The Comedy of Obama

The tenor of Sunday morning talk shows revealed a professional politicians crafty strategy not to wade in too deep about Obama's multiple failings. Don't want to be caught with our pants down and have you ever actually seen a RINO without pants? Not a pretty sight.

As Obama stonewalls questions about the biggest issue, Benghazi, the rest--the IRS mounting campaigns of destruction against Tea Party members and readers of forbidden books, illegal mass phone taps not to mention Attorney General Holder himself are presented as just FUBARs. After all both the president and his AG both claim to "know NOTHING" like Col. Klinke of Hogans Heroes, of the scandals propagated under their watch for months if not years.

Their incompetence has become their only defense and for his easily manipulated constituency and equally incompetent media that put him in office, save CNN and Fox News, formerly supportive members of the commentariot will find themselves on the end of the laughing stick they themselves used to beat up administration critics.

Comedian Bill Maher recently asserted people who think the government would take their guns, were "naive." Now, with evidence the IRS, as well as the EPA and even FBI, targeted conservative politcal organizations with demands of membership lists, speaker names, and even what books they read, perhaps Mr. Maher himself suffers from a naivite found only among liberals: the days of government doing grievous harm are long gone and, of course, it can do no wrong to its citizens and certainly not me.

For the first time, I heard a commentator hit the raw nerve of Benghazi for which there is no known anesthetic in this democratic body politic: the Commander in Chief flagrantly abandoning Americans under attack on American soil. Liz Trotta Sunday morning said such dereliction (my characterization) is unheard of in American history. Another Janet Rice type mouthpiece within the Obama admin was trotted out to Chris Wallace to declare questions about what the hell the president was doing/thinking as Americans died was "frankly offensive."

What's offensive of course is having to swallow Obama's policies and inflexible divisive ideological swil that is yielding the exact opposite as advertised.

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(3.30.13) Meanwhile, while the Klan was supposed to be parading around downtown, the "counter event" Heart of Memphis was held in midtown. Above, Wang-Ying Glasgow, Adult Services Coordinator for the Memphis Library and story teller, poses in a children's literary character.

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THE FIRST MOMENT OF SPRING, THE VERNAL EQUINOX, MEMPHIS 8:02 AM MARCH 20, 2013

(3.20.13) There is actual competition for Earth Day. One is a date started after the original earth day was started by John McConnell in 1969. The Vernal Equinox, where there's equal light and dark on both sides of the Earth ushering in the first moment of spring is 8:02 AM Wed. March 19 in Memphis. McConnell launched the movement to recognize the Vernal Equinox and celebrated it every year by ringing the peace bell at the United Nations. John died at the age of 97 last year. John C. Munday took over that tradition this year and rang the bell this year at the moment of VE. I worked with John in Los Angeles and New York. (He had no paid staff as far as I know.) I developed a page on John's life and the original Earth Day here. Mr. Munday offered two corrections: Even though John gave anthropologist Margaret Meade credit as co-creator, he says Earth Day was completely McConnell's idea and the peace bell was always run on the spring vernal equinox, not in December, which it may have been in the beginning as McConnell described it to me. What is known is that John grew the idea of Earth Day without any financial support to speak of and made it his life's work. It is celebrated at the UN and in cities around the world.

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(3.16.13) From a political speech by Sarah Palin at CPAC: She said she got a gun rack from her husband as a Christmas present, so she had to get him a gun. "He got a rifle. I got the rack," she deadpanned to long applause.

Also at CPAC, a crass age related joke by "youngest Fox Contributor" Steven Crowder made oh a really funny crack about Biden's "liver spotted" hands shaking the hand of the new Pope, who is 76, before he went on introduced Phyllis Schlafley, 83, who delivered a strong speech. Age jokes and cracks are heard often in events and conservative media, such as from Beck's sidekicks. And its getting worse as society gets younger. The commentariot knows better than to berate women, minorities and nationalities, but they apparently haven't gotten the memo yet about their constituents over 40.

The preview bout in gun control

(3-14-13) This morning the Senate Judiciary Committee presented a preview bout of all the points surrounding Feinstein's gun control bill, complete with constitutional punches and personal fireworks.

Much of the vote in the senate will come down on whether you are a loose or strict constitutionalist. If the former, expect a distortion of fact and technical data behind a curtain of cloudy emotion. In what had to be the ironic moment of the hearing, Dem Franken chastised Rep Cruz for quoting the committee's own studies that limitations on the AR15 would make little difference in gun violence outcome while not mentioning the same studies indicated it would take further study to tell if it would. The Reps by that time had already left the room, so no one was left to question even the wisdom of voting on a bill when its own committee research indicated it might not have its intended effect anyway.

Deja Vu for the Dems: ram it through like Obamacare.

So, do you believe "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" means just that or do you think there are exceptions for public safety that is superior to bearing arms "necessary to the security of a free State"? This battle is about one or the other.

Citing banning large magazine sizes and different types of firearms Americans could legally own, Cruz asked Feinstein directly, if she would put restrictions on the first (freedom of the press, religion, speech, assembly, redress of grievances) and fifth (grand juries, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, due process, private property protection) amendments in the same way she is putting on the second.

She flared at the question, telling him she needed no lecture on the constitution and that she had worked with the constitution for twenty years. When Cruz pressed for an answer, she said only, simmering, "No." Yet, other Rep. senators on the committee subsequently interjected there were indeed restrictions on the first, such as yelling fire in a crowded theatre and child pornography. Similarly, the second had restrictions on such things as machine guns, the Dems argued.

In another committee vote, the Dems prevailed in not excluding Feinstein's restrictions for people in border states who are increasingly assaulted by illegal aliens and the Mexican drug war.

Beyond that were the arguments heard in every quarter from Dems who wail in the blood of innocents to conservatives who show convincing evidence that "long" guns have the bad results the Dems have glommed on to. Next stop: a vote in the Senate. Watch the full hearing this morning here

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It happened in Memphis...

Animals in street + speeding cars =
heart breaking accidents

(3.08.13) We're not usually into running shots of car accidents, but we give ourselves permission when dogs running the streets get in the way of traffic, especially on streets known to be little raceways (like on James Rd. between Rangeline and Watkins). Excuse our libertarian leanings, but accidents like these should never happen and there should big time sanctions against animal owners who let their dogs run wild as well as speeders who hit them. We don't think city streets are within libertarian purview: they belong to the public and should be monitored aggressively. (But from my personal experience, Memphis drivers are the worst.)

The German shepherd lying in the street above, still had a chain around its neck. Follow the street around the bend and immediately out of sight is the accident location. Though there are two vehicles in the inset shot, two other parked vehicles were apparently involved as well. Now here's the thing: a witness who had been driving west said she saw another "big white dog" at the side of the jeep and "a puppy"in the gutter, both dead, behind the dark car (inset). Let's be clear: these were pets, members of a household. I have seen the German Shepard walking about before. I'm sure I would recognize the "big white," as well. They got out. They're dead and frankly they deserved better.

But let me return to the question: could a car speeding east have hit this dog, continued around the bend, encountering two other dogs and oncoming traffic perhaps trying to miss cars and/or dogs? Clearly at least one dog and thankfully no people, could be seen dead in the street. Police didn't seem to be aware of any canine factor in the accident, though I only had a chance to ask one officer.

I have taken heartbreaking shots of people and animals lying mangled and dead in the streets of Memphis. I lived and worked 20+ years in Los Angeles and never saw animals dead and maimed in the street as I see in Memphis. In fact, I can't remember seeing any, except for gang members brought down in shootouts. Not without reflection do I say it reveals a certain high handed disregard to life until...until... I realize I am guilty of the same thing. Before there was a law to keep animals penned, I lost pets to animals that were untrained to stay the hell out of the street. Trying to sniff the tires won't make it.

Now, here's another take on running down animals... This picture was taken in early spring of last year. A Canadian goose run down, significantly, in front of an elementary school. Across the street is a church with a pond where they stay each year in their migration south. Now, a goose of this size is almost three feet and walks all of three miles an hour, I'm guessing. You'd have to be blind to miss it. Yet, someone did. BTW Canadian geese mate for life. For days after the flock flew off, perhaps sensing danger, its mate lay in a paper sheet wrapped up respectfully by church maintenance. It wandered the field until it too took flight. Canadian geese are known to remate. Finally, it flew off to another migratory spot.

Regardless their marital traditions, I've never seen a more reckless bunch of drivers toward people and animals for a city this size. Perhaps its time the city goes the extra step in policing traffic and controlling animals--including instituting creative and humane animal control measures. Visitors, natives and animals alike need not experience the above in Memphis.

(Sunday 3-10-13) Update: passed the scene today and the large German shepherd is still in the road. Either none of the neighbors or the owner called or they tried and could not find the number on the city's Web site. I didn't. I finally did a general search online and came up with 901.272-2409 where I got a message advising me there would be no pickups on weekends. Really? The animal is supposed to decompose and get splattered in the middle of the street over the weekend? Really? On numerous occassions I've called during the weekend and they were quick to get out, for health and safety reasons alone there should be a weekend number for these types of pickups.

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