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EDITORIAL

Photo by Lance Wolff

MY SECOND MOST FAVORITE TV SHOW

If you click on TV Previews this week you'll notice that the animated FX show, Archer, actually premiered it's new season on January 19th.  My bad.  I'd been looking forward to the new season of Archer for some time but for somehow it never occurred to me to announce it on this website.  That's particularly curious because this website, for the most part, reflects my interests.  Old age maybe.  And over work.

For those who have not seen the show, Archer is a -- in my view -- a very funny (and sexy) spy spoof featuring the agents of ISIS: Sterling Archer, Malory Archer (his mother and boss), Lana Kane, Archer's beautiful ex girlfriend (and constant critic), Pam Poovey, HR Director and office gossip, Cyril Figgis, the ISIS Comptroller (he has trust issues), and Cheryl Tunt, Malory's secretary, ditzy, independently wealthy but unable to access her fortune. 

None of the foregoing does justice to the show.  But if you like smart humor and cool animation, I just suggest you give it a try. (Full disclosure: From my view point, Archer is a spy version of my sci fi opus, Planet Patrol.)

Oh, as regards my number one favorite TV show, that's Doctor Who, of course.

 From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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CENSORING THE INTERNET

There is no doubt in my mind that the big guys -- the movie industry, the comic book industry, virtually any publisher -- and the government, for that matter -- would like nothing better than to get control of the Internet.  In that regard, they almost succeeded last week with two bills: SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA, the Protect Intellectual Property Act.  These acts would have allowed the government to block access (shut down, in effect) any site where a copyright owner -- or anyone really -- claimed copyrighted material was being pirated.  Thankfully, a huge internet protest launched by Wikipedia and Google and supported by a whole bunch of other Internet websites brought that effort to a grinding halt last Wednesday the 18th of January.  Wikipedia shut itself down for 24 hours. Google, which directed people to email their protest to the Congress, had a black banner over the illustrated part of it's opening page.  As a result the politicians who were championing the bill (almost all of them, Republican and Democrat) freaked out and the bill was put on hold.

To be clear, I am not in favor of piracy, internet or other wise.  But these two bills gave total power to the big players with no legal recourse to little guys like me.  Or, for that matter, to some of the big players like Google and Wikipedia, both of which could have been severely hurt or even put out of business by these acts.  Just think of what these bills would have done to YouTube (owned by Google) if it had passed.  Shutting down YouTube -- or even a key part of it -- would have screwed things up for me too.  I doubt you'd be seeing anymore Saturday Morning TV Shows on this site.

But here's where I could really get hurt: When I started this site one of the first articles I ran was about how today's science might be used to actually replicate the powers of super heroes like, say, Superman.  To illustrate the article I used a cover from a Superman comic.  A week later, upon receiving a cease and desist from D.C. comics, I took that image down even though there is something called "Fair Usage."  In a court of law, my use of that image would almost certainly have been upheld because it was germane to the article and because I was not representing that I was the copyright holder and I was not making money by selling anything to profit from the article.  Of course I didn't have the money to fight D.C. in court so I folded but with these new laws even that option would have been taken off the table.

That said, I encourage those of you who care about free speech to investigate this further by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act and  http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/SOPA-PIPA-Online-Piracy-Lead-Weeks-Security-News-651755/

I leave you with this: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." -- Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884), abolitionist, orator and columnist for The Liberator,  in a speech before the Massachusetts Antislavery Society in 1852, according to The Dictionary of Quotations edited by Bergen Evans

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THE ART OF LORENZO SPERLONGA

I want to draw your attention to one of this week's feature articles.  I first met Lorenzo in the late 1990s, shortly after he had moved here from Italy.  Impressed with the sophistication of his art, I convinced him to work on several projects with me.  Then he hit the big time, hooking up with Kevin Eastman, publisher of Heavy Metal comics.

When Lorenzo stopped by my office recently-- we still work together on occasion --  he dropped off 6 door hangers, all like the one you see here.  They are, I think you'll agree, a nice sample of his work.  So, I want to offer them at no charge to the next six people who make a purchase from me.  However, since I don't want to offend anyone who thinks the art is too sexy, you will have to request it when you make the purchase.  This may require a separate email from you. 

Meanwhile you can see more of Lorenzo's art by clicking here.

Finally, let me remind you that last week's animation cel auction -- the Sonny and Cher cel and the Charlotte's Web cel will remain active until this Wednesday  (1-18-12) at 5 pm West Coast time.  You can review those auctions plus this week's auctions by clicking here.

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OUR BIG ANIMATION CEL AUCTION -- PART 2

Here's our press release:

Swapsale.com will kick off its next cycle of animation cel auctions on Sunday January 8, 2012 with a very rare production cel from the opening credits of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. The show, which premiered in August 1971 and ran through May 1974, was a major hit for CBS and only ended because of the couple's divorce.

LOOKING BACK AT NEW YEARS CELEBRATIONS

For those of you who found no charm in this year's Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve celebration with Ryan Seacrest, we've set the dials on our time machine to New Years eve 1957.  Just strap in and press play...

Wishing you all the best for the new year.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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1-1-12

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BAH!  HUMBUG!

It's Christmas once again at the David household. Every room of the house has been turned into a bedroom with every couch in every room (we have four of various sizes) doing duty as beds for visiting family members, encamped here for the holiday weekend.  There are kids under the age of six and dogs of various types (all small enough to trip over) and more opinions (about how to cook a turkey or when and even how to open presents) than you'll find at the United Nations.  And, like the United Nations, political tensions abound with armed camps -- those on the left and those on the right -- sending coded messages across the dining room table.  (It ultimately becomes a contest to see who can annoy the other fellow most.)  When it's over, with each family member having retreated back into their respective lives, we will all of us complain about the other.  And yet, despite the bruised egos and inconvenience, it's a certainty we will all do this again next year.

Happy Holidays!

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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12-25-11

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THERE THINGS

1.  I want to point out that, after many, many months of inaction, Dr. Warren Chaney has begun to pump out chapter after chapter of his upcoming Space Patrol novel, the pages of which are being published here, as part of Dr. Chaney's agreement to give Swapsale readers a fist look.  You can find Chapter 5, his latest installment here:

CLICK HERE

2.  This site is so big that I sometimes forget about all the things I have posted here.  This past week I rediscovered the Bettie Page Theater.  Bettie Page fans should check it out.

BETTIE PAGE THEATER

3. When I mentioned meeting Batman producer Michael Uslan a couple weeks ago I had just begun to read his fine book, The Boy Who Loved Batman.  Even so, I could already tell it was going to be a great read.  Now that I'm well into the book, I can reaffirm that notion.  Uslan takes us through his life -- and his ongoing infatuation with comic books and Batman -- with wit and insight.  His detailed recollection of events -- many of which involve key comic book and entertainment industry luminaries  -- is nothing short of remarkable.  People who are into comic books, movies and even a good biography, will love this book.   

THE BOY WHO LOVED BATMAN

Happy Holidays!

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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12-18-11

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BEAM ME UP!

Santa is being good to me this holiday season.  Last week I met Michael Uslan, the producer of the Batman movies.  This week it was William Shatner, aka, Captain Kirk.  He was kind enough to autograph a Star Trek standee for me (See image). He also took a look at some boots I bought about twenty years ago which I was told were his from Star Trek.  Unfortunately he couldn't confirm that.

I was surprised to discover that after Star Trek was cancelled Shatner fell on hard times.  At one point he was actually living in a camper in the San Fernando valley.  It was the Star Trek movies that got Shatner back on his feet and, of course, he went on to recreate himself as an actor, most recently playing the role of Denny Crane on David E. Kelly's Boston Legal.  He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for that.  He had previously won an Emmy for the same character on Kelly's The Practice which preceded Boston Legal. 

So life is good.  I met William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) a couple years ago.  All I need now is to meet Doctor Who.  Either Matt Smith or David Tennant would do.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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12-11-11

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BAT NEWS

I was delighted to have lunch with Michael Uslan last week.  He's the producer of the Batman movies -- all of them!  Terrific guy!  I don't think there's anything he doesn't know about comics.  (In fact, he's a recognized comic book historian.)  More importantly he understands what the super hero mythos is all about.  That's why he optioned the Batman rights from DC Comics.  But here's the deal: when he optioned Batman no one else realized what an important property it was. Go figure.

MICHAEL USLAN AND ME

Over lunch Michael told me something I found astounding.  It took him 12 years -- from the time he obtained the rights to Batman -- to get the first movie optioned and made.  All the studio heads could think of was the campy 1966 TV show.  And no explaining on Michael's part could get them to see beyond that.  Since I worked in the entertainment business for a while I shouldn't have found that surprising.  But I did.  I mean, it's Batman for God's sake!

Michael was in town to promote his book, The Boy Who Loved Batman.  (You'll find a review for it here.)  People who like comics will really dig it.  Actually, anyone who enjoys good story telling will like it. Michael gives us his life story -- and it's packed with fascinating information and anecdotes.

Sadly the lunch was rushed -- Michael had a lot of rounds to make for his book tour.  But I'm going to try and convince him Swapsale is his ticket to big book sales -- just so we can have lunch again.  That's how much I enjoyed our all too brief get together.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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12-4-11

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THINGS CHANGE

I have moved the auctions info to it's own page.  This is part of my ongoing attempt to reduce the length of this site's main page.  As I've said in past editorials, I've received complaints about the main page "going on and on and on."  Hopefully this change will not cause any confusion.  I believe the link to the new "Auctions" page is big enough.

Also, I'm adding a new feature -- Saturday morning cartoon shows from the 1960s and beyond.  First up on the docket: Clutch Cargo.  It's a complete episode.  Next week it will be a complete Flash Gordon cartoon. 

The Science Channel is now cable casting sci-fi dramas.  They started by picking up the rebroadcast rights to 2002's Firefly.  Now, effective this past Saturday, they've picked up a 2004 Canadian series called ReGenesis.  Sorry I didn't get that info to you sooner but it just never occurred to me that ReGenesis was a sci-fi drama.  I mean, come on!  It's the Science Channel, not the Syfy Channel! 

There's one change I have little control over.  Recently YouTube has started putting ads in front of their offerings.  This is especially annoying when the ad pops up in front of a movie trailer.  Movie trailers are ads!  So, in effect, you have to watch an ad to watch an ad.  I try to avoid posting those trailers on our "Movie Trailer Theater" page but it's becoming increasingly more difficult to avoid them. 

Not all change is good but at this site we will always strive to change for the better.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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11-27-11

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MEMORIES OF PALISADE AMUSEMENT PARK (AND BUSTER CRABBE)

Despite being a divorced working woman in Manhattan, my mom would frequently pile us kids -- me, my sister Marlene and cousin Rich -- into her 1948 green Ford coupe for a Saturday outing to Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey.   The big deal, aside from the rides and the giant salt water swimming pool was -- at least for a while -- the chance to get your picture taken with Buster Crabbe.  I guess posing with a bunch of screaming kids couldn't have been a high point in Buster   

                                                                                       Rich, me, Buster and my sis

Crabbe's career but it was a pretty big deal for us kids.  We knew of the actor thanks to our Dumont TV on which we watched the old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials.  I was hooked on them.

Although Palisades Amusement Park was torn down years ago, you'll be able to find it resurrected in this month's Features section, along with a second related article, this one about Buster Crabbe comics.  Enjoy.

Finally, this: Check out the "Comments" section for a very thoughtful (if critical) email from John Bassert.  Your comments are welcome.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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11-20-11

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DOG DAYS OF AUTUMN

Nothing much to report this week. We did have a slight technical glitch with our old radio shows; Crime Does not Pay was supposed to go online this week but -- my apologies -- we will have to post it next Sunday.  Also, Dr. Warren Chaney has returned with the third chapter of his Space Patrol novel.  That too was supposed to get posted this week but be assured, it will be available at this site next weekend for sure. Meanwhile, since it's been a while since Warren wrote the first two chapters of his novel, may I suggest that SP fans refresh their memories of what has already transpired by clicking here.   It's a cool read with terrific graphics.

Until next week then.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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11-13-11

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MORE OLD TIME RADIO

You may have noticed that we've added some new old time radio shows to our regular lineup: Gang Busters and Boston Blackie.  More will be forth coming.  Richard Diamond, Philo Vance, Dick Tracy and Crime Does Not Pay are already slated to appear within the next few weeks.  As usual they will be offered here each week for free.

Also, I'd like to take this time to thank Dr. Warren Chaney and First Sergeant (Ret.) David Cameron for their terrific contributions to our articles section; the recounting of their experiences during the early days of television (The Magic Mansion series, click here: TELEVISION) is something you're not going to get anywhere else.  And it's information that should not be lost to history.

Anyone else out there interested in making a contribution?  It doesn't have to be about television (although that would be nice) but it should add to our knowledge of pop culture.  I'll be waiting to hear.

 From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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11-6-11

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ANIMATION AUCTION ENDS THIS CYCLE

We are ending our series of animation cel auctions for this cycle with the Batman and Robin offering. But not to worry, the next cycle will begin on Sunday, January 8, 2012. It will feature the animation cels we didn't get to this cycle plus a bunch of new cels which we will be listing in the weeks ahead.  Keep watching this site for updates.

Meanwhile, we have been experiencing some (hopefully) minor problems with our web site.  We think we have it under control but, with computers, you never know for sure.  So we're in the process of creating a backup site.  I'm giving you a heads up on this just in case things slip out of our control.

As I've mentioned before, part of the problem with our site has been the massive number of files we publish each week; 26,000 when our site went down about eight months ago.  We've eliminated over 4000 files since then but that's obviously a drop in the bucket when you've got the number of files we have.  Deleting the files has been a painful process; I hate to eliminate past listings which feature so many beautiful toys, movie posters, comic books, ect., even when the listing is out of date. So a word to the wise; if there's an image you really like on our site you might want to grab it rather than take a chance we will soon be deleting it.  That's especially true of the Swap Talk postings.  That's where we're making most of our cuts.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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10-30-11

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Growing up as a kid on Seaman avenue at the very top of Manhattan sixty years ago was pretty terrific.  Nobody worried about crime back then; kids roamed the streets like pack rats, without mothers worrying about where they were or what they were up to. So when Halloween came around my cousin, sister and I would go from apartment building to apartment building knocking on doors to say "trick or treat."

I was about nine or ten when my mother made me a Superman costume for Halloween.  It was beautiful.  A work of art.  I was really proud as we traveled around the neighborhood that night, filling our bags with candy. That is, until some big kids, walking down the hill behind us, yelled out "Get Superman."  No mistaking who they meant by that. 

I took off like a rocket.  Aided by the fact that I was running down a hill, I was almost flying, just like the man of steel, as I headed for my Fortress of Solitude, in this case, my apartment building.  I'm pleased to say I made it without further incident; nothing motivates like fear.

Years later, living in Hollywood, I did Superman once again, this time with Rod Thorp, the author of the Die Hard novel that became the basis for the Bruce Willis films.  Our girlfriends had decided to surprise us with those costumes but if they had asked I would have said one Superman is enough.  Batman would have worked for me.  Or maybe even a costume where I didn't have to keep my stomach sucked in all evening.

A few years later I dressed like a character from Planet of the Apes.  I actually had one of the ape costumes used in the movie, and the prosthetic mask to boot.  (It came in two pieces; the upper mask and lower jaw.)  Way cool.  However, I went to a party at rocker John Mayall's house (leader of the Bluesbreakers) that Jane Seymour was attending.  She was super hot back then, and I was sitting right next to her...in an ape suit with the prosthetic mask glued to my face.  Sensing that this was not the ideal outfit to woo her in, I ripped the mask from my face.  But that left my face covered in glue, creating the look of a leper.  She left with this British guy, a friend of mine, who had the good sense not to wear a costume. 

For all of that I've always loved Halloween and continued to dress up for it until I could no longer find a costume in my closet that fit.  But this year I've solved the problem; it's a Jedi robe.  I should be able to fit into it for years to come.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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10-23-11

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THE TRUE ORIGIN OF SUPERMAN

Did you know that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster originally conceived of Superman as a bald villain?  The year was 1933 and Siegel was publishing a fanzine in which his story about a telepathic villain bent on world domination appeared.  Called The Reign of the Superman, it was, of course, illustrated by Shuster.  Siegel then re-imagined the character as a hero who looked like Douglas Fairbanks Sr. but even with that, it wasn't until much later in Superman's evolution that the costume was added.  At one point Siegel, not satisfied with the progress he and Shuster had made in getting their character published, even sought the help of different artists.  What would Superman have looked like if Shuster hadn't drawn it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman

I'm mentioning all of this because we're excited about our latest animation cel offering; an original Superman cel from the Saturday morning TV show Super Friends.  Here's your chance to get a part of Superman's rich and ever evolving history.  If you think you might want to take advantage of that opportunity, just click here.  The opening bid is only $199.95.

Meanwhile, our current Flintstones animation cel auction is getting a lot of attention on eBay and while no one has bid yet we feel confident that the item will do well.  That auction will end on Wednesday, 5 pm October 19.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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10-16-11

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FLINTSTONES REVIVAL SET FOR FOX

This past May Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, American Dad and the Cleveland show, announced he will be producing a new Flintstones series for Fox to begin production now for airing in 2013.  One can barely imagine what this new iteration will look like, given Macfarlane's freaky sense of humor and past history.  I for one will be looking forward to its appearance.

The Flintstones, which first aired (in prime time, no less) on September 30, 1960, continued its run until April 1, 1966. It celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Animation cels from that show have become highly collectible; it's not unusual for them to sell for thousands of dollars.  One sad thing about MacFarlane's version of the Flintstones -- it's unlikely any animation cels will come out of it since everything is digitized these days.

Of course, you have a chance to get one of those original Flintstone animation cels right here this week.  If you're interested just click here.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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10-9-11

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THE "OCCUPY WALL STREET" PROTEST

One of my boys, Jordan, flew to New York City to join the protesters on Wall Street.  (He took the photo seen here.) It's something he insisted on doing.  He even dropped a college semester to go there. I'm proud of him.

Whether on the left or the right, I don't see how anyone could have a problem with this movement.  It's the banks that caused the economic problems we are currently suffering through.  It was their actions which forced us to bail them out with our tax payer dollars.  How did they repay us?  By continuing to do exactly what they did when they caused our economy to collapse in the first place.  It's called casino capitalism.  They're raking in billions of dollars while giving nothing back.  They are, in fact, sucking the wealth out of our country and into their pockets.  And our bought and paid for politicians on both sides of the aisle are letting them get away with it.  Actually, they are helping them get away with it. If I was twenty years younger I'd be down there with the protesters myself.

I watch the CNN Sunday news shows every weekend.  Not one of them mentioned the events on Wall Street even though a mind boggling 700 protesters had been arrested a day earlier.  Shame on them.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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10-2-11

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SOME ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON 9/11

I have always had my doubts about the official 9/11 story.  Too many loose ends, too many unanswered questions. Especially regarding the collapse of building seven which was never hit by a plane.  Here's a short video that sums up the issues:

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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9-25-11

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THOR: GOD OF BLUNDER

I finally got to see Thor on OnDemand.  That's one god awful movie, as it were.  In truth I was never a big Thor comic book fan -- was anybody? -- but I didn't hate the book.  I'd even buy it occasionally.  But the movie?  You have to ask yourself how this kind of crap gets made.  Well, I used to work as a producer and script writer in Hollywood, so I actually know how a movie with at least some potential can go off the rails.  Usually it's too many cooks.  But that doesn't explain how a class A actress like Natalie Portman gets roped into signing on for a film like this.  Did she think she'd come off like Margo Kidder in the first Superman movie?  That's my guess.

I suspect that the people who produced and wrote the film were not comic book geeks.  They had no idea of what makes a good superhero film.  Despite all the special effects, they lost the magic almost from the beginning.  But the biggest mistake, in my opinion, was dividing the movie into two segments; half of it takes place on Asgard, the other half on Earth.   So neither gets the attention it deserves.

Just as importantly, Superhero movies need at least a few magical moments, as when Superman rescues Lois Lane as she falls from the top of the Daily Planet building. "I've got you, Lois," Superman says. "You've got me?  Whose got you?" Lois gasps.

That's inspired.  That's what I want to see.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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9-18-11

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REMEMBERING THE TWIN TOWERS

I was in college in Paterson New Jersey when the World Trade Center was being built. By the time it was finished in '69 I was back in New York City.  I remember looking out at the Twin Towers from my girlfriend's apartment with a kind of ambivalence.  The Empire State Building was supposed to be Manhattan's signature building, not those two rather bland posts jutting skyward.  King Kong never climbed the Twin Towers, I thought.  But, of course, before long he did. And, ultimately, the World Trade Center did become New York's signature buildings.

I was already a well established resident of California when the two towers came down in 2001. Like most people I watched in stunned disbelief as the horror of it unfolded.  We had, all of us, been transported, almost literally kicking and screaming, into a new age.

Now it's ten years later.  A new skyscraper is being built.  I watch its progress with ambivalence.  The Twin Towers are supposed to be the signature buildings of New York.  Not this new, oddly inelegant creation.  I suppose, however, it wont be long before King Kong climbs to its pinnacle.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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9-11-11

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MORE NAME DROPPING

Danny Trejo is a movie tough guy who really is tough.  You have to be tough if you're serving time in San Quentin.  In fact, while in prison he became the California state prison champion in the lightweight and welterweight divisions.  That's tough.

Of course now he's known for a series of movie roles including, most recently, Machete.  Funny thing though, when you meet him the tattooed  tough guy comes across as a pussy cat.  Still, I wouldn't want to piss him off.

BTW, the reason I look so goofy is because I was holding my head out and up in an effort to minimize the jowls.  That kinda worked but at a price.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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9-4-11

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CENSORSHIP ON EBAY

My apologies for the delisting of last week's auction, The Horror The Horror by Jim Trombetta with an intro by R.L. Stein.  However, it wasn't my fault.  It was taken down by eBay because, they claimed, the book contained adult material. I was, naturally, flummoxed. There is absolutely no sex or nudity in that book. So I contacted eBay.

A very nice young lady answered the phone.  I explained the situation to her, pointing out the irony that a book about comic book censorship in the 1950s is being censored by eBay in the 21st Century. In response, she informed me that a very careful and detailed review had been made by the appropriate eBay department.  They found that the material in the book had been censored by Congress.  "Yes," I said.  "In the 1950s. That's the point of the book; congress had once censored material that was perfectly harmless and, in any case, much tamer than many non adult comics today."  I encouraged her to "just Google the title; you'll find numerous reviews of the book with pictures of the comic covers in question." But no amount of reasoning had an impact, although, to her credit, she remained nauseatingly cheerful the whole time.  In any case, I will obviously not be relisting that book.

Instead, I'm offering it here. There's just one copy so the first person to email me will get it for a mere $14.95 plus $2.95 postage. (It's list price is $29.95.) If no one wants it, I'll just add The Horror The Horror to my personal collection. I was tempted to do that anyway. 

If you're interested, here's our review of the book: THE HORROR THE HORROR

Email me at: swapsale@aol.com

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

TO READ PAST COMMENTS CLICK HERE:  COMMENTS  

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8-28-11

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SCI FI ON TV

This fall will see a bunch of new sci-fi TV shows.  I have my fingers crossed but based on this summer's programming I'm not optimistic.  Steven Spielberg's Falling Skies has been a major disappointment. So to Alphas on the SyFy channel and Torchwood on Starz. 

Falling Skies strikes me as just unbelievable.  Even if an alien invasion looked the way it's being depicted on that show (unlikely), the human response would not.  The show depicts humans gathered in communities (a high school currently) and driving down roads and highways without any apparent concern about alien aerial surveillance.  Really?  Even more annoying, the show plays out like a soap opera in which people still have the same petty concerns (birthday parties, for example) that they had pre invasion.  I don't buy that.  An invasion of that order would be transformative.  Survival would be the only concern.

Torchwood disappoints because, with the exception of the show's most recent episode, it bares no resemblance to the British version of the show.  Torchwood, in short, is not Torchwood.  It's an entirely different animal that, like some alien space creature, has absorbed and swallowed the original which it pretends to be.

Alphas is just sloppy with its logic and, ultimately, a big yawn.  Let's hope the fall offers something we can get behind.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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8-21-11

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MORE POLITICS

I had planned to move on from the political debate we've been having here over the last couple of weeks.  Then, this past week, Dylan Ratigan went ballistic on his MSNBC show:

He speaks for me.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

TO READ PAST COMMENTS CLICK HERE:  COMMENTS  

TO MAKE A COMMENT CLICK HERE: Swapsale@aol.com

8-14-11

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GUEST EDITORIAL 2

Not surprisingly, Warren Chaney has responded to my response to his response.  I'll just say that I disagree with most of what he says.  However, what bothers me most is that his "facts" and mine are, for the most part, not the same.  In that regard I'd like to point out that in 2009 Google personalized their search engine.  In other words, it's designed to give you what you want.  Warren and I could type in the same exact info and be lead to entirely different sites, depending on our biases.   Add to that cable shows like Fox News and MSNBC News -- both of which have a strong political bias -- and you can see why intelligent people frequently come to such fundamentally different conclusions.  Of course, I feel certain my facts are the correct ones.

Now, here's Warren:

   Given that I called it right about the liberal’s handling of the economy last week, I started not to respond to the response but in the interest of reader fairness and liberal education, I changed my mind.

PARAGRAH ONE: ACORN is out of business because of phony right wing charges that were later disproved!

 Actually , none of the above is true unless one restricts their reading to left  wing commentary like say..ummm, The Nation or Huffington Post. The cited article provides no footnotes, no references and by extension, no facts. But the article cited does rave on marvelously about the Koch brothers. No facts again of course, but very nice raving. Liberals are excellent at that.

 Back to the facts. ACORN was defunded because of corruption caught on film. Liberals scream selected cuts but FOX NEWS played each video in its entirety. The are on line now and one may view them to their heart’s content. A Carter appointed Judge in New York (Nina Gershon) tried to overturn the Congressional mandate during her December 11, 2009 ruling but then she was overturned on August 13, 2010. On November 2, 2010 filled for liquidation. But were they? In 2010 they reorganized under a different name in Ohio, but in a settlement with the Buckeye Institute, agreed to “cease all Ohio activity” and surrender  it’s state business licenses. Hmmm. Not bad for a company claiming to be out of business.

 ACORN maintained it’s voter-registration arm, Projects Vote which was indicted for election-related activities in Nevada. Thus far the group continues to operate under the radar.  This year the House Oversight Committee concluded that “ACORN deliberately organized itself to escape legal and public scrutiny by hiding “behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan political agenda and to manipulate the American electorate.” The Committee’s findings are online.

 Finally, never were the Congressional findings overturned. Never!

PARAGRAPH TWO: Warren chooses to leave out a long list of corrupt Republican politicians.
Ah yes, a favorite “trick” of the far left as they chant, “Let’s not talk about what we are doing now, let’s talk about history.”

 There is a difference between the way Liberals handle scandals and the way Republicans do. Republicans force theirs out rather quickly. Democrats (same as liberals these days) obfuscate, cover-up and conceal. Vitter went immediately. Charlie Rangel did not and Maxine Waters continues in office. If one takes the time to investigate, there does appear to be a long list of Democrats currently sitting in jail or awaiting for corruption including a former Governor of Chicago, Mayor of New York, Mayor of DC, and the Dems former Vice Presidential Candidate. I’m not speaking of the one who jumped ship and supported a Republican candidate for President, but the one misusing campaign funds.

PARAGRAPH THREE: Social Security is not bankrupt; it is solvent until the mid 2030s

 Hummm, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the fund cannot meet it’s current obligations. According to its First Quarter Report, the 2011 Social Security Administration, without additional funds, cannot meet payments. In short, according to President Barack Obama recently, the government must borrow money to pay benefits. Is the President lying? The same was echoed on the House Floor by Nancy Pelosi and by Harry Reid this month, on Face the Nation.

 The problems began the first time when liberal Jimmy Carter got a Dem congress to pass a major FICA tax increase to save SS from collapse. Oh yes, Carter also became the President to “tax” social security benefits.

 The Congressional Budget Office released a report in July, 2010 on the condition of existing Social Security trust finds. There are two funds: Old Age Insurance and Disability Insurance.  Combined, they are called OASDI. The report clearly exhibits that the funds are bankrupt ( http://www.cbo.gov/budget/factsheets/2009c/oasdiTrustfund.pdf). KEEP IN MIND THAT FUTURE GROWTH IS NOT FACTORED IT, meaning it will all come due sooner than later. Only in liberal minds, is insolvency insolvency – when the borrowing stops.

 The accounting scam of the Social Security Trust Fund has worked politically for a generation. It is not just the voters who are fooled. The best and the brightest in the media have been taken in. Here is an exchange that took place on the PBS show, Nightly Business Report, on March 25, 2009.
GERSH: A negative cash flow does not mean Social Security is in crisis. The program has built up an enormous trust fund over two decades. Barbara Kennelly is president of the Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. She says the trust fund is more than enough to cover any short-term financial hit.

BARBARA KENNELLY, PRES., NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO PRESERVE SOCIAL SECURITY & MEDICARE: The trustees look at it every single year, the report is going to come out at the end of this month. And you're going to still see that we can pay those benefits way out. Say it's not 2041, it's 2040 or 2039. But we have that money. There is $2.5 trillion in the trust fund for Social Security.

 No problem say the excuse maker! There is a $2.5 trillion asset base. The OASDI Trust Fund need only sell a few of these assets each year. The PBS interviewer was taken in  and the scam worked just as well yesterday as it does today. Remember she said: "We can pay those benefits way out." How?

 By selling trust fund assets.

 Well there is an old line from the financial world. "Sell!" "To whom?"

 To sell an asset, there must be a market. Here is the punch line, taken directly from the 2009 Report of the Trustees: "Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs." (In a printout, this appears on page 4 of the report):
The Department of the Treasury invests program revenues in special non-marketable securities of the U.S. Government on which a market rate of interest is credited. The trust funds represent the accumulated value, including interest, of all prior program annual surpluses and deficits, and provide automatic authority to pay benefits.

What, exactly, are "non-marketable securities"? They are IOU's issued by the Treasury on behalf of the U.S. government. As I mentioned, these IOU's are not recorded in the government's on-budget account. The revenues that purchase these IOU's are.

 But wait! There's more! Pay attention to these words: "on which a market rate of interest is credited." The Treasury applies a market rate of interest to a non-marketable security. There is no such rate. The Treasury can make it up as it goes along.

 So, the trust funds are filled with assets: non-marketable IOU's from the government, issued to a government agency. The trust funds are treated as marketable assets. They are indeed marketable: to the Treasury. The bill is passed along to Congress whenever the trust fund sells any of these assets.

 There are lots and lots of these IOU's in the Social Security OASDI Trust Fund. No problem!

 Liberal policies led the the first downgrade in the United States history. In 3 years we spent more than this nation did in all its years combined. The market for our IOUs vanished Friday.

PARAGRAPH FOUR & FIVE: Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty" was deemed a success until politician on both sides of the aisle began chipping away at it.

 Only in a liberal’s mind. I stick with the original stats from our census bureau. The poverty level today is 2% higher than it was before Johnson’s failed policies.

PARAGRAPH SIX: Class war fare started when the Republicans lowered the tax rate under Reagan to 35 %

 I do remember those years, yes indeedy. Tax rates were at 90% at the $250G and up brackets. I remember working from May to December in Carter’s 3rd year in office....for nothing.

 To the contrary, Carter was the worst president in modern history till Obama came along. Aside for Carter’s massive foreign policy failures (sound familiar), Carter’s policies produced the nations first great inflation rate (up to 17% at one scary point); high unemployment of 14% w/35% in Detroit; spiraling out of control interest rates of 22% and climbing. Home loses were even greater then that now (though Obama has caught up rapidly). The nation’s GDP was zip, much as now.

 Actually – were I a liberal I certainly wouldn’t use Carter as an example of statesmanship. I won’t even go into his fiasco in Korea, debacle with the Suez Cannel, Mid-eastern failures or his disaster giving rise to today’s Iran. Fortunately, we had President Reagan following who knew how to govern and did so.

PARAGRAPH EIGHT: GM is an American company.  The idea was to save the American auto industry. “Bush gave the TARP funds to the banks with no restrictions”

 No, the idea was to save the union’s pension funds. Simply follow the money. Where did it go? You have your answer.

 Ford did need the money and though my liberal collegue forgets, did apply for it along with other companies. When they saw the strings attached, the declined. Today, GM cannot repay its loans and contrary to spin, has not. Once more – follow the money. This government last year made loans to GM which used the money to partially repay the loans. Gosh – how complicated is that? It’s the old borrow from Peter to pay Paul scam. Then at the end of 2010, the government was “given” new stock in payment. The stock failed in its offering and Americans are stuck with billions of losses.

 Re: Bush – he’s not a conservative but enough of that. TARP is the only thing that has been repaid. We still should not have done it, but.

 By they way did I see “The Nation” pop up as a reference once again? Hey can I start quoting “National Review” as my source. They do use footnote?

PARAGRAPH NINE: Unions were in trouble because Wall Street tanked, taking Union investments with them.

 Not exactly the facts. Unions were already in trouble with their pension funds prior to 2008.  Organized crime dominated Teamsters through the 70s.  That’s what Hoffa was all about. They were forced into mergers  in recent years with a number of unions from other industries, including the Graphic Communications International Union,  the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, etc.

 IN 2006 S EIU members in Los Angeles were victimized by one of the most appalling cases of union corruption in recent history. Members saw their money illegally used to support the city council race of Martin Ludlow. Ludlow was sentenced for conspiracy to illegally funnel money from SEIU Local 99 to his campaign and ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution. Four of the last eight Teamsters union presidents WERE criminally indicted

 THE union, UNITE HERE was found guilty of invading employees’ privacy and ordered to pay $17 million for defaming medical professionals, and it has been sued by its own employees after the union slashed their staff’s key retirement benefit by 95%

 Union pension fund misuse was at the bottom of all the cases. However there is more:
 

• In June 2006, the National Labor Relations Board found that SEIU interfered with the free choice of employees by illegally making promises to wave initiation fees – much like the union accuses employers of making promises to employees during union drives.
• In June 2006, a federal judge ordered SEIU Local 1000 to pay $37,000 as punishment for failing to give members adequate information about how the union was spending employees’ agency fees (which are forced payments from employees who do not wish to union members).
• In 2007, members of the powerful Local 503 in Oregon began circulating a petition to recall the union’s president, who was seeking to collect more than $100,000 in back pay that most members think he didn’t earn.
• The Macon Telegraph reported that local SEIU officials lost control of their government-employee union after troubling questions were raised over $30,000 of cash withdrawals from the local’s bank account, lack of documentation for $90,000 in hotel, airline, food, telephone and other expenses, and $36,000 in vacation buyouts that were not authorized by the union’s board.
   

I could go on but space doesn’t permit.

 The stock market crashed because housing lenders were forced by a Democrat Congress to give loans to those who had no way to repay them. Under the leadership and guidance of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd untold sums of money went out the doors. The Freddie and Fannie Corps were in the back pockets of a Dem Congress. Dodd received  heavy preferential loans and did other congressional members for their loyal support to the future housing crisis.

 In 2005, President Bush pushed heavily to have congress reform Freddie and Fannie which were failing and stacking up loans. Frank and Dodd pushed back as did other corrupt Democrats like Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel. Reform failed.

 Wall Street does not escape either. BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT WALL STREET IS NOT REPUBICAN AS RUMOR GOES, BUT HEAVILY DEMOCRAT. How to know? Follow the money. Pick your favorite Wall Street firm and go online and check their donation records.

 Wall Street greed did benefit from the Federal Loan guarantees and they have continued to do so under President Obama. Again – follow the money!

PARAGRAPH TEN (My buddy skips eleven) and TWELVE are about Acorn again (I covered them earlier) and that the upper ten percent don’t pay a fair share of taxes.

 Just how much is fair? How much?  Let’s see, the top 25% pay 85% of all taxes.  Hmmmm!

 The bottom 52% pay no tax at all!!!

 This is from last year’s IRS Report. I don’t know about you but it seems that it’s the bottom 52% that are not being fair at all. But wait – are the liberals complaining out of fairness or us it because those who pay no taxes are a major part of their tax base.

 Bruce writes: “The reason the bottom 50% of our country's wage earners don't pay taxes is because they are living in poverty.”

 Pretty bold statement my friend. I challenge you to prove it. Prove that we have 50% of the nation living in poverty.

 On the other hand, A NEW REPORT FROME THE IRS flatly states the based upon their analysis there are simply not enough rich to cover the deficit even if you confiscate everything they make for the foreseeable future.

 Here are the facts: A report from the Internal Revenue Service found that the rich — 8,274 people with incomes of $10 million per year or more — earned a total of $240 billion in 2009. Even of you confiscated every dime they earned, you would barely have enough money to cover government spending for 24 days. Interesting that it took a European paper to report what MSNBC, CBS and NBC would not. In fairness to CNN, ABC and FOX news, they did.

 The nation is in trouble when those who pay nothing can vote the pocket book of the earners. Such thinking and surrender of personal responsibility have led to where we are today. Under a far-far-left President and almost 8 years of a liberal congress, we are at the brink of financial destruction. As we can plain see from the weeks stock market disaster and Friday downgrading catastrophe, the Tea Party was right. There should have been no debt ceiling deal. There should have been cuts.

 If liberals begin taking even more money out of the economy through its spread the wealth Robin Hood taxes, the economy will collapse to zero. Then liberals will get their precious parity. There will be no difference between Rockefeller and the Bob Smith. They both will have zero. Trouble is, Smith never hired any one.

 Well – have to go. I must park my yacht in the Hamptons to avoid taxes, move my money to Europe to avoid paying anything, and simply falsify my returns to avoid...WAIT A MINUTE!  WHEW!! It’s not me. I’m relieved.

 No – why it’s John Kerry, General Electric, and Timothy Geitner.  Hey – they’re liberals and they run our government. Uh oh!  Now, I’m not relieved any longer.

   The arrest of 30 angry anti-capitalists from Art Uncut, the group who busted up a U2 concert at Glastonbury 2011 while toting a huge balloon insisting “U Pay Your Tax 2,” indicates that people are fed up with being dictated to by socialist-minded do-gooders who talk the talk but, in their own lives, refuse to walk the walk.

   The target of Uncut’s “Pay Up” irritation is U2’s lead singer Bono, a man who demands that international governments to support global aid organizations, but who allegedly refuses to contribute his share of the taxes needed to fund the good works he supports.

   With the help of rock stars and Hollywood collectivists, Marxist-minded politicians (translate Democrats) have hammered home the message that only by “sharing” can a person truly be caring.  Without realizing the ramifications of the share-the-wealth philosophy, those who’ve worked hard to portray capitalism as evil and promoted the merits of reordering the economic structure have invited the turmoil currently raining down upon their own heads. -- Warren Chaney

Warren does double duty today, offering us an article on the very early days of television. To read that article click here: MAGIC MANSION

Click on COMMENTS for another person's take on this ongoing political debate.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

TO READ PAST COMMENTS CLICK HERE:  COMMENTS  

TO MAKE A COMMENT CLICK HERE: Swapsale@aol.com

8-7-11

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GUEST EDITORIAL

Last week I sounded off about the economy.  When I was finished I said I'd print a rebuttal, if anyone was inclined to send me one.  To my delight, my old friend Dr. Warren Chaney has taken up the challenge.  So here goes: 

Another Look at the Economy
The Right Way

The argument that the current president and congress are bought and paid for by big business and the super-rich has some merit – but few real facts to support that contention. One can logically argue that Wall Street owns the Democrat Party since it is one of their biggest donors. Only the unions and the various Soros organizations have outsized them. However, some on Wall Street have donated to the Republican Party. Contrary to popular belief, the Republicans have not had as cozy a relationship (donations are public records and the previous statements can be verified). On the other hand, if one asks whether there is an “elite” power controlling the government the answer is, “Yes - there is!” However, it is a political elite and it exists on both sides of the political aisle. There is no evidence that the President and Congress are owned by special interests (unions, ACORN, oil, etc., but one can see that they accede to special interest demands.  Politicians do so because they want to stay in power. They want money. Politicians at all levels feel they must spend increasing sums of money in their quest for power.

Let us first consider the party that has been out of power in congress for eight years and out of power in the White House for the past three. Republicans saw their numbers dwindle when they took the road to easy spending without being checked. President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” program was little different from those pandered by Democrats. Both cost money that the nation did not have. In the end, it failed as most government programs do. This is nothing new. Couple that with several in the party forced out of office for corruption, etc., and it leads to their defeat. Democrats are not helped with their former Vice Presidential candidate and Mayor of Chicago headed for jail. Add to that the corruption problems of Charlie Rangel, Roland Burris, Maxine Waters, Bill Richardson and just last week, Dem Congressman Wu. So one can see the massive corruption problem the nation faces. This is not the fault of those seeking special favors. It is the fault of those paid off by them. Ultimately, it is our fault in voting for them.

The problems do not end with corruption they begin with failed government programs. Think about it. Social Security – bankrupt; Medicare – bankrupt; HUD – bankrupt; Post Office – bankrupt; Treasury – near bankrupt; and the list can legitimately go on. All of this is presidential and congressional failure. Everyone knew of the problems, no one wanted to fix them. The current housing crisis can easily be placed at the feet of three politicians in congress who blocked attempted reform. The same goes for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Congressional and Presidential failures stretch back to our early history but let us consider some of the major ones of the past 60 years. Specifically, let’s examine some of those that got us into our financial disaster.

Presidential failure, Lyndon Johnson waged a so-called War on Poverty at the same time he was embroiling the nation in the Vietnam War. The first war was nothing more than the usual social engineering. Johnson began with a 1960 15% poverty level. At the last census, the nation’s poverty level stood at 16%.  In between billions upon billions were spent with the nation receiving nothing for it. Well that is not quite true.  According to DOE statistics, reading is down 40% from 1960 as is student memory, focus and concentration, and listening retention. What is the term we use? Oh yeah, “The dumbing down of America!”

Republicans paid the price for their spending spree…twice! They lost power after having it for such a short time. Next, they paid during the past election cycle as traditional Republicans were challenged and defeated by the highly demonized Tea Party. A full 25% of seated Republicans lost their seats to newcomers seeking real change. In the current budget battle, the newcomers refused to give in. Although they were a small majority, they changed the entire debate from spending to cutting. This next election will see further changes as other Republican seats are challenged.

Democrats on the other hand, have swung almost entirely to the left hence we are bombarded by class-warfare; tax the rich, big oil is the enemy, big business is sucking the blood out of America, etc. Blatant falsehoods become facts, name calling replaces specificity, and misrepresentation is at the forefront.

Let us face it. Who really believes the mantra that this has been another “summer of recovery”? Are you feeling recovered? This has to go down with the “Arab Spring” being a good thing as Egypt moves into the welcoming arms of the Muslim Brotherhood. It does make you wonder where the press is now. However – that is another story.

To be sure, favoritism is shown some companies and not others. General Motor’s received billions but Ford and America Toyota did not. GM’s legitimate stockholders and bondholders were screwed as the unions were given the company and the investors to “take a hike.” Likewise banks that would not take the stimulus bucks were forced to close their doors while those that did, received the big bucks from the failed stimulus package. In the end, Americans were shocked three months ago to discover that contrary to the current administration’s claims; the loans were not paid off at all. Topping it was the startling revelation that the Federal Reserve took much of the stimulus money and gave it to foreign banks to prop them up.

Unions were close to bankruptcy because their pension funds had been so abused and misused. Where criminal investigations should have been initiated, they were openly dropped. Money poured into the union coffers from the stimulus funds and the union leaders became the most frequent visitors to the White House (according to the published WH Visitor Log statistics).

Corrupt money sponges like ACORN, were permitted to reorganize and receive continuing funds. President Obama shut down drilling in the Gulf but gave billions of dollars of stimulus money to a South American country so that it could drill there. The biggest recipient of the nation’s largess was Obama’s friend, George Soros. His oil company became the primary beneficiary.  It appears that it is not only Republicans – that like big oil.

Sadly, the people deserving our support are not getting it. The new freshmen congressmen refused to budge and could not be bought off or corrupted by the “elite” Republican old guard. It is interesting that MSNBC was “shocked” that the usual “plum committee assignments” and benefits failed to bribe them.

The current so-called debt ceiling disaster is a fiasco. Because someone says he or she has a plan does not mean they have a plan. If there is a plan, we should be able to see it. Obama has no plan. Jay Carney under intense grilling by the press last week, admitted as much. The Senate has no plan; we can see that. The Reid plan is a piece of paper. One cannot read its details on line because they are not there. Three hours ago, Reid and his Democrats were filibustering their own bill. They emerged an hour ago to claim it is the Republicans doing the filibuster. Forget traditional definitions, everything is being made up on the fly.

What we are witnessing is congressional and presidential absurdity. One could not write a screenplay this silly. Until major changes are made, it will not bode well for this nation. Wednesday, Moody’s stated that none of the plans will stop a downgrade from the nation’s AAA rating. They stated that the U.S. must make major cuts or fast catastrophe.

The answer is not and never has been taxation. Our problem is not that we do not tax enough. It is that we spend far too much. The government could “take” all the money earned by the wealthy for the next twenty-years and it would not make a dent in the debt (according to the debt commission). What must be done is the following:


1.         Entitlement reform must be made immediately to include Medicare, Social Security, Welfare, etc.

2.         Shut down all bureaucratic departments that are proven failures including the Department of Education (Our school systems have failed under their ever-expanding guidance). Close down duplicate organizations and reduce administration of all remaining departments by 15%. (Not my suggestion by the way. It is the Presidential panels’ – the one this President chose to ignore).

3.         Close the tax loopholes so that companies like GE (a major Democrat contributor) can't escape without paying taxes (this money they closed down several US plants, moving them to China and putting 50,000 Americans out of work). Close the same loopholes that permit any of the wealthy to avoid paying anything.

4.         Restructure the tax system so that everybody that lives in the United States pays taxes. The bottom 52% of our nation, pay no taxes. The top 10% pay over a third and the top 25% pay over 80%. Whenever anyone is in a position to vote another’s money into his or her own pocket – that society cannot survive.

5.         Cut spending immediately to 2004 levels (Better yet to the Reagan years). The nation’s economic problem is not the wealthy nor is it Wall Street. The problem is unfettered spending. Our government is addicted. Under this administration, the debt limit has been raised three times and the current Administration and past congress tripled our national debut in one year. No spin will alter that. The stimulus has failed. Only the Administration continues to cling to that fable.

I am running out of space before addressing the financial disaster and special interests payoffs involved with the Obamacare scam. That must wait for another time. The same is true for a frank and factual discussion of this nations’ wars. We were in two, now we are in five. Permit me to close by saying that I am in agreement with Swapsale’s editorial about an elite controlling – we just disagree about who it is. My recommendation is that we all begin to question any political side that attacks the other but fails to specifically spell out what is wrong with that side’s proposals. I would also recommend that we collectively “turn on the media” and hold it accountable. Both are the “right” right things to do. -- Warren Chaney

Permit me a brief response:

PARAGRAPH ONE: ACORN is out of business because of phony right wing charges that were later disproved. The January 21, 2010 Supreme Court decision -- Citizens United vs. the FEC -- allows corporations to spend as much money as they want to control the political process and win elections.  On the state level ALEC ( http://www.thenation.com/article/161973/alec-exposed-koch-connection ) has big business actually telling legislators what bills to introduce (in return for a nice contribution to their campaign)  Does anyone really believe that big business isn't in control of our electoral system?

PARAGRAPH TWO: Warren chooses to leave out a long list of corrupt Republican politicians starting with Ted Stevens. And if it was hypocrites we were listing, such as family values pols like Senator David Vitter, the list would probably reach the moon.

PARAGRAPH THREE: Social Security is not bankrupt; it is solvent until the mid 2030s. And it is not an entitlement.  We paid into that fund. If there is a problem with SS it can be solved by raising the cap.  Right now you don't pay into it after you've made $106,000.  So most of us pay into it for the whole year while the super rich might only pay into it for a couple of months, days or even hours.  

PARAGRAPH FOUR: Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty" was deemed a success until politician on both sides of the aisle began chipping away at it.  It should be noted that most of that chipping took place from Ronald Reagan onward. Regarding the public school system, it worked fine until funds were cut in an attempt to push private schools so the private sector and people like Neil Bush (W's brother) could make money off of them.

PARAGRAPH SIX: Class war fare started when the Republicans lowered the tax rate under Reagan to 35 % (so there was less money for such things as infrastructure, schools, hospitals and the like) and it continues to this day in Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio (etc.) where unions are being dismantled.  It's the rich and powerful who are waging this class war and they are kicking our butts. Real earned income has declined over the last 35 years.  Now it takes two people in a family to maintain what one bread winner could contribute in the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Actually, as recent events demonstrate, even two people can't handle it now.

PARAGRAPH EIGHT: GM is an American company.  The idea was to save the American auto industry, not the Japanese auto industry which is doing fine, thank you.  Ford refused the money.  They didn't need it.  Bush gave the TARP funds to the banks with no restrictions.  That that worked well, didn't it? Also, it wasn't the Fed that gave the money to foreign banks, it was Goldman Sachs and the rest of those crooks who owed money to those foreign banks because of credit default swaps ( http://www.thenation.com/article/156995/great-squid-hunt-matt-taibbi ).

PARAGRAPH NINE: Unions were in trouble because Wall Street tanked, taking Union investments with them.

PARAGRAPH TEN: ACORN is out of business.  All they were guilty of is registering poor people to vote. Obama is currently giving out drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico even though no new safety or oversight standards have been imposed.

PARAGRAPH TWELVE: We spend too much on the military industrial complex and too little on the people. True, you can't spend what you don't have but the reason we don't have it is because the top ten percent don't pay a fair share. Their taxes have never been lower.  In the 1950s the tax rate was 90% on people making over a million dollars and the economy was booming.  The reason the bottom 50% of our country's wage earners don't pay taxes is because they are living in poverty.

Well, that's a lot to consider.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

TO READ PAST COMMENTS CLICK HERE:  COMMENTS  

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7-31-11

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THE ECONOMY

I sent an email to a Tea Party friend of mine.  Here is a slightly edited version of it:

Be assured I am not defending Obama or the Democrats.  And I'm not sure why you are defending the Republicans.  They are both bought and paid for by big business and the super rich.  Nor do I think you have to worry about the masses voting themselves such largess as Alexander Tyler warned about.  For the past 35 years the vast majority of the money in this country has gone to the top ten percent, and most of that to the top 2 percent. The middle class has been eviscerated.  The economic elite is doing quite well, thank you.  What you are really seeing is the the theft of our country's wealth by the ruling class, not the working class.  The working class is getting screwed.  It's called "class warfare" and we are losing the war.

The Republican plan for Medicare (put forth by Paul Ryan) will turn Medicare into a voucher program. Under that system, if you get hit with a serious illness you will not have enough money to cover your costs. And good luck getting any coverage in the first place -- at our age what health insurance company would want us? 

Medicare is a program we have all paid into.  Like Social Security, it is not an entitlement.  It's our money (FICA) and they are taking it from us.  It's going to people like Bill McGuire, the head of United Health Care who pocketed 1.6 billion dollars when he retired after ten years with the company.  That's money he made by denying coverage  -- citing B.S. "previous conditions" and the like -- to people who were insured with United.  There's no telling how many avoidable deaths he's responsible for.

BTW, as regards the debt ceiling: much of the money Obama spent went to bailing out Wall Street which continues to give massive bonuses to their executives.  Obama, like Bush, gave the money with no strings attached.  That's a good reason to dislike Obama.  And Bush.  And all those corrupt politicians in Washington.

It will be interesting to see what Obama finally does with the debt ceiling.  I wouldn't be surprised if he caves in to the Republicans, as he did with health care reform and the Bush tax cuts.  If he does, it will mean that working class people will pay down the debt with no real help from the ruling class, despite the fact that they have been the only real beneficiaries of our economy. (FYI: real earned income has been in decline for average Americans since the early eighties.)

If anyone reading this disagrees with me I would love to hear from you. In fact I'll give you equal time.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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7-24-11

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OUT OF THE WOODS?

As mentioned last week, our computer crashed but, following digital bread crumbs, we think we are almost out of the woods.  We certainly hope that's the case. 

Assuming we are correct, this issue of Swapsale contains chapter two of my comic, Planet Patrol.  This is when (in my humble opinion) the story gets interesting.  It seems, things at the Martian ruins did not go as well as we might have supposed.  Poor Britt is about to get a very unpleasant surprise.  And we get to meet a new character as Britt encounters an old nemesis.  I think the story is interesting and funny. But be warned, the humor is very dark.

Now I've got to get back to cleaning out some files.  It seems I over loaded the program used to publish this site.  Apparently 26000 files is more than the system can handle.  Who knew?

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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7-17-11

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NEW HOME PAGE

I've been getting complaints about how long the home page was.  So, as you have no doubt discovered, I've made a change.  What was the home page is now (see listings on the left side of this page, second one down) Page One. Apparently the home page is supposed to be like the cover of a magazine or the opening of a front door.  (I like the magazine analogy since I kinda look at this site as a weekly magazine.)  Page One, of course, is as long as ever.

Let me know if this works for you.  I can always switch it back.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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6-25-11

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HAPPY FATHERS DAY

My father came to this country from Germany in the 1920s. His father back home owned a delicatessen so it was only natural that he found employment working in one here. He was still slicing baloney when I was born in Brooklyn in 1941 but by the time the war in Europe was winding down he had his own business: Trans-Oceanic. 

Here's how that came about: 

My dad and a coworker at the deli pooled their money to take out an ad in the Brooklyn Eagle. It offered to ship food packages to loved ones in war ravaged countries that were being liberated by the allies. The money started pouring in. Each time a country was liberated my dad and his partner would take out ads in papers in communities where those nationalities resided. In short order their business became so big that they began using Cunard Lines for shipping. We were rich.

My father repeated this process successfully until Germany was liberated. And while ads taken out in papers in German communities engendered the same response as the others had, this time my dad ran into a problem: The U.S. government would not let the ships leave the harbor. It turned out that there was something called the Morgenthau Plan which was designed to starve the German people down to 10% of their population. (If you look this up on Wikipedia you will get a very sanitized, revisionist version of this period in American history. Google it instead.)  As the food rotted in the harbor, my father and his partner, being honorable men, returned the money to the people who had paid for the packages. However, the IRS insisted that they still pay taxes on the money that had been paid to them. My dad was still being hounded by the IRS when I was in my teens.

Even so, my father remained an entrepreneur.  With his few remaining dollars he went to Germany where he made a deal on an invention called a Spirometer, a device designed to measure lung capacity. With that as the foundation, he started National Medial, Inc., a company that eventually branched out to include nebulizers and  vacuum pumps which he eventually engineered to perform at levels that had previously been thought unobtainable.  While that business never generated the money that his export business had, it was enough for us to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle.

Looking back on all that I realize I owe the old man a great debt, the main lesson being: Define your life in your own terms. I think I've done that.

Thanks, Dad.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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6-18-11

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ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT?

The World Trade Organization recently ruled against some U.S. labeling regulations for meat sold in supermarkets.  Since WTO laws supercede U.S. laws (by treaty) the American people will no longer be informed as to the country of origin when buying meat. This follows on the heels of another WTO decision making it illegal in the U.S. for tuna to be labeled "dolphin safe" even when dolphin safe methods are used to harvest the tuna. Both cases were the result of certain WTO member countries complaining that such labeling discriminated against them because, well, in the case of tuna, they didn't use dolphin safe methods (which might motivate people not to buy their product) and in the instance of meat labeling, some people might not want meat that came from Mexico, say, or Japan. Don't you want to know if the meat you're buying is from a country that has been contaminated by a massive nuclear meltdown? (Recent reports suggest the Japanese meltdown is already worse than Chernobyl and it's far from over.)

It's worth noting that the WTO decisions are made behind closed doors by a group of corporate CEOs. And they're made in favor of corporations over the needs of the people. Nothing about the process is democratic.  

For years people have been worried that the United Nations would lead to a one world government that would abrogate our constitution. In fact, the attack against our constitution is being waged by the WTO and no one seems to be paying attention.

You can get more information regarding the meat labeling here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2726031/posts?page=5

And you can read about dolphin safe labeling here: http://climate-connections.org/2011/05/27/u-s-dolphin-safe-tuna-labeling-rule-deemed-a-wto-violation/

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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6-11-11

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THE ORIGIN OF PLANET PATROL

Back in 1986, working as a writer in the entertainment industry, I had an overall deal at 20th Century Fox studios.  My title was Producer and my job was to come up with concepts for TV shows.  One of those concepts was Planet Patrol, a kind of updated version of the 1950s TV show Space Patrol but with humor.  At the time Fox was in the process of creating the Fox network and they already had most of the shows for their introductory fall schedule.  For that reason and (I presume) others I never made the sale.  Later, after leaving Fox, I created a pilot episode for a show called WOOF at ABC which, though shot, was not picked up.  But all my attempts to sell Planet Patrol over the years fell on deaf ears. 

Then, in 1995, having started my own publishing company, I decided to produce Planet Patrol as a comic book, thinking maybe I could use it to interest someone in the project.  Alas, although the comic was sold in comic book shops across the country, the networks remained cool to the idea.  And that's pretty much where things have stayed.  

Still, Planet Patrol has always had a special place in my heart.  That's why I've recently brought it back as a feature on this site.  And now, I figure, since I'm publishing material that didn't make it into the original comic, why not offer site visitors the comic book itself with a story that hasn't been seen for many years.  You'll find the link to that offer at the bottom of this week's Planet Patrol episode.  

Meanwhile, here's the funny thing: as a result of putting this resurrected version of PP on this site, I've hooked up with another TV writer/producer, an Emmy winner, who thinks we might have a shot of turning it into a network TV show. You never know. 

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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5-28-11

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SUPERHERO MOVIES

I loved the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie.  I still think it stands as the single best movie of that genre ever made. And sure, the more recent Batman movie's are a lot better than the Tim Burton versions.  I also admit to liking the iron man films. But I don't really think Batman or Iron Man capture the magic of the first Superman film. Same for Spider-Man although I know a lot of folks liked those movies too.  

Now we have another spate of superhero films hitting the theaters.  Thor is already out, soon to be joined by X-Men, Green Lantern, and Captain America -- all second tier superhero characters, at least as far as I'm concerned. I doubt I'll be going to the theater for any of them, 3-D or not.  (I'll watch them on OnDemand.)

There is one upcoming film I'm anxious to see: Cowboys and Aliens.  It's not a superhero film but it speaks to the comic book geek in me.  I am, however, annoyed that ads for the movie, which wont be released until the end of July,  have already started popping up on my TV. I always try to get my postings for new movies up before they appear on TV but, given the advance push the studios are giving these films, that's getting harder and harder to do. I could have posted Cowboys and Aliens in the Movie trailer Theater this week but July 29 just seems like too much of an advance look.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe I'll post it next week.  We'll see.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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5-21-11

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SOME SAD NEWS

I don't usually discuss personal stuff on this site but I'm making an exception today.  Two weekends ago our two dogs were killed by one or more mountain lions.  (We really do live on a mountain top that not overly built up.) We had two Silky terriers, Sammy and Baby.  As we would do every morning when we got up, we let them out into our fenced in backyard. Usually they would come back scratching at the door when they wanted to be let back in.  But on this day, after 45 minutes had passed, my wife went out back looking for them.  Here's where it gets really disturbing:  There was nothing to be found but a huge pool of blood and some large pad prints which we later identified as belonging to a mountain lion.  No dogs, no fur, nothing but the blood.

Baby

Sammy

Some how the predator (or predators) had jumped the fence, gaining entrance to the backyard, killed our pets and made off with them without making a sound -- all while my wife and I were in an area of the house adjacent to the yard. Of course we were devastated.  We loved those dogs. We had them for many years. And we'll miss them.  We take solace in the fact that they were well treated and had a good life.  Still, it's deeply disturbing to lose a good pet -- especially in such a fashion.

I'm sorry to burden you with this but it just didn't seem right not to mention an even that impacted our family so deeply.

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5-14-11

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REGARDING THE GREEN HORNET

Okay, I know this is going to make novelist Wayne Greenough unhappy (see Comments Feb. 2011) but I finally watched the Green Hornet movie (it's now available on On Demand) and I have to admit that, for all of my complaining about Seth Rogen being cast as the masked avenger, I enjoyed it.  It was, for my money, a funny super hero movie. Of course, I would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been called The Green Hornet -- the mythology that all of us cherished from childhood is violated from the very beginning of the film. In thinking about it, Rogen could have made pretty much the same movie without dipping into the Green Hornet franchise. After all, Batman has a car and a sidekick and Superman works at a newspaper.  I wish he'd called the film something else -- The Purple Prowler, maybe?

If you look back at all the superhero movies that have been made, how many haven't disappointed you?  In all honesty I can only site the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie and, pushing it a bit, the two Iron Man films.  Given that, I think Rogen's Green Hornet deserves a grudging thumbs up.  Sorry, Wayne.  

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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5-7-11

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MORE NAME DROPPING

I recently had the pleasure of meeting William H. Macy. The star of Fargo and whole lot of other really good movies, is currently getting glowing reviews for his portrayal of Frank Gallagher on the Showtime series Shameless. I recommend checking it out if you're not offended by nudity and strong language.  

As for my encounter with the star, I found him charming, relaxed and completely without guile.  I'm told that people who know him better than me would agree with that assessment.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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4-23-11

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TED STURGEON AND ME

I knew him.  I should have mentioned that last week when I posted the article on Ted.   Already a well established giant in the science fiction field, he did a book review column for a magazine I was editing at the time.  Although I can't say we were great friends, we did share a lunch or two and I remember at least one evening when he and his wonderful wife -- referred to in all our time together only as Lady Jane --  were at my house.   Ted was an incredibly nice and giving person.  The same can be said for his wife who was also a gifted psychic.  Honestly, I don't think I've ever met nicer people.

That's really all I want to say.  Ted's work speaks for itself.  But people are seldom praised just for being nice. 

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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4-16-11

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WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

An article by Joseph Stiglitz in the May 2011 issue of Vanity Fair tells us everything we need to know.  Here's the opening pagagraph:

It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decades—and more—has gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.

Close the government down?  It's never been opened, at least not to do the work of its citizens.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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4-9-11

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OOPS!

In last week's editorial (scroll down) I posted a video that purported to be Ginger Rogers dancing at age 92.  Ginger Rogers actually died in 1995 at age 85.  The woman in the video appears to actually be Sarah Paddy Jones, the world's oldest salsa dancer at age 76.  That certainly makes more sense.  92 is  stretch.  Still, hats off to anyone who can go through the moves Ms. Jones does at 76.

Sorry about that mistake.  I should have been more careful.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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4-2-11

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GINGER ROGERS AT 92

You have to watch this entire video.  It's absolutely amazing:

I just hope I'm in such great shape when I'm 92.  What am I saying?   I couldn't do what she's doing now, even if I knew how to dance.  (It's illegal for me to dance in public in three states.)

Thanks to Ceil Andersen, wife of Andy Andersen (of Space Patrol Museum fame) for alerting me to this awesome video.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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3-26-11

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THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR POWER

The problem in Japan is that the tsunami knocked out the back up generators which, in turn, prevented the plant operators from from getting water to the reactors.  Now they -- and indeed the rest of the world -- may have to deal with a series of nuclear meltdowns.  Most of the discussion I hear revolves around how no one could have foreseen that a tsunami might knock out the generators.  That strikes me as bull shit.  But here's something far worse that no one seems to have considered:  Scientist tell us we are approaching a solar maximum (a period of increased solar flares) that will be bigger than anything we've seen in possibly a hundred and fifty years.  And, they tell us, it could knock out the entire U.S. electrical grid for months if not years.  So my question is, what will happen to the 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S. should this occur?

The backup generators are short term solutions.  If the grid goes down everything in the U.S. will come to a stop including the shipment of fuel across country.  Think I'm wrong?  Here's what astro-physicist Michio Kaku has to say about the imminent solar flare activity:

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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3-19-11

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CITIZENS UNITED VS. THE FEC

I found the following video on YouTube.  It explains the recent Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court better than I can:

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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3-12-11

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TWO SUNS IN CHINA?

As I get older I become less certain about what constitutes reality.  Are UFOs real?  Big Foot?  Ghosts?  Did ancient aliens visit the earth thousands of years ago?  Were the Mayans right about the world ending in 2012?   Now we get this report from China:

'Two suns' spotted in China defy explanation

Weeks after a story shot across the Web claiming that the imminent explosion of a nearby star would result in the appearance of a second sun in the sky — a story that was later debunked — two suns were caught on camera yesterday in China. The suns — one fuzzy and orange, the other a crisp yellow orb — appeared side-by-side, one slightly higher than the other.

What's going on? Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Space.com, asked Jim Kaler, the University of Illinois astronomer who squelched the excitement over the aforementioned exploding Betelgeuse and who has written books on the day and night sky. The double sun image is an effect of optical refraction, Kaler said, but it's a "pretty darn rare" one, and one not fully explained by science.

MORE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41927089/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Our ancesters would probably have taken the appearance of two suns in the sky as a sign of the apocalypse but we're too sophisticated for that.  Right?

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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3-5-11

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LOOKING BACK

My sister jokes that she peaked when she was 12.  We were latchkey kids in the early 1950s in New York City.  Back then you could take a safe, clean subway anywhere in the city for five cents.  I remember going to the Hayden planetarium, the Bronx zoo, the Botanical Gardens and even Coney Island with my cousin and sometimes my sister when I was nine years old.  It was a great time to be a kid.  It was how I learned to be independent.

http://www.pbase.com/doowopper/image/53270830

I wouldn't think it wise for a kid to do that now.  Times change and not always for the better.  

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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2-26-11

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WHY I SUPPORT THE WISCONSIN PROTESTERS

When Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin got into power his state had a significant surplus.  But the first thing he did was give tax breaks to the super rich, thus creating a deficit.  His solution:  make working class people pay for it.  In the process he also decided to destroy the public sector unions -- with the exception of the police and firemen -- by taking back their long standing right to collective bargaining.  His actions have sparked massive protests which are even being supported by the Walker exempt police and fireman unions.  

I don't get it.  Why is it okay for the rich to get tax breaks when the rest of us have to pay?  Tax breaks do not generate jobs.  Just look back at the 1950s, 60s and 70s when the rich got taxed at 90% and then 70%.  Our economy was booming then because rich people and corporations, rather than take the hit, were incentivized to reinvest that money into the economy which, in turn, created jobs.   

As for unions, for all their short comings, they created the middle class.  Without unions to set the floor on wages, everyone else's wages will fall as well.  If Walker gets his way, union busting will spread to include both the public and private sector in all the remaining 49 states.  Before you know it we all will be back in the 1920s.  That can't be a good thing. 

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

PS: DO YOURSELF A FAVOR -- CHECK OUT THIS WEEK'S "COMMENTS."

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2-19-11

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MY MASTER WORK

Well, to be honest, it's not exactly as if there was a ground swell of support when I first published Britt Burton of the PLANET PATROL back in 2001 on my now defunct SundayComicsOnline website.  But of all the writing I've done for all the different venues I've worked in, this is my favorite creation.  True, it's a little on the dark side and, I suppose, not to every bodies tastes, but the mix of 1950s style sci-fi adventure with odd ball humor really appeals to me.  

Given the foregoing I've decided to bring ole Britt and his crew back in their most epic and sprawling saga.  It starts off a little slow and traditional but don't be fooled; by the time the story ends, Britt's world -- and maybe yours -- will be turned upside down.  Hopefully this time it'll garner a little more popular support.  If you like it let me know.  If you hate it, well, I'd like to hear from you too.

The comic starts next week but you can get a hint of what's to come by clicking here.

Finally,  I recommend clicking on the "Comments" section (see below) this week.  There's some real cool stuff there, especially if you're a Space Patrol fan.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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2-12-11

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NEW FEATURE

As you may have noticed, we are now linking directly to statues featuring comic book characters like Conan and Wonder Woman.  As with the all the comics and some of the DVDs featured on our Home Page, we get a small percentage of any sale made through us and you get a discount plus, of course, a great work of art.

Well, I guess you're not likely to see these statues in a fancy museum but I certainly consider them to be works of art.  Like the artist Robert Williams, someone I have a passing acquaintance with, I feel the art that comes from pop culture is every bit as valid as the stuff they hang in museums -- perhaps even more so.  When I was working with Andy Warhol many years ago I heard the story of how self described poet and Warhol hanger-on Gerard Malanga, stranded in Italy, squeegeed up a Warhol "original" in his hotel room which he sold for air fare back to the states.  Try doing that with original comic book art sometime.

Anyway, if you should have a mind to get one or more of these art pieces, we hope you'll order through us.  Every penny we make goes back into finding cool items that we offer to you for a nice discount.  In that regard, check out the Steampunk ray gun we have up for auction this week.  In mint condition it sells for $595.  We're offering it in near mint condition for an opening bid of $450.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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2-5-11

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PETE AND JIMMY AND THE RHYTHM KNIGHTS

Back in high school in Boonton, New Jersey, I was good friends with Jimmy Culleny and Pete Aceves.   Both of them learned to play guitars and the next thing I knew they had a record deal and were playing local gigs.  I became, well, I guess, a part of their entourage.

 (That's Jim on the extreme left and Peter on the extreme right.)  

For a kid growing up in Boonton in 1959 (without a shred of musical talent of his own), that was as good as it gets.  But we all graduated at the end of that year and Jim joined the Navy while Pete went on to college.  Six months later I was in the Air Force.  

Last week, while surfing the net I found one of the records they made on Youtube.  You can access it here.  You'll also find another cool song there: Without a Friend by the Strangers.  That one is also very rare.  Back in the 50s in Boonton you could only hear it on the black radio stations out of Newark.  Anyone remember Pat (The Cat) Kannell?  

While I was at it I also re-posted Blondie's Heart of Glass here. Great song, great recording artist.  Check it out before Youtube takes it down again.  And I reposted Earth Angel by the Penguins, the song that had every hip 13-year-old in Boonton running down to the record store.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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1-29-11

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WELCOME TO THE FUTURE

No matter which political party you consider, it seems the plan is to eliminate the middle class.  Wall street blows up the economy, we (the tax payers) bail them out, they make record profits and we, the average Joe pays the bill.  How do we pay for it?  They're talking about cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicade.  They want to renege on retirement contracts that people were counting on for their old age.  Funding for schools, hospitals and roads has dried up in most states.  But they wont raise the tax rate on the rich or the cap on Social Security by even a few points. 

Here's what I know: the richest one-fifth own over four-fifths of our nations wealth.  According to Claude Fisher, writing for the Berkley Blog:  

The United States has the greatest inequality of income and wealth among affluent western nations. And that inequality has been increasing pretty steadily since about 1970 — more so than in other western nations – with a slowdown in the late 1990s and a few short-term fluctuations in wealth inequality due to swings in the stock market. This is pretty much understood by serious scholars (with a few outlying voices in dissent). It looks like Americans have been sensing rising inequality, too.  (http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2010/09/30/wealth-and-an-american-paradox/)

Statistics I've seen indicate you have a greater chance of achieving the American dream (transitioning from a lower to a higher income bracket) in Germany than you do here.  That's not the future I signed up for.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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1-22-11

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GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE? BAH!  HUMBUG!

I've lived in Southern California since 1978.  And I've lived in my current neighborhood for the last 13 years.  In all that time I've never seen anything like this.  Nor, apparently have any other residents I know, many of whom have lived here their entire lives.  Yet there I stood last weekend, in front of my home, in the middle of what I would describe as a snow storm.  

Meanwhile there are worldwide reports of birds falling from the sky and fish (and crabs) washing up on beaches.  The vast majority of scientists around the world tell us climate change is real and it's here now.  I can't disagree.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

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1-8-11

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EXPLAINING LENTICULAR 3-D

Basically, lenticular 3-D is a three dimensional image that does not require glasses to be viewed.  But how can I show that to you in a two dimensional format such as your computer screen?  Here's my attempt:

Okay, the image is still two dimensional but, thanks to it's movement, you can get an idea of it's 3-D nature.  Anyway, that's basically what you get with the Space Patrol Limited Edition DVD case created by Elliott Swanson.  He's a long time Space Patroller and my 3-D expert who, coincidentally, also supplied the above motion sample.  

On other matters, we are introducing a new radio show to our line-up: Lux Radio Theater.   You can access that here.

Finally, the FCC has just, in my opinion, gutted Net Neutrality.  I'll have more on that in the coming weeks.

From our Secret Mountain Top Retreat in Southern California, this is Bruce David signing off. 

TO READ PAST COMMENTS CLICK HERE:  COMMENTS  

TO MAKE A COMMENT CLICK HERE: Swapsale@aol.com

1-1-11

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