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"Your home for Progressive news and entertainment in Aboite"
Acclaimed director Sydney Pollack has succumbed to cancer at the age of 73. Mr.Pollack was known for star-laden movies like "The Way We Were," "Tootsie" and "Out of Africa".
One of the rare Hollywood talents who excelled at both acting and directing, Sydney Pollack fell haphazardly into a craft that eventually earned him three Oscar nominations and one Academy Award. Thanks to his early career as an acting coach, Pollack developed a reputation for being one of the best - if not the best - director for actors to work with. But his filmmaking style - or lack thereof - was without a signifying mark or defining element with which audiences could identify. In fact, it was quite easy to walk out of the theater having enjoyed the movie without ever knowing Pollack was the director. Be that as it may, Pollack crafted excellent films in his four decades as a filmmaker, adding such luminous titles like "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969), "Three Days of the Condor" (1973), "Tootsie" (1982) and "Out of Africa" (1985) to the American filmmaking canon. Despite a lack of visual flare, American cinema would have suffered without Pollack's steady contributions.
This Tennessee eatery has been using the same grease to cook it's burgers in since 1912. Apparently that's a successful formula, as they're still going strong and business is great. Be sure to watch for the gas prices on the service station sign about three minutes into the video - sure to bring a tear to your eye. . .
A man who claims to have had sex with 1,000 cars has defended his "romantic" feelings towards vehicles:
Edward Smith, who lives with his current "girlfriend" – a white Volkswagen Beetle named Vanilla, insisted that he was not "sick" and had no desire to change his ways.
"I appreciate beauty and I go a little bit beyond appreciating the beauty of a car only to the point of what I feel is an expression of love," he said.
"Maybe I'm a little bit off the wall but when I see movies like Herbie and Knight Rider, where cars become loveable, huggable characters it's just wonderful.
Read more about this "auto-eroctica" here. No word yet on whether or not he's ever burned his mouth on a tail pipe. . .
In memory of Lt. Commander John Russell Good (1922-1999)
Viewing the officers in the second row, and looking right, my father is the fifth. This ship was his command during WW2. He also served in Korea, and tried to serve again in Viet Nam but was declined due to his age at that time.
Dad wore many hats in his life. He was an accomplished mason, taught English at Norwell High School, and served in several state law-enforcement and community-service positions. He and my mother were activist Democrats who worked on campaigns from JFK to local candidates J.Edward Roush and Birch Bayh. I was blessed to have them as my parents and I miss both of them dearly.
Dick Martin, the wackier half of the Rowan and Martin comedic team, has died at the age of 86 from respiratory failure. Dan Rowan died from cancer in 1987. Martin played off straight man Rowan in "Laugh-In," who's stars garnered laughs with one-liners and double entendres from the psychedelic joke wall, and introduced phrases into the popular lexicon such as "Here comes da judge", "You bet your sweet bippy", and "sock it to me".
Martin, a native of Battle Creek, Michigan, performed in numerous venues with Rowan from 1952 until their "Laugh In" days. He went on to achieve great success as a director, most notably for "The Bob Newhart Show" and later, "Newhart".
Martin is survived by his wife Dolly Read, and sons, Richard and Cary. Per his request, there will be no funeral services.
I continue to hear George Bush and big oil tout opening the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge as the answer to high oil prices. I've even heard this talking point from friends who should know better. But I understand how nearly impossible it is to know better when you're only presented with one side of the story. So I shall attempt to present the missing parts that may have been purposely kept from you.
First, some facts about common misconceptions regarding the outrageous price of oil that we are all enduring right now:
There ares no oil shortages causing the recent spikes in price. Repeat - there are no oil shortages. Yes, we are drawing close to the tipping point, but we're not quite to that point just yet.
American demand for oil is not driving the price upwards. Nor will conservation efforts by us have any real impact on prices. Demand from other nations, particularly in east Asia, has dramatically increased over the last 20-30 years. So, unless you can get China to kick it's newfound thirst for fossil fuels, our hands are tied.
Any way that the data is analyzed, experts agree that oil should be selling for around $65 per barrel right now. What has driven the price to it's record highs is futures trading. Oil has become the new "dot com" for speculators, and it's paying them off handsomely.
How much oil is there in ANWR and how long would it take to access it?
Actually, not that much. What would we gain by allowing heavy industry into the refuge? Very little. Oil from the refuge would hardly make a dent in our dependence on foreign imports, leaving our economy and way of life just as exposed to wild swings in worldwide oil prices and supply as it is today. The truth is, we simply can't drill our way to energy independence.
Although drilling proponents often say there are 16 billion barrels of oil under the refuge's coastal plain, the U.S. Geological Service's estimate of the amount that could be recovered economically, that is, the amount likely to be profitably extracted and sold, represents less than one year's U.S. supply.
It would take 10 years for any Arctic Refuge oil to reach the market, and even when production peaks the refuge would produce a paltry 1 or 2 percent of America's daily consumption which is roughly 20 millions barrels per day!. Whatever oil the refuge might produce is simply irrelevant to the larger issue of meeting America's future energy needs.
What impact would drilling in ANWR have on the environment?
Oil produced from the Arctic Refuge would come at enormous, and irreversible, cost. The refuge is among the world's last true wildernesses, and it is one of the largest sanctuaries for Arctic animals. Traversed by a dozen rivers and framed by jagged peaks, this spectacular wilderness is a vital birthing ground for polar bears, grizzlies, Arctic wolves, caribou and the endangered shaggy musk ox, a mammoth-like survivor of the last Ice Age.
Prudhoe Bay
For a sense of what big oil's heavy machinery would do to the refuge, just look 60 miles west to Prudhoe Bay, a gargantuan oil complex that has turned 1,000 square miles of fragile tundra into a sprawling industrial zone containing 1,500 miles of roads and pipelines, 1,400 producing wells and three jetports. The result is a landscape defaced by mountains of sewage sludge, scrap metal, garbage and more than 60 contaminated waste sites that contain, and often leak, acids, lead, pesticides, solvents and diesel fuel.
ANWR (Just 100 miles east of Prudhoe Bay)
While proponents of drilling insist the Arctic Refuge could be developed by disturbing as little as 2,000 acres within the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain, a recent analysis by NRDC reveals this to be pure myth. Why? Because U.S. Geological Survey studies have found that oil in the refuge isn't concentrated in a single, large reservoir. Rather, it's spread across the coastal plain in more than 30 small deposits, which would require vast networks of roads and pipelines that would fragment the habitat, disturbing and displacing wildlife.
Green Day and the NRDC
The drive to drill the Arctic Refuge is about oil company profits and lifting barriers to future exploration in protected lands, pure and simple. It has nothing to do with energy independence. Opening the Arctic Refuge to energy development is about transferring our public estate into corporate hands, so it can be liquidated for a quick buck. We simply cannot let that happen.
A new SUSA poll shows Barack Obama with a 9 point lead over John McCain in the swing state of Ohio. You know, one of those hard working white folks states that only Hillary Clinton can carry. . .
Click the image below to view larger:
And in the Golden State:
If the general election were held today, likely voters in California would favor Obama over McCain by 17 points (54% to 37%). Since March (49% to 40%), Obama’s lead over McCain has increased 8 points.
Obama has strong support among Democrats (81%) and majority support among independents (55%),while McCain enjoys strong support among Republicans (73%). Obama leads McCain among both men and women. Half of whites and 69 percent of Latinos say they would vote for Obama over McCain.
Obama leads McCain by a double-digit margin among likely voters with annual household incomes less than $40,000 (55% to 35%), $40,000 to $80,000 (55% to 36%), and $80,000 or more (53% to 37%).
During the Sunday, May 25 Minneapolis Saints game, the first 2,500 fans in attendance will receive a bobblefoot. The design is a bathroom stall, with a foot that peaks out of the bottom and "taps" up and down. The day coincides with National Tap Dance Day.
No word as of yet on whether or not having a "wide stance" will entitle you to an extra bobblefoot. Our sources for this story have all been "tapped out". . .
Vice-President Lyndon Johnson became President as a result of the assassination after JFK's death.
Kennedy's selection of Johnson as running mate in 1960 was largely an attempt to provide a ´regional balance´ to the party's ticket.[72] It was rumored, however, that Kennedy was considering dropping LBJ in the 1964 election. Richard Nixon, who was in Dallas on November 20, 1963 until just an hour before Kennedy arrived, was quoted in the November 22, 1963Dallas Morning News as saying he believed Kennedy would drop Johnson from the 1964 Democratic ticket because Johnson was embroiled in several high-profile political scandals.[73]Evelyn Lincoln, JFK's secretary, in 1968 wrote that just days before the assassination, she asked President Kennedy who his running mate in 1964 would be. He answered: "It will not be Lyndon." Jackie Kennedy denied that her husband ever considered removing LBJ from the 1964 ticket.[74]
Madeleine Duncan Brown claims to have had a 21 year relationship with Johnson, one that produced a son, though LBJ never acknowledged him publicly.[75] According to Brown, Johnson told her the night prior to the assassination that "after tomorrow, those goddamned Kennedys are never going to embarrass me again; that's not a threat, that's a promise", and that following New Year's Eve, stated to her that "the oil people and the CIA" were behind the assassination.
The odd moment, in which Thomas winks at Johnson aboard Air Force One.
In his book Death of a President, William Manchester describes an odd scene. On the morning of the assassination, word reached Johnson that a new seating arrangement in the motorcade would place his friend, Texas Governor John Connally, in the limousine with Kennedy. The previous seating arrangement had put Johnson's bitter enemy Senator Ralph Yarborough in the President's car, with Connally riding further behind with LBJ. Upon learning of the seating change, Johnson, furious, stormed into Kennedy's suite. Loud arguing could be heard from outside, the word "Yarborough" shouted more than once. Johnson finally stormed out "like a pistol." He did not get his way. John Connally was seriously wounded in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
At the moment of Kennedy's death, Johnson legally became President of the United States. However, he insisted upon being sworn in on Air Force One, even asking the photographer "where he wanted them."[76] A second or so after the famous swearing-in shot, the photographer also captured an odd moment: Texas congressman Albert Thomas winking at LBJ.[77] The photos were taken by Cecil W. Stoughton. [78]
Jack Ruby, Oswald's assassin, implicitly and explicitly implicated Lyndon Johnson in the death of John F. Kennedy.[79] However, Ruby denied he had any role in any conspiracy, and his opinion appears to have been based on things he read.
Welcome to Friday Nite Retro! Tonight we're servin' up a big old plateful of Ambrosia. . .the members of Ambrosia decided on the moniker in 1970 as it connoted a vision of their music: all shades, textures, colors and styles. While most people are familiar with Ambrosia's radio hits of the 1970s, the songs on their five albums range from progressive to experimental. Their initial musical influences, like many of their generation, came from The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Ambrosia fused symphonic art rock with a slickly produced pop sound. The band is as comfortable with ballads as they are with driving rock and roll. They can be meaningful or mischievous; however, the music is continuously copious and the harmonies are magnificently intermingled. The following is a nice mix of their music:
2006 Career Achievement Award for Hit Songs
The first album, Ambrosia, was released in 1975. It spawned the chart singles Holdin' on to Yesterday as well as the FM classic Nice, Nice, Very Nice:
Holdin' on to Yesterday
In 1978, Life Beyond LA was released; Ambrosia's third album. It marked a bit of a move away from their progressive rock style and the lush arrangements and introduced a more Pop/Jazz influence. The album marked their biggest pop breakthrough, scoring their first gold hit, How Much I Feel:
How Much I Feel
In 1980, Warner Bros. released One Eighty, a smash LP that produced two of the year's biggest hits, "You're the Only Woman", reaching number thirteen, and "Biggest Part of Me", which reached number three. The LP earned the band three Grammy nominations, including Best Pop Vocal Group. A headlining world tour soon followed. One of the biggest honors bestowed upon the band was Quincy Jones' declaration that "Biggest Part of Me" was one of his all time favorite songs. The title of the album, One Eighty was believed by fans to signal the group's 180-degree change in direction. In actuality, it was so named because it was recorded in January of 1980 (1/80):
Biggest Part of Me
You and I (You're the Only Woman)
In 1982, Ambrosia released their fifth and last album, Road Island. With it's dark central themes, Road Island was a conceptual, adventurous work of art that brought forward Ambrosia's exceptional talents. It also marked the end of an era for the band. Critics and fans alike poorly received it and in the wake of the album's disappointing performance, the band broke up, ending their run of chart success:
How Can You Love Me
In 1989, Ambrosia reunited with all four original members and began playing live shows again, mostly on the West Coast. In 1995 the band began to expand their annual touring schedule. In 1997, Warner Bros. released Ambrosia's long awaited greatest hits CD, Anthology, an album that spanned the group's entire career and included three new tracks. In addition to Anthology, the entire Ambrosia catalog has been re-mastered and released on CD for the first time. The Year 2000 marked the 30th anniversary of Ambrosia, and the band celebrated with a very busy touring schedule that reaped box office success.
In 2002 the band released a live album, Live At The Galaxy, and a best-of album with the tracks remastered, titled The Essentials, which includes a broad spectrum of their music. In 2004, they released yet another best-of album titled How Much I Feel And Other Hits, which contains mainly ballads. There have been no new albums since 1982, but they have written and performed new material, so a CD of all-new songs is a possibility.
