Fox News Bimbos are now...hilarious!

Okay--I thought it was just good marketing on Fox News' part when they started putting abnormally Barbie-dollish looking women on to talk about politics, news, and economics--but it has grown to an extent that it is seriously looking ridiculous now. One doll-like woman is followed by another--or they are all put on a panel looking for all the world like beauty contestants parodying the news.



They are all very attractive....perfectly groomed and leggy...sometimes in slinky outfits...mostly blonde...and every last one of them is designed to gratify Fox's male audience. Fox appears to now be the news for men...about men...advancing men's interests...because this bevy of beauties sure does not represent average American women. It's like the Playboy Channel Attempts Serious News.



And you can say "Well, you don't want to see ugly people on cable news, do you?"

Maybe we do. Maybe we're just beautied out. Maybe we can't relate anymore. Maybe we want to see people who look more like people. Maybe they're just TOO perfect--TOO all alike--TOO much like Stepford Anchorwomen.



Fox News--take note--now people laugh when they catch a look at your news shows.



You are now totally ridiculous.

Global Warming Denial--They're at it again

I often have the misfortune of listening to right wing talk radio during the day. Don't ask why. No one forces me to listen to it. But I have to know what's going on, I have to know exactly how outrageous the comments. It's like a car wreck you can 't turn away from.

Today's little tidbit was about global warming--the usual 'it's a scam, it's not really happening' stuff. They will take any little photo or information about global warming and ridicule it to high heaven to make their point, without either knowing or understanding the science behind it. But then, these are the people who ridicule science on a regular basis, because it doesn't promote their ideology. Pitiful, really. Remember the Republican candidate all holding up their hand to indicate they didn't believe in evolution?? That was their death knell, and they didn't even know it.

But these right wing propaganda-merchants were ALSO the people who brought us 'Iraq is going fine, just fine', while the bodies kept coming home (and are STILL coming home to the tune of 4012 U.S. dead to date, with more bombs going off daily in cities in Iraq). And these are the same people who swore to us that 'the fundamentals of the economy are strong,' while the underpinings of our entire economic system crumbled beneath us. So really, what credibility do these talk show spinmasters and pointmen have left??

I was sitting across from a young friend over pizza one evening and the subject of global warming came up.

"Oh, I don't believe in it," he said with confidence.
"What part don't you believe in?" I asked.
"That there's anything in it--that's it's happening."
"Well, it's a matter of science. It's not a question of your 'belief.'"
"Oh, I know. I don't believe in it anyway."

It was if he thought it was unmanly to believe in the earth's power to defy our needs. It was as it he thought that somehow NOT believing in it would make it go away--so strong was his 'faith' in his human power over nature. So strong was his 'belief' that he could wish it away.

But it's NOT going away, and meanwhile, populations of not only animals but people are losing their habitats and food sources because of it. And I would like people to turn off the American Idol and Lost and read up on it a bit.

Because this isn't a matter of 'faith' and 'belief', it's a matter of survival.

Thanks for listening.

Follow The Money

I, like many Americans, find myself more and more irritated by the depth, breadth, and irrationality of the current economic mess. It now turns out the the 350 billion Hank Paulsen has given out cannot be accounted for--and the banks don't want any oversight at all on how the public's money has been spent--or how it was not spent. More and more, it looks like we have handed a blank check for the public treasury to an administration we cannot trust, and which doesn't have a record of competence.



Remember the day, Paulsen ran to congress--hair on fire--screaming the financial sky was falling. The more you think about that, the odder it becomes. Why then? Why did they only know at that time? Didn't they see it coming? What were they doing instead? Something of that fiscal magnitude had to have been seen bearing down on them like a huge black cloud on the horizon--why didn't anyone know about it? And why didn't anyone do anything?



We are being asked to believe that it was mortgages to those who 'couldn't afford it' that caused this huge worldwide problem. I'm not buying it. Many others aren't buying it either. And the very people encouraging us to take this view are the ones most likely to benefit from our ignorance on the subject.

It's clear we need an investigation of our current financial crisis--by people who know these things and who can understand the details of it. And with full power of subpoena to get at the information, as well. Then, we'll know what went wrong. We'll also go where to look for misuse of the current TARP funds. I'm betting on it.

This is one we can't just 'let go' and hope we can learn from it.

They Threw Shoes, Not Roses

Our illustrious president got a shoe thrown at him at an Iraq press conference today. Two shoes, to be precise. This, in a country we had allegedly 'liberated' from oppression. This, from an Iraqi journalist who should be only too happy for the events that bestowed the right to be a journalist in his country. Yet said journalist was not happy at all. He decried the lost of Iraqi life that this 'liberation' brought. He railed against the making of widows and orphans. And Bush, in his supreme arrogance, could do nothing but stand there looking be wildered ,with an expression of confusion that said, "But we were only trying to help you."

The incidence revealed the underlying sense that there was something very wrong about our going into Iraq. Something was very 'dishonest' about the reasons for going in, and very underhanded about our remaining there for so long. As Americans, this is something that Bush is leaving behind for us to deal with. A legacy of disaster, as it were.

While the Bush team is busily trying to 'spin' history (and you can't spin history, you can only spin contemporaneous public opinion), we find ourselves still neck-deep in the very expensive debacle called Iraq. It is not a good feeling. It is not even a hopeful feeling. We will have to undo so much bad opinion across the globe, and this will take time--the kind of time people are required to spend to rebuild trust.

There are still those who lockstep along with the standard Republican line that says invading Iraq somehow made us safer. These people are now mostly ignored. But just a few weeks ago, Presidential Candidate McCain was carefully explaining why we had to stay there. And VP Candidate Palin was, too. They were actually 'selling' staying in Iraq to us.

It now seems bizarre.

Being Happy in Bad Times

They say when your neighbor loses his job, it's a Recession--but when you lose your job, it's a Depression. I'm understanding this better as the circle of people becomes populated with more and more who have lost their jobs. This hit home for me this week when my daughter mentioned her company had announced an upcoming layoff in January. I could hear the anxiety in her voice, and I became unaccountably angry at I-Don't-Know-Who for allowing the rug to be pulled out from under so many people.

It's good that our country has had previous bad times, and it's good we still have people around who lived through those bad times to tell us about them. They will remind us that all the extraneous goods we are accustomed to are really not necessary. They will us that our loved ones and good friends stick with us regardless of what we have or don't have. And they will remind us that that 'having' of things is not nearly as important as the 'sharing' of them.

I hope during this difficult holiday season everyone remember those less fortunate than themselves. It takes so little to make a difference in another person's life. And the giving does even more for us than it does for them.

New Technology & The Human Condition

I'm of the age where every new technological trick is gone into with a leap of faith and a whole lot of anxiety. The digital generation will not know what I'm talking about--they have always had to do these things--but those who have had to pick up technology along the way will. Each 'skill' (channeling Napolean Dynamite here) is begun with the same feeling Christopher Columbus must have had when setting out on his journeys. He wasn't sure he would get there, but, by gosh, some interesting things would surely happen along the way.

It makes me wonder why I am compelled to know how to do these things. It would be much easier to sit back and say, "Nah--I'm a Luddite. I don't believe this internet fad's gonna last." But nooooo. There I am, spending hours slaving over some little trick of html that I have no business getting myself involved in.

But I hate to be left behind when something is going on. I hate hearing people talk the language of the New Thing, whatever it might be, and not know what they mean. And I'm an information junkie as much as I am a word junkie, so the whole trip is inevitable.

And isn't that the thing that has kept the human species going and growing and changing and evolving--that drive to make something new, do something new, learn something new.

I've got a baaaad case of it. And there ain't no cure.

Racism 2008

Somebody emailed me a racist cartoon. It was about President Elect Obama, and was sent to me by a Republican. When I called them on it, they swore up and down it wasn't racist, and even had the temerity to say that Obama & Michelle 'would have loved it.'

??

Now what makes them think they would have 'loved it'?? Do they know them so well they can gauge their personal tastes in humor? And what about it would they have 'loved'?? The racist insult? Or the mockery of their achievements?

Anyone who think racism is over in America (as the Republicans have heretofore ASSURED us of) is out of their minds. It's accepted in many quarters--and what passes for 'equality of humor' is really just insults in disguise. And we are often asked to 'join us in the laughter'--'be one of us' in sharing this joke.

This is where all of us should be both publicly and personal drawing the line. Racism will never end in this country if we don't call things what they are loudly and emphatically. It's never okay, and it's never 'just a joke' because we have a history that we're trying to undo. And to undo will require ALL our efforts--with no backsliding and no letting things pass unremarked.

Racism 2008 is now just 'pretending racism doesn't exist.'

The Anti-Christmas

Some are starting a new trend called an 'anti-christmas,' a complete rebellion against the rigid constrictions of the traditional Christmas behavior. People go on nice trips and vacations instead of going the family route. They ski or paddle or sight-see instead of listening patiently to drunken relatives at family gatherings. This requires a lot of pre-planning because you must get the Christmas gifts out early, and schedule travel accommodations and leisure activities you enjoy. It became easier to join this movement since I became a buddhist. Buddhism doesn't require the slavish adherence to holiday rituals. There is no required tree or carols or religious services. You don't have to do the same things the same way year after year. You pretty much pray for peace on earth all year long. Your acts of compassion, love, and charity go on year-round.

Anyone who has ever endured a scarring, unpleasant Christmas will understand why this movement is necessary. When everything falls apart, and the family holiday rituals become meaningless or weirdly ironic, you need a fallback position to get through a highly emotional holiday season. The 'anti-christmas' is the solution. It removes the pressure of going through the motions. It provides an alternative pleasantness to soothe one's nerves. It re-wires patterns that were once positive but now threaten to dismantle one's entire psyche. And you can design it to your own liking--which restores a feeling of control in an otherwise chaotic situation.

The Anti-Christmas. Think about it. Keep it in mind. You may need to use it some day.

The Only Blog You'll Ever Need

Welcome to End of Days Blog.
We will touch a variety of subjects--whatever hits me at the moment. Feel free to comment. Feel free to be obnoxious. I blog because it's there. The title is not religious--or even pessimistic. It only refers to my thoughts at the end of the day, or whenever else I feel like making comment.

Today's subject is relationships. Why are they so hard? Why do they deserve such commentary and adjustment? And why must we have them in the first place?

I have one. It's a good one. Yet I always feel the need to tweak it somehow--like a car engine in which you hear a tiny noise that doesn't seem to be harming anything, yet you feel compelled to find out what the noise is and fix it. What is that about?