Fuck G.M.!

Is that plain enough?  Those are my feelings about the whole sorry mess.  Let them rot in hell and go out of business!

Hey Alex why so pissed off?   Because dear reader they came begging for more money, $16.6 billion to be exact and maybe more in the future.   They are coming hat in hand to dig more money out of your pockets but this time they promise to clean up.  What do they say is cleaning up?  They want to close down plants and fire 47,000 workers and congress will probably give it to them.

Aren't we trying to save jobs not obliterate them?   What we should say is "here's the money but you can only use it to save jobs", but do you think any of those morons on Capitol Hill will have the balls to say that?

Look, G.M. has been running a bad business for a long time and on top that they kept putting out shitty cars.  The only thing that has saved them in the past were give backs by the unions and now they are out to screw them in this deal by letting 47, 000 of their number go.

Enough with the myth that if they go out of business subsidiary business' will be hurt by not supplying G.M. with parts and so on.  The cars will still be built just by the other car companies who will absorb the gap.  By the way if G.M. is selling and producing less cars as they say, then I suppose those business' have been impacted already.

So let G.M. die and give the $16.6 Billion dollars to those who will be out of work as a result. The money will be better spent.

Talk, Talk, Talk

Here is yet another reprint of one of Alex Bennett's monthly columns from Hustler Magazine and as always edited by Bruce David.

I’m a talk show host. I like to think of it as the lowest wrung on the show business food chain. We’re paid to act like we know what we are talking about, but truth be known, the only reason we are experts is because someone gave us a microphone. Take that microphone away from us and we are nothing more or less than anyone else, just another asshole with an opinion.

For years my peers have really been bothered by my inclination to demystify the talk show host mystique, but I’d be dishonest if I didn’t. 

One night I was on the Alan Colmes radio show on Fox debating Sean Hannity about the California Governors race. He was going crazy at one point and I said “Sean, calm down, we’re just tap dancers, you know just entertainers at best”. He went Ballistic “I’m no tap dancer” he yelled at me and during a break he told Alan never to put him on with me again. I suppose I should be proud of that. But what amazed me was how seriously he took himself.

I suppose that the most well known and most popular of the political talk show hosts is Rush Limbaugh. Among the lefties he is the most vilified of the right-wingers. In many ways it is unjustified. Not that his opinions aren’t a piece of shit, but that right wing radio isn’t really his fault.

Talk hosts with strong opinions were nothing new when Rush hit the scene in Sacramento, California in 1984. The difference was that there had to be balance because of a rule called the “fairness doctrine” which meant that when Rush editorialized an opposing position had to be given airtime. But in 1987 President Ronald Reagan ended that rule and to Rush’s credit he saw an opening to go where no other talk show host had gone before. You’re going to wince when I say this, but as one radio guy looking at another, Rush is a talented, entertaining and savvy radio professional. Best of all, I never thought for a moment that Rush took himself seriously. At his best he is self-mocking and funny. The bad part is that he is an asshole right-winger. I say all this to distinguish him from the “wannabees” that capitalized on his success.

Those that came after him and tried to copy his formula were the real jerks. As an example I like to cite Stepin Fetchit. He was a black comedian in the early 1930’s who invented a shuffling, slow-witted, bug eyed black man that became a negative stereotype. But it wasn’t his fault. He was only doing an original comedic character. It was the literally dozens of actors that copied him that created the stereotype. Everybody blamed Rush for the copycats like Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck and the lot rather than the copycats themselves.

Sean Hannity is number 2 and basically a man who takes himself way to seriously. One gets the idea that he feels he can use his “bully pulpit” to change the world. Hannity would be harmless if it weren’t for the fact that crazed neo-cons listen to him in the millions to have their cockeyed anti-social opinions validated by this egotistical megalomaniac on a daily basis. Added to all of this is the rumor that he has political ambitions for the next decade. I honestly believe there should be a law prohibiting a person in show business from running for political office before taking a 5 year hiatus from the world of fame so as to not trade in one notoriety for another. By the way, that includes yours truly.

The final talk show on the hit list is number three in the ratings, Michael Savage. By the way this is the only one of the weasels I have actually met and to call him a weasel is probably a slight to weasels everywhere. This guy is a truly nuts. Yes he’s entertaining but only because of his Brooklyn accent and because he is so off the wall that you pay attention to him as you would a car wreck. He’s anti-immigrant, a misogynist, psychiatry (which he sorely needs), puts down autistic kids and really has a hard-on for the left. 

What makes Savage particularly onerous is that is that he is syndicated by a right wing cult out of Grants Pass, Oregon called “The Foundation of Human Understanding” founded by radio apostle Roy Masters who for years preached the same kind of garbage that Savage seemed to adopt. The FHU was listed as a cult by “Cult Awareness” after he started urging people to move with him to Grants Pass because America was coming to an end. Masters then created “Talk Radio Network” to syndicate himself and later turned it over to his son Mark who hired Savage and runs it to this very day. Among the others they syndicate are Laura Ingraham, Monica Crowley and Others.

In the end today’s talk show constitute nothing more than a place where people can come to have their half-assed feelings in life validated by some host who is always willing to accommodate them instead of challenging their pre-conceived ideas with new ones. So take us down off a pedestal and put us in the toilet where we justly belong.

Sunday Funnies: A Friday Night Art Show

My friends the Grubergs invited me to join them at an art show, so I tagged along with my pocket Flip HD camera and here was the result. Afterwards we hit Chinatown.

What's Real About Reality TV?

This is a reprint of one of Alex Bennett's columns for Hustler Magazine.  As usual it is edited by Bruce David.

by Alex Bennett

Will somebody please sue the TV networks. What television passes off as “reality” isn’t reality at all and the way it alters our perception of reality is dangerous to the national mental health. I remember the movie “The Running Man” with Arnold Schwarzenegger as a criminal who was made to fight for his life on National TV. I laughed at the preposterousness of it all. But I’m not laughing anymore.

The first reality show as we now know them wasn’t by any of the major networks but on PBS. In 1973, the network covered the day to day life of the Loud family titled “An American Family”. The idea was to follow an American family and catch their real life and travails. It was successful in catching an audience, but real life was a bit more elusive. The presence of crew people no matter how unassuming, didn’t keep the family from acting to them. As a result the wife announced to her husband that she was getting a divorce. Years later she said she might not have gone for the divorce if the cameras weren’t there. The frosting on the cake was their son Lance announcing to the family that he was gay. He later tried to monopolize on his fleeting fame by trying a show business career that failed. He died in 2001 of Hepatitis C and AIDS. There were a number of send-ups of the show the most notable being the first film by Albert Books called “Real Life”.

It took 19 years before the next reality show to hit TV. “The Real World” was the concoction of MTV in which put a bunch of young people in a house together for several weeks. The new twist was that the participants were cast rather than trying to mirror reality and the producers would create conflict by doing things like cutting off their power or water. The more conflict the better. Much like “An American Family” the participants in “The Real World” created conflict on their own in the belief that the more outrageous their personalities the more famous they would become, so their actions became anything but natural.

The next entry into the reality sweepstakes came in 2000 when a TV producer named Mark Burnett convinced CBS to take a program based on a Swedish hit “Expedition: Robinson”. He changed the name to “Survivor” and the rest is history. Castaways on a deserted island fight each other to win a million dollars. It was on “Survivor” that one of TV’s low moments was reached. Contestant Michael Skupin stood out by being so hungry that he killed a wild boar with his bare hands, but those hands became famous in their own right when he got woozy one night and fell into a fire burning them so badly that he had to be airlifted to a hospital and out of the show. What made this whole situation so disgusting was that a cameraman kept filming him rather than help or prevent the problem altogether because the producer admonished them previously to keep rolling no matter what happens and not to interfere. Remember “Network” anyone? In the end modern medicine saved his hands but “Survivor” aired the grizzly footage of the skin peeling from them while he gave out with agonizing screams.

Reality has become a favorite fare of the networks due to their low cost and big ratings potential as opposed to the scripted shows. There are some things that are not as well known. If you wonder why these people allow their lives to be bared on television, the answer is simple, they get paid. The more episodes of the “Survivor” you do the more you get paid in talent fees. It’s even been rumored that one of the Nanny shows pay as much as $50,000 and episode for the parents and $25,000 a child.

The there are the personality reality shows like “The Osbournes” with Ozzie the musician and his wife and two kids. Reality my ass! You never saw the other Osbourne child, that’s because she refused to be on the show and was treated as if she didn’t exist. Once and again she did show up in a shot.

The problem is some people think that what they are seeing really exists and then compare there lives to it. Society becomes what the mirror reflects back at them. These days, that mirror is TV.

Suddenly all those programs we saw as a parody of TV in futurist movies are coming to pass. I suppose we are only a few years away from “The Running Man” or better yet, “You Bet Your Life” for real.

Let Aquaman Smoke His Dope

by Alex Bennett

Leave Michael Phelps the fuck alone.  Allow the poor guy to lead the life of a 23 year old.  Hell, I wish I was 23 again and allowed to learn life by living it in every way possible and find out where I fit in it.  What is 23 good for if you can't make mistakes.  There's enough time for that later.

I'd like to know who the low life was that released the picture of Phelps sucking away on a bong, but he or she is the real criminal here.  Doesn't Phelps have the right to a private life?   We need laws to protect victims of this sort of thing.  It seems that privacy just isn't protected.   Just because he swam faster than anybody else, does that deny him privacy?  He should be allowed to sue the people who took and then released the pictures along with all the asshole publications that published them.

Which brings us around to pot itself.   There isn't a single informed human being in America who doesn't know what a benign drug it is.  Sure it gets you high, but that's really all it does.  It doesn't make you aggressive and commit hostile actions it only makes you hungry.  But you know all that.

What really pisses me off is the public face on this thing.  The news people all acting astonished and calling him reckless when in all probability if they are under 70, they have tried pot or been around it.   It's hard to believe that after all these years we still pretend that it is some loathsome drug habit and still accept it's illegality. 

Years ago in New York City, P.J. O'Rourke and I were passing a joint between us when P.J. commented "You know when we get older and get the power this shit's going to be legal". What happened? Not only to pot but to P.J?  Oh well I suppose knowing P.J. he still thinks pot should be legal because he's of libertarian bent.

When are we going to stop this charade?  As far back as the Indian Hemp Commission report in 1906 the drug was deemed benign.   The argument always goes "we need more studies".   Aren't 103 years of studies enough.   

It's time to make it legal, especially in California where they could use the tax revenue that pot would create.

Time to Whig Out! The Glorious Rants of the U. S. Whig Party!

by Tom Yamaguchi

Happy 236th birthday to William Henry Harrison, our country's greatest President! Harrison was born on February 9, 1773 on Berkeley Plantation, VA and elected in 1840 as the ninth President, the oldest elected to that office until Ronald Reagan. After three hours of sitting on his horse during his inaugural parade, Harrison gave an hour and forty-five minute long inaugural address while standing in a cold wind and not wearing a hat or coat. Later that night, he made appearances at three inaugural balls. He ended up catching a cold, which later turned to pneumonia. 

One month later, Harrison died without having done much of anything as President. Since he didn’t have much of a presidential record for us to complain about, our reformed Whig Party decided that he was our Greatest President. This discovery inspired us to commemorate the 203rd birthday of Harrison with a party in Berkeley, CA in February 1976. Notices were sent out to the media of this important event that coincided with the year of the U.S. bicentennial. One notice was sent to Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle. Caen pioneered what has become known as "three dot journalism." Getting mentioned in his column was the noble pursuit of many would be activists, performers, artists, writers, and others who clamored for their well-deserved 15 minutes of fame. The birthday party was not mentioned in Caen's column, at least not directly. Several days after, Caen mentioned Millard Fillmore who has a street named for him in San Francisco. "Fillmore was a Whig," wrote Caen, "and what a party that was." That was probably the best publicity we received.

After spending almost 25 years praising William Henry Harrison’s presidential record, we decided to actually investigate the official records of his administration. In 1897, the government Printing Office issued a multi-volume set of books entitled “Messages and Papers of the American Presidents,” and we found a cheap, used copy of the volume we wanted in a bookstore. William Henry Harrison’s administration was covered in the 1841-1849 volume, which published his Special Message withdrawing all pending nominations from the Senate on March 5, 1841. It also printed his March 17 Proclamation calling for Congress to come into an extraordinary session on May 31 to address the nation’s debts. Congress did come into session on that date, although Harrison had been dead for almost two months at that point. The book also reprints his lengthy inaugural address and provides a listing of the participants in the funeral procession. 

Our research revealed that Harrison had actually directed the greatest and most honorable order ever issued by an American President. This order has been covered up for over 100 years. Harrison had directed Secretary of State Daniel Webster to issue a circular letter to all the departments of the federal government to request that all Federal Government employees be informed that the President would consider it as ground for dismissal from office the giving or receiving of any campaign contribution by any Federal Government employee. In short, give or receive a campaign donation and you lose your government job. Can you imagine President Obama issuing such an order?

The Whig Party revives the values of Old Tippecanoe, the Hard Cider and Log Cabin candidate. During Harrison's time, the Whigs were composed of individuals who had very little in common. In fact, there was only one position they could agree on. They all hated Andrew Jackson. In keeping with that tradition, our Whig Party hates Andrew Jackson, too. We are incensed by the sight of the Evil Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill. If you want to rid yourself of Jackson's corrupting influence on your wallet, you may send all those disgusting pictures of Jackson to the U.S. Whig Party, and we will recycle them for you.

Whig Party Demands Re-Affirmative Action

After the election of Millard Fillmore, the original Whig Party fell apart and was replaced by the secret Know Nothings. We maintain the Know Nothing tradition by being a secret political party and promoting our “top secret” political demands. One of our foremost demands is to have broadcast licenses be non-saleable and non-renewable. The licenses have to be awarded by randomly selected juries. This demand alone guarantees we will receive no coverage by the broadcast media and ensures our status as a secret political party. Our next demand is that those awarded licenses must perform one month of “Re-Affirmative Action!” for every year they hold their licenses. What is “Re-Affirmative Action!” you may ask?

We believe that every Judge, every elected official, every holder of a television or radio broadcasting license, and a sundry list of other officials who enjoy certain rewards as a result of their position should be required to serve one month in a randomly selected jail or prison for every year they hold their position. The Constitution of the United States uses the term “Good Behavior” as the criteria that specifies the length for judicial terms, with the term “Good Behavior” being otherwise undefined. We want Congress to pass a law that requires the yearly performance of “Re-Affirmative Action!” to be a necessary component of “Good Behavior.” Courts and trials would be unnecessary because the performance of one’s “Re-Affirmative Action!” duties would merely be yet another administrative requirement necessary for holding the office, position, or license. We also think all lawyers should be required to perform “Re-Affirmative Action!” for two weeks for each year they are licensed to be lawyers.

Whigs contend that our leaders are junkies, strung out on campaign contributions. They often perform amazing acts of political prostitution in order to obtain more contributions. Since our laws have traditionally dealt with social problems by throwing junkies and prostitutes in jail, we believe that throwing political junkies and prostitutes in jail through the performance of “Re-Affirmative Action!” would be a social improvement.

Let us then celebrate the presidency of William Henry Harrison. If not for a fatal case of pneumonia, he would have gone down in history as just another militaristic, Indian-killing, asshole, son-of-a-bitch. Join us in a toast of hard cider and a round of stirring campaign songs.

Rock-a-bye Baby,

Daddy's a Whig.

Before he comes home, hard cider he'll swig.

And then become tipsy and over he'll fall.

And down will come Daddy, Tip, Tyler, and all.

Send a stamped, self-addressed #10 envelope to P.O. Box 4210, Berkeley, CA 94704 if you want to receive a leaflet. The Whig Party cheerfully embezzles all contributions. Since we are a secretive political party, we usually don't respond to e-mail sent to uswhigparty@yahoo.com, but you can try anyway. In fact, we are quite suspicious of all communications. They don't call us Know Nothings for nothing.

Sunday Funnies Redux

Here is a tribute to one of the funniest comedians that I have ever known, the late Warren Thomas.   He possessed one of the fastest comedy minds in the business and this Sunday lets honor him with this video.  Had he lived he would have become a major player.   We miss him.

You Must Watch This!

My dear friend Karin Babbitt sent me the link to this video of a plea from her mother who is and prison camp survivor.  Not only is it impassioned but an unbelievable story.  If you feel compelled to action you can go to this site for further information. http://FreeDinasArt.wordpress.com

18 BILLION DOLLARS IN BONUSES? REALLY?

by Bruce David
Editorial Director
Hustler

It's an outrage. The very people responsible for destroying our economy -- the crooks on Wall Street -- saw no problem in giving out 18 billion dollars in bonuses despite the fact that their institutions are broke. Aren't bonuses supposed to be based on a percentage of the profits a business -- in this case a bank or investment house or brokerage house -- makes? They didn't have any profits in 2008! In fact, they asked the American people to bail them out. Had we failed to do so most -- if not all -- of the great banking and investment institutions would have failed. So it was your money and mine that they gave out in bonuses -- the tax money we gave the government which then went to the TARP. 

Even more outrageous was the response of Wall Street when President Obama called them out on their actions. Ali Velshi, CNN's Chief Business Correspondent -- a regular Wall Street cheerleader -- actually had the nerve to defend the bonuses, saying they are considered a normal part of the salary on Wall Street. Sans bonuses, a lot of the lower echelon employees might only take home a mere $100,000 for the year. I say they're damned lucky if they take home anything. And I'm sure most Americans would be quite happy to make $100,000 or even $50,000 a year.

Meanwhile, FOX News was busy defending Wall Street by saying the bonuses were paid as a percentage of sales made by individual brokers. In other words, somehow the individual who made money for the company should be separated from the company itself which is broke. That almost makes sense except for one thing: The company is broke! They’re unable to fulfill their obligations to these employees. And I can’t afford to help them do so.

So here's the deal: I want our money back! All eighteen billion -- or twenty billion (the latest number I'm hearing) -- of the 700 billion that was part of the bailout. President Obama should immediately tell those criminal elitists on Wall Street he's taking that 18 billion out of the unpaid remainder of the TARP. If they want it back, Merrill Lynch and those other Wall Street creeps will have to recover it from the people they gave bonuses to.

And one other thing: CNN should fire Ali Velshi. He's a moron. As for FOX, who cares what they say? No one with half a brain believes them anyhow.

Tag! You're it!

by Tom Yamaguchi

Last week, Alex tagged me on Facebook with a challenge called "25 Random Things About Me. Here are the rules:

"Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you."

Always willing to accept a writing challenge, I made my list, posted it as instructed, and tagged 25 more Facebook friends who I wanted to know more about.

This is my list:
1. I have lived in the same house in West Berkeley for almost 28 years.
2. I generally can't cook, but I love to make pesto.
3. I love watching animated cartoons, especially Tex Avery and Chuck Jones.
4. Once, when I saw the Kinks at the Concord Pavilion, I was one of the fans who got to shake Ray Davies' hand.
5. One thing I miss about San Diego is OB People's Food.
6. I came out as a gay man at age 40.
7. I was adopted at age 19.
8. One of my favorite places to visit as a kid was the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
9. I wish society had a more positive attitude about homosexuality when I was a teenager.
10. I was trained to write functional resumes and have assisted several hundred homeless people looking for jobs.
11. I am disappointed that I have not been able to maintain a close friendship with my ex-wife.
12. I have ridden my bicycle several times up Mount Madonna.
13. Though I am not a strict vegetarian, I am not really into steak or hot dogs.
14. I used to help run a food buying club and am now a member of the CoG coop grocery.
15. I regularly contribute to the Radio Bolo blog.
16. My first bicycle commute was from Ocean Beach to Kearny Mesa in San Diego during the seventies.
17. My first full time job as a political activist was gathering signatures to get Bill Press' Tax Big Oil initiative on the ballot in 1980.
18. I edit the monthly newsletter for Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting and help update the website.
19. I have one thing in common with Barack Obama. I'm left-handed.
20. I spent the first 13 years of my life in South Jersey.
21. i was originally named after my father, Thomas Francis Campbell.
22. I am really concerned for the environment and the future for my two daughters.
23. I wish I had done more traveling when I was younger, but now I feel guilty about airplane travel.
24. I do love riding trains, even though I get frustrated when they are delayed.
25. I wish they had Macintosh computers when I was in elementary school.

After posting, I realized I wanted to add another thing to the list. There is a picture of me on the streets views of Google Maps. Last summer, a friend reminded me of a previous encounter we had near his Emeryville office. Larry, who is an architect, was walking to the corner with one of his co-workers when I came by on my bicycle. I stopped, and we talked for a couple minutes. Then I went on my way. Later, Larry was looking at Google maps in order give a client driving directions. Our previous encounter was now completely recorded in photos, and none of us were aware our pictures were being taken.

So why stop at 26? Here are 25 more random (an not so random) things about me.

26. I am viewable on Google Maps with my bicycle at the southwest corner of 59th and Doyle in Emeryville, CA.
27. My first personal computer was a Commodore 128.
28. My first word processor was SpeedScript, which I typed in Machine Language line by line from a book of Commodore programs and games.
29. My first email account was with QuantumLink, a predecessor to America Online.
30. My first Internet email accounts were with the Well and Peacenet.
31. My previous jobs include dishwasher, janitor, receptionist, personal care attendant, canvasser, signature gatherer, assembly worker, and literacy tutor.
32. During my time as an assembly worker, I was also a failed union organizer.
33. For much of my adult life, I had long hair. When I decide to get it cut, I donated my ponytail to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients.
34. As an opponent of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, I was arrested for trespassing.
35. The anti-nuclear activists I stayed in jail with included Jackson Browne, Wavy Gravy, and Robert Blake.
36. Listening to Dr. Steven Chu helped me change my position on nuclear power, along with the help of a friend who teaches high school science.
37. I attended the 1988 Democratic Party convention as an attendant for a delegate who uses a wheelchair.
38. During the Democratic Convention, I stayed with the California delegation at the Atlanta Hilton where the infamous Rob Lowe video was made.
39. I called the Alex Bennett program on a pay phone in the lobby of the Atlanta Hilton. (Who knows, maybe while Rob Lowe was up in his room, making that video.)
40.One of the first things I do each day on the web is read the comics, including Dilbert and Zippy the Pinhead.
41. The most fun I had in San Francisco was visiting Alex Bennett's show and hanging out with some very talented comedians.
42. My favorite drugs are coffee and chocolate.
43. I used to be a part of the nude beach scene at Black's Beach in La Jolla, CA.
44. Every February 9, I celebrate William Henry Harrison's birthday.
45. I am in favor of touch screen voting because I believe people with disabilities have the right to cast a secret ballot.
46. Alex Bennett used many of the letters I sent him for his Letters segment.
47. I did not learn how to drive and get my license until I was 20, which is not typical of young males in Southern California.
48. Although I tend to be a skeptic, I believe in a world where peace is possible.
49. The best quality I find in any person is a sense of humor.
50. I am continually amazed that I meet so many interesting people.

Now, dear reader, consider yourself tagged. Create you own list of 25 random things about you. Share them if you like.

You may join the Great American Broadcast Group on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?id=1663960847#/group.php?gid=48937007494