You Can Call Me Senator Franken

Al Franken is Minnesota’s senator elect, according to a unanimous 5-0 decision handed down today by Minnesota’s Supreme Court, most of whom are appointees of Rick Pawlenty, Minnesota’s Republicon governor, who had refused to certify election results in the face of sustained challenges by the incumbent, Republicon Norm Coleman.

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Insurers to Sick: “No Claim For You! Next?”

What do you call a health insurance company that deliberately “deep-sixes” sick policy holders and intentionally confuses others to limit claims and maximize profits?
You may call it YOURS.

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Kings Die at 50: Billy Mays and Michael Jackson

As you’ve certainly heard, the King of Pop’s demise was quickly followed by the King of “As Seen on TV,” Billy Mays. The King of Pop garnered round the clock coverage, shrines, platitudes, documentaries and live coverage. He was homilized and eulogized. The King of “Call Now?” Not so much…even though it would be fair to say that Michael Jackson’s negative publicity regarding pedophilia court proceedings aside, Billy Mays spent more time on TV than Jacko in the last decade, in death, he’s a mere dimple in Jacko’s chin.

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Friday Night Concert Clip: Dexter Gordon

I was fortunate to see Dexter in a small club shortly after his return to America, fronting a sextet. They were a wonderfully fluid, emotive yet precise group whose styles provided a perfect canvas upon which Dexter painted sonic images that sent chills through the steamy room.

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Michael Jackson, The Media, Death and Ratings

I’m totally unprepared for the onslaught of 24-hour coverage of every respectful, noteworthy and trivial aspect of Michael Jackson’s time here on earth that we embark upon as I type these words. Jackson was a prodigy, a child star that grew into a phoenomenon, bolstered by the best writers, producers, coaches, choreographers, stylists, designers and management that money could buy.

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Norm Coleman Gets $1M From National GOP To Fight Franken

Rachel E. Stassen-Berger (rstassen-berger@ pioneerpress.com) yesterday filed a report stating that the National Republican Senatorial Committee poured just shy of $1 Million last month into incumbent Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman’s heretofore ill-fated re-election bid against author, comedian and liberal ex-talk show host, Al Franken.

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Cash For Trash: Blood Money For Dick Cheez’s Memoirs

The NY Times reports that former VP Dick Cheney iced a cool 2 Mil to publish his memoirs. Profits earned by criminals are only illegal if they’re convicted, which of course, Mr. Cheez has managed to avoid.

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Surprise, Surprise…Another Hypocrite in “Mayberry”

HOWEVER, anyone who uses public airwaves, the mail or any public forum beyond the confines of church walls to lecture on morality are free to do so under the First Amendment…until they’re caught with their “pants down,” in which case, I feel they must face a higher standard. These should be neutered.

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If I Ever Actually Read a Blog Entitled “Ramblings,” Shoot Me

Since I’ve been hacking away at this seemingly purposeless activity we’ve come to know as “blogging,” I’ve come across thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of blogs, many of which I skim to see if they have any features I think cool, others I  bookmark to occasionally read and still others to which I link.

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Twitter Conquers World and I’m Truly Sorry

Twitter has transformed the way censored news can break–an application that as I viewed banal tweets from “everybodies” on everything from thinking about where to eat, to eating, from wondering if defecation was in order, to explaining how gratifying a dump had been–I must admit the “visionary” in me never conjured it as such a useful tool.

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