Finally, Some Information

Blogging from the 'berry, so no links. Plus, i am in VA so barely any source material or inclination to sit at a computer. But the big news is that my slate has its site up. www.grassrootsprogressives.org. Content is forthcoming, as are the fundraising appeals.

At Least One Person Thinks He's Funny

(Shaking My Head)

Today's Stuff White People Like concerns San Francisco. So accurate that I can't really even laugh.

Where have I been, you wonder? Most recently, like all weekend, we've been easter egg hunting. L had so much sugar this morning that at one point he clutched his heart and said it hurt. It was pounding terrible hard. Now that The Big Case has wound down, B is El Futzo, and so new plants have been planted, lists have been made, skis have been loaded into the car, and the guys are off for the mountains. And by guys, I mean B and L. Qu and I are going to stay close to home, maybe go out to dinner tonight alone.

Aside from work, I am actually ramping up on this wierd campaign I'm on. Once we (my slate) get our website up, I will blog more about it, but for now, its all too ephemeral to even talk about.

Grossed Out

There's an "ad" on NPR promoting a movie that "proves that the love between a mother and son knows no bounds." (a) that's gross; there are bounds to that love, I hope. (b) how could a movie "prove" that?

Live Blogging From The Deep South

I am here in Oxford with Mr. Scobs, and let me just say, the South is a lot prettier in my memories.

And that's all I am going to say for now.

St. Scobie's Mock Brackets

It's that time of the year again! No, not the Leprechaun Hunt. That's illegal now. It's brackets time. And I don't mean Wire brackets. College basketball brackets. I even invited EOH so he can scorn this process in another forum. And yes, I agree, it's terrible and exploitative. But it kills some time. To join, click HERE.

Hillary Flick

Enjoy:

The Silence That Speaks Volumes

Maybe I just haven't been playing close enough attention (but that's unlikely, since I am obsessed), but there has been one Hillary Clinton "surrogate" who has been remarkably quiet about the Senator's foreign policy experience, and that's Bill Clinton. Since she allegedly garnered all this expertise as the First Lady, don't you think Bill would be the person in the best position to describe the responsibilities he gave her, and the trust he put in her counsel on foreign policy matters? But we haven't heard a word from him, and it isn't just because he's being kept under lock and key.

The pundits are all saying that the Spitzer "situation" shines a harsh light on the skeletons in Bill's closet, but it made me think one other thing. If Hill was hanging out in the Oval Office all the time acting as co-President, wouldn't she have noticed Monica Lewinsky skulking around? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Bill Bradley - Wire fan

Clearly, Bill Bradley is a fan of The Wire. From Political Wire:

"The bigger the lie, the better the chance they think they’ve got. That’s been their whole approach."-- Former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), quoted by the Times of London, on Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

I Direct Your Attention

The first letter in the Science Times is written by the indefatiguable Nelson Marans, God bless him.

Some Changes

No one commented on the name changes. I tried to shake it up, but alas, no one cared. It's just St. Scobie's to you.

I added FreeRice in the Links. Addictive for nerdy do-gooders, I promise.

And some changes to contemplate: I made it onto the June 3 ballot to run for Democratic Party Central Committee. Will my political career spell the end of my freewheeling blogging? Will you have to attend committee meetings at the Fremont Library the first Wednesday night of every month to hear my bon mots and droll criticisms? I just don't know. I think it probably depends on if I win. If you live in or near my county, expect to receive an email soon asking for support of the Vote For Me type.

The Wire Finale

In deference to T&A, there are spoilers in this post. So don't read it if you are worried you might learn something you don't want to know.

I must say, last night's episode of The Wire, an hour-an-a-half series finale, was so great, so satisfying, so happy-making, that its hard to even feel sad about the end of the series.

But before I get into it, I want to revisit my predictions:

1. Michael will kill Omar. I didn't get it right, but I didn't get it wrong either ("This is based on the fact that Omar saw Michael having a meeting with Marlo in that dingy courtyard last season. 'Just a kid,' he says.").

2. Cheese may turn on Prop Joe (with a little help from Marlo). Uhh, ya think?

3. Daniels will get caught up in a police corruption scandal that impedes his rise to the top. Check.

4. The "Rawls is gay" storyline may not go anywhere. I wish I had been more forceful with this prediction. So that's what, 3-1?

5. A cop will get killed. Can't win 'em all.

6. Clay Davis will not avoid indictment but he will take down everyone he can with him (see #3 above, and possibly prove me wrong on #4). Or maybe he will cop to some little thing, and be out in 4 months to become the top-rated radio host in Baltimore, ala Ed Norris. I am not sure which way this one cuts. Davis did not avoid indictment but he didn't get convicted either. Half a point?

7. I think we are going to see Kima's old woman Cheryl back again.

In all, I went 3.5-3. Not great.

As for the rest of y'all, I am waiting for your Wire brackets, so I can tally the first round winners.

As for the show itself, I am just tickled that it accomplished everything it set out to do, and came full circle on all the best (and worst) characters in the show. Simon did not let the shortened format of 10 shows put a crimp in his love letter to Baltimore, with his beautiful shots of the city itself, and its residents. He took every minute he had and stretched it out to say something without hitting us with it over his head. A little bit of the show rang false (Dukie's descent seemed a little too fast, especially for a child of addicts) but only a very little. I bet Bubs sitting down for dinner at this sister's table was a shot that lasted less then 3 seconds, but it means the whole world.

I Totally Love This Story

This is great.

My Big City Cousins

Cousin Kate, Bubs-spotter, Bubs-almost-hitter*, saw the actor who plays Chris Partlow in Brooklyn today. It just ain't fair.

And the reason Kate's in B'lyn is because Cousin Jed is rockin' the Whitney with his bad self. The New York Times has a video about the Biennial and Jed's piece can be seen in the video. Kate describes his piece as "A white panel sculpture that covers a wall and a large multi-colored block."

A better place to see the artwork is probably at the Whitney itself. But I can't carry you there myself....

*I think she almost hit him with her car in a parking lot at his favorite restaurant in LA or something.

I Just Can't Do It

K. challenged me to listen to Alex Beinstein's interview of Phil Singer, in its entirety, and I have to admit, I just can't to do it. It isn't physically possible. I was listening for the first 9 minutes, and then like a ghost, like a phantom limb, my hand floated to the keyboard and clicked on a link to another page. *DRAT* I thought. I meant to listen to that.

Anyone out there want to take the K Challenge? Here's the interview.

Why the NLRB Should Be Abolished

In case you doubt that being a union lawyer has been an almost totally futile exercise during the Bush administration, I thought I would share this story with you. An employee is talking to her co-workers during their lunch break in the hospital cafeteria about her support for the union. A manager tells her to leave, as she cannot be on the hospital premises on her day off. The worker refuses to leave, and security is called. The security officer arrives with a German Shepherd by his side and orders her to leave. The union filed a charge against the Employer for threatening, intimidating and harassing the worker for engaging in union activities. The NLRB dismisses the charge:

The Region has authorized dismissal, absent withdrawal on this allegation. The investigation failed to reveal that the guard made any threats (or statements for that matter) to the employee. There is no evidence that the dog made any motion or threatening gesture toward the employee. Finally, there is no evidence supporting a Section 8(a)(3) violation.

That's the way it works these days. The only advice we can give is, next time, put your hand in the dog's mouth so it bites you. Now excuse me, I need to return to banging my head on the table, since this brief respite to blog has permitted the blood on my forehead to clot.

That Sense of Entitlement

Clinton went on TV this morning and said, essentially, that there should be a shared ticket. The only thing left to decide is who gets top billing. The implication, after last night’s victory speech, is that it should be her, because she won Ohio. Can someone double-check the Democratic Party rules about this? Does it say in there, “Whoever wins Ohio gets to the presidential candidate.” No? Hmm, maybe because the nominee is supposed to be the one with most delegates. And that ain’t Hillary. If she said something like, “I think I am at a point where it’s time to unify the party, and I would like to offer Senator Obama my services as the vice presidential candidate”, wouldn’t we all just go nuts? Yay, its over! With the strongest, best candidates leading the party back to the White House in 2008!

 

Otherwise, Hillary, please get over this idea that you are entitled to this nomination. You aren’t. And you are annoying those of us who really want to not hate you after all this is over.

The Wire Brackets

Allright. I have done a full 64 scene tournament bracket for The Wire. No joke. But I can't figure out how to post it. So. Anyone how wants a copy, I will email it to you, just shoot me a request. If you need my email address, post a comment to let me know. Remember this was wholly subjective, generated by me and B at breakfast the other morning. Enjoy.

Allright, This Is It For the Night

I still have two topics left to blog about. Then my brain will be empty. (emptier?)

Although Clinton was knocked off balance by Obama's message of hope, I think the response by young people to that message is a product of 9/11. I know that for some people, a terrorist attack on American soil sowed fear (of attack) and loathing (of Muslims). But for many people, there was an upswell of desire to help, to be a part of something bigger. This resulted in greater enlistment in the armed services, tons and tons of donations of goods to WTC "survivors" (never used), and hundreds of articles about people "taking time off", "reevaluating their lives", a "mini post-9/11 baby boom." Blah blah blah, etc etc. But by and large, our country did nothing to capitalize on all this good will. Rather than make calls for sacrifice, Bush passed tax cuts, and sent young men and women into a totally futile war. Bush has tried to force a new Cold War down our throats, but it rings false for all of us who wanted something positive to come out of that disaster. Clinton thought we all wanted protection from the bogeymen created by Bush but a lot of people were tired of that. Obama offers a call to public service and civic change that young people were waiting for since before many of them could vote.

So why, then, did he fare so badly in OH and TX? Well, he didn't fare so badly. Recall, he was down 20 points just a few weeks ago. I am not going to argue that if he just had another week, he could have run away with this. I think that because this primary season has been so long, and the economy is so shitty, that the hope message didn't reach far enough. Obama needs a message of hope on the economy. I trust he will get his sea legs on this and improve the message.
That said, he's still winning.

On to the last topic, and this one is BD's idea. A Wire brackets. The brackets are The Street, The Police, The Hall, and The Port/The Schools/The Press. The only way it works is to combine those last three. I will rank 16 scenes from each bracket and then y'all can vote on the best. I can also vote on the best, but my vote might have slightly greater weight. I'm just sayin'. That's coming up tomorrow.

Oh, and I agree with Seamus.

Okay, I'm Back

I did, in fact, just go donate to Obama. I hope that the headlines tomorrow are

Obama Wins VT, TX Caucus
Clinton Wins RI, OH

Obama Raised $60 Mil in February

52 Super-Delegates Endorse Obama

Overnight Donations to Obama Skyrocket

A girl can dream.

Wrap-Up

My internets are working again. In brief:

1. The campaign for Central Committee is off to a slow but successful start. I need a couple more signatures to get on the ballot. The problem has been that half of all the people I know are either Decline to State or Green Party, neither of which can sign my petition. So if you are a Democrat in Albany, Berkeley, North Oakland, Richmond or anywhere else in California's 14th Assembly District, give me a shout!

2. I forgot to mention that St. Scobie's has gotten me entangled in a bit of legal, well, litigation. It involves Dentist-gate. If you are wondering if HIPAA offers any privacy protection, guess again. My blog post was discovered by The Dentists, and, in discovery, my identity was discerned. Thusly, I was contacted. Sheesh. Mr. Scobie all but said I told you so. But he never explicitly warned me that blogging would ensnarl me in the litigation of others, so he couldn't credibly say that. I would love to know how many billable hours were spent in the discovery of my identity, when all I could do was confirm the truth of the blog post.

3. Ugh. Hillary was just called by CNN as the winner in TX. I was really hoping this election cycle would wind up tonight. I am going to go donate some more $ to Obama right now.

More Downloading From My Brain

First of all, my sister is hilarious.

Continuing along on with my To Blog list, me and the mister had dinner the other night with his judge and some other former clerks. Way more fun than I expected, because the judge was more laidback and funny than I remembered he was. But while he was in SF, it seems that former Chicago Alderman Dorothy Tillman, the Imelda Marcos of Hats, was mixing shit up in Montgomery. Ms. Tillman did not dust off her Manual for Black Ladies in The South before she went to visit her aunt, I guess. I am also curious about how the hell she got a flight from Montgomery to Chicago after the scuffle. My recollection is that you can't get there from here. (or from there, rather). At least not directly.

Not much other M-gummery news. Bobby Bright is running as a Democrat for the House seat there. It was a toss-up whether he's run as a Dem or Republican (common in AL) but it shows where he thinks the coattails will be to ride into Congress.

A Taste

Because of Routergate, I will do a teeny bit of blogging from work today. For my co-worker readers, let's all pretend I am taking my lunch break early here. Not that she cares. Anyway, rather than write about Margaret B. Jones (nee Margaret Seltzer) myself, I think I will let Undercover Black Man occupy the field of criticism on this one. I will add this one thought, however: When I heard that her sister turned her in, I thought of Ted and David Kaczinski. I really hope my sister never does any wacko, high profile weird thing that causes me to narc on her. But I don't doubt she has the nerve to call it in on me. Which is a good thing. So, sister, I promise not to fake my memoir, or bomb anyone, or whatever, so you don't need to bring in the Feds, or my publisher, or the New York Times, or Mom, or whoever.

What You Have To Look Forward To

Once I get a new router (tomorrow, I hope), I should be able to blog again. Here are some topics I may or may not get to:
1. The idiot whose white-girl memoirs of her upbringing on the mean streets of South Central are a total fiction. Kudos to the sister who ratted her out, and a hot poker in the belly button to the NYT reporter whose puff piece on Thursday actually passed muster. Hasn't the Paper of Record learned anything from Jayson Blair?
2. The Wire brackets - that's right. The 64 best scenes compete for best scene overall. Submit your nominees here.
3. My thoughts on how Obama is the product of 9/11.
4. An update on the campaign.
5. News from Montgomery.
There's more to come. Take it easy til then, but at least take it.

hmmmm

Tonight, the kids were watching Bambi, and I was wondering how L would handle the death of Bambi's mom. After asking several times, "will she come alive again?", he decided that the solution was, " Bambi just needs to find a new mommy." I felt something slightly less than appreciated.