The Echo Report

Over-the-horizon transmission from Annabelle Echo...

2011-12-24T23:50:00.000-06:00

From: AnnaBelle Echo, Science Reporter for the Echo Report
Subject: Oort Cloud TOP SECRET Communication
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2007 23:42:56 +0000

From the Oort Cloud Communications Center: this just in...

Hey Everyone...

Our Global Positioning Satellite is following an Over-the-horizon transmission of what we believe is a highly classified telecommunication or surveillance that relies on ionospheric reflection at radio frequencies below about 30-MHz (10-meter wavelength). The radio-wave absorption depends on the electron density, and is strongest around Midnight. The absorption can increase to the point of radio blackout during sporadic ionization enhancements associated with solar-flare X-rays and with energetic protons that precipitate into the high-latitude upper atmosphere. This is a TOP SECRET Transmission from NASA, NOAA, fatgirls rio baton and the Advanced Contact Intelligence Organization. SETI, ECHELON and other interested parties believe that signal originated in the Oort Cloud Galaxy. This Highly Classified Flash Footage is only a brief segment of the deciphered message. The video is quite fuzzy but it is speculated to be an extraterrestrial being traveling through Earth's high-latitude upper atmosphere.

People of Earth, this is a link to only one deciphered frame of the footage.
More fun science news here about the Air Force’s new secret weapon: Active Denial System.

This is the Way the Cookies Crumble @ Stella D’Oro

2010-09-10T04:35:00.000-05:00

Videography images by John Gerber of Stella D’Oro workers:
Juan Torres, Sarah Rodriguez, Alex (Flag Hat), Jose Hernandez & Michael Fillipo
Montage design by Annabelle Echo
This is the Way the Cookies Crumble @ Stella D’Oro
Stella D’Oro Workers End 11-Month Strike After NLRB Victory, but Owner Threatens to Close Factory: Originally Posted on July 14, 2009
For almost a year now I’ve been having a lot of trouble finding my favorite Stella D’Oro cookies every time I go grocery shopping. The Grocers keep moving the Stella D’Oro display or they are simply out of stock altogether. I even called the sale rep for the Chicago area. He never returned my call.
For years I’ve been enjoying these treats. While they aren’t exactly health food, they make a fine dessert because they taste good, are satisfying yet are low in fat. The best thing about them is that they hold up when dunked in coffee or tea.
I was shocked yesterday when I learned from a report on Democracy Now! that the workers at Stella D’Oro had been on strike for nearly a year! Several workers were interviewed. I want to thank them for making such a superior product and I want to condemn the hedge fund investors who have no conscience to destroy the livelihoods of good hard working people who make still make something of value in the U.S.A.!
As reported by Democracy Now! : More than 130 workers of the Stella D’Oro biscuit company in Bronx have ended an 11-month strike. The workers returned to their jobs on Wednesday, a week after the National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to reinstate and pay back wages to the striking workers. The employees at Stella D’Oro walked off the job last August after company officials tried to force them to accept a 20% pay cut, elimination of sick days and overtime, reductions in vacations and holidays and an increase in employee health care contributions. While the Stella D’Oro workers have returned to their jobs, their fight is not over. The company’s owner, the Connecticut-based private equity fund, Brenwood Partners, is now threatening to close the factory within 90 days.
Update:
Bittersweet win By MARK DeCAMBRE
Last Updated: 4:35 AM, September 10, 2010

It Ain't My Fault by Mos Def & Lenny Kravitz | stupidDOPE.com

2010-06-16T14:23:00.000-05:00

Thunderbirds 02x01 Atlantic Inferno part 5

2010-06-10T17:08:00.000-05:00

INTERNET EXPORER ALERT!

2010-04-28T18:07:00.032-05:00

INTERNET EXPORER ALERT:
ARE YOU VIEWING THIS BLOG USING INTERNET EXPORER?
TO ACCESS THE SIDE BAR INFO & LINKS YOU MAY HAVE TO CLICK ON A POST HEADLINE TO VIEW!
YOU CAN USE MOZILLA FIREFOX TO VIEW ALSO.
IN THE NEAR FUTURE, I MAY ReCOMPOSE THE HTML TO BE MORE COMPATABLE WITH INTERNET EXPORER. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT PEOPLE !

An MIT Pentagon Paper:

2010-03-15T19:13:00.004-05:00

An MIT Pentagon Paper:
Looks Like Blood or
Why the Pentagon
doesn’t care what you do?
Ask Noam Chomsky!

More Jumbo Aspirin, Mothballs & Other Punishment Haikus !

Richard Heene Pscyience Detective

2009-10-28T19:12:00.005-05:00

Richard Heene may not be Father & or Husband of the Year but he is an Artist.
Annabelle Echo presents this Salute to Richard Heene...
Richard Heene Pscyience Detective

Dear Mr. President... Re: Van Jones

2009-09-08T13:32:00.007-05:00

Green Hero, Van Jones

Dear Mr. President,
I implore you not to accept the resignation of Van Jones, the head of our national environmental policies. I feel this act will set a dangerous precedent. If Van Jones, who is well established as good, highly qualified, talented and innovative can be sidelined by a witch hunt stirred up by the corporate media, we are all endangered by the same mob mentality that silenced and broke many innocent people during the McCarthy era. If someone like Van Jones, who only has the best intentions for our country cannot speak and think freely it will jeopardize these freedoms for us all.

Annabelle Echo

Democracy Now!
White House Environmental Adviser Van Jones Resigns Citing,
“Vicious Smear Campaign against Me”

Introducing the 2009 New World Order Contestants!

2009-06-16T11:44:00.006-05:00

Introducing the 2009 New World Order Contestants!

Introducing the Annabelle Echo 2009 LOGO

2009-06-16T10:57:00.001-05:00

Introducing the Annabelle Echo 2009 LOGO

Grandpa Elliot is now the Richest Man in New Orleans

2009-02-21T09:40:00.001-06:00

Grandpa Elliot is now the Richest Man in New Orleans
In this video below Grandpa Elliot Sings If I were a Rich Man in New Orleans. Although he may not technically be the Richest Man in Town he ought to be. He has the most sense!

From YouTube channeler wluquet (Wade): Grandpa Elliot is a familiar street performer in New Orleans. He is an expert Harmonica player and has a beautiful voice, as you will hear. He can often be found outside the gift shop at Royal and Toulouse Street, but will also play outside of Cafe Du Monde and other places throughout the quarter. He is now legally blind, but is well loved, so he finds help to get around the quarter. Make sure to see him when you go to New Orleans and tip him well. He deserves it.

Cuban 5 Appeal to Supreme Court for New Trial

2009-02-10T11:33:00.006-06:00

Democracy Now!
Friday, February 06, 2009: Cuban 5 Appeal to Supreme Court for New Trial

Attorneys for the Cuban Five have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court asking for a new trial. The five men were convicted in 2001 for spying on the US military and Cuban exiles in southern Florida. They they weren’t spying on the US, but trying to monitor right-wing Cuban groups that have organized violent attacks on Cuba. Amy Goodman speaks to their attorney, Thomas Goldstein.

Free the Cuban Five March Slideshow
Alto al Fuego sung by Santiago Feliú

From the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five:
A historic march took place in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 23, 2006, preceded by a press conference on Sept. 21. More than 600 people marched through the streets of Washington, starting at the Justice Department and stopping at the gates of the White House, demanding that George Bush free the Cuban Five and extradite the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.

Music Video Alto al Fuego by Santiago Feliú

Una canción del trovador cubano Santiago Feliú. De su obra discográfica "Sin Julieta". Feliú forma parte de la Novísima y de la Nueva Trova.
Para más información de este magnífico músico:
Enfermizamente Zurdo: a blog about Santiago Feliú

Alto al fuego
(Santiago Feliú)

Voy pateando la basura de vivir
intentando hacer la ruta más feliz.
El cansancio de las cosas que aprendí
vuelve a ponerme en el deseo de seguir.

Gracias a la vida que tanto me dio,
no obstante necesito el dinero:
el oxigeno de la tranquilidad
cuesta carísimo y sigue injusta la igualdad.

Revolucionadamente yo diría,
sexualísimas verdades te daría,
descartando la solícita mentira,
adivinándose precioso todavía.

Pero... alto al fuego,
déjenme salir.
Fuego de odio, fuego de puta maldad,
fuego prendiéndole fuego a la verdad.
Tanta lágrima de la gente,
no sólo de los que no tienen nada;
miseria y destrucción,
impositivamente muerte, muerte, muerte sin razón.

Alto al fuego.
Alto al fuego.
Una eternidad viviendo de morir.
Un espejo de cadáveres sin fin.

Bienaventurados todos
aquellos que aprendieron a llorar,
porque así de ellos será el reino de la fe,
de la esperanza, el reino de la caridad.

Alto al fuego,
dejen sonreír.
Fuego de odio, fuego de puta maldad,
fuego prendiéndole fuego a la verdad.
Alto al fuego.

Talk Show Host Leo Lyons Trapped in Bank!

2008-10-09T15:44:00.002-05:00

Dear Emmett & Carter,

It seems that our feline friend and host of the "Leo Lyons Show" got locked in and was trapped in yet another failing bank when it closed unexpectedly and suddenly in Chicago last night...
Signed with LOVE, your Tia…

Happy 5th Birthday to Carter!

2008-07-27T11:08:00.004-05:00

...this is a TOP SECRET transmission

...from the Oort Cloud Galaxy...

Happy Birthday Earthling!

You Have Orbited the Oort Cloud 5 Times!

We of Globular Cluster #5 Salute You!

Signed,

Your Friends at the Oort Cloud Galaxy

...End Transmission Sequence...

Click on Image for more info...

The Bulls Matador: Kevin Blanchard

2008-06-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

Like many women; not all of course, I don’t pay much attention to sports. I spend much of my free time studying politics and government instead. Recently though I read that sports as a national pastime is greatly influenced by politics and government. Professional sports team owners get tax breaks and subsidies in order to stay financially solvent and profitable. David Cay Johnston writes about these financial shenanigans in his new book, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With the Bill.

Since I’m so oblivious to what’s going on in the world of sports I have to rely on some of the men in my life: one being none other than Kevin Blanchard, a member of the Bull’s Matadors Dance Team. Kevin is an absolute encyclopedia when it comes to sports and by-the-way, a lot of pop culture. He puts a vital and important spin upon what news junkies like me consider trivial:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
There’s a Line between Decency and Filth
By Kevin Blanchard
Current mood: Angry
Category: Sports

“F#*k you Gordon!... F#*k you Gordon… F#*k you Gordon… ”

You would think we were at a Bulls game and Ben Gordon got traded, no, that was directed at Indiana phenom Eric Gordon and it came courtesy of almost 19,000 angry Illini fans whom have not forgotten that Gordon did an about face on his verbal commitment and chose to sign instead with Indiana. But he was not the last.
Kevin Love, the 6' 10" power forward/center from Oregon had signed a national letter of intent with UCLA, let’s just say the Oregon faithful were not happy with that call. Within days and weeks, Kevin Love received threatening phone calls from hecklers who threatened to blow his head off and blow up the hotel he stayed in when the very college team he plays for, UCLA’s Bruins, would be playing the Oregon Ducks.

But it got worse: A lot worse: Read the rest of Kevin Blanchard’s post.

Kevin Blanchard’s Page

Chicago Bulls Matadors

Friday June 27, 2008
Mercury Cafe, 1505 W. Chicago Ave Poetry Open Mic & Showcase,
featuring Rachel Javellana, Bob Rashkow, and Kevin Blanchard
7 to 9 PM sharp
Admission is FREE!

Baby Carter Presents: My Big Brother’s Movie Debut!

2008-02-14T13:00:00.000-06:00

Hello. My name is Baby Carter.

I’d like to introduce my big brother Emmett who is celebrating his movie debut pretending to be a nihilist named Dieter from Sprockets.

Below my gorgeous picture you will find some sprockets of his brilliant and truly disturbing performance. Auf Wiedersehen!

Erika Poethig is an Obama Volunteer...

2008-01-08T23:46:00.000-06:00

My friend Erika Poethig braved the bitter cold in Iowa to volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign this past week. I hope that she will allow me to include in this post some of her emails that describe her experience. Stay tuned people and thank you to Erika and all the other selfless campaign volunteers.
The Last Leg Of Iowa Caucus Begins by Mike Flannery

Baby Carter Presents: The Future is Here!

2007-05-31T15:09:00.000-05:00

Baby Carter Presents: The Future is Here!

Baby Carter Presents the Future: Compressed Air Powered Cars...

Hello, I’m Baby Carter. As many of you fans of the Echo Report know, I am a frequent contributor to this blog. For many years now, I’ve been hosting and producing this “reality show” segment for the Echo Report. What you may not know, however is that I am avid fan and collector of cars and other motorize vehicles.
This week I read about some jazzy new cars that will satisfy my need for speed and my Tia, Annabelle Echo’s desire to protect the environment. Not only that but these cars look totally cool, exciting and space age!
On the Web:
Yahoo!® GREEN: Air-Car Ready for Mass Production
By Bob Ewing
Moteur Developpment International
CNN.com: Pneumatic-hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)

My Heros: Anderson Cooper & Ray McGovern

2007-05-01T18:41:00.000-05:00

I remember last year around this time feeling a bit peeved at CNN’s John Roberts. It wasn’t what he was reporting. It was the way he reported it. These are the lines that rattled me:

ROBERTS: Hecklers, like the one who stood with his back to the secretary during the speech, couldn't rattle a man with Rumsfeld’ s steel.
But, in an extraordinary piece of public theater, Ray McGovern, who claimed to be a former CIA analyst, took Rumsfeld on mano a mano over prewar claims Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Is it just me or do I detect a hint of bias?
Well I was miffed at Roberts I forgot that later in the broadcast Anderson set the whole thing straight when he interviewed Ray McGovern
I have to admit that I was surprised last night to see McGovern on Anderson Cooper 360º because that little dig of Roberts stuck in my mind and clouded my memory. Anyway I think the interview was important last night because it reminds us that George Tenet was involved in clouding the truth just about a year ago as he is today. Please read these transcripts for more information about George Tenet & Donald Rumsfeld.

Poor George Tenet; He Still Doesn’t Get It
By Ray McGovern
t r u t h o u t Guest Contributor
Sunday 29 April 2007

Democracy Now!
Friday, May 5th, 2006
Retired CIA Analyst Ray McGovern Takes on Rumsfeld Over Justification for Iraq Invasion
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
Ex-CIA Analyst Accuses Tenet of Hypocrisy For Not Speaking Out Earlier on White House Push For War

CNN: Anderson Cooper 360º
Rumsfeld Under Fire
Aired May 4, 2006 - 22:00 ET
Confronting Rumsfeld;
Aired May 4, 2006 - 23:00 ET
Former CIA Director Under Fire Over Tell-All Iraq War Book
Aired April 30, 2007 - 22:00 ET
Tenet's Tough Talk; Iraq: The End Game
Happy 40th Birthday, Anderson Cooper...

Old News: Boris Yeltsin Blackmailed Clinton to IMF?

2007-04-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

Old News: Boris Yeltsin Blackmailed Clinton?
I picked up Tom Fenton’s tome, Bad News (2005) at the library last week. I thought it would provide insights into what wasn’t and hadn’t been reported in the mainstream media. On page 30 I discovered and found this sentence intriguing:
“Democracy itself almost crumbled in Russia under the drunken incompetence of Presicent Boris Yeltsin, whose reelection the Clinton White House virtually planned and funded.”
Wow! Who Knew? The rest of the paragraph was ambiguous at best. I quickly googled the words Yeltsin, Clinton & IMF to find this shocker of a post that explains how this could have happened.
On the Web:
Boris, Bill and Monica: trouble ahead for Hillary?
By Dr. Jack Wheeler, BrookesNews.Com, Monday 13 November 2006
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007
Russians pay respects to Yeltsin
POSTED: 1743 GMT (0143 HKT), April 25, 2007
Midnight Diaries
By Boris Yeltsin & Valentin Yumashev
Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News, and the Danger to Us All
By Tom Fenton

Superstar Poet Nikki Giovanni Sounds an Alarm...

2007-04-19T16:48:00.000-05:00

I KNEW GOD IS A WOMAN BUT I DIDN’T KNOW SHE IS BLACK
Superstar Poet Nikki Giovanni sounds an alarm that is almost completely ignored.
Superstars can have self doubt even those with an abundance of fame talent and common sense. Until a couple of days ago I knew very little about poet Nikki Giovanni except that she is a highly revered African American poet. She’s part of the curriculum around these parts. I work in a college English department in Chicago, IL
I occasionally encounter crazy students and crazy people posing as students. The dean of Student Services, also an African American told me to deal with each instance with common sense. He told me that I wasn’t paid enough to deal with certain situations. Once I put up with crazy guy for at least 8 weeks until things got so bad it took 3 burly security guards to drag him out of the building. The dean told me that my department had waited much too long to deal with the problem student. Besides acting crazy, the student smelled crazy. Yes he smelled bad. It was worse than Jerry Seinfeld’s funkafied car. I do not exaggerate when I estimate that he could be smelled a block away.
The problem at Virginia Tech didn’t develop overnight. Teachers are not paid enough and students pay too much to put up with mentally ill students. Common sense and gut instinct should have won out over political correctness. Nikki Giovanni is the only one who showed at least some discernment when she insisted that Virginia Tech killer, Cho Seung-Hui be removed from her class.

From: CNN LARRY KING LIVE
Aired April 18, 2007 - 21:00 ET
KING: Now to Nikki Giovanni, who's back in Peoria, Illinois, the distinguished professor of poetry, who taught Cho (Virginia Tech killer, Cho Seung-Hui) in poetry class. What do you make when you see these things?
NIKKI GIOVANNI, POET, VIRGINIA TECH PROFESSOR: I think that the main thing that I think Larry said it was not obvious. This is all hindsight. And I think that Virginia Tech has taken a hit that we don't deserve right now because if we -- if we could have known that -- that this -- to me he was a mean boy, but I'm not a psychiatrist.
But if we -- if we could have known that he could have -- that he could or would have done this, don't you know we would have gotten rid of him?
I have four colleagues who are dead trying to stop him. One of my favorite students, Matt Laporte -- and I know that Matty died a hero because he was a great kid.
I've lost people that I care about.
Don't you think we would have stopped it if we had known it?
KING: Yes. In...
GIOVANNI: It wasn't obvious. And people are saying obvious. It wasn't obvious. It was a boy who -- who tried to intimidate people. He did ugly things. And I did, I thought he was a mean kid and I didn't want to be around him. And I did what I should do, which was tell my supervisor he's got to go or I'm going to resign.
KING: All right...
GIOVANNI: And I did that because I wanted people to know it was serious. I wanted Tech to know that it was serious.
KING: And the...
GIOVANNI: But it still wasn't obvious.
KING: In the package he sent to NBC, he put the name Ax Ishmael in the return address area.
Does that mean anything to you?
GIOVANNI: No, it does not.
KING: He never used that name...
GIOVANNI: No.
KING: ... in class or anything?
GIOVANNI: No, you know, he was monosyllabic. It was a constant battle. The reason that I decided I couldn't deal with him any longer and that I was not going to be of help to this boy is that every -- every class -- I teach the Tuesday/Thursday. He would come in with his sunglasses, come in with a cap, come in with the thing. And, you know, Einstein said that, that doing the same thing all over again and expecting different results is a sign of insanity.
And I found myself every Tuesday and Thursday doing the same thing over again...
KING: Did you...
GIOVANNI: ... and expecting a different result. So I figured one of us is nuts and it wasn't going to be me, you know?
KING: Did you fail him?
GIOVANNI: No, I did not. Actually, he -- I asked that he be taken out of my class. And I wrote a letter to my supervisor, to my department head, Lucinda Roy. And you've spoken to Lucinda. I think you spoke to him last night.
KING: Yes.
GIOVANNI: And I sent his -- his letters. I sent what he was writing, the -- what he called poetry, which was not. It was -- it was nowhere near it. It was a diatribe. And I sent all of that to Lucinda. And I said he's got to get out of my class or I've got to resign, because I cannot ask students to come into a classroom that clearly I'm not controlling.
And if I had left Seung in my class, he would have been controlling it.
KING: How, Nikki, did he get to be a senior?
GIOVANNI: I don't know, because, again, it's not obvious. We -- we are 26,000 students. There are students who commit suicide. There are students who have other problems. You can't just go plucking them out because they may do something. Some people get all right. And he obviously got under some radar -- we are learning. I am learning things now. I am a poet and so I just went on my instinct.
I don't want to be around him. I don't want...
KING: Yes.
GIOVANNI: I don't want him near me. And...
KING: You made a smart move.
GIOVANNI: And I'm not saying that I was right.
What if he had graduated and become something really wonderful and all of a sudden he's got a Nobel Prize and it's like yes, and Dr. Giovanni kicked me out of class?
Boom. Then I've got egg on my face. I'm willing to have egg on my face.
KING: Yes.
GIOVANNI: I am. Because all I know is that something -- to me, the term would be evil, Larry. Something evil came in.
KING: Obviously.
Thank you, dear. Nikki Giovanni.

There are those who have no doubts about what happened at Virginia Tech. Someone close to me is certain that there is a stigma about admitting Mental illness within the Asian community. Others respond by asking, “How many did Timothy McVeigh kill? What about the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski? They’re not Asian. No one in their community thought there was a problem until it was too late.”
I know that writing about this and introducing an instance I experienced is anecdotal and may be considered politically incorrect and possibly offensive to some. Yet I hope that by starting this discussion, all communities will be able to accept or at least acknowledge that when a family member has a mental illness and seek help before another tragedy occurs.
Part of my job is to monitor what students print. If I didn’t the majority of the paper would be used to print celebrity images, bank statements, phone bills, plane tickets etc. In addition, some enterprising students don’t think twice about using up the college’s paper running a business or to help a religious affiliation.
One day, I noticed a lovely young Asian women printing out what appeared to be personal business letters. I told her that she needed to pay for a print card to print personal items. I knew from the print queue that she was printing out copies of the same exact letter several times. I let her have one copy of each distinct letter but and I know this is snooping—I kept copies of each that remained on the queue. I was very suspicious and I wanted to know what she was up to.
The letters were quite bizarre and paranoid. I determined from the letters that the women had registered a website that was also full of bizarre paranoid delusions. A few minutes research on the web led me to the conclusion that this was no ordinary crazy lady. She had been a highly gifted child and had won prestigious scholarly awards and had earned advanced degrees from the most prominent universities in the United States. Some of her close acquaintances and former classmates were now eminent scientific and medical professionals. Some of her bizarre ravings were directed at these people. Yet no one seemed to notice or care that she was wandering around from city to city lost, crazy and far from home.

Swing Shift Tuesday said the Cat...

2007-03-15T16:54:00.000-05:00

Swing Shift Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
Hello. My name is Koa. And yes people I am a cat. I believe that I am the first and only cat correspondent to Annabelle Echo’s report. Today I’m reporting from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. I just earned my second Purple Heart for bravery and champion mousemanship. After feasting on fresh live mold mouse for the past several months I’ve pledged to never eat Fancy Feast™ again.
Besides catching mice here at the hospital there’s not much to do all day but watch T.V. — so I’ll be reporting on that. The Echo Report is obsessed with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. He anchors a nightly news program AC360º that I like to call “the fluff.” Personally I prefer watching Ms. Amy Goodman who hosts Democracy Now!—something I like to call “the news”.
When I heard the news Monday morning that TV presenter Regis Philbin would undergo bypass surgery this week to repair clogged arteries I thought oh no here we go… set your VCR timers ladies. I don’t know this for a fact but I’m sure that Anderson Cooper’s mom, Gloria Vanderbilt had to buy extra tape cassettes. Her sweet baby is working a swing shift this week!
I don’t understand why but Annabelle Echo worries about AC working a swing shift almost as much as she does about kids in Guatemala working one. Maybe if he didn’t reveal so many disturbing personal health issues while guest hosting the Live! Show with Regis & Kelly in the morning and his own show at night she wouldn’t have to worry so much.
After telling Ms. Kelly Ripa that he’s been popping anti-statin pills for years because of a family history of heart disease, he claimed that he wasn’t a beach person. He stated that he was the pale as a newt skinny guy from under a rock that everyone kicks sand on. Kelly set him straight though: On Tuesday, March 13th she said despite his humility that he looked “Hot!” on enormous Time’s Square Posters of him trekking through the Amazon and/ or the Congo in a tight black T-shirt.
My Cat Comment is the same as Annabelle Echo’s and Max Bialystock’s: MEOWOWIE!
The next day on his own show, he claimed to felt awkward and nervous as he twirled and fidgeted with his tie and kept buttoning and unbuttoning his jacket. But earlier that day, before he could start disparaging himself about laughing like a chicken, Ms Kelly intimated that she kept his magazine cover from the March Men’s Journal in her bedroom. Wow what a coincidence! So do I.

On the Web:
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
Harvest of Shame: Swing Shift for the Kids in Guatemala
Bush to Press Free Trade in a Place Where Young Children Still Cut the Cane
TV presenter Regis Philbin will undergo bypass surgery this week to repair clogged arteries.
COOPER: So I'm feeling -- feeling a little fat.
COOPER: Yes. My laugh is not pretty.
It's not even a laugh really. It's like a chortle, like a chicken or something.
Guess Who? Men’s Journal
March 2007 ~ Volume 16 / Number 2
Happy V day AC!

I tried to email AC360º today...

2007-02-19T15:47:00.000-06:00

I tried to email Anderson Cooper today about 2 recently aired reports. One was on CNN Anderson Cooper 360º and the other was on CBSnews 60minutes.

Re: Kraho people
Aired February 15, 2007
I loved this report. I especially like the part about the body painting. It was nice to see folks doing something normal and friendly like this instead of blowing each other up and shooting each other with giant guns. Am I wrong or did you say that they painted Jeff while he was asleep? Did you also mention that the dye doesn't come off that easily? I think that is good thing. Whenever you look at the fading markings it will remind you of something lovely and peaceful.
If and when will photos from this report be posted? I noticed a photo gallery here:
But I didn't see any thumbnails from the Amazon on this site.

Re: Kenny Chesney
Aired February 18, 2007
It took a Welshman, Jon Langford to show me that Corporate Country has imposed a sort of Death Penalty upon authentic County music. The Blues may still be filled with heartache, death anger love and longing but country music has long ago dispensed with any emotion that doesn't remind one of a sickly sweet stale donut. The report about Kenny Chesney on 60 Minutes reminded me that I wrote about this a year ago.
Can’t you turn down these kinds of assignments? Although, I did like the part where you guys rode through the stadium in a road case. That was very cute. But the problem is that if Kenny is gay he can't admit it because the lunkheads who buy his music would probably stop buying. Hey remember what happened to the Dixie Chicks when they criticized Bush.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day, Anderson Cooper or…

2007-02-14T19:57:00.000-06:00

“Be honest about what you see, get out of the way and let the story reveal itself.”

...did I mention I don’t like frogs?
Yes it was another hectic, crappy nutty day. But Valentines make it all worth while. When I saw you-know-who in that tight black T-shirt last night in the Amazon Rain Forest I felt just like The Producer(s) Max Bialystock when he first lays eyes on Ulla... WOWWIEWOWWIEWOWWIE.
I made the same assessment of Anderson Cooper as co-anchor John Roberts. He’s squeamish around frogs but doesn't flinch when rocket's and mortars whiz by his head? What a character. He sure gave wildlife expert Jeff Corwin a hard time with all of his clowning. He said and I quote: “Is that a frog in your pocket or you just glad to see me?” CNN edited the transcripted quote down to COOPER: “Is that a frog in your pocket?” I don't think so. But Corwin did not seem that amused. He told Cooper that working on environmental issues often in exotic, remote and difficult locations for a special project may be “the longest six months of your life”. Cooper was more concerned that Corwin’s handling of an exotic frog, whose skin could possibly excrete a mildly toxic and/or hallucinogenic venom, might be a problem. Corwin scoffed at Cooper’s concern: CORWIN: “Especially with the cuts in my hands and stuff like that? No, I'm not too worried about this. This is old school for me.”

On the Web:

Anderson Cooper & 360º Blog: Anderson Reveals Amazon Destruction

Anderson Cooper: Did I mention I don’t like frogs?
Anderson Cooper and Jeff Corwin wearing matching black t-shirts.
Happy 40th Birthday, Anderson Cooper...

It’s an Annabelle Echo Saint Valentine’s Day in Chicago

2007-02-14T17:15:00.000-06:00

Annabelle Echo reflects back almost a year to when she created her own version of a “Cartoon Controversy”.

Hooked up with Herbert Gettridge…

2007-01-16T18:20:00.000-06:00

This was one of the best interviews I've seen on AC360º Below is a short segment of the dialogue. I initially put the images above together as sequential horizontal strip but I'm not sure it worked well to illustrate this unexpected heartwarming encounter.

Hooked up with Herbert Gettridge…

COOPER: Yes. Well, Herbert, I appreciate you talking with us tonight.
GETTRIDGE: Tough enough.
COOPER: All right. You take care.
GETTRIDGE: Be good and be careful, man.
COOPER: All right, I will. You too.
GETTRIDGE: Have fun on your way back. You all be good.
COOPER: Sir, you can stay here for a second. Stay right there. We'll help you unplug there...
GETTRIDGE: Uh oh. I knew I was hooked up.
COOPER: Here's another piece of the puzzle.
We don't want to cause you any injury now.
GETTRIDGE: No. You all got me hooked up like this...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Let me take the mike off you here.
We'll be right back. We'll have more ahead.
On the Web:
The pride of New Orleans: Herbert Gettridge on Anderson Cooper 360º
Aired January 11, 2007 - 23:00ET Transcript: Herbert Gettridge on Anderson Cooper 360º

Fine Feather Fancy

2006-12-22T00:30:00.000-06:00

Fine Feather Fancy
While visiting the Cathdral Church of Saint John the Divine, I came
upon this proud feathered fellow. As soon as he saw me staring at him
transfixed with admiration he open into a fan and then shook every one
of his tail feathers at me. I almost wished I was a peahen he was so
handsome. He then came closer and perched upon the chain link fence so that he could pose for me and eat some bush berries. Hey, he reminds me of somebody. Can you guess who?
On the Web:
The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine

Baby Carter Presents: Tia Goes to NYC

2006-12-17T16:28:00.002-06:00

Baby Carter Presents: Tia Goes to NYC
Hello, I’m Baby Carter. As many of you fans of the Echo Report know, I am a frequent contributor to this blog. For many years now, I’ve been hosting and producing this “reality show” segment for the Echo Report. This past Thanksgiving my Tia, Annabelle Echo and I had a big blowup. Tia it seems is insisting upon going to New York City without me. Not only that, she says that since I had my driving privileges revoked for some lame parking violations, she will now be taking procession of my beloved Chevy and driving it to the East coast. NO WAY, TIA! I was so upset that I went to the Japanese garden to hang out with a bunch of Tia’s ex-husbands and meditate. Anyway I thought things over and decided that I’m O.K. with Tia going to NYC as long as she doesn’t meet up with that goofy Anderson Cooper guy. He’s not cool like Ricky Bobby.
On the Web:
Baby Carter Presents: Emmett is Spiderman
Talladega Nights: The legend of Ricky Bobby
Anderson Cooper 360° transcript*
*editors note: This to me is quite a coincidence:
Anderson Cooper 360°transcript Aired December 20, 2006 - 22:00 ET
Anderson Cooper: Well, coming up, the "360 Takes You Live Sweepstakes". Have you heard
about this, folks? Have you heard about this? Yes, here you go. The location of the day. NYC, as in New York City. New York City, NYC, just those three letters. That's all you need. That's the code you need right there to enter the contest on the web site, CNN.com/AC, the one where I look goofy and move around on it. Just click on the "chance to win sweepstakes" link, enter for a shot at the grand prize, a trip to New York and a behind-the-scenes look at 360.

Baby Carter Presents... Normal Weirdness

2006-11-10T18:30:00.000-06:00

Baby Carter Presents...
Normal Weirdness:
a Taste of Winter Ahead or Tooth Fairy T.V.

Hello, I'm Baby Carter.
As many of you already know I often post special reports for my Tia, Annabelle Echo on this blog.
Recently I appeared on WCCO TV reporting on an early winter storm.
After sledding and falling face first into a snow drift my brother Emmett who just sent two teeth to the tooth fairy helped me shave off my snow beard and snow mustache. Emmett told Tia that he lost a tooth but because his mouth was a little confused from the rearrangement and confusing configuration he hadn't quite adapted and she thought he had said, “washed a goose” not “lost a tooth”. But that is neither hear nor there. Tia asked some probing questions about the tooth fairy. Did he wear pink spandex and tutu? What was it like meeting him? Did he have a magic wand? TIA IS NOT FUNNY! Besides which, Emmett never saw any Tooth Fairy but he did leave a Fantastic Four figurine under Emmett’s pillow. Tia told Emmett that she use to be one of the Fantastic Four when they were the Fantastic Five. NOT FUNNY, TIA! Whatever. Anywho... we then went home, shoveled the snow to build a snowman and just as the media showed up I was enjoying my first taste of snow. It tasted O.K. But next time I think I'll add a touch of maple syrup.

On the Web:
WCCO TV: Normal Weirdness-A Taste of Winter
WCCO TV: Heavy Storm Drops A Foot Of Snow!
Baby Carter Presents: Spiderman Returns!
Baby Carter Presents: Coal & Switches
Baby Carter Presents: Hail to Pay!
Fantastic Four
Tooth Fairy

AC360º, I wish you were FAT... or Daniel Ortega: Communist Dictator?

2006-11-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

Anderson Cooper meets his idol, Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.
Click on the picture above to read their conversation...

Update: Daniel Ortega: Communist Dictator?
Last night on Anderson Cooper 360º, I was shocked and surprised to hear AC call President-elect Daniel Ortega Saavedra a former communist dictator.
COOPER: Getting back to Iran-Contra* for a moment. How is this for déjà vu?*(referring to ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE: Gates is not without controversy. In 1991, he was investigated but cleared of any wrongdoing in the Iran-Contra scandal. Several political analysts tell CNN they do not expect that to hinder his confirmation.)
This is the statement that made me jump out of my seat:
COOPER: (continues...) one of the other players is making a comeback, as well. This guy, remember him? Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua's former community dictator, now its newest president-elect. Everything old is new again.
I believe the above transcription contains a typo. I thought I heard Anderson say, former communist dictator.
COOPER:(continues...)Trying today to calm U.S. concerns about a return to the Marxist past, he promised not to push for any dramatic, radical changes to Nicaragua's economy.
According to CNN's own research Daniel Ortega Saavedra was president of Nicaragua from 1985-1990. As one of the leading commanders of the Sandinista forces that ousted Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in July 1979, he became head of the ruling junta in the subsequent leftist regime.
I never considered President-elect Ortega a dictator. Instead I always thought of him as a hero and liberator: a man who wanted equality freedom and justice for Nicaragua's people. They wanted freedom from imperialism, corporations and bullies in the U.S. government. They wanted freedom to farm their own land to grow their own food instead of spending long hours producing products for a penny's worth of recompense. And they wanted the freedom to live without environmental destruction. That being made clear I was surprised to read Ortega’s own interpretation of the Sandinista revolution and previous presidency. He called it a formal dictatorship within the framework of liberal politics: we wanted a more profound social change, a socialist change, and naturally that led us to identify with the Cuban Revolution.
I tend to think of a dictator as a despotic ruler like North Korea’s Kim Jong-il and/or a tyrannical ruler like Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong or Iosif Stalin rather than an autocratic albeit benevolent enlightened ruler who rules with logic and selflessness.

On the Web:
Anderson Cooper 360º Cranky & Grouchy Transcript
Anderson Cooper 360º Daniel Ortega: Communist Dictator?
CNN interviews Daniel Ortega: Communist Dictator?
Anderson Cooper, I wish you were Fat!
Sesame Street

Anderson Cooper 360º: Kerry Controversy

2006-11-01T17:43:00.000-06:00

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS:
You know, education, if you make the most of it, and you study hard, and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you -- you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.
Last night while watching Anderson Cooper 360º my first thought hearing these words from Sen. Kerry were: Wow is he shilling for the Republicans? He actually was making President Bush sound good for a change. It is not possible that Kerry could have been a worse president than Bush if he had been elected. Yet, I felt a vague sense of relief that he didn’t win. I voted for Ralph Nader even though some called him a spoiler. I voted my conscience. I don’t like the idea of voting for someone I don’t approve of just to keep the one I disapprove of more out of office. As things worked out Kerry won Illinois so in my state, Nader was not a “spoiler”. Some journalists have stated that the election was stolen anyway and that Kerry should have been President. But that is another story. I was shocked and surprised by what Kerry said because I know Kerry served in the military and I thought was smarter than that. Is it possible he meant to direct the words only to President Bush? Maybe.
While I don’t exactly like the idea of defending him I have to admit that I was saying almost the same words to my friend just a few hours before I heard him on Anderson Cooper 360º. I work at an arts & communication college famous for its creative geniuses. That being made clear, I was telling my friend who is a little bit older than I that I was dismayed at how clueless and immature many of the young adult students acted. I continued exasperated,
“This explains why there are so many young people dying in Iraq. I mean if the ones in college seem so unaware imagine the ones being sent over there to die! If both groups would all just get together and say, ‘NO!’ the government and the neo-cons would have to bring back the draft. Then you’d see some protest!”
Maybe kids are just too sheltered and/or distracted these days to know what is really going on. For example, there are two jokers sitting not 10' away from me as I write this. They are ostensibly students but are most likely posers. Hey I get paid to be here but they are here every day before I arrive and they would stay indefinitely after I left if I didn’t close up the place after kicking them out. All these hours spent in front of a computer screen. Are they writing a great novel, reading the news or doing research? No dear readers. Every now and then I sneak a peak at their flickering screen. All they do at least 8 hours a day – I think it’s more – is chat and play online games! Oh I just noticed –and look at celebrity pictures. They don't even take breaks to eat or go to the restroom!
I on the other hand when just a little toddler still in diapers and plastic pants watched Lee Harvey Oswald shot on live television. That opened my eyes! Not too many years later, I noticed that someone had scrawled “FREE BOBBY SEALE” on the sidewalk right in front of my home and on almost every sidewalk in the neighborhood. That was so cool. Let’s face it – Kids were a bit busier back in the day…

On the Web:
CNN.com: After remarks, Kerry curtails campaigning for Democrats
POSTED: 3:01 p.m. EST, November 1, 2006
Anderson Cooper 360º: Kerry Comments Create Controversy
Friday, November 3rd, 2006
AWOL Army Private Kyle Snyder interviewed on Democracy Now!

Jim Tillman on Anderson Cooper 360°

2006-10-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

I’ve often wondered what Anderson was researching on his laptop during his broadcasts. Now it can finally be revealed because CNN has created this over the top whiz bang set for Anderson Cooper 360°. The camera literally flys around and above Anderson revealing the monitor’s screen. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that the™® Pink Bubble Gum Monster?
But seriously folks it was a sad and scary day in New York City. New York Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle, flying his own small plane slammed into a high-rise building next to the East River on the upper east side of Manhattan. First reports had me quite worried about my uncle who lives not far from the crash. The building he lives in looks somewhat similar and I couldn’t remember his exact address. I called him right away as soon as I heard the first reports I think around 4:30pm Chicago time. At first it looked as if at least 2 apartments had been destroyed.
Later in the evening I watched Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN.
The most interesting part of the broadcast was a fascinating interview with Jim Tillman who is an aviation expert and meterologist. He often reported the weather in Chicago. He may still be doing this. I’m not sure because I rarely if ever watch the local news now a days.
This crash makes almost no sense to me. Anderson showed a static mounted camera shot of the crash. The video was shot from the Coast Guard vessel traffic center. I completely agree with Anderson that it is strange that the plane crashed on what appears to be the inland side of the building--not the river side. When flying a plane along a river knowing that the plane is malfunctioning wouldn’t most pilots ditch the plane in the water? They at least would have a chance of survival and rescue. But this is a question for later this morrow people when I'll have more time and info...
Update. Here is a short excerpt of the interview with Jim Tilman:
COOPER:Jim Tilmon, a pilot and aviation analyst is also looking at this tape. I guess it doesn't really get us any closer to really understanding what happened, other than you get a sense of sort of the visibility that was out there at the time of the crash.
TILMON: Yes. And this doesn't look like really bad visibility. The thing that you don't appreciate is how low the ceiling is from this shot. But you know, when I looked at this, I have to say, Anderson, you know, this aircraft flew directly into the building. It's not like it was turning or whatever else. When you look at the damage to the building it's almost like it just bore a hole right in the side of it.
And the other thing about this fuel situation, the mayday. Unless the fuel was contaminated, I can't imagine that it was a fuel problem because that's what created all of the flame and all of the fire and everything else. These were not somebody's drapes burning. This was kerosene that was burning in there as a result of this accident -- rather, gasoline.
COOPER: What's strange about -- you know, when I went down to the building today, I mean, the impact zone is on the north side of the building, facing the north of Manhattan. It's not facing the river. I mean, you would think if someone was turning off from the river and slamming into a building, it would be the apartments, you know, that were directly facing the river, but it's not. You sort of have to go around and then come back into the building.
TILMON: Well, there were some discussions from the radar track today about a tight turn that was made and there's some question in my mind as to which direction that turn was being made and why.
On the Web:
Within this transcript of AC360º is an interview with eyewitness to the crash and private pilot Henry Neimark
Within this transcript of AC360º is an interview with Pilot and Aviation Analyst Jim Tilmon.

Bad JuJu… Anderson Cooper 360°

2006-10-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

Bad JuJu…
I know it’s considered bad juju to ask one of my covert operatives Deep H to use an unsecured line to send the Pink Bubble Gum Monster®™ through the Oort Cloud on a dangerous mission. But I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my “Sweet Baboo” from scary stuff. The previous entire week CNN’s AC360° reported from Democratic Republic of the Congo & Darfur in Southern Sudan. YIKES! I know this shouldn’t worry me. After all he has a lot of experience visiting and reporting from Africa. This week an interview with Congo rebel leader General Lauren Nkunda was pretty scary. I literally was sitting on the edge of my chair watching as Anderson and his crew were driven along a dusty winding road to the general’s secret base and hideout. Hey who needs Police dramas, reality TV and Horror flicks? That stuff is boring compared to watching this.
Anderson Cooper (on camera): …(Nkunda has) been accused of a host of war crimes and human rights violations. His troops are known to have looted villages, raped women, he's been accused of ordering the summary executions of dozens of prisoners. The Congolese government issued an international arrest warrant for him, but so far it seems no one has been able or willing to apprehend him.
The handsome and apparently charming and amiable General Nkunda admitted nothing of the sort. But good looks are often deceiving so of course I wondered if Anderson knowing what he knew about this man, was afraid or even a little nervous while conducting this interview.
Later on Anderson almost interviewed an endangered full grown male gorilla. But the gorilla wasn’t talking. This segment wasn’t nearly as scary as aforementioned one.
Somehow I missed the segment where Anderson featured an ingenious Congolese man who had made his own bike out of wood. I found out about this from another blog. I wrote to Eliza the author of the blog about this:
Hey Eliza,
This blog is great. I didn’t realize while watching last night that Anderson was showing a home made wooden bike. Nice image. Maybe I’ve got that on tape I’m not sure... As usual I was probably ogling AC and not registering what he was saying... I did notice that he was focusing on the "impending doom" of reaching one's 40s. I hope! Hey his dad and aunt had heart conditions. But life expectancy is much less in this part of Africa so maybe he doesn’t have some kind of fear for himself when he mentions those statistics. Anyway I too hope to write something soon about these reports from Africa.
Most of the coverage from Africa was important but not in depth. A lot of the time of the broadcast was wasted on rehashing the Mark Foley sex scandal and there was usual inordinate amount of time spent for advertisements. I guess CNN needs the revenue to pay to send to and at the same time protect their journalists in dangerous situations. Because of this I still don’t really know exactly what causes one group of people to live in constant turmoil and poverty while another lives in relative safety and with abundance. In this case I speculated in a comment I posted October 2nd to the AC360° blog:
This past Friday Anderson explained why much of this senseless killing is happening: Most of it involves mining rights for essential minerals for hi-tech gadgets that make life easier for people living in industrialized countries.
This is how I view the situation: Things are getting worse all over the world because of greed. The "in crowd" who control most of the wealth ─ corporations, government leaders lobbyists etc. only care about themselves, about grabbing as much as they can and in having power and control over others. They play weaker groups against each other no matter what the cost and they sit back with smirks on their faces and laugh.
As for the young wife and mother who survived the death of her family, I’m guessing she is a stronger then me. I’m not sure I could.

Jeff, Anderson, Sanjay stay safe…

Needless to say I found the whole situation quite vexing. Because of this I skipped watching Wednesday’s live broadcast and watched on PBS: Moyers on America, Capitol Crimes.
I also taped this show. Mysteriously none of the sound recorded. All I got was white noise static. Luckily the captions that are recorded on another track were O.K. I tested the tape later to see if it was defective. This time the sound recorded was fine. Hey if I was even more suspicious of the government and the mainstream media I have to say this was more than a fluke. Maybe I can get a free transcript of the show or borrow it from the library.
Capitol Crimes tells the story of how a small group of lobbyists, fiscal and Christian conservative Republicans used their power and influence in Congress to launder money and bilk clients: native America tribes, conservative Christians and also exploit garment workers. If that seems a lot to fit into one paragraph it is. The leading players are: Texas representative Tom DeLay, lobbyists Jack Abramoff & Michael Scanlon, Christian leader Ralph Reed and fiscal conservative Grover Norquist. Anyway you’ll need a scorecard to keep track of the shenanigans.
Readers I know you are wondering by now why I’ve been spending time much of this past year writing about and caring so much about this one journalist who probably doesn’t even know about or much less cares about what I think ─ especially when I think that much of the mainstream media is doling out infotainment rather then in depth news coverage. I guess the only way to cope with what is going on in the world I felt I needed to love someone in order to understand what others were feeling. I know this sounds quite lame and foolish and makes no sense but that is the only way I know to explain it. I’m lucky I don’t have a loved one overseas in danger but maybe I can be more sympathetic if I know what it’s like to worry about someone who is.
On the Web:
Anderson Cooper360° October 3rd, 2006 1st Hour
Anderson Cooper360° October 3rd, 2006 2nd Hour
Eliza’s Anderson Cooper 360° Review
Moyers on America, Capitol Crimes / PBS
Moyers on America, Citizens’ Class / PBS
Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders,
and the People Who Fight Back
by Amy Goodman & David Goodman
Just a frickin’american: covert operative Deep H
Commentary from TV News Lies: Link#1 & Link #2

Baby Carter Presents: Coal & Switches

2006-09-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

Today a little bit of a palette cleanser if you will...
An exclusive to the Echo Report:
Baby Carter Presents from the Minnesota State Fair

Hello, My name is Baby Carter.
I’m reporting to you from the Minnesota State Fair where I met world renowned cult music icon Jeffrey Barnes of the band Brave Combo. Wizard that he is he spun the interview into a song from Brave Combo’s latest album CD Holidays!

Coal And Switches
By Jeffrey Barnes

Ho Ho Ho Little Boy, What Is It You Want?
“A Little Girl”
Yeah, Just What I Thought.
“Gee Santa Claus, You’re Sure Out Of Shape”
Hmm, Maybe I’ll Review Your Surveillance Tape.
Well Well Well.
You Blew Up The Toilet With An M-80,
You Told A Naughty Story To A Nice Lady.
You Back Talked Mom, You Told A Lie,
You Better Watch Out, I’m Telling You Why.

Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.
That’s What The Bad Kids Are Gettin’ This Christmas.
Coal, Cold And Hard As Your Heart.
Little Thin Switches To Make You Smart.

Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.
Either Way That Oughta Warm Your Britches.
Now, Ol’ Santa’s Mad,
‘Cause He Knows You’ve Been Bad.
What Are You Getting?
You Should Ask Your Dad.
Smack! Ow!
Do The Spank! Do The Spank!

Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.
That’s What The Bad Kids Are Gettin’ This Christmas.
Coal, Cold And Hard As Your Little Heart.
Little Thin Switches, ‘Cause You Know That They Smart.
Coal And Switches, Coal And Switches.

That’s What You Get, You Little Sons Of Guns.
You’ve Done Had Your Fun, You’ll Get None For Christmas.
All You’ll Be Getting Is Coal And Switches.

Hey Jeffrey wasn’t kidding. Not only did I get a lot of Coal and Switches I got Brave Combo’s latest CD, Holidays!
Plus because Jeffrey is also kind of an evil wizard guy he whipped up a furious hail storm upon my cute little head.
You don’t believe me? I’ve got the pictures to prove it. My big brother Emmett was so scared he climbed up a street sign.

On the Web:
Brave Combo
Coal & Switches
Baby Carter Presents: Spiderman Returns!
Baby Carter Presents: Robot Invasion!

Baby Carter Presents: Hail to Pay!

2006-09-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

June 1st 2006 Anderson Cooper 360º CNN

2006-06-01T23:59:00.000-05:00

June 1st 2006... Anderson Cooper 360º CNN... Chalmette, Louisiana

Cartoon Controversy

2006-02-23T17:30:00.000-06:00

Above: My fatgirls rio baton ode to the diaphanous FAXY, the Evil Wizard Guy & the dangerously agglutinated SQUASH GOBLIN.

I posted the comment below yesterday on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° Blog. Some of the comments I post on the blog are published. This one wasn't. I'm not sure why. It may have been too similar to other comments or it may have been considered too controversial. Filtering hundreds of comments can't be easy but I wonder about the who and the why of this process. Here is my comment for what it is worth:
I wonder who is instigating these demonstrations. What do they have to gain? The protesters may want to pick their battles with more thought. Are they angry about US occupation and oppression that causes grinding poverty and shortages of basic necessities? Ignorance about what is really going on can cause people to lash out at what appears to be a mere slight yet it represents a deeper hurt. Just think about your family squabbles. They often ignite from the weakest of sparks.
If it isn't obvious the issue being discussed is the demonstrations in the Muslim world over the publishing of several cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Update: According to AC, the 360° Blog got 300,000 hits so far. Does this mean that 300,000 people commented last night or since the blog began about 2 weeks ago? Or does it mean that 300,000 have addressed it with or without comment? Also AC says he reads all of the posted comments. I'm not sure this is such a good idea... There is only so much time in each day. If you like, you may comment on this blog. Before I had it set so that commenters had to be bloggers too. If I hadn't , Internet marketeers would leave bogus comments for their potency enhancement or weight loss products. This is an experiment. If you are an Internet marketeer please refrain from commenting. Thanks.

On the Web:
Anderson Cooper 360° Blog
Ravenscroft Dog Farm: Ice Cream Means War

Check out Annabelle Echo Chicago for a reports about Economic Hitman John Perkins, Welsh music icon & artist, Jon Langford and sculptor, Cynthia Plaster Caster

Check out My Closet for an upcoming review of Iraqi film, The Dreams of Sparrows.

DNA Diagnosis: Outside & Inside

2006-02-23T17:00:00.000-06:00

DNA Diagnosis: Outside & Inside
CNN Anderson Cooper 360°

Shakespeare explained DNA much more poetically than any scientist ever could.
I wish to apply his words here to describe my favorite journalist:

'Tis beauty truly blent, whose blue & white
Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on:
Fair knight, you are the cruell'st he alive,
If you will lead these graces to the grave
And leave the world no copy?

Adapted from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Spencer Wells, Explorer in Residence for the National Geographic Society tested a sample of AC’s DNA as part of a the Human Genographic Project and came to the conclusion that Anderson’s like the rest of our descendents came out of Africa. His in particular genome R1A ended up in the Ukraine and Russia about 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. Beyond that DNA results won't change, but the interpretation will get better as more people participate and donate their DNA.
Spencer Wells is also the author of the book The Journey of Man.

The show also had a story about what I might call the inner influences of DNA. CNN’s Ted Rowlands reported a story about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; In particular when the symptoms manifest as hoarding behavior. A mother from Illinois and a mature gentleman from California were interviewed and featured. Both, while suffering terribly managed to be outwardly charming and seemingly intelligent. Their homes however were filled to an unmanageable level with worthless paper and junk. An interesting and poignant film, Unstrung Heroes deals with this problem. I’m quite familiar with what DNA can mean to those with this affliction. My grandmother also Annabelle who died two years before I was born and my Aunt also suffered from the compulsion to hoard. I also suffered for a while. But I was determined to overcome my DNA. I tried counseling and considered taking medication but in the end I was able to overcome this problem on my own. I found that by focusing on the Earth’s fragile environment or by writing about my heroes in the arts, music activism and journalism I’m now able to maintain a life that is almost clutter free. Sure, I still have too many books that I can’t find time to read, too many vintage blue jeans and western shirts and too many Glima T’s but life is now manageable.
Besides focusing on other activities and other people I now avoid the other source of my symptoms; the one that’s not written into my DNA: the stores where I used to collect my clutter. I’m at work later in the day now while the stores are open. I leave work after they close.
On the Web:
Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence
The Journey of Man
CNN Anderson Cooper 360° DNA transcript
CNN Anderson Cooper 360° OCD transcript
Unstrung Heroes

Sufi mystics Eating Light bulbs & Other Anomalies

2006-02-21T19:55:00.000-06:00

This is going out to the unused spectrum of the entire broadband and satellite frequency. Every other week I have mysterious flu like symptoms that never quite complete their journey towards any full-blown illness. I’m not sure what is causing this. Is it the 2 cigarettes a week that I smoke at Buddy Guy’s Legends? Maybe it’s just trying to talk through a loud smoky crowd. If this is the cause the result is worth it. Seeing and hearing Eddie C. Campbell and his band is so much fun! Other causes of my symptoms could be other sick people who I sometimes tend to. I’m not a doctor but I find it’s often rewarding to pass out aspirin and sugar while they either reign or rain their germs down upon me. I’m not sure which.
Whatever is causing my illness is also keeping me from writing from what I planned to write about. Today it seems hopeless and redundant to write about the news. Sadly last night the media giants and the media underground seemed to be spinning their wheels. Except for the news about Dubai Ports World gaining operational authority over six US ports, the news seemed stuck. This is not criticism. On the contrary I think it’s important to keep covering the same story or stories until the problem or conflict they involve are resolved in some way.
The 1^st hour of Anderson Cooper 360º included a promo for an HBO movie Dealing Dogs. I didn’t see this but the transcript is pretty gruesome. The next story reported by Hugh Riminton from the Philippines was tragic. It was about a catastrophic landslide that killed almost 2000. It reminded me of similar news from Haiti not too long ago. The cause there was de-forestation.
Cooper asked Randall Jibson of the US Geological Survey about this more recent event. Was a contributing cause “overly aggressive logging?” Because the water pressure was deeper than the roots of the trees and tens of feet below the surface Jibson dismissed that de-forestation was the cause. The next story reported by Morgan Neill was much too familiar. 65 miners were trapped approximately 3 miles below the surface in San Juan de Sabinas, Mexico. Cooper asked how could rescuers dig that far down with only picks and shovels? Susan Roesgen continued her report or maybe saga is a better word about the FEMA wasteful mishandling of trailers meant for police, rescue workers and other Katrina victims. She reported that $8 million will now be spent on a gravel parking lot to store the unused trailers. Sigh. Besides a report about an adorable fat cat whose tummy was inches wider than Anderson’s, the last minutes of the 1^st hour were a promo for Anderson’s appearance on the Oprah show today. I tried to post a screen shot from this show but I haven’t had time to capture it yet so I posted the above file footage. The 2^nd hour of the show was a repeat of the swami lookin’ Sufi mystics eating light bulbs and other anomalies. Not news. Sorry. But after such a tragic hour I guess the CNN producers needed a break.
Instead I watched a fascinating movie on World Link TV called The Oil Factor. It is part of the Link TV Special - War of Deception. I’m sure it will be repeated. WATCH IT!
I did comment on the AC360º blog at least an hour before airtime: As of this post it hasn’t made the cut. The poster was Henry Schuster, CNN Senior Producer. The headline was: Inside the port deal that's giving Bush headaches on Monday, February 20, 2006 at 6:30 PM
Here is my comment: I've read that Arab countries have taken out huge loans to build infrastructure, modern western style structures and highways. Often, American companies benefit through building contracts. There may even be some kind of agreement to provide US military protection in order to keep the oil flowing. This may explain the cozy relationship.

On the Web:

Anderson Cooper 360º 1^st hour
Swami lookin’ Sufi Mystics eating light bulbs...
AC360º blog
The Oil Factor

"Gang Infested" Gold ! ?

2006-02-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

Because of the war going on in Iraq, I haven’t paid much attention to the winter Olympics this time around. I feel too restless and a little frivolous watching something I now consider a distraction. I’ve been working on a couple of short essays about Jon Langford and Hayder Daffar and was going to try to post them today but instead this caught my eye in today’s Tempo section of the Chicago Tribune:
TURIN 2006 Winners & Lugers:11 days into the Winter Games and the Tempo Subcommittee on Feigning Interest is doing its best to keep the Olympic flame alive. Reported by Maria Mooshil, Linda Bergstrom, Lilah Lohr, Tim Bannon Lucinda Hahn Published February 20, 2006
NBC commentator Tim Ryan: He referred to the "gang-infested Chicago neighborhood" gold medalist Shani Davis grew up in. That would be Hyde Park, home of the University of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry. Somebody needs a geography lesson.
I grew up in the same Chicago neighborhood. While I have been mugged a few times, I wouldn’t call it “gang-infested.” One guy pulled a gun. When he wouldn’t let me go after I gave him my wallet, I decided to teach the mugger a lesson: Never get close with a gun. I grabbed the barrel and pushed it down towards the ground and started screaming. I fell on the ice. He was so stunned that I had tried to take his gun; he gave up on me and walked away. Another guy stole my bike from me with a shank. A shank is a homemade knife like weapon people usually make in jail. So I’m guessing this guy had been in jail before.
I asked my fellow blogger, Kevin Blanchard what he thought about Ryan’s comment about Hyde Park.
“If he thinks Hyde Park is gang-infested, he should come to my neighborhood, Englewood.”
Mr. Blanchard grew up in Englewood. It unlike Hyde Park does have a reputation for being “gang-infested.”
While I admit I don’t feel very safe going there, the folks I personally know who live there are among Chicago’s best and brightest.
But to return to our topic, I have admit to being mystified that there is so little coverage in the Chicago press about Shani Davis winning a Gold medal. You would think it to be the top story on every TV & radio news program and newspaper. I believe he is the very first African American man to win for speed skating. Vonetta Flowers is the first woman who in 2002 won Gold for bobsled. Although I’m sure some African Americans resent that there has to be a “Black History Month”, the Chicago press usually makes such a big deal about it.
On the Web:
TURIN 2006 Winners & Lugers
U.S. speed skater Shani Davis ices his place in history
Shani Davis does it his way, wins gold medal
Shani Davis rises above the criticism
Friend proud of Davis’ Olympic gold
Shani Davis

Trailer Travesty

2006-02-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

The longer I live the more I realize that I'm going to have to live with less. One reason is because I want to. The other reason is because I will have to. I've been thinking about this and planning for it for a while now. Long before anyone living in New Orleans thought it would be great relief to park a small trailer in their ravaged driveway, I was making plans to live full time in a travel trailer, motorhome or as we wanabe full timers call them an RV--short for recreational vehicle. Let's be clear about what we're talkin' about. I'm not talking about the 11,000 behemoth mobile trailer homes that FEMA has been spending $25,000 tax money monthly to store in a rural area near Hope Arkansas. These houses on wheels are not meant for travel. They are designed to be transported only once to a permanent place. I wouldn't be surprised if they were bigger than some less than affordable Manhattan apartments. On Friday, February 10th CNN Gulf Coast Correspondent Susan Roesgen reported on Anderson Cooper 360°. She said that 431million U.S. tax dollars were spent by FEMA to purchase these homes. Not to be critical but she reported the obvious: They are too big to fit in a driveway, they require working infrastructure and they aren't designed to withstand floods. There may even be some kind of law or ordinance preventing them from being put upon a flood plain. AC incredulous, exclaimed, "It defies logic." He then asked almost rhetorically, "Why buy in the first place?" Yes I thought, "Why indeed?"
Then on Monday, February 13th the news got worse. Richard Skinner, Homeland Security Inspector General was quoted as saying, "Since they were not properly stored, as you can see from this second picture, the homes are sinking in the mud and their frames are bending from sitting on trailers with no support."
I've been thinking and dreaming about floods for years now. I live near Lake Michigan so I guess it's a remote possibility that I would have to climb up to the 3rd floor of my building to escape from drowning if the lake suddenly overflowed and surged up. I dreamt this scenario quite vividly once. This has never actually happened nor do I realistically ever expect it to. I also had what author John Perkins might call psycho navigational experience when I found myself floating on some flood debris somewhere in Ohio. It was so real. I ended up floating into someone’s house wearing only a wet nightgown. When I woke up, I found out that there was a flood going on in Ohio while I was sleeping. Weird.
Besides the 431million wasted by FEMA there are other explanations for why Homeland Security hasn't done much to clean up New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Region. You should already know this but if you don't, Homeland Security runs FEMA. I believe FEMA was an independent agency until just after 9/11/2001. According to a report by Steve Kroft on CBSnews 60minutes, billions of tax dollars have been wasted in Iraq, especially since spring of 2003. Because of the chaos of war and the lack of electricity, billions of dollars in hard currency was distributed to non military service contractors. In other words, billions in paper cash was passed out like candy. While many contractors literally stole the money, the report focused on two jokers: Custer & Battles. In the words of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, "Who are these guys?" While the rest of us folk nickel & dime it through life, Scott Custer & Mike Battles were getting rich off of our money without much to show for it. Frank Willis, the #2 man in charge of transportation for the Pentagon's Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), called the situation "the Wild West." My advice to the CPA is this: If a contract says that a service provider has the obligation to supply trucks to distribute billions in hard currency, it better also have clause that says that said trucks must function and be operable. That did not happen.
Last night, Monday, February 13, 2006 I wrote a comment on the 360° blog. The post subject was Porn-to-go starting to take off. It was posted by Tom Foreman, CNN correspondent at 7:42 PM eastern time. I must have missed the cut-off time by about 30 minutes because my comment was never published.
Believe it or not a Sufi or Swami lookin' guy was eating a fluorescent light bulb. Here for the first time exclusively on The Echo Report is that comment:
Tom, I've been watching AC360 tonight. While this story about porn should have been the most shocking, it didn't come close to the story about the sinking trailers in Arkansas. This 431 million mistake even beat out the guy eating the light bulb. And tell Anderson to have a heart. He was mystified that Ron Jeremy could have been a porn star. Let's face it. Not everyone can be as adorable as AC.
Click the Stuck in the Mud 360° transcript link below for more info about these stories
On the Web:
Trailer Travesty 360° transcript
Stuck in the Mud 360° transcript
Billions Wasted In Iraq? CBSnews transcript
The Complete Idiot's Guide to RVing by Brent Peterson
Take Back Your Life! Travel Full-Time In An RV by Stephanie Bernhagen

Sometimes life is like a tunnel from San Diego to Tijuana

2006-02-04T21:38:00.000-06:00

Sometimes life is like a tunnel from San Diego to Tijuana.
In December of last year, while arguing for the decriminalization of drugs, one of the Daily Kos crew wrote, Any pleasure-giving activity has the potential to become a problem. In my case it might be watching Anderson Cooper 360º night after night.
But if last night’s edition of 360º didn’t convince you that this country’s lawmakers need to decriminalize drugs, nothing will. Imagine the time and money it took to secretly build such a sophisticated underground 2,400ft tunnel. To use a few clichés, mind boggling, jaw dropping, astonishing and stupefying come to mind. Fill in the blank to add your own. __________________.
AC reported that Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents (ICE) have issued warnings to the people who did such backbreaking spirit draining labor for their employers, believed to be Mexican drug cartels: Their lives may be in danger.
I wondered how long did it take to make? What tools were used? AC gave his audience a fascinating tour. It began at the origination of the tunnel found in the office of a legitimate looking industrial warehouse. Didn’t anyone leasing space or working in or near the building hear loud noise? Imagine the sound of a jackhammer in an enclosed space. Maybe others suspected what was going on and were terrified to investigate?
I started to think about what motivated the people who built the tunnel. Imagine the money it took. I know. You have to spend money to make it. I usually associate such unbelievable determination with love: love of God, love of freedom; love of country or of tribe. I guess I have the romantic notion that something this elaborate and difficult to construct could only be spurred on by love for another person. I guess that’s crazy. I know the truth though. Love of money built that tunnel.

On the Web:
It’s Well-Past The Time To Decriminalize Drugs
Decriminalize Drugs! This is a NO-brainer.
Anderson Cooper 360º Transcript
Anderson Cooper 360º Blog

Act your Age, Not your Shoe Size

2006-02-04T12:00:00.000-06:00

Act your Age, Not your Shoe Size
NBC News Dateline: To Catch a Predator III
2 hours of time & tape was spent on this story.
Dateline NBC and Perverted-Justice, a vigilante cyber predator dragnet, invite every pedaphile in town to date an underage youth. And guess what? Everyone of them shows up. Yikes!
While I applaud this effort, especially since all these sickos were promptly arrested, 2 hours of watching this stuff made me feel dirty and voyeuristic. Chris Hansen was the Dateline correspondent.
O.K. I admit it. I'd rather watch AC inside of a tunnel. Now he's a good man in a tight corner.
His show, Anderson Cooper 360º also did a similiar story about the abuse of underage sex trade workers in Tijuana, Mexico.
Part of the story, reported by Thelma Gutierrez was more dignified and less lurid than the Dateline report. It told the story from the point of view of the abused victims rather than from the view of the predators. Later after this report Cooper drove around Tijuana's red light district and explained the Protect Act, an American law passed in 2003 that makes it illegal for an American citizen to travel overseas with the intent of having sex with a minor.
On the Web:
Transcript: To Catch a Predator III
Related Links on MSNBC
Del the decoy
Perverted Justice
Opposing Viewpoint

Mayor McCheese & The Chocolate Factory

2006-01-21T15:52:00.000-06:00

Anderson Cooper 360°
Keeping Them Honest: The Racial Minefield
Aired January 17, 2006 - 22:00 ET

Honestly I laughed out loud when I first heard these words from Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin, "It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day." This was just an excerpt of a multi-faceted albeit rambling speech made by the Mayor to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King.
JULIA REED, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR to NEWSWEEK, said on CNN's AC360 last night that, "he just looks like a raving lunatic" and later that any progress being made in New Orleans was obscured every single time "Ray Nagin opens his mouth."
I wasn't insulted or offended at all by his remarks. I just thought he should consider taking some speech writing lessons from his and my hero MLK before he speaks publicly again. Personally, though I love chocolate: white chocolate & milk chocolate. I'm not a fan of the semi-sweet variety though. (Please do not take any inference from this.) Anyway I eat it everyday at breakfast for health reasons of course. I didn't realize though that chocolate was a confection that New Orleans was known for. I guess I thought it would melt too quickly in a place known for its heat and humidity. I always think of the wine and whiskey cakes of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. After reading this book I had the aspiration, or as they say in New Orleans, the desire to make these liquor filled cakes myself. My Brother-in-law, who besides being a great artist, is also quite adept at the culinary arts, was after tasting one of my attempts at patisserie, less than impressed. Next time I'll throw a half a bottle of JD into the batter. We'll see how he likes that!
CNN & unfortunately my so called, "baby doll" Anderson did play up the race card more than I thought appropriate to the issue. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who was with King on his last birthday and at the moment he was killed, did point this out: "So, we see the card being played. My pain tonight is, we're off message. The message here must be poverty, racial reconciliation, and an end to unnecessary wars. That's the Dr. King message."
I was thinking about this on King's birthday while I listened to him speak. He was talking about the war in Viet Nam. He could have just as easily have been talking about the war in Iraq. Not much has really changed has it? I was also thinking that maybe the reason Mayor Nagin is still breathing and Dr. King isn't is due to their considerable difference in oratory skill.
On the Web:
Transcript of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's speech Monday
commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Anderson Cooper 360°
Keeping Them Honest: The Racial Minefield
Aired January 17, 2006 - 22:00 ET

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Beyond Vietnam,"
Address delivered to the Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam,
at Riverside Church, 4 April 1967, New York City
The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV
Media Beat (1/4/95) By Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon

Anderson Cooper, I wish I knew how to quit you…

2006-01-20T18:46:00.000-06:00

Ship Wreck?—Anderson Cooper 360°
Osama bin Laden's New Threat;
Environmental Armageddon in Gulf Coast?;
Broken Promises For Katrina Survivors
Aired January 19, 2006 - 22:00 ET

Preface: I adore Anderson Cooper. On the other hand, I’ve sometimes reviewed negatively some of the program he hosts, AC360°. But today I can’t do that. Last night’s broadcast from aboard the ship Scotia Prince docked just off the port in Saint Bernard Parish was as good as it gets. I was especially riveted by interviews with St. Bernard Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez and St. Bernard Parish Director of Homeland Security & Emergency Operations Larry Ingargiola. If you would like to read a transcript, a link is below at the end of this post.
Instead of a review, today I’m writing about what I consider my bizarre struggle with this culture’s and my own recent pre-occupation with celebrity. In my case…
Anderson Cooper, I wish I knew how to quit you…
It all began the weekend before Miss Katrina made land fall. I was waiting in the Minneapolis Bus Station to board a coach to Chicago. Several TVs affixed 10 feet above were set to CNN. Mayor Ray Nagin was warning his constituents in his own inimitable style that a hurricane was coming and that they should prepare for the worst and/or evacuate New Orleans.
Up until this point in my life, no celebrity had captured my attention with any overwhelming significance. I still hadn’t noticed or focused on Anderson Cooper. I remembered seeing him for a few moments on The Mole and thought it was strange that someone I heard was a journalist was hosting a “reality” show. The program momentarily fascinated me yet I quickly changed the channel. I laughed later when comedian Stephen Colbert, while interviewing Cooper called this break from a grueling reporter’s schedule a “Palette Cleanser”.
Meanwhile back at the Greyhound Station, I was thinking about New Orleans. I had always wanted to go there. I was now pretty sure that was never going to happen. I had heard on the News six months prior that New Orleans was below sea level and would someday flood. I just didn’t think that day would come this soon.
As much as I can remember of that mornings broadcast, Mr. Cooper hadn’t yet begun covering the Hurricane. I read later that he was en route to the Gulf Coast from I believe Croatia. Suffice it to say, although Katrina was on NOAA’s radar, Mr. Cooper had yet to make a blip on mine.
I work at a College where for awhile at least it seemed that many if not all the students were obsessed with “stars”. In order to deal with this problem, my colleague, Harold donned a makeshift haz-mat suit assembled from plastic bags and employed toxic noxious chemicals to clean the star struck, love starved graffiti from the bathroom stalls—not his job by the way. Meanwhile, I was busy in the computer lab trying to stem the endless tide of celebrity photos flowing from the printers. All day long I had to look at the singer Mark Anthony, Beyonce, Pamela Anderson and worst of all Aaliyah Rest-in-Peace. I was sick of it! Harold and I decided to lay down the law! From then on if a document appeared on the print queue that wasn’t a poem or a term paper it was never going to roll or attract toner. I felt sad, frustrated and discouraged. Why were people so obsessed with others they didn’t know and most likely could never be friends with? What was the point? I felt like running away from civilization and living off my wits in a souped-up bio-diesel powered veggie van. I was sick of this idol worshipping hierarchical system. I wanted to join a tribe!
Well obviously that hasn’t happened. I too now have been sucked into the vortex.
I can’t say the exact moment I even became cognizant of HIM in any profound way. Was it when he confronted Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu about the weak response to Katrina? Maybe it was when I read that his brother committed suicide and his father died when he was only age 10? Yikes! That got to me. Or maybe it’s just his quirky annoying grinding nasal laugh? When I heard it I felt helpless. I felt like the character of Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing when he realized that no matter how annoying and unreasonable Beatrice was he loved her and that was that!
As I boarded the Chicago bound coach, 2 days before Katrina made landfall, I was still blissfully unaware of Anderson Cooper. At the same time I was anxious. I was returning home from a visit with my sister and her family. I was quite worried about one of my little nephews who in 2 days was going to have a delicate surgical procedure. He’s fine now but at the time, I was scared.
While my fellow passengers and I settled into our seats, the bus driver made an unusual but not entirely unexpected announcement: “I know some passengers have tickets to connect upon arrival in Chicago to a bus to New Orleans. I’m warning you now. You will have to make other plans. Because of hurricane Katrina, no bus will arrive in New Orleans until further notice. You’re not going to make it. Thank you for going Greyhound.”
On the Web:
Anderson Cooper 360°
Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Emmett's Universe
Baby Carter presents: Robot Invasion!

Anderson Cooper 360°: Mine Safety

2006-01-15T09:44:00.000-06:00

I don't know what is wrong with me today. I'm confused, distracted and I can't seem to concentrate. Maybe it's the eye blistering flourescent lights glaring overhead, maybe it's the constant chatter I hear all around me. No matter. I'll try to complete this post as best I can.
Approximately 2 weeks ago I sent this email to CNN:
Subject: Mine Safety
I notice lately when I go into stores I set off alarm bells. I'm not a shoplifter. It's because of these damn RFID chips vendors have sown into clothes or have hidden in books. They aren't that easy to find and remove. Anyway I was thinking about this today and I thought why couldn't they use some kind of similar technology to protect coal miners? The chips would have to be modified with a stronger signal but maybe something like that could have saved those 11 miners that perished. Also why couldn't war merchants put these things into land mines so that after a war they could publish the frequency so that the mines could be safely detected and retrieved? But hopefully land mines will be banned soon so this won't be necessary.
Later that day I regretted it. I thought since I'm not any kind of expert on electronics. Maybe there was no way this could work deep in a mine. I felt a little foolish.
I was surprised and angry when I turned on Anderson Cooper 360°. Gary Tuchman was reporting that the very technology that I had wondered about existed and was available. I find it vexing that I can't find this exact report in the transcript linked below but other similar reports are transcribed.
Cooper did asked West Virginia Governor Joe Machin about why tracking devices and other safety devices weren't mandatory...
The entire story is shocking and I hope it will make you mad. CBS news had the most coverage on the Web:
CBS News: Lawmakers Pledge Mine Safety Reform
Anderson Cooper 360°
U.S. Department of Labor
Mine Safety and Health Administration
Protecting Miners' Safety and Health Since 1978
AP: Lawmakers Pledge Changes in Mine Safety
AP: Lawmakers Pledge Changes in Mine Safety #2

Please check My Closet for future reports on Welsh music icon & artist, Jon Langford, sculptor, Cynthia Plaster Caster and my review of Iraqi film, Dreams of Sparrows.

If your mother says she loves you, check it out!

2006-01-04T14:47:00.000-06:00

I'm writing this on no sleep people. I must believe in God because just before ringing in the New Year I said a little prayer. Please God, no big news please. Let the world catch its breath before anything else happens. Obviously and notwithstanding the fires in Oklahoma and the floods in California on New Years Day, my prayer, for whatever purpose is unfufilled. I realized this on Monday morning when I heard the news about the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia. As the day passed with no news of a quick rescue, I felt discouraged. I was pretty sure no one was going to be found alive. Imagine my surprise when I turned on the news and saw my hero, CNN's Anderson Cooper already on the location instead of in Studio! He just hosted the NYE count down in NYC and already had managed to make it to West Virginia. That boy must have a bag packed at any moment's notice. I marveled at this because I was still recovering from the City News Bureau finale on New Year Eve in Chicago. Tuesday passed ominously with no good news. I went to work and wrote about NYEve at Billy Goat's Tavern. The bad news trickled into my consciousness. Air tests at the mine found dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. A robot sent in to search was stuck in the mud. So much for technology, I thought later when I watched file footage of a similar robot on CNN that night. Cooper came on early that night at 8pm Chicago time. He never left the air until after 3:30am. I must have nodded off shortly after because when I awoke with a jolt at 4am Miles O'Brien had taken over and was interviewing an angry "Coal Mining" family.
I finally went to bed but not without waking up in a panic several times sure that I was choking to death. Clearly watching that night had been an ordeal. I believe the drama started just before midnight. A man who I had seen interviewed earlier ran up out of the darkness panting that 12 miners had been found alive. I doubted this. This man was not an official. He was a miner's relative. As quickly as he had run up to Cooper he was gone. I hoped that Cooper would stick to the journalist's credo: If your mother says she loves you, check it out! This didn't happen. Everyone was caught up in the joy of the moment. People started taking happy rejoicing photos. Experts on mine safety were congratulating themselves and the miners. Reports that the rescued miners would soon meet their families at a church were circulating. How could this be true? Dehydrated, hypothermic half conscious men who had been underground for more than 36 hours weren't going straight to a hospital? The minutes were ticking by. CNN had to fill the time. Several happy locals and family members were interviewed. It was embarrassing. If everything was so great I wondered, why wasn't the media allowed closer to the rescue sites? Throughout the entire ordeal the media had been corraled and restricted by officials from getting anywhere near the story. No wonder some locals were pissed at the media. The media had to rely on suffering people for information. Fast forward to just before 3am. After all this time, a woman with two children runs up to Cooper who seems almost about to fall apart. She tells him that it's all been a lie. Except for one young miner, there are no survivors. He hesitates, disbelieving at first, then chokes out the words, "I'm stunned."

On the Web:
If your mother says she loves you, check it out...
Wednesday Edition: Get Local on the Mining Story
City News Bureau & Countdown to Eyelashes

City News Bureau & Countdown to Eyelashes

2006-01-01T17:30:00.000-06:00

City News Bureau & Countdown to Eyelashes
CNB ceases operation at 12:01 a.m. January 1, 2006.

I usually don't venture out on New Year's Eve because some folks in my neighborhood like to shoot bullets into the air at midnight but I have to admit by 3am when I came home this time all was quiet.
I had just spent most of the previous night ringing in the New Year & ringing out the end of City News Bureau at Billy Goat's Tavern underneath Chicago's Tribune Tower. I have to admit I had a nice time meeting all these present and former newspaper journalists. The staff is even more fun to be with than the Saturday Night Live legend. But be careful, those old SNL skits aren't far from the truth. Please don't order anything crazy that's not on the menu. Yes it's true they don't have French fries just "chips": Vitner’s brand, barbecue flavor to be precise. I know they aren't good for me but they taste almost better than sex.
I spent most of the night keeping my friend Deep H, who once reported for City News, out of trouble. As smart, charming and handsome as he is also the master of the faux pas. I also had fun talking about sailing with Richard, a Streets & Sanitation worker who I swear knows everyone and I mean everyone in Chicago. His job, to clean graffiti, doesn't define him at all. Shortly after the White Sox won the pennant I was wearing my Cubs hat and saw some funny graffiti written on the OTB on State Street. It said, "Dream on Cub's fans..." Of course I'm also a Sox fan so I wasn't too upset. Richard said he would have photographed if he had seen it.
As the night wound down towards 2am Deep H and Richard decided it was time to break out the cigars. I can't stand the smoke so I sat by myself in the corner and watched ABC's Rockin' New Year's Eve. Except for the Bangles the entire show was a horrifying spectacle. At home, thank God, my VCR was rolling and recording the CNN NYE countdown show. I haven't watched the entire show yet but the 1st hour wasn't too bad. I enjoyed listening to Bare Naked Ladies. It was also a little more dignified than the ABC show. The host and my hero, Anderson Cooper seemed to be enjoying himself but many of his smiles seemed forced. I emailed him this before the show:

I've just set my VCR to record tonight's NYE CNN show. I hope to be at Billy Goat's tavern under the Tribune Tower at this time and I don't want to miss it. I've never bothered to watch any count-down show before but after such a year I guess I need some fun news for a change. I saw the show last night about aging gracefully. Some of it was disturbing. Is everything about aging so bad? What about change? Sometimes the lines on a person's face reveal the beauty, the pain and the turmoil of their life. Should that be erased by a vaccine? Would you have brown hair again instead of white even though this usual sign of aging adds to what makes you unique? Recently I saw a pensive photo of you in Life Magazine. You have silver eyelashes! Wow! In your words, "How cool is that?!" Have a Happy New Year...

On the Web:
Vitners: the Chicago Style Snacks
Master of the Faux Pas: Deep H
Wake planned for New Year's Eve as reporters mourn the death of
Chicago's fabled City News Bureau
It's Official: Chicago's City News Bureau is No More
City News Bureau of Chicago
Encyclopedia of Chicago History

Free the Naughty Gnomes...

2005-12-30T13:25:00.000-06:00

This edition of my blog is about gnomes. Specifically the Naughty Gnomes who live in my building. But before I begin and explain what I'm talking about I'd like to give credit to an amazing artist, Chad Walker who drew the image to the left. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing this image but my scanner was broken and I needed something. Anyway his site is located @
http://www.devotedbee.com/

O.K. now back to business... The reason I call my upstairs neighbors the Naughty Gnomes is because they have reigned terror upon my building since they moved in this past spring. They put an evil ceramic gnome in the vestibule with a hat bigger than it's body. Scrawled down the length of its hat are the words:
"I EAT LITTLE BOYS". Every morning I turn the gnome's face into the corner revealing the skull & crossbones on its little butt. "Naughty Gnome!" I admonish as I leave the building. Sadly though the ceramic gnome is the least of it. This week, for example, they pee'd on and put used condoms on my neighbor's door. So when this past Sunday at 2:06am I heard shattering glass right outside my door did you think I'd jump up out of bed in terror and call the police or at least check to see if anyone was injured? Under normal circumstances of course, I would! But instead, I just rolled over, grumbled to myself, "those Naughty Gnomes are at it again...", and fell back into a sweet dream about ...
Anderson Cooper...
more about him later...
On the Web: http://www.freethegnomes.com/

Help the Poor

2005-12-16T00:00:00.000-06:00

Help The Poor

by B.B. King

Help the poor; won't you help poor me?
I need help from you, baby.
Need it desperately.
I need you so much.
I need your care.
Need all the loving you can spare.
Help the poor. Won't you help poor me?
Say you will.
Say you'll help me on.
I can't make it no further in this world alone.
Baby, I'm begging with tears in my eyes.
For your love, don't you realize?
I need help from you baby.
Help poor me.
You are my inspiration.
You could make me dazzling.
But if you don't come to my rescue,
I couldn't ever be anything.
Help the poor.
Won't you help poor me?
Have a heart, won't you baby?
Listen to my plea.
I lost my courage 'til I found you.
You've got what it takes, baby, to pull me through.
Help the poor, oh baby, won't you help poor me?

The Silver & The Blue AC360: War is Hell !

2005-12-13T23:05:00.000-06:00

Today my hero wrote about the war in Iraq:

I'm planning on going out on patrol with Iraqi forces tomorrow, which should be interesting. They don't have armored vehicles, so it's a bit dicey. But I think it's an important story. It's worth seeing them operate for myself.

After reading this I emailed this comment in response:

I guess I'm confused about the 9 hour time difference so you may have already done this...You wrote that you were going out on patrol tomorrow without an armored vehicle!? Are you crazy!? I know you've done things like this before so I assume you know what you're doing... Do you feel afraid & excited or is this just routine? Anyway be careful. Maybe this is silly since I don't really know you but I'll worry about you anyway.

The Silver & The Blue: Anderson Cooper

2005-11-09T19:45:00.000-06:00

The Silver & The Blue:
Anderson Cooper

Is it because Silver & Blue are my favorite colors?
Is it his piercing impossiblue eyes ? Yes but he's also quite the funny valentine.
Gail Shister of the Mercury News out of San Jose, CA writes that his voice "sounds like a sports car with a broken clutch". Or like the churning grinding sound of an ignition that already fired.
Mr. Cooper is quoted as saying, ``I tend to think several sentences ahead. I feel there's no reason to complete some of them, since I've already completed them in my head. People are used to it.''
I noticed this after he showed a segment about a sad Tyra Banks dressed in a fat suit facing the world in it for one day. He scoffed and quiped but basically swallowed his words. I think he was remembering what I imagine his mother told him when he was a little boy, "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing."

On the Web:
CNN's Cooper adjusts to limelight
CNN's Cooper relishes new role
CNN scoffs at history as Cooper takes anchor post
CNN puts Cooper in Brown slot
CNN shakeup, 2005 edition

Oprah's Environmental Specialists?

2005-10-27T17:47:00.000-05:00

I watched the Oprah show today. I was pleased that the topic was about the threat of Global Warming and its causes. Without result, I've spent at least 4 hours researching the name of the environment specialist who appeared with celebrities Leonardo Dicaprio and Laurie & Larry David.
They discussed ways that individuals can reduce their negative impact on the environment. Some of the suggestions were very good such as buying flourescent light bulbs that use much less electricity than conventional ones. It's true. Once during a power outage, the one lamp in my home with this type of bulb was still burning throughout the outage.
Other suggestions, however were too expensive and beyond the reach of most people. For example a wealthy couple built an entire home from earth friendly, organic and recycled materials. The home is a good model for the future, though. I especially liked the use of recycled red glass to decorate the walls and floor of a bathroom, I believe.
For those in the middle incomes they suggested replacing SUVs with hybrids. I like this idea but I don't believe it completely solves the Earth's transportation problems. General Motors is one of many conspirators that during the 1950s helped to wipe out many suburban light rail systems in the United States, according to the film :

THE END OF SUBURBIA: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream
http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

Of course I have my own environmental issues. Recently some irate fans of Kanye West emailed me to boycott Pepsi because they felt the company was racist because the company dropped him from their advertisements. This is some of what I wrote back to them:
Hey Everyone,
I wish I could boycott a lot more of what I like to call the "Waste Makers" products. I hate all the plastic bottles, free worthless promotional junk, etc. etc. etc. They need to make an "anti waste in packaging, marketing, promotion and advertising law. Something with teeth.
Another problem is that the Waste Makers like to "add value" to corn products that are so over produced they are worth zilch, $0. That's why everyone is so fat (except for Russell, my darling and handsome friend) and you know who you are. Anyway, the reason there is so much junk food is that corn is too cheap. The profiteers make a lot of moolah from this junk. Even most tea that is good for you is owned by multi nationals. Lipton is owned by Unilever. I noticed they sell the good premium tea almost exclusively to "food service", in other words, corporate clients and restaurants. Consumers are sold the cheap stuff. They claim on their web site that consumers can buy the good stuff if they call them and order it direct.
I'm going to try that.
I know I digress. . .

UPDATE: I've found the Enviromental Specialist.
His name is Dr Michael Oppenheimer.

On the Web: Natural Resources Defense Council http://www.nrdc.org/
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/step/people/oppenheimer.html

Anyway people....
Congratulations to the Champion Chicago White Sox!
Party like it's 1959 !

To Management: WLS am Chicago

2005-10-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

Monday Morning 10/24/2005 between 12am & 4am WLS didn't seem to be broadcasting at all so I had to listen to Rochester NY? or MN?(I think NY) & Louisville,KY affiliates in order to hear Art Bell Coast to Coast. I know you recently did maintainance during Nate Clay's show on Sunday morning. Anyway my general complaint is that WLSam seems to cut into Coast to Coast much too often. A rebroadcast of Larry Elder out of Los Angeles, CA always is cut into Coast to Coast at 3am on weekdays. Also, If you must play Carol O'Keefe, (who I think asks very uninformed questions) Monday midnight because of community service reasons can't you at least play the entire Coast to Coast show afterward? I really don't like the Wall Street show cutting in at 4am at all! Also maybe you should cancel Dean Edel and Kim Kamando and re-broadcast Coast to Coast instead. I pretty much already know everything on the Kamando show so it's a waste of time. And Dr. Edel seems to dwell on sexual dysfuntional issues too much. He also seems to have a vendetta against natural & wholistic medicine. The Money Show is also an annoying waste of time. If you have to have a conservative host to be balanced why not replace Rush Limbaugh with Larry Elder instead putting him in the aforementioned 3am slot?
Maybe I should just purchase a fancy antenna that can pick up signals from out-of-town? What do you think?

If you want to check out My Closet, go ahead...

Blame T.V. ?

2005-09-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

What info do you have that the 17th St.levee had been intentionally sabotaged? Isn't more likely that some large debris crashed into it and it just sounded like an explosion?
First reports seemed to show Mayor Nagin in a good light. Maybe he did the best he could with what he had, but I heard some criticism that he didn't fully implement an the established evac plan, specifically that he didn't marshall all the city's transit buses to immediately move people after the storm. The buses, I heard, were later flooded and of course ruined.
Another thing: Was using coast guard helicoptors really the most efficient way to rescue people? Wouldn't using small boats be safer and cheaper? I thought perhaps these brave service people don't get enough opportunities to practice their skills. Also it looks great on T.V.
Just some thoughts and ?s

7,000 Pounds of Garbage ?!@#$%&*

2005-08-08T16:48:00.000-05:00

From the Los Angeles Times...
According to reporters in news story headlined, Weather Nixes Shuttle's Planned Return,
Thomas H. Maugh II and John Johnson Jr. write,

Discovery was loaded with nearly 7,000 pounds of garbage that had accumulated in the International Space Station since it was last visited by a shuttle in December 2002.
Russian spaceships have been able to resupply the space station with food, water and oxygen, but are not equipped to bring trash back to Earth.

What? Don't we have enough trash down here already? I don't understand why the cosmonauts didn't gradually jetison their garbage and let it burn up in Earth's atmosphere. This is a question for NASA. Are they afraid to pollute space like we've polluted Earth? Could the trash become little projectiles if they were sucked into Earth's gravity? Why can't they leave the trash to orbit the Earth for all eternity?

Google & Al Gore replace CBC NWI

2005-08-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

I suspect that Google secretly subsidizes this Blogisphere so I'll have to be careful with this report.
Yesterday, there was an Air France plane crash in Toronto, Ontario. Luckily everyone escaped without serious injury. Often when there is big news like this overseas or outside of the U.S. my family turns on Directv channel 366, Newsworld International from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or Company? (CBC). Anywho... we turned on channel 366 and to our dismay we realized that the station had been yanked without any warning and replaced with Current TV "News for young 'grazers' ". In other words, news for people with short attention spans. And what is even more disquieting is the fact that former U. S. Vice President is responsible. ( Maybe he did invent the Internet after all. ) According to Reuters News, "Al Gore led an investor group in buying the cable channel Newsworld International for an undisclosed sum from Vivendi Universal."
There are no programs on Current TV only "pods". One of the producers, Gotham Chopra calls the target audience "media grazers". I call them pod people.
Google Inc. , is a strong sponsor plugging its search engine every half hour by highlighting "trends". I call them distractions.
When I turned on the channel, best selling author Deepak Chopra was on. I have to admit I enjoy listening to him even if what he is saying is mostly a bunch of hooey. But it is soothing to listen to him and forget about reality for a while. What is disturbing, however is that his son, Gotham Chopra is one of the main producers of the shows. According to Mr Chopra, the channel will mostly consist of "viewer contributed content". We shall see...

2005-07-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

Annabelle Echo poses with world famous Bulls' Matador, Kevin Blanchard under the famous "EL" tracks in the Chicago Loop.
Check out Mr. Blanchard's blog:
http://kevinblanchard.blogspot.com

2005-07-06T19:14:00.000-05:00

North Korean women appear very neat, clean, scary but good looking.
Design by Annabelle Echo

Nightline Nightmare

2005-07-06T17:25:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or was last night's Nightline with Bob Woodruff a bunch of hooey?
If you didn't see it the subject was North Korea.
Before explaining my negative opinion of this particular show let me just mention my South Korean friend, Jaekwon Oh, who often laughed when Americans asked if he was from North or South Korea. The likelihood of a North Korean hanging out in Chicago is probably zero.
All right now... back to our show...
Is it right to pass judgment and criticize propaganda while at the same time conveying a biased message?
While I do believe and agree that the North Korean government is a fascist regime I don't agree with the opinions of the newscast . Woodruff pointed out that there were very few cars on the street or american products available to buy. This would be O.K. if he didn't imply that this was a great tragedy. (According to the broadcast, the cities were deserted because the citizens were all forced onto the farms to plant rice.) But I ask is it so bad that the city streets and beautiful country side aren't cluttered with billboard ads for American products or clogged with auto traffic?
Later the program called talented and, I agree over disciplined children, robots because they are taught to smile while playing difficult music or dancing. I believe this is traditional practice and not evil brainwashing which was implied.
Yes North Korea is an extreme repressive culture. But, lack of exposure to American products and culture is not the problem.

2005-07-05T16:42:00.000-05:00

This Thing cost $7.00 !

This is an epilogue if you will about our ever growing Porch Museum...

Here is a little background from our curator:

An egghead's treat! A healthy breakfast can be ready within a minute or less! Quick, easy & safe to use, just pop any size egg inside our "Oeuf" design holder & place in microwave. Soft boiled egg takes 30 seconds, medium boiled 40 seconds & hard-boiled egg 50 seconds. Perfect for office kitchens. Assorted colors. Made in France. $7.00 !

Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room

2005-07-05T15:22:00.000-05:00

This documentary was pretty much what I expected. Somewhat revealing but not surprising.
"One may smile, and smile, and be a villain." [Hamlet] - William Shakespeare
The choices in backgroud music were quite good and sometimes ironic. I'm not sure that spending $9.50 though is a good use of a Movie dollar when much of the film includes clips from actual news footage. It is an excellent documentary though. But if I'm going to spend that much I think it should help pay for the special effects or the difficulties of filmmaking. My advice is if you have a tight movie budget spend your $9.50 on for example: War of the Worlds or Batman Begins.
There is also a book about the Enron scandal that I intend to read this summer. If I read it all I'll review it. It's quite long...so it might be a while.
Update: I saw War of the Worlds. The special effects were spectacular and the film is horrific and sometimes funny but The Wizard of Oz eg. also a scary movie, is a much better film. Note to filmmakers: write or find a good script before you spend money on film and technology.
The book I'm reading about Enron is quite good so far. It is written as if it were a novel in a narrative style. Here is some more info:
Conspiracy of Fools : A True Story
by Kurt Eichenwald

Pink Bubble Gum Monster

2005-06-16T16:08:00.000-05:00

My Sweet and Sticky Love Pink Bubble Gum Monster
Luvs David & Kevin too!
Pink Bubble Gum Monster is ©2005, 2006
Anita Inez Lathrop & Annabelle Echo

Today...My Friends' Blogs

2005-06-16T15:50:00.000-05:00

Today since I'm feeling a sense of total blankness as if white noise and fluffy clouds were aimlessly whirring and floating through my brain.... I will link to my friends' blogs. Both of these handsome gentlemen are graduates of Colombia College Chicago.

Deep H (name disguised to protect the foolhardy)
http://africkinamerican.blogspot.com/

and

Kevin Blanchard
http://kevinblanchard.blogspot.com/

Deep H writes about funny stuff like moronic pop stars, affluenzic clutter disease and idiotic laws.
Kevin writes about sports, pop trivia I know nothing about and romantic intrigue. He should know. He's a Chicago Bulls' Matador.

2005-06-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

Evil Test Image

Summer Begins...

2005-06-13T11:50:00.000-05:00

My Summer Resolutions
1. Swim in Lake Michigan as much as possible.
2. Watch as little Television as possible.
3. Read as many books as possible.
4. Paint with watercolors.
5. Fight Global destruction of Nature.

OK.
1. I was in the Lake for a 5 seconds on Saturday, June 11. Felt like a melted Glacier.
But it also felt like an invigorating Elixer.
2. Everything is a commercial now. Especially the "News"
3. Just finished The Illuminator and Affluenza. Now reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
4. Watercolor class with Paola Cabal was fun. Now the work begins.
5. I think I'll need help with this one....