I suppose a little narcissism is healthy, but I think I take it to the extreme. I am completely self-centered, as if the world revolves around me, although I know full well that it does not. The failures of the relationships that have meant the most to me – N, C and J, you know who you are – are the result of this delusion.

This blog feeds into that – no one gives a rat’s ass about what I think about anything. If anyone wants to keep up with me, pick up the phone.

I direct your attention to a wonderful 82-picture slideshow released by the Obama campaign of candid shots of the Obamas as election night rolled on – in their hotel suite watching the returns, and headed for Grant Park for the acceptance speech. Brought tears to my eyes!

Barack Obama’s slideshow on Flickr

An editorial that appeared in the New York Times the day before the election throws light on the Bush Administration’s last-chance efforts to further erode your and your fellow citizens’ rights: to wit:

CIVIL LIBERTIES We don’t know all of the ways that the administration has violated Americans’ rights in the name of fighting terrorism. Last month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey rushed out new guidelines for the F.B.I. that permit agents to use chillingly intrusive techniques to collect information on Americans even where there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

Agents will be allowed to use informants to infiltrate lawful groups, engage in prolonged physical surveillance and lie about their identity while questioning a subject’s neighbors, relatives, co-workers and friends. The changes also give the F.B.I. — which has a long history of spying on civil rights groups and others — expanded latitude to use these techniques on people identified by racial, ethnic and religious background.

The administration showed further disdain for Americans’ privacy rights and for Congress’s power by making clear that it will ignore a provision in the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. The law requires the department’s privacy officer to account annually for any activity that could affect Americans’ privacy — and clearly stipulates that the report cannot be edited by any other officials at the department or the White House.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has now released a memo asserting that the law “does not prohibit” officials from homeland security or the White House from reviewing the report. The memo then argues that since the law allows the officials to review the report, it would be unconstitutional to stop them from changing it. George Orwell couldn’t have done better.

The underlines are mine – read the article:

Editorial – So Little Time, So Much Damage – NYTimes.com

Mitch Miller HATED rock and roll music. During his career as an executive and producer at Columbia Records he supported the signing of Bob Dylan because folk music was sweeping the country at the time, but that’s as close as he got to a electric guitar and drum kit. He eventually lost his job at Columbia due to his refusal to sign acts that teenagers were buying.

Instead he released his own series of records, ‘Sing Along With Mitch’ – LPs in gatefold covers into which were stapled several copies of the lyrics to the songs on the album that could be torn out and passed around at home so everyone could, well, sing along. The ‘Mitch Miller’ sound was instantly identifiable – a very masculine male chorus, harmonica, all soaked in heavy reverb for a spacious sound. They sold in the millions, and even spawned a couple of hits, notable the ‘Colonel Bogey March’ from the movie Bridge On The River Kwai.

His highly-rated television show was a built-in marketing tool for his record sales. Featuring lipsynching by the ‘Sing-Along Gang’ and soloists including Leslie Uggams and Bob McGrath (who went on to much greater fame among the ankle-biters as the friendly singing guy named, strangely enough, ‘Bob’ on Sesame Street), Mitch would stand before the camera and pseudo-conduct America as the song lyrics appeared at the bottom of the TV screen. Generally the songs were old American standards that the older members of his audience (the majority, really) already knew by heart. The show was canceled after four years despite its high ratings because its demographics skewed a little too far into the blue-haired set.

Here’s a link to a fantastic complete show on YouTube, including commercials for orange juice (in black and white – yum!), for a rerelease of Mary Poppins, as well as promos for Flipper, I Dream Of Jeannie, Get Smart and Saturday Night At The Movies. Great stuff!

Classic Television Showbiz

My election recommendations were just that – recommendations, not predictions. Nevertheless, let’s see how I did:

Issue President/Vice President	Result Obama/Biden	How’d I Do?
1A High Speed Rail	YES
2 Farm Animals	YES
3 Children’s Hospitals	YES
4 Abortion Notification	NO
5 Drug Offenses	NO
7 Renewable Energy	NO
8 Gay Marriage Ban	YES
9 Victim’s Rights	YES
11 Redistricting	YES

Not too badly, all in all. It’s good to see that the electorate generally agreed with my recommendations, with a couple of exceptions anyway. I guess Californians like chickens (Prop. 2) more than they like their fellow citizens who happen to be gay (Prop. 8).

I’m just glad it’s over – for now. The next campaign starts today!

VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!

Now THIS is what autumn should feel like! We here in sunny southern California got our first substantial rain in many many months on Saturday, along with some rare thunder and lightning. The week started with afternoon tempertures still in the upper 80s and 90s and finished with the day’s high barely breaking 70.

I made myself scarce for trick-or-treat on Friday, but I suspect that the gate at the front of my apartment complex prevented the little shavers from even making it in to the courtyard, much less the front doors.

Now with the switch back to Standard time, it’s getting dark even earlier. We look forward to the next few weeks of preparations for the holidays. Get as much sunshine as you can, and keep the blues away!