One Question: What is fact and what is truth?

I was watching CBS Sunday Morning this weekend and saw Rosanne Cash being interviewed. She was talking about her new, acclaimed album, Black Cadillac, that I really want to get. The interviewer, Russ Mitchell, indicated that it must have been a difficult album to write and record. She indicated that it was easier because the words rhymed, which somehow put them more at arm's length. She indicated that the record, inspired by the deaths of her mother, Vivian, her father Johnny, and her stepmother, June Carter, wasn't about them, but was a reflection of what she felt about them. "If I say, Russ, this is how I felt about..." that would have been tough for her. She made the distinction between what is fact (i.e., factually accurate) and what is truth (the essence.)

So, that's my question: in works of art, when does it matter that it is fact versus that it's truth? Should James Frey be chastized because some of the facts aren't accurate, if there is "truth" in A Million Little Pieces?
How about biopics? Surely, characters are blended, timelines altered. When does it matter? Some believe that Denzel Washington lost an Oscar for The Hurricane because of factual errors in the script. The basketball film Glory Road has been Disneyfied; the team didn't get all of its black playerrs in one season, nor did Texas western win in coach Haskins' first season, in my view, unnecessary distortions of the story.
For documentaries, does one stage events because they're "emotionally true", as I heard happened in Grizzly Man?
Historical biographies: one doesn't know the real dialogue. I remember this distinctly from reading and especially watching Roots.

I'd love your feedback: when does truth trump facts in the arts?
***
And speaking of facts and the arts, didn't ABC News erred Wednesday? They were reporting on how the Oscar nominations had incited the Christian right, and mentioned Brokeback Mountain (and considered, even by the Christian right, to be well-made, which, a representative said, was the problem), Capote, and Transamerica. The first two are "gay-themed", but I thought Transamerica (which I haven't seen yet) was about gender identification.

D-Man

I started working at the NYS SBDC in October 1992. In the spring of 1993, we had a couple interns. One was a guy I’d met at library school. In the fall of 1993, he started working full-time as a librarian.
For four years, we shared an office together. This meant, among other things, finding music that was mutually acceptable. I learned what he disliked. We ended up broadening each other’s musical repertoire. I’m not sure who first brought in Lyle Lovett, but I’m fairly sure that I turned him on to post-“Pet Sounds” Beach Boys.
We went through organizational ups and downs, and we’re still there, the 2nd and 3rd (or 4th) longest-tenured folks in the organization.
Today marks D-Man’s 40th birthday. I know he doesn’t know why it’s worth such a big fuss. Sorry, guy, but it is. Oh, yeah, congrats on the engagement.
***
And happy belated birthday, JD. Oops.

The Super Bowled

A few years ago, my female friend DD invited Carol and me over to her house. Don't know why; she never showed any interest in football before, but OK, she asked, we went. She talked across me during the game to Carol. Not about football, or even how dumb they thought football was, or the commercials, but about what they would likely have talked about anyway. Most bizarre.

I'm rooting for the Steelers on Sunday, and it's because of the 3 B's: the Bus, Ben, and Bill. The Bus is running back Jerome Bettis, coming back to his hometown of Detroit for probably his last season. Ben is quarterback Roethlisberger, second year quarterback who practically promised the Bus this opportunity when the Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs last season by the Patriots. But mostly I like head coach Bill Cowher who has managed to outlast some seven or eight dozen coaches since being hired a decade and a half ago, a tribute to Steeler management as much as to Cowher.

I have nothing againt the Seahawks. They were the team I figured would win the NFC, and the team I rooted for in that conference once the Giants got shellacked (a function of a too mouthy DE). In fact, I don't really KNOW the Seahawks. Their coach, Mike Holmgren, is the person I know most well, and only because of his success with the Packers. Yes, I know running back Shaun Alexander was MVP, but he got relatively little press before this season.

So, I think Seattle will win, but I'm rooting for the east coast team.

TV Shorts

Friend Fred is saving up episodes of "24". Fred, avoid the TV Guide letters on page 17 of next week's issue. On the other hand, the Chloe story on page 44 gives little away.
***
My best to the ABC News co-anchor, Bob Woodruff, and cameraman Doug Vogt, who were injured in Iraq this past weekend. ABC News was my broadcast of choice, so seeing co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas in on Sunday, scrapping the planned reports in favor of stories about IEDs, med evacs and about Bob and Doug, referring to them by first name, was very touching. I found out at church that Woodruff's wife used to attend the church I'm attending now some years ago, a fact that I had not known.
***
Cheers to FOX for showing the last four episodes of "Arrested Development".
Jeers to FOX for running them a week from Friday, head to head with opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. All I can say is: Thank goodness for the DVR. I probably won't watch the opening ceremonies, but someone in my household probably will.
***
EDIT Fred HAS seen the first 4 episodes of "24", so he knows that X and Y have died. Good.
***
The reply button to the previous post for today isn't working, and I don't know why. If you want to post responses on THIS post to THAT piece, assuming it doesn't magically rectify itself, feel free.

National National Awareness Month Awareness Month

Today begins National National Awareness Month Awareness Month. Really.

I'm aware of what I want to post this next 28 days. For such a short month, it has a lot of stuff to be aware of: Groundhogs/MidWinter, love, dead Presidents, among them. I'm so happy the Oscars aren't until March.

And (sigh) it's Black History Month, which is more than remembering Rosa Parks, whose birthday, BTW, would have been Saturday. I'm sure most of you heard about Morgan Freeman concluding that the idea of Black History Month is "ridiculous". And of course it is. But if you see/read the interview, it wasn't that he opposed the study of black history, only that it can't be limited to one month.

One thing I've realized most of my life is that the very discussion of race puts some people on edge.
Martha, go hide the chickens! The man's gonna talk about race!

I hear what some of you are thinking - "Why don't we all get along?" Well, yeah, I'm in favor of that, except that I just think it's a lot more complicated.

In fact, the conversation has already started on this blog. Check out the replies to this post. Correspondent Alan writes: "I couldn't be a friends with a black person because I could never be comfortable around him, because of bad racial experiences I've had in the past (I'm 46, if that's important), and because black people in general seem so easily offended and I would always be afraid I'd say the wrong thing."

Well, here's the thing, Alan: if I used the criteria you used - that I have had "bad racial experiences in the past" with white people (and I have, a lot more than I'm going to write about here), then by your terms, I could never have any white friends. Yet I do, a lot of them actually. As for saying the wrong thing, well, that comes with the territory in most human interaction (including marriage, your example). So what do you do? Live alone in a cave? Nope, you just listen. (And I'm not exactly sure what being 46, which is 6 years younger than I am, means in this context.) And FWIW, I really don't think I'm "easily offended".

Maybe you should go see the movie "Glory Road", about the Texas Western basketball team that made history, to understand the roots of anger; it's flawed in in a major way, which I'll talk aboout later in the week, but it has its value.. Better yet, seek out the SAG award-winning, Oscar-nominated "Crash" , which seems to be saying, in the words of Avenue Q, perhaps "everyone's a little racist." Tonight on PBS (at least in this market), there's "African American Lives", a 2-part, 4-hour "Roots" experience for prominent blacks, and :"that's What I'm Talking About", a three-part talk about blacks in pop culture, neither of which I've seen, but want to check out.

You may have missed the story about the racial-tinged Nazi march in Toledo, OH just last year. Yup, race is still an issue. I find it interesting that it seemed to take Katrina to show that race still matters in this country. I'm not just saying it, it's the mainstream media such as Newsweek.

And while I'm talking about New Orleans, I found the city's mayor Ray Nagin's explanation of his "Chocolate City" comment disingenuous at best. "You need white milk to make a deep chocolate," I saw him proffer after the initial criticism of his remarks. Certainly he's familiar with the song about certain cities "going black", and the purported empowerment that would engender. Yeah, he apologized, but I doubt it was a mere slip of the tongue.

I'm a big fan of a blogger known as Gay Prof, and I recommend this column. And I believe I understand when he says in this fine piece: "Apparently the AP only thinks of 'racial progress' as a black and white issue (please picture GayProf shaking his head in frustration)." But GayProf is a history guy, so I'm willing to bet that he would acknowledge the Special Relationship that black/white racial issues have had in this country. And I'm not just talking slavery.

In the 1890 Census, the government was counting people who were white, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, black, mulatto, quadroon, and octoroon. Mulatto was defined as a person who was three-eighths to five-eighths black. A quadroon was one-quarter black and an octoroon one-eighth black, later defined as someone with "one drop" of black blood. And that type of thinking about race still exists.


When Vanessa Williams became Miss America in 1986, some complained that she was black, and others that she, with the green eyes and the fair complexion, wasn't black enough. Reminds me of the Joan Armatrading song "How Cruel" in which she sings:
"I heard somebody say once I was way too black
And someone answers she's not black enough for me."
In Armatrading's case, the conversation was partly skin color, partly other people's expectation of what "being black" is. I can relate, big time.


Race matters in this country. Maybe it won't someday, but we're not there yet. Just last year, there was a vote in the U.S. Senate apologizing for its failure to act against the nearly 5,000 lynchings of black people that took place at the end of the 19th Century and for several decades into the 20th Century. 85 senators signed on, but the Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist allowed for a voice vote, so that the 15 other Senators, all Republicans, including the two from Mississippi, wouldn't be recorded as "no" votes. Unsolved murders of black teenagers, and black and white civil rights workers from decades ago are only now being prosecuted. In part, that's why Coretta Scott King was still fighting the fight nearly four decades after her husband died.

(Top image swiped from http://www.ldsuccess.org/parent_guide/what_are/self-awareness.html)

Gorilla My Dreams

Today:
My computer (Windows Media Player) is playing the songs on the CDs I pop in in random order; it never did THAT before. My PDF isn't working. My e-mail hangs up when I send. Web pages load slowly.

I blame it all on:

I tried to get someone to wear his gorilla mask, his Halloween perennial, but he declined. All I can do is laugh...

My friends, the authors

I've been blessed to know some fairly erudite people. In the last few months, some of them have been published:

My friend Sarah McCue wrote Farce to Force : Building Profitable E-Commerce Strategies.This is at least her fourth book.

Dr. Sarah McCue is manager of the Information and Communications Technology for Development practice at the United Nations Development Program in New York. She also wrote The Federal Role of National Export Development Organizations and drafted the E-Commerce Strategy for the U.S. Small Business Administration.

I first met her when she worked for the Michigan Small Business Development Center, but she is not nearly as stuffy as all of those titles might suggest.

My former library colleague at the NYS SBDC, Jennifer Boettcher, also a prolific author, wrote a book with Lenny Gaines, who I also know pretty well. It is entitled Industry Research Using the Economic Census : How to Find It, How to Use It (How to Find It, How to Use It). I happen to be a geek for these types of data.

Finally, the NYS SBDC has published an award-winning book called "What's Your Signage." It was written largely by my current library colleague, Darrin Conroy. The book acts as an introduction for small business owners to the importance that signage can have on their business. Since 1 in 7 Americans move each year, good signage can make a real difference. I started attending a new church six years ago, and I had no idea where the "Rose Room" was, but subsequently, there was great signage provided throughout the building, which made me feel much more welcome.

Don't know if most of you will find these of interest, but I am proud of each of the authors.

Guru Is His Middle Name

The first time I met Fred Hembeck in person I was disappointed: no squiggles on his knees.
The first time I met Free Hembeck in person, I was relieved: his head doesn't REALLY look like pair of butt cheeks.
Oh, but I kid.

Actually, the first time I met "Fred Hembeck", the guy pictured above, was in the pages of the old Comics Buyers' Guide, where Fred and "Fred" had a regular column.

In 1979, I was in New York City, at a comic book store at the West 4th Street subway stop (Greenwich Village) when I saw a blue-covered book with familiar artwork. It was Best of Dateline @#$%! , published by Eclipse, and while I was by then frequenting a comic store I would later work at, FantaCo, I had never seen the book there. So I bought it.

The first time I met the REAL Fred Hembeck was in February of 1980, when he was doing a signing of his second collection, Hembeck 1980. This was at FantaCo, who published it. I don't particularly remember it, but in my journal, I eferred to him as Mr. Hembeck.

MR. HEMBECK?

Even then, he was just Fred. I saw him often for a while, when he came into the store. We saw each other outside the store, too. He wrote to me last year:
"Remember that time you took us to your friend's party in that trailer park, and the redneckish neighbors shot off rifles at midnight, and then stopped by the party? Whoa! SOME fun! NOW, that's a memory - the Deliverence-styled moment faced by us erstwhilke hippies!"

But he and Lynn moved away, I left FantaCo and eventually got out of comic collecting, and we lost touch. These things happen.

Then, in October 2004, I run into a mutual friend, Rocco Nigro, who said, "You know Fred has a website?" Why no, I didn't, and I went to it and liked it a lot. I e-mailed Fred and told him so. We've been regular correspondents ever since, exchanging mixed CDs, even Andy Williams, and opinions of the world.

Subsequently, I read pretty much everything on the site, even the posts from the previous year and three-quarters. I even found myself mentioned in one or two of his columns: (see May 14, e.g.)

I started "helping" my old buddy, trying to explain the difference between it's and its, and pointing out some broken links.

Eventually, I even started appearing in his column (January 17, 18, 23, March 28, 29, 31 and April 2, 2005). I think it was after the last two pieces (Herb Alpert and link to spoof LP covers that I thought about actually doing something like this myself. And a month to the day later, May 2, I did.

Of course, I kept harassing Fred about this and that.

Then last summer, we actually met in person for the first time in a LONG time - you can read about this, Rashomon-style, here at August 9 and 17 and here. It was great!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRED! Glad we're back in each other's lives, and we've been able to renew our friendship.

But always remember, and never forget, I'm younger than you are for the next five weeks.

(Oh, yeah, his real middle name is George, but when I send him stuff, I always change it something else starting with a G, just because.)

Sunday Funnies: The Black Comic Book, Pt. 3

More on The Colored Negro Black Comic Book by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon.

Note: in the comic strip tradition all the words in the strip are in capitals, but for readability, I've deigned to write in standard English. Also the words that are in bold in the strip are in red in this text.

"Tarskin", a 4-page response to "Tarzan"

Page 1- Tarskin saves guy with diamond from a roaarr!ing lion

Page 2:

Page 3, Panel 1:
Diamond guy: Amazing! That this great black man should help and befriend a white man!
Tarskin: ?
Page 3, Panel 2:
Tarskin: You- mean – you not black?
Diamond guy: Of course not! Don’t tell me you took my sunburn-…

Page 4:
Diamond guy’s hat on ground in foreground, lion chewing on a bone, going mmrraaarrmm- and Tarskin walking away with the diamond, passing a Pogo-like character.
The chimpanzee Cheetah (looks at lion) Ooh.
Daddy Warbucks (?!) (peeks from around tree): Ooh.

While I do appreciate the fact that the man was trying to rip off our hero, I don't know how allowing the man to be fed to the animals was supposed to promote racial understanding. Even if he IS "The Man".

***

"Laughin' Black" a 4-page parody of "Smilin' Jack", a strip that ran from 1933 to 1973, and which ran in my local papers when I was growing up, as did most of the strips represented.

Page 1: (Three airmen in background, head officer shaking Laughin’ Black’s hand)
Officer: Welcome to our squadron, Laughin’ Black!
Laughin’: Thank you, sir!

Page 2:


Page 3, Panel 1:
Officer (next to Laughin’): We all fight for the same country, wear the same uniforms, and each of us has his very own plane
Page 3, Panel 2: Other pilots running to their planes)
Loudspeaker: Pilots! Man your planes!

Panel 4:
While jets are in the air, Laughin’ is shocked when he comes to his plane (Sign: L. Black), which is a rickety old biplane.
Laughin’: !


In the panel shown, the officer practically says the old cliche, "A credit to his race." This story did portray some truths about separate but unequal treatment.

I’m reminded how the valor of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II helped finally integrate the armed services.

***

"Little Ofay Nannie", a 4-page take on "Little Orphan Annie"
The convention in this strip is to underline certain words, rather than making them bold. Since I'm loath to underline - it means hyperlink to me - I will italicize the underlined text.

Page 1:
Nannie (smiling): Oh, Dandy - isn't it fantabulous that Daddy is coming home for my 65th birthday party?
Dandy (smiling): Arf

Page 2, Panel 1:
Nannie: He's been on a business trip to wonderful places like South VietNam, the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia!
Dandy: Arf
Page 2, Panel 2:
Nannie (in a classic arm-up "Annie" pose"): It'll be such fun to see him again!
Dandy: Arf

Page 3


Page 4:
Nannie (angry, pointing finger at Daddy): Turn blue, you @*O!![dagger]@ honky!!!
Dandy (growling at Daddy): Grr!
Daddy (shocked): !

While her anger was, and is, understandable, this rant left me cold, because it seemed to come out of the blue. It's interesting how the panel before the flaming is the only panel where she does not have those hollow eyes.

I was interested in the citation of South Viet Nam as one of the places Daddy was off exploiting. The African countries' white-ruled governments were obvious targets. (Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe.) I wonder if South Viet Nam was picked because a disportionate number of black soldiers were kllled in the war? Or maybe it's that, as Martin Luther King, Jr. suggested, too many people of color, including innocent Vietnamese were dying there.

***
You'll note that I've added Toonopedia links to the mention of the source comic strip. I did it for "Smilin' Jack" because I figured many of you wouldn't be familiar with him. But I've decided to add the link to all of the reviews, including those previously completed, just in case you didn't know who Superman or Blondie were.

Two Ramblin' Thoughts

1. The State of the Onion is on Tuesday. It's pre-empting "Commander in Chief". I think I'd rathervwatch Geena Davis. I'll tape the speech, and fast forward through all the times the Congress stands up for the obvious applause lines (about our brave fighting forces, e.g.), and grit my teeth as he once again defends domestic spying.

2. Apparently, Jennifer is over Brad canoodling with Angelina, now that she's living with Vince. Categorize this under: Things I REALLY Don't Care About, But Discover Standing At The Checkout Line.

3 Super Bowl Questions

1. Who do want to win? Who do you think will win? Or are you a person who neither knows nor cares?

2a. If you watch: What time do you start watching? All afternoon, or just before game time?
2b. If you don't watch, do you have an anti-Super Bowl ritual, such as going to the movies?

3. Super Bowl Sunday - secular holiday?
***
Football 101.

Challenger

The thing I remember most about the Challenger disaster is that I'm pretty sure I had NO idea that a shuttle was being launched that particular day. Sure, there was all that "First Teacher in Space" stuff, but the thing had been postponed so many times that I frankly lost interest.

I was working at the comic book store, FantaCo, listening to my favorite radio station of all time, Q-104, when the 10-2 shift DJ, Mary Margaret (Peggy) Apple, who I knew well, stopped playing music to announce the disaster. From the little of the particulars that I remember, my sense is that she handled the story rather professionally, something she was rarely, if ever, called on to do in that job.

Later, when I gothome, I saw the pictures of the 73-second flight over and over ad nauseum uuntil I was practically nauseous. Eventually, I would learned more about O-rings than I ever thought possible.

I also remember where I was when the Columbia tragedy took place, at home getting ready for an annual MidWinter's party in the MidHudson Valley of New York State. I called my friend Mark, a real space geek and broke the news to either him or his wife Paula; they lived in the MidHudson and were going to be at the party. My first thought when I heard about it - it's the same weekend as the Challenger 17 weeks earlier! Well, not exactly, but pretty close (1/28/1986, 2/1/2003). That time, I felt even a greater sense of loss, for the Challenger disaster taught me never to take these extraordinary technological events for granted ever again.

Underground Railroad Conference

I've know Paul and Mary Liz Stewart for a lot of years. Don't see them often, especially A.L. (after Lydia), but they are friends. Such good friends that, when they called to invite us to dinner at their house last Friday, we made a bold counterproposal that they come to our house, with them bringing dinner, and they actually accepted. (It's easier to get Lydia to bed that way.) We had a great time with them and their youngest son Joel - who's into music from electronic games, an area about which I know NOTHING - talking and playing (non-scoring!) SCRABBLE.

I was one of the first people to go on their Underground Railroad tours of Albany a few years ago. They held an Underground Railroad a conference four years ago for a few hours at the College of St. Rose. Each year, the thing gets ever bigger . This year's event is "The Underground Railroad: Connecting Pathways To Liberty".

You can read all about it here.
A Conference On The Underground Railroad Movement In New York State (For more information and to register: www.ugrworkshop.com), (518) 432-4432.

Incidentally, the map is of Historic Sites and Museums of the Underground Railroad in New York State. Go here to find out more about them.

Wolfie 250

Tomorrow marks the 250th anniversary of Amadeus’ birth. To paraphrase the great Tom Lehrer, "When Mozart was my age, he had been dead for 17 years."
Listen to some Mozart tomorrow; it’ll make your brain swell. Or maybe not, but it'll sound purty.

Note to Gordon: A good lapsed Catholic like yourself may enjoy "The Vatican Rag" on the Lehrer site.

The Lydster, Part 22: Schizo Girl

Carol and I went to see Lydia’s day care teacher this month. She said that Lydia is quiet, hardly saying anything, but is pretty much a perfect angel. She cooperates with her nose being wiped and her hair being done.
Conversely, she does not fold paper. She doesn’t "match object to picture." She doesn’t "zip and unzip".
But she never uses the pacifier.

My immediate thought: Does she have the right child?

Lydia’s talking up a storm at home. At the house, nose blowing is a struggle, though she’s moderately more co-operative with her hair, All of those listed activities she does at home, notably unzipping her pajamas. But she often wants the paci, and since she pretty much weaned herself only a month ago, we’re not going to sweat it much.

Fortunately, there seems to be more integration between the home Lydia and the day care Lydia. She sings a lot in both places. She clearly understands language, even when she doesn’t speak. She's using the paci less at home.

Lydia is 22 months old today. We love her, and it appears that the feeling is mutual.

The universal symbol for "I want my paci."


Some parent, probably the male one, has capitulated.

She STILL looks like Little Orphan Lydia.

Librarian seeks reference assistance-animation

I have a real reference question for which I BELIEVE data exist, but I simply cannot put my hands on it.

What are most recognizable animated characters in the U.S. by rank?
and a corallary,
Top 5 animated characters total licensing revenue by categories, (TV, apparel, toys, accessories).

There's this list, but it isn't exactly what I'm looking for.

And speaking of marketing with animation, behold the lawsuit against cereal maker Kellogg's.

Links and other messages: not nearly Burgasian

FUN

The e-Bay Song, audio and lyrics. Name-checks William Shatner AND Dr. Dre.

See what song was #1 the day you were born unless you were born before 1955 in the US, in which case, find out what was #1 when you turned 18. For me, that was..."One Bad Apple" by the Osmonds. Oy.

The Absolutely Bottom 50 Funeral Eulogies.

Friend David Brickman will be doing his art criticism spot on WAMC (90.3 fm) today at 9:48 a.m. The topic will be a show of art and artifacts from the Brooklyn Museum at the New York State Museum in Albany. By the way, for the out-of-towners, it is possible to listen online at WAMC.org (live only - not archived).

See the "hottest TV spots of the week" here. The code is aar30z -three letters, two numbers, one letter.

Get your HOOTERS calendar here.

Of course, I'm NEVER bored, but if I were, I'd go to the videos here. The foosball is quite good.

One can buy items with the picture above here. The camisole is my favorite.

INTERESTING

"So there you are, on the road, notebook full of trade secrets, and someone swipes it while you're canoodling at the KitKat Club. Career over?" Not necessarily. There's a service which "promises to shut down the PC, and even delete all the data on the notebook."

30-minute pizza promise wreaking havoc in India

The Perfect Church.

Newest member of U.S. Senate.

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

MORE SERIOUS

The Blackberry patent case.

Beyond Treason DVD for sale.

Why your newspaper is dying.

Bush on Trial for Crimes against Humanity at the same church where MLKing, Jr. gave that speech most inportant to me.

FINALLY: in anticipation of the new February 3 deadline for the PATRIOT Act's reauthorization, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee has designated January 25, 2006, as National PATRIOT Act Call-In Day. Dozens of other organizations are joining in.

What to do: Please join this effort by calling Congress TODAY, January 25th, and ask your friends to do the same.

Dial the Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121, and ask the operator to connect you (24 hours a day) or
Enter your zip code here to find your legislators' direct Washington office phone numbers. To find their district office numbers, click on their names or call your local library.
Please phone both of your Senators and your Representative. Ask your member of Congress to work for a PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill that truly preserves free speech and privacy, and that restores checks and balances, including judicial review and much greater congressional oversight.
Other talking points: If you want to make additional points, here are a few suggestions:

Prevent the FBI from "fishing" through our private purchase, medical, and library records by requiring a statement of fact linking persons whose records are sought to a terrorism investigation.

Allow businesses and libraries to pose a meaningful challenge to a FISA Court order or a National Security Letter demanding customer records.

In light of warrantless wiretapping of domestic email and phone communications authorized by the president, make sure there are sufficient privacy safeguards and oversight on all parts of the PATRIOT Act involving the executive branch (which includes the Department of Justice and the FBI).

Protect our First Amendment rights by removing a proposed provision that would subject anyone who protests in cordoned-off areas at Presidential appearances to prison sentences up to 10 years.

Eliminate proposed new death penalties from the reauthorization.

Now that we know the president has secretly authorized illegal, warrantless wiretaps and spying on peaceful protest groups, Congress must immediately stop those actions and hold much more detailed investigations over the whole Patriot Act (not just the sunsetting provisions) before reauthorizing any part of the Patriot Act.
Although the Senate reauthorization bill is insufficient, it is a much better starting point than the House version or the Conference Report.
Can't get through right away? Many people must be phoning Congress. Keep your calls coming! If you prefer not to wait, call the next day or phone the district office.

Find additional resources at the Bill of Rights Defense Committee web site.

Other organizations supporting the call-in day (partial list) include the Alliance for Justice, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association, Amnesty International USA, Campaign for Reader Privacy, Center for Democracy and Technology, Code Pink, Council on American-Islamic Relations, First Amendment Foundation, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Global Exchange, League of United Latin American Citizens, League of Women Voters, Liberty Coalition, MoveOn.org Political Action, National Lawyers Guild, People For the American Way, Rights Working Group, San Francisco Labor Council, Unitarian Universalist Association, and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

UPN, The WB Merge, Form New Network:The CW

In the "it's about time they did that" category:
From TV Week's Jay Sherman:

"CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced Tuesday that they are merging The WB Network and UPN to create a new network to be called The CW.

"The network, which will launch in September, will be owned jointly by Warner Bros. and CBS Corp., with each company owning a 50 percent stake in the network. Tribune Co., which had owned a stake in The WB, will become an affiliate of the new network but won't own a stake. Tribune has signed a 10-year affiliation agreement with the new network.


"UPN President Dawn Ostroff will become president of entertainment of the new network, while John Matta, chief operating officer of The WB, will become chief operating officer of The CW.

"Tribune's 16 major-market stations and the 12 CBS-owned UPN stations will give The CW immediate coverage of 48 percent. The remaining distribution will be a combination of selected UPN and WB affiliates that is expected to exceed 95 percent of the United States.

"On the programming side, The CW will have a six-night, 13-hour prime-time lineup seven days a week, using a combination of programming from both UPN and The WB. The lineup of programs in the new network's lineup will be described later, according to the announcement."

Yes, I know the WB doesn't still use Michigan J. Frog; I LIKE the Frog.

Shelley Winters

When I read about the death of Shelley Winters, I didn't have anything pithy to say. I believe the only movie of hers I'd seen was the Poseidon Adventure, in which her swimming ability is a key plot point.

But what slipped my mind was that I'd seen her several times on television: Batman, Here's Lucy, a number of episodes of Roseanne, and most notably, on Chico and the Man -what made it notable was that her character's name was Shirley Schrift, Ms. Winters' real name.

And then there's another story, for which I will evoke the most vilified woman in show business, at least among the likely readers of this piece, Whoopi Goldberg.

Actually, the two women have something in common. Both have been given Oscars as Best Supporting Actress, Shelley Winters in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)and A Patch of Blue (1965), Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost (1990).

Back in the days of vinyl, a friend of mine who worked for a record company sent me sample albums. One of them was the "soundtrack" of Whoopi's one-woman show on Broadway (October 1984-March 1985), which I enjoyed tremendously. During her first monologue, she plays a drug dealer named Fontaine, who is visiting the Netherlands, goes to the Anne Frank House, and is startled to see there Shelley Winters' Oscar for The Diary of Anne Frank. (Apparently, Whoopi is still telling that story, perhaps not to such great effect.)

So, it is through Whoopi Goldberg that I first heard about Shelley Winters' generosity of spirit.

I Did Not Know That

One of my favorite songs by Sam Cooke was "Bring It On Home to Me". But who was that great second voice, sometimes singing harmony, sometimes doing the call and response "yeah"? Why that was Lou Rawls. I did not know that until after Lou died this month.

The Biblical city of Nineveh is near the current location of Mosul, Iraq on the Tigris River. I did not know that until last week's Bible study of Jonah. I had assumed it was a city on the sea. (Jonah is the guy who had that encounter with the big fish.)

Hugh Thompson, the guy who put a stop to the My Lai massacre, was on 60 Minutes several years ago. They repeated part of the segment on the CBS Sunday Morning program just after he died this month at age 62. He talked about how he was not given adequate cover on some of his subsequent Viet Nam missions, how shunned he was by his fellow military people, until in the last decade of his life, when the military finally asked him to speak about the excesses of war. I'd seen this story before, but I did not know how emotionally involved I would feel in the retelling. I believe that his illness was probably caused, or at least exacerbated by the years of being a pariah.

"Truthiness" is the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year, beating out Katrina-gate. I did not know truthiness was a word, but then, I haven't been watching the Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report". Truthiness "refers to the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true."

Don't know how many are familiar with Tyler Perry. He's a black performer who dresses in drag as a character named Madea. There's always an object lesson. At her request, I bought some DVDs for my mother last Christmas, and now I find myself on the Tyler Perry fan mail list:

On a more serious note, Madea is a character that has been a blessing but it has come with its share of challenges. Many of you don't know this but I am extremely uncomfortable doing this character. I never have anyone other than the cast and crew back stage because I am so embarrassed. I know that sounds strange, but it's true. Sometimes l looks in the mirror as I'm putting on lipstick and say to myself Boy what is wrong with you? Anyway I had to realize what I wish most people would realize about Madea. I am not a man that walks around in a dress. I am an actor and I'm playing a character. MADEA is not who I
am. I was in the mall and a lady walked up to me and asked where was my dress (what the hell...smile) I AM A MAN, although I love women God himself knows I don't want to be one. I said all of that to say this. I have been asked many times to do Madea outside of my shows but I have always said no to Award shows, concerts, and movies. I won't do it because I'm uncomfortable with people seeing me like that up close and personal.
Well Oprah asked me to do it on her show. My first reaction was no but yall know that she is a huge part of the reason I started writing. After much debate and prayer I agreed to do it. Get ready cause Madea is going to be on Oprah. PRAY FOR ME. Tyler.

I did not know that the man was so embarrassed playing Madea. He does it often, and from what I'm told, well.

The voice in my head offering up the title of this piece is Johnny Carson, who died a year ago today. Did you know that Carson and his predecessor as host of the Tonight Show, Jack Paar, died almost a year apart? (1/23/05, 1/27/04). I did not know that until recently, and I have no idea of the significance, if any.
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1824! (or at least 1837...