Sunday, July 15, 2007

Steve Young: Hey, Michael: SICKO Needs A Re-edit With O'Reilly's Answer To Healthcare. Michael Moore has just received the "Al Frankian" gift of a lifetime from the same, unlikely source. Bill O'Reilly. First of all, let me address what some say about my having an unhealthy obsession with Bill O'Reilly. That spending so much time dogging Bill's hypocrisy could lead, in the least, to a chemical imbalance. Well, my chemicals are already so out of balance, I'm surprised I'm able to stand up at all. Stephanie Miller mans the daily radio playback of Bill's "omigawd, they've got recording devices" fraud upon the Folks[base ']Ñ¢, and other than the need to crawl into a nightly box of Ripple, she seems to be pretty damn healthy. I understand there's even this fella on television who chases down Bill's own quackery rather regularly. And I'm told by Stephanie that he looks just swell. Point is, BillO appears on TV, radio, the Net and in print, so I'm just trying to hold up the daily Net and print responsibility making sure that as many Folks[base ']Ñ¢ as possible are aware that the man so many go to for "news" or "opinion" understand that he is so full of crap that I'm surprised he doesn't explode under the pressure of his own colon-bloating bullshit. That is why today I think it's most important to re-address the unfreaking-believable, no-nothing and worst of all, illegal advice Bill gave millions of Folks[base ']Ñ¢ this past week on TV, radio, the Net and in print this last week. In Bill's weekly column on his site (and in national newspapers), Bill wrote of his concern about the possibility of American Universal Healthcare, that it would bring socialism into mainstream America, and that God-forbid, it could lead to a further horrific far-left agenda. "Okay, but isn't nutritious food a basic human right as well? How about decent housing? And a dignified retirement for the elderly? And child care for working parents? The 'rights' list is endless." Methinks Jesus himself would be appalled that the left-wing agenda comes to this. In fact Bill warns that the evils of socialism have already infected the national mindset... "Many (69%) in the (Pew) survey believe health care is a basic human right." Holey moley. 69%? That's nearly as many who think President Bush is leading us over Dead Man's Gulch. Cheese and crackers, what the heck is happening to these former God-fearing "let those who can least swim, drown" capitalists? But here is where Bill gets a bit of religion. "It is certainly true that medical costs are very high in this country and, I believe, there should be federal oversight of insurance companies to make sure Americans get what they pay for and are not dropped when they become ill. Also, there should be safety nets for citizens who simply are too poor to pay for medical care." Now, let us turn to last Tuesday morning to discover Bill's actual non-socialistic prescription for unfair and inadequate health insurance. A caller phoned in to explain that he had lost his health insurance because he had made a claim. Bill: Get insurance from another HMO. Caller: Four times as much. Can't afford it. B: Get on your parents' policy. C: Not after graduating college. B: Find a job where the company will cover you. C: Dwindling coverages and it there, delay in getting coverage. Finally the O'Reilly HMO plan came into clear view. B: If you were a minority you could claim they dropped you because you are one. C: I am a minority. B: Then you say your HMO dropped you because you're a minority. C: But that isn't true. B: You have to fight fire with fire. C: Bill, you've always advocated that you don't respond to bad behavior with more bad behavior. B: That this is not cause and effect because they've declared war on you. You have to use every weapon you have. Y'see? Bill didn't call for socialism. He called for anarchy. Lawlessness. Criminal activity. Almost makes socialism a more constitutional option, ay? Perjury to solve your medical conundrum. This from the guy looking out for you - and in a later book - your children. Wowzers. Now, do you understand the obsession? Other than silencing him once and for all - not on my any day list of things to do - you have to remind the Folks[base ']Ñ¢ that Bill speaks out of not only two-sides of his mouth but also from body orifices that explain why what Bill has to say is only so such crap. Hypocrisy? Would it be that the word were fetid enough. So, Michael, whataya think? O'Reilly add in SICKO special edition DVD? O'Reilly Countdown To Iraqi Pullout: 36 days Steve Young, who can't be heard anywhere, is the author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful." and his "All The News That's Fit To Spoof" appears in L.A. Daily News opeds every Sunday, right next to Bill's...really. [The Huffington Post Full Blog Feed] 11:58:24 AM    comment []

David Haber: Mods And Rockers Festival: Really With The Beatles. Beatles expert David Haber reviews "What's Happening! The Beatles In The U.S.A." - the opening night film at the "Mods & Rockers Film Festival" and documents its creation. It was not that many years ago, but it was such a different time. There were no computers, there were no ipods. There were no DVDs or CDs. There was only records. And the AM radio that played those records. And TV and the movies. In February 1964, the British TV company Granada, contracted the already renowned documentary makers, Albert and David Maysles, to film the Beatles' first visit to America for a 30-minute TV special to air in Britain. A small amount of the footage they shot was indeed shown later that month on British TV, but the Maysles brothers went on to make a feature-length theatrical documentary from the extensive amount of footage they had shot with the Beatles. They called their film "What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A." Unfortunately for Beatles fans, because of the very impending release of the movie "A Hard Day's Night", the Maysles' film was shelved, and has never seen the light of day in its full form in a commercial release. It has only ever been shown here and there at a few film festivals over the years. In 1991, the Beatles' company Apple released a made-for-video program on VHS (subsequently reissued on DVD in 2004) titled "The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit" - that combined some of the content from the original Maysles film with other footage from that February 1964 trip including TV clips and newsreel. But it was certainly not the full-length film created by the Maysles brothers. And the footage used in the Apple compilation project provides only a small taste of the Maysles' film. The complete footage in the Directors' cut of "What's Happening!" really gives the viewer the full experience of what it was like to be a Beatle in 1964. That was, by the way, also the underlying theme of the Beatles' first movie, "A Hard Day's Night." It is staggering how similar the portrayal of the life of the Beatles in "A Hard Day's Night" is to their real life captured in "What's Happening!" Especially so because it is well-documented that the shooting script for "A Hard Day's Night" was completed over two months BEFORE the real events captured in "What's Happening." The reality that "A Hard Day's Night" screenwriter Alun Owen observed in his three days spent with the Beatles in November 1963 (as research for the script he wrote the following month) was the same reality that the Maysles brothers captured when their cameras rolled in February 1964. It underscores that what Owen and Lester created in "A Hard Day's Night" was very close to the reality of the Beatles' lives at that time. For example, early in both movies, there are similar scenes of young girls mobbing the Beatles, which we see from the Beatles' perspective inside their car. There is also a scene in "What's Happening!" with John and George on the train taking them to Washington DC which looks exactly like a scene between George and Ringo in "A Hard Day's Night". Much of the Maysles' film was shot with the Beatles in their room at the Plaza Hotel. The scenes filmed later of the Beatles in their hotel room in "A Hard Day's Night" are uncannily similar in their look and also feeling of the Beatles being prisoners of their fame. In "A Hard Day's Night", the Beatles escape their hotel room and go dancing at a club. In the Maysles film, we see the Beatles go to New York's Peppermint Lounge. In both films, the other Beatles sit among the crowd while Ringo jumps and gyrates on the dance floor. Not only was the script of "A Hard Day's Night" (including all those scenes) written prior to the real-life scenes that the Maysles caught on film - but history records that director Richard Lester didn't see the solitary UK broadcast of the 25-minute Maysles film (which was transmitted just a few days before Lester started shooting his already scripted movie) until long after his film had been completed. "What's Happening!" is made in the classic verite documentary style, completely unscripted and with hand-held cameras, and with no narration or captions to identify the various people were who were on-screen - still considered a bold style in that era. Although 1964 audiences would not have known many of the people surrounding the Beatles, today's Beatles fans may recognize people such as faithful road manager Neil Aspinall, heard in the film referred to by Paul and John by his nickname "Nell". There is also a segment in the middle of film following Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager who died tragically young in 1967. There is a sad moment of him in a car, and the person with him asks if he has had time for any fun while in New York. Brian replies that the Beatles went to the "21 Club" but that he couldn't go. And the previous night they had gone to the Peppermint Lounge, but again he couldn't go, as he had to get up very early in the morning. However, Epstein did of course accompany the Beatles to Washington DC for their concert at the Washington Coliseum, and there is footage of him watching the concert on closed-circuit television backstage, with a proud smile on his face. That one small moment says so much, about how he cared so deeply about the Beatles and took such pride in their success, not for himself, but for them. Back in their small suite at the Plaza Hotel, George is tuning his little transistor radio and finds two different stations playing Beatles records at the same time. Ringo seems to be constantly drumming with his fingers when they're otherwise unoccupied. Murray The K seems happy and excited when on the radio with 'the boys', then becomes morose and quiet when off the air. Scores of other loud, unnamed, cigar-smoking people fill the small hotel room. And through it all, because of the Maysles' cameras we can see that even in their most unguarded and candid moments, the Beatles remain the Beatles, as we knew and loved them. It's a special experience not to be missed by any Beatles fan, or anyone who wants to understand more about who the Beatles were and why the world loved them so much - and still does. OTHER "MODS & ROCKERS FESTIVAL" BLOGS [base ']Ä¢ MARTIN LEWIS - First Night Report! [base ']Ä¢ STEPHEN BISHOP - The Beatles Were My True Parents [base ']Ä¢ ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM - Mocking The Rockers [base ']Ä¢ BRUCE SPIZER -The Beatles Were Coming! [base ']Ä¢ MARTIN LEWIS - Movies For Nothing And Kicks For Free.. MORE "MODS & ROCKERS FESTIVAL" BLOGS COMING SOON FROM [base ']Ä¢ MICHELLE PHILLIPS [base ']Ä¢ ERIC BURDON [base ']Ä¢ PAUL WILLIAMS [base ']Ä¢ SPENCER DAVIS [base ']Ä¢ DANNY HUTTON [base ']Ä¢ D.A. PENNEBAKER [The Huffington Post Full Blog Feed] 8:12:50 AM    comment []

Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup. We learned this week that, even though White House counsel Fred Fielding had advised him that the Libby jury had reached a reasonable verdict, the president decided to commute Libby's sentence because if he didn't "it would have caused a fracture with the vice president." So Scooter got off because George Bush was afraid to piss off Dick Cheney. Is the same dynamic driving the president on Iraq? Are the efforts of administration pragmatists like Robert Gates and Condi Rice to shift the White House on the war being thwarted by 43's reluctance to face the wrath of his venomous veep? There's a scary thought: Americans continue to die in Iraq not because Bush is worried withdrawal would embolden al-Qaeda over there but because it would infuriate al-Cheney here at home. [The Huffington Post Full Blog Feed] 8:09:56 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2007 Patricia Thurston.