How's that working for ya, NBC?

The whole thing was about cutting costs. And since Jay, who was supposed to retire from "The Tonight Show" didn't actually want to retire, and the powers that be at NBC/Universal didn't want Jay to go to another network, but Conan, the new guy, was already scheduled to take over from Jay, what was NBC/Universal to do? Hey, the suits thought, what about this? Let's keep Jay and give him a new weeknight show at 10 PM! Hey, that'll be cheaper! Why pay for 5 dumb 10 PM dramas? Why pay for 5 sets of actors, writers, directors, producers, staff and crew? Jay's show is cheap. He'll save NBC/Universal a lot of money, and drive the ad rates up! Less money out, and mo money mo money MO money coming in for NBC/Universal! (When the suits get excited, they sound like the guys from "In Living Color.")

That was their plan, but we all know what happened. Jay's show tanked, which made the local news tank, which didn't help build an audience for Conan, the new guy. Hey, the suits thought, what about this? Let's move Jay to another new show! A half-hour show that starts at 11:35! And we'll just bump all the other shows back by a half-hour! Hey, that'll work! Jay will get his old time slot back and he won't tank anymore, and Conan gets Jay as a lead-in, and even if "The Tonight Show" technically starts tomorrow, and who cares about the guy after that? And mo money mo money MO money coming in again for NBC/Universal!

But Conan said no. And then last Friday, Conan left the building. And dig this: if you take the 30 million NBC/Universal dollars that Conan walked away with, and add the $12 million he got for his staff (a way- classy move of Conan's, by the way); and add the millions paid to Jay to stay at NBC/Universal and do the new 10 PM show; and add the millions more they had to pay Jay to do the new "oops-our-bad" 11:35 half-hour show; and the additional millions they probably forked over to Jay to return to his old "Tonight Show" hour-long gig; and then add millions more NBC/Universal dollars they're feverishly throwing at writer/producers to create 5 new hour-long dramas, and could you write and produce them like, yesterday?

If you added up all of those millions, it would have been cheaper for NBC/Universal to do the 5 damn hour-long dramas in the first place, and for NBC/Universal to hire actors, writers, directors, producers, staff and crew, and they could have kept thousands of people employed.

Fascinating and stupefying.

I've got to get in on this "fail upward" track.

Dear Mr. President: Fire Rahm Emmanuel. Now.

Dear Mr. President:

Please fire Rahm Emmanuel.

He's not sharp, he's too centrist, and he's got that Clintonian stink (Hillary excluded). Sorry, the guy doesn't have your back, and between the conserva-dems that he helped elect in 2006 and the Veruca Salt "I Want It NOW" progres-a-dems that refuse to see the bigger picture, our party is imploding when it should be coming together on important issues like real health care reform. Single-payer health care reform. “Medicare-For-All” health reform. Real choices for Americans and ending the stranglehold of the health insurance industry. And I trace most of the difficulties in getting any health care bill passed to Rahm Emmanuel's ineffectiveness.

Next? As long as he's the Senate Majority Leader, force Harry Reid to take a public speaking class. (I'm not even going to deal with his "Negro dialect”/"light-skinned” remarks here.) He is a HORRIBLE public speaker and does not inspire confidence. He's dull, marble-mouthed, and looks ill. Not a good representative for anything. Good communication skills should be kept in mind when the time comes to choose the new Majority leader.

And I think that some Americans who don't have a real grasp of Wall Street see you (not George W., and his “no-regulation” boys) as the guy who "bailed out" Wall Street, with taxpayer dollars, while many of them are losing their jobs. And they are furious. They don’t understand how close this country came to an economic meltdown of monumental proportions. They’re just out of work, and pissed at rich people in general. And somehow the GOP, the very wealthy Rush and Glenn, and the nutty tea-baggers are “the people’s party." Yeah. Right. Unfortunately, that kind of simplistic thinking has gotten the most press coverage. Because it’s a great story. But it is a “story.” It’s simply not the truth.

Mr. President, it's obvious that you are trying to bring a spirit of bi-partisanship into the House and Senate, but the Republicans are in lock step and just reject everything you propose. Time to call them out on their opposition, and remind the public of exactly who they are.

The GOP is FOR the health care industry and AGAINST working class people. They are FOR the credit card companies and AGAINST consumer protections and reforms. They are, again and again, FOR the side of big-business and AGAINST the side of regular folks and the poor.

What gets me is that these are the politicians that crow about how “big government” doesn't work; yet THEY ARE the government, at least a part of it. And their very obstructionism is so often what keeps the government from moving forward. Good grief.

One more thing -- you've obviously got your hands full -- get Joe Biden out there every time the evil Dick Cheney (or his daughter, or Mary Matalin, or Rudy Giuliani) tells a lie, or tries to re-write history. Respond quickly to every ridiculous charge. And Vice President Biden can do this well. His remark during the campaign about Mayor Rudy using “a noun, a verb, and 9/11” was brilliant and illuminating. But Dick Cheney is a cut below that -- he's a disrespectful lout. What about inviting him to the White House? You know, the "keep your enemies closer" kind-of thing? If he refused, what an embarrassment to him. He may be a former Vice-President, but Cheney is a homegrown terrorist. By his criticisms of you and current U.S. foreign policy, he has given more aid and comfort to the enemy than any ex-anybody. He's a boil that needs to be lanced.

Anyway, Mr. President, thank you for taking this bizarre job, for being so classy and not losing your sense of humor, for caring about this country, and for making the United States look like it finally got smart.

Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year.

And please, stay safe.

Respectfully,

Nancy Giles

PS: Can't you strip Joe Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee? Or authorize, talk to, "lean on" the appropriate parties to do so? He's useless, he craves power and attention, and he's just not good people. Why should he head any committee? That he claims to be an "independent" is such a joke -- he's bought and paid for by the health insurance industry.

More later.

N.

I Want Joe Lieberman To Look Like The Italian Prime Minister Did After He Was Hit in the Face. Is That So Wrong?

I'm just sayin'. Not that I'm advocating violence -- I'm not. But there's something primal and basic about punching someone in the face, and whatever bruises occur, or black eyes, and then the colors those bruises turn as they fade, sometimes green and yellow, and the bruises can't always be covered by makeup.

Anyway.

I've had to take a little break, with all due respect, from some of my friends at MSNBC, particularly the lovely Keith Olbermann. I haven't watched his latest "Special Comment," but know that he teared into the Democrats and the President for not being stronger in supporting a single-payer system, or a public option, or at least the expansion of Medicare. First, can we please cut President Obama a fucking break? Has his own party forgotten the SHIT that this one man walked into, after eight years of George W. Bush? Bush was a guy so stupid, so simplistic, so much the "dry drunk" that the country actually got used to having low, or no, expectations of him. And he didn't disappoint.

But with President Obama, the expectations are off the chart. In one fell swoop, within the first twelve months of his presidency, he's expected to do it all -- end the war in Iraq and bring all the troops home; win the war in Afghanistan, catch and kill Osama bin Laden, destroy all our enemies, bring all those troops home; close Gitmo; keep the country solvent; turn the tides on mortgage foreclosures; fix the country's failing infrastructures; balance the budget and create millions of jobs; make the USA (and the automobile industry) more fuel-efficient; usher in a new era of racial and religious understanding; enlighten everyone about the dangers of global warming; and create and pass a bill for universal, single-payer, "Medicare-for-All" healthcare reform. I'm sure I've forgotten dozens of other things on our Obama "to do" list. Oh, right -- President Obama must put the needs of the African-American community first, lest he be thought of as a whitey-loving Uncle Tom. Because he's not supposed to be a President for all of the people -- he's just for "us. " Right?

Can you imagine the pressure he's under? With death threats up by 400%, and those state dinner interlopers exposing major security breaches. And a media mogul (Rupert Murdoch) with major newspapers and an entire network dedicated to destroying him. And the so-called "liberal bias" that's so scared to be though of in that way that even they bend over backwards to appease the conservative, corporate media. Man, this just isn't fair! President Obama is one man. He has ideas and goals, but with real legislation (once it gets in play) it takes time to get it right. It can't all happen at once. Bills get amended, tweaked, changed. That's how it is!

(And have you noticed how often poll numbers are taken on his popularity, efficiency, whatever? What's next -- that little needle the networks used during the debates to show how people were reacting, word by word? Jesus Christ.)

But now we Deomcrats are dumping on President Obama like nobody's business. As Diane Keaton said to Al Pacino in "Godfather 2:" "This...all...must...end." I'm talking about us Democrats talking smack about each other and about our President. I'm talking about progressives having an idealistic temper tantrum, and the Blue Dogs (who I blame Rahm Emmanuel for, because in his zeal to get our numbers up he talked Republicans into running as Democrats, and now the chickens have come home to roost. But that's another story) digging in their heels and refusing to bend. Democrats are NOT "wimps," Democrats should NOT be "more like the GOP," we do NOT need our own Karl Rove, and I could NEVER be in a party where everyone totes the party line. WE HAVE TO STOP BEING HATERS AGAINST OURSELVES, and remember where the blame really lies.

The compromises that have happened in the health care bill have happened largely because of the GOP. They want to bring President Obama down by rejecting every bit of legislation he supports, even at the expense of the GOP's own constituents. THEY, PLUS JOE LIEBERMAN, AND BEN NELSON, ARE THE REAL OBSTRUCTIONISTS. Because, honestly? The "tea parties" were a joke. They represented a smattering of frightened, poorly educated folks. They were reading scripts, and holding up hateful, hate-filled signs because of their fear of a black Prez, plain and simple. I mean, people said things like "keep the government's hands off my Medicare." Not a bright group, sorry.

Anyone reading this knows that the only people that haven't been screwed by the health insurance industry are the very rich and the very dead (because they can't be screwed with anymore).

I am a proud Democrat and a progressive thinker and an old-school liberal and a believer in affirmative action, same sex marriage, equal pay for equal work, and universal health care for all Americans. I'm disgusted that the United States of America, the richest country in the world, has the worst health care system in the industrialized world. I'm disgusted that so many health insurance and pharma dollars have seeped their way into the House and Senate members of BOTH parties. I'm disgusted at the do-nothing GOP that sat on their big-business, small-government asses and supported an idiot past president as he drove this country into the ground. And I'm damn disgusted that when the GOP had the majority in the House and Senate, when it came to health care, they did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They SAT ON THEIR ASSES, and took their own health insurance, funded by us, the taxpayers. No way were they going to give that up.

So let's aim our fury at the GOP. Let's get some talking points going about their "record." Let's point the finger at the ones that get the biggest payout from health insurance and pharma companies. And, yes, let's throw Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson into that pile as well. Let's remind people at every opportunity that Lieberman's wife has her own big, big ties to the health insurance industry, which just might be influencing his narrow little mind. And let's remind people how much of a weasel Joe has been, how he supported the asinine Bush (and all that stands for), and how he supported John McCain in 2008. (And it is true, by the way -- if you hold your hand over the top half of Lieberman's face, and look at his icky mouth, you can see it. Lieberman IS "The Joker!" And he sounds like a donkey. And everything that comes out of his mouth proves he's a horses ass.) I'm still mad that the 2000 election was stolen from Al Gore, but man -- we dodged a bullet by not having Joe Lieberman anywhere near the top job.

And Senator Ben Nelson? Let's get real -- if Ben Nelson had a daughter who was raped, and the attacker was of another race, I think he'd think about abortion real fast. Frankly, I don't think any man has a right to say shit about abortion, since it's not happening to their bodies. And, by the way -- calling one side "pro-life" means that my side is "pro-death," and we're not. No woman wakes up in the morning thinking of her exciting option to abort a fetus. No woman goes dancing to a clinic, singing and swinging past lines of protesters, grabbing a bouquet of flowers on the way. It's a private, excruciating decision between a woman and her doctor that deserves to be respected.)

But I digress. Again.

I'm for single-payer. For a public option. For Medicare for all. For the public having an option of a government-run health care program, to give us somewhere to go instead of being forced into the stranglehold of private insurance companies. They are for-profit, not for-people. And while we strive to achieve those goals, my fellow Democrats, push as hard as you want. Call. Write. Donate. Run for office. Vote. Talk. Email. Blog. Disagree. But stop saying shit about ourselves!! DEMOCRATS ARE NOT WIMPS, and our party must STOP ATTACKING PRESIDENT OBAMA. I'd rather be a Democrat even if we're fighting among ourselves, because I truly respect discourse and will never just march in line to ideology. But health care reform is different. It's a basic human right that everyone in this country deserves. And let's NEVER forget that the GOP has no plan for health insurance reform. They only want to say "no" to anything Barack Obama is for. They are a disgrace to this country.

And Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson are complete morons.

And I love Al Franken telling Joe Lieberman that his ten minutes were up.

Did you see McCain's righteous indignation? What a hypocrite -- he stopped Robert Byrd in the exact same way during a Bush war funding bill debate.)

Thanks for listening. I'm pissed. What's on your mind?

"And your point is...?"

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." 

statement byJustice Sonya Sotomayor

So...what's the problem?  SHE'S RIGHT!  Give me a break!

Is what Sotomayor said racist?  Or sexist?  Or bigoted?  Or just plain dumb? Nope, in my humble opinion.  Dig this: does an institutional racism already persist in which a white male metric is seen as the gold standard for EVERYTHING?  Be it as Supreme Court justices, captains of industry, intellects, creators of art, literature, and architecture?  As scientists, critical thinkers, politicians, culture warriors, "thinking-man" athletes..I could go on and on.  (By the way Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas doesn't count.  Not because he's "lost his blackness," but because he's lost his mind.)

How did white male-ness become the "default" position?  Is it because our founding fathers more than 200 years ago had no founding mothers or founding fathers of color, that people who look the most like our founding fathers were considered the norm, and the rest of us are "the other?" Even more than 200 years later, as the colors of this country continue to change

Yes.  I think wise Latina, a wise black woman, a wise Pacific Islander, a wise Native American, a wise gay or lesbian, a wise handicapped person would, more often than not, because of the richness of their experiences, make better decisions than a white male.  (Okay, maybe I'd say "different" instead of "better;"  and maybe it would depend on the particular person of diversity and the particular white man. But only maybe.)  When I went from a multi-cultural public high school in New York City to a way-smaller, predominantly white college in Ohio, I was suddenly confronted by white students who had never met a black person before and asked me the strangest questions: where were the good drugs on campus, what was it like to grow up in the ghetto, and why was my hair so soft.   I remember thinking: how is it that I know all about white people and their lives, and they knew nothing about mine?  We've been force-fed this idea of all things Caucasian as the way things were supposed to be.  It depressed me at first but now I see it as a secret weapon.  We can understand both sides and they can't.  I can't wait till we have a Supreme Court that truly reflects this diverse country.

"Goodbye, Sex" (vintage essay)

“Sex and the City” was kind of like a bad boyfriend.  I fell for it in spite of myself.  Got hooked, was always a little jealous of what happened when I wasn’t around, couldn’t figure out the clothes, got fed up and I was the one to break it off, but I never got it out of my system.  And now that it’ll be over, finally over -- I’m relieved, I’m sad, and the one thing that I can’t let go: why wasn’t I ever on it??

 

I never even got an audition!  Sure, there were a few parts for lesbians of color, and one time an angry black sister of one of Samantha’s exotic boyfriends.  Hey,  didn’t Miranda’s boyfriend have an angry black sister?  And the thing is, “Sex and the City” is (well, was) a New York City show, and one of the greatest things about this city is its multiculturalism and the urban working girl friendships that cross over so many barriers.  They should have called it “Sex and the Segregated City.” 

Oh, forget it.  I’m still a little bitter.  I don’t want to talk about “Sex and the City.”  My real-life version of “Sex and the City” doesn’t look like that show.  A show called “I Thought That Check Cleared,” or “Oops, I Missed My Weigh-In.”  Or “Late and Cursing.”  Those would be the shows about my life.

Carrie’s “outfits?”  Half of those ensembles would have gotten her arrested on certain New York streets.  Her closet with $40,000 worth of shoes?  Are you kidding me?  And all those men, from captains of industry to schlubs, to choose from??  But despite all that, there was something about “Sex and the City” that got to me.  Those four women loved each other, and protected each other, and defended each other.  Through sickness and health, celebrations and cancer.  Sisterhood is powerful, and I could relate to that. 

And now, with the final episode looming, I’m hooked all over again, and wondering if Carrie will “make it after all,” like Mary Tyler Moore did over thirty years ago.  Mary Richards had a life, a challenging job she loved, dear friends, and men, but she was okay whether she had a man or not.  So what’s the lesson of “Sex and the City” all these years later?  That thin women can earn their own money, own their apartments, have fabulous wardrobes but still feel incomplete without a man?  I wonder if we’ve taken a step backward, but in more expensive shoes.

"Makeovers" (vintage essay that still applies)

Enough with the makeover shows. Let's just not watch them. They must be stopped.  Enough already with the tummy tucks, the hair extensions, the rhinoplasting, botox-injecting, breast-enhancing, life-coaching, and the on-air revealing.   And the high-fashion strutting.  And the sobbing. At least the Miss America pageant has a talent competition.  What is the “talent” here -- someone else’s idea of a person’s so-called ugliness and the success of their reconstructive so-called “beauty?”

I guess self-acceptance is out, and Stepford is in, huh?  It sure seems that way.  Can't we remember what’s real and what’s fake?  No one really looks like they do in a magazine, or on TV or in the movies.  No one gets up at the crack of dawn and looks crisp, flawless, and well rested.  None of the people that we may be measuring ourselves against even do their own makeup!  They have professionals by their side, trained and ready to hide their every wrinkle and pore.  Don’t get me wrong -- I like makeup, I love makeup artists, and I appreciate every ounce of concealer that makes me look that much less like I have Fred Flinstone’s five o’clock shadow.  But let’s face it.  There is so much more to us than how we look.  Frida Kahlo’s lack of eyebow definition didn’t stop her from becoming a brilliant artist.  And having one big, bushy eyebrow, a horrific combover, and his father’s real estate fortune to build on didn’t hurt Donald Trump, either.  I haven’t seen him on “The Swan.” 

By the way, I happen to like visible signs of aging.  Visible signs of aging have a strange way of reminding me that I’m alive.  When I stop having visible signs of aging, that’ll mean that I’m dead.  And that’s what Botox is.  Dead cells stuck in your face to freeze it.  I don’t think our human faces should be locked in like a lower interest rate -- I mean how young are we going for, anyway?  Thirty?  Twenty?  Twelve??

There are parents out there who have actually given their daughters boob jobs as graduation presents.  What happened to gift certificates?  And what enhancements are they giving their sons for graduation?  The mind boggles. Even one of the Olsen twins, who’ve built themselves a billion dollar empire by being cute, is dealing with an eating disorder.  If that’s not a sign that we’re all just a little bit too involved with how we look, then I don’t know what is.  And, by the way, “ugly” ducklings don’t get surgery.  They become swans when they grow up 

"Get A Dog"

“Get a dog.”

That’s the snide, world-weary comment I’ve gotten from more than one woman friend when I moan about not having a warm body in bed with me.  “It’s not just the sex,” I try to explain during those few times when I actually talk to anyone about men, sex, and men and sex, “it’s sleeping with someone.  Sometimes I just want to take a nap with the right man.  I just want to lean on him and feel his warmth, you know?”  

“Get a dog!”  

So I’m sitting here on another one of those gray, depressing days, with Jessie and George.  Rottweiller and Beagle.  My accidental pets, now my little family.  Both snoozing with me on the sofa.  George snores, loudly.  And at night, in bed, I sandwich myself between them and feel them breathe, and feel their warmth, and let them stretch and kick me in the back.  George does this more than Jessie does. George, beagle, stretches and then holds the stretch, so his stiff-armed paws poke me in the back, until he sighs and relaxes back into his doggie dream.  With Jessie it’s a little tremble in her back paws and a quiet growl while she’s in her canine REM phase.  I love to watch them sleep.  And between Jessie’s 86 pounds and George’s (I think he’s about 29), they weigh about as much as that Armenian triathelete.  And they’re much more comforting than he was.  A little conversation, couple of kisses, some thrusts, a groan, and he’d fall asleep.  And I, to be polite, would watch the clock for about 45 minutes so as not to jump up immediately and flee the scene.

"Get a dog."

I did. And they helped.