Goat Movie

This movie looks great.

Jenna Bush on Today Show?!

The Today Show has hired Jenna Bush (now Hager) to be a part time reporter. According to story she will do occasional pieces on topics other than politics. Jenna - "I hope to focus on what I'm passionate about because I think I'd do the best job on them -- education, urban education, women and children's issues and literacy."

What is wrong with this? The article explains that Jenna has a job as a part time reading coordinator in a school. She is 27 and most people her age have a full time job, in her case that she would be an actual teacher. I know the job market is tough but she is the Presidents Daughter! What would she know about education issues since she is not an experienced teacher and not a parent?

Also, how can any intelligent person talk about any of these issues without getting political? Especially, urban education, what did her Dad do about urban education as Governor or President? I can't wait to see her walk into a poor Chicago public school and get a big hug from the kids.

I have the same reaction to the Bush twins as I do about Meghan McCain. Either they must be clueless idiots or holding their tongue and silently disagreeing with the policies of their parents. We shall see if Jenna has any brains and guts when she goes on the air.

Can Facebook Improve Your Life?

Did you see the NY Times article about people leaving Facebook? I am glad that there is some thoughtful mainstream press about social networking because it is important for us to not just use these things but reflect on how they impact our lives. The article is nothing earth shattering but gets you thinking about the drawbacks of Facebook. I still think that for older types like me who have friends all over, are very busy with kids and jobs and have trouble keeping track of old friends, it is useful but I agree with the feelings of those in the piece who dropped out.

I think that the initial thrill of finding old friends when you first signed up is over for most of us who have used it for a while. If you don't use it becomes like an old dusty high school yearbook that you find interesting to look at once in a while but not an active part of your life. Most users are struggling to use the tool to build on actual relationships with these actual friends.

It is handy to have a directory of everyone that I can easily use but it can be more than that. I like the photo part more and more because I can't sit down with many friends with my photo album and show them photos of my trips and family if they are out of town.

I find it interesting how some friends really embrace it and post daily and others put stuff on rarely or never. Do you really have a friendship if you never actually talk or say hi to someone and just read their postings? If you put up a status update and no one comments does that mean no one likes you or that it was so boring that no one cares? If you put up a status update should you assume that your friends on FB actually read it and know the fact that you wrote about? If your friend only checks it every once in a while, they may not have seen it and don't know that you are moving, lost your job, or your dog died.

I have become somewhat paralyzed by over analyzing the status updates I consider writing. I don't want to post something that sounds too boring, bragging, stupid, religious, or political. I don't want to sound too depressing or serious but I don't want to write about things that are so insignificant that who would care (coffee), but what is life but a bunch of insignificant events. I don't want to post "isn't my kid so cute because she built a Lego toilet" or seek our parenting advice because it makes me seem like a bad parent.

What is left? I think that Facebook is a reminder to me that I don't have enough real face time with real adult friends in my real life. An occasional comment back and forth with a friend is nice but a chat over a beer would be better.

Tommy Misses the Campaign Fun

God help us if Tommy Thompson decides to run again for governor.

When asked about another possible run for governor Wednesday night, Tommy Thompson almost sounded disappointed that Doyle wasn't running for a third term.

"You know Jim Doyle and I have never really gotten along, and I would have liked to run if Jim Doyle was running for re-election. (It'd be) much more of a challenge, and much more of a motivation for me, if Jim Doyle was the candidate," Thompson said.

But at the same time, the fact that Doyle won't be running isn't leading Thompson to completely rule out the possibility of running for the state's highest office once again.

Thompson said that at 67, he isn't done just yet.

"I always tell people I've got one more campaign in me, and I don't know what it's going to be. Is it going to be mayor of Elroy? Is it going to be the United States Senate? Is it going to be governor? Whatever the case may be, I feel I've got one more good strong campaign still within me, and I still love politics," Thompson said. "I'm still very much involved, and I'm not saying 'no,' I'm just saying, 'We'll listen, and we'll talk.'"

This makes so little sense. You don't run for office because you like campaigning, you do it because you want to serve the people and HOLD the office and get things done. Even if he had one more campaign left in him, does he have enough energy to actually govern for 4 to 6 years? If you don't like Doyle, why did you not challenge him sooner? "much more of a challenge??!!" this would be kind of fun to watch if he threw his hat in the ring.

Could you be more heartless?

Right wing idiot, Amy Geiger-Hemmer, posted a very nasty piece after hearing about the beating of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. She mocks Barrett and turns this into an opportunity for a political point (concealed carry and some incoherent point about how liberals view criminals). She posted this Sunday AM probably while his blood was still wet on the West Allis sidewalk and he was in serious condition in the hospital. I am glad to read all the very articulate comments on her stupid blog about what a cruel piece she put out.

what is the legacy of John Hughes?

I have somewhat obsessed with the legacy of John Hughes lately after hearing of his death and reading/ hearing obituaries and commentary on his life and work.

I have already shared some of my thoughts here and my comments on the response to the blogger, Alison Byrne Fields posting about her pen pal relationship with Hughes.

I read one very critical discussion of the sexism within Hughes work from Broadsheet with the subtle title "The "Sixteen Candles" date rape scene?" which made me rethink the positive contribution he made to the lives of America's teenagers. Did Hughes just reflect the views of women at the time in a funny way or did he help perpetuate the frat boy "I want to get laid" attitude that has been so difficult to fight against?

Then I had an entirely different set of emotions about Hughes when I saw the trailer for, and CNN interview with the makers of, a documentary "Don't You Forget About Me" This is a film about a group of young movie makers who try to track down Hughes because they love his work and they try to find out why he has become a recluse and basically been hiding from the public eye.

I was confused at first but it seems that they set out to find Hughes himself and to explore his legacy by talking to many who he worked with about him and they did all this and shot the film all while Hughes was alive. It is just so happened that he died right before the film came out.

This movie really makes me wonder about the mystery of this man. Why did he disappear from the public view and not make more of the teen movies he will always be remembered for? Why would he write bad films like Flubber and I watched the trailer for Reach the Rock, that one looked bad and too serious, why would he try to make a movie like that?




Also, it is very weird to seem the stars of the great Hughes films so many years later. Ferris' girlfriend Slone Peterson was a bit a dream girl for me as she was for many boys and it is weird to see the Mia Sarah clip. I did not recognize her.

I wonder what all the stars of Hughes films would think of the Broadsheet critique? The documentary does a good job of leaving out the big question of whether or not they got him on camera to talk. I think not.

GOP Attack on Health Plan Deeper than Vicious Lies

I do like "Republican Death Trip" article in the NY Times by Paul Krugman. It does a great job of clearly calling out the misleading and viscous attacks against Obama an the Democrats regarding health care reform. No matter what side you are on of this debate, you should read it.

A couple of observations on the "death panel" claim. I have heard some similar commentary on the radio and online that says this is a lie based on a provision on the bill regarding end of life counseling (which may be taken out). The Grassley quote in the article and other criticism of the plan makes it clear that this fear of "death panels" is not focused on this but the broader concern that if we move to a larger system of the government paying for health care, our system will move closer to totally government single payer systems of Canada, England and other countries. Any organization that manages health care costs (gov or private) will need to save on costs, as a result the government would limit expensive care and treatment options if they are not likely to be very effective or if the person is not likely to live long anyway, etc.

Mr. Grassley claimed that his colleague Ted Kennedy’s brain tumor would not have been treated properly in other countries because they prefer to “spend money on people who can contribute more to the economy.” This week, he told an audience that “you have every right to fear,” that we “should not have a government-run plan to decide when to pull the plug on grandma.”

Grandma is on Medicare now. What I don't understand now is how Medicare, the government-run plan, makes decisions now on whether or not to pay for a 4th bi-pass surgery for grandma. Medicare is financially stressed now and I know it doesn't cover all costs for care (this is why people have supplemental policies) but it is still functioning and pays for care for more than 40 million people . Medicare would have gone broke long ago if they paid for every expensive operation on the very sick and very elderly.

I've heard a lot on the news about how people have been wronged by mean private insurance companies but not anything about how Medicare results in similar problems. Do they not exist or are they not being reported on?

Democrats should not say, the "death panel" provision of the bill was taken out, end of discussion and we should not consider critics of the program to be evil liers. We need an honest discussion of why this plan would or would not lead to a system similar to that in Canada or England.

Since we are talking so much about grandma, we need to look closer at Medicare. Will it change with this health care reform? Will the expanded government paid for insurance (public option) be much like expanded Medicare?

It seems possible at least based on my understanding of the proposals that, in the future, many more people will obtain health care services paid for by the government. If businesses choose to no longer provide insurance and pay the fee to the government and let the employees get the government plan, we may have a country 20 years from now where a much larger share of the American public gets health care paid for through Medicare, Medicaid or this new public option. If that is the case, people need to understand how that would look and what that would mean for all of us. I think if Obama wants to win over the opposition, we may need to stop calling them the "unreasoning, unappeasable opposition".

Hippie Christmas Trash Management Proposal

We are soon approaching a fun and sad day in Madison. August 15 is the day many landlords sign new leases and as a result, many people move out of one place and into another. What do many of these young folks do with all the stuff they don’t want or need? Toss it on the street. This day is also known as hippy Christmas because many like to rummage through the trash for useable stuff. Many have tried to improve on the process by encouraging donation of usable stuff and other steps. This day is sad because the city looks like a big landfill and much good stuff gets broken or contaminated with garbage and is never reused. Here is my idea (for next year) of how to do this day differently to avoid all the waste and encourage reuse of the materials.

If this system were publicized and the materials were widely distributed, this could prevent much waste ending up in landfills (and gutters, parks and lakes) and will lead to efficient reuse of useable things college students are too lazy to bring to Goodwill.

1. change current law to make it legal to pick up trash from the side of the road for a 1 week period.

2. institute a 3 color system to make it clear whether stuff left outside is worth taking.

3. Green, fine fairly clean not broken things that someone can reuse. A TV, chair, etc.

4. Yellow – either broken or slightly dirty things that could be cleaned or fixed. Nothing too gross or totally unfixable.

5. Red – total garbage, broken glass, food waste, household chemicals, couches that have been puked on, etc.

6. Distribute free colored stickers and tags with twist ties around to all the rentals and ask people to use them for their items. If you are throwing a box of garbage out that no one wants to look through, put a red sticker on it. A box of old cds, magazines, etc. put a green sticker on it.

7. Distribute free clear tough trash bags.

8. City ordinance that requires all people to put trash in box or bag (other than large items and furniture) and you can be fined if you don’t do it. Don’t allow people to throw trash out loose. Have traffic cops, real police and other city employees give out tickets to bad actors and require that landlords info tenants of responsibilities. Allow city to investigate and fine owners of buildings too.

9. City trash crews will come on August 16 and look for all red tagged items. August 17 the will come and pick up the rest of the stuff.

Obama Penny Conspiracy

I learn today that the US Mint is coming out with 4 new pennies "in recognition of the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's birth and the 100th anniversary of the first issuance of the Lincoln cent."

I think that our lives are boring and I used to collect coins so I am kind of interested in new coins, wow, yeah! Pennies are useless and a waste of resources and money but if we have them why not make some new ones.

I do find it a bit odd that they are doing this when Obama is President. Think about it, Obama was IL Senator, Lincoln was US Senator. Being clueless about history and a flatlander for my first 17 years, I always assumed that Lincoln always lived in Illinois; Land of Lincoln, blah, blah. Now I learn from the US Mint that Mr. Lincoln lived in Kentucky and Indiana. What other Illinois Senator was a carpet bagger, our President Obama who grew up in Hawaii and elsewhere. Coincidence?

It seems that the US Mint is not only hurting the Illinois people by diluting the history of Lincoln as being from there and at the same time helping to further support Obama's biography as being one that is not ungrounded and odd but universal and part of history. (Maybe there is something about people who moved around, Ronald Reagen and Laura Engels Wilder also lived in several states.)

You know what else, you know who runs the US Mint, the Treasury Department and you know who is the head of the Treasury Department, Timothy F. Geithner, Obama's buddy!

Bring it on, we can take it.

Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the famous Obama Hope image, captures my thoughts about the Joker Obama posters:

"The artwork is great in that it gets a point across really quickly," Fairey said. "The Joker is a sinister, evil character that can't be trusted. And if they want to make that parallel with Obama -- bam."

At first I was bothered by the image but we live in a free country and people are free to make fun of, criticize, etc. the president. The left said all sorts of bad things and drew bad mean pictures of Bush.

The left has to have thick skin and expect this type of thing. Any strong political leader will have people who do not like him. If a politician or big time right wing media type to use this image and support it, we can critize that person but the fact that it was created, who cares? Is it racist? I don't really think so but many who dislike Obama and like this type of thing are racist. Is it intelligent political dialogue? no.

Unintended connections

Imagine that you are sitting at your computer when all of a sudden you see a bunch of photos of your husband’s ex-wife in her bathing suit on vacation with her family on the beach?

We are all entering a new world of how our relationships and emotions are impacted by social media. I am a Facebook and Twitter user and still am figuring out all the do’s and don’ts. I just did something that I realize may have some similar unintended consequences.

Part of what makes FB interesting is that I often see comments, and sometimes even photos, from people I don’t know at all or may know but am not friends with. (BTW - It would be nice if there was a way to connect more with those people. Actually make new friends somehow but that is another issue.)

One challenge with FB is how to deal with old flames, divorced friends, relationships that have been cut off, etc. Luckily not something I have had to deal with much in circle of friends.

So the other day I commented on a friend's photos, something many of us do all the time and I did not think much about it. That friend, lets call her Beth, used to go out with my friend, let’s call him Sam. Sam is not on FB but Sam’s wife, let’s call her Joan, is. I just realized that Joan may have seen my comments on the photos and the photos of Beth and her family? Not a bit deal I guess but kind of weird if you knew the people and saw the photos.

I am not sure if I have this right but sometimes I can see photos posted by friends of friends if my friend commented on those photos. This depends on how the privacy/ security settings were set for the photo album, if folks allow friends of friends or some more broad group to see photos. The weird thing is that I don’t know what settings my friend set her photo album at and it is not really something that would occur to most people, you assume that when you comment on something that only the person who posted it and their friends can see the comments. This type of 2nd generation thing could have other unintended consequences which could lead a boss at work to see something that the employee did not intend them to see.

I don’t have any magic solution and think that it is not a huge deal but it could lead to some strange experiences and feelings. This type of thing could turn people off from these networks all together and could make them more private overall. Any thoughts? Has this happened to you?

RIP John Hughes

I always had a extra strong connection with John Hughes and his films because they were filmed in the Chicago suburbs where I grew up. All his films were great and funny and meaningful to me as I became a teenager right after many of the films came out. Ferris Bueller's Day Off came out when I was a freshman in HS. I actually watched part of the filming of Weird Science (one scene was filmed in front of a friends home).

Check out this blog post from Alison Byrne Fields about her pen pal mentor fan relationship with John Hughes. Very moving and unique. I would think that such a thing would not happen today with the Internet. How many emails do famous writers and directors get now? Hand written letters from Hughes, how awesome. Thank you to Alison for sharing this.

EXTRA: I read a very well put follow-up post by Alison Byrne Fields and heard an interview by her on NPR and followed her on Twitter.

A couple of observations on this story. It is wild in our on-line world how strong the response has been to her story. 1000s of comments, requests for interviews, etc. I searched blogs on google, I can't believe the number of people like me who blogged about her blog post.

It is sad that a few people wrote negative comments and those comments seems to have really upset Alison. I think that there are negative people out there (trolls) who like to rain on your parade and we should have thick skin to not let this get to us. It is easy to be a dick when you are on line and anonymous. I have gotten very negative comments on this blog and I am trying not to let that get to me. It is sad that you may get 1000 nice complements and 10 mean comments and it may make you very upset.

It is a bit odd that people had very emotional reactions to hearing about John Hughes death. Almost all the people in America who reacted to his death knew nothing about him personally and only watched his movies. And movies are the combination of the work of many people so to like his films it not to really know him at all. One commentator described "I've now cried 3 times over the loss of John Hughes and I'm choking up now just at the mention of his name". It seems weird to me to cry over the death of any celebrity. We don't know the people and there is not a real relationship between the person and us. I guess I cry in sappy movies and commercials sometimes so I guess these people trigger our emotional buttons but that is not my reaction.

It also seems interesting that people all of a sudden really seem to care about John Hughes now that he died but I am sure no one really thought about him much in years. Did anyone wonder what happened to him and try to write to him, to contact him, to interview him? I wonder if a famous person drops out of the public eye, do they still get lots of fan mail, calls, etc. or do people respect their need for privacy? Maybe all the fans should have expressed their feelings about his work while he was still alive. Did he even know how much he impacted people's lives?

One last thing, his Wikpedia page says he moved to Wisconsin. Had I known this, I seriously would have considered tracking him down.

How about those Cubbies......What not to say to a friend if they are in morning

Heard a great very sad piece on Fresh Air where Terry interviews Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno about her new collection of poems, "Slamming Open the Door" about her daughter who was murdered. This show pushed me over the edge after I had just spent a large amount of time thinking about my deceased mom and grandmother as I prepared a short speech for my son's baby naming (he was named after them).

The first half of the show focused on the issues of grief, loss, etc. and the second was more about the justice system side of things. The poems are great and Kathleen is a very brave woman. Her work will help many families who have faced loss (including me).

On the show she shared one unbelievable - sort of funny if it weren't true - poem about what not to say when someone has had a family member murdered. That section had a nice discussion between Terry and Kathleen about how to help those who morn. This made me think about my experience after my mother died 3 years ago.

One point I agree with is that even if you struggle with what to say, it is ok and that is better than not saying anything at all. What still upsets me when I think about the immediate period after my mother died was that people do not know to comfort those who morn and how to grieve and help friends grieve. The Jewish rules of sitting Shiva are a smart way to properly help those who are immediatly impacted by a loss. The problem is that most folks are not Jewish or those who are don't know the rules and the reasons for the rules. Also, it is not always practical to sit shiva for the full 7 days or even the 3 days that most refrom Jews observe.

If you are visiting someone who has just experienced a loss of a close realtive?

Do not initiate any conversation about other things (work, weather, other friends, your kids, etc.). Share stories and memories of the deceased with the morner. Let the morner get stuff out and cry. I felt too many people quickly turned the conversation to normal party small talk and that did not help me. I know morning is weird and ackward but it is not good to encourage the immediate family to think about other stuff to distract them too quickly.

Cook and Chill

that is a lot of pudding

I Can See Why People use UPS and FedEx

I sent an important letter from Madison to Chicago suburbs (less than 150 miles) via certified mail from the US Postal Service. Not only did the letter take from July 28 to August 3 to arrive (6 days), I tracked the package on-line and found out that the letter travelled from Madison to California and then to Chicago. That sounds efficient.

Congressional Hearings on Cash For Clunkers Investigate Fraud and Abuse

The House Commerce committee is investigating accusations that many cars turned in for the Cash for Clunkers subsidy were not really in regular use by the owner and that some owners may have turned in more than one vehicle when a new vehicle was purchased. As reports from across the country come in, many question how $1 billion in subsidies could have been used up in a single week. One Ford dealer in Sheyboygan, Wisconsin reported that a young man reportedly turned in 23 vehicles when he came in to buy his new Ford Focus last week.