Someone actually spoke their mind at the Oscars....

When director Charles Ferguson accepted the Oscar, last night, for Best Documentary, he joined that rare club of people that, under the spotlight that is the Academy Awards spectacle, avoided the bullshit and spoke the truth. In his film, Inside Job, he eviscerated Wall Street players, economists, and bureaucrats for their crimes and misdemeanors. And, yesterday, he brought life to that annual self praise-a-thon called the Oscars when he said, "Forgive me, I must start by pointing out that three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong." Thanks Charlie.... 

This link is his speech. Click on the box below the story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/charles-ferguson-oscar-speech-inside-job_n_828963.html?ref=tw

Click here for the movie's trailer...it's riveting:
http://www.bing.com/movies/search?q=Inside+Job&id=mc94575&p=Trailers&FORM=DTPSHA

Life aboard a Frigate....

I've packed my duffel and bid adieu to friends, lovers, and reality and stepped aboard my new ship, the Frigate All. She picked me up at the East 9th Street Pier here in Cleveland with the sounds of gulls chirping overhead and the smell of frozen fish floating around us. I have to turn my back on my world for a few moments...the numbness in my head and heart is sending screams of I don't care out my piehole. How else is an old liberal idealist to keep on moving? The brick wall my head kisses daily...sometime hourly...needs the blood and flesh hosed off again...and a nice scent - patchouli maybe? - applied generously. I won't be gone for long. You see, I care. And I rage against the dying of the light...of compassion and fairness and sharing, as the Mad Hatter takes over. Maybe some mushroom tea? Please pass the sugar.

Choices....

We will be bombarded with fascinating choices made in Congress this year. Irony runs rampant. Check this out: http://www.blogforchoice.com/archives/2011/02/birth-control-f.html ....

Peabody's Improbable History....

The Mad Hatter's Republican Tea Party has found and plans to use the Wayback Machine. Redefining rape to deny federal spending for abortions is the beginning of a return to the core values of the 50's, 40's and beyond. Coat hangers will return to the delightful days when they did more than hang coats. Given enough rope, will Peabody's machine allow lynching to return? Am I crazy to hope that the cromagnan thoughts of the Michele Bachman's and the Sharron Angle's of the Party of Tea may prove that values require actions to truly interpret them and then the party will be reinterpreted.

Proper, legal, and humane....

Outdoor Adventures Whistler ordered the "culling" of dogs at their adventure park in British Columbia and now blame an employee of that park for the brutal way it was carried out. At least 100 beautiful dogs were shot while still tethered and some had to be shot multiple times. An  area vet refused to euthanize the dogs because they were so healthy. Outdoor Adventures Whistler said they were aware of the euthanization of the dogs in April 2010, "but it was our expectation that it was done in a proper, legal and humane manner." What punishment is appropriate? Something proper, legal, and humane.