"Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock."
- Ben Hecht

"Men of vision. Oh, I love the fine names men give each other to hide their greed and lust for adventure."
- Charles MacArthur

In 1924, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur wrote a play called "The Front Page". Both men had once worked as newspaper reporters. "The Front Page" had a successful run on Broadway and was adapted to the screen four times. My favorite version is "His Girl Friday" - starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russel.

I know a wee bit about the media. My father was a newspaper man. The truth is, reporters are rarely heroic and a lot of them are downright petty. For many journalists, it's the byline that counts, not the subject. I like Hecht and MacArthur's play because I believe it is a stylized-but-accurate portrayal of the Gentlemen and Ladies of the press.

If you would like to see my fav version of this wonderful work, you're in luck. "His Girl Friday" is in the public domain and you can stream it straight to your computer by clicking here.

C-SPAN is a little upset with bloggers and Video hosting sites because their coverage of Stephen Colbert's White House Correspondents address is getting a lot of Internet play. They made YouTube remove all uploads of Mr. Colbert's evisceration of well, everyone.

As you may have read, Colbert's speech didn't play so well in the room. Apparently, the press can dish it out but they can't take it. Big surprise. I made a little FLASH presentation featuring Stephen's speech, along with some audio from "His Girl Friday".

CLICK HERE to see it.

I take a nice, long nap and Porter Goss resigns? Maybe I should go back to bed! Goodnight Mr. Cheney.
 

Happy first day @ work to Tony Snow! In honor of this very special day, I threw the I Ching coins and recorded a reading for our new Presidential parrot. Click the link below and give a listen. The MP3 file is approximately 1 Meg in size. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE

UPDATE: Sadly, we will have to wait for a gaggle this Friday and a real presser on Monday, according to this report from WaPo. Bummer.

Crooks and Liars posted a revealing bit of video that has inspired me...to sing!

It turns out, during all this manufactured furvor over a Spanish version of the National Anthem, ABC's Nightline discovered that quite a few of our elected leaders don't know the words to America's official song.

Well, I do. I can hit all the notes too and I haven't sung in years. Give a listen as this unwed mothering, agnosticating, pornographating, lefty liberal Blogslut shows em how it's done, acapella, bitches:

Click Here

Like most State Capitol buildings, the one in Austin, Texas is old, majestic and chock-full o' marble. Marble floors, marble busts and inlaid marble everywhere. My State capitol looks a heck of a lot like the one in Washington, DC:

The first time I ever dropped acid, we went to the Texas capitol. Oh, it was something. Naturally, the dome was a religious experience. I recall we took purple dot. Despite all that architectural glory the beauty of the venue was not my most vivid memory. We were at the capitol at night. Mind you, I was on hallucinogens but I swear to God we toured through the basement:

Basements in Texas aren't that uncommon. This is tornado country after all. What struck me was that the basement is where all the legislator's offices were located. I strolled tacky, pine-paneled hallways and read the names of Texas' congressmen, comptrollers and various state senators on the door plaques. I was stunned at the contrast between the opulence on the floor above and the stark, bland ambience of the actual nerve center of Texas. I can't tell you a single, damned office name because I don't remember any names. That was almost 30 years ago and I was peaking at the time. What I remember is the great facade.

The main floor of the Texas Capitol building is for the people. "Come visit the capitol! We have nothing to hide and isn't it marvelous? Listen to the story of this portrait. That bust was commissioned in the year...Oh look! See? We hold our legislative sessions in these impressive-looking arenas! Pay no attention to those unearthly rumblings emanating from below. Nothing going on down there! Did you know this map was given to Governor...blah, blah, blah?"

There's no basement in the Alamo. The Alamo was a mission, built in the 1700's by the Spanish. It became a fortress for armies from Spain, Mexico and finally, Texas. The Alamo is a tiny, little stone building with no decoration and zero glamour. It belonged to a lot of different people. It belongs to history. There's no basement. There's no facade. It is what it is. People prayed there. People stayed there. People died there.

I was stone cold sober each of the two times I visited the Alamo, dammit. Let me tell you folks, there's not much drama there. There are a couple of bashes in the stone and some burn marks and stuff. They have nice plaques that describe events that happened in the battle of the Alamo but that's about it. The old church is a remainder of a somewhat larger complex of buildings. Much of the fighting happened outside the standing mission. Just the same, the Alamo is honest.

I visited the U.S. Capitol when I was young. We didn't hit the basement but I bet you a roll of Roosevelt dimes they have one. I bet you that the real skullduggery goes on far away from the eyes of the people. Your Government isn't on the tour. There's so much stuff they don't tell you and they get away with it because that sad fact is, you don't really want to know. You're too busy. You vote -or don't vote- and you let these men and women make your laws and regulate your lives and you neglect your duty as their employer. We're in a mess as a nation and a huge portion of the blame falls on our collective dereliction of duty as Americans.

According to US Census data, 34.1% of adults do not register to vote. Of the 69.5% that do register, only 58.3% actually vote. I suck at percentages but I think that means that barely half of voting-age Americans participate in the most important oversight responsibility they possess. Shame on us all.

Remember the Alamo doesn't have a basement. Remember that it's a part of history because it was built really well. Remember that my state capitol and your nation's capitol have a public facade and private catacombs of secrecy. Don't let these people make governance a clandestine operation! Take some responsibility before you lose the privilege. Vote. Read the newspapers. Read the blogs. Listen to the news. Give money to candidates that you find worthy. Write letters to your lawmakers. Send them email. In the name of God, do your duty.

Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Saturday 13 May 2006

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove.

During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning..."