1. Taboo Plaza 

 If you want to find the way forward stop listening to preachers and congress men.  The choir won't lead you in the right direction and your shrink is going to screw you up a little more each day.
You want to find a center?
Listen to a comedian. 
Really stop and listen. 
Stop laughing and get past the f-bomb.  What they've got to say will either make you laugh or make you want to cry.  You laugh because you can't deal with the truth.  It is fight or flight time and if a comedian is intelligent they've just hit a nerve that makes you want to run away.  You can't run so you laugh.  Your god made the comedian in the same breath it gave you a sense of Truth.
When's the last time you've heard someone make so much sense of homosexual rape not really being homosexual.  There's something there.
Is it Truth?  Who's to know?
You're god created the comedian so the comedian could poke holes in fallacy.  Socrates probably would've been funnier than hell if he were born today.
You see, it's not so much in the speaker as it is in the audience.
An intelligent comic is today's philosopher.  They tell us about ourself and the world around.
There is a lot of wisdom to glean from studying the texts of the American comic.  However, you have to get past the laughter the same as you get over the crying.

2. Current Affairs

Russian President Vladmir Putin's presidential term ends in 2008. 
In March 2008, Russia "will" hold elections.  Many reports say Putin's government remains popular with Russia's citizen.  Like George W in 2004, the next round of elections seems likely to go to whomever Putin gives the nod. 
Nonetheless, opponents to Putin want to march and/or protest.  The city of St. Petersburg apparently said protesters could gather but not march.  Somewhere between gathering and marching/dispersing storm troopers started clearing political opposition from the streets like rednecks with fire hoses in Selma, AL.  
It may be time to keep an eye on Russia again all you lovers of the Cold War.  Political opposition there says democracy is being stifled and Putin is erecting a totalitarian regime. 
Don't forget: they've still got nuclear warheads drifting around somewhere.


The first round of presidential primaries will be finished when presidential candidates from both parties file their 1st quarter finance reports tonight. 
So far for the Republicans: Romney has the most dollars voted while trailing in the popularity polls behind Republicans that aren't even running.  Giuliani is way ahead in the popularity polls.  Look at this seriously though, his opponents haven't even started showing this on endless loop yet.  John McCain at this point is just lagging behind.
On the Democrats side: Clinton has received 24 million votes in the form of dollars and she leads the popularity polls.  Obama has received enough dollars voted ($25 million) to probably demand a recount at this point.  Obama trails Clinton in the popularity polls right now as well, but he's causing a stir and he has cornered the market on fresh face.  John Edwards has so far assumed the perennial 3rd spot in popularity and dollars voted with $14 million in the coffers and months left to grind it out.


The Group of Seven met and made decisions with regard to the International Monterary Fund that most people have absolutely no ability to really understand.  It is all really important and really doesn't make sense to the layperson.  If there is anyone out there that can break it down into 8th grade English, I'm requesting your service now because the media isn't helping. 
The only thing I get out of this is, we want China to be flexible with their money so the dollar will do better in comparison.  We're asking them to be flexible so I imagine that means we want their money to be cheapened like ours.  The other side of this is the U.S. is lying to provide conciliation.  According to sources, the U.S. Government is going to encourage savings but that would require not spending your money on the endless parade of kitsch plastered between television programs and glossy magazine pages. 
There's quite the conundrum there. 
How do you get people to save after you've convinced them that spending recklessly is the way to a better economy?

3. Then Humans Discovered...

   And the beat goes on....   

4. Getting to Know Your Government
The last batch of Senators averaged 12.75 years in public office as U.S. Senators. This week's batch of Senators average 10.5 years as U.S. Senators.

Chuck Hagel (Republican, Nebraska)
Religion: Episcopalian
1966: graduated from the Brown Institute for Radio and Television
1967 to 1968: U.S. Army Infantry, E-5
   Received: Purple Heart, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry & Army Commendation Medal
1971: University of Nebraska, bachelors
1997 to present: U.S. Senator

Ben Nelson (Democrat, Nebraska)
Religion: Methodist
1963: University of Nebraska, bachelors
1965: University of Nebraska, M.A.
1970: University of Nebraska, J.D.
1991 to 1999: Governor of Nebraska
2001 to present: U.S. Senator

Harry Reid (Democrat, Nevada)
Religion: Mormon
1959: Southern Utah State College, A.S.
1961: Utah State University, B.S.
1964: George Washington School of Law, J.D.
1971 to 1975: Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
1983 to 1987: U.S. House of Representatives
1987 to present: U.S. Senator

John Ensign (Republican, Nevada)
Religion: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
1981: Oregon State University, B.S.
1985: Colorado State University, D.V.M.
1995 to 1999: U.S. House of Representatives
2001 to present: U.S. Senate
  

5. Our Nation is Dumber for This...Thank You for Your Participation!

Anna Nicole Smith died and left the world in turmoil. 
What's to be done with all that oil money, the inordinate amount of attention and, oh yeah, baby Danielynn.
Who spells a girl's name like that anyway?  Looking at the spelling I'd think the parents were black, but it was just Anna Nicole Smith.
Poor Anna. 
Her life was interesting to say the least.  Her television show was a train wreck, but she was a person.  Like you or me, she suffered for want.  The want of something for which she apparently never found the answer and now what has she left behind?
Howard K. Stern is cleaning up off her tepid corpse.
Larry Birkhead looks like he's won the lottery.
Anna's mother is apparently trying to hone in on somebody's act, but it's unclear when all that money can be spent. 
I'd have to imagine that the caregiver of Danielynn will have access to some of her funds for her up keep and well being.  Maybe there's a conservator.  Maybe there is an executor over and above the sole guardian of the child.
One might assume these things for the size of the estate, but this is Anna Nicole Smith we're talking about.  I didn't know her, but watching her on her television show; she didn't strike me as the type of person who carefully planned her future.  Sometimes she looked like she barely knew her own name when she rolled into bed.
That all may have been an act though.
More likely, someone is going to bonus in a big way from her death.  A bunch of money will go to Larry Birkhead for whoring his story.  Possibly millions of dollars to Howard K. Stern for whoring his story.  This is all chump change in the end though.  
Howard K. Stern is a lawyer and he seems to be giving in pretty easily.  He's had a lot of spare time to spend "quality" time with Danielynn and he was close to Anna Nicole's legal matters.  If this guy is any kind of barrister he's going to have a large account balance when the dust settles and no one will be left to speak kindly of Anna Nicole Smith.
Anna Nicole rest in peace.

6. Down On Rage Street

   And the beat goes on....

7. I Sure Do Hate It for You

Don Imus???  Really? 
How long has it been since he was really considered relevant?
I mean I don't claim to know him, but I've watched him do radio on T.V.  Have you?
The show is a botched face lift and that's why I watch it.  Besides the fact that in an Overland Park, KS hotel room at 7am there's nothing else on television.
At no point in the time I've watched the Don Imus show have I ever associated Don Imus with talent (Chris Matthews makes this an interesting clip.) 
Then he gets to talking with his white buddies in the studios and forgot the mics were there.  We may safely surmise, I think, that they were all white in that studio.  At the moment he says "nappy headed hoes" his audience probably consisted primarily of white people.
And that is what pisses me off the most!
People get worked up and the media stylizes the story to where it's better to be called "jigaboo" rather than "nappy-headed ho."  Dig where they say: "His remarks are so significant that I believe that the right outcome is for him to be terminated."
What the hell does it mean to have expressed "significant remarks?"  Then again who cares anyway? 
His show wasn't that good anyway.  It's not gonna be any better when it comes back on satellite, but do we really want to abridge people's speech?  Don't get me wrong.  I don't support whitey, but speech isn't illegal and I think the nature of the discussion was more juvenile than immoral.
Calling Imus' conversation immoral would suggest that at some point it found height.  Imus is a cracker.  Of that I'm fairly certain.  However, he didn't do anything so bad that he should lose his job.
Jigaboo is fighting words.  The other guy on the show said that and he deserves a beating.
Nappy-headed ho is ridiculous.  It's just not funny.  It's a lame attempt at humor.  He wandered into inadvisable territory and the world has now possibly discovered that Don Imus is an unemployed racist.
Who cares? 
Is there really anyone out there still operating under the notion that one day racism will not exist in the hearts of humans?  How would you ever really know?
I say: sticks and stones and move on with your life.

 

8. Tip of the week

   When life gives you a dirty bowl- smoke the resin.


9. Birthday Shout Outs (4-8 to 4-14)

April 8th-
   (1947) Steve Howe- You may have had to get high in order to appreciate Yes, but they were never as bad in that regard as the Grateful Dead.  He could lay out a mean jam.
   (1960) John Schneider- It's Bo Duke.  That's pretty cool, but not as cool as the Beatles.
   (1964) Biz Markie- Biz is just silly, but this is a bad jam.
   (1968) Patricia Arquette- Her work in <warning this scene is pretty violent> True Romance absolves her from being in Little Nicky.

April 9th-
   (1926) Hugh Hefner- He started Playboy.  That is as cool as the Beatles, but the Playboy image really should disappear after the legal retirement age.
   (1932) Carl Perkins- He played a significant role in American music history
   
April 10th- 
   (1915) Harry Morgan- He was one reason why M.A.S.H sucked after a while, but I've seen every episode of M.A.S.H several times.  I can't deny he's in my head until the day I die.  I'll probably forget my kids faces before I forget his.
   (1959) Brian Setzer- Retro is pretty cool when it's done right.

April 11th-
   (1943) Harley Race- One of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
   (1966) Dustin Rhodes- From Dustin to Goldust, this guy can be entertaining.
   (1972) Ballz Mahoney- For a guy of his build and tendency for garbage matches this guy could wrestle.

April 12th-
   (1940) Herbie Hancock- This man laid done mean beats.
   (1946) Ed O'Neill- It's Al Bundy for god sake.  I think he may be cooler than the Beatles for that role and that is not an easy accomplishment to get as a television actor.  That's not even mentioning Disorganized Crime which is a great movie.
   (1947) David Letterman- Letterman's the man for holding on with so little apparent effort.

April 13th-
   (1743) Thomas Jefferson- The 3rd President of the United States of America.
   (1926) Don Adams- Maxwell Smart was one of the funniest characters in television history.
   (1945) Tony Dow- To hell with the Beaver!  Wally made that show.
   (1946) Al Green- He was a beautiful singer.
   
April 14th-
   (1935) Loretta Lynn- She overcame adversity.  That's a good story regardless of musical genre.
   (1945) Ritchie Blackmore- He was the guitarist for Deep Purple.