Wow...Talking Pictures, Man!

I just discovered that my new laptop has a webcam. I'm really excited about this as this should open up a whole new world of expression. Here's the result of my first test run, which I posted on YouTube:

Beautiful White Christmas

What is it about waking up to view everything covered with a fresh coating of snow on Christmas morning? Perhaps, it's years of social conditioning from various sources that have given me this western perspective that there must be snow on Christmas. In my mind, Christmas and snow go together like cake and frosting even though 90 percent of the people who celebrate it never, ever experience one.

This year, the "White Christmas" scenario played out almost perfectly here at my home in west-central Indiana. Frantically, we did our last-minute, Christmas Eve shopping yesterday. And almost on cue, snow began to fall when we got home to wrap our gifts to lay under the tree. The front room window view looked almost like a turn-of-the-century Christmas postcard with snowflakes magically falling and adding a white canopy to everything they collectively touched. It continued to fall through the night. And by morning, the winter storm had relented after dumping about 2 inches of snow on us. Not too much...not too little....

I'm going to enjoy every minute of this wintry spectacle so long as the calendar says it's Christmas. But tomorrow is Dec 26th...and the official countdown to the vernal equinox begins.

The Terrible Loss of Lennon

Thirty years ago, John Lennon, one of the most imaginative, insightful and unpretentious celebrities to have ever lived, was gunned down in a senseless act of violence. Of course, his impressive compilation of music lives on. Unfortunately, so does the memory of his tragic death.

While watching my tiny, 13-inch TV in my University of Missouri college dorm room on this date in 1980, I learned about Lennon’s murder. The New England Patriots were battling the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football, and the usually brash Howard Cosell humbly broke the news to millions of viewers.

"Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all of The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty bound, we have to take."
-Howard Cosell

After the game, Ted Koppel on ‘ABC News Nightline’ put the Iranian hostage crisis on the backburner and led with the Lennon story.



The next day, Yoko Ono, forced into the role of being John’s widow, requested that there be no funeral.

"There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean."
-Yoko Ono

That, however, didn’t stop the outpouring of grief. Spontaneous vigils were held globally…and on the following Sunday (Dec. 14, 1980), nearly a half-million mourners gathered in New York City’s Central Park to pay their respects.



Personally, this was a very distressing time for me. Ronald Reagan had recently become the President-elect. Together with the loss of Lennon, I was certain World War III was just around the corner.

Fortunately, my bleak assessment didn’t come to pass. But, I often wonder how things would be today if John Lennon were still alive. He’d be 70 now….and he’d most certainly would be able to boast of an even vaster music anthology that would continue to demonstrate his brilliance. And perhaps, the actual course of history would have been altered. I absolutely believe the world would be a better place in this alternate universe.

Losing his base...

President Barack Obama could very well fail to win a second term. His decision to acquiesce once again to the GOP and allow the Bush tax cuts to continue may be the final straw. Keith Olbermann's latest commentary is one sure fire sign he's losing his base.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I believe the next few months will prove critical to Obama's political future.

AND SO THE MYTH CONTINUES…

Republicans still seem to have most Americans convinced that their way is the path to austerity and fiscal responsibility. Despite a contrary record of governance during nearly the last four decades, the GOP continues to campaign by boxing progressives into a corner using the old name calling, sucker punch tactic: calling Democrats “big spenders”.

But now this image has grown to be so entrenched, the 44th President of United States, who was elected just two years ago on a left-of-center mandate of change, has allowed himself to be portrayed as one. While yielding to yet another Republican talking point, President Obama has offered to freeze the pay of civilian federal workers for two years.



A federal pay freeze isn’t the worst idea on the table. At least it’s better than federal job cuts, which is what many in the GOP want.

But what’s so troubling about this latest effort at bipartisanship isn’t so much the nuts and bolts behind the idea, but the consequences it will have on public perception. Obama’s federal pay freeze idea reinforces this false notion that Democrats are ‘big spenders’.
Why has Obama ceded this argument when the record clearly shows that the GOP has been the party that’s run up biggest deficits?

And what makes this idea so depraved is that it’s an ineffective and unnecessary gimmick that puts undue hardship on many hardworking Americans who aren’t exactly rolling in the lap of luxury. It’s a penny-ante, symbolic debt reduction measure that totally ignores areas where huge cuts could be made, such as two needless and seemingly never-ending wars.

President Obama is in a lose-lose situation. He’s allowing his foes to frame the debate by inaccurately manipulating the public’s perception of him and his party. Plus, he’s appearing weak and spineless to his political base.