Dead Men Are Still Cooler Than Most Live Men!

There's a world I enter at times that nobody can penetrate. It is a world where jazz musicians are playing whatever the hell they feel like and I am the only person listening (actually with the popularity of jazz nowadays that's often true). Last Tuesday, Columbia released the 50th anniversary edition of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue with an extra disc containing live performances of the material. Oh my God! It is just wonderful. To hear these great musicians play is something most of you just don't get, don't like, or don't care. To me, it is the one thing that takes me out of this world.

Jazz is subjective. Jazz is whatever you want it to be. For instance, to me, jazz is nothing like it is today. Kenny G isn't jazz, Wynton Marsalis is jazz. But you tell me who outdraws who? Go ask Lisa Simpson what I'm talking about (once again it's my world!).

Now a bit of a rant. Jazz in it's pure form was invented by African-Americans. It is a gift. Yet at virtually every jazz concert I have ever attended, whether it be Wynton, or Basie, or Dizzy, or Miles, or Ahmad Jamal, 90% of the crowd is white. African-Americans ignore this art form. I have no idea why. It is a sad commentary to me to see this. I once saw the late Billy Eckstine put his hand to his forehead and look out into the crowd to see if "any brothers or sisters are out there". There were, but too damn few. It's sad. I am off to listen to and 18 minute jam of So What. I will re-enter the atmosphere about 18 minutes from now.

A Few Bad Men!

I am sorry, but I'm not letting this go. These people who ran this country into the ground for the last 8 years and destroyed the moral authority this nation once had need to be brought to justice. Can this man leave the United States ever again without fear of arrest? He shouldn't be safe even in Casper, Wyoming or wherever the rock is located he will crawl back under.

Do you need a list of this man misdeeds?

1) he shot a guy in the face and then forced the shootee to apologize
2) he admitted to authorizing waterboarding and torture on ABC News
3) Valerie Plame
4) that energy conference back in 2001 with unnamed energy Dons. Think Godfather. I wonder if Barzini was there? We know Ken Lay was there studying Iraqi oil field maps
5) He received a million a year from Haliburton, the war profiteers, while participating in decisions that steer billions of tax dollars to Haliburton
6) to avoid an investigation by a government oversight agency he claimed the Vice President was not a part of the executive branch, then tried to cut funding to that agency
7) "the insurgency is in its last throes"
8) he lied to Colin Powell, who then made an ass out of himself in front of the world
9) Paul Wolfowitz, Don Rumsfeld, John Bolton
10) Once again, he admitted to authorizing waterboarding, for which this country executed Japanese thumb breakers after WW II

To gain back our respect, this nation must do something about these people. To move on and forget is not acceptable. Please, Mr.President, do something before you lose your respect. The entire word is watching.

To Hell With The Super Bowl, Just Let The Boss Play!

Ok, there's very few 60 year olds left around who still matter when it comes to rock music. You have parodies of themselves prancing around, guys in 80's wigs pretending they ever mattered, rock bands who cannot control their greed no matter how much they hate each other, 70's retreads playing casinos to baby boomers trying to recapture their youth, bands with one original member and 3 0r 4 30 year olds bopping out the hits from 40 years ago and then, oh yeah, you have Bruce Springsteen. The Boss drops another album ( album?I am so old) today and I can't wait to listen to it. He has put out four albums in the last 6 years and each one comments on the times in ways that nobody else can. I cannot gush enough about this mancrush of mine.

He's completely mainstream. He's a zillionaire. He's hugely popular. Yet, despite those flaws, he is the Boss. Like Paul McCartney is still a Beatle. Like Neil Young is the rockingest grampa ever. Like Bono will be in 10 years. Bruce Springsteen is cool. Period. Don't like him? That's fine with me. A lot of folks can't stand their boss.

How Come There's No Guitar Hero Bee?

You are looking at 3 of the 6 student winners of the District Spelling Bee. One of them is Max. You can guess which one, which may be tough since all their hair is about the same length. Max spelled "percolate" to advance to the Citywide Spelling Bee next month here in Omaha along with his two schoolmates. I was so proud of him that I about c-r-a-p-p-e-d my pants. My accomplishments in grade school involved avoiding getting my ass kicked by nuns.

Congratulations to Max and his classmates.

You Have The Right To Remain Morally Corrupt!

There are hundreds of reasons why this cheap hack ought to be in jail now that he's a private citizen. Here are just 20:

1) he said to a CIA analyst "ok you covered your ass now" after he was told of an NSA memo predicting the 9/11 attacks
2) He invaded the wrong country
3) He lied to foreign governments and us about Iraq
4) he played guitar while people drowned in New Orleans
5) he gave no bid contracts to Haliburton & Blackwater while denying benefits to mangled war veterans
6) hundreds of "renditions"
7) torture
8) slashed regulations on banks
9) Enron
10) deregulates oil industry sending oil prices through the roof
11) used auto industry problems to punish unions
12) silenced the truth on global warming
13) Jack Abramoff
14) Pat Tillman
15) US Attorneys fired for not being Republican hacks
16) abortion causes breast cancer
17) Donald Rumsfeld
18) Abu Graib
19) outsourcing port security to Dubai
20) No Child Left Behind

You want more? Are you listening, The Hague? Are you listening, Mr.President? If this criminal enterprise is allowed to go unpunished, we all lose. If torture is allowed to stand without consequences, the government of the United States has become the torturer and any moral standing is gone. If this last 8 years is simply relegated to history books to be looked on as a pothole in the road not to be fixed, how long before we bust an axle? This country stands for something. The last 8 years this country has stood for the things we find reprehensible in others. Do something about this. Somebody. Do something!

From Dope To Hope!

It's almost over. The 8 years of corrupt, hopeless, dismal leadership has run its course. After tomorrow, that bunch will be gone and a new bunch will be moving in. It can't be any worse.

I am not a hopeful person. Throughout my lifetime I have seen one corporate stooge after another take center stage and pretend to care about the people of this country. There was some hope after Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976 and the crooks were all indicted, jailed or sent into exile. But Carter was too much of a idealist, and unwilling to do things other than his way. Sound familiar? Bill Clinton gave me a bit of hope. I mean as much as a Republican in Democratic clothing could. But Clinton compromised with evil after the 1994 Gingrich coup, and helped the evil ones with their campaign to ruin him with lies by actually giving them a truth to use. Even George W Bush made me a bit hopeful that he wasn't as big a tool as he seemed. Wrong.

Barack Obama makes me feel like Bobby Kennedy did when I was 11 years old. As skittish as I am over politicians and their handlers, I hope Obama is the man. I really hope so. Not for my sake, I am beyond help, but for Max's sake. Let him never know the disappointment of leaders who lie, cheat, and steal. Pipe dream? Yes. Hope? You betcha.

Just Two Kids Hugging! Nothing To See Here!

It's been a rough week, or rather a rough 9 months, or 5 years, or 85 years for that matter for Max's Dad's mom, who passed away last Monday after deciding she'd had enough pain and suffering for a lifetime. Charlene, my mom, worked full time to age 84 as an executive secretary for a Rotary Club here in Omaha. It was her life. She worked through my Dad's illnesses, his death, her own lung cancer, her second lung cancer, her chronic breathing problems, and right up through her first broken hip suffered in May of 2008. Pneumonia began to call her damaged lung home after that. She went through at least four bouts with it. Then she broke the other hip in September of 2008 and the life began to drain. She was forced to retire. Retire? Are you speaking Japanese here? The woman, never one to stop moving, couldn't move any longer. Forced to sit in a chair, have help getting up, and missing out on dinners and lunches and golf and Rotary meetings and fun, could feel the life leaving her. I could see it in her face. I could hear it in her voice. The same lack of energy I heard in my Dad's voice had entered Mom's voice. It's not something you ever want to hear.

Last Saturday, in the hospital, full of infections and pneumonia and shingles and a general exhaustion, Charlene decided it was time to stop fighting. Treated with dignity and respect by the folks at Lakeside Hospital, and eventually by the saints who work at the Hospice House, Charlene passed away around 7 pm on Monday, January 12th, 2009. I was not there. I couldn't be there. My Mom actually passed away, metaphorically, the night she broke her hip in May of 2008. Oh what a life you had, Charlene. Congratulations. We love you.

Oh yeah, forget about that age thing. She was in denial right up to the end. She was the same age as Max. Trust me on this one.