Hoot Hoot, It's the Friday Follies!

And under the Owl's watchful eyes this week are:

1) People Who Should Just Shut Up and Stay AWAY From Microphones #6621: None other than former Atlanta mayor, former UN Ambassador and now perpetual blowhard Andrew Young. Who could forget his 2006 tirade in response to a question about Wal Mart running Mom and Pop stores out of business, “Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood, ... But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans, and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores". Sound more than a little condescending and racist to you? And this gem from September of 2007 (from an interview on NewsMakersLive.com) it gets even more loony;

“I want Barack Obama to be president,” Young said, pausing for effect, “in 2016"

Regarding Hillary's husband Bill Clinton: "--every bit as black as Barack, He's probably gone with more black women than Barack"

I rest my case.

2) Of Canoes and Faked Deaths: Gotta love this one, a London man faked his own death in a "canoe accident" and hid out for 3 years in a family apartment before being found out (his claims of "having amnesia" just weren't flying for local police when he walked into a police station to tell his story), more details HERE. I give him some points for originality.

3 What Price Loyalty?: What caused it? A better offer? The aftermath of the Michael Vick drama? Well in any case, Rick Petrino has decided to jump ship from the Atlanta Falcons team, much to the horror, chagrin and outrage of his now former team, after promising to stay. Guys, you WILL live through this but I do sympathize with you on the betrayal end of it.

4) Can Our Wimpy Congress Do ONE Right Thing?: This week, the House passed a bill banning waterboarding and other forms of torture by the CIA and military. Predictably, George WMS Bush is threatening to veto. My question is, can the Senate AND House get off their lazy a$$es and summon up a modicum of courage to override a veto. IIRC, we DID NOT use torture during WWII, Korea, Vietnam or the Persian Gulf War of 1990. And also, will Congress get a clue and take action on the much-despised (and rightly so) Alternative Minimum Tax? A guy can dream, can't he? Circular firing squad anyone?

5) Further Proof That Working For The Bush Administration Is Professional/Career/Personal Suicide: The list goes on of those whose careers, professions, reputations and maybe even very lives have been ruined by even the SLIGHTEST association with the hapless, amoral and hopelessly incompetent Bush administration. The most high profile of course are Alberto Gonzalez, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Harriet Miers, Tony Snow, John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld among others. And HERE is a list of even more but lesser-known Bush Administration inflicted casualties and the circumstances under which they occurred. More commentary on Democracy Now.

6) How NOT To Do A Cover Song: Aspiring bands take not, DO NOT EVEN THINK of going onstage anywhere if you sound even REMOTELY like THIS (click if you dare)

AND ON THE PLAYER:

A Charlie Brown Christmas

It's hard to improve on a classic like this, a PERFECT soundtrack by the late jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi and his nimble trio for that wonderful animated Peanuts special about Charlie Brown finding the real meaning of Christmas despite all the crass commercialism and superficiality around him. Great cartoon of course, and the PERFECT soundtrack for it!

HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL!