Finding the words

Given that I live in community that is quite wealthy and retired, the death of Paul Harvey was a big thing. We even had requests for prayers for him and his family in church this weekend.

Paul Harvey's golden days were long past. He was where America was in the 1960's and 70's, and even the 1980's to a degree. As the rise of talk and shock radio came along, he really became a legacied sideshow that the station manager inherited and couldn't get rid of. And his opinions and attitudes were becoming highly racist and classist as he got older - much like my beloved Mike Royko. Both Paul and Mike embodied a white middle-class that was compassionate when younger, but certainly less empathetic as they aged and became reflective of our culture's obsession with self-importance.

Perhaps some of it was more Rush than not. I only occasionally heard Harvey on the radio growing up - my parents never listed to news radio or talk. I heard Harvey the most in college as the news radio station played his syndicated broadcast at noon, and the shop radio was always on so the knuckle-draggers could listen to Rush immediately after. But before Rush, there was Paul Harvey, propagandizing on God & Country and for Joe McCarthy and for the War in Vietnam - even though Paul turned with the rest of the country when the bodies were stacked too high and the blood began to flow in our own streets. But in 2003, he was right alongside the administration in declaring that there were no civilians any longer, and that 9/11 must be bloodily avenged.

My only hope is that in the decades to come, our culture might revere Rachel Maddow or Amy Goodman as much as Harvey when their time comes to pass.

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Missouri Doesn't Need PBS/NPR

Last week the State of Missouri rescinded all funding for PBS/NPR. Right now I do not know if it was due to budget cuts, or letters like these:

"Tax money should not be used to fund any radio or TV shows, esp. those aimed at adults. Get sponsors or commercials. I'm taxed to death already here in NYS. I resent my money being used without my permission to spread opinions I don't always agree with."

"Unless you can get the same funding for Michael Savage's show, I think they should have to find their own sponsors. Sorry! To me this seems like another liberal media outlet that is funded by my tax dollars. And I think the media is too liberal to begin with."

"None of my taxx dollars for the anti-american broadcast system !! "

"Stop public support for biased, anti-American and anti-Israel reporting. NPR has outlived its usefulness and the need for public funding. Let Moveon.org fund it!"

"As a concerned taxpayer, I would like to see all funding cut for NPR. They are nothing more than smear agents against everything this country was founded on. If they want to spout their hate speech and left biased views, let them do it without my tax dollars. The money would be better spent for additional channels for AFN for our fighting men and women serving our Nation." (I guess he means like FOX News).

>Once again the Right-Wing Conservative Yahoos are trying to destroy PBS/NPR. A petition to stop NPR is circulating yet again. I guess freedom of speech only applies to the Yahoos among us.

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Is It Live or Is It Memorex?

The Machine

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

AC/DShe

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I went over to MSNBC to look for an article on something else, something that I was going to write about and have been distracted by these videos.

The article at MSNBC that distracted me was on tribute bands, and how they are rising in popularity. I think that this is probably because the new bands cannot even come close to the music of my day...but there is probably a more logical explanation, like the fact that our population is filled with folks my age and a little older, who grew up on this music and we always identify - for the rest of our lives - with the music that grabbed us in our teens.

It was the video of AC/DShe that grabbed me. An all female AC/DC tribute band. How fun is that?

Then it was The Machine; a Pink Floyd tribute band. This is an amazing feat, playing Floyd, and what makes them so good is their keyboardist (I swear it is always the keyboard players that make the tribute bands...anyone can learn the guitar well enough and most guitarists grew up trying to copy their favs, and most of the singers never compare - same true, here - but the keyboardist, damn, he is fabulous.)

Enjoy.

What tribute band would you join, if you could play? Or sing?

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Mortification

They'll be mortified I linked them - but anyone wondering where some of our posters went . .

http://fookitall.blogspot.com/

One thing, you bring any political bags over, they'll kick your ass.

I'm still waiting for discussion and comments about last night's Battlestar. It's a twisty one. Who expected the StarChilde to already be under your nose?

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DOOM AND GLOOM

I haven't written anything lately nor have I read anything lately. Why bother. The world is coming to an end, the sky is falling, and the hand we have been dealt is unplayable. Perhaps the only answer is to burrow into a dark hole and die.

The stimulus bill passed, and right on cue, the Republicans have made it clear we're in for four years of partisan trench warfare. However, the Republicans aren't the only problem. The media gives the impression that the election had a different outcome than it did, and that the majority of Americans are not behind this stimulus bill. The media instead of supporting bipartisan efforts by President Obama, eagerly swallow lies fed to them by the Republicans and the Republicans (who continue to consistently dominate the news shows), continue to lie. According to the media and the Republicans, there is no hope.

I am not a therapist or a Ph.D. in anything, but I know one thing for sure, you can't keep telling people every night that there is no hope and all is lost without consequences. Why would I buy a house, or a car, or invest in the market or a new business, when all I hear is economic doom and gloom?

The cost of all this doom and gloom spreads this contagious influence to the public at large, running the risk that the words become a self-fulfilling prophesy. There is a loss of confidence already in our future, and it continues to heighten the degree of doom and gloom for our economic prospects of recovery. I don't need the media to tell me 24/7 of the enormous economic uncertainty.

The point is, the financial problems are being addressed, but without the help of the media and the opposition, how can we restore order and confidence?

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Changes More Than Skin Deep

Steven Page leaves the Barenaked Ladies

The news comes several months after drug charges against Page were dropped in the U.S. His arrest came after the band, known for its clean-cut image and whimsical lyrics, released an album of children's songs titled, "Snacktime."

. . Page, his girlfriend and her roommate were charged with drug possession in July after police found cocaine at an apartment in New York state. In late October, all three secured a deal to have charges dropped if they stayed out of trouble for six months.

Page wished the band the best.

"These guys are my brothers," he said in the online statement. "We've grown up together over the past 20 years. I love them and wish them all the best in the future."

. . The other members will return to the studio in April and will tour in the fall.

"It's the start of a new chapter for all of us," band member Ed Robertson said. "Here's to the future!"

I know very few people share my BNL obsession - which is why I don't usually bore most of you with it. But Page and Robertson started doing music together in Jr. High
school. Ed's statement sounds forced, and I really would like to know what the hell is going on with Steven Page. I know some people grow apart in their lives, but this seems beyond.

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Jeez, Who'd ya piss off, Brian?

Remember a few months ago when I wrote about the local daily firing the political cartoonist, Brian Duffy, it its last downsizing?

It's worse than that now - The Register never allowed Duffy to pack his office and has had it locked ever since. Editor Carolyn Washburn informed Duffy last week that he will not get any of his drawings or other work back; The Register is donating it all to the University of Iowa and archived as part of the collection for political cartoonists like Frank Miller and Ding Darling.

"All along, it has been a history of the cartoon was in essence the property of the cartoonist," said Duffy.

Duffy said he was always under the impression that his sketches were a joint copyright, just like when he published his book.

"Copyright Brian Duffy and the Des Moines Register, not just the Des Moines Register," said Duffy. "I have no problem donating a large body of work to the University of Iowa. In fact, I'd love to do that."

But he wants to do it on his terms not on behalf of the newspaper that shooed him out the door.

Washburn issued this statement: "It's not about withholding things from Brian. The Des Moines Register paid him for his very excellent work, but we hold the copyright for the work our staff produces. We're trying to do the right thing and make sure these unique pieces of work are protected for Iowans and available to the public."

"These are all personal things to me that I have in essence lost," said Duffy. "I'm not giving up on trying to get my originals back. I'm going to fight very hard to get those."

Duffy - you've down the rabbit hole of intellectual property syndication. Prior to Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes, very few artists owned their work and controlled it's use once it was published. My best to you, but I think you're in an uphill fight.

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