A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Supreme Court

Actually, it was a scary thing.  Back in November of 2011, three Justices of the Supreme Court attended a fundraiser dinner sponsored by the Federalist Society, a self-styled association of conservative and libertarian lawyers, that is trying to overturn President Obama's health care law (Affordable Care Act).  They were Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas  and Justice Samuel Alito.  Makes one wonder how impartial the Supreme Court justices are.  Bob Edgar writes, "This kind of activity by members of our highest court undercuts any claim of impartiality in the health care litigation by the justices involved. Worse yet, it clearly violates the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, a set of ethical standards the Supreme Court helps enforce on lower federal courts but has refused to impose on itself. The Code warns judges to abstain from speaking or serving as the guest of honor at any fundraising event." (Huffington Post, 11/14/11)

The Nine Justices of the Supreme Court

As to issues concerning legislation, Supreme Court Justices tend to vote along partisan lines, in favor of the President who appointed them.  After all, we've been through this before in the 2000 elections, when recounting in Bush vs. Gore was stopped by the Supreme Court by a partisan vote.  In the case of Obama Care, all eyes are on Justice Kennedy who will cast the "deciding vote", which means the battle has ended before it began. Where is the blindfold that these Justices are supposed to wear? What steps must we take to preserve the system of checks and balances.  First of all,  I think Supreme Court justices should have a term of service.  They seem to sit like glaciers on our legal system for billions of years.  Next, they should not be political appointees but rather, elected by a legal board comprising representatives from all the states.  Knowing Congressmen and Senators and hobnobbing with them should be considered a disqualification--the judges should don a judicial "purdah".


Hopefully, the Supreme Court justices will make a decision that promises vision and changes the way people think about health care. A consistent 5-4 split is not justice, it is a mockery of it.  Remember that Brown vs. Board of Education returned a unanimous verdict.  "Today Brown is a nearly universal icon of social progress, while Roe remains an object of great controversy. But, for better or for worse, both cases represented efforts to change the everyday reality of American life. With Brown, the justices were tearing down barriers to racial equality; with Roe, the justices were eliminating laws that prevented access to abortion."(Cohn, The New Republic, 3/29/2012)
This bipartisan politics is only obstructing the growth of revolutionary ideas. America needs to change the way it conducts business.

Flush the Rush

Sandra Fluke testimony

Even conservative women must have wrinkled their nose in disgust at Rush Limbaugh's harsh, inappropriate and perverse invective against 
Ms. Sandra Fluke on March 1, 2012. Sandra Fluke is a law student at Georgetown University. She spoke to an unofficial hearing called by the Democratic party about her college's lack of health insurance coverage for contraceptive pills. Not only did Limbaugh reveal his ignorance of the uses of the birth control pill, he revealed his ignorance of health insurance system and to top it all, he let the entire country know that he has a sick yearning to see sex videos.  (Maybe Dharun Ravi could help here).  Although Limbaugh apologized for the words he used--he had called Ms. Sandra Fluke a 'slut' and a 'prostitute'--he maintains that contraceptives should not be covered under health insurance.  Maybe he prefers to pay welfare for women and children and their food stamps instead.  He is so busy condemning women for not taking responsibility for their actions and indulging in sexual promiscuity, he is so busy talking, that he is not putting on his "listening ears" as Judge Judy would say, and recognize that taking contraceptives is a way of assuming responsibility.  Besides, birth control is not the only use for the pill... 

Likes to be a voyeur

34  sponsors of his radio show decided the words he used mattered more than his views and withdrew support.

No one was more horrified than musician Peter Gabriel  whose song "Sledgehammer' was playing during Limbaugh's rant. "Peter was appalled to learn that his music was linked to Rush Limbaugh's extraordinary attack on Sandra Fluke. It is obvious from anyone that knows Peter's work that he would never approve such a use. He has asked his representatives to make sure his music is withdrawn and especially from these unfair aggressive and ignorant comments."

I wonder if he thinks when 'slutty' women prostitute themselves for sex, they share intimacy with parrots instead of men like him.  He has been married four times, he can't think babies are brought by storks.  Men don't need to be accountable?  I have an idea.  Maybe the women can save money (and the country too), conducting their lives Lorena Bobbitt style.

"No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show," Carbonite CEO David Friend said in a statement. "We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse."

President Obama called Ms. Fluke personally and said Fluke’s parents should be proud of her.

Stinky Limbaugh-ger!!

Billboard House

Mendoza at the Hostetler home

A Buena Park (Calfornia) home has donned a neon green and orange painted exterior as an advertisement for the marketing firm Brainiacs from Mars. In return, the firm pays the mortgage for the house as long as the Hostetlers, the owners, are willing to sport the advertisement.  

Full front view

Romeo Mendoza, CEO of Brainiacs from Mars, has had to remove the 9 foot long company sign from the top of the garage along with the Facebook and YouTube signs immediately after the photo shoots because they violated city zoning regulations.  Mendoza thinks the colors alone will serve the purpose. He hopes to paint a 1000 more, if the idea gains popularity. Right now he is advertising his own company.  Brainiac From Mars  screened 40,000 applications to choose this particular house.
Brainiacs from Mars Facebook page is filled with pictures of houses posted by hopeful homeowners. Says Debra Carter, "I'm going to dream of yellow, green, and orange. Visualizing my home in these colors every day since I put in my application and keeping my fingers and toes crossed. I am open to any shade of any color any time!"

Companies will now speak to us in colors.   Remember, orange and green is for Brainiacs from Mars. Each company will represent a color and in time will test our memory. Who'd have ever thought that advertising would keep Alzheimer's away...The idea may catch on.  I like how it helps people keep their homes but I certainly wouldn't want to live on a street that looks like Munchkin land,

Munchkin Land

 

Las Vegas

or Las Vegas at night time all the twenty-four hours long.

    

"The World is too much with us", complained the poet Wordsworth in the 19th century.  We can feel its intrusion now more than ever into our private lives. The situation may be unavoidable but what's next?  Advertising in our textbooks? Or is that already here?

Go JC Penney!! Go to JC Penney

Ellen DeGeneres

I've always shopped at JC Penney: I like their merchandise and I like their prices.  Now, after they firmly supported Ellen DeGeneres as their spokeswoman, I am proud to be shopping there.  A conservative group called "One Million Moms" objected to Ellen DeGeneres because she is gay. They claimed that hiring her would promote "immoral" values.  If you look on their site, they are objecting to Macy's "two groom" advertisement as well.  I hope they can find other places to shop. OMM  is confusing "traditional values" with bigotry and prejudice.  They would learn a lot more from the organization called Million Moms Challenge which raises awareness to promote healthy mothers and children all over the world.  Unfortunately, the worthy Million Moms Challenge organization got a lot of hate mail from confused Ellen fans.

On "CBS This Morning," Thursday (Feb 2, 2012), JCPenney chief executive officer, Ron Johnson, said the company "shares the same values" as DeGeneres and that the decision to have her as a spokesperson was a "no-brainer."

 And what does Ellen say about this? "They[OMM] wanted to get me fired, and I’m proud and happy to say that JCPenney stuck by their decision to make me their spokesperson. Which is great news for me because I also need some new crew socks. I’m really going to clean up with this discount.”

Movember's Almost Here

Each November, Movember encourages men to grow moustaches (mo's) to raise money and awareness for men's health, especially prostrate cancer and other cancers that affect men.  


 Men register on Movember 1, at  Movember.com with a clean shaven face and work their stubble to glorious Mo's by the end of the month.  By virtue of their very appearance and through social interaction/dialogue, they focus on the issue of men's health.  There are prizes for Mo Bros, Mo Sistas (supporters of Mo Bros, not Mo growers themselves) and Team Mo's.

For Mo information visit their site www.movember.com 

To see the best Mo's of all time visit this site 

Shakespeare's "King Lear" in NY

Last night, I saw Shakespeare's King Lear performed at the Newman theater by the Public Theater of NY city, directed by James Macdonald and featuring Sam Waterston (of TV's Law and Order fame) as King Lear.  It was the opening night and the theater was packed.  I should make it clear at the outset that it is hard to mess up Shakespeare's plays.  The lines are so powerful that even a lackluster actor couldn't spoil their effect.  Not that these actors were in any way lackluster.  Richard Topol (The Duke of Albany), Kelli O'Hara (Regan), and even Sam Waterston (Lear) may have flubbed their lines once or twice, but no matter.  Goneril (Enid Graham) and Regan were outstanding. Only Cordelia (Kristen Connolly) was a bore.  The actress looked angelic but she wasn't the quiet-but-strong person she should have been; she definitely lacked conviction.  She was limp with no firmness to the voice, and no queenly elegance.  She looked scared to death of Lear.

I always supposed King Lear to be a large, tall man with a mighty voice that was fit to bellow at the storm, getting old and bent almost overnight. Waterston's voice suited the character even if his appearance did not suit my mental image of King Lear.  Gloucester's performance was understated.  I remember reading the scene in which  Edgar (disguised as Tom) pretends to lead his father up the cliffs of Dover so he can hurl himself down to his death--that is such a poignant scene, it has all the potential of Lear's melodrama--would be funny too, if it weren't so tragic.   Michael McKean as Gloucester made it seem quite flat-- the pathos of the scene didn't quite come through. Stoicism seemed to cover up his introspection and anguish.  Less certainly wasn't more here.  Arian Moayed made a good Edgar, a little too trusting of Edmund in the beginning, frightened into disguising himself as Tom O'Bedlam and gradually developing strength as he faces one trauma after another.

The stage was mostly bare except for a table here and  a bench there.  However, the actors still managed to make  it quite untidy.  They did not take the props out with them as they normally do in Shakespearean  plays.  But all this emphasized the chaos created by Lear.  He opened up the Pandora's box and let evil loose upon the world.  I normally quote Shakespeare for everything but this time I choose Yeats to describe the havoc King Lear caused by his vanity and ego:--

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

                                                               (The Second Coming)

                                                                       

 I think the stage was a little too close to the audience.  The tales that concern nobility and royalty have to be a little removed from the common man.  I didn't understand why the actors crowded at the edge of the stage when there was so much space behind them that was not being used.  The chain link curtain was awesome but it kept moving and pushing the actors to the front of the stage.  Obviously there is some significance to that; maybe it gave a physical depth to the heath when the curtain finally fell and the starkness of the setting was revealed.  I loved the lightning and the thunder.  The characters of the play, exposed to the elements saw with utmost clarity the deepest truths that lay as naked as poor Tom (Edgar).

What/who did I like the best in the play?  The fool--played by Bill Irwin. The "all-licensed fool"(I,iv).  He portrayed the right mixture of innocence, mischief, humor, grief, bewilderment and sarcasm, disappearing when King Lear took over his job (the world wasn't big enough for the two of them to be fools).  Besides there were too many mad men running loose on the heath that stormy night.  Seth Gilliam as Edmund did a great job as a sly, conniving charmer, as did John Douglas Thompson as the loyal (to Lear) Kent.  

I give it a 4 out 5 rating.
         

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Forget Apple (not really), I am grateful he started Pixar.  Life would have been utterly depressing without Toy Story, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles....