William F. Buckley Dead. About Time.

Scourge of the liberals, William F. Buckley has died, and I, for one, am glad. May he attend boring, interminable socialist meetings in hell, forevermore.

Buckley was cheerleader for the "Better Dead Than Red" zealots, so eager for nuclear war against the communists that they were willing to risk it without a qualm. People who believe "Better Dead Than Red" have no conception of the permanence of death, and the impermanence of political ideology. Death through nuclear war is about as permanent as things ever get, for both people and societies. To yearn for just the kind of wars that would risk nuclear annihilation is sick.

Two selections here. The first is from a David Gordon's dissent to a 2005 birthday tribute to Buckley. The author takes exception to Buckley's treatment of a colleague, Murray Rothbard. The second selection comes from Badtux, the Snarky Penguin:

The National Review Institute has extended an open invitation to a dinner in honor of William Buckley’s eightieth birthday, to be held November 17, 2005, at the Pierre Hotel in New York. Though it is difficult to pass up the bargain price of $500 per person to join Mr. Buckley on this happy occasion, those of us who admire Murray Rothbard cannot agree that Buckley is a fit person to honor.

After Rothbard’s death in January 1995, Buckley reacted with malicious spite. In an obituary published in National Review on February 6, 1995, Buckley classed Rothbard with the cultist David Koresh. He wrote: "In Murray’s case, much of what drove him was a contrarian spirit." Rothbard, in Buckley’s view, was mentally ill, the victim of "deranging scrupulosity".

...Buckley’s malice stems from a fact he cannot escape: Rothbard exposed the contradiction at the heart of his political views. Buckley professed at the outset of his political career to be devoted to liberty and free enterprise.

...So far, so good; but trouble was soon at hand. ... Buckley adds ... : "There are times when it must be done. A society may compel its citizens to serve in the armed forces when that society is clearly threatened. But it must not conscript its citizens except where such a threat is directly posed." (p.176)

The fatal exception is at hand: if a "threat" is present, liberty exits the scene. And of course Buckley believed that the Soviet Union and its communist allies posed precisely such a threat. In order to combat communism, interferences with liberty of the severest kind may be imposed.

...Once one grasps what Buckley has in mind by "determined resistance", it is at once evident that he has abandoned liberty. He denounced the American Cold War policy of containment of Communism as insufficient: America must, if necessary, use force to liberate the nations enslaved by the Soviets. In "Will Formosa Liberate the United States?", e.g., he supported a "war of liberation" by the Nationalist Chinese to overthrow the Communist regime.

But why is this inconsistent with liberty? Would not an end to the horrendously cruel tyranny of Mao have been altogether to the good? Indeed; but to achieve this goal, Buckley was quite willing to risk nuclear war: "The Liberals go on: An offensive by Formosa is likely to bring on a third world war, which will be the end of all of us. One replies: In fact, the Soviet Union will not engage in a nuclear war so long as she is convinced that the United States is ready to reply in kind and has the capacity to do so. This is what is generally called the nuclear stalemate, or the balance of terror. It gave birth to the concept of the limited war, and it is that kind of war of liberation which those who would re-enter China favor." (Rumbles Left and Right, Putnam, 1963, p.58)

Buckley did not confine his policy of liberation to China: we should, if necessary, risk war wherever the Communists held power.

...If anything, the foreign policy supported by the Senior Editors of National Review was even worse than Buckley’s. James Burnham, who dominated the foreign policy sections of the journal, called in The Struggle for the World (1947) for preventive nuclear war against Soviet Russia. Frank S. Meyer found classical liberalism entirely compatible with a war of nuclear annihilation. Concerning him Rothbard remarked: "Frank S. Meyer and his fellow anti-Communists look forward almost with enthusiasm to a nuclear holocaust against the Communist nations which would annihilate tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of human beings. The devastation and suffering caused by nuclear war would bring about so many more ‘screams in the night’ as Communism has ever done as to defy comparison." (Unpublished Letter to H. George Resch, October 28, 1961) As if this were not enough, another of the founding editors, Willi Schlamm, wrote a controversial work that became a best seller in West Germany, Germany and the East-West Crisis, also defending preventive nuclear war.

With characteristic prescience, Murray Rothbard had identified the basic contradiction in Buckley’s position as early as 1952. In a comment written for a newsletter, The Vigil, on Buckley’s article, "A Young Republican View" (The Commonweal, January 25, 1952), he refused to accept Buckley’s ostensible individualism at face value. "The brief article begins splendidly, with the affirmation that our enemy is the State . . . [he] sides with Spencer that ‘the State is begotten of aggression and by aggression.’. . . [But] it soon appears that Buckley is really, in 1952 terms, a totalitarian socialist, and, what is more, admits it." Buckley acknowledged that he favored "Big Government for the duration" of the Cold War, owing to the Soviet threat. Heavy taxes and centralized power were the order of the day, and Buckley’s individualism was nothing more than pleasant rhetoric.

Despite his severe misgivings about Buckley, Rothbard agreed to write for National Review; but his opposition to Buckley’s bellicose policy eventually outweighed their cordial personal relations. Collaboration became impossible, and Rothbard departed from the magazine, never to return.

Rothbard made clear the basis of his opposition to National Review’s foreign policy in an essay, "For a New Isolationism", written in April 1959; the magazine did not publish it. To those who favored a policy of "liberation" directed against the Communist bloc, Rothbard raised a devastating objection: "In all the reams of material written by the Right in the last decade [1949–1959], there is never any precise spelling-out of what a policy of ultrafirmness or toughness really entails. Let us then fill in this gap by considering what I am sure is the toughest possible policy: an immediate ultimatum to Khrushchev and Co. to resign and disband the whole Communist regime; otherwise we drop the H-bomb on the Kremlin. . .What is wrong with this policy? Simply that it would quickly precipitate an H-bomb, bacteriological, chemical, global war which would destroy the United States as well as Russia."

To this dire picture, proponents of "rollback" would of course respond that the Communists would surrender. Rothbard dissents; to view the Soviets as blustering bullies who would slink away if challenged is to fall victim to an illusion. He thought it obvious that since "the destruction of the United States would follow such an ultimatum, we must strongly oppose such a policy."

If "liberation" leads to national suicide, what is the alternative? Rothbard suggests a return to "the ancient and traditional American policy of isolationism and neutrality." But is this not open to a fatal objection? "But, I [Rothbard] will hear from every side, everyone knows that isolationism is obsolete and dead, in this age of H-bombs, guided missiles, etc." How can America shun involvement in European power politics if Russia has the ability to destroy us? No longer can we retreat to Fortress America.

To this Rothbard has a simple response: "a program of world disarmament up to the point where isolationism again becomes militarily practical." If this policy were carried out, America would be safe from foreign attack: no longer would we need to involve ourselves in foreign quarrels. Mutual disarmament was in Russia’s interest as well, so a disarmament agreement was entirely feasible.

...Buckley had no answer to Rothbard’s argument; and a personal break soon followed. Buckley vehemently opposed the visit of Nikita Khrushchev to the United States in 1959: for him, as the historian Patrick Allitt has made clear, the struggle against the visit was a veritable Crusade. (Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, Cornell, 1993, pp.67–70) Rothbard, in line with his wish to abate nuclear tensions, hoped that the visit might occasion some good.

For Buckley, such a view passed comprehension; and the matter still aroused him thirty-five years later, when he wrote his tasteless obituary notice of Rothbard. He said that it "pains even to recall" Rothbard’s support for the visit; he "had defective judgment" and "couldn’t handle moral priorities." He cannot fathom why Rothbard criticized the "noble" James Burnham. How terrible it is to try to avert a nuclear exchange!

Unfortunately, Buckley was able within a few years to seize control of much of the American Right. As Rothbard noted in a speech in 1992, "Very quickly, National Review became the dominant, if not the only, power center on the right wing. This power was reinforced by a brilliantly successful strategy (perhaps guided by NR editors trained in Marxist cadre tactics) of creating a battery of front groups. . . And so, with almost Blitzkrieg swiftness, by the early 1960s, the new global crusading movement, created and headed by Bill Buckley, was almost ready to take power in America." To Rothbard’s penetrating analysis, one has only to add that Buckley, along with his Senior Editors James Burnham and Willmoore Kendall, had all served as CIA agents.

...The end of the Cold War presented Buckley with a supreme opportunity to redeem, at least in part, his libertarian credentials. He had maintained, as we have seen, that we must accept Big Government and the constant threat of nuclear war, owing to the unique menace of World Communism. He hoped to "keep in range" individualism and a bellicose foreign policy. Rothbard denied that this was possible; Buckley, faced with this untenable combination, had responded by abandoning his opposition to the state.

... As Rothbard accurately noted, Buckley was enamored of his access to power; and, were Buckley to reaffirm the views of Nock and Chodorov he had once supported, the political establishment would no longer regard him with favor. The state was hardly likely to liquidate itself: a libertarian like Buckley would become just the sort of "extremist" he had shunned in order to gain the esteem of the elite.

Buckley made his choice clear during the Gulf War. No longer was Soviet communism a threat, but he strongly supported the assault on Iraq, or as he preferred to call it, resisting Saddam Hussein’s war of aggression. "I [Buckley] and other editors had written several columns and editorials backing Bush’s tough response to Iraq." (Buckley, In Search of Anti-Semitism, Continuum, 1992, p.105)

No one who differed with this response could remain as an editor of National Review. He dismissed Joseph Sobran as senior editor because, by his opposition to the war, "Joe had become, for all intents and purposes, a member of the American pacifist movement" (Ibid., p. 26) Buckley had for some time been embroiled in controversy with Sobran, owing to his views on Israel; but it was not this issue but his "pacifism" that led to Sobran’s dismissal. (Buckley says that Sobran "agreed" to step down, but this is reminiscent of Bismarck’s resignation as Chancellor at the command of Kaiser Wilhelm II.)

...It is hardly surprising that neoconservatives such as Norman Podhoretz rushed to embrace Buckley. They saw in him an ally for their schemes to spread "democracy" throughout the world by American armed might.

Badtux adds:

I come not to praise William F. Buckley, who died today at age 82, but to lambast him. They say "speak no evil of the dead", but I wonder if that really applies to a man who has the blood of millions on his hands. Because the blood of millions it is, from the blood of millions killed in Vietnam courtesy of a crusade that William F. Buckley spearheaded, to the blood of millions killed in wars all over the world culminating in the Iraq fiasco that relied implicitly on the methods and mechanisms created by William F. Buckley.

But first, some history. After Harry S. Truman won the 1948 election in an unlikely triumph caused by his ability to communicate to ordinary people, the Republican Party was in a mess. The only way they could win the Presidency was with Dwight D. Eisenhower, a man who wasn't even registered as a Republican on the day he announced his candidacy, and that only because of the Korean War and the desire of the public to have a military man in charge of ending the war. Conservative ideas had been thoroughly repudiated by the Great Depression caused by conservative economic notions and by the post-war economic boom caused by progressive economic notions, all of which directly contradicted the notion that conservatism was the only road to economic prosperity.

It was William F. Buckley who founded the National Review and came up with the idea of the right-wing echo chamber in order to counter the draw of reality-based politics, and William F. Buckley who became its erudite and witty face. To oppose William F. Buckley was to appear to oppose intelligence. I say "appear" because in reality Buckley was pushing the vilest of vile politics. It was a generation-long propaganda effort, he knew, to discredit progressive ideas and bring back the sort of conservatism that predominated in America prior to the Presidency of FDR, the sort of conservatism that culminated in the glorious Presidency of Herbert Hoover at which point it collapsed under the weight of its own evil, but he was up to it.

No Fear

I saw a black van driving along I Street in Sacramento sporting a scary-looking winged skull with the emblem "No Fear." What's that about?

Apparently they distribute surf, wake, motocross, and freestyle motocross clothing and accessories, and even though they have no store here, they do have local distributors.

So don't be too scared....

Not Even Pretending To Cooperate

The RNC flips the bird:

The RNC had previously told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that it was attempting to restore e-mails from 2001 to 2003, when the RNC had a policy of purging all e-mails, including those to and from White House officials, after 30 days. But Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) disclosed during a hearing yesterday that the RNC has now said it "has no intention of trying to restore the missing White House e-mails."

"The result is a potentially enormous gap in the historical record," Waxman said, including the buildup to the Iraq war.

RNC spokesman Danny Diaz said in a statement that the committee "is fully compliant with the spirit and letter of the law." He declined further comment.

Ringo

More from the Black Heart Gang. Kind-of like the Michelin Man as Super Mario.

Self-Healing Rubber

Vegetable oil and urine. No, not Pirelli's Miracle Elixir, but rather, some of what makes up self-healing rubber:

A material that is able to self-repair even when it is sliced in two has been invented by French researchers.

The as-yet-unnamed material - a form of artificial rubber - is made from vegetable oil and a component of urine.

The substance, described in the journal Nature, produces surfaces when cut that retain a strong chemical attraction to each other.

Pieces of the material join together again as if never parted without the need for glue or a special treatment.

...A piece of normal rubber, says Dr Ludwik Leibler, who headed the research, is actually a single molecule with billion upon billions of smaller units chemically welded together to form a giant tangled network.

The elasticity comes from the fact that the strands within the network are buckled like a concertina: pull on them and they straighten and elongate; let go and the buckles reappear.

But break a rubber (or most other solids), and the chemical welds - known as covalent bonds - are also broken.

These cannot be remade. Nor can a piece of rubber be remoulded or reshaped.

"We wanted to see if we could make a rubber-like material using small molecules," Dr Leibler of the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution (ESPCI) in Paris told the BBC's Science In Action programme.

The trick was to replace the covalent bonds in rubber with weaker connections known as hydrogen bonds.

These are like hands on neighbouring molecules that can clasp together, but let go when broken.

Dr Leibler quickly realised that this meant not only that the new rubber could be recycled and remoulded many times over, but that if separated by a cut or break, the chemical hands at the fresh surfaces would still be waving about ready to bind again.

...One obvious use, says Dr Leibler, is for self-healing seals.

Puncture a seal in a compression joint with a nail, and the hole would automatically repair itself.

He also has more playful suggestions.

"Why not use it to make children's toys? Children are always breaking their toys. Wouldn't it be nice if you could put them back together so easily?"

The Black Heart Gang Presents - Tale of How

Via: http://espvisuals.blogspot.com/search/label/Animation

Produced by: http://theblackheartgang.com/

Very interesting animation with "Eddy The Engineer" as the hero!

This 5 min. animation is absolutely stunning. Created by The Black Heart Gang, it was created over nine months of part time work. The Tale of How is the second part of a trilogy of works called the Dodo Trilogy. In the The Tale of How we meet a giant octopus with a tree growing in his head! His lonely past time is to devour the innocent dodo’s who live on his head. We then see the dodo’s unite and with the help of a little white mouse, we see them escape the clutches of the terrible be-tentacled tyrant and sail off into the sunset on their mother, the tree. The animation was also released with 13 gorgeous prints to accompany it! What I love about this project is how rich and detailed each layer of the animation is and when combined, it really is hard to listen to the story because your brain is going into visual overdrive.

Laser Harp Fully Functional

Cool technology!

The Ignorant Young

Last night, I broke bread with some young musical theater friends, teenagers and in their early 20's, and I was pleasantly-surprised at their level of understanding of musical theater history, as they recalled fairly-obscure events from the 1930's and 1950's as if they were contemporary events.

We tend to remember those historical events that we are most interested in.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that the newest worrisome report has come out, in a long line of worrisome reports, lamenting teenagers' historical knowledge:

Among 1,200 students surveyed:

•43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900.

•52% could identify the theme of 1984.

•51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.

In all, students earned a C in history and an F in literature, though the survey suggests students do well on topics schools cover. For instance, 88% knew the bombing of Pearl Harbor led the USA into World War II, and 97% could identify Martin Luther King Jr. as author of the "I Have a Dream" speech.

Fewer (77%) knew Uncle Tom's Cabin helped end slavery a century earlier.

In the 19th-Century, and the first half of the 20th-Century, it was easier to have a common, mostly-Christian culture, based on the Bible and a few key texts from literature, such as those by Shakespeare. Blessedly, and sadly, those days have passed, and we are still struggling to assemble a Common Culture, now incorporating scientific thought, that is still compact enough to learn in the few years we are in school.

In some ways, Celebrity Culture is a stand-in for Common Culture, because, being both compact and universal, it can be mastered in a fairly-short time. We should give Celebrity Culture its due respect.

If it's any consolation, Australians are having exactly the same problem educating all the young dunderheads Down Under who can't remember what "ANZAC" stands for. I reprint portions of Emma Tom's funny 2006 column on the subject:

ONCE again, Australian school kiddies are in big trouble. According to a new report commissioned by the nation's education ministers, bucketloads of the ignorant little buggers don't know why we celebrate Australia Day, have a governor-general or whack a Union Jack in the corner of our flag.

...Here's the thing, though. If students are required to swot up on subjects politicians think are important (namely history, civics and blindly swallowing spin), surely politicians should have to gain a rudimentary knowledge of something young people rate highly, namely pop culture.

Last week during the electioneering in Victoria, punters were treated to what has become a pre-poll staple: candidates making tokenistic appearances on yoof media programs and revelling in their dearth of pop cultural knowledge, wearing their ignorance (or at least their professed ignorance) of Paris Hilton's shaggin' habits like rosettes of honour.

On the penultimate day of the campaign, Steve Bracks and Ted Baillieu accidentally ended up on air at Fox FM at the same time. Neither was able to answer questions about Jessica Simpson, Australian Idol or even the winner of the Melbourne Cup.

Bracks knew that the horsies that came first and second were Japanese and did a great job, but after that he drew a blank. Perhaps because the steeds in question were named Delta Blues and Pop Rock - two genres far too popular to warrant attention by a publicservant.

...One Australian broadsheet - regarded as a quality publication - regularly charts the most clicked-on stories from its internet site. Worthy, eat-up-your-broccoli reports on tax revenue, resource management and factional infighting (the political equivalent of celebrity gossip) rarely rate a mention.

Instead, the A and AB-demographic readers of this particular organ prefer feasting on fast food features about grisly baby deaths, celebrity sex romps and cyclops kittens. On Monday, the fifth most popular story here was Crocodile yak: Elton shouts at shoes - 321 words about Elton John dashing off stage for a Down Under chunder during the first performance of his latest Australian tour. Apparently a guitarist masked the knighted pianist's sudden and wordless exit by noodling an impromptu solo.

While I'm not suggesting that knowledge of such an event be tested in HSC exams, it is worth ditching the heated, high versus low culture debate for a moment and looking at the situation from a realpolitik perspective.

Growing political disengagement among young people is regarded by many pundits as a serious threat to democracy, with party membership, trust in office-holders and interest in traditional politics plunging faster than a Brownlow Medal ceremony neckline.

Reaching these voters requires learning to speak their language or, at the very least, not taking such elitist delight in disparaging it.

After all, a well-rounded education involves learning about the past and the present, the weighty and the whimsical. It means knowing why the Queen is our head of state, as well as the state of head queens such as Sir Elton Sparkly - particularly if you're a flesh-presser serious about being seen as a representative of the people.

Candidate

I love philology. Philology, I love. I want more philology. More philology. Even more philology.

The bloopers are fun too!

What Happens In Iowa City Stays In Iowa City

Remember, even in Las Vegas, this is illegal:

An Iowa casino worker says he should not have been fired for demanding that his co-workers provide him with prostitutes because the casino promotes Las Vegas-style gaming.

Neil Jorgensen, 62, of Kalona worked at the Riverside Casino and Gold Resort south of Iowa City until last November. He was fired after he was given a $100 Riverside gift certificate and a free night's stay at the casino hotel in recognition of a year's employment with the company.

He used the gift certificate and free night's stay on the night of Nov. 28.

"I went to Ruthie's, the nice steakhouse within the casino, and I had a cosmopolitan or two and a bottle of wine and a really good dinner," Jorgensen testified at a recent state hearing dealing with his request for unemployment benefits.

He said he went to his hotel room about midnight and called hotel managers for help in figuring out how to order an adult movie. An hour later, he said, he called the managers again "and asked for a hooker."

After the managers refused to help procure a prostitute for him, Jorgensen called someone at the adjacent resort and made the same request.

"The advertisement is that it's just like Las Vegas, so I thought I was in Las Vegas," Jorgensen testified.

The casino's human resources director, Tim Donovan, testified that hotel workers were then sent to Jorgensen's room to insist that he stop calling for prostitutes.

"When the hotel supervisor knocked on the door, Mr. Jorgensen answered the door in the nude," Donovan testified.

Jorgensen was fired the next day.

At the benefits hearing, he testified that his actions had no detrimental effect on the casino. He said he had been given an "excellent" performance review not long before the incident.

"Gamblers have been allowed to continue gambling after they've urinated on the blackjack table standing in full public view," he testified. "I think there's a little dual standard here."

He also blamed the casino restaurant for his state of intoxication.

"They overserved me," he said. "And this casino advertises itself, if you look at any of their commercials, as a Las Vegas-style casino."

Jorgensen said Wednesday that his requests for a prostitute were actually part of "an off-the-wall surveillance" test of some kind. "I was absolutely plowed," he added.

Administrative Law Judge Terence Nice rejected Jorgensen's claim for benefits.

Just Chill!

No use getting too worked up before November. All this will work out in the end:

Meet Jose Antonio Ortiz. The Pennsylvania man allegedly stabbed his brother-in-law in the stomach after the pair quarreled about their respective support of Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. According to cops, Ortiz, 28, stabbed Sean Shurelds last Thursday night in the kitchen of an Upper Providence Township home. According to a criminal complaint, the 41-year-old Shurelds, an Obama supporter, told Ortiz that the Illinois senator was "trashing" Clinton (apparently in regard to recent primary and caucus results). Ortiz, a Clinton supporter, replied that "Obama was not a realist." While not exactly fighting words, the verbal political tiff led to some mutual choking and punching. And, allegedly, a stabbing in the abdomen.

RIP, Scruffy

Left: Scruffy

Condolences to Steve and Jan Isaacson on their loss of Scruffy, the Dog.

(This post didn't receive good visibility, so I'm bumping it towards the top again)

Left: Scruffy, and Mrs. Lovett

Dogs occupy a special place in our hearts. Just as they never forgot us, we will never forget them.

Left: Jan and Scruffy

















I posted this once, but it bears reposting again. It was posted on the wall at La Riviera Animal Medical Center, and here is a Web Site featuring the same sentiment:

Just this side of Heaven, is a place called Rainbow Bridge...

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food and water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing: they miss someone very special to them; who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. The bright eyes are intent; the eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to break away from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. YOU have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

THEN YOU CROSS RAINBOW BRIDGE TOGETHER...

Madagascar Took A Punch

Cyclone Ivan caused much harm. We should be donating a lot more than $100,000:

The death toll has risen to 44 and the number of homeless is up to 145,000 more than a week after a cyclone tore through this island in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar's government said Monday.

Areas on the eastern side of the island remained cut off by flood waters. Seven major roads were impassable and bridges have been destroyed, hampering attempts to deliver relief, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Cyclone Ivan lashed Madagascar on Feb. 17 with torrential rain and winds of up to 140 miles per hour.

The hardest-hit region is Fenerive Este, where one out of nearly every three residents lost their homes and 70 percent of buildings have been destroyed. Emergency medical supplies have been exhausted on island of Sainte Marie, a popular tourist resort that is home to 19,000, officials said.

Madagascar now faces food shortages after 37,000 acres of rice fields were flooded in the region of Alaotra Mangoro, which provides nearly a third of the island's staple food.

A relief effort is under way to provide rice, yogurt, cheese and money to parts of the east coast. The U.S. has donated $100,000.

"My Fair Lady" - First Weekend

Left: Mrs. Pierce (Dannette Vassar), Henry Higgins (Steve Isaacson), Eliza Doolittle (Lauren Miller), and Colonel Pickering (Herb Schultz).


First weekend down; three to go!

I forgot the extent to which the Stage Manager has to have a steel trap of a mind, when confronted with the challenge of knowing where every piece of furniture is located, and needs to go next. Anything that goes wrong is the Stage Manager's fault; the Cast generally takes credit for anything that goes right.

I flubbed up the headset system in Act I on Friday night, so there were delays in bringing up the lights. We also had to tighten the bolts on the wheels of the rolling bookcase during Friday's show, when we nearly lost a wheel. There were technical problems with several audio cues during the weekend. We even had a brownout on Sunday, when significant portions of Davis lost their power. After losing track of their locations, I turned up the lights on two people who didn't clear the set in time, on Sunday.

Nevertheless, especially after opening night, we had largely-smooth set changes and few problems. I pray this situation continues. Because, if it does, then the cast did their job well. And if the situation deteriorates, we know who gets the blame!

Santa Ana Wants Corrales Turkeys' Wild Sex Stopped

The balkanized politics of north-central New Mexico leads to no end of insoluble dilemmas:

Village officials were cautiously sympathetic to representatives of Santa Ana Pueblo who asked that Corrales get rid of the wild turkeys here which hook up with the pueblo’s native turkeys.

The Pueblo is trying to establish flocks of Merriam turkeys in the middle Rio Grande region, and at least 54 of their released turkeys are known to have migrated off of the reservation.

“The Pueblo understands that a group currently residing in Corrales comes into contact with Santa Ana’s wild turkeys from time to time,” according to Glenn Harper, speaking for the Pueblo.

...But Corrales’ wild turkeys, hanging out mostly in the Bosque Nature Preserve and in nearby agricultural fields, are quite popular among villagers.

During the summer months a flock of turkeys gobbles down raspberries at the Heidi Eleftheriou-Dough Findley berry patch adjacent to the bosque. Scurrying down the rows of berry bushes, the wild turkeys are a major attraction when the farmers open their field to pick-it-yourselfers.

...Harper urged a public education effort to convince Corraleños and other residents in this region not to feed or encourage non-Merriam feral turkeys.

Dressup Day

Minnesota Theater Night

Suddenly, everyone gets the itch:

What started as a quirky idea to get around the statewide smoking ban appears to be spreading like wildfire.

Dozens of bars are expected to stage "theater nights'' this weekend in which patrons are dubbed actors. The law, which went into effect in October, permits performers to smoke during a theatrical production. "Two weeks ago, we had one bar doing this,'' said Mark Benjamin, a criminal defense attorney who launched the theater-night idea. He estimates 50 to 100 bars could be on tap for theater nights this weekend based on phone calls, e-mails and requests for the how-to-stage-a-theater-night packet that he's devised. And many bar owners are passing on the information quickly among themselves without getting in contact with him.

..."We're a rock bar and the majority of the people who come here smoke,'' Bauman said. Until the state puts a stop to this, "we have every intention of doing this again. ...We have our karaoke night and we have our rock night. Now we will have our theater night.''

Musharraf's Clout

The Pakistani strongman successfully brought down YouTube on Sunday for several hours around the globe.

Pravda In Northern Alabama

The CBS affiliate there went off the air rather than broadcast the 60 Minutes story on Governor Siegelman. Nice!

Alison Checks Out The Refrigerator At Work

Alison relates: I went into the fridge today and found some interesting things - so I grabbed my camera ...scroll if you are interested....

Chicken - Check

Mushrooms - Check

Mold - Check

I saw a bean in there so I am going to guess this was once Chili?










Enchilada with a side of black mystery.











Looked like old fruit, smelled like Sangria!!!!!!











I have no idea - had the consistency of a brick, I didn’t investigate further.










Salad w/ ranch and a side of tomato.











I was smart enough NOT to open this one, but I would bet money that this was salmon or some kind of ancient sea monster.









Another shot of Nessie.











VERY dried Raspberries.











Aaaaand Last But Not Least.....the Winner!!!!

Truly active yogurt!



Happy Eating :)

"No Country" Wins!

The movie grips your attention from beginning to end - a well-deserved win for the Coen Brothers!

It was a golden night for the Coen brothers.

The iconoclastic filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen won three Academy Awards -- and made history Sunday evening -- with their wins for best picture, director and adapted screenplay for their gritty contemporary Western, "No Country for Old Men."

It also won an Oscar for supporting actor for Javier Bardem, who plays the merciless paid assassin at the center of the film.

The Coens are the first sibling team to win for best director and the first directing team to win since Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for 1961's "West Side Story."

DMTC's "My Fair Lady" Opens

Left: Steve Isaacson as Henry Higgins and Lauren Miller as Eliza Doolittle.


As Stage Manager, I'm still too paranoid too take many pictures. Here's one from Saturday night.....

Albuquerque Tribune - The End

This is sad, and bad for Albuquerque:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Albuquerque Tribune said goodbye Saturday to the city it had served for nearly nine decades as it closed in what observers described as the latest newspaper to succumb to the digital age.

Eighteen editors, reporters and photographers hunkered down in front of computer screens to put out the last edition. The final front-page headline read simply, "Goodnight, Albuquerque."

The Tribune's circulation had dropped from 42,000 in 1988 to about 9,600; some blamed the advent of an era in which readers increasingly shun ink and paper to consume news online. Its main competitor was the much larger Albuquerque Journal.

The paper's owner, The E.W. Scripps Company, put The Tribune up for sale in August and said it would shut the paper down if a buyer wasn't found. News of the closure was announced Wednesday.

That Radical Weather Underground

Conservatives seem to be doing their best to demonize Barack Obama:

Barack Obama has been running his campaign in the style of a revolutionary. Just how radical and liberal Obama is has been well hidden by the campaign. If you haven't heard about his friendship with the leaders of the radical group, the Weather Underground, you can thank the media.

Well, if you haven't heard of the Weather Underground, it isn't for lack of trying. Lots of meteorologists, and the general public as well, are very familiar with the Weather Underground: their Web Site features some of the most-useful weather forecasts on the Web:

Weather Underground Forecast for Sunday, February 24, 2008. The major weather story will be in the West as a very powerful Pacific storm slams into California. Preceding the main low pressure center's arrival along the northern coast of the state in the afternoon, substantial rain will fall statewide....

Presumably the alarmist conservatives meant the Sixties radical group, the Weathermen, but they can't be trusted to do even the most elementary research. Myself, it gives me the warm fuzzies to think that radical Barack Obama likes to associate with the leaders of radical meteorologists.

All Shook Up

Gays cause earthquakes? Only if they are bare-chested and in Speedoes:

AN Israeli politician has blamed a spate of recent earthquakes in the Middle East on gays

Shlomo Benizri of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party said the only way to prevent the earthquakes was for parliament to stop liberalising laws concerning homosexuals, AP reported.

“Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset (parliament) gives legitimacy, to sodomy,'' Mr Benizri said.

...Two earthquakes originating in Lebanon have shaken Israel in the past week. The first occurred two days after the Israeli attorney-general ruled that same-sex couples could adopt children.

In recent years, Israeli courts have ruled that the government must recognise sex-sex marriages performed abroad and grant gay couples inheritance rights.

Giant Pythons Coming Soon To The Bay Area

Well, at least they don't seem to be carrying salmonella. That would be the worst, of course. Or anthrax. Or lice. Or illegals. Or lawsuits:

In addition to everything else to worry about, now comes the Burmese python.

The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.

The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is "highly adaptable to new environments" and cannot be stopped.

The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco.

"We have not yet identified something that would stop their spreading to the Bay Area," Rodda said.

If pet pythons were introduced into the wild in California by irresponsible pet owners, as happened in Florida, they could become established here even faster, without need of a cross-country journey.

The Burmese python is one of several nonnative giant constrictor snakes - believed to be former pets - that have been introduced and then established themselves in Florida's Everglades National Park. Biologists estimate 30,000 nonnative giant snakes live in the Everglades, perhaps more. Some have begun appearing in areas outside the park, alarming biologists and also people who don't care for snakes.

...At 20 miles a month, a determined Burmese python from Florida could arrive in San Francisco as early as August 2020.

"It would be exceptional for one animal to be that unidirectional in its movement, but it's mathematically possible," Rodda said.

The snake's cross-country crawl would be made easier by the large population of beavers along the way, Rodda said.

"Beavers would be a very tasty treat for them," Rodda said. "No beaver would be safe from a python."

The natural enemies of the python are lions, tigers and other large cats. There are few free-roaming African lions and tigers between Florida and San Francisco, the geological survey said. And the absence of alligators outside Florida can only help the snakes on their journey west, although it's a complicated relationship - while pythons eat alligators, alligators also eat pythons.

"A large alligator will eat a small python," Rodda said. "But we are not recommending you import alligators into California. That would not be a good idea."

...As for other potential prey, human beings - like rodents, beavers and deer - are mammals, government scientists confirmed.

According to the new USGS map, the python would find about one-third of the United States - including much of California - to be comfortable for its expansion. In California, the only safe places to avoid the migrating pythons would be the colder areas - the Sierra, the Cascades or the North Coast. Such remote areas, however, could not support every panicked Californian seeking to avoid the giant snakes.

The control of nonnative species is an increasing problem for local biologists, who are currently battling the dread zebra mussel and the voracious northern pike. The mussel is threatening to clog Bay Area reservoirs, and pike are gobbling Northern California salmon and trout. Some studies have said the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the most-invaded ecosystem on the planet, with hundreds of introduced species that endanger native critters.

SN&R Article Number Two Posted

Left: Professor Henry Higgins (Steve Isaacson) reads to Eliza Doolittle (Lauren Miller) in Davis Musical Theatre Company’s My Fair Lady.
Photo believed to be taken by Dannette Vassar - COURTESY OF DAVIS MUSICAL THEATRE

Davis Musical Theatre Company presents My Fair Lady February 22-March 16 (8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:15 p.m. Sunday) at Hoblit Performing Arts Center, 607 Pena Drive in Davis. Tickets are $16-$18, available online at www.dmtc.org or by calling (530) 756-3682.


Just as Scott mentioned, Sacramento News and Review posted on-line a second article, focusing on DMTC (the first on-line and print article focused on Herb Shultz):

“COME ON, DOVER, MOVE YOUR BLOOMIN’ ARSE!”

Lauren Miller screams the line in a cockney Eliza Doolittle accent as a row of fellow actors and extras feign being offended. But Steve Isaacson cannot hold it in any longer.

“BWAAAA-HAAAAH-HAAAAAH!!!” Isaacson blurts out from behind his fellow cast members.

It’s 10 days before the February 22 opening of Davis Musical Theatre Company’s production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady at the Hoblit Performing Arts Center. Isaacson will have to learn to control his outbursts very quickly if he is to nail his lead role as Professor Henry Higgins.

It should not be a problem for the veteran community-theater impresario, who co-owns Davis Musical Theatre Company with his wife and My Fair Lady‘s director Jan Isaacson and has starred in so many shows over the years, it’d fill the rest of this space just to list them all.

Spending time with the Isaacsons, Miller and the rest of the cast and crew, you get the feeling you are with a family more than a local theater troupe. Perhaps that is due to the family ties on and off stage.

Of course, there are the Isaacsons. Jan says the couple devotes so many hours to DMTC for the same reason everyone else at rehearsals does: “We all do it for the love of it.”

Miller is married to cast member Mike McElroy; in fact, they first met when DMTC mounted The Music Man in 2003. They started going out about a year later and married a year after that.

“We’ve done a few shows apart,” says McElroy. “That’s not fun.”

“The best part is we get to be together for rehearsal time,” added Miller.

But it means when they get home, most discussions center on their shows.

“It’s kinda sad; that’s all we talk about,” Miller said with a laugh.

The couple are but young pups compared to Rich and Julie Kulmann, who stand beside one another in the My Fair Lady chorus. The Kulmanns, who have been with the company 20 years, have two children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Julie could have been speaking for any of the coupled players as she noted, “If it weren’t for the shows, we would not have seen each other much.”

Herb Schultz, who plays Higgins’ bumbling friend Colonel Pickering (see “The political stage,” SN&R Arts&Culture, February 21) and his partner of nine years, Stuart Leviton, are DMTC benefactors. A veteran comedic actor in several DMTC musicals, he auditioned for both the Higgins and Pickering parts and got call backs for both. He believes his reading of Pickering’s funniest scenes got him the supporting part.

“For some reason, I went into full comic mode,” Schultz said. “I did it in a way I called Dr. Bombay of Bewitched meets Sir Evelyn from Anything Goes. Everyone was in stitches.”

His performance will be aided by lightened hair, heavy makeup and the costumes picked out for him by Jean Henderson, who has been DMTC’s costumer for 18 years. She came to the company first to try out for the chorus in Brigadoon. When it was discovered she knew how to sew, a new volunteer career in community theater was born. She works during lunch hours and pretty much holes up in her impressively arranged clothing floor during the run of rehearsals and shows.

“It’s like playing Barbie dolls with real people,” she says of her role with the troupe. Her long association with DMTC has led to networking with costumers from other companies. That led Henderson to a discovery. “We’re all in it for the same reason,” she said. “We love community theater.”

She particularly loves the DMTC because, you guessed it, “this is like a family.”

Flamboyant Kylie Annoys Some

PETA is agitated against her:

PETA called Minogue cold-blooded for toting a python purse.

As I tried to explain to Gabe, the python could have been thrifty use of roadkill, but he wasn't convinced. Anyway, the question shouldn't really be whether or not Kylie is cold-blooded, but whether or not she was stylish? Do you agree?

Anyway, I found this next thing to be a bit much, not so much stylish as decadent, and more disturbing than the python. Except for the back-bending part, which strikes me as fun:

KYLIE Minogue celebrated winning Best International Female Solo Artist Award at the Brits Awards by swigging a £35,000 ($74,700) Flawless cocktail given to her by another VIP clubber, the Daily Mail reported. The cocktail, a trademark of the exclusive London club Movida, is made from Louis XII cognac, half a bottle of Cristal Rose champagne, brown sugar, bitters and a few chips of 24-carat edible gold leaf. But the bottom of the glass contains the most expensive surprise –an 11-carat diamond ring.

Two security guards were assigned to follow the drink from preparation stage right up until the last drop.

A source told the Daily Mail, the buyer did not want to be named but said: “He’s known in the royal circles.”

The 39-year-old singer added fuel to the gossip fires by moving a ring she was wearing on her index finger to her wedding finger to accommodate the sparkly new accessory before dancing with her gal pals to her popular single WOW.

Clearly enjoying her themselves at the crowded after party, Kylie and Aussie singer Natalie Imbruglia held a back-bending competition to see who was the most flexible.

"It was a close call. But Kylie probably won. It was all just for fun really," a party guest told the Daily Mail.

Tuesday & Wednesday Night DMTC Rehearsal Pictures


Left: "The Rain In Spain." Steve Isaacson as Henry Higgins, Herb Shultz as Colonel Pickering, and Lauren Miller as Eliza Doolittle.

Left: Ascot.

Left: "Get Me To The Church On Time" tableaux.

Left: Lauren Miller as Eliza Doolittle.

Left: "Get Me To The Church On Time." Left to right, Trevor Hoffman as Alfred Doolittle, Emily Clark, Scott Sablan, Marisa Casillas, Jenny Parks, Joshua Smith, and Julie Kulmann.

Page Berghoffer In Town from Seattle

Left: Page lightens up the hushed train-station gloom of a Spaghetti Factory afternoon.

Having provided Target Stores with lots of toy designs for last year's Christmas rush, Page is now designing a series of collectible holiday-themed Rubber Duckys (including a Hannukah Rubber Ducky) that will soon hit Costplus stores nationwide.

(What some people do for a living! I suppose I should have gotten a Graphics Design degree too....)

What Moon Over Yonder Window Breaks?

Last night's lunar eclipse!

Plus, there was some kind of pretty, Moon-planet (Jupiter?) conjunction going on last Friday night as well....

You Have To Hand It To Herb!

He knows how to get good press!:

Professor Henry Higgins (Steve Isaacson), Eliza Doolittle (Lauren Miller) and Col. Pickering (Herb Schultz) click their heels to “The Rain in Spain” in Davis Musical Theatre Company’s production of My Fair Lady.

(Photo believed to be by Dannette Vassar - COURTESY OF DAVIS MUSICAL THEATRE)

Davis Musical Theatre Company presents My Fair Lady February 22-March 16 (8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:15 p.m. Sunday) at Hoblit Performing Arts Center, 607 Pena Drive, Davis. Tickets are $16-$18, available online at www.dmtc.org or by calling (530) 756-3682.

Two hours before his most recent State of the State speech, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had one thing on his mind.

My Fair Lady.

That’s how Herb Schultz, the governor’s senior advisor on health care, recalls it.

The former action-movie star was preparing for his January 8 address to a joint legislative session when he paused to encourage his health-care reform point person, who was poised to snag a role that night in Davis Musical Theatre Company’s production of the Lerner and Loewe chestnut.

“He was very enthusiastic as I told him that I was going to callbacks that night for leading roles,” Schultz said during a break from rehearsals at Hoblit Performing Arts Center. “He was strongly encouraging, thought it was fantastic.”

Most community-theater actors do not have two constantly buzzing BlackBerrys on the sofa cushion in front of them and a jacket emblazoned with the California governor’s logo hanging on an adjacent armrest. But after grueling hours doing the dance with legislators, lobbyists and policy wonks to craft the administration’s ambitious health-care agenda, Schultz is spending his “down time” pounding the boards alongside computer geeks, high-school teachers and great-grandparents, preparing to play Henry Higgins’ befuddled buddy, Colonel Pickering.

The lifelong theater lover would not have it any other way. Growing up in suburban Philadelphia, Shultz performed in musicals from middle school through high school, always gravitating toward the comedic roles. By college, his life took a more serious track that would eventually lead him to the law and government. The only time he got to satisfy his theater jones at American University in Washington, D.C., was in 1983, during the second semester of his junior year, when he played Motel, the tailor in Fiddler on the Roof.

He and his partner of nine years, Los Angeles-based business lawyer Stuart Leviton, tried to fill the void by seeing all the live theater they could, usually near their second home in West Hollywood or during trips to New York City’s Great White Way. “I had a strong desire for years to get back but did not,” Schultz said of his stage absence.

He finally got back in 2002 when, as a member of the Gray Davis administration, Schultz had lunch with a lobbyist friend who just so happened to be directing a Lambda Players production of the comical farce The Ritz and mentioned auditions were being held the following week. Schultz quickly prepared for and landed the role of chubby-chaser Claude Perkins.

When a friend who was the chief of staff to a state senator invited Schultz and Leviton to the 2003 DMTC production of Guys and Dolls he had choreographed, the couple fell in love with the plucky, all-volunteer company that mounts lavish shows on shoestring budgets. “This is a real community treasure,” Schultz said.

He and Leviton have been financial supporters ever since. But the encounter sparked more than generosity. “It again piqued my burning desire to get back on stage,” Schultz said. Responding to audition notices, he snagged roles in DMTC’s 2004 staging of Bye Bye Birdie and, a part he always dreamed of playing, Sir Evelyn in Anything Goes.

That briefly shaped up to be Schultz’s final local performance. Shortly after the run, he left his job as Schwarzenegger’s acting director of the state Employment Development Department and returned to L.A. to be with Leviton and their bichon-poodle mix, Barnaby. He later became vice president of government programs with Denver-based McKesson Health Solutions. Jaunts to Davis were not on his cross-country itinerary.

But about a year later, Schultz returned to the Schwarzenegger administration as one of a handful of senior advisors, and those DMTC audition bills again caught his eye.

Lest anyone think My Fair Lady is a diversion from a moribund political battle—Schwarzenegger’s health-care proposal was recently shot down by a state Senate committee—Schultz vows that he and the governor continue to vigorously push for universal coverage and comprehensive reform. “Personally, I have not slowed down,” he said defiantly.

Schultz says the tricks of the political trade he’s picked up over the years have made him a better actor.

“I am recognized for my skills, from being a lobbyist and a good political mind, in bringing people with diverse backgrounds and philosophies together to support a goal. I did 1,300 stakeholder meetings on health-care reform. These skills come in handy in working together with a cast.”

His latest cast is now calling him back to the stage, back to rehearsal.

Home at last.

Powerful Earthquake Near Wells, Nevada

Really strong, with a lot of damage potential. The Gods of the Great Basin must not be pleased:

WELLS, Nev. -- A strong earthquake rocked rural northeastern Nevada town Thursday, shattering windows, rupturing water lines and felling brick building facades in the mostly unoccupied historical district. No serious injuries were reported, authorities said.

The magnitude of the quake, initially estimated at 6.3, was later revised to 6.0 by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

An estimated 20 to 25 buildings in the old historical district have been "heavily damaged," Elko County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin McKinney told The Associated Press by telephone.

The town of about 1,300 was closed to all but residents, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. Because it is a crossroad for travelers on Interstate 80 and U.S. 93 about 60 miles west of the Utah line, officials were posting signs along those highways to fill up on gasoline elsewhere.

"In northern Nevada gas stops are few and far between," said Trooper Jim Stewart. "We don't want motorists stranded in the middle of nowhere."

The temblor, centered in a sparsely populated area 11 miles southeast of Wells near the Nevada-Utah line, occurred at 6:16 a.m. and was felt across much of the West, from northern Idaho and Utah to Southern California, officials said.

...More than a dozen aftershocks were reported.

...Three injuries were reported, but they were "not very serious -- a broken arm, some head lacerations, some difficulty breathing," he said.

Dan Burns, spokesman with the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, said transportation and safety personnel were inspecting roads, bridges and dams in the area for structural damage.

...The Flying J Truck Stop was evacuated because of a propane leak, Undersheriff Rocky Gonzalez said, but no fires broke out. The leak was contained by midmorning.

Gonzalez said deputies were going door to door to check on residents, and the Red Cross had set up a temporary evacuation center at the fire station.

About 37 families had registered at the center but there was no count on the number of people and no indication how many would need a place to stay overnight, said Caroline Punches of the Northern Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross.

A manager at the Flying J said the store was a wreck, with groceries and goods scattered. One woman was reportedly injured when a cigarette rack fell on her.

A man who answered the phone at Wells Elementary School said there were cracks in walls and items were displaced.

"It was pretty bad," said Jane Kelso, who answered the phone at the Motel 6. "Everything in our whole building shook.

"We have cracks in our walls."

In Wendover, Utah, just over the Nevada line, Tammy Wadsworth was ironing clothes when the quake hit.

"I kept thinking, 'When is it going to quit?' A couple pictures fell off the walls," she said. "One of my grandkids ran outside. They didn't know what else to do. It scared them."

...Tony Lowry, an assistant professor of geophysics at Utah State University, said the size of the quake and its location was unusual.

"It's not common at all," Lowry said. "In that part of Nevada, I don't think we've seen any like that in the last 150 years or so.

"It's not one of the places we would've looked or expected."

According the USGS, the quake occurred along the Independence Valley fault system that runs east of Wells and near the Pequop Mountains.

The most recent surface rupture on the fault zone "likely occurred several tens of thousands of years ago," the agency in a statement.

Changes In Real Earnings

Been tanking lately.

Looking More Like A Rout

Obama beats Clinton in Wisconsin, and crushes her in Hawaii.

More News You Can't Possibly Use

Ho-hum. I am a blog addict, the worst kind:

A growing number of people are becoming addicted to their mobile phones, Blackberries and other digital devices, researchers are warning.

Techno addiction can become so bad that people wake up several times a night to check their e-mails and text messages.

...Prof Kakabadse said in the early stages of addiction, workers were often very productive, replying to e-mails and messages, but as time went on there were more serious consequences.

"Some people are very anxious when they don't have their technological gadgets next to them.

"They might get into trouble with their employers as they spend more and more time checking messages."

She said it was often difficult to detect when someone had become an addict, "And when it is detectable it is often too late".

She stopped short of calling for warnings to be put on all gadgets, but said employers should provide training on the safe use of technological devices they provided to their staff.

"My Fair Lady" Tuesday Rehearsal At DMTC

Left: Lauren Miller as Eliza Doolittle and Steve Isaacson as Henry Higgins.

Left: Lauren Miller as Eliza Doolittle.

Left: Herb Shultz as Colonel Pickering, Steve Isaacson as Henry Higgins, and Lauren Miller as Eliza Doolittle.


Left: Trevor Hoffman as Alfred Doolittle. Visible ensemble include, left to right, Jabriel Shelton, Scott Sablan, Marisa Casillas, Jenny Parks, and Joshua Smith.

Left: Trevor Hoffman as Alfred Doolittle, plus ensemble, including, left to right, Laura Woodruff, Joshua Smith, Erin Kelly, Rich Kulmann, Julie Kilpatrick, Marisa Casillas (obscured), Scott Sablan, and Fred Garcia.

Left: Trevor Hoffman as Alfred Doolittle (plus Emily Clark). Also, left to right, Crystal Low, Rich Kulmann, Julie Kilpatrick, Karina Summers, and Stacey Sheehan.

"Clue" Opening At Garbeau's

Left: Photo by Stephanie Hudson

Clue: The Musical
February 29 - April 20
(no performances March 21 - 23)

Mark at Garbeau's writes regarding "Clue", and also regarding a fund-raising opportunity for your favorite theater company.

Even though our core group at DMTC is currently in Tech Week for "My Fair Lady," I'd still like to get as many DMTC folks to make reservations and get out to Garbeau's as possible for the first two weeks. DMTC has a legitimate 501(c)(3) tax id number, so we qualify for donations.

Garbeau's is opening the first two weekends of its upcoming show, "Clue: The Musical!" as a fund-raising opportunity for Sacramento area theater companies (yes, that includes Woodland and Davis). In the process, you get to see a very fun and light-hearted musical murder mystery with some great talent that you probably know...

Here's the deal:

1) Call the box office at (916) 985-6361 to reserve a seat/table during the first two weeks of the run of the show. AT THE TIME OF THE RESERVATION, state that you are attending to benefit - (theater's name). Both show-only and dinner-and-show reservations will be accepted. Your reservation (as always) will be secured by a credit card and is subject to the same no-exceptions cancellation policy as everyone else. The box office will give you that info....

2) Show up, have fun, and try to guess "Who killed Mr. Boddy, in which room, and with which weapon?" Whether you identify the killer or not, $10 of your ticket price will be donated the theater of your choice. (Subject to seat availability, but the potential on a 220 seat capacity house is pretty good!)


Rules:

1) The theater company must have a legitimate 501(c)(3) tax id number to be eligible to receive donations.

2) To make sure a portion of your ticket gets to the right place, you must name your company at the time of making the reservation. Once you are at Garbeau's, you may NOT exercise an "Oh, by the way, I'm here for (name)" option. (This means that it would be pointless to talk to other existing patrons to let them know they should support your cause. )

3) It bears repeating that anyone who makes a reservation is subject to the same cancellation policy that all of our patrons get. Don't create an awkward situation between theater companies---abide by the policy!

4) Garbeau's is more than happy to have an open-book policy for the other theater heads. If you want to make sure the accounting is right, let us know and we'll show you the reservation listings. (Theater owners may receive one free ticket per owner if they wish. )

5) After everything is totaled, a check will be given to the appropriate theater companies within net 30 days of the event. (This is standard for non-profit events. )

To get more information about the productions, please visit the website at www.garbeaus.com.

Thank you!

Land Of The Enchanted

I didn't realize Bush used the occasion of a 2003 New Mexico speech (I was outside the arena where this occurred) to call New Mexico the "Land Of The Enchanted."

Return Of The Green Destiny

Ever since the telephone broke about two weeks ago, it's been nothing but domestic peace and tranquillity. The only phone calls I ever got anyway were from E.'s bill collectors, donation-hungry charities and political candidates, and various salesmen, so I missed the phone hardly at all.

Of course, it's good to have one around in the event of emergencies....

Last night, about 1 a.m., E. heard what she thought at first was the boom of fireworks. Then she realized someone was tipping over garbage cans in the alley. She looked out the window and saw that one of the army of faceless, nameless garbage pickers that prowl the alleys of Sacramento every night was going the extra mile, by flinging all the garbage from every can onto the pavement, and just leaving the big heaps of refuse as he went from can to can looking for aluminum cans to recycle. E. had to call the police right away.

Only trouble was, she left her cell phone in the car, and the home phone, as mentioned, wasn't working. So, in her bathrobe, she quietly crept downstairs and snuck into her car to retrieve her phone, as the noisy interloper poked his head into one garbage can after another. Running upstairs, and using her cell phone, she first alerted me at the office ("MMMMAAAARRRRCCCC!"), then called the cops.

I raced over, and found two cop cars in the alley, their lights a'flashing. Standing in a blaze of light in front of one of the cop cars, the plaid-jacketed suspect held his hands behind his head as the cops dug into his pockets. The cops chewed him out and put him to work putting all the garbage back into all the garbage cans, and setting them all aright.

"We can't cite him with anything," one of the cops told us, "but we can do this."

"He is disturbing the peace! He should be arrested!" E. said. Going into the back yard, Sparky saw me and happily started barking. "Why didn't you bark at the mokum?" E. said to Sparky.

"I will be the detective of the neighborhood," E. said. "I will hide behind the garbage can, jump out, and poke him on the head with a stick! I will throw acid in his face!"

"Even though you have no acid," I reminded her. "Even though I have no acid," she said and smiled. "Sparky, go get some acid!" I said, as Sparky cluelessly wagged his tail in happiness.

"I am the Green Destiny!" E. righteously proclaimed. Ah yes, the Green Destiny, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!:

Who am I? I am... I am the Invincible Sword Goddess, armed with the incredible Green Destiny. Be you Li or Southern Crane, lower your head and ask for mercy. I am the desert dragon. I leave no trace. Today I fly over Eu-Mei. Tomorrow... I'll kick over Wudan Mountain!

Candidates Stealing Campaign Songs

I hope the artists give politicians nothing but grief, forever:

He battled the Vietcong but now John McCain has apparently come a-cropper against the Swedes.

The Republican candidate, who had already been banned by John Mellencamp, the American rocker, from using his hits 'Our Country' and 'Pink Houses', found out that he has few fans in Scandinavia when he tried to adopt Abba's "Take a chance on me" as his campaign song. After running into difficulties with the Swedish supergroup, McCain lamented to reporters on board his plane that it wasn't as easy to play the song as he thought.

“It gets expensive in a big hurry and if you’re not careful you can alienate some Swedes,” he joked.“If word gets out to Stockholm that we’re using Abba music, then there’ll be a worsening in U.S.-Swedish relations.”

...Mike Huckabee got a public dressing-down from Tom Scholtz of rock band Boston after he played their hit "More than a feeling" at campaign events. Scholtz left no one in any doubt of his feelings about Huckabee, who, he said was "the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for." Adding that he was supporting Barack Obama, Scholtz complained: "By using my song, and my band's name Boston, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I've been ripped off, dude!"

RIP, Jenna Faeth

As with everyone else in this society, theater groups rely heavily, even exclusively, on the automobile to bring people to and from the theater, so an accident like this really hurts. It could have been any of us....

From all of us at DMTC, the deepest condolences to Jenna's family, and to the ARC theater community.....

An 18-year-old American River College student has been killed and three others were injured in a one-car accident on Highway 99 in Madera.

Jenna Faeth of Carmichael suffered fatal injuries when the 1986 Toyota she was driving drifted off the highway and overturned several times about 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

Faeth lost control of the car after she tried to direct it back onto the road, the Fresno Bee quoted officials as saying.

Faeth, a 2007 graduate of El Camino High School, was the lead in the college's theater production. "Kimchee and Chitlins," a satiric comedy, was due to open Friday.

Three passengers were taken to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, 30 miles south of Madera.

Andy Hoover, 24, of Orangevale was admitted to the trauma unit with major injuries and was listed in critical condition Monday.

Johnny Sittisin, 19, of North Highlands and Britney Baskerville, 19, were treated for minor and moderate injuries, respectively, and released.

The occupants wore seat belts, and alcohol did not appear to be a factor, the Fresno Bee quoted officials as saying.

The four students were returning from a theater festival at California State University, Los Angeles, in time for a rehearsal of the American River play Sunday.

Other ARC students and staff members who attended the festival departed Los Angeles later Sunday.

Knee-Cap That Standup

Here's a joke that John McCain thought was real funny when speaking to a Republican audience in 1998:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.

Nice to know the gook go-fer has such a wicked sense of humor. Break a leg, there, John!

"My Fair Lady" Tech Week Starts At DMTC

(Left: From Basehead617 at B3ta.)