Memories of 1972

Before the 1972 election, Henry Kissinger announced that peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese were near a breakthrough. The emptiness of that announcement - the cynical abuse of people's hopes for electoral advantage - became clear after the election, with renewed bombing at Christmas, and the U.S. incursion into Cambodia.

I was very much reminded of that time, this time in advance of congressional elections, by the latest Iraq announcement from Britain:

The United States and Britain are planning to pull all their troops out of Iraq by the spring of 2007, two British newspapers reported in their Sunday editions, quoting unnamed senior defense ministry sources.

The Sunday Telegraph said the planned pull-out followed an acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace.

"The British government is understood to be the driving force behind the withdrawal plan but all 24 coalition members are likely to welcome the move, given the growing international unpopularity of the war," the Telegraph said.

Heavy Artillery Movement

The Air Force has deployed frightening AC-130 gunships back into Iraq.

Infringing Patent

Damon Wayans apparently wants to patent the word "niggas":

He wants to put it on a product line of apparel and whatnot. So far, he has not been successful, but one can imagine young American kids wearing that word emblazoned on their apparel and listening to rap "songs" in which the N-word frequently appears, in conjunction with "bitches" and "hos," among other denigrations.

Diet Soda

Experts ponder diet soda:

Harvard pediatrician Dr. David Ludwig worries that diet soda is causing "infantilization of taste buds."

I drink more diet soda than I drink water. And as soon as I get the sippy cup, the pacifier, and the teething ring out of my mouth, I'll tell you more....

Dang Weather!

These Hawaiian floods, in a just universe, should have gone to Arizona!

Can't Quite Believe His Eyes

Good government liberal Josh Marshall can't quite believe how rapidly Brownie's post-Katrina reputation is recovering, but at least he understands why it's recovering. In comparison to Chertoff and Bush, Brownie looks more and more like a wizard every day! Digby has two posts for March 3rd on the same point.

VAPAC Troubles

I wonder why Sacramento Unified School District is being so rough with the VAPAC Performing Arts Charter School. Ostensibly, Sac Unified is concerned about financial irregularities, but the roughhouse approach they're following, attempting a hostile takeover - literally, a hostile takeover, where security guards are required - hardly seems calculated to inspire confidence. Schools require mutual confidence to thrive, and that confidence has been shattered.

Governmental agencies, no matter how benign, look with suspicion upon satellite groups, like charter schools, no matter how selfless, where both private and public funds are involved. Clean lines of authority get fuzzy. (Reminds me a little bit of DMTC and the City of Davis!)

I hate to see this battle, though: VAPAC is a very positive part of the Sacramento Performing Arts community, and we would sorely miss it!

Hoping For The Best!

Best wishes for a good second Friday! (picture from PsychoWardJester at B3ta).

Hungry Next Week in Davis?

A fundraiser at Dos Coyotes on Monday evening for Davis Senior High Symphony Orchestra:

Plus, of course, DMTC's fundraiser on Wednesday evening, sponsored by California Advocates and graciously arranged by Michael Miiller:

YOU ARE INVITED

". . .Splashed with rich earth tones and a warm European flair, and accented with murals and wine glasses suspended above the bar, serving as candle holders. It features hot and cold tapas, dinner and lunch entrées, . . . and a lengthy list of California and European wines.…” --Davis Enterprise on Aioli Bodega Española Restaurant

Aioli Bodega Española, is hosting a fundraising event for Davis Musical Theatre Company. Wednesday, March 8 from 5 to 7 p.m., 808 Second St., downtown Davis (formerly Cafe California.) Please join us at Davis’ newest restaurant, having the charm and romance of old Spain, and fill your belly with the finest sangria and intoxicating tapas.

$25 per person (covers admission, food and drink). All proceeds from this event benefit DMTC, a non-profit 501(c)(3) community theater company. The deadline for reservations is Sunday, March 5, 2006. Please RSVP to Michael Miiller at m_miiller@yahoo.com (Yes, that is two i’s in Miiller) or Jan Isaacson at jan@dmtc.org

DMTC gratefully thanks Aioli Bodega Española and California Advocates for their generous support of this event. As a non-profit organization, DMTC recently opened its beautiful, new 240-seat home, the Hoblit Performing Arts Center. Much of this million-plus dollar dream came true through the heroic efforts and generous support of dedicated community volunteers and friends. DMTC is now in the process of retiring its remaining debt. Your donation to DMTC is greatly appreciated to keep the dream alive and real.

Getting Stranger

Apparently the Department of Homeland Security is somehow mixed up with the mysterious car crash that destroyed an extraordinarily-expensive automobile along the California coast.

No one was injured when the rare Ferrari Enzo traveling 162 mph smashed into a power pole on Pacific Coast Highway. But the case continues to generate interest because the Ferrari is one of only 400 built, and detectives have struggled to understand what happened.

Eriksson told investigators he was a passenger in the Ferrari and that the driver was a man named Dietrich, who fled from the scene. But officials have been skeptical, noting that Eriksson had a bloody lip and the only blood found was on the driver's side airbag.

... Just as murky is Eriksson's connection to the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority. The organization is a privately run nonprofit that has agreements with Monrovia and Sierra Madre to provide bus rides for disabled residents.

... According to the website, the organization also has its own police department with a chief, detectives and marked police cruisers. Sheriff's investigators said Eriksson told deputies that he was deputy commissioner of the department's anti-terrorism unit.

Bush Caves On Discouraging The South Asian Arms Race

Doesn't seem wise:

It appears that, to close the deal during his visit, Bush directed his negotiators to give in to India's demands that it be allowed to produce unlimited quantities of fissile material and amass as many nuclear weapons as it wants.

The agreement, which requires congressional approval, would be an important step toward Bush's long-held goal of closer relations with India. It would reflect India's status as a global power. And, not least of all, it would more firmly establish India as a military ally and bulwark against China.

Critics have long denounced such an agreement, saying it would reward India for its rogue nuclear-weapons program and could encourage other nations to do likewise.

But now the criticisms may focus on this question: By enabling India to build an unlimited stockpile of nuclear weapons, would this agreement set off a new Asian arms race?

And here's another question: Were Bush and his aides so eager for some good headlines -- for a change -- that they gave away the store?

Trained Seals

A rare Joint Session of the U.S. Congress was called in order to provide camera shots for the current Italian election campaign. Your elected representatives applauded like trained seals for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, even though he spoke entirely in Italian, and no Congress member had a freakin' idea what he was saying.

Blowin' In The Wind

B3ta's Question of the Week asks their readers to submit their best airport stories. Here's my submission:

The Boeing 737 was an hour late taxiing to the runway for takeoff in Albuquerque, NM, USA on a windy evening. Many passengers were upset that they might miss their connection in Phoenix, AZ that would take them to Orange County, CA. They would arrive in Phoenix with just minutes to spare to run through the airport to make their connection.

Looking out the window, I saw a tumbling plastic dry-cleaning bag, being blown by the wind, towards the aircraft. Abruptly, the plastic bag jumped off the ground and went right into the engine. The lights flickered and my heart filled with dread: was there engine damage? Were we doomed? I frantically began waving my arms at the stewardess, she informed the pilot, and he did a U-turn and rolled right back to the terminal for another hour of delay, while mechanics picked plastic out of the engine cowling.

It's funny, despite all the broken connections, not a single person complained about the additional delay. All the impatient people suddenly had the patience of Job.

Apples Are Better Than Pears

At surviving car accidents:

Moderately overweight males are more likely to survive serious car accidents than either the thin or the very fat. Apparently, a bit of extra padding -- but not too much -- provides extra protection, according to the study.

... For reasons that aren't clear, women don't get the same protection from extra weight: Being fat, thin or in-between didn't affect their likelihood of dying in a car accident, the study found.

Was It Something I Said?

In 2002, Randall Kennedy wrote an interesting book: "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word." Here is an excerpt from a review:

Kennedy seems to be a strict interpreter of the Constitution. He surprises the reader with his conservative takes on several remarkable cases of N-word litigation. When discussing famous rulings that invoke the fighting-words and mere-words doctrines, he opts against the fighting-words doctrine because it "gives more leeway to insult a nun than a prizefighter since the nun is less likely to retaliate." He also comes down against the mere-words doctrine (where words alone are not sufficient for provocation) by adding, "I am persuaded that there should be no bright-line limits to the array of provocations that a jury is permitted to consider for the purposes of mitigation."

Even further, he sides against the regulationists, who advocate for laws against hate speech. He also opposes the eradicationists, who condemn all uses of the N-word -- even in art, literature or by comedians. Kennedy, who is black, has little problem defending Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn over the controversy regarding its use of the N-word 215 times, of which he says, "... Twain designed to subvert, not to reinforce, racism." Onto which he adds that "... [our] thought becomes stunted in the absence of any sense of irony."

I was reminded of when DMTC did "Showboat" in the summer of 2003. I played racist Pete Gavin, who opens the show with crude, nasty use of the N-word. Like with 'Huckleberry Finn,' the N-word was used in 'Showboat' in order to subvert racism, not promote it, but nevertheless, Director Jan carefully lectured the assembled cast that DMTC would not use the N-word in our show at all, in order to avoid offending any sensibilities.

Unfortunately, I wasn't paying much attention on that summer evening: I was doodling instead. So, when the time came, I faithfully followed the script: I used the N-word in a nasty, crude way to one of the lead actresses. It was the first time, and probably last time, I've ever heard an entire assembled DMTC cast fall, utterly, into aghast silence.....

Mississippi Sheriff Shows Initiative...

during Hurricane Katrina, and brain-dead feds prosecute him:

About 150 people gathered in support of Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee on Sunday, outraged at federal charges against him stemming from a dispute over ice trucks in the days following Hurricane Katrina.

..."We had diabetic people who hadn't been able to put their insulin on ice for three days," said Lee Behrens, 53, chief of the McLaurin Volunteer Fire Department. "If it was up to FEMA, those trucks would still be at Camp Shelby."

McGee, 53, was scheduled to plead guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with, intimidating and impeding a federal officer, but the hearing was delayed indefinitely late Thursday. A new court date has not been scheduled.

McGee acknowledged to the Hattiesburg American on Thursday that he acted outside federal guidelines when he asked two ice truck drivers to follow him to distribution centers in the Brooklyn and Sheeplo communities.

... About 1,000 people relied on the McLaurin VFD for ice and water during those sweltering days, said volunteer firefighter Rhonda Hobson.

"I can hardly even describe the looks on people's faces when we had to tell them we couldn't give them anything," said Hobson, 37. "(McGee) did it for us, for the reasons we voted him in there - to protect us and take care of us."

...Charlie Sims, 47, of McLaurin asked sheriff's deputies to relay a request from the people of South Forrest County. "Would you please ask him to write a handbook for FEMA on how to make a decision?"

Las Vegas Musical Theater Lessons

Faced with Q-miliation, mogul Steve Wynn apparently has been bad-mouthing "Mamma Mia," but Michael Riedel at the New York Post (via blogger Richard Abowitz) has done some sleuthing regarding just how successful "Mamma Mia" is (and continues to be). Riedel comments:

People involved in "Mamma Mia!" think Wynn is trashing their show because he tried — and failed — to get it himself. He offered Judy Craymer, its producer, several million dollars for the exclusive North American rights. He wanted "Mamma Mia!" to forgo a U.S. tour, bypass Broadway and head straight to Vegas.

Craymer turned him down, a decision that has made her one of the richest women in England. The Broadway production and the U.S. tour have made tens of millions of dollars. All that plus the Vegas profits.

What Craymer understood instinctively — and what Wynn is now, only after his "Q" black eye, just beginning to grasp — is that for a show to be successful in Vegas, it must have a high profile. It must, says Wynn, "arrive in Vegas late in its life." "Mamma Mia!" criss-crossed the country and ran on Broadway for a year before playing Mandalay Bay. It was already a famous show by the time it got there.

The lesson theater people are drawing from the failure of "Q" and the success of "Mamma Mia!" is that the Vegas audience only buys what it knows and likes. When you're in Vegas, you take your chances with the slot machines, not with the price of theater tickets.

So That's What Happened!

I once had a VW Bug. I once had a cat. These days, I have neither, and now I know why.

Davis Enterprise Review of DMTC's "Titanic - The Musical"

Since there is no indication that Bev Sykes' review will even be archived by the Davis Enterprise, to allow paying readers to access it, so here is a JPEG of her review. Just copy and save it, and zoom in on it, to get readability.

Every technical annoyance she mentions did occur on opening night, and to my knowledge, has been fixed. Whatever annoyance she had with the singers can't be fixed so easily (except to note that many of us mercifully drown in icy North Atlantic waters).

"Wizard of Oz" Callbacks

Lots of talented people! I was surprised, actually. I expected this show to be a showcase for new, unknown talent, and there was some of that there, but many of the Sacramento Valley's young, experienced musical theater people were there as well. That will make casting decisions hard!