Week Ending 23 November

This week seemed jammed pack with a wide variety of happenings...

Junior Jams Jacko

In a move that seemed to eclipse real news; police raided Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch this week looking for evidence to corroborate the claims of a 12 year-old boy. Alas, it’s starting to look like Michael is in danger of becoming the new fair-skinned androgynous inmate who can really hit a high note when prodded. One can only hope that if he moonwalks down the cell block, he looks where he’s going...

Homo Hook-Ups OK'ed by Court

Massachusetts’ highest court ruled Tuesday that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution, but stopped short of allowing marriage licenses to be issued to the couples who challenged the law. The Supreme Judicial Court’s 4-3 ruling ordered the Legislature to come up with a solution within 180 days...

Proia Dance Theatre

My pal Alex presented 9 short dance pieces to showcase the dance company and school he's creating. He's the name-sake of the theatre as well as it's Artistic Director and main Choreographer. The workshop performances were an ecclectic mix of works in progress that could be developed into longer, stand-alone projects. Taken together, it was easy to see Alex's passion to incorporate multiple disciplines. Several vignettes included Flamenco and Capoeira movements and integrated them with Modern Dance and Ballet elements. The presentation was loose, yet linear and hopefully it's just a taste of more to come.

Mickey Makes 75

Mickey Mouse arrived on the cultural stage 75 years ago this week as a scrawny but buoyant black-and-white product of the Jazz Age. The copyright on Mickey should be in the public domain by now, but Disney paid big bucks to save the face of their multibillion-dollar entertainment empire. In the process, Mickey has become a cultural Rorschach test: a symbol of American optimism, resourcefulness and energy or an icon of cultural commodification and corporate imperialism...

Kennedy Killed 40 years ago

With all of the controversy surrounding his assasination, I'm surprised how little people focus on who stood to gain the most from Kennedy being killed. Every major political figure who sugests basic changes in the country's monetary system has ended up dead... McKinley and MLK come to mind as does Robert Kennedy who threatened to pick up his slain brother's mantle. Someday, the full truth will emerge because that's the nature of truth...

People's Temple Turns 25

It has been 25 years since the followers of the Rev. Jim Jones passed cyanide-laced grape drink around to his cult followers as part of a mass suicide-murder that left more than 900 people dead in Jonestown, Guyana. The majority of followers left the US to escape racism and poverty and found themselves isolated and more easily manipulated. So great is the legacy of their actions that do this day, 25 years later, their HQ in SF is still an unused empty lot.

The leader of the Jonestown cult, the Rev. Jim Jones, preached racial equality and integration, and led programs to help drug addicts and the elderly after moving his People's Temple Full Gospel Church from Indianapolis, Ind., to San Francisco, Calif., in 1970...

Election '03

Arnie Takes Office
Hours after being sworn in with a subdued ceremony, Arnie repealled the liscensing fees known as the "car tax". This maneuver created an additional 7.5 million dollars of debt for my state. Later in his first week, Arnie parolled a murderer. Grey Davis failed to grant parolls or pardons even when recommended by his own political appointees because he didn't want to be seen as being "soft on crime". Arnie has no such fear due in large part to his film personna and the Republican heritage of unwavering and often unreasonable support of everything and anything that could be construed as "tough on crime".

Election '04

Bush in Brittan
Welcomed to Britain with royal pageantry and anti-war protests, President Bush on Wednesday did his best to defend his war in Iraq.

Urging people to protest against the American President, Charles Kennedy, leader of a Brittish opposition party said: "We should use this opportunity to leave the president in no doubt as to the extent of public concern, not just in our country, but in Europe generally, about the way in which events tragically have unfolded."

Claiming that the cost of policing for the visit would add £2 to the average London council tax bill, London Mayor, Ken Livingstone said this morning: "I think most Londoners would be happy to give £4 for him not to come at all." (Quotes come from the Guardian Site)

The Age of Imperialism

Death Toll Higher Than Ever
This week more Americans died because Bush lied. A bunch of Italians died in Iraq last week and this week they had a huge, state-sponsored funeral where millions of Italians filed past the coffins to pay their respects and offer thanks for serving their country. Shamefully, the Shrub still doesn't care and has yet to even call a US family to send his personal condolences or those on behalf of the country they died serving. To date, there has been no official response to the deaths in Iraq beyond imposing a media blackout and downplaying the ever increasing numbers.

Priorities
Republicans are far more interested in fixing schools, roads and infrastructure in Iraq instead of fixing schools, roads, and infrastructure in America.

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