Joe Biden rallies Health Care Reform troups; where's "public option"?

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Ok, enough (for now) of this Marni Phillips, Brooke Hundley, Steve Phillips Internet candy stuff. It's time to get serious and that means politics and Heath Care Reform'!

And just in time was this email I received from Vice President Joe Biden. It's a 'rally the troups to support Heath Care Reform' email to donors, but I cleaned it up for public blogging. Biden's message remains here. What's news is that the insurance companies are spending "7 million bucks a week on lobbyists" to defeat health care reform.

I wonder where he got that number? Seems more like $17 million with all the commercials and stuff.

But even more important, and I agree with DailyKos blogger 3WaveRider, is the term "Public Option" does not appear in my email from Biden! President Obama and Vice President Biden should know that the American public - minus the birthers and couch potato conservatives - backs a public option in yesterday's Washington Post / ABC NEWS poll. A clear majority of 57 percent back a public option.

Why not mention it in the email to me?

Well, it's because Obama's aides are now saying not having a public option is not a deal breaker, according to the Boston Globe. But that's also a signal that some conservative Democrats are still standing in the way of a public option, even with the good poll numbers.

Frankly, I really want the Public Option in there, so let's see how many Conservative Dems we can turn in the next few days.

Well, here's the email:

from Joe Biden
reply-to info@barackobama.com
to Zenophon Abraham
date Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:49 AM
subject The fight

Zenophon --

We've got a fight on our hands. Powerful insurance companies are pulling out all the stops to defeat the President's plan for health reform. They're spending seven million bucks a week on lobbyists, blanketing the country with deceptive TV ads, and just funded two high-profile "reports" to distort what reform would mean for you.

I know their game. I was in the Senate the last time health reform came around, and I saw the special interests savage our efforts. Frankly, under the old rules of Washington they were nearly impossible to beat. But now, thanks to you, the rules are changing. All the lies, scare tactics and lobbyist shake-downs in the world are no match for the incredible work of Organizing for America supporters like you. That's exactly what frightens them so much -- and it's what Barack and I are counting on.

After decades of false starts, we're now just a short time from finally passing real reform. Every member of Congress will soon have to cast their vote. As real change draws near, you can bet the insurance companies will hold nothing back. That means OFA will need the extra resources to beat back whatever attack they can dream up next. Here's the bottom line: it's not time to let up -- it's time to double down.

When I talk about you changing the rules in Washington, here's what I mean: This week, crucial negotiations on Capitol Hill are shaping a comprehensive reform proposal. At the same time, the insurance companies' phony reports are grabbing headlines and their lobbyists are twisting arms. But your work is keeping them from setting us back.

On Tuesday, OFA supporters around the country organized more than 1,000 local outreach events and generated an astounding 330,000 calls to Congress from constituents telling their representatives that "it's time to deliver." From my years in Congress and my conversations with Senate colleagues this week, I can tell you with confidence that your message broke through and you helped keep us on track.

If this fight were only about guaranteeing the choice of secure, quality, affordable care for every American, it would be worth everything we could throw at it. But as Barack reminded us this week, this fight for change is now about something even bigger: a test of whether or not "we as a nation are capable of tackling our toughest challenges, if we can serve the national interest despite the unrelenting efforts of the special interests; if we can still do big things in America."

I believe we can. And Barack believes we can. But what really matters is whether you believe we can. If you do, now is the moment to make it happen.

Yes we can! Especially with a public option!

Marni Phillips photo on Facebook is Internet's hotest search hunt

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What's interesting about the Internet is that it's a window to what's really on the mind of the public, and how little that can be influenced by news websites. Take the hunt for the Marni Phillips photo, which is a hot Google Trend as of this writing.

Marni Phillips is the wife of Steve Phillips, who had a three-week-long affair with 22-year old ESPN Assistant Producer Brooke Hundley which turned into something like "Fatal Attraction".

But for some reason Marni Phillips is a hot attraction, at least as of this writing. I think it's being fueled by the sports radio talk shows, which can't get enough of this ESPN story, since, because its from ESPN basically has made it a sports story.

I know Dan Patrick's having a field day with the Steve Phillips story since it comes from what he calls "The Mothership" or ESPN.

I know it has to be sports talk radio because it's not on television much at all. So what they must be talking about is what Marni Phillips looks like and she must be a hotty because the Internet's going gaga over the lady. Of course, it makes Steve Phillips look like even more of a cad, but, oh well.

The main issue is no one's found a credible photo of the Marni Phillips in question. There's this photo that's come up on a number of blog and news sites from a Facebook account. But she doesn't look like theMarni Phillips so I'm not going to post it.

Plus, there are a number of Marni Phillips; far more common than Zennie Abraham. It just goes to show you that sometimes it's better not to follow my "Top 10 Social Networking Things To Do" (in the video below) because you will be found!

Yobie Benjamin on Windows 7 may make me buy a PC for the first time

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Hats off to Yobie Benjamin for his great blog post on Windows 7 and the Apple Snow Leopard. As a devoted Apple Computer user, 2007 MacBook running version 10.4.11, I'm in need of an upgrade but was thinking more about just adding a new computer. I have two MacBooks as of this writing.

But my friends in the event planning business have PCs, so I'm called on to help them and while I have been impressed with Microsoft's improvements to the Windows operating system, it wasn't enough to cause me to think of buying a PC.

But the needs of my suddenly growing sim business and vlogging business are such that having a PC's a smart move just to have another test platform. The only bad point is the expense of Windows 7. I may just stick to the emulator systems I've used to date to test website content.

As for the Snow Leopard news, I'll have to try that myself as I've seen a number of Mac users with my computer upgrade to Snow Leopard without incident. But Yobie's upgrade horror story is a cautionary tale.

Steve Phillips girlfriend? Rich Liberman says SF Bay Area has "ESPN sex scandal"

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Forgetting the "City of Oakland's Claudia Herrera fix-the-parking-system issue" for the moment, we turn to the important Internet business matter of "Steve Phillips' girlfriend". That's the ESPN sex scandal I blogged about Wednesday.

Anyway, I just got an email from Rich "Big Vinny" Lieberman of "The Rich Lieberman Report" that made me howl. It's regarding his blog post on the ESPN sex scandal and idea that's sure to send shivers down the spines of Bay Area Media types. This is what he wrote at his blog:

IT FINALLY DAWNED ON ME.


The Bay Area media needs a good 'sexscapade story sort of like the ESPN/Steve Phillips story. Think of the possibilities. Hell, just take a look at the NY Post! Can you imagine the PR gold?!


Oh sure, there'd be a temporary hit, but long term, we're talking PR bonanza. And judging from the stories I've heard and frankly know about, there's a bevy of stories out there in our vast 415-408-510 TV/radio media wasteland involving high line station execs, cute, girly, preppy interns and "staff assistants"--so I'm betting all we need is one good, albeit verified story and account.


Like I said, everyone benefits. "Friend with benefits?" Yeah, sure. But even more, lots of PUB and potential appearances on the Ronn Owens program.


Here's what I propose. If you know of a friend, say, an intern that's been banging the company boss at any given outlet, (media only please) send me the info. I'll be discreet, as should you. Be specific. If its you that's doing the banging, then do provide all the juicy details and I'll try to investigate. That's why I'm ME and that's why you be you. We're all in this together, right? The juicier the better.


Fringe benefits? Take a look at that headline above the mast?!! You can't even get that pub if you win a Nobel peace prize!

All I can say is it's better to be real careful with that stuff, Rich.  Anyone can name a name doing a thing, but that doesn't mean it's true at all.  And in this case, Richard, someone could send you an email that points in the wrong blogging direction and could wind up in a nasty lawsuit.

See, the media people do have agents and lawyers to protect them.  It's one thing for an affair to go public because a disgruntled ex-boyfriend is caught by the Feds while extorting a famous talk show host, or because a police report against an ex-girlfriend was filed, or because a blogger recorded her personal experience with a current or a former lover complete with emails exchanged, but slinging mud without concrete evidence is dangerous and hurtful to those involved. 

Now if you had a video camera...
  

Brooke Hundley, Marni Phillips, Steve Phillips form ESPN's sex scandal

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Brooke Hundley, Marni Phillips, and Steve Phillips do form ESPN's sex scandal, but there's more to it than that. It's the story of an abandoned, emotionally needy young woman.

Steve Phillips and Brooke Hundley

Two weeks ago we had the waning story of David Letterman's affair with his assistant Stephanie Birkitt, and I made the point that this kind of office affair is so common that some of the people complaining about David Letterman may have been involved in one themselves. In fact by one estimate almost one of every two office workers has been involved in some kind of affair or flirtation over the course of their work history.

But unlike David Letterman and Stephanie Birkitt, or even Jimmy Kimmel and Molly McNearey (where the LA Times weighs in with new news involving another employee) this ESPN scandal is a rather ugly one and not just because Steve Phillips is married as of this writing.

Steve Phillips is a former Major League Baseball general manager with the New York Mets who is now a well known, and is in my opinion very effective ESPN baseball analyst (now suspended) and who's married to Marni Phillips, and has four kids, but had an affair last summer with 22-year old ESPN Production Assistant Brooke Hundley.

According to a number of blogs like Zimbio.com, Phillips tried to end the affair, but Hundley wasn't ready for that and what follows is something out of Fatal Attraction." (As far as I'm concerned, as a aside, Steve Phillips should be massively kicked in the ass for treating his wife like that.  At least David Letterman wasn't married at the time of the start of his affair.)  

Basically, Brooke, a 2008 graduate of Ithaca College according to her Facebook page, went off and so much so that Phillips eventually told the police "I have extreme concerns about the health and safety of my kids and myself," and said that that Brooke was "obsessive and delusional" after he tried to end the affair.

Brooke wrote a letter that I first saw on Zimbio, which means that thanks to the NY Post, which as it turned out posted the letter first, it's made it's way around the Internet. But folks, this letter's a doozy. Brace for impact:

What's most galling about Brooke's letter is that she would tell Marni Phillips that she wants to connect with her, after writing that Marni's basically no good for Steve and she's got "passion and drive to really do something with my life."

The NY Post reports that Marni Phillips got a voicemail from Brooke stating "I care about Steve and make him happy and we both can't have him."  

That's nerve to an almost criminal level.  It could only be topped by instant messages from "Riotgirl4life" to Steve Phillips' son, who believed it to be  Brooke Hundley because according to LaLate.com, the person was asking a lot of personal questions about the family.  

The bottom line is Brooke fell in love and frankly the poor thing didn't know what to do when the more experienced Phillips broke off the affair.  I write this because somewhere Brooke's mother is crying that her daughter's at the center of this, and wondering what she did wrong in raising her. 

My answer is this: nothing.  Brooke made a mistake.  The whole episode where Marni Phillips complained that Brooke hit a trash can while backing out of the house was simply Brooke being afraid that she was going to get caught while leaving the letter.  I don't think from reading all that I have that Brooke Hundley has a yen to hurt anyone. She's reacting to feeling abandoned by Phillips, period.

But I do wish her parents would take her aside and let her know that they love her.  Somewhere in all this I have the feeling that's what's missing in Brooke's life. 

City of Oakland's Claudia Herrera is the real parking czar who must fix the system

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This week for me in the City of Oakland has been one in hell. First, some housekeeping: for anyone who came to see my experimental Oakland talk show at the Lake Chalet, I'm sorry for not being there Wednesday as I was dealing with this City of Oakland issue far longer than I expected to. I'm going to do it again on Friday at 4 PM.

It's one thing to deal with tickets, but quite another to learn that if you pay the California DMV , the City of Oakland will not honor that payment for Oakland tickets if your car was towed. I also learned that its common for Oaklanders to "double pay" - that is pay the DMV first, but then be arm-twisted into paying the City of Oakland for the same set of tickets already paid for at the DMV!

Got that? And while the City of Oakland says it will pay you back, it takes almost a year to do, when it's done! In other words, you're paying for the City of Oakland's money collection issues with the DMV.

And a lot of Oaklanders have had their cars towed because the city "needs the money" from all the people I talked to at City Hall Wednesday.

The person who caused me to understand this apparent policy (I have my doubts) ia Claudia Herrera, the City of Oakland's parking supervisor, who's over the mess that is the sixth floor Oakland Parking Office at the Oakland City Administration Building at 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, next to Oakland's City Hall.

Why do I know this? Because yesterday, in explaining why she could not clear the documents that read I paid Oakland tickets at DMV, she gave me a verbal run-around that bent logic and time and space in such a way that by the time I was done talking to her, I was in a near catatonic state.

She assumed I paid all of it to the DMV by cashier's check (some of it) and said "we don't accept cashier's checks. But I paid the DMV not the City of Oakland, and Oakland tickets were part of that payment.

She told me that a cashier's check is like a personal check! I'm serious. That was when I figured that nothing was going to get done. See, they're supposed to help you, not hurt you.

Plus, both Herrera and her assistant at the front counter didn't even look closely at my document to see what was paid until I insisted that they look at it.

I wound up being the last person to leave the office, and even then I didn't get the help I needed and as I sat in a state of shock over what I was going through, Herrera just walked off.

So I asked for her to come back - everyone of the parking patrons was gone by then and there was just staff - but she didn't and some person came out and said suddenly if I didn't leave she was going to call security. At that point, I whipped out my Flip Video Camera.

Oh, I've got that on video to come, so they can't twist the story!

I understand Claudia Herrera didn't create the system, but she can fix it. She's in the best position to do it. This isn't personal - she seems like a very decent person - but it's important because her decisions impact a lot of people in Oakland. And with Oakland's focus on gaining revenue from parking, people like Claudia Herrera should be known to the public.

So my next move is to call the DMV but perhaps take some measure that makes this whole deal go away for me. But I'm on the offensive because the City of Oakland needs to put a stop to this "misery industry" they've created.

Here's how it works:

The City of Oakland makes it hard for you to park your car. Then you get ticket after ticket. Once you get over five tickets, you become a tow target. If they tow your car and you pay DMV the City of Oakland will still hold you up from getting your car back from the tow yard.

Why have you not heard about this before? Because people don't want to talk about their misery from something that leads to the comment "Well you should not have parked there." Everyone knows that, but in Oakland a whole industry has been created from it, with the parking office, the police department, and the tow companies and this "double charging" of tickets already paid for at the DMV.

Parking rates are raised to levels that should be illegal, tickets are written, cars are towed at an alarming rate, and people are harmed by the misery industry.

It must stop. More later.

Tom Hayes: Does TV try too hard to present balance?

Dara O'Briain sets the record straight about the public understanding of facts. He talks about crime statistics, science, herbal medicine, and the tendency of TV to try to present a "fair and balanced" coverage - which results in him using some strong language, so you might want to consider where you are as you watch this.

I think Dara is Ireland's slightly more refined, restrained version of Lewis Black. Slightly.

Carrie Prejean Breast Job: K2 Productions wants money back - but which K2 Productions?

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Seems Carrie Prejean can't catch a break. Remember her? The former Miss California who's not-so-smart foray into anti-Gay Marriage activism and overall alleged unprofessionalism cost her the title is now apparently owes $5,200 to K2 Productions for a boob job they paid for.

Carrie Prejean

But who's K2 Productions?

They're a North Carolina film and video production company according to their website, which leads me to wonder if they did this for publicity. If so, I certainly got suckered into this one, huh?

Not really.

I mean there's the Atlanta-based K2 Production company as well. They too are involved in the film business, but they provide "equipment."

Uh, just not boobs.

Turns out the North Carolina company and the Atlanta firm are enjoying some free pub because Miss California USA organizers also use the same company name but with a California adress! I'm laughing as I write this, it's so funny.

It's a classic case of a firm not doing its Internet homework in establishing a unique company name and making sure that its not like any other firm name when a search for K2 Productions is done online.

So North Carolina and Atlanta's K2 Production company can have part of the boob job money, huh?

I think the LA version of the K2 Production firms needs to get its messaging straight. If I were representing Carrie Prejean I'd have a field day with this. I'm sorry but this is too funny not to make fun of.

Keith Lewis, the person who's over K2 Productions in LA and who reportedly paid for the boob job for Carrie Prejean should be smart and recover the money by contracting for Carrie to work for the other K2 Production companies and get whatever percentage of revenue he can secure.

Otherwise the whole deal's just really silly in my view.

Kane West not dead; Kanye West not in an accident

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Kanye West is not dead, contrary to some news rumors. This prank has happened before involving other celebrities and here we go again. Twitter's the origin for the latest round of this trick, this time focusing on Kanye West.

According to LaLate.com, this happened to Miley Cyrus and Lil Wayne this year, and now Kanye West.

Some tweets report that he was in a car accident, but the truth is that happened in 2002. He's fine.

Why is West the target? I think the whole Taylor Swift controversy has something to do with it; an incident that even caused President Obama to refer to him as a "jackass":

Interracial couple sues Louisiana Judge Bardwell, who refused to marry them

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According to the Associated Press and the news website NOLA.com, Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Louisiana Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell of Tangipahoa Parish, which is 50 miles from New Orleans (and within the NFL's one-hour-from-stadium influence radius for the 2013 Super Bowl).

The lawsuit focuses on the emotional and financial damage Humphrey and McKay suffered from Judge Bardwell's actions. Bardwell has openly communicated his dislike for interracial marriage, although I really think he just doesn't like marriage between blacks and whites, and refused to resign, and has said on television he will not resign..



That folks is just an awful video of a person, or what the lake Richard Pryor would call "a cracker". By standing up for his racist views (which he says aren't racist), Keith Bardwell has become a hero to white supremacists around America, with White Supremacist News claiming that scripture "frowns" on mixed-marriages.

David Duke, who's website has to tell you he has a PhD (HA! HA! Bwahahaha!!) trots out the to-be-expected photo of O.J. Simpson and the late Nicole Brown Simpson, and writes his expected garbage views on interracial marriage.

Duke feels the World's closing in on him since the GOP selected it's first black head in Michael Steele, having recently went off the deep end he was already on about that development.

But I digress.

What white supremacists either don't get or aren't ready to understand because racism is a mental illness is that what Bardwell did was against the U.S. Constitution - in other words it was un-American - so McKay and Humphrey have a very good case. Law professors over at "Prison Planet" website, say that what Judge Bardwell did should not have happened.

I still think the NFL should weigh in here, and I'm surprised the NFL Players Association has not as of this writing taken a position on the matter. Many NFL players are in interracial marriages and so should be very concerned about this case and that the NFL has the 2013 Super Bowl in Louisiana.

The NFL should plan to move the Super Bowl unless the state takes hard action against Bardwell and changes its laws to effectively punish this kind of behavior. By doing nothing, Louisiana is backing the unconstitutional actions of a judge.

Stay tuned.

Glenn Beck fails to reject racist Louisiana Judge; follows racist guru

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Why Glenn Beck's around may be to remind us of just how stupid some Americans can be. Glenn Beck missed a great chance to show he wasn't what many expect him to be, racist, when he failed to make a statement against Louisiana Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell, who will not marry blacks and whites in Louisiana in the year 2009.

Glenn Beck

As I've said..



..racism is a mental illness that must be pointed to and treated at every turn. It's harder to do with folks like Glenn Beck polluting the airwaves with a garbage bin full of trashy ideas.

There's no definitive, undeniable statement by Beck against what Bardwell did as of this writing, and his website just had a link to the Yahoo page on the news until even that was removed (but there's a cached version that leads to the Yahoo page).

But there's something else.

Glen Beck has a person others have refered to as his "guru" who for some wacko reason thought slavery basically was a good thing. (Where, for God's sake, do these people come from?  Not Earth.  They must be alien; and their behavior's questionably legal.)

I'm not kidding.

His name is W. Cleon Skousen, the man Salon explains changed Beck's life.

The late W. Cleon Skousen's, who died in 2006, is also a man for whom FBI head J. Edgar Hoover kept a 2,000 page file on, and referred to black children as "pickaninnies" and wildly claimed American slave owners were the "worst victims" of the slavery system.

Why the heck does Glen Beck back such a man with these retrograde beliefs? I have to agree with blogger Oliver Willis that Skousen's writings comes off as those from a crackpot, but even Willis can't put a finger on why Beck was drawn to him.

But what gets me about Beck is how he hides his own racial issues by calling those who aren't racist, racist for bring up that he's racist. Got that? It's the modern Couch Potato Conservative strategy. Michelle Malkin does it; so does Glenn Beck. And both have no idea what it means to be a real conservative, as Michelle thinks she does.

Of course she's wrong, but that's common for her blog. Still a cool person, just wrong most of the time.

The Classic Conservative knows and understands economics and law and is a policy wonk, believes in free markets but understands the need for government intervention, supports social liberalism and personal freedom but not at the expense of the civil rights of others, and is most of all careful with how tax payer dollars are spent and reluctant to take taxes unless they're necessary.

The Classic Conservative defends and encorages the development of free markets and democracy around the World, but not at the expense of the environment or the poor. The Classic Conservative insists that governments have economic development programs in place to build industry and employ its poorest people, and have reasonable social safety nets for them.  The Classic Conservative is pro-business. 

If you add all that up, Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck are not Classic Conservatives. In fact, their ideas have contaminated the minds of innocent people who lack an intellectual set of guideposts to help them steer through the junk issued by these pundits.

I just provided one.

If you want to call a Classic Conservative  or "NeoLiberal" go ahead. It's the camp I fall into. But regardless it calls for a level of intellectual rigor that's totally devoid in the mindless rantings of Malkin, Beck, or Limbaugh.

Miley Cyrus with Timbaland in duet on "We Belong to the Music"

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Pop singer Miley Cyrus is with R and B singer Timbaland and it's the first song on his new album called "We Belong to the Music".

Timbaland

While Timbaland's attracted Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry and The Fray, Miley Cyrus singing with him is a coup for both performers. It will attract both the female teenage and male teenage audiences that would be split in a choice between Miley Cyrus and Timbaland, and with Cyrus' fanatical group of followers, result in an incredibly successful album and single. It's also clear that, with her Teen Choice Award performance safely behind her...



...and her Twitter account a thing of the past for now, Miley's expanding her range to R and B, and even rap. Meanwhile, Timbaland is reportedly wanting a "Twilight" look for his music video.   Why?  It's the teenage and young adult demographic and he's aggressively going after it.

Stay tuned; interesting news there.