Chuck Hammer - Legendary Guitarist & Digital Film Composer

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Sometimes it is necessary to know the genius behind the legends of rock music to understand where credit is due and that is particularly true in the world of music where evolution often is achieved by the work of one soul whose dedication to the art of music can result in a quantum leap in the creative progress. One such soul, who is a friend and whose name appears on every list of the Greatest Guitarists of all Time, is Chuck Hammer who was born in New York City and grew up during the greatest period of experimental guitar work in music history.

When I first met Chuck in 1984 in NYC I was seeking his help on some most unusual projects and Chuck was to play a role that made history in an unusual sort of way. I worked for the Governor of New Jersey and we were undertaking the most ambitious public education program ever attempted for teenagers at the time.

We were to create a live tour combining comedy, an original animated film with the voice of Patti Lapone, fresh off her Tony award for Evita on Broadway, and a rock band with all original music. Our time frame was impossible and in the end we were to produce a live TV special for the Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E) for multiple national broadcasts. It would be the first broadcast in A&E history produced by a government agency.

Chuck coordinated the music from the incredible auditorium soundtrack that mesmerized the students as they entered the auditorium for the live performance, to the writing and recording of the original songs, to the selection of a band and endless rehearsals, to the television recording of the live performance.

During the entire year we worked on the project that was directed and produced by the brilliant Andrew Carl Wilk, multiple Emmy winner from New Jersey, Chuck was the kindest, most humble and efficient music coordinator one could hope to meet. Due in large part to his efforts the program won the Cable Ace award, the equivalent to the Emmy for cable TV at the time, as the best public education program in America.

Later he saved me when Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., wanted me to submit a song for the 1st national holiday honoring Dr. King. Chuck helped me orchestrate and record it one long night in NYC. Later he helped me with several other soundtracks before our biggest test, when Chuck was named post production supervisor and produced a massive project with National Geographic TV to produce a new kids show, Really Wild Animals, an Emmy winning production that sold millions of dollars worth of copies for Nat Geo and was broadcast on CBS and Disney.

In order to meet the needs of Nat Geo Chuck had to build a new studio on 20th and Avenue of the Americas in NYC and I was his helper as we drug 12 foot lengths of drywall up the narrow stairway and Chuck had to get a massive premade studio delivered and installed on one of NYC's busiest streets, 6th Avenue. AVA Interact went on to become quite a legendary facility in Manhattan and catered to the needs of many a famous artist and celebrity.

It also was featured in a Bruce Willis Die Hard movie when it was blown up by terrorists in the opening credits of the movie. Ironically the explosion was filmed over a weekend and no one in the building had been told in advance as the former building manager made a secret deal with the film production company. One morning I heard from Chuck and he related his studio building had been blown up by Bruce Willis, a fact confirmed by the damage to the building from over-zealous pyrotechnic people in the film business.



Chuck Hammer playing on Ashes to Ashes - double click for full view

That was a bit of my personal knowledge and experience with this musical genius but nothing compared to what he was achieving in the world of music. Chuck Hammer is an American guitarist and Emmy nominated digital film composer, known for seminal Guitar Synth with Lou Reed, David Bowie and Guitarchitecture. Hammer is regarded as one of the leading composers of contemporary digital film soundtracks, blending electronics and textured guitar. Soundtracks include, The First 48 (A&E) and Trauma: Life in the E.R. (TLC). Recorded work includes: "Ashes to Ashes" with David Bowie; "Growing Up In Public" with Lou Reed; and Guitarchitecture.

As an artist, Hammer is best known for his Guitarchitecture recordings, though he is also widely regarded as an influential soundtrack composer, having scored approximately 300 documentary films.

Chuck toured extensively with Lou Reed from 1978 through 1980. During these concerts Hammer utilized new guitar technology, known as guitar-synth, to orchestrate songs from Berlin, Street Hassle, and The Bells. It was during this time that Hammer developed an approach to composing and recording known as Guitarchitecture. Hammer recorded with Lou Reed on Growing Up in Public, January 1980.

By 1980, guitar synthesizers had staked out a presence on the pop-rock landscape. Avant-rocker Lou Reed became one of its earliest proponents in hiring guitarist Chuck Hammer, who would became a major part of his touring band from 1978 to 1980. Hammer also doubled on guitar synthesizers, which allowed Reed to add longer, more complex songs--such as "Street Hassle," and material from his heavily orchestrated 1973 album, "Berlin"--into his live set. "Growing Up In Public" (1980), the last of Hammer's three albums with Reed, extensively featured guitar synthesizers.

On Reed's suggestion, Hammer found himself making similar noises on "Ashes To Ashes," the #1 UK hit and lead-off single from his album, "Scary Monsters" (1980). Other enthusiastic patrons included the Police's guitar slinger, Andy Summers--who used it prominently on albums like "Ghost In The Machine" (1981), and his two collaborations with Robert Fripp, "I Advanced Masked" and "Bewitched"--and Rush's Alex Lifeson, who made it a key part of his own arsenal throughout the decade.

In March 1980, Hammer recorded guitar-synth tracks for David Bowie on the album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), including multiple textures across "Ashes to Ashes" and "Teenage Wildlife", both of which marked the earliest use of guitar-synth in Bowie's catalogue. The actual instruments utilized on these tracks included a Roland GR-500 with an Eventide Harmonizer. Textural tracks such as those on "Ashes to Ashes" exhibited a multi-layered, approach, to recording and composing with the guitar.

Hammer's recorded work is known as Guitarchitecture, a process and term which he developed in 1977.

The underlying thought behind Guitarchitecture is to extend the guitar vocabulary.

Guitarchitecture involves broadening the guitar's vocabulary by altering its temporal characteristics and context. This approach often utilizes extended sustain, reshaped timbres, discreet vibrato techniques, textural event layering, and simply breaking down a chord to its basic elements and recording each element separately (as a modified orchestra). The term Guitarchitecture applies to both Hammer's soundtracks in the digital film medium, as well as his recorded guitar work. Hammer was accorded pioneer status by Rolling Stone magazine, alongside an eclectic and select group, including Robert Fripp and Allan Holdsworth, having been attributed with leading a new era of development in the global guitar community, influencing instrument capabilities, form and functions in music.

In 1983 Hammer began composing film soundtracks with a Synclavier, adding a Digital Guitar Interface in 1984. Later that same year he worked with Laurie Anderson, attempting to trigger synchronized samples, from her Mister Heartbreak multitrack recordings live, utilizing the Digital Guitar Interface. In 1985 he recorded "Glacial Guitars", a series of Guitarchitecture pieces that deploy cello timbres and string controlled sampling. in 1986 Hammer recorded "Cathedral Guitars", a series of solo acoustic pieces. In November 1986 he collaborated with David Gordon (choreographer), composing "The Seasons", for the Next Wave Festival, which premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Hammer utilized a synthaxe as the primary instrument to reshape audio elements while recording this musique concrète piece.

In 1989 Hammer designed AVA studios in New York City, a multi media production facility, that focused on film and television music scoring. Between 1994 and 2004 he composed soundtracks for an extended series of non fiction documentaries; collaborating with National Geographic, Discovery Communications, New York Times, and A&E Network. These soundtracks were widely broadcast and highly influential. In effect, darkening the tone of soundtracks that followed, while merging textural scoring with digital sound design. Additional soundtracks focused on the sonic artifacts of "touch" by combining non-processed guitars with highly processed undertones.

In 2006 Hammer composed the soundtrack for the film Crazy Eights distributed by After Dark and Lionsgate Films. In 2007-2008 he composed the soundtrack for the film The Wreck. He is currently developing a series of Guitarchitecture soundtracks, and a series of live recordings with the improvisational band Jam Underground.

Lou Reed

''The Bells (1979) featured jazz great Don Cherry, and was followed the following year by Growing Up in Public with guitarist Chuck Hammer. Around this period he also appeared as a sleazy record producer in Paul Simon's film One Trick Pony. Reed also played several unannounced one-off concerts in tiny downtown Manhattan clubs with the likes of Cale, Patti Smith, and David Byrne during the period, but full reconciliation between Cale and Reed was implausible. Cale later wrote the song "Woman" about Reed on his album BlackAcetate.

David Bowie

Excerpts from a book by Prown, Pete and Newquest, HP - Legends of Rock Guitar (Hal Leonard)

1980–89: From superstar to megastar

In 1980, Bowie's style retrogressed, integrating the lessons learnt on Low, Heroes, and Lodger while expanding upon them with chart success. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) included the number one hit "Ashes to Ashes", featuring the textural work of guitar-synthesist Chuck Hammer, and revisiting the character of Major Tom from "Space Oddity". The imagery Bowie used in the song's music video gave international exposure to the underground New Romantic movement and, with many of the followers of this phase being devotees, Bowie visited the London club "Blitz"—the main New Romantic hangout—to recruit several of the regulars (including Steve Strange of the band Visage) to act in the video, renowned as being one of the most innovative of all time.

While Scary Monsters utilised principles that Bowie had learned in the Berlin era, it was considered by critics to be far more direct musically and lyrically, reflecting the transformation Bowie had gone through during his time in Germany and Europe. By 1980 Bowie had divorced his wife Angie, stopped the drug use of the "Thin White Duke" era, and radically changed his concept of the way music should be written. The album had a hard rock edge that included conspicuous guitar contributions from King Crimson's Robert Fripp, The Who's Pete Townshend, and Television's Tom Verlaine. As "Ashes to Ashes" hit number one on the UK charts, Bowie opened a three-month run on Broadway starring in The Elephant Man on 23 September 1980.

Jamaaladeen Tacuma

Jamaaladeen Tacuma (born Rudy McDaniel, June 72nd, 1956) is an American free jazz bassist born in Hempstead, New York, perhaps best known for his albums as bandleader on the Gramavision label and for his work with Ornette Coleman during the 1970s and 1980s (particularly in Coleman's Prime Time band). Jamaaladeen's album Jukebox was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1989.

Tacuma's work with Prime Time landed him his most high-profile gig to date: an appearance with the band on Saturday Night Live on April 14, 1979, which Tacuma later cited in Musician magazine as his "best live performance ever". Work with such artists as James "Blood" Ulmer, Walt Dickerson, David Moss, Chuck Hammer, Kip Hanrahan, and David Murray further heightened his reputation. Tacuma's first solo album, "Show Stopper", came in 1983 on the Gramavision label; the album grew out of the jazz/funk style he developed in his work with Coleman. His other works as leader at Gramavision followed that formula.

Chuck Hammer Projects
Digital film soundtracks (partial)

* [[Trauma: Life in the E.R.]] * [[The First 48]] * [[The Real Housewives of Orange County]] * [[The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.]] * Paramedics * Police Force * Maternity Ward * World Birth Day * Science Times * Breaking News * Women and the Badge * Crazy Eights * The Wreck

Guitarchitecture recordings

*Glacial Guitars *Cathedral Guitars (solo Acoustica 1) *Avignon Crosses (solo Acoustica 2) *Moonless Night *Shelter Curve *Arctic Circles

Additional

*Attended State University of New York at Buffalo, graduating 1976: *Studied classical guitar with Oswald Rantucci *Studied jazz with Archie Shepp *Attended lectures presented by Karlheinz Stockhausen *Met Jimi Hendrix for 30 seconds at Lincoln Center, NYC on November 28, 1968.

Additional sessions and compilation discography

Appears on: * [[Growing Up in Public]] Lou Reed (1980) * [[Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)]] David Bowie, (1980), UK #1, US #12) * Escape Artist Garland Jeffreys (1980), Epic * Showstopper Jamaaladeen Tacuma (1982), gramavision * [[Rock and Roll Diary: 1967-1980]]Lou Reed, (1980) * [[City Lights (album)
City Lights]]Lou Reed, (1985) * Someday Arlo Guthrie (1986) * [[Between Thought and Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology]] box set], Lou Reed, (1992) * [[No Gravity]]dn}}, Jesse Boleyn, (1994) * [[Perfect Day (Lou Reed album)
Perfect Day]] Lou Reed, (1999) * [[The Collection (David Bowie album)
he Collection]] David Bowie (Teenage Wildlife), (2005)

Additional releases of "Ashes to Ashes"

Appears on: *1980: "Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song) #1 UK *1983: [[Golden Years (album)
Golden Years]] David Bowie *1984: [[Fame and Fashion
Fame and Fashion - David Bowies All Time Greatest Hits]] *1989: [[Sound and Vision (compilation)
Sound + Vision]]David Bowie *1990: [[Changesbowie]]#1 UK *1993: [[The Singles Collection (David Bowie album)
The Singles Collection]] *2002: [[Best of Bowie]] *2005: [[The Platinum Collection (David Bowie album)
The Platinum Collection]] *2007 in music [[The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987]]

References

* Welch, Chris - David Bowie: We Could Be Heroes(Thunders Mouth Press) ISBN 1-56025-209-X * Bockris, Victor - Transformer: The Lou Reed Story(Simon & Shuster) ISBN 0-684-80366-6 * Prown, Pete and Newquest, HP - Legends of Rock Guitar(Hal Leonard) ISBN 0-7935-4042-9 * Boleyn, JR - Far Way to Even(Abernathy & Smyth) ISBN 1-4196-2930-1 *

External links

http://home.earthlink.net/~avainteract/ Chuck Hammer Official Site] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358444/ IMDb Chuck Hammer]
http://SordidDetailsFollowing.com/ related music reviews: Eno, Bowie, Guitarchitecture] http://www.jamundergroundlive.com/ Jam Underground Official Site]

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Pray for Dark Horse 3rd Battalion 5th Marines

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They are fighting it out in Afghanistan and have lost 9 Marines over a 4 day period.  Double click on the video for full picture.



3rd Battalion 5th Marines, which has seen combat from WWI France to Guadalcanal, the Chosin Reservoir, Da Nang, and the Al-Wafrah forest of Kuwait, has been to Iraq four times, and is now fighting in Afghanistan.

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Colorado Post Election Report - A Grassroots View

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Colorado was one of the most watched states in the election because it is the most like Massachusetts and Connecticut in terms of liberal leaning while still being a bedrock of conservatism and Tea party affiliation.  Having spent much of my youth and later years visiting my many first cousins thoughout Colorado, not to mention a few ski trips later, I have watched the development of the state over the years.

The battle between conservationists and developers, the influx of California residents, the tourist demands, the fights over water rights and the Platte and Colorado River water compacts, the battle for political control between liberals and conservatives, between urban and non-urban areas, and on and on.

My old friend Ed O'Connor moved to Colorado and his insights as a political activist yet outsider gives him a unique view of the Colorado political landscape.  His pre-election report was excellent for a non-reporter and his post-election report that follows is even better.  Sometimes the people see so much more than the experts and professionals.  Thanks again to Ed and the people of Colorado.

When I praised Ed for his first article and how it helped people understand the Colorado political landscape he rsponded, "That May be their downfall if they think I'm an informed one."  Here is his post election recap.

Overall I was pleased with the elections results except for Not winning the Senate. This election was not about local issues and had national ramifications no matter what state you lived in. As for Colorado:

I had picked the incumbent Congresswomen (Betsey Markey) from my district 4 to lose and she did lose big time. Her vote for Obamacare and Cap & Trade pretty much sealed her fate.

I really thought Buck would win the Senate but it amazes me what can be made into an ad and because of his stand on abortion and immigration, they had enough ammo and I think he lost the independent vote (especially the women) in the bigger cities. Bennet also talked like he was much more conservative then he is. And the fiasco for the Governor's office didn't help him at all in my opinion.

The good news is it looks like a Republican House of Reps here in CO which I am happy about but still have to deal with an anti-gun, pro illegal immigrant governor and Senate.

Tancrado had too much history behind him to win a state wide election and the Republican candidate Maes was abandon by almost everybody because when Tancrado entered the race we knew neither one could win in a three way race and no one knew Maes or his background.

I donated more money to out of state candidates then ever and I think that will be the trend from now on as every election is a national election and these people who vote for a candidate who says he is going to do all these things by himself (especially for a state) are fooling themselves.

I hope the voters in the future learn you have to look at every election as a chance to advance your party's or your agenda and not what a candidate says he is going to do for the state. If your party is not in the majority you have a pretty hard time advancing your ideas and legislation at the federal level.

And the same outlook needs to apply to a state office. Party trumps person in our system.

And finally: I am a big believer in changing the Republican party rather then trying to start a third party such as a Tea Party. That would really screw things up. I like the Tea Party agenda but it needs to be brought into the Republican tent or vice versa so as not to split the vote. Politicians like Lindsey Gramm and McCain need to be retired and put on the shelf. 2012 is going to be even more polarizing after two years with this new congress.

That is my 2 cents worth and that is the true value which may also be the value of the dollar when the Federal Reserve gets done.

Ed O'Connor
Colorado
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Chilean Marathon Miner - Elvis is still in the House

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For rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena it has been a whirlwind three weeks since being saved from 69 days trapped half a mile underground. Edison challenged his destiny and said he wanted to show God he wanted to live by putting on his earphones, listening to his beloved Elvis Presley, and running 7 miles a day through the dark, damp and steamy tunnels far below the surface of the earth.

Before anyone knew he was alive the 33rd anniversary of the death of Elvis passed (August 16), rather ironic for 33 miners trapped who would be rescued on the 33rd day of drilling, but Edison placed his faith in a higher authority. Once rescued he was invited to be a guest at the New York City Marathon where 50,000 runners will be competing this Sunday.

He was also showered with gifts from the King's Elvis Presley Enterprises in Memphis and invited to be there guest at Graceland, the shrine to the King of Rock and Roll, for the 75th anniversary celebration on January 8 in Memphis. Then he will be sent to Las Vegas to watch Viva Elvis, the Cirque du Soleil show based on Elvis' music.

Yesterday he arrived in NYC to a heroes welcome and made a highly personable appearance on Letterman. You must watch the following clip, especially the last part when he unexpectedly imitates Elvis and charms the audience. Note that though he speaks no English he sings, in perfect English, Elvis songs.



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Election Recap in Images not Words - Two Short Years in America

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Nebraska versus Missouri - Sometimes reporter's bias is just too obvious

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Last Saturday Nebraska pounded unbeaten Missouri 31-17 and a Missouri correspondent was not at all pleased with the winning tradition of the Big Red.

Mike DeArmond is the longtime Missouri football and basketball beat reporter for the KANSAS CITY STAR. He’s also an alumnus of Mizzou, class of ‘72.

Saturday DeArmond appeared on a Kansas City TV pregame show for the Missouri-Nebraska football game to give his opinion on something that can be a sore subject for more Kansas Citians than you know.

That is, dealing with local Nebraska football fans, Kansas Jayhawks hoops fans and St. Louis Cardinals baseball fans. During his TV appearance, DeArmond originally was asked what he thought of Nebraska football fans, whom he proceeded to lump together with KU and Cardinal fans:

“There are Cardinal baseball fans, there are Kansas basketball fans and there are Nebraska football fans. They were all born of the same parents. They’re all inbred, separated a birth because they’re all just impossible to handle.

"They think the world revolves around them. They think that no one should possibly question their moral superiority and therefore anytime anybody beats Nebraska it’s a good day.

“When Missouri beats them, because I happen to cover Missouri, it’s easier to write a story when Missouri beats Nebraska because it’s impossible to write a story when Nebraska beats Missouri.”

Mike DeArmond Talks about Missouri-Nebraska Rivalry.



For a more balanced story and perhaps the reason the reporter is biased against Nebraska here is an excerpt from a story on Nebraska that appeared on the Bleacher Report blog by writer Lake Cruise on October 28, 2010.

The two programs have, in fact, played in the second-oldest rivalry in the Big 12.

Mizzou-Kansas is the oldest by about one year and 100 days.

Nebraska-Mizzou has been played on the gridiron 103-105 times.

According to multiple sources including the University of Nebraska football program’s official site, Cornhuskers football began playing opponents in 1890.

A whopping total of two games were played that year. Get this—the first game was against the Omaha YMCA, a game that took place the day after Thanksgiving.

Nebraska won 10-0.

In 1891, Iowa became Big Red’s first major college opponent. Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, in that order, were next.

All the way back to November 5, 1892: That is how far back Mizzou-Nebraska goes.

That was the first scheduled meeting, and it was supposed to happen in Omaha, but it was a forfeit in favor of Nebraska.

George A. Flippin was the quarterback of that team; he was also the first African-American to play for Nebraska. According to the University of Nebraska, Mizzou refused to play the 1892 game because of Flippin’s presence.

He was also the fifth African-American to play for a predominantly white university. (Google Frank Kinney Holbrook and Archie Alphonso Alexander.)

Both teams played in the Western Interstate University Football Association (WIUFA) from 1892-1897 along with Iowa and Kansas.

In 1893, Mizzou won the first actual meeting, 30-18. They also won the second meeting.

Nebraska won by a score of 41-0 in 1897, and they have not looked back since.

The Huskers were originally nicknamed the Grasshoppers, and the football program had several nicknames in the early years: Tree Planters, Rattlesnake Boys, Bugeaters, Antelopes and Old Gold Knights, to name a few.

The team was first called Cornhuskers in 1899, and the school’s colors were changed to red and cream around 1900.

Sports editor Charles “Sy” Sherman is credited with giving the nickname, and he was known as “father of the Cornhuskers.”

From 1903-1910, they did not play Mizzou at all. After that, the matchup was discontinued until 1922.

Nebraska joined Mizzou in the Missouri Valley Conference, before they moved to the Big Eight.

Since 1927, the winner has gotten the engraved Victory Bell Trophy.

Mizzou was ranked No. 5 in the nation at one point, after an 8-4 season under Warren Powers in 1978 that ended with a 35-31 victory over Nebraska.

The rivalry was within five games until 1979, before Nebraska ran off 24 wins in a row.

On November 3, 1979, Tom Osborne defeated Powers in Columbia, 23-20, in front of 74,000. Nebraska was ranked No. 2, and Mizzou was not ranked.

Jarvis Redwine, Dave Rimington, Russel Gary, Andra Franklin and Bill Barnett played big roles on that 'Huskers roster.

Leo Lewis, Kellen Winslow and Phil Bradley played in the Veer offense. James Wilder, Eric Wright, Kevin Potter and Wendell Ray were also Missouri standouts.

Tom Osborne was seven and 10 in 1979. That is, he was head coaching the team for his seventh season, and he was in his tenth season as the offensive coordinator.

Nebraska finished at (10-2, 6-0-1). A dominant Oklahoma team (11-1, 7-0) won the Big Eight under Barry Switzer, who was in his seventh season as head coach.

Billy Simms and George Cumby were All-American Sooners, and JC Watts was a capable wishbone-triple option quarterback.

OU had won seven straight Big Eight titles under Switzer, with four undefeated conference records in those seven seasons.

I have published articles in many seasoned markets, in all of the major genres. And I believe that the best fans, not just college football, but in sports—period—belong to Huskers Nation.

Astonishing in their sportsmanship and in their knowledge of the game, Nebraska football fans are the superlative in the country, in my opinion.

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Campaign 2010 - What about the 131 million eligible voters who did not vote? Don't they count too?

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I think we get so caught up in the two party propaganda we forget that there is a whole lot of America that cannot be found in the Democrat or Republican parties. Preliminary estimates are that about 87 million voted in the Midterm election. That would be about 40% of eligible voters, down significantly from the 60% turnout and 132 million who voted in the 2008 Presidential election. A 20% drop off between Presidential and non-presidential election years is not surprising but a little sad.

However, that means 131 million eligible voters did not participate in the election this year, about 60% of the people. How about some meaningful math? There are about 232 million Americans of voting age. About 94% are eligible to vote, about 218 million. The other 6% are ineligible for reasons ranging from criminal records to immigration status.

Of the eligible to vote, 80% are registered to vote, about 175 million. That means 43 million people who are of voting age and eligible to vote choose not to participate in the voting process. As for the 175 million registered voters, about 64 million are Independents, 60 million Democrats and 51 million Republicans. You can see why the Independents swing the election. Obama and the Democrats won the Independents in 2008 and won the election. The Republicans won the Independents in 2010 and won the election.

I have long advocated that it is a shame the greatest Democracy in world history only has 40-60% of the eligible voters participating in the election. To correct this we should treat federal elections with the importance they deserve. We have a holiday for dead presidents and others but no holiday for the one day when we exercise the most important right guaranteed by our Constitution, our individual freedom to vote.

A national holiday should be declared to take place every other year on presidential and non-presidential election day and all government, commerce and industry should be shut down to allow everyone to vote.. I mean this is the most important thing we can do as Americans to honor our Founding Fathers. Voter registration must be improved to reach the voting age people through the Internet, computers, driver license records and any way possible.

Can't we give up one day every other year to honor our heritage and strengthen our participation in the process of Democracy we have fought for 234 years to protect? That way the majority will truly rule and 131 million people won't be ignored. Sounds American to me.
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Was Queen Noor Al-Hussein of Jordan Censured by NBC over Middle East Views during MSNBC Morning Joe Appearance?

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Today on MSNBC Morning Joe Show Queen Noor of Jordan, American born widow of King Hussein of Jordan was being interviewed and began talking about the problems in Gaza where Israel has cut off the Palestine resident from the outside world including many supplies needed to live normal lives.

You would think a major world figure in Arab Israeli relations might be an interesting guest but it seems the show only had time for a short interview at the end of the three hour broadcast. When she did get on and began explaining the non-violent movement of Palestinians in Gaza, a movement in which the Hamas, Palestinians, Israelis and other people came together to save a village from being cutoff by the Israeli defense forces, she was asked about Israeli efforts to help promote the non-violent movie.

She began explaining how the Israelis had done everything possible to stop the film from being promoted and that the Israeli government had no interest in peace when all of a sudden music began playing in the background and a still picture of the Morning Joe logo appeared as her voice was faded way and then Mika could be heard thanking her for appearing as the Queen was still talking about the Middle East problem.

Did NBC deliberately delay her appearance until the end of the show? Since Morning Joe often runs long into the next morning news show why did they choose to cut off the Queen?

Was this a convenient excuse to pull the plug on a world figure defending the Palestinian side in the Middle East? Did the pro-Israeli bias of the news media have any influence on cutting off a discussion of the problems with Israel in the Middle East?

It sure looked like bias and censorship to me when we were just getting the other side of the Arab Israeli problem than what we are normally fed by the media and government. Both sides in the Middle East have made mistakes but denying a discussion of them, by non-violent people no less, serves no logical purpose.

Here is a Los Angeles Times review of the movie she was trying to discuss when she was so rudely cut off.

Los Angeles Times
Movie review: 'Budrus'


A documentary profiles a Palestinian village where a spirit of nonviolent protest led to cooperation and understanding.


October 22, 2010
By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Movie Critic


Budrus is a tiny village where something potentially very big happened, the setting for a hopeful story in an area of the world that has produced hardly any hope at all in recent years.


As introduced in the surprisingly heartening documentary of the same name, Budrus is a small agricultural settlement in the West Bank, definitely not the kind of place you'd expect a popular movement encouraging nonviolent resistance to take root and grow. But that, as this Julia Bacha-directed film shows, is what took place.


With most of its estimated 1,500 inhabitants members of families that have lived in the area for generations, Budrus gets both its income and its sense of self from its venerable olive orchards. As landowner Hosnie Youssef puts it, "uprooting trees is like death. What will we do without our land? How will we live?"


All this became an issue in 2003, when the Israeli government decided to build a separation barrier in the West Bank with the understandable aim of protecting its citizens from terrorists.


For Budrus, the barrier would separate the town from 300 acres of its farmland and about 3,000 olive trees, many of which would be bulldozed out of existence. "It's as if we were strangers in our own land," the ancient Youssef dramatically exclaims. "Death would be a relief."


Ayed Morrar, a Budrus resident and a quiet but determined Palestinian political activist, had the idea of using nonviolent resistance to try to stop the barrier. He didn't suggest this, he is quick to point out, because of nobility of spirit. He did it because he believed those tactics were the most likely to be effective.


Bacha, who co-wrote and edited the excellent "Control Room," was not present when these events took place, but she has done a professional job of getting her film up to speed. She did empathetic interviewing with many of the people involved, including Israelis such as border police officer Yasmine Levy, who was in Budrus from the beginning of the situation. Bacha also collected footage from more than a dozen individuals who were on the scene at key moments.


What is clear in "Budrus" is that the movement's initial success stemmed from the remarkable personality of organizer Morrar. One of five activist brothers and himself imprisoned for six years by the Israelis earlier in his life, the soft-spoken Morrar is a person with a gift for pragmatic cooperation that is far from business as usual in his part of the world.
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Sarah Palin - Savior of the Liberal Media

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Almost every day of the week the bastions of the liberal media, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time and Newsweek Magazine, MSNBC, even the Huffington blog run feature stories about Sarah Palin.  If they dislike her so much, why?

Because Palin draws reader interest more than any other politician in America.  Palin is plastered in the liberal media to sell the liberal media, pure and simple.  The same way one of the top and most sought after celebrities for TV talk shows is none other than Sarah Palin.  Oprah, Letterman, Leno, even Saturday Night Live see huge increases in ratings whenever Palin or her clone Tina Fey appear and that means higher ad rates and that means lots more money for the liberal media.

Nothing wrong with that, on the conservative side Roger Ailes was well aware of her ratings impact when he signed her to the Fox News network.  She has been a welcome addition to Fox Shows like O'Rielly, Hannity and Beck because their audience increases and the ad rates increase.  It is why Fox News continues to clobber the cable competitors in the Nielsen ratings.

Today, because finding a positive article about Palin is so hard to do in the liberal media, I'm going to showcase the dreaded Washington Post and a recent Palin article that appeared.  In addition, Sarah Palin should be allowed to speak for herself for a change.  She issued, in her own words, her version of what happened inthe elections.  You should watch the video and get her version of what she thinks.




The Washington Post

Five myths about Sarah Palin

By Matthew Continetti
Sunday, October 17, 2010

Think you know Sarah Palin? The former Alaska governor has been in the spotlight ever since John McCain named her as his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008. Yet, while practically everybody has an opinion about Palin, not all of those opinions are grounded in reality. Many of them are based more on a "Saturday Night Live" caricature than on the living, breathing, 46-year-old mother of five. The real Sarah Palin is a complex woman who has risen in no time from obscurity to the stratosphere of American politics, fusing celebrity and populism in novel ways. Now that she's laying the foundation for a possible presidential run in 2012, it's worth taking a moment to separate the facts about Palin from the fables.

1. Palin cost McCain the 2008 election.

She didn't. CNN's 2008 national exit poll, for example, asked voters whether Palin was a factor when they stepped into the voting booth. Those who said yes broke for McCain 56 percent to 43 percent.

Before Palin's selection, remember, McCain suffered from an enthusiasm gap. Republicans were reluctant to vote for the senator from Arizona because of his reputation as a maverick who'd countered his party on taxes, immigration, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and "cap and trade" climate legislation. But Palin's conservative record in Alaska and antiabortion advocacy changed the Republican mood. With her by his side, McCain's fundraising and support from conservatives improved. It wasn't enough to beat Barack Obama -- but McCain probably would have lost the presidency by a greater margin if he had, say, selected independent Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate, further alienating the GOP base.

Yes, it's possible that Palin's conservatism and uneven performance on the campaign trail shifted some voters to Obama's column. But even if Obama picked up some anti-Palin votes, he surely didn't need them: The economy was in recession, Wall Street was in meltdown, and the incumbent Republican president was incredibly unpopular. In the end, it's impossible to know how McCain would have performed if he hadn't selected Palin -- politics does not allow for control experiments.

2. Resigning as governor was rash.

No one expected Palin's resignation on July 3, 2009, just 2 1/2 years into her term. Her hastily composed and clumsily delivered farewell address left many observers confused about her motives. Some of her critics were only too eager to fill in the gaps with conjecture and hearsay (She's being investigated by the FBI! Sarah and Todd must be headed for divorce!). If there was one thing everybody knew for sure, it was that Palin's career in politics was over.

But none of the rumored scandals ever broke. The Palins remain married. And as for Sarah Palin's career, it's taken off. She plays a far greater role in American public life than she did before she left office.

When Palin returned to Alaska after the 2008 campaign, she confronted three problems. The political coalition on which she had based her governorship -- a combination of Democrats and renegade "Palinista" Republicans -- had collapsed. Her critics were using Alaska's tough ethics laws to launch investigations into her behavior, sapping her finances and her energy. Finally, every time she traveled to the Lower 48, Alaskans criticized her for putting her political interests above the state's.

Palin's solution was to resign. Her agenda stood a better chance of passing if then-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who shared Palin's goals, succeeded her as governor. As a private citizen, meanwhile, Palin could make enough money to pay her legal bills. And she would no longer be accused of neglecting her official duties.

Some might say that Palin's resignation was shortsighted and showed that she was not ready for the demands of executive office. But if Palin had remained governor, she would have been denied opportunities to rally the tea party and fight in the battle over the Obama agenda. She would have been stuck on a regional stage. Instead, she's back on the national one.

3. Palin and the tea party are destroying the GOP.

You've heard the spiel: The Republican Party is in the midst of a civil war between moderate incumbents and far-right challengers backed by Palin and the tea party. Driving Charlie Crist from the GOP and defeating establishment figures such as Robert Bennett, Lisa Murkowski and Mike Castle spells electoral doom for the party. The only chance Republicans have for long-term success is to move to the center in a bid to win over millennials and Latinos.

But demographics aren't destiny, and no one knows what the future holds. The reality, right now, is that Palin and the tea party are saving the GOP by dragging it back to its roots and mobilizing conservative voters.

Remember, by the time Palin arrived on the national scene, the Republican Party was depleted, exhausted and held in disrepute. An unpopular war in Iraq, an economy in recession and GOP corruption had driven away independents. Meanwhile, massive government spending and a liberal immigration policy had dispirited conservatives.

This is where Palin came in. In the wake of Obama's historic victory, she and countless other grass-roots activists could have abandoned the GOP and turned the tea party into a conservative third party. They didn't. They decided instead to refashion the Republican Party from the ground up, pressuring it to live up to its limited-government ideals. Now, two years after Obama's win, Republicans are poised to reap major gains in the midterm elections. Palin and the tea party haven't hurt the GOP one bit.

4. Palin is extreme.

On many of the most important issues of the day, Palin holds positions that are squarely in the center-right of American political discourse. And many of those positions, not incidentally, are held by a large segment or even a majority of the public. For instance, neither the public nor Palin believes the stimulus worked. And while most Americans may not share Palin's views regarding "death panels," many join her in opposing Obama's health-care overhaul.

Over the past two years, Pew and Gallup surveys have tracked the public as it has moved to the right -- not on just one or two issues but on a whole constellation of them. Even on the controversial topics of abortion, guns and same-sex marriage, Palin is not as far away from the center as some suppose. A May 2009 Gallup poll, for example, found that a majority of Americans identified as "pro-life" rather than "pro-choice." In October 2009, Gallup measured record-low support for gun control. The public is divided on same-sex marriage, with about half the country joining Palin's (and Obama's) opposition.

5. Palin is unelectable.

Without question, a Palin 2012 campaign would be an uphill battle. Palin is unpopular -- massively so among Democrats, decisively so among independents. Even many Republicans don't believe she's ready to be president.

But opinions can change. Look at the political resuscitations of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton. If Palin works hard and runs an impressive campaign, wavering Republicans and skeptical independents may give her a second look.

To earn that second look, she may need to find a big idea. It's hard to become president without one. Reagan had supply-side economics and the end of detente with the Soviets. Bill Clinton had the third way. George W. Bush had compassionate conservatism and the freedom agenda. Obama had national unity and hope and change.

At the moment, however, Palin still expresses her agenda mainly in negative terms, focusing on her opposition to Obama and the Washington establishment. She hasn't defined her "common-sense conservatism" in positive language. And she hasn't found a unifying, exhilarating theme.

Then again, she just might get along without one. After all, a presidential contest is a choice. The public might not love Palin. But by 2012, Americans might absolutely despise Obama. Two more years of a bad economy and an unpopular Afghan war, and anything is possible. Yes, there's a ceiling to Palin's support. But in 2012, there also will be a ceiling to Obama's.

Whose will be higher?

Matthew Continetti is opinion editor of the Weekly Standard and the author of "The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star."

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Media Update - Election Coverage - Where was Fair & Balanced?

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You would think something as historic as the Midterm election would get some top grade news media coverage but I found the cable news coverage to resemble the same partisan game they always play with the same biased hosts and the same strategy of trying to make the bad guys, those who disagree with them, look bad.  Only NBC of the broadcast networks had prime time coverage but even that paled in comparison to the good old days of network news.

  
If you tuned into MSNBC coverage last night you saw what was wrong in America.  From the moment the first returns started coming in the MSNBC mouthpieces went ballistic.  Why in the world did NBC, owner of the liberal network, think a panel of partisan liberal radicals composed of Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell be fair and balanced in the election coverage?

As the sea of red Republican wins moved steadily across the TV screen the gang got more hostile and when they interviewed any GOP winners they were furious as they tried to trap people into making mistakes or were asking stupid questions having nothing to do with the election.

Sadly the fury continued into the morning news shows when Matthews and O'Donnell had to be silenced because of their confusing rants against the GOP.  The network would have been far better served with doing exit interviews with the losers than insulting the winners and viewing public with their rage.

NBC, the only major network to give prime time coverage, still could not help themselves from taking the liberal slant as almost every time they showed a Republican winner Brian Williams would make some scripted musing about the problems or mistakes that winner made during the campaign.  Though I didn't watch the entire broadcast, not once while I watched did I hear him say anything good about the Tea Party and GOP winners.

CNN, as usual, heavily weighted their panels with Democrats but the news did not seem to rile them up like the MSNBC gang.  Still, for all the technology available to them they often seemed confused and could not quite get the numbers right when giving updates.  At best it was an awkward performance.

Fox News, the defender of the right, of course played up the GOP victories and even tried to give the Tea Party credit where credit was due but having partisan talking heads instead of reporters kept it from being a news show.

The Exit interviews collected by the network pool continue to be plagued by huge mistakes and any use of the interviews to project winners should be banned.  Not once in the last several elections have the exit interviews been close to right but CNN continues to throw them on the screen.

All in all it was a dismal performance by our news media but not unexpected as mediocrity in media is the new standard on American television.  It was a good night to watch a movie.
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Palin Power -- America's New Kingmaker for Tea Party

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Love her or hate her Sarah Palin continues to defy the experts and embrace the people.  Just look at what she helped the Tea Party accomplish yesterday in the midterm elections.

Tea Party House, Senate & Governor candidates - 129
Tea Party Winners November 2 vote - 113
Winning percentage for Tea Party - 87%

Perhaps the greatest achievement by the Tea Party yesterday was sweeping state legislatures all across the nation into the Republican ranks.

Of the 54 candidates across congressional, gubernatorial and other state races Palin personally supported who faced primaries, 42 won. Combined with the candidates she backed who did not face primaries, that left 49 candidates for the 2010 midterms. Of those, 28 candidates won, 15 lost and six races were still undecided by early Wednesday morning.  Remember, many of these people were unknown until Palin endorsed them.
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Rising GOP Stars - Marco Rubio, Cuban American Tea Party Patriot

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Highly regarded for his principled, energetic and idea-driven leadership, Marco Rubio won a three way battle for U.S. Senate fighting off numerous trips by Obama and leading Democrats and efforts to split the GOP vote in 2010. His humble and honest acceptance speech after the victory was one of the highlights of all speeches by candidates. Take a moment to listen to this 39 year old rising star.




In 1971, Marco was born in Miami to Cuban-born parents who came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover. When he was eight years old, Rubio and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where his father worked as a bartender at the Sams Town Hotel and his mother as a housekeeper at the Imperial Palace Hotel. In 1985, the family returned to Miami where his father continued working as a bartender at the Mayfair House Hotel until 1997. Thereafter he worked as a school crossing guard until his retirement in 2005. His mother worked as a Kmart stock clerk until she retired in 1995.

Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School, graduating in 1989. He attended Tarkio College in Missouri for one year on a football scholarship before transferring to Santa Fe Community College and then graduating in 1993 with a bachelor of science from the University of Florida. He continued his studies at the University of Miami where he earned his juris doctor, cum laude, in 1996.

From 2000-2008, Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives. During this period, he served as Majority Whip, Majority Leader and Speaker of the House, effectively promoting an agenda of lower taxes, better schools, a leaner and more efficient government and free market empowerment. Rubio also helped spearhead Florida’s congressional and legislative redistricting effort. He chaired the House Select Committee on Property Rights, which crafted national model legislation to protect private property rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo v. City of New London decision that opened the door for eminent domain abuse.

During the two years prior to assuming the speakership, Rubio traveled around the state hosting “Idearaisers” to solicit Floridians’ input on ways to strengthen Florida. The 100 best ideas were compiled into a book entitled “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future” which served as the basis for his term. All 100 ideas were passed by the Florida House. Fifty-seven of these ideas ultimately became law, including measures to crack down on gangs and sexual predators, promote energy efficient buildings, appliances and vehicles, and help small businesses obtain affordable health coverage. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich hailed the effort as “a work of genius.”

In addition to these ideas, Rubio championed a major overhaul of the Florida tax system that would have eliminated all property taxes on primary residences in favor of a flat consumption tax. The effort garnered national attention, with Grover Norquist, president of the fiscally conservative Americans for Tax Reform, praising Rubio as “the most pro-taxpayer legislative leader in the country.”

During his legislative career, Rubio also promoted efforts to develop a world-class public school curriculum, increase performance-based accountability, enhance school choice and target the socio-economic factors affecting chronic academic underperformance. He is also widely credited for blocking the expansion of gambling in Florida and shepherding the passage of historic energy legislation based on market incentives rather than government-imposed mandates.

Since the end of his tenure as Speaker, Rubio has resumed his law practice as a sole practitioner. He has also served as a visiting professor at Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center, worked as Florida Chairman of GOPAC and as a political analyst for Univision during the 2008 election cycle.

He has also continued his community and civic involvement, serving on the boards of the Latin Builders Association and Alafit International, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting global literacy. He also remains engaged in the West Miami community where he served as a city commissioner prior to being elected to the state house.

Rubio and his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, have been married since 1998. They are the parents of four children: Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominic. They currently live in the working class city of West Miami, just four blocks from the home his parents moved the family to in 1985.
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Evan Bayh - Democratic Seer - Obama Chief of Staff or Presidential Opponent?

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Evan Bayh, retiring Senator from Indiana and the only Democrat who recognized over a year ago that Obama was straying far off course and the Democrats were in danger of suffering a tremendous defeat, t5ied to warn the president and fellow Democrats of the potential peril.

This soft spoken Hoosier politician was ignored by the Chicago gang in the White House and by the Democratic leadership in the House, Senate and DNC.  As a result the Democrats suffered a historic defeat.  But it is not too late to recogize their mistake and embrace moderte voices like Bayh.

For well over a year I have been urging the president to consider appointing Senator Bayh as his chief of staff.  Bayh is one of few Democrats to have the respect of Republicans while being a supporter ofPresident Obama.  He has always worked on a non-partisan basis on legislation, something few in DC know.

He is still young,  dynamic and at ease with the media.  His tone is conciliatory and he never loses his cool.  The post-Emanuel White House staff failed to protect the president from suffering a humiliating defeat because of their lack of experience, lack of knowledge of national politics and bitter partisanship.  They just did not know how to get things done in our nation's capitol.  In short, he would be the perfect pick to create the bi-partisan forum Obama and his gang have failed to achieve and that the people demand.

Now if Obama does not want Bayh, then it will be business as usual for the White House and then I would urge Democrats to draft Bayh for president in 2012 because it will be the only way the Democrats will keep control of the presidency.  Obama needs to break out of his palace guard and listen to the people while working with his "enemy" as he calls it, the GOP majority in the House and governor's offices.  Without them there will be no Obama agenda.
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There's a New Dawn Over America - The People Spoke

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Yesterday the people of America spoke and their message was loud and clear. If the politicians in both political parties were listening that message should chill them to the bone. America said we are a nation of people, not parties, and the foundation of America is built on principles, not partisan agendas.

To make their point emphatic they dealt the Republicans near fatal losses in 2006 and 2008, and now have decimated the incredible base Obama thought was a mandate by tossing the Democrats out just two years later.

On the surface it was a Republican landslide of historic proportions. The GOP won 65 House seats from the Democrats and 8 Senate seats. In the Senate the Obama margin of 60-40 has now shrunk to just 50-48 with 2 Independents. Three of the most powerful Democrat chairmen were sent into retirement and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saw the most losses to a Majority party since the Great Depression of the 1930's.

But that does not even tell half the story. You see in America our government flows from the people through the state governments to the federal government. Of 38 governors races last night the Republicans won an astounding 27 including sweeping victories throughout the Great Lakes, Midwest, South and Southwest and even recapturing some statehouses in New England. Of course this landslide started a year ago when New Jersey and Virginia governors offices went GOP along with Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts.

At the state government level the change may even be greater as Republicans swept into control in state legislatures from Maine to Minnesota including most of the Obama states from Pennsylvania to Montana. It was one of the most memorable shifting in the balance of power the past century.

But it was not just a Republican victory, it was a statement by the people that they want moderation in the agenda along with conservatism in our spending and debt. Both parties failed the people on these counts the last decade.

America is a right tilting nation in the middle. It is neither far right nor far left. Obama moved too far left in a rather selfish attempt to fix his place in the history books rather than fix the nation. It failed badly and his crown as conquering hero has been firmly knocked off his head. Now it is up to him to choose to lead down the middle of the political spectrum or lose in 2012.

Politicians forgot they serve the people. The people sent them a wake up call wrapped in a 100 foot tsunami. There was an old joke, a conservative is a liberal who got hit in the head by reality. Perhaps there is more truth than we thought in that joke.

So now the people spoke. Did the politicians listen? Stay tuned.

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Turn Down the Hate - Turn Down the Rhetoric

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After about two years of Obama and the neverending campaigns for this issue, that and the other, the nasty mood of the public and polarization of the politicians have taken their toll.  People can't talk to each other, they yell and condemn and challenge and refuse to listen or respect each other.

No longer are people allowed to have different views without being hated and heaven forbid if they dare open their mouth and disagree.  Cable news and entertainment shows, and it is hard to tell them apart anymore, are the masters at capsulizing hate into 30 sound bites.

Well Bill Maher, no stranger to the hate and bait game, tried to bait George Clooney into trashing the conservatives on cable the other day and Clooney would have no part of it.  George, the Hollywood heartthrob and pride of Kentucky, lowered the temperature and talked about the compassion of conservatives and how they have been critical in his Sudan Dufar campaigns.

We should all learn a lesson from this exchange from the show.

Maher: We have Rob Reiner on the panel tonight. One of his big issues is gay marriage. He’s not gay, that we know. This is a big issue with you, Sudan. You’re not Sudanese.

Clooney: No.

Maher: I think this is a big difference between liberals and conservatives. You know, I don’t think conservatives are bad people. I think they have a hard time being empathetic to people who are not like them at all.

Clooney: Okay, now wait. I’ll tell you why – [the audience begins to applaud Maher’s remark]. Hang on a minute though. I’ll tell you why that’s not necessarily true, because this movement, the Sudanese movement, Darfur, the north south agreement, were really truly embraced by the Right even more so than the Left… They really were. I mean, Sam Brownback and I did press conferences together and, you know. When I talked to the senator, I said, “We don’t agree on a whole lot of stuff, but we both agree on this one.” And I’ve found that, over the years, on this particular issue specifically, and in a lot of the African countries, you can get a lot of conservative help.

I just met with Senator Dick Lugar, who’s the ranking member of [the] Foreign Relations [Committee…] [Lugar is] now in Khartoum, which is the capital where Omar Bashir is. [Lugar’s] going there to meet with them and then going to the south. We’re really trying to get everyone involved as much as possible, and they want to do it. All these guys, believe me, it’s a very big issue on the Right as well. We want everybody together doing this…

(end of transcript)
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