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Los Angles, CA - Just after midnight much of the television media packed up and moved into Nokia Plaza and the street in front of the Staples Center. There is going to be a perimeter set up a block in every direction from the Staples center. If you don't have credentials (a plain generic blue wrist band) you will not get in. However the proprietors of establishments within the perimeter will be able to provide employees and guests with various forms of ID that will allow them to cross the lines. So in other words we will have a perimeter that can be passed with one or more of roughly one hundred separate and different forms of credential, many of which were produced on the fly using an ink jet printer on label stock. It will be very interesting to see how that works out for all the powers that be. It should also be noted that the PR firm was very stingy with the media credentials. You need those not only to get into the event but without them, you cannot enter the above mentioned perimeter. It is interesting to look at who got credentialed and who did not. As far as Japanese networks are concerned, Fuji and NHK got two or three credentials each. All the others were rejected. Only a handful of Mexican network people were credentialed and even that was bizarre. Only one photographer from one network was credentialed while another network got only one reporter. Perhaps the powers that be were hinting at a pool arrangement? Who knows… ( More bandwidth wasting pictures under the cut... ) More pictures maybe later. Time to catch some food and a break.
I'm just like anyone. I cut and I bleed. And I embarrass easily.
- Michael Jackson Tags: on the job, photography, road stories
Current Location: In the truck at Staples Center
Current Music: TV - Commercial for the Brown Hand Center
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Los Angeles, CA - The movers and shakers among the Church of Global Warming recently made some noises that are fairly amusing. But at the same time, they are also a little scary. It seems several are using harsh terms and suggesting even harsher measures against those that would utter heresy against their dogma. Check it out: And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet. - and - Given this contempt for hard science, I’m almost reluctant to mention the deniers’ dishonesty on matters economic. But in addition to rejecting climate science, the opponents of the climate bill made a point of misrepresenting the results of studies of the bill’s economic impact, which all suggest that the cost will be relatively low. Still, is it fair to call climate denial a form of treason? Isn’t it politics as usual? Yes, it is — and that’s why it’s unforgivable.
Paul Krugman writing in a New York Times Op-Ed piece Global warming is hard science. Right… Then there is this clown that wants to bring criminal tribunals against corporate naysayers: I wonder how future juries might view the actions of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who, in full knowledge of the realities of climate change, continue to preach their gospel of denial in the service of Big Oil dollars. I wonder what sentences judges might hand down at future international criminal tribunals on those who will be partially but directly responsible for millions of deaths from starvation, famine and disease in decades ahead. I put this in a similar moral category to Holocaust denial – except that this time the Holocaust is yet to come, and we still have time to avoid it. Those who try to ensure we don’t will one day have to answer for their crimes.
Mark Lynas Global warming denial equates to denying the Holocaust. Criminal tribunals. Uh-huh… James Hansen, the man that first preached Global Warming to the US Congress is looking to put energy company executives on trial: James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.
The Guardian: Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist Does anyone have any idea what a high crime against humanity or nature might be? Are their statutes on law books somewhere that I can read? George Monbiot writing in his new book says: It's about the climate-change "denial industry," which most of you are probably familiar with. What you may not know about is the peculiar role of the tobacco industry in the whole mess. I've read about this stuff for years and even I was surprised by some of the details. When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.
David Roberts writing on Grist: An excerpt from a new book by George Monbiot War crimes? Don't you have to have a war before you can do that? This is troubling to me because all of the above people want to stifle free speech and the free exchange of ideas to preserve a politically correct idea. And they want to do so using some fairly hefty penalties. It appears that Disciples of the Church of Global Warming don't think their dogma will stand up under open and honest debate. I can't imagine why they would think that.. I'm seeing more and more of this lately and curve is rising at an alarming rate. And it has to be stopped regardless of the subject at hand. A tip of the hat to the Christian Science Monitor and Eoin O'Carroll's article, "Are climate-change deniers guilty of treason?" for inspiring this piece.
Global Warming: It is a hoax. It is bad science. It is high-jacking public policy. It is the greatest scam in history.
- John Coleman, Founder and former chief meteorologist of The Weather Channel Tags: civil rights, editorials, free speech, global warming, political correct thinking, politics
Current Location: In the truck, 11th and Figueroa, LA
Current Mood:  aggravated
Current Music: Power of Love, Huey Lewis and the News
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Santa Monica, CA - Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against the city of New Haven, CT, finding the city wrongfully threw out firefighter promotion test results based on race. The decision was made because 19 out of the top 20 scores were made by white men. The other one was Latino. This could be the beginning of the end for discrimination in the United States. You see, no matter how you dress it up, Affirmative Action is still discrimination based on race, ethnicity or sex. Those of you that have no problem with reverse discrimination need not worry. My friend Bernard Goldberg came up with a great idea. Allow me to quote: I have devised a plan that will bring much more diversity into the workplace and into our universities and into the culture at large without the pain and discontent that has been inflicted by the old affirmative action plan. My plan represents real change - change we can believe in. Because with my plan we will see results not in another 10 or 20 or 30 years, but literally overnight! Here’s how it works: every white person in America who thinks affirmative action based on race and ethnicity is a good idea, an idea that will make America a better place, voluntarily gives up his and her job on one and only one condition: that they be replaced by someone who is not white! Bernard Goldberg: Generosity without Sacrifice … Bravo! I'm all in favor of it. I call upon each and everyone of the Caucasian people who have read these pages and reacted negatively to my complaints about Affirmative Action to step up to the plate. Now is the time for you to put your job where your mouth is. In this piece, Goldberg also writes about conversations he had about his proposal with two network executives that are proud of their Affirmative Action efforts. I recommend reading the entire work. Bernard Goldberg was a twenty year veteran of CBS News when he wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal called Bias. That column led to his departure from the network and his book Bias. He also wrote 110 people who are screwing up America and A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media.
Affirmative action has a negative effect on our society when it means counting us like so many beans and dividing us into separate piles.
- John Kasich Tags: affirmative action, political correct thinking, politics
Current Location: Hotel Room
Current Mood:  contemplative
Current Music: Air conditioner
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Santa Barbara County, CA - What an incredible media feeding frenzy. The picture above just about sums it up. There are some international media people that are saying this is going to be bigger then Princess Diana's funeral. We are all camped out here at Neverland because one of the local stations reported that Michael Jackson's body would lay in state here. However, whether or not that was originally part of the plan, it is not going to happen. The infrastructure to take the estimated half million that would show up for a public viewing simply does not exist out here. It sounds like there will be a public memorial of some kind at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. More then likely on Tuesday. Based on what I've witnessed here, it might not be big enough. ( More bandwidth wasting pictures under the cut... ) And an interesting time was had by all.
Everything that I love is behind those gates. We have elephants, and giraffes, and crocodiles, and every kind of tigers and lions.
- Michael Jackson Tags: news, on the job, photography
Current Location: Neverland
Current Mood:  tired
Current Music: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - The Hollies
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Everyone, this is Scruffy. Scruffy, this is everyone.
Last Friday morning this little hairball was sitting in the middle of the right turn lane on US-19. To leave her there would have been a death sentence. I mean how many of you would have left her sitting there? This kitten barely outweighs her own fur. Her eyes were filled with goop and the inside eyelids were mostly closed. And she had lots of drainage coming out of her nose. So we took her to the vet before taking her home. As big as my heart is, I won't risk the other animals in the household. According to the vet, Scruffy: - Weighs about 2/3 what she should weigh.
- Has an amazing nose and eye infection.
- Was temporarily blind from the above infection.
- Has hook worms.
- Has a scorching case of fleas.
I thought her name should be Lucky. The little ball of fur had nothing wrong with her that couldn't be cleaned up, so the treatment began. Until today I had no idea there was a 24 hour flea pill. Talk about a weapon of mass destruction. The quantity of dead critters that fell off that little kitten over the next couple hours was amazing. As of this morning she is eating like a horse. Much of her eyesight has returned and her inner lids are almost completely receded. She sees well enough to pounce on toes wiggling inside socks. Her nose is still runny so she is still isolated from the rest of the animals. Yet another cat…
"We are not getting another animal!"
- Me Tags: animals, cats, pets
Current Location: Home in the Office
Current Music: TV - Music Man (2003)
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According to Fox News, New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R) wrote to CBS CEO Les Moonves asking that David Letterman be fired for his slimy jokes about Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughter. “Firing Mr. Letterman would send a clear message that CBS will not tolerate any of its employees — even an established media figure like Mr. Letterman — making demeaning and degrading comments about women.”
Fox News: New York Lawmaker Calls on CBS to Fire Letterman for Palin Comments I don't think so. Letterman's humor catered to the left for many years. I gave up watching Letterman a couple years ago after a couple dozen rations of "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches." Once was funny, twice is for those that missed the gag the first time. Everything after that went beyond satire and humor into disrespect and open hostility toward the President. I checked with some folks that still watch Letterman. It is interesting to note there are no more "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" now that President Obama has the reins. Letterman's comments about Gov. Palin's daughter (I don't care which one he was talking about) are repulsive. I vehemently disagree with his politically fired monologs. But all that has nothing to do with his right to hold those beliefs and say those things. Assemblyman Kolb's call for Letterman's firing is at worse an attempt to bring about official censorship on politically correct grounds. At best it is simply a grab for some face time on the news. If Letterman losses his gig, it should be due to the one thing that makes all of television go round: Ratings. Not because he stepped on Gov. Palin's toes or violated some indistinct line drawn by the politically correct police.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
- Voltaire Tags: political correct thinking, political satire, politics
Current Location: Home
Current Music: TV - The Military Channel
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The murders of a Kansas abortion doctor and Holocaust Museum guard Stephen Johns were tragedies beyond words. What takes those tragedies to the level of outrage is that each were killed over social disagreements. But those murders became fodder for some left wing pundits to bless us with even more completely irrational finger pointing at all things conservative. Numerous writers and talking heads lashed out against Bill O'Reilly after Scott Roeder overdosed on religion and shot late term abortion doctor George Tiller. Each one scolded O'Reilly saying he "created an atmosphere of hate" or "set the stage for violence" by continually calling Dr. Tiller, "Tiller, the Baby Killer." Many went so far as to say O'Reilly should be arrested as an accomplice or at least for conspiracy. Their logic is that Roeder would never have thought it was okay to shoot Doctor Tiller without Bill O'Reilly egging him on through the magic of Cable TV. After the shooting at the Holocaust Museum once again most of that same group of writers came out blaming conservatives, President George Bush and radio talk shows for creating the climate of hate that makes this sort of inhuman assault possible. They would have us believe the shooting at the museum would never have taken place if it wasn't for all these mean spirited conservatives and their blatant disregard for the plights of all the recognized victim groups. Here's a flash for all those pundits. Blaming Bill O'Reilly or anyone else for the insane actions of an individual completely unknown to them is a cheap shot. Those who did so are not worthy of their trade. They may as well blame Jodie Foster for John Hinckley's assassination attempt on President Regan. A case can made the other way around. One example is the extensive list of misguided young people that commit crimes from burning brand new Hummers to setting booby traps designed to kill or maim loggers. It is far easier to tie rhetoric handed down by high profile disciples of the Church of Global Warming then blaming conservatives for abortion clinic terrorism or white supremacist whackos. Come on people, lets get real here. You can't have it both ways.
"Them Jews aren't going to let [Obama] talk to me."
- Rev. Jeremiah Wright Tags: abortion, blogging, columns, editorials, political correct thinking, politics, social behavior
Current Location: Home
Current Music: TV - Cops
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I rewrote this from an e-mail I got today. I did so to clean up some grammar and to protect the identity of the production, author and innocent by standers. Get this. Our permit was good until 5:00 a.m. After the that the street was going to open for morning traffic. As usual we were running late. Every scene required multiple takes and resets. The show runner wasn't helping by continually reminding everyone in ear shot that we only owned the street until 5:00 a.m. At 4:30 we began striking and we were really short on skilled hands. So we detailed out a couple of AP's to move the movie cars back to the lot so we could lend a hand with other things. We managed to get everything clear of the traffic lanes by 5:03 a.m. Around 5:15 our off duty police officers came around craft services asking if anyone new what happened to their police cars. We had one of the AP's run them over to the lot to sort their police cars from the movie cars. I love it.
"We have associate producers because someone has to associate with the producer."
- Anonymous Tags: friends, humor
Current Location: Home
Current Mood:  calm
Current Music: DVD - X-Files
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This weekend I learned: - Always check your sources. It doesn't matter how well you know and trust the source. The fact is they may not check their sources. The wall in the Chicago News Bureau used to read, "If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out." I need to adopt that way of thinking, even in my personal life.
- The last couple generations have no concept of what freedom means in this country. Nor do they even remotely grasp dangers of forcing people into silence when their words do not toe the politically correct line. To the last couple of generations these are all concepts adjustable to fit the current circumstances. I attribute this to the fact these last few generations have never been in any real danger of loosing any of those freedoms. Most of these are the same people that believe the constitution is a living document.
- The politically correct crowd hijacked the word "lynch", limiting its use to racial attacks only. Merriam is going to need to update her dictionary.
- I really need to get over the personality defect that compels me to jump in with both feet, ready to go to war whenever and where ever I think someone is being bullied. This is doubly so when someone I care about is the apparent victim.
- No good deed goes unpunished.
In the mean time, if anyone needs me I can be found under the back wheels of the bus.
In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up. - Martin Niemöller Current Location: In some other land
Current Mood:  crushed
Current Music: Silence
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Tallahassee, FL - While wondering when life would grant me the time to do some digging into Judge Sotomayor's record my cousin produced this piece on his blog: Sonia Sotomayor: a Primer Rather then reinvent the wheel, I refer my readers to his writings. His analysis is even handed and well referenced. While you're at it, check out the rest of his writings. I wish I could research and write like that. In addition to this link I would point out some of the noise coming out of the opinion pages. Margery Eagan's petulant column in the Boston Globe tells us the only reason people are concerned about Judge Sotomayor's nomination is that she is female and Hispanic. It’s been such fun watching the right-wing white boys sputtering over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a Hispanic woman nominated by a black man! “Our world domination’s slip, slip, slipping away,” you can almost hear them whimper. “What to do?” Well, you can’t dump on the woman thing. That’s more than half the country. Can’t dump on the Hispanic angle. They’ll be more than half the country soon. What’s left? Boston Globe: Men in throes of Supreme panic There are lots more editorials and pundits putting out the same message with different words. They vehemently attack Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Sean Hannity and just about anyone else that speaks up against Judge Sotomayor. To an article each one calls them all racists while ardently defending Sotomayor's "white male who hasn't lived the life" comment. Can you imagine the media storm that would come down around the ears of any white male in public life that said he would hope a white man could come up with a better decision because of their better up bringing? It would be loud, long and very ugly. And yes, Judge Sotomayor's comments were racist. No amount of verbal spray paint will cover that fact. Whether that statement was stupid phrasing or a glimpse into her real state of mind is something we may not find out until we see how she behaves on the court. The underlying message from the majority of the pundits and Democrat machine is loud and clear: You are either for Judge Sotomayor or you are a white racist not worthy of being heard let alone considered. It makes sense. It worked on the last election, so it will probably work again on the Supreme Court pick.
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
- Judge Sonia Sotomayor Tags: affirmative action, bigotry, political correct thinking, politics
Current Location: Dick Howser Baseball Stadium
Current Music: NCAA Regional Baseball Playoff
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