CBC Leader Cleaver Abandons 99ers / H.R. 589

The leader of the Congressional Black Caucus Representative Emmanuel Cleaver appears to have abandoned the 99ers and H.R. 589.

In his article Is helping 99ers "cost prohibitive"? Jason Tabrys (Liberal Examiner for examiner.com) relays a White House conversation that seems to sound the death knell for HR 589 and with that, any hope the 99er Nation may have clung to for help from congress in order to survive. The article reads in part:

Representative Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) said that the cost of H.R. 589, the unemployment extension so many millions of 99ers are desperate for is “cost prohibitive”.

The blog provides a detailed description of Rep. Cleavers exchange with President Obama reportedly detailed by Representative Cleaver:

“It was what I expected because my staff had done a lot of research on it. And we found that the cost of that program would be between $14 and 20 billion dollars which is cost prohibitive. So there was no point in the President saying, ‘yeah I support it…’ when I laid it out I said to him, ‘Mr. President, I’m going to raise this, and this is one of our issues because this is one of our issues — it’s an issue among our members…’ I ended it by saying, however, I understand that the cost is enormous. He (President Obama) said (to Rob Nabors sitting on the sofa) ‘Rob how much is it?’ And Rob said, ‘between 14 and 20 billion’ and I said, let’s move on. Because there was no point — that’s not going to happen”

....with Representatives Bobby Scott and Barbara Lee set to meet with the Republican leadership in the coming days doesn’t Representative Cleavers lackluster advocacy for this bill throttle any chance of bi-partisan support or was this just another political game played at the expense of people running out of air?
99ers are exhausted, their energies overdrawn by the battle to merely survive. “Cost prohibitive” is a term that slashes at the soul of someone comprised of breath, blood, and bone who is withering away. Is their existence “cost prohibitive”?

So it is NOT too “cost prohibitive” to BOMB Libya - just too “cost prohibitive” save millions of Americans from hunger & Homelessness. Where are Obama’s Humanitarian principles when it comes to the suffering of Americans?

This President and most every current member of Congress has GOT TO GO! The 99er Nation should be committed to making that so unless they get the help they desperately need to survive. Don't tell me that 7 million people, plus the additional 4 million that will be 99ers by next year (plus all the friends and families they can influence) cannot vote OUT this terrible President and every "Do Nothing House & Senate member" with their skewed priorities! The 99er Nation surely out numbers the Tea Party. We can and we MUST. Then again that will depend in part what other choice we have come Election Day 2012. If the 99er Nation, the Unemployed and the Under Employed would just join together we would have an enormous and undeniable constituency no politician could ignore or defeat. But will we?

Either way, it looks bad for the once “last Hope of the UI exhaustees” (HR 589) and the 99ers - now without any UI Lifeline for well over a year and going hungry and homeless at an alarming rate. Alarming for real humanitarians, that is, but apparently since that suffering is on America’s shores - Washington could care less.

[If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]

Sergio Aragones - Interview With Mad Magazine's Legend At WonderCon SF

Sergio Aragones is a giant in the comic book World, and indeed, in American Culture, but in an oh, so subversive way. Or, as he puts it, because his work is in print, Sergio gets to lead a "normal" life at home. But when he attends WonderCon and ComicCon, all that changes, and he's "mobbed" with "all this adulation," as he says with his infectious laugh.

Sergio Aragones is, with Al Jaffee, one of MAD Magazine's longest running cartoonists, and is best known for the barbarian named "Groo." More recently Mr.Aragones was signed on as a cartoonist with The Simpsons franchise, and Bart Simpson Comics.

But how did Sergio come to work for MAD Magazine? "I had come to MAD from Mexico, and had a portfolio of magazines, and everyone thought that what I did was a little too crazy for them, so they said 'Go to MAD. Go to MAD,' so I did.

"The reason that MAD is what it is,"Aragones said, "is because, in the beginning, parents thought it was a subsersive magazine. So kids would read it against the will of the parent. The parent would say 'Oh you shouldn't read that,' without knowing why."

Sergio explains that it was something people weren't used to at the time, but because kids loved it so much, MAD grew in popularity. Today, people still read it, he says, because "It hasn't lost the touch." And more because MAD fits the culture of the time, the Zeitgeist. Aragones has to ask his daughter to help him understand who a certain rapper MAD may parody is, for example. He calls MAD a "primer in humor" for young people.

Is The Marriage of Comics and Film A Good Thing?

Is the use of comic books as platforms for movies helping or hurting the comic book industry? While movies like Spider-Man and the various versions of the Batman comics have done well at the box office, some comic book artists grumble about how Hollywood's arrogance has contaminated the industry. Overall Aragones observes that "it's a good thing."

"The only people who get hurt," he says, "is a lot of people don't get the credit they deserve. So the big companies are very oblivious of what should be done. They want their names on it, and they don't care about the creators. It's very good for them economically sometimes, but the big producers, they come to ComicCon, they get a comic book, they make it into a movie, and they don't care. The pay the publishers big money. The publishers keeps it; and the publishers doesn't share it.

While Sergio says that's the only downfall of Hollywood's involvement, he reports that younger artists are more "hip" to the ways of Hollywood. "Before," Sergio says, "we were very stupid. (we say) 'Uhhh...' (Over the excitement of a large check.) They don't let the publisher keep the moneys (from movie deals). So now, it's different.

Aragones says that a common comic book may see a circulation of 100,000, but a movie version of the same work is seen by millions of people. One example of this is the graphic novel called Scott Pilgrim, which had various volumes, including one called Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. It was little known outside a small cult following of devotees, but the production of the movie Scott Pilgrim Versus The World brought the story of Scott Pilgrim's battle to win the heart of a girl with too many evil ex-boyfriends to many, and even though it didn't break even, the movie boosted demand for the book series, and gave it Worldwide visibility.

Did MAD Draw Government Attention?

Did MAD ever go "too far?" So far that it drew the attention of the Federal Government? Aragones says no: "Satire," he says "was one of the things that guarantees that things won't be touched." If an alien came to Earth, Sergio would show the person "anything" because words aren't necessary. "Let him choose."

Caddieshack's Cindy Morgan Is Lacey Underall And Yori From Tron

The movie Caddieshack is so well-known to so many people, from baby-boomers to students of American pop-culture, that some can even recite lines from the movie. Say that you're interviewing "Lacey Underall," and everyone knows that she's connected with Caddieshack. And the "she" who played her is Cindy Morgan, who also starred as "Yori" from the first Tron.

Since Tron Legacy was just released last fall, we started our talk there. What did the star of what she calls "classic Tron" think of the newest version? "I thought it was fantastic," Morgan said, "all the great special effects. It was really interesting, where they took the story."

How she came to be in Tron is the story of how Hollywood works, at least at that time in the late 80s. The story she tells has some interesting holes that it's hard to pick through. She says she was dating a guy who said he was in a cartoon but didn't decribe it, then she switches into talking about a time later, during a period where she "hadn't worked a lot since Caddieshack," she had what she describes as a "run-in" with one of the producers, where she says she "just came to do my job, and that's it."

She didn't identify the producer, or explain what happened in detail, or which movie the encounter was connected with, and since I only had a good five minutes, which I hit on the head, pretty much, there wasn't time to press her on the issue.

Moreover, at that point in our conversation, this blogger became overly senstive to the idea that it was easy to perhaps say the wrong thing to Ms. Morgan - just being blogger honest. That whatever's happened to Ms. Morgan (and perhaps she's saving her anger for her book) it's clouded her view of men in Hollywood. But also that she put herself in an environment where the kind of men she needed to deal with to get work thrive, and perhaps on some level believed she needed to be around men like that to get ahead.

Now, it feels a lot like she's angry. There's nothing at all wrong with that, but everything wrong with covering it up. It's bottled-up there; why not release it? Actress Sean Young, who starred in No Way Out and Blade Runner excellent at talking openly about sexism in Hollywood, and reminds you that she was 'blacklisted' after her drunken verbal assault on Director Julian Schnable at the 2006 Directors Guild Awards, as you can see from my interview at last year's Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party:



But I digress.

Ms. Morgan got a call from the director of Tron, which she says is "unusual," that a director would call, and read a part of the movie script with Jeff Bridges, said "Thank you," and left. And, next thing you know, she was cast in the roll of Yori. The person who took her to lunch and talked about the "cartoon" was talking about Tron. He didn' get to be in it, but she did - something Morgan learned 20 years later.

Because so much of what Cindy said was "coded" the question to ask was obvious: is the work climate better for women in Hollywood today? Morgan says she's not in Hollywood anymore, but "the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some (men) still need a map and a calendar, but God bless them."

One thing that's obvious from our conversation is Cindy had a Hollywood experience that reads like an iceberg: we just saw the tip of it. Whatever happened to her, it's seemed to cloud her ability to joke about it, and the men who she encountered, some 20-plus years later.

As to what she's doing now, it's finishing a book on Caddieshack, which means Cindy's aware of the movie's impact on popular culture. As to her favorite lines, Ms. Morgan thinks Bill Murray had the best lines like "Freeze Gopher!"

Cindy explains that Lacey Underall is a real person, but her last name wasn't "Underall." Additionally, Morgan says that she played against type, as Cindy describes Lacie as a "carnivorous female of biblical proportions who could have anything she wanted."

But maybe's Cindy Morgan wasn't playing against type at all. Morgan said she "got nervous" when she realized she was the only person reading for the part (another story not told) and said that she hoped the person reading with her was a man, and if so, she would "make him sweat."

She's good at that.

Star Trek's Celeste Yarnell With Malachi Throne: On William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, And Her Life Today.

Celeste Yarnell is someone such that you may be caused to think "I've seen her before," but aren't sure why, unless you are a Trekker. Fans of Star Trek, The Original Series (TOS) remember and celebrate Ms. Yarnell for her one appearance as 'Yeoman Martha Landon' on an episode called "The Apple."

 "The Apple," which aired on NBC October 13, 1967, was known only to avid fans until improvements in digital media after the turn of the century led to its wide availablity, thus giving Yarnell's character, and her, a kind of second life.

For example, here's a review of the episode on YouTube, which opens with Yarnell and Walter Koenig:



Now, Yarnell is regularly called on to reminisce about her time with Star Trek's cast and crew, as we did during her second WonderCon appearance.

Asked what is was like to be on the set, Yarnell revealed a secret: until her work in 1967, she'd never seen the show. "I had no idea what Spock was or Captain Kirk," she said. "I walk on to this set with paper-mache rocks and my initial reaction was 'This must be a great cinematography crew to make this stuff look good."

After being offered the role of Martha Landon, Yarnell was asked if she wanted a part with more substance, and she said "no." She was happy with what she was asked to do in playing a Yeoman, and even asked to have her dress shortened "because mini-skirts were hot in those days," she said.

Yarnell said shortening her dress, which she thinks may have been used by Grace Lee Whitney who played "Yeoman Rand" caused some on the Star Trek crew to fear a conflict should Ms. Whitney return to the show. But the costume designer ruled out that possibility and told her people to make the dress fit Celeste.

How did she like working with the Star Trek cast? Of all, Yarnell gushes about William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, and made the character part of American Mythology. "I adored Will," she said, and who she described as "The colossal jokester." But Celeste was afraid of Nimoy because he "stayed in character. He was so stern. He never smiled." between shootings for the episode. For the few who don't know, Mr. Spock is a Vulcan humanoid who's emotions are buried deep and controlled by a culturally-induced ethic of logic. A practice made diffcult for Spock because he's half-human.

Celeste and Malachi Throne

As we talked about Star Trek and her life today, a television legend this blogger met at last year's WonderCon was just next to us, and behind us on the video: Malachi Throne (pronounced "MA-LACK-Hi").

Mr. Throne played in Star Trek's flagship episode "The Cage" as the irracible Commodore Jose I. Mendez, and has appeared on perhaps every major science-fiction, secret agent, or comic-book based television show of the 1960s, from Batman to The Outer Limits, and starred with Robert Wagner in It Takes A Thief. Yarnell and Throne are friends to this day, as was obvious during the segment of our video where we went over to include Mr. Throne, thus pairing two legends from the World of Star Trek.

What She's Doing Today

On Saturday as she was at WonderCon, Celeste and her husband celebrated their 8th month of marriage. The two, Celeste and Nazim, enjoy life to the fullest, and are in business together in something called "Holistic Health Care" and have something called The Art Of Wellness Collection, and a series of websites on everything from supplements to "Hollistic Cat Care" at www.celestialpets.com.

Celeste Yarnell. Making the most of her Star Trek experience.

Will Obama Serve Again

There are many who may question President Barack Obama's chances of being re-elected. After the Libya decision that was made without Congress consent it is up in the air as to whether he stands a strong enough chance for a second term.

posted from Bloggeroid

San Francisco Hotel Community Video Talks To Hotel Employees

This video, sent to this blogger by a member of the San Francisco Hotel Community, explains their position in the issue of contract dispute with the Unite Here Local 2 labor union.

Here's the video:



Where Hilton has settled with the union, other hotel managers have not, and this video explains why. In it, they claim that Unite Here Local 2 labor union have drained $1 million of hotel employee union dues going to it. The video claims that the San Francisco hotel worker has nothing to do with Unite Here Local 2's attempts to unionize in other American cities.

This blogger's issue with Unite Here Local 2's approach is that it's ignorant of the current business climate, where money for travel and tourism is far less than even four years ago. It forgets that hotels can and do go out of business, harming the ability of workers to make money to help and maintain their families.

It would be better if Unite Here Local 2 itself actually ran a hotel, then it would be in a better position to understand what it takes to maintain a hotel as a business, and negotiate in a more intelligent way.

Courtney Ruby: Oakland City Auditor Talks Origins, ABC Security Issue

Courtney Ruby. A search for a video interview or comment from the City of Oakland's elected auditor reveals, until today, nothing. This is the first, and to date only, full long-form interview with Oakland's City Auditor.

Because the Akron, Ohio native was new to long video interviews, and to video-blogging, this interview was one part 'getting to know her,' and the other part on the issues of the day: the ABC Security issue that comes before the Oakland City Council this evening, and her budget. In all, the video - made at the new eatery Disco Violante (great burgers) at 347 14th Street in Downtown Oakland, is about 24 minutes long.  And because the ABC Security issue is "hot," this will be blog post one on Courtney Ruby, with two other posts to come later in the week.

But, for those of you interested in ABC Security, let's start with Ms. Ruby's comments about that.

Click here for ABC Security comments in the video at the 14:45 mark.

ABC Security and Favoritism.

ABC Security is an Oakland company located at 1840 Embarcadero, not far from Quinn's Lighthouse and in Oakland Council District Five, politically helmed by the legendary Oakland Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente.

Ms. Ruby has alleged that ABC Security may have violated the law by donating to Oakland councilmembers before seeking an Oakland contract valued at $2 million.   Even though ABC was the fifth, and then sixth ranked company, it managed to secure the recommendation of the Oakland City Council.  (For note, ABC Security wasn't the only security firm to be accused of a "pay to play" action, Marina Security, was as well.)

The City's Auditor forwarded the issue to the Oakland Public Ethics Commission.  One of the councilmembers who benefited was Jane Brunner of District One, North Oakland, who said that her choice of ABC Security wasn't due to the donation, and that she would return the money they've donated toward her.

Moreover, both Councilmembers Brunner and De La Fuente wrote about their reasons for supporting ABC Security, stating that...

ABC Security is an Oakland-grown, minority- and woman-owned local business with a long history of hiring Oakland residents and providing well-paying, union jobs. ABC currently employs 213 Oakland residents; that's 87 percent of its workforce...Nevertheless, because it has thrived and has exceeded the city's definition of a small business, it wasn't awarded preference points under the city's current point system, nor was it awarded points for its 42 years as an Oakland business nor for employing 87 percent Oakland residents.

On the ABC Security issue, which begins at the 14:45 minute mark of the video, Courtney Ruby and this blogger didn't address Brunner's and De La Fuente's statements, and Ruby seemed eager to avoid any political finger-pointing.  How did the issue come to her?

"I knew that the contract was before the council from the (City Council meeting) agendas.  I knew that a contract had been let. I always watch the committee hearings, so I know what's going on in the city."  She said that there was "conversation" regarding one company that was rated number one and ABC, which at the time was rated number five.   So, Ruby made it a point to visit the next committee hearing to hear the "next level of discussion" on the security contract, and watched as council recommended ABC Security, even though their ranking had dropped by one to number six in the field of firms under consideration.

She was "alarmed" that a contractor would go through an RFP process and, even though the best company, Cypress (at 452 Tehama Street in San Francisco, CA) met all of the criteria, it wasn't the one selected by the Oakland City Council, and they would consider picking a firm that was six levels down in the competition. Councilmember Pay Kernighan (District Two) tried to make a separate motion to have both Cypress and ABC Security moved to full council level, but the motion failed.

That's the issue the full City Council, will here this evening.

If the Oakland City Council wanted to have only Oakland firms, the RFP should have been restricted to companies in the city limits. But the RFP process was so geographically broad, that didn't happen. The Oakland City Council should not go against the city's own RFP criteria process in this way. That's this blogger's take.

Stay tuned.