(From CNN) Fareed Zakaria: McCain's VP choice is "fundamentally irresponsible"

No script necessary...



Read Zakaria's piece in Newsweek here (from the issue dated Oct. 6, 2008).

Congress releases bailout plan

Congress has released their bailout plan to forestall the Great Depression, Part II.

My favorite language of the bill so far is the name of the bailout plan:

“(8) TARP.—The term ‘‘TARP’’ means the troubled asset relief program established under section 101.”

Isn’t a tarp something you throw over old boats and camper shells sitting out in the backyard so they won’t get wasted away by the elements, even though you hardly ever get to enjoy using them anymore, but you’ve had them forever and you just can’t get rid of them? -- KT

In Memoriam: Paul Newman

Statement released today by Robert Forrester, vice-chairman of Newman's Own Foundation:

Paul Newman's craft was acting. His passion was racing. His love was his family and friends. And his heart and soul were dedicated to helping make the world a better place for all.

Paul had an abiding belief in the role that luck plays in one's life, and its randomness. He was quick to acknowledge the good fortune he had in his own life, beginning with being born in America, and was acutely aware of how unlucky so many others were. True to his character, he quietly devoted himself to helping offset this imbalance.

An exceptional example is the legacy of Newman's Own. What started as something of a joke in the basement of his home, turned into a highly-respected, multi-million-dollar-a-year food company. And true to form, he shared this good fortune by donating all the profits and royalties he earned to thousands of charities around the world, a total which now exceeds $250 million.

While his philanthropic interests and donations were wide-ranging, he was especially committed to the thousands of children with life-threatening conditions served by the Hole in the Wall Camps, which he helped start over 20 years ago. He saw the Camps as places where kids could escape the fear, pain and isolation of their conditions, kick back and raise a little hell. Today, there are 11 Camps around the world, with additional programs in Africa and Vietnam. Through the Camps, well over 135,000 children have had the chance to experience what childhood was meant to be.

In Paul's words: "I wanted to acknowledge luck; the chance and benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, who might not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it."

Paul took advantage of what life offered him, and while personally reluctant to acknowledge that he was doing anything special, he forever changed the lives of many with his generosity, humor, and humanness. His legacy lives on in the charities he supported and the Hole in the Wall Camps, for which he cared so much.

We will miss our friend Paul Newman, but are lucky ourselves to have known such a remarkable person.


-- Robert Forrester, vice-chairman of Newman's Own Foundation

Download free: Michael Moore's "Slacker Uprising"

Best Season EVER...

Now playing: Greeley's new Kress Cinema

RIP: Norman Whitfield

Sept. 16, 2008-LOS ANGELES (AP) — Norman Whitfield, songwriter and producer who co-wrote a string of Motown classics including "War," "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," has died. He was 67.***
There's another good story about Whitfield's long career here by The (London) Times.

Two years ago today...

...I saw the Dalai Lama speak and, along with hundreds of others, received his blessing at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes. I saw him again later that afternoon when he appeared at the Pepsi Center where he spoke to a sold-out crowd as part of an event called "Compassion in the Rockies," sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute in Boulder. As a member of the credentialed press, I was able to give a home-made CD to one of HH's advance people to give to him. Here's the song list:
1. "Good Religion" -- The Blind Boys of Alabama
2. "In God's Country" -- U2
3. "Higher Ground" -- Stevie Wonder
4. "Mercy, Mercy Me" -- Marvin Gaye
5. "You Haven't Done Nothin'" -- Stevie Wonder
6. "Friendship Train" -- Gladys Knight and the Pips
7. "People Get Ready" -- Aretha Franklin
8. "Sweet Freedom" -- Michael McDonald
9. "Deeper Well" -- Emmylou Harris
10. "I Stand For You" -- Michael McDonald
11. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -- U2
12. "One Tree Hill" -- U2
13. "Borderline" -- Joni Mitchell
14. "Blink of an Eye" -- Michael McDonald
15. "Passion Play" -- Joni Mitchell
16. "Inner City Blues" -- Marvin Gaye
17. "Dignity" -- Bob Dylan
-- KT

New Belgium's Tour de Fat 2008

My friend, Barb (center foreground), resplendent in baby blue, as part of "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits for Obama" in this year's Tour de Fat last Saturday














My friend and Barb's husband, Jon, who loves bike-riding and rocking a wacky costume

"Ike is 900 miles wide..."

Blessings happen...

Current mood:

Category 4 Hurricane Ike headed toward Cuba

It's easier to apologize than to ask permission...

What, me worry?
Why does the McCain campaign keep violating musicians' copyrights by playing their music at GOP rallies and at the RNC, only to provoke the artists' public wrath and full-throated opposition for the fossilized Republiclone?
NOT SINGING HIS SONG: Jackson Browne, Van Halen, and now, Heart... When will his musical crime wave end??? -- KT

RIP: Bill Melendez

WTF? It goes without saying...

...but some people are saying it quite well. At the same time, my respect for Sen. Obama has risen even more because he's taking the high road and avoiding certain personal facts that make up the odd mosaic that is Sarah Palin. Yet the ironies, not to mention the political dissonances, are impossible to ignore. Perhaps, on some points, ONLY women can have some of these conversations with a free pass. On a superficial note (or another one?), Palin's casting -- not unlike the traditional pairing of the avuncular, pepper-haired male news anchor with a youngish, non-newsy female counterpart -- is the ultimate gift for Democrats. It's such a perfect setup, it almost feels like an inside job.-- KT

"So you wanna go crazy? Then let's go crazy!"

What's going on right now outside the RNC in St. Paul, Minn., is NOT being perpetrated by anarchists, though some of the sound-bitten, short-handing press and even the local police keep calling them that. And some of the vandals are apparently calling themselves that, which is maddening. No; though illegal, messy, expensive and inconvenient, this isn't the anarchy movement. (Is it all that unbearable heat and humidity up there compared to Denver, or is it an anti-Republican thing? Tough call...) These ninja-hooligans are not protesting anything, and they're not standing for anything, unlike the larger faction of protesters who are there to exercise their 1A rights. There's a history to anarchy in America that should be understood and respected. The primary point is NOT about smashing out the windows at Macy's and overturning cement trash receptacles. Anarchy is not mindless destruction with deliberate violence. There is a point to genuine anarchy -- it's not as "everything-is-nothingness" or bastardized Zen as the underfed hoodlums would have the viewing public think it is. What they're doing in St. Paul is opportunistic jackassery. The only intellectual or philosophical preparation involved was strictly wardrobe-related. -- KT

Amy Goodman arrested at RNC

Hurricane Gustav downgraded

Prayer circle for the Dalai Lama's swift recovery

HH the Dalai Lama was hospitalized late last week
for abdominal pain, exhaustion and ongoing medical tests.

RIP: Magomed Yevloyev

Yesterday, Russian police murdered another journalist, and his funeral turned into a protest.