Added Topless note

As my dear friend evan said about an earlier Topless in NYC post,

"FREE THE TOPLESS TWELVE!"

But evan, why are you picking out only six girls?

Bah-boom!

(This is a cheeky way of telling you that our count now stands at 174 - will we break 200 by day's end, which I believe is something like 4 pm Pacific time?)

Topless Girls Break Something...

Good to see some serious reading going on...

I've been dead chuffed all day, with having resoundingly broken the Century barrier - we're now at 169 and still climbing!  So much so that I don't even resent our lovely topless friends in New York, when they report,

"Yesterday, following a post about us on Reddit, more than 100,000 people visited our site, by far the most we’ve ever had in one 24-hour period, and this flood of traffic somehow broke something. Don’t know what. We’ve contacted WordPress to see what we need to do to fix it...."

Savoring the sweet taste of success...

... and attracting a following

As you will know by now, these are the ladies of New York's Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, who have their blog here.

As a Comment on their site said, "Every year we get closer to European attitudes towards the nude human body. I think this is wonderful."

Soon, I hope, they'll be reading my book "The War On The 60s"!

We did it!

Hi dear readers!

I just checked in quickly to the blog, and found that we have had 144 pageviews today.  We broke the Century barrier! In fact, we scored a gross, whatever that is!

Thanks everyone!  Must admit, I'm a little surprised, as what I have posted today was a story about Dick Van Dyke, and a correction!

However, it inspires me to continue.  As always, I would love to have comments and followers.

As Labor Day weekend begins, Suzi Weissman's excellent "Beneath The Surface" on KPFK radio has a good interview with a Palestinian Professor of Politics about Syria (he thinks the poison gas was likely launched by the Syrian opposition, presumably to provoke an American attack on the regime.  I think that makes a lot of sense.)

But especially, Suzi covers the Fast Food Walkouts, which seem to be working in terms of raising public awareness - a fascinating discussion, which you can listen to - anywhere in the world - by clicking here.

Peace and Love, all, and thanks again!

May I correct myself?

When I ranted the other day about Obama's spinelessness, I didn't mean to imply that we should rush into an invasion of Syria, or anything like it.

The whole issue is very complicated, from the point of view of Middle Eastern intrigue as well the point of view of America's long history of using false pretexts to attack other countries. "Remember The Maine!". Not to mention what the British Press referred to as W's "dodgy dossier", the lies that dragged America's allies into the ghastly Iraq mess.

I hope to get myself together soon to write something about Syria, but don't wait for any profound conclusions....

Also the very timely new movie, "Closed Circuit" -

Sophisticated Hollywood Judgement

So you're the owner of the hugely profitable James Bond franchise,  a series of hard-charging spy thrillers with a hero who never fails to beat up the bad guys, heroically withstand torture, and unfailingly bed a string of gorgeous women in every film...

As was said of Ian Fleming's books back in the Cold War 50s when they began, "sex, sadism and snobbery"....

Now James Bond, inimitably played by Sean Connery, announces he's quitting the role - wants to be taken seriously as an actor.

What can you possibly do to replace such a screen icon?  Well, if you're highly respected multi-millionaire Hollywood Producer Cubby Broccoli, you offer this, possibly the biggest role in popular cinema, to....

Wait for it....

Dick Van Dyke!

Yep, you'd have to be nuts, wouldn't you?

But Van Dyke himself tells the story in an amusing article here, about his interview on Kevin Pollock's chat show.

Quote:  `If Van Dyke had really wanted the role, he was in the right place at the right time. Broccoli produced "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," and Ian Fleming, who created James Bond in a series of novels, wrote the story that was the basis for "Chitty Chitty." But instead of the American funnyman, Broccoli cast Australian model George Lazenby as Bond in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."'

`Daniel Craig is already committed to the next two James Bond movies, the first arriving in 2015. But after he's done, perhaps the current producers of the Bond might consider giving Van Dyke another chance. Judging from his recent work, at 87 years of age he's still sharp, he has great timing, and he can dance. And he's even nimble enough to escape from a burning car. Now if can just work on that accent.'

There's a long video of the entire TV interview here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RJiptMYGA4

John Lennon Lives....

Apologies to those faithful followers who have already clicked on this post; I've been struggling with getting Google to link smoothly to the video....

On Sunday we went to a fabulous show at the Hayward Theatre, 2511 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Tim Piper does a remarkable job of reincarnating John Lennon in a live performance with a strong backing band, entitled "Just Imagine, the Show". Written by Piper and Steve Altman, it relates the main formative events in John's mixed-up, tragically curtailed life, and thrills the live audience with recreated performances of the great music.

You can get a pretty good idea of the quality of the show by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGPwv3nxhTc

(If you want to watch the Video full-screen - which of course you do! - you will do better to use Internet Explorer than Google Chrome)

Young and Sexy (courtesy of Michael Moore)

Right now I'm having a fine old time reading Michael Moore's “Here Comes Trouble - stories from my life”.

Everybody's favorite (well, maybe not Fox News) Oscar-winning Documentary-maker tells tales of his up-growing in the 60s in Flint, Michigan, with a lot of wonderful - and funny - stuff about racism and war resistance.

You can read a sample chapter here.  When I finish the book, maybe I'll talk about it more, but for right now, I thought I'd offer you this, from a Comment sent to the website by a German journalist called Jerry Hoss.  Food for thought....

"What's going to be the subject of your next movie? May I suggest the conservative rollback in the area of sexual freedom? Since 'Sodomobile' we heard nothing from you on that subject. This time you might want to explore the issue of AGE OF CONSENT. Here in Germany it is 14, in Spain & Mexico it's 13, and in Vatican City it's 12! Other countries have none, or don't give a damn. 'Free love' is very much a component of Socialism, as much as sexual repression is part of Plutocracy. I have a catchy title for it: 'The Impotent Child'."

60s Fashion Video with The Zombies

Just for a bit of nostalgic fun - can you be nostalgic for the 60s if you weren't there?

It sure feels like it!

The music is British band The Zombies' hit, "The Time of The Season (for Loving)".
They also had hits with "She's Not There", and "Tell Her No".  Apparently they're still playing.
An enterprising Dutchman made a 25-minute Documentary about "She's Not There" - actually very interesting:

Quote about their early gigs in my native Hertfordshire: "the walls would be awash with sweat and the floor with beer...."

Obama Makes Us Sick

Has the guy ever made a stand on principle about anything?

On Syria - "If you use chemical weapons on your own people, you'll be crossing a red line"
"Oh, you crossed a red line?  Well, er, we're gravely concerned"

On the Egyptian military, whose country receives $1.5 billion total per year from us, $1.3 billion going to the military, which presumably means pouring profits into the coffers of our obscene Arms Industry - "This money is our leverage over the Egyptian Army.... but if we actually do anything, then we won't have any leverage" (even though US Law requires him to cut off military aid from a country which suffers a military coup.)

And now on Fracking - this just in from the Sierra Club:

"President Obama is making a dangerous mistake. He's doubling down on dirty natural gas without hearing from the folks affected by it, like Rick Roles of Garfield County, Colorado.¹

If he talked to Rick, he'd hear a courageous man, whose eyes well with tears and voice trembles with frustration as he shares his experience:

Beginning in 1994, over 100 toxic natural gas wells were drilled within a mile of Rick's beloved home. Once a robust cowboy, he now wakes some days too sick to even feed himself. And time and again he has been forced to watch helplessly as his pride and joy -- his goats and horses -- succumb to horrific tumors and birth defects.²

Rick won't give up -- he's joining the fight and sharing his story about the terrible impacts of natural gas. But he can't do it alone; will you stand with Rick?

One click will automatically add your name to the petition telling President Obama that natural gas is a danger for our communities. It's not the answer to our nation's energy needs!

Sadly, Rick's story isn't unique -- it's happening all over the country as an unregulated natural gas industry runs amok.

Nearly half a million natural gas wells can be found from Pennsylvania to California.³ Companies pump a mostly unknown cocktail of toxic chemicals into the ground to unleash the natural gas locked below -- all the while poisoning the air and water and turning local communities into industrial zones.⁴

In 2009, this all too familiar process began near Beth Voyles' home in southwestern Pennsylvania. Soon after, her family began to suffer the effects -- unexplained rashes, aches and pains, and blisters in their noses and throats. As Beth said, "You feel like you're drugged because your brain's not thinking. We want our life back."⁵

Last month, President Obama spoke about his plans to tackle climate change. But the president's plan includes an increased reliance on natural gas, which releases methane pollution that is 72 to 105 times more potent than carbon dioxide.⁶ So not only does natural gas put our communities at risk but it's also helping to heat up our planet.

If President Obama is serious about tackling climate change, he needs to reverse course on dangerous natural gas! We need to be too loud for the president to ignore.

That's why the Sierra Club is launching SierraRise, a new, online community working for progress and sustainability. We'll reach new audiences and build a bigger and more powerful movement than ever before. That means sharing heartfelt stories and inspiring pictures with our friends and family and flooding the inboxes of public officials and corporations with powerful personal messages.

Will you take a moment to sign the petition and automatically join the SierraRise community, by urging President Obama to protect our communities and climate from natural gas?"

Footnote About Gigawatts

The gigawatt is equal to one billion (10⁹) watts or 1 gigawatt = 1000 megawatts. This unit is sometimes used for large power plants or power grids. For example, by the end of 2010 power shortages in China's Shanxi province were expected to increase to 5–6 GW^[7] and the installed capacity of wind power in Germany was 25.8 GW.^[8] The largest unit (out of four) of the Belgian Nuclear Plant Doel has a peak output of 1.04 GW.^[9] HVDC converters have been built with power ratings of up to 2 GW.^[10] The London Array, the world's largest offshore wind farm, is designed to produce a gigawatt of power.^[11]

(from Wikipedia)

PS for Venturans re: "Do The Math"

"Do the Math" is a 42-minute documentary about the rising movement to change the terrifying maths of the climate crisis and to challenge the fossil fuel industry. Speakers and discussion follow this screening by Ventura350 with the Ventura Film Society.

You can see the Trailer here:

Ventura City Councilman Brian Brennan will speak about how to transition Ventura County to a low carbon economy and culture.

Jim Waterhouse, Climate Reality Project and cofounder of the Pasadena Foothill Citizens Climate Lobby will bring passion and drama to a story of creating the political will for a stable climate and working together to express our personal and political power.

Meet representatives of seven climate change organizations before and after the program to learn how to get involved.
Donation amounts are $10 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, and $5 for students.

SPONSORS: Ventura 350 and the Ventura Film Society

COSPONSORS: Citizens Climate Lobby, Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions, Kids vs Global Warming, Organizing for Action, Sierra Club, Unitarian-Universalist Church of Ventura Social Action Committee, VCCOOL , Ventura Pachamama Community

Friday, August 23, 7:15 – 9:15 PM.

420 E Santa Clara Street, Downtown Ventura, 93001

For information about Ventura350, contact Jan Dietrick (805) 643-3640.

"Do The Math": "A Moral Catastrophe"

The "Do The Math" Movie, about our Fossil Fuel Fuck-Up, is hitting screens across the country, hopefully across the globe.

See the hard-hitting Trailer here:

You can find local screenings, including the Ventura, California Film Society, here:  http://act.350.org/signup/math-movie/

Also, Do The Math is going to be broadcast to millions of homes all across the USA on Al Jazeera America on September 22nd -- tune in if you can!

To Volt or Not to Volt?

Been thinking about electric cars (and hybrids) lately.

First, a note about Solar Power. Here in very sunny Southern California - I never forget that the day I moved here, January 6th, the temperature was 86F - it would seem that solar panels, coupled with a yummy electric hot tub, and an electric car and/or bike, would be the obvious way to go.  But when I looked into it, I found that in the Golden State of the Land of The Free, there's a "law(!)" to say that you may not install more solar electric capacity than you currently use under the old, corporate, polluting generating system!

Who the hell comes up with these obviously insane, unjust, counter-productive regulations? I'm free to buy as many as I want of almost everything (including lethal weapons), but not solar panels?  Huh?

(This image is from an excellent political blog called Prose before Hos; checkitout!)

I've been saying for a while, that we will start being interested in electric vehicles, when they start beating gas-powered vehicles in races.  Well, the time has come, folks.

As one website puts it:

"Nearly every year since 1916, over 100 of the most talented, most heroic, and most bat-shit-insane drivers and riders descend on the base of Pikes Peak outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The goal: make it up the 12.42-mile, 4,720-foot ascent on either two wheels or four – all without flying off one of the 156 gut-punishing turns.

It's Germany's Nürburgring draped on a Colorado mountain nearly three miles above sea level. And it's one of the most phenomenal motorsports events in the world.

For the second year in a row, electric racers and juiced-up motorcycles are joining their fuel-burning counterparts to stake a claim as the fastest machines to Race to the Clouds. And because oxygen starvation isn't an issue for EVs, this could be the year that electrics begin to dominate the mountain."

One of those voltage-driven loonies is Carlin Dunne from Santa Barbara, seen here displaying his chest with a group of admirers (not displaying their chests, for that see our Literary section):

• 
  
  Here he is not-roaring up the switchback at speeds of up to 150mph:  

  
  

  

  
  

  There's excellent coverage of the event at Wired.com here.

  
  

  Quote:  "Lightning Motorcycles and racer Carlin Dunne dominated at this weekend’s Pikes Peak hill climb. The team beat out the entirety of the two-wheeled field, marking the first time an electric vehicle has won over its gas-powered counterparts at Pikes Peak"

  
  

  For a more sober, scientific reflection on the experience of owning a Plug-in vehicle, see here:  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

The NY Topless Girls are at it again!

And they do have a talented photographer among their number....

Sometime imminently I'll post about the legality of their campaign, which they have now taken to the steps of the New York Public Library -

The literary ladies blog here.

Snarky Former English Teacher Writes....

It's always an amusing game to check out exam papers from the schools of the past, so that we can all have a good "tsk, tsk" over how standards have fallen. The very worthwhile website Daily Kos is playing the game with this extract from an 8th-Grade test from 1912 Kentucky.

But hold on - Shock horror! Look carefully at the Spelling Test! What on Earth is an "eneeavor"?

The tragedy is that Daily Kos's writer, glooming and dooming about the terrible state of our education system, ain't doing too well on the literacy himself. In a pronouncement worthy of our former Moron-In-Chief, G.W. Bush, he accepts that "the names of some countries is different today than then".  EEK!

And his writing gets worse.  (I've sic'd all over this extract.)

(A Note, in case any children of the Texting Age are reading this: sic is Latin for "thus", and it means "this is exactly how the author wrote the material".)

"Many recent studies have indicated that American education has been lagging (sic) those of industrialized countries (sic) . The subliminal (sic) war on education via austerity and transfer of public dollars to for profit (sic) education (vouchers) makes the degeneration of the American education a continued slide to mediocrity." (Hmmmmm....)

Anyhoo, all that aside the article is quite fun; if you want to pit your wits against the children of Kentucky before World War One, you can do so here.

And in fairness, Kos does have some good stuff.  Only sayin'....

Time (Magazine) for a Revolution

I guess the people who work for - and publish - Time Magazine consider themselves a leading periodical of current affairs; in my own in-depth study of their work in dentists' waiting rooms, I've always found them to be a bunch of capitalist spinmeisters.

Here's their dramatic cover for an analysis of Egypt's uprising, published in December but looking amazingly timely this week, as the Egyptian military and police have been showing their true colors:

Pretty cool, huh?  Dramatic, punchy, capturing a moment of world history that may prove to be pivotal in our lifetimes. Just what a great news magazine should be doing.

But wait - as the late, great Roy Orbison might say - what do I see?  This is the cover of the European and Asian editions of the mag, or rag.

The US edition has this glorious cover:

Yep, you got it - childish, vapid, trivial - add your own adjective, that's what Time Mag believes is appropriate for the sophisticated US audience.  After all, why should we give a shit about the activities of an Egyptian military machine that consumes 1.5 BILLION of our hard-earned dollars every year?

There's an excellent display of numerous examples of Time's pusillanimous periodical poltroonery, at The Smoking Nun, here.

Stephen Colbert's Fracking Party

Some of you tree-hugging hippies out there, opponents of America's next wonderful economic boondoggle - er, boom - have been whining about the 36,000 Fracking wells that have been drilled down into the amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesty of this beautiful land.

Needless to say, there's absolutely nothing for you to be concerned about.  As Stephen Colbert pointed out in last night's "Colbert Report", we're embarking on a Golden Age of Flammability. 

Watch it here....  http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/428641/august-15-2013/golden-age-of-flammability

As Stephen says, "We're trying to throw a fracking party here, and these people are ruining it with their suffering".

But have no fear, the Fossil Fuel Industry has hit on the solution to the public's Fear of the Frack - don't let us hear about it.

Let Monsieur Colbert 'splain yer - with last night's Word:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/428642/august-15-2013/the-word---gag-gift

Climate?  What Climate?

Smile and be happy.

Mitch McConnell, your time is up?

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, whom Jon Stewart delights in likening to a petulant turtle, may be in trouble - finally. (He's one of the main architects of the Republican "strategy" to make sure that Obama is unable to get anything through Congress.)

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee sends this BREAKING NEWS:

The Louisville Courier Journal reports, "For what may be the first time in U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s long Senate career, a Democrat poll shows him trailing a challenger."

Our poll is driving national and local news today! We've already spent $100,000 on ads against McConnell and have an organizer mobilizing our thousands of Kentucky members.

McConnell calls himself the "proud guardian of gridlock." If Alison Lundergan Grimes defeats him, she will improve our chances of success on every issue we care about.

At an event today in Kentucky, Karissa Gerhke from our team will release more poll results to reporters --- including the fact that Kentuckians support increasing Social Security benefits by 2 to 1 and reject McConnell's support for cutting Social Security by a whopping 3 to 1.

They add: Click here to see the poll numbers -- and chip in $3 to continue our effective campaign to defeat Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

"Topless and Literary in NYC"

To my chagrin, I learn that it was back on June 12th that I promised you "Topless and Literary in NYC". Well, here I am, finally keeping my word:

Doesn't she have a lovely smile?  She is a member of an esteemed literary society nom-de-plume'd "The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society".  The ladies (and a few selected gents) blog at http://coedtoplesspulpfiction.wordpress.com/, and they have a philosophy, even.  They say it's not right that men can go shirtless and women can't - and the NY law agrees with them (equal protection under the law, sans doute.)

Here's an extract:

“Nothing like a 90-degree day to make you want to spend some time shirtless in the sun, and that’s true whether you’re a woman or a man. Thankfully, we live in New York City, where women and men have the equal right to do it.

Ten of us made the trek out to the little sylvan grotto in Central Park known as “Strawberry Fields,” near where John Lennon lived and died, and yes, there really are tiny strawberries growing there in the grass. (No, we didn’t eat any.)  

Strawberry Fields Forever...

Several birds came to say hello, also one tiny slug.  We got curious looks from several school groups and packs of tourists who walked past on the path beyond the fence, and a visit from two friendly police officers who said they told someone who complained to them about us that we were entirely within our rights and didn’t have to do anything different.  Chalk one up for the NYPD.”

John would have loved it!

I was going to get pedantic, and suggest that maybe the girls read too many detective stories - even suggest a wider reading horizon, which might include Herman Hesse's "Siddhartha", Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire", Richard Bach's "Illusions" - maybe not "The Naked Lunch", though....

But they are called the Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, so I'd better hold my peace.

Please visit their Blog - and, speaking as one whose local nude beach was taken away by prudes - best wishes to them!