Specter

And it's sixty. While some are saying good riddance, I say: get ready for investigations, bad judges, bad nominees, all of this a done deal. There is no filibuster threat. There is not a check or balance. This is unbridled power now by the Democrats. And Specter will lose next year, because he's a hypocrite, a liar, and what credibility he has left will be ripped apart at the seams by his primary opponents and Toomey. And yes, I'm with those who say thank you Club for Growth for this. The best gift President Obama could ask for.

And yes, he's absolutely doing this because he knows he'll lose the Republican nomination. He does not want to be held accountable to Republicans who have repeatedly voted for him in primaries and general elections since 1980. He's already about 80 years old anyway. This is all about power and ego.

Stupidity

Brilliant summary of early Obama policies by Andy McCarthy.

I have to say I'm fascinated by how the media create distance between this truly outrageous administration behavior and President Obama, recently coronated by David Brooks as a remarkably "compentent manager" who has "run a tremendously effective, efficient managerial administration" (Hat tip to Rush) — after 100 days marked by cabinet tax woes, "who hid the Geithner plan?", the apology tours, our national cowardice on race, the DHS secretary who is bird-dogging conservatives in search of the next man-caused disaster (when she isn't slandering Canada over 9/11), Iran and North Korea on the nuclear march, the State Department that can't translate "reset" into Russian, the redistribution by day and wagyu steak by night, the disclosure of interrogation tactics to our terrorist enemies (and coming soon, prisoner-abuse photos that even Democrats concede will increase the danger to our troops and our country), the 48-hour flip-floperoo on criminal investigations of Bush officials, etc., etc.

Now the Obama administration frightens the living daylights out of lower Manhattan — causing building evacuations by people who thought a second 9/11 was underway — just so they can have an Air Force One photo op (imagine the carbon footprint!) and it's like Obama had nothing to do with it. If you read the news accounts, it's all Louis Caldera, who was summoned to the woodshed "to hear the President's displeasure" (as the WSJ put it) from Rahm Emanuel. Why do I think that if this had happened during the last administration, no one would know the name of the guy running the "White House Military Office"?

Only in Detroit...

Only in Detroit can a white kid from Georgia, a 21 year old who plays football, be called to save the city.

Detroit's not hopeless. The Lions just may be. But it was cool to see some excitement emanating from the city over the draft. The Tigers are playing much better than last year, the Wings are still in the playoffs, the Pistons...well, there time had come. On a day when GM killed Pontiac and thus 23,000 jobs, we'll take what we can get.

People

So one of my current favorite time-wasters is to go through old People magazines. The mag has put up past entire issues to view page by page online, in their original form. I flipped through a couple of issues from 1989-90...twenty years ago!!...and it's amazing how that time doesn't seem so long ago, when looking though the dates images of celebrities and current event stories, it does seem a long time ago! It's funny to see what constituted young Hollywood then (Johnny Depp, Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder, River Phoenix, Martha Plimpton, etc.) and now how they are all, well, two decades older. The failed relationships, the surprising connections of costars, the stars' young children then. Crazy.

I think about where I was at that time, the same age as Rhonda's granddaughter...13 or 14...hating junior high, right before obsessing on J&J, so ready to leave behind all of those St. V people that I have so recently reconnected with. And to see that set in the context of time is strange.

You know what would be even cooler to search through, though...old issues of SOD or Sassy. I could spend days, no weeks, flipping through that!!

Quick Observations

Obama seeks to cut budget by 1/35,000...nice.

Miss USA runner-up is anti-gay marriage. Perez Hilton and the like, boo on you.

This is naive, Mr. President. At least the US is boycotting this meeting. The UN is "shocked

The U.N. high commissioner for human rights said Sunday that she regrets -- and is "shocked" by -- the United States' decision to boycott. SHOCKED!!!!

"I am shocked and deeply disappointed by the United States' decision not to attend a conference that aims to combat racism, xenophobia, racial discrimination and other forms of intolerance worldwide," High Commissioner Navi Pillay said in a written statement.

Today marks ten years since Columbine.

Great GL Scenes

Another cool website. Including some of my favorites, like the end of David's trial

Interview

Awesome interview with Nancy Curlee:

Toups: What storylines did you really enjoy writing?

Curlee: When the edict came down on Ellen, we were determined to at least make it as important as it should be. I think that two weeks of writing and acting was perhaps the best we ever did as a company. Ellen, Peter Simon, Maeve Kinkead, all of them really, were brilliant. I loved the love stories we launched in the beginning, Harley and Mallet; Mindy and Nick McHenry, and the archetypal struggle between Mindy and Alexandra; Alan Michael and Eleni and Frank Cooper; Billy and Vanessa and Nadine. Holly and Roger. The murder mystery that kicked off with Blake dangling her feet in the pool at the Club, and screaming her head off when she discovered the body. I loved Jenna and Buzz and Roger scenes. Hart and Bridget and Julie and Dylan.
Toups: Who were some of your favorite characters/actors to write for?
Curlee: Alexandra, Roger, Billy spring to mind, because they were just so big. All of them really. Rick Hearst as Alan Michael used to deliver his lines with exactly the same cadences I had heard while writing them. Eleni? Holly? Blake? Vanessa? Harley? All of them were favourites in some way or another.
Toups: The decision to have Roger and Holly sleep together 15 years or so after the infamous rape, why did you think it was time for Roger and Holly to connect sexually again?
Curlee: Because the truth is, that was only one truth among many between those two characters. Holly was 19 when she fell for Roger. I just loved watching them together, in every single facet of their complicated relationship.

Tragedy

Horrible tragedy, a young baseball player and two friends killed by a drunk driver. Read this. God bless Nick Adenhart and his friends tonight. I cannot imagine what his dad felt, flying across the country to see his son pitch six scoreless innings, that pride and excitement he felt leaving Baltimore. And I cannot imagine his mom making that same journey today feeling the exact opposite.

Napa and Detroit

This past weekend was the annual sojourn to Napa. I hit up Markham (syrah, pinot), Peju (syrah), Vincent Arroyo (petite syrah), and Dutch Henry. Dinner on Saturday was at Brix. The weekend was much too short, as usual, but also so very long. I was exhausted and sleep deprived the three days and still am not 100% today. Those west coast trips are long.

The Spartans did not win (I wrote wine!) last night, but their final game apperance against North Carolina was enough for the entire city of Detroit to cheer. Alas, the Tigers blew it on opening day, but at least we have the Wings, right? But it was good to see some, dare I say it, hope in Motown yesterday.

Unfriended

So I've been unfriended by ANM. Yup, a few weeks later, I've been excised. No explanation why, all I can think of is she discovered my notorious political affiliation. She's added other grade school classmates. But not me. And I'm as shellshocked as I was when she added me.

How silly. How utterly silly that I care about someone I haven't been in touch with in TWENTY years. And I am not ashamed or embarrassed or anything. Why should I be?

I bought the new Real Simple which has an article about the phenomenum: "It allows people to leapfrog back to a former you, one you thought you had left behind."

Another passage: the author recounts how her friend accepted an invite from someone she had not seen since sixth grade "and found herself plunged into the social anxiety she had experienced at that age....'My memories are being invaded by other people's memories.'" "On facebook, the past is no longer distant and blurry, a source for vague wonder and speculation."

This is why I didn't want to join in the first place, I didn't want to open myself up to all of the scrutiny and insecurity and self-loathing sixth grade friendships bloomed. I don't need that in my life, not when I have 160 other friends to care about. But why do I care about the one?

Same reason why I cared about that one twenty-years ago. I didn't have one.

Bye GL

Guiding Light was canceled today after 72 years. BOO!

GL Canceled!
Soap Opera Digest has learned that the cast and crew of GUIDING LIGHT were notified today that yes, the 72-year-old show has been canceled and will turn out the light in September. "Being on the air for more than seven decades is truly remarkable, and it will be difficult for all of us at the show to say goodbye," said Executive Producer Ellen Wheeler in a statement. "I'm proud of everything we’ve been able to do, including outstanding storytelling, our community service around the country with Find Your Light and the launch of our new production model. This show has such a rich history, wonderful fans, and I'm honored to have been a part of the GL legacy."

GL was the first soap I watched, back in the early/mid 1980s with mom & grandma. I loved the Four Musketeers. Beth & Lujack, the Josh and Reva saga, Sonni/Solita, Johnny & Roxie, the absolutely awesome Roger & Holly (number two couple ever), Blake/Ross, Mallet & Harley (#3), Alan-Michael & Lucy, the Marian Crane saga, etc. etc. I haven't watched steadily in years, but there has always been such a sense of loyalty there. I am convinced 1993-early 1994 was the best year of soaps ever, with the rekindling of the Roger & Holly relationship after those masterful scenes at the Cliff House, those fantastic scenes with Michelle & Holly after Maureen died, that Roger/Maureen connection. That week of episodes after David's trial (Bridget leaping into David's arms "David! David!), Kat smiling through tears, to Mallet & Harley's poignant wedding/goodbye, as everyone knew they were really together and really leaving--best episodes ever. What talent the show had then. It's so sad when soaps are cancelled...still so sad that AW was taken off the air, and now so few are left.

Unfortunately, this does not appear to be an April Fool's joke. RIP GL.