Just Asking . . .

English: iPhone 4. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Random questions that may (or may not) be too much for Twitter . . .

Why would a Republican-dominated Congress decide so quickly to fund President Obama's new war against the Islamic State?  Are they afraid of seeming unpatriotic?  If so, isn't that the way Democrats felt when they voted to authorize George W. Bush's wars?

When is Hillary Clinton going to tell us whether or not she's running in 2016, and get it over with?

Why do politicians and the media think the public really cares about how their tax dollars are spent?  Is it really ours to begin with?

Do you really want to split up California?

Why does Stewart Mills III, who's running as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Rick Nolan in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, look like a trust-fund surfer dude who needed something to do?

Why is Senator Al Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" satirist turned serious politician, leading the polls?  Why is Mike McFadden, Franken's GOP challenger, trying to be funny in his TV commercials when we know that he'd vote with his party every time if he's elected?

Despite leading in the polls, why is Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton so vulnerable?

Whatever happened to the Independence Party?

Is John Kline so screwed up as a congressman that he's being targeted for defeat by HBO comedian Bill Maher?

Is it possible that health insurer Preferred One bit off more than they could chew before leaving the MNSure exchange?

Doesn't the voice of Siri sound an awful lot like Daria Morgendorffer?

Why do we que up for the latest thing in smartphones when we know that we'll be junking them in a few months for the next latest thing?

With so many Kardashian family-related shows on its air, shouldn't the E! network rebrand itself as The K! Channel?

Are the women in ads for online dating services really single?  Or are they just models/actresses whose boyfriends/husbands urged them to take the gig?

OK, you don't have to answer that last one.

9/11: Unfinished Business

English: President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama meet in the Oval Office of the White House Monday, November 10, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history, it's time once again to take up arms against a foe that could be a threat to the so-called "homeland" that we really don't know much about.  Just like Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein and the Taliban.

Their name is ISIS.  Or is it ISIL?  Whatever their name is, they're another terrorist organization based in the Middle East bent on spreading death, destruction, and the imposition of their fundamentalist brand of Islam on the entire world.  Just like Al Qaeda and its spinoffs.  ISIS/ISIL is reputedly more dangerous and better funded than Al Qaeda ever was, having swallowed up chunks of Syria and Iraq by taking advantage of political instability in both countries.

ISIS/ISIL has gotten the world's attention through kidnappings of Westerners and beheadings, and have succeeded in getting some Europeans and Americans to join them through such recruitment tools as the Internet.

If ISIS/ISIL is as brutal as some government officials say they are, then what has President Barack Obama done about it?  Well, so far he's ordered airstrikes inside Iraq to take the pressure off the friendly forces battling back the insurgents, helped form a new coalition government to replace the old corrupt one, and sent some soldiers to provide more security to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

But all that doesn't seem to be enough.  So the President made a nationwide address Wednesday night to tell us what more he can do to meet the threat ISIS/ISIL supposedly poses.  Such as more airstrikes (which will now include Syria, whether Bashir Assad likes it or not), more military advisers, more aid to those fighting ISIS/ISIL, and an attempt at putting together a worldwide coalition to help defeat the terrorists.  The President has even promised no American "boots" on Iraqi soil.  Let's see how long that lasts.

President Obama has said this new conflict could take awhile.  After more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, is this country up for another battle against an enemy that may or may not live up to the hype?  Airstrikes are effective for only so long, because "shock and awe" has a way of turning into "been there, done that".  And in the Middle East, you don't have to win the war to score points among true believers if you hang around long enough.

Barack Obama became President with a mandate to end the wars that George W. Bush started.  And he has.  But with poll numbers dropping like a rock as his time in the White House is almost done, Obama has chosen to stake his legacy (and risk the security of the nation) on a new war that he might not be able to finish.  Is he, and other war hawks, right about ISIS/ISIL?   Let's hope it doesn't take another 9/11 to find out.

Joan Rivers (1933-2014): Something to Talk About

English: Joan Rivers at Musto's 25th Anniversary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the male-dominated world of comedy, Joan Rivers was not everyone's cup of tea.  She got laughs for telling it like it was, and sometimes she got in trouble for it.  When Rivers wasn't doing standup, she could usually be found at award shows and other formal occasions (when they let her on the property) skewering certain female celebrities for their choice of evening wear.  This was at a point when people actually started caring about such things.

Rivers was a trail blazer who has influenced scores of female comedians, some of whom have imitated her caustic style.  She never got her own sitcom, like Roseanne Barr or Phyllis Diller.  But she did become the first woman to host a late night talk show, which just happened to be the very first program ever broadcast on the Fox network, launched in 1986.

Legend has it that, in order for Rivers to do the Fox show, she first had to leave her cushy gig as permanent guest host of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson".  Unfortunately, she neglected to inform Carson of her plans.  Carson, then one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, promptly cut Rivers off and banned her from his show (she didn't return until Jimmy Fallon's first night a few months ago).  "The Late Show" lasted less than a year on Fox.

To date, Rivers remains one of the few women who have ever fronted a late night talk show.  Fox is no longer in that business, having decided to put its money into sitcom reruns and news on its local stations.

Life outside comedy wasn't easy for Rivers.  Her husband, whom she often joked about in her act, committed suicide.  And her relationship with daughter Melissa wasn't always the greatest.

Joan Rivers often asked in her act "Can we talk?"  She stopped talking for good at the age of 81, following complications from minor throat surgery.  Now we're the ones who are talking about her.

Miley's People

Again this year, Miley Cyrus used the MTV Video Music Awards to call attention to herself.  Never mind that MTV no longer bothers with music videos, or that Cyrus and almost everyone else on Sunday's telecast were merely warmup acts for Queen Beyonce.

Instead of twerking and sticking out her tongue, Cyrus did something else that had people talking.  After it was announced that she won the Video of the Year for "Wrecking Ball" (presumably the PG-rated version, and not the one where she rode that ball naked), Cyrus pulled a Marlon Brando and brought out her "date" for the evening, a young man named Jesse Helt, to accept on her behalf.  Helt just happens to be homeless.

Just like Brando used Sacheen Littlefeather to voice his concern over the plight of Native Americans as he refused his Best Actor Oscar for "The Godfather" in 1973, Cyrus used Helt to highlight her concern over America's young homeless.  Sure beats dumping a bucket of water over your head, right?

Homelessness is a serious problem that gets worse every day.  From drug abuse to mortgage foreclosures to unemployment, men, women and children have been forced out onto the street, seeking whatever kind of help they can get.  It's a struggle just to survive, and a lot of them don't make it.

Cyrus has been criticized as just another celebrity opportunist using her status to bring "awareness" to a social cause.  Whether she's sincere about helping Helt and others like him or not, we'll just have to wait and see.

It also turns out that Helt has a warrant out for his arrest in Oregon on a probation violation--something to do with alleged trespassing and not checking in with his probation officer, which is punishable by maybe spending one year in jail.  We don't know if getting into trouble with the law is part of the reality of being homeless.  But there are plenty of folks taking to social media and blaming the news channels for taking a nice story and wrecking it.  So we ask:  Do you want the truth, or do you want the legend?

Whatever happens, Miley Cyrus will go on to her next project and Jesse Helt will either get a modeling contract, or go back out on the street.  Neither of them will be wondering where their next meal is coming from any time soon.  But countless others will.

Why The Bucket Challenge Is All Wet

of the New York Yankees, cropped from a posed picture of 1937 Major League Baseball All-Stars in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It began as a way for football teams to celebrate a championship, dumping an ice-cold bucket of a certain sports drink on the coach at the end of the game.  Now it's become standard practice even when a team wins its only game of the season.

At a time when there's violence in the Middle East and in the Midwest, we have what's called the Bucket Challenge, a fundraiser allegedly benefiting ALS research that has so far netted over $40 million.  It goes like this:  Person A challenges Person B to drop a bucket of cold water over himself, or write a check payable to ALS research.  So you have a choice--catch pneumonia or suffer the consequences of a lighter bank account.  It sounds like extortion.

Everyone in America who should know better seems to be doing it.  Celebrities, athletes, business moguls, even Presidents past and present have taken this "challenge".  The publicity value they seem to get from sacrificing their dignity must be enormous.

This is all supposed to raise "awareness" about ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  It is a degenerative neurological disease that causes muscles to weaken, and makes it difficult to speak, swallow or breathe.  Some have lived long lives after being diagnosed.  Most others, unfortunately, do not.

ALS is also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease", named for its best-known victim.  Gehrig played baseball for the New York Yankees between 1923 and 1939, appearing in 2130 consecutive games (a record since broken by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995).  He led the Yankees to six World Series championships, and was one of the first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Gehrig had to retire when he was diagnosed with ALS, then made his famous speech at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939 declaring himself "the luckiest man on the face of the Earth".  By 1941, Gehrig was dead at age 37.

ALS is too serious a disease to be left up to self-aggrandizing fun seekers.  For that matter, it seems that anyone who walks barefoot across America or dips himself in a vat of hot nacho sauce doesn't do it for personal satisfaction.  Instead, it has to be tied in to some kind of "good cause", covered by an army of media who didn't bother to ask silly questions like "Who is this idiot, and why are we encouraging him by putting him on TV?"

There are two major problems with this stunt.  First is the tremendous waste of water.  If you've been paying attention, there was a water contamination emergency in Toledo, Ohio as well as a continuing drought in the West.  Ask those people how important clean drinking water is.  Also, as climate change worsens, wars might be fought over what available water is left.

The second problem is that this "challenge" is a huge waste of money.  Presently, there is no cure for ALS.  Instead, billions of dollars in donations have been spent for this and other diseases on research for as long as anyone can remember, and getting little in return.  So what happened to that "research"?  Is it really that hard to find a cure, or is it just an excuse for so-called non-profit organizations to live high on other people's money?

Should some kind of a cure be found--maybe even within our lifetimes, you can bet that Big Pharma and Big Charity will find a way to keep themselves in business by making the cure so expensive that no insurance company will want to cover it, Obamacare be damned.  Treatments and long hospital stays are where the money is, baby.

We can't stop you from getting soaked, or from donating money that would have gone into whatever bills you have to pay.  That's your decision.  Just remember that for every "good cause", there's bound to be a lot of empty promises and fatter pockets.

The War at Home

It began with the murder of an African-American citizen in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri.  It has since escalated into a violent confrontation between the white-dominated police and protesters in that city.  And Americans watching on TV are wondering if law enforcement is becoming more like an occupying army.

Michael Brown, an 18-year old resident, was gunned down by a white police officer as he was walking to his grandmother's house on a Saturday afternoon.  Brown was unarmed.  Police say he was a suspect in the robbery of a local convenience store.

Ferguson is one of those places near every major city where mostly African-Americans lived after the white population fled farther into the suburbs, but still control the local government and police force.  That has become a sore point to the African-Americans and other minorities who have been harassed by the city's finest, whether it was deserved or not.

The police in Ferguson have made a couple of mistakes that have enraged the "No Justice, No Peace" crowd, first by having delayed releasing the identity of the officer who allegedly shot Brown, and for releasing a video showing Brown shoving a convenience store worker out of the way.  They only made things worse by turning back with tear gas and arresting protesters, journalists and anyone else who happened to get in the way with the kind of force usually seen on the streets of Baghdad and Kabul.

That's no accident.  As another legacy of 9/11 and the wars that resulted from the terrorist attack, the Pentagon has been sending its surplus weapons and armored vehicles to law enforcement all over the country.  This has encouraged the men and women in blue to play soldier against the people they're supposed to protect.

It's not just the equipment that puts people off about the police.  It's the attitude of some (but not all) members of the force that, once you put that uniform and badge on, it gives you carte blanche to harass anyone--black or white--and get away with it because you are The Law.

Granted. the vast majority of police officers do not subscribe to that rogue attitude and resent the ones who give them a bad name.  But we don't know that.  Respect is a two-way street.

After the Ferguson police and Missouri State Patrol have tried and failed to maintain order, Governor Jay Nixon has brought in the state's National Guard and eliminated the curfew that has peeved residents even more.  So after a few days of quasi-military rule, is there really going to be a big difference when the Guard is patrolling the streets?

The people of Ferguson, Missouri and around the country are demanding answers as to why it was necessary to kill an unarmed teenager who was going about his business, even if he was a suspect in a robbery.  What we should also be asking is how can we ever again trust those who take an oath to serve and protect their neighbors, only to abuse the privilege?

So You Wanna Be Famous

Hollywood Sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"So you wanna be famous, huh?  Nowadays you don't need real talent to make it big.  All you need is a YouTube video of yourself singing 'Fancy' in the shower--it doesn't even have to be good--and a billion hits later, everybody wants you."

"Before we go any further, I wanna ask a few questions.  Forgive me if they're too personal for you."

"How are things at home?  Are your parents still alive?  Or are they divorced, drunk or dead?  Did you graduate?  Just barely?  How's that job flipping burgers going?  Are you in a relationship?"

"Well, you can kiss all that goodbye once Hollywood comes knocking.  Once you sign that contract, you're off and running.  Record deals.  Blockbuster movies with your name above the title.  A hit TV show.  And more money than you've ever seen in your life."

"There's also the perks.  Beautiful women.  World premieres.  Big-ass cars and mansions.  Great seats at the ballgame.  Endorsement deals.  You name it, and it's yours."

"But there's always a downside.  There's no privacy.  TMZ and the Enquirer will be all over you and whoever you date like a cheap suit.  And no matter how much you put into your work, it's never going to be enough.  The pressure will be on you to create the next great work of art, and it will probably not be as good as the first.  'Cause not everyone can be a Michelangelo, or even a Warhol."

"Then one day, it all comes crashing down.  The hits stop coming.  Your last movie tanked at the box office.  The network cancels your TV show.  Why?  Well, maybe you've been in and out of jail a bit too much.  Maybe you mouthed off or flashed your private parts on TV because you were drunk or high on cocaine, and it went viral.  Or maybe your adoring public just got sick of you."

"It gets worse.  Your house and car are repoed because of back taxes.  People quit following you on Twitter.  Your wife or lover leaves you for someone else.  And you spend whatever money you have left on booze and the white stuff, no matter how many times you've been to rehab."

"Now you're standing at the abyss.  You have a choice to make.  You can either get help to get off the drugs and the booze, or you could kill yourself.  Now I ain't recommending it, but if you did that the media would pay attention to you once more, and people would wonder why you did what you did.  Meanwhile, they'll buy up and download all the stuff you ever did because, you know, death sells."

"So I'll ask again.  You still want to be famous?"