No wonder Jesus was a Carpenter

I never thought I'd find myself typing this, but I swear, I'll never look at The Carpenters the same again, specifically the song Top of the World after watching this video.

Anyway, give it a minute - it's pretty well done and it's only three minutes long. More later on the Website I got it from.

Latest This Modern World

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Pathetic coverage on GOP sicko

I don't know what's more pathetic - Sen. Larry Craig's (R-ID) press conference yesterday, which he denied wrong doing for lewd conduct in a men's room at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport AFTER pleading guilty a lesser charge, or the coverage that has surrounded the predictable media circus. Take a look at a California CBS affiliate's coverage of the sad spectacle...

Funny, in a way, but also pathetic. It's no wonder no one under 50 watches local news anymore. They have absolutely nothing to ad to any discourse whatsoever. This looks like something that would be performed at a college television station.

More on Sen. Craig later.

CMB wakes up... soon!

I'm sorry about all of the inactivity (for the 10th time in the last few weeks). Life's been pretty hectic, and I've been very occupied with other things as of late, including starting school. I promise I'm going to get back on the blogging horse though, starting later tonight.

Please stay tuned - lots more to come. Although I haven't been writing, I've been (mostly) keeping up with what's going on in the political world, so I've got plenty on my mind, believe me.

More in a bit.

Sunday comics

I haven't posted any cartoons in a few weeks, so this is more of a best of than a weekly round-up. It's been quite the few weeks, though - from Mitt Romney's laughingly absurd comment about his sons serving their country by helping him get elected to the mine disaster to Rasputin Rove calling it a day, the political cartoonists have had a field day - and I laugh (and wince, in the case of Iraq cartoons) at all of them. Like 'em or hate 'em, they are thought provoking, that's for sure. Enjoy.

Latest This Modern World

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Washington pictures are now up

I know I've been off of here for a little while, but I'm back! I just wanted to let readers know that I've posted quite a few pictures on the other blog from our trip to Washington State - there's a few neat ones, including the above image I took of a bear right across the river from us. If you want to check them out click Here.

More later today - TMW now

I know it's been awhile, but I promise to return later on this evening. I've been very busy with a number of things since we returned from Seattle, and quite of bit of that business has been photography. (Hop on over to EOS Mío if you'd live to see some snaps from our trip.)

Rest assured, I've been keeping up with all of the nonsense in our world of politics, and over the next few days, I'll be typing my fingers down to nubs.

In the meantime, here's the latest This Modern World. Sadly, it's as poignant as ever about what passes for political discourse in this country.

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One year ago today...

It's hard to believe that a year has gone by already - one year ago today, Vandra and I were married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I still have a tough time looking at the pictures, because I miss it so much. It literally was the time of our lives, but it seemed like it was over in the blink of an eye.

We were blessed with great weather (scorching, but it didn't rain) and wonderful family and friends. And, as you can see, our photographer was top notch all the way.

Happy Anniversary, honey. Here's to many, many more years of happiness and hopefully good fortune.

Sunday Comics

Another week gone by, and another great round-up of political cartoons. The first four in this week's edition are among this year's best, and of course I'll be blogging about these topics very soon.

Speaking of blogging, I'll get back to what I love to do - commenting on politics and a little sports, late tonight and tomorrow. I apologize for all of the inactivity - I've been very busy this week. I'd get back at it today, but today's a pretty special day. More on that in a minute.

Aug. 9 - another bad day

Sorry for all of the inactivity - we just returned from Seattle the day before yesterday, and yesterday I want to a Dave Matthews Band concert, so I'm getting back on track. I just finished two books, and the political world never sleeps, so I've got plenty on the way, believe me.

In the meantime, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on another crazy day in history. Since I read a lot about history, two pretty big things happened on this date that I was not around to witness, and one from the world of sports that I do remember, and I'll never forget.

I suppose I'll go in chronological order, since it's tough to pick between the first two:

Sixty-two years ago today, the U.S. dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. It barely gets a mention in the U.S. media, but in Japan, it's observed each and every year. Since the number of survivors from both atomic bombings are shrinking by the year, observing the anniversaries of the atomic bombings takes on added importance in Japan (and it should in the U.S.). The photo above is often misidentified as being the Hiroshima bomb cloud, but it is in fact from the Nagasaki blast.

Above, people carry the head part of Virgin Mary image on Papal See in Nagasaki earlier today. The head part of the image was found amid debris of Urakami Cathedral in the suburbs of Nagasaki about two months after the bombing.

Above, people attend a ceremony held in front of the Statue of Peace at Nagasaki Peace Park earlier today. Nagasaki marked the 62nd anniversary of the world's second, and so far the last, atomic bomb attack with a somber ceremony and calls for the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide. If I live another 50 years, I pray that I never live to see the horror of another nuclear weapon detonation on people. It's a realistic fear that we may indeed see one though, and in America.

Above, this photo from video, from HBO, shows atomic bomb survivor Etsuko Nagano holding a picture of herself as a child in Nagasaki, Japan, during the making in 2005 of the HBO documentary film White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Filmmaker Steven Okazaki interviewed 14 survivors for the film, which premiered on HBO on Monday, Aug. 6, 62 years after the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

This weekend I'm going to watch the HBO film, and I'll bring you my thoughts on it. Here's a short clip from the film...

Today's probably the single biggest day in history that gave us the media coverage and political system we have today. (And, an annoyance - the reason we have "-gate" as a suffix to any political scandal of note.)

Thirty-three years ago today, President Nixon resigned in disgrace for abusing his power, attempting to subvert the Constitution, and thinking he was above the law. Sound familiar? It should.

Anyone who lived through Watergate can never forget Nixon's hubris to the very end of his presidency and beyond. I was three years old on August 9, 1974, so I don't remember, but the subject has always been one of fascination with me, and probably always will be, as long as good books continue to be churned out about he Nixon presidency. (And that's showing no signs of slowing down.) Above, Nixon does his ridiculous victory wave before he boards Marine One for his trip into exile in San Clemente, California.

Tell me if you notice the difference...

Between this...

...and this.

Nixon's resignation didn't hurt the country then, and Bush's impeachment wouldn't hurt the country now. Nixon more than deserved his fate, and the Bush presidency deserves a similar ending - impeachment. He'd never resign, and it looks like the Democrats are allowing Bush to get away with the many, many subversions of the law over the last nearly seven years.

Compared to the other two, the Wayne Gretzky trade pales in comparison, but it was my worst day ever as a sports fan - when the defending Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings on this day 19 years ago in 1988. I would argue that it is right up there with the trade that brought Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees as one of the worst sports trades in the history of professional sports. This trade was that huge.

The entire nation of Canada, where hockey is the first, second and third biggest sport, was outraged. I still remember where I was and who told me - my friend Brian called me up and said, "Hey man, Gretzky just got traded." I didn't even believe him - I thought he was kidding. I turned on the TV, and for one of the few times since I was a little kid, I sat down and cried over sports. (I also did when Gretz played his last game as a Ranger in 1999 when he retired.)

The Oilers' Cup victory in 1990 eased the pain a little, but it's difficult not to wonder how many Cups the Oilers could have won had #99 not been traded. It's almost too painful to contemplate. I'm guessing the team could have won at least 2-3 more championships above the five it won from 1984-1990, but we'll never know.

August 9 - not a fun date when I think about it.

Top photo AP file photo
Second & third photos AP/Kyodo News
Fourth photo AP/HBO

Aug. 6 is truly a dark day in history

Sixty-two years ago today, our country unleashed the most lethal killing device known to man at the time - the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I have to admit that I get annoyed whenever the anniversary rolls around, and the history revisionists simply claim, "We should not have dropped the bomb." It's a debate that will undoubtedly outlive me if I live to be 100.

What people forget is that it's very hard to recreate the atmosphere and thinking that existed at the time. To me, all discussion on that time and that war should keep that in mind. Unless you lived it, and fewer and fewer of the people who actually did are with us to bear witness, I believe it's more difficult to accurately convey what World War II was like. The Japanese attacked us, and brought war to our shores. Even worse, they were going to fight to the death had we invaded their homeland.

People seem to forget perspective on the war, however. We killed more people during the firebombing of Tokyo and the bombing of Dresden, but that hardly ever gets any mention, because the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was accomplished with one bomb. In the end, while both events were tragedies for the people of Japan, I believe they both saved many lives on both sides, and ultimately they helped bring to an end a brutal war that killed over 30 million people.

August 6 is also infamous for another reason - this is the date, six years ago, that President Bush received his Presidential Daily Briefing while on vacation in Crawford, Texas "ranch" entitled, "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US." Were the plans for 9-11 too far along to have been thwarted, even if Bush had taken steps to prevent it? We'll never know, but what we do know is that the president did. ... Nothing.

I just finished reading two books that deal in part with 9-11 specifically and what the intelligence community knew prior to 9-11. It's sad and tragic that we had the raw data that could have thwarted the attacks, yet our intelligence community was too slow, unresponsive and unprepared to effectively deal with the threat.

Of course, I don't place blame for all of these problems squarely on Bush's shoulders, either. That would be myopic and partisan; the intelligence community had atrophied for years if not decades.

What I blame Bush for was again, doing nothing.

We really won't forget.

Bottom photo via Mock, Paper, Scissors

Rudy's daughter is for Obama

This is sort of a non-story story, but it indicates something, too. When your old children won't back you to be president, maybe you have just a few character flaws? I dunno, just a hunch. There is a saying about Rudy that has gotten a great deal of play since he announced his candidacy: "Those who know him best like him least."

Here's the story, via AP:

The daughter of Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani has signaled she's backing Democrat Barack Obama for president.According to her Facebook profile, Giuliani's 17-year-old daughter, Caroline, belonged to Democrat Barack Obama's Facebook group "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)." She left the group Monday morning after the online magazine Slate sent an inquiry.

Her profile can be viewed by Facebook users who have access to New York City's Trinity School or Harvard University networks. Caroline, who is Giuliani's daughter with his second wife, Donna Hanover, recently graduated from Trinity and will attend Harvard in the fall.

Slate posted a screen shot of her profile, which uses a slightly different last name. She lists herself as having liberal political views.

Giuliani, campaigning in Iowa, declined to comment on his daughter's political preference.

"My daughter I love very much," he told reporters outside an Italian restaurant in Clear Lake. "I have great respect for her, and I'm really proud of her, and I don't comment on children, because I want to give them the maximum degree of privacy.

"The best thing to do, if you want to ask the press to leave the children alone, the best way to do it is not to comment on them one way or the other, except to say you're very proud of them, and you love them very much, which I do," he said.

The Obama campaign did not have any comment.

Giuliani, a leading Republican candidate, has asked for privacy to deal with strained relationships in his family. Son Andrew, 21, has said their relationship became distant after Giuliani's messy divorce from the children's mother and his marriage to third wife Judith Nathan.

"There's obviously a little problem that exists between me and his wife," Andrew Giuliani told The New York Times earlier this year.

In May, Giuliani attended his daughter's high school graduation but kept a low profile, sitting in a last row balcony seat with his wife and leaving without speaking to his daughter, the New York Daily News reported.

Again, this isn't a huge, sensational, politically damaging story in any significant way, but I'm guessing this will make more than a few people wonder. However, I guess that will depend on whether character counts anymore. (It did during the Clinton years, remember?) Lousy father? Check. Lousy husband? Check. Despised mayor, pre-9-11? Check. Myths about his 9-11 leadership? Debunked on a daily basis, with plenty more to come.

Rummy returns to lie about Tillman murder

I'm so delighted to see that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has crawled out from under his rock to mislead Congress and the American people regarding the Pentagon's cover-up about the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman in Afghanistan.

Here is Rumsfeld's opening statement:

On its face, Rumsfeld's comments sound sincere and heartfelt. Of course, we have strong reason to suspect otherwise. There is increasing evidence that the Pentagon and the Department of Defense knowingly lied about the circumstances surrounding Cpl. Tillman's death. The lies and cover-up served two purposes: 1. To maintain and build public support for the war on terrorism, and 2. To conceal the real truth - that Tillman was killed by Friendly Fire. Even more troubling, there is mounting evidence that he was murdered by a U.S. soldier(s).

Rummy's opening statement is little more than PR boilerplate, but then again, we are used to hearing that from him, because from the beginning of the Bush presidency until his departure from the Pentagon in December of last year, we heard little else from him.

By the way, I love Rummy's use of the word fratricide. The appropriate term in the case of Tillman, would be murder, but that would be unacceptably honest for a guy like Rumsfeld.

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that no one will be held adequately accountable for this national, inexcusable disgrace and cover up? I mean, it's not like appropriate people haven't been held accountable before in this administration for misdeeds, right?

h/t to PoliticsTV for the video clips

Latest This Modern World

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Al Franken for U.S. Senate - the funny man with a serious campaign

Al Franken, the former comedian and radio talk-show host turned politician, is running himself a great campaign for U.S. Senate so far against incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN). Right now, he's about 10 points behind, up from about 30 down about eight months ago, and he's equaling Coleman in fund raising. Pretty impressive for a political neophyte.

If Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger can be elected governors of Minnesota and California, then surely Franken can win against Norm Coleman. (The fact that Franken is running in the same state that elected Ventura should say a great deal about his chances of winning - Minnesotans embrace candidates for office who are not run-of-the-mill politicians.)

Anyway, take a look at the video above - it's Franken's introduction to voters. As a Philadelphian, I'm writing about Franken because I'm concerned where our country is going, and I'm following a number of races in '08. Each and every race in the U.S. Senate will be critical, and Progressives need all the help they can get. I really like Al because I feel that I came to know him, at least a little bit, by listening to The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio during its nearly three-year run. Franken's show was one of wit, information an humor, in that order. Many people who have never listened to the show have criticized it, but if they had actually given the show a chance, I believe they would have come around. His show was not, I repeat, not in the vein of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage or Sean Hannity shows - it didn't tear people down, it made political points with humor and informative guests.

In short, Norm Coleman had best not underestimate Franken, or he'll be former Senator Norm Coleman. (I believe he will be, anyway.) Al's smart as a whip, he knows politics and policy and he really is a true Progressive.

If you have the means, regardless of where you live, I urge you to support Al Franken, even if it's just five bucks. Every dollar counts, and every supporter will make the difference in his race against Coleman.

Dodd & O'Lielly battle; Dodd gets the KO

This one got my blood boiling, but not in a bad way. Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democratic candidate for president (who'd not doing so hot in the polls), really takes it to O'Reilly about his laughably absurd jihad against the Website Daily Kos. Watch the hilarity ensue as BOR's crossed eyes nearly go straight as he foams at the mouth in the wake of Dodd's calm, steady barrage. BOR gets even angrier when his usual tactic of shouting someone down falls flat.

Quite frankly, Dodd hits the nail right on the head - it's not the few offensive comments on the site out of tens of thousands that BOR is mad about, it's the site's prevailing political point of view. (This is the same reason O'Lielly hates Media Matters, The Huffington Post, too; they expose him for the serial liar he is, period.)

I've written it before and it bears repeating - if Fox News is so Fair and Balanced, where was Billy's outrage when Rush Limbaugh accused the Clintons of murder on numerous occasions, when Ann Coulter accused 9-11 widows of enjoying their husbands' deaths, or when Dick Cheney and George Bush asserted on an almost daily basis leading up to the '04 election that "if the Democrats win, the terrorists win"? Of course O'Lielly was nowhere to be found, because calling out those agents of hate would have gone against his right-wing agenda. But, I won't let facts get in the way of a good Billy rant. It just occurred to me what BOR really is - the Jerry Springer of political talk shows. Both productions share similar traits: a few million watch, but each show enjoys about the same amount of nano-credibility; all but a few know the shows are staged bullshit to entertain; and even fewer say the words credible and either O'Reilly or Springer in the same sentence.

Hey Bill - aren't there some women you need to sexually harass? Better yet, go home and polish your Peabody Awards you didn't win (yet you publicly claimed you did).

Bill O'Lielly - giving hope to losers & liars everywhere.

Hillary gets heckled, crowd responds

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This is pretty interesting footage, via CNN. Hillary Clinton got heckled recently at a campaign stop in South Carolina, and the crowd responded in kind. Honestly, this is not a bad thing - we need more of it. (In lieu of the Secret Service's most un-American "Protest Zones" wherever President Bush makes an appearance, which is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen connected to a presidential speaking engagement.)

It's also worth noting that the man wasn't physically assaulted or removed, as was often the case during the '04 campaign when anyone dared speak out against President Bush during one of his campaign stops.