WHALE FAIL BAIL NAIL JAIL

Last week daytime Cable viewers were treated to a pair of contrasting high-stakes interrogations.

On CSPAN we saw Carl Levin questioning JPMorgan Chase execs about their false public reporting of  huge trading losses.

Senator Levin even had an email authored by this poor JPM-executive lady urging an underling to "tweak" the figures to be reported.

But, as with most such hearings, the witnesses were allowed to dance around the questions.

Not so, over on HLN, where prosecutor Juan Martinez was stunning us all with his harsh, forceful, unrelenting cross examinations in the  Jodi Arias' trial.

I'm not the only viewer who'd like to see Juan Martinez question Jamie Dimon under oath.

FDR told the nation that Wall Street misdeeds were committed by "malefactors of great wealth."

Obama calls them "some folks who acted irresponsibly."

Or, just, "golfing partners."

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WEDDING BELL BLUES

Among my contemporaries the gays are much less enthused than the straights about marriage equality.

Gay people my age had to work out our relationships without benefit of government approval. Heck, mostly without parental approval!

I am particularly leery of the pro-LGBT bandwagon so many are now jumping on.

Is it really a liberal victory? Does it make up for our leaders' failure (from a liberal POV) to do anything else?

White household net worth is still 20 times greater than black household net worth.  Hooray for Barry and Dems everywhere!

World population is unsustainable, let alone growth. Barry and Nancy are silent.

The unconscionable accumulation of wealth by the powerful anticipates a major population die-back, which the rich want to avoid.  It's the world-economy version of the Rapture. Barry and Nancy certainly don't want to be left behind.

Barry won't even use the word "unemployment." It's always, "folks still looking for work."

But heck, if gay folk want the benefits of being a married couple in 2013 USA, let 'em.

If gay folk want to join the US military, sure, they have the right.

Great PR, doesn't cost anybody anything.

Once I dreamt this newspaper fragment:

White Star lines announced today that it's captains are now authorized to perform weddings-at-sea for same-sex couples.  The first such ceremonies are scheduled for the upcoming maiden voyage of the "unsinkable" ...

Bon voyage.

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NUDES SUE

I used to feel an impulse to think-through various public controversies as they arose.

More and more I tend to ignore.

I thought I'd be able to ignore SF's stupid nudist thing.

Then this SF Weekly header:

It's gonna cost us money!

Why doesn't the city just crack down?  How large is the pro-nudist constituency?

Vagueness sells newspapers.  It's like, "Nudism: Good of Bad?"  But there are two completely separate issues:

1) The impact on the viewer of seeing a nude person; and,

2) The involuntary sharing of butt-juices and other crotch debris.

Obviously, number 1 is discussable. If the only impact of public nudity were visual not a lot of SF'ns would care.

Number 2 is intolerable.

No, you do not have the right to wipe your ass on my upholstery.

No, please don't turn every public transit seat into a toilet seat.

No, I don't want you leaking on my new pumps!

Go SFPD! Go City Attorney!

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A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD, FOR GOOD

Some of us taxpayer/TV viewers are dismayed by the US Navy's advertising campaign, which emphasizes the slogan:

I was thinking it's kind of blasphemous to say that one's military is a force for good since etymologically "good" and "god" are interchangeable.

A country's military is tasked with protecting its own country and its own country's interests.

To equate one's country's interests with "the good" is a prime example of what sociologists call ethnocentrism. Psychologists call it personality disorder.

It reassures us that God is on our side.

Utterly stupid.

Then I considered the ambiguity of the term "for good."  In our vernacular, "for good," could be an answer the the question:

"How long will you be staying?"

"For good," the US Navy replies, "for good!"

Heck, sicko Hitler envisioned only a thousand-year Reich.

BTW: The above mushroom cloud picture purports to be of the August 9, Nagasaki bomb. Speaking of our Jesuit pope--the Jesuit Order was at one time in charge of Nagasaki, they were the civil authority. Didn't much help in the long run.

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UPDATE: CLOSET MUSIC

This updates a previous post.

With mere days to go before the concert(s), the personal homepage of guest conductor Martin Seggelke now includes the words "Lesbian/Gay."

Previously it had referred to the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band as the "San Francisco Freedom Band."

This comes after more than a month of effort.

~Feb 1. I notice the discrepancy and notify Dr Seggelke through the "contact" facility on his website.  No response.

A reasonable response might have been:

Dear Willie,

Thank you for pointing out the discrepancy. I have already corrected my website.  I hope to see you at the concert.

Best regards,

Martin

But nooooooooooooooo!

Feb 5. I sent an email to band president Julie Williamson containing the same information.  No Response.

Feb 6.  I sent another email to Professor Seggelke, this time through his SFSU email account.  No response.

~Feb 10. Sent "tip." To SFSU student newspaper.  No response.

Feb 20. Emailed "letter to the editor" to Bay Area Reporter, which was published approximately one week later.

Mar 10. I post "A Little Closet Music."

Mar 11. Received an email from a BAR reader who is band member, saying that Seggelke is a good guy. This is the first communication on this issue I've received from anyone. We exchange emails.

Mar 14.  I notice that Seggelke has corrected his website.

Today, March 15, is the first of two performances.

Sheesh!

So, why were the words "Lesbian/Gay" omitted in the first place?

What caused the change to be made, finally?

I'll never know.  They aren't talking to me.

I'm the bad guy.

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RACHEL SUCKS WALTER'S DEAD DICK

It had to happen sooner or later.

Good old Rachel Maddow has put career ahead of truth.

Two days ago, in a piece on gun control, she discussed how Lee Harvey Oswald obtained the Mannlicher Carcano that he used to kill President Kennedy.

As if that were historical fact.

Only problem is, Lee Harvey Oswald never fired a shot at, let alone killed, JFK.

The unanimous decision of US media to go along with the lone nut theory put forward by J. Edgar Hoover, was and remains a major disgrace.

So much so that to this day no journalist is allowed an audience on American TV unless they shut up about the biggest missed story in US history.

LBJ told Uncle Walter that World War Three would start if the press tried to uncover the truth.

So Uncle Walter parroted the lie.  And every journalist since, who wants to be considered "serious," has repeated the lie.

The American people, according to polling, realize that the Warren Commission Report was a lie, around 80%, including surviving members of the Kennedy family and members of the Warren Commission itself.

Rachel was sliding downhill by trying to defend Obama's anything-but-progressive policies. By declaring "Oswald did it," she has publicly joined forces with the bad guys.

Naive to have imagined otherwise.

So, you can be a cute, boyish, energetic, out Lesbian, and still suck.

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Pope Odessa II (or III or IV)

What is it with the Roman Catholic Church and the Nazis?

The last Pope fought in Hitler's army.  The new guy supported  the Argentine military junta's dirty war against its own people.

The new guy's Italian name also evokes the Axis.  And Argentina was a favored retirement  site for Nazi war criminals.

Why can't the church escape the taint?

As I've said many times, the Church's child molester enabling, as bad as it is, pales in comparison to the Church's history of collaboration with totalitarian regimes...

Beginning, of course, with the true founder of the RCC: Emperor Constantine.

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A LITTLE CLOSET MUSIC

Next Friday, March 15, the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band plays a concert consisting entirely of Symphony #1, Lord of the Rings, by Johan Meij.

The concert will be guest-conducted by Martin Seggelke, a music teacher at SF State.

Professor Seggelke's impressive resume shows a dedication to wind band music.  He looks like a guy who could whip a band into shape.

Seggelke is one of three conductors trying-out to be the band's permanent conductor/artistic director.

It appears that Dr Seggelke doesn't really want the job. On his personal website, his list of upcoming events refers to the band as "San Francisco Freedom Band":

I emailed Dr Seggelke as well as the band's president to alert them to the mis-naming, and received no response. 

The most likely explanation, or suspicion, is the Martin Seggelke doesn't want the words  "Lesbian/Gay" on his website.

Since the bands main mission is "visibility," Seggelke's reluctance to use the words "Lesbian/Gay" disqualifies him out-of-hand.

The need for a new conductor has been known for almost a year and a half, and will continue with two more try-out guest-conductors.

My conclusion: Seggelke is not seriously being considered for the permanent conductor position.

This has the feel of a corporate-like due diligence charade.

Another weird, closet-y kind of thing involves SFLGFB's first chair flutist of eighteen years, Ruth Keys.

In my first conversation with Ruth I said something about "clueless straight people," and Ruth let me know right away that she was married--to a man.

She must have seen a look on my face, so she assured me: "I play with lots of groups, but the gay band is my true home." Eye to eye, sincerity oozed.

However, in her Bio on the SF Sinfonietta website, the closest she comes to mentioning her "true home" is:

Ms. Keys regularly plays with a number of Bay Area music organizations...

The SF Sinfonietta is also performing this weekend. Ruth will be playing a flute piece composed by her husband.

The Symphony #1, which the Lesbian/Gay band will be performing at Herchurch on Friday has no connection to the music used in the Lord of the Rings movies.  The symphony was written years before the movies came out.

Meij's symphony is just wind band music, supposedly suggested by the pop-fantasy book series.

Parents might want to listen to youtube to see if it's something the kids could sit through. (Note: the following clip is just the first of six or so movements.

 

 

My take on the music: hopefully they'll play a Sousa march encore to wake everybody up for the drive home.

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