From: Digestifier To: Subject: Dead-Flames Digest #634 Dead-Flames Digest #634, Volume #48 Fri, 21 Oct 05 14:00:01 PDT Contents: Ol' Max gets after Pat Robertson (JC Martin) Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) ("Stuknot") Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) ("RickNBarbInSD") Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) ("RickNBarbInSD") Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) ("Dave Kelly") Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) ("Stuknot") Re: What is a good "B" rated movie? (Ben) Re: GDTSTOO - New Year's with Phil Lesh and Friends. ("Bud Shaver") Re: What is a good "B" rated movie? (Ben) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JC Martin Subject: Ol' Max gets after Pat Robertson Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 20:31:53 GMT Interesting little article on Hurricane relief and Patty Rob: ========== Pat Robertson's Katrina Cash Max Blumenthal Every cloud has a silver lining. Hurricane Katrina has devastated New Orleans, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, and plunging the entire city into chaos. In the hurricane's wake, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its director, Michael Brown, forced out of his former job at the International Arabian Horse Association, with no credentials in disaster relief, have become targets of withering criticism. Yet FEMA's relief efforts have brought considerable assistance to at least one man who stands to benefit from Hurricane Katrina perhaps more than any other individual: Pat Robertson. With the Bush Administration's approval, Robertson's $66 million relief organization, Operation Blessing, has been prominently featured on FEMA's list of charitable groups accepting donations for hurricane relief. Dozens of media outlets, including the New York Times, CNN and the Associated Press, duly reprinted FEMA's list, unwittingly acting as agents soliciting cash for Robertson. "How in the heck did that happen?" Richard Walden, president of the disaster-relief group Operation USA, asked of Operation Blessing's inclusion on FEMA's list. "That gives Pat Robertson millions of extra dollars." Though Operation USA has conducted disaster relief for more than twenty-five years on five continents, like scores of other secular relief groups currently helping victims of Hurricane Katrina, it was omitted from FEMA's list. In fact, only two non-"faith-based" organizations were included. (One of them, the American Red Cross, is being blocked from entering New Orleans by FEMA's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.) FEMA, meanwhile, has reportedly turned away Wal-Mart trucks carrying food and water to the stricken city, teams of firemen from Maryland and Texas, volunteer morticians and a convoy of 1,000 boat owners offering to help rescue stranded flood victims. While relief efforts falter in the face of colossal bureaucratic incompetence, the Bush Administration's promotion of Operation Blessing has ensured that the floodwaters swallowing New Orleans will be a rising tide lifting Robertson's boat. Robertson recently ignited a media firestorm when he called for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez during a broadcast of The 700 Club. He has also blamed the 9/11 attacks on America's tolerance of abortion and homosexuality and declared the Supreme Court a greater threat to the United States than Al Qaeda. Robertson assiduously cultivates his celebrity with remarks like these, casting himself as a divisive bigot to his foes and a righteous prophet to his allies in Christian right circles. But there is much more to Robertson than the headline-grabbing hothead he plays on TV. Far from the media's gaze, Robertson has used the tax-exempt, nonprofit Operation Blessing as a front for his shadowy financial schemes, while exerting his influence within the GOP to cover his tracks. In 1994 he made an emotional plea on The 700 Club for cash donations to Operation Blessing to support airlifts of refugees from the Rwandan civil war to Zaire (now Congo). Reporter Bill Sizemore of The Virginian Pilot later discovered that Operation Blessing's planes were transporting diamond-mining equipment for the African Development Corporation, a Robertson-owned venture initiated with the cooperation of Zaire's then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. After a lengthy investigation, Virginia's Office of Consumer Affairs determined that Robertson "willfully induced contributions from the public through the use of misleading statements and other implications." Yet when the office called for legal action against Robertson in 1999, Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley, a Republican, intervened with his own report, agreeing that Robertson had made deceptive appeals but overruling the recommendation for his prosecution. Two years earlier, while Virginia's investigation was gathering steam, Robertson donated $35,000 to Earley's campaign--Earley's largest contribution. With Earley's report came a sense of vindication. "From the very beginning," Robertson claimed, "we were trying to provide help and assistance to those who were facing disease and death in the war-torn, chaotic nation of Zaire." (Earley is now president of Prison Fellowship Ministries, an evangelical social-work organization founded by born-again, former Nixon dirty-trickster Charles Colson. PFM has accepted White House faith-based-initiative money and is currently engaged in hurricane relief efforts in Louisiana. Earley remains a close ally of Robertson.) Absolved of his sins, Robertson dug his heels back in African soil. In 1999 he signed an $8 million agreement with Liberian tyrant Charles Taylor that guaranteed Robertson's Freedom Gold Ltd.--an offshore company registered to the same address as his Christian Broadcasting Network--mining rights in Liberia, and gave Taylor a 10 percent stake in the company. When the United States intervened in Liberia in 2003, forcing Taylor and the Al Qaeda operatives he was harboring to flee, Robertson accused President Bush of "undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country." Robertson's scheming hasn't abated one bit. He is accused of violating his ministry's tax-exempt, nonprofit status by using it to market a diet shake he licensed this August to the health chain General Nutrition Corp. (Robertson continues to advertise the shake on his personal website.) He has withstood criticism from fellow evangelicals for investing $520,000 in a racehorse named Mr. Pat, violating biblical admonitions against gambling. He was even accused of "Jim Crow-style racial discrimination" by black employees who successfully sued his Christian Coalition in 2001 for forcing them enter its offices through a back door and eat in a segregated area (Robertson has since resigned). The Bush Administration has studiously overlooked Robertson's misdeeds. In October 2002, just months after he denounced the White House's faith-based initiative as "a real Pandora's box"--and one month before midterm elections--Robertson pocketed $500,000 in government grants to Operation Blessing. Since then, with the sole exception of his criticism of the US intervention in Liberia, Robertson has served as a willing surrogate for the Administration. His Regent University gave John Ashcroft a cushy professorship to cool his heels after his contentious tenure as US Attorney General. And Robertson's legal foundation, the American Center for Law and Justice, is spearheading the effort to rally right-wing Christian support for Judge John G. Roberts Jr.'s confirmation as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Now, as fallout from the President's handling of Hurricane Katrina threatens to derail the GOP's long-term agenda, Robertson is back at the plate for Bush, echoing the White House's line that state and local authorities--and even the disaster victims themselves--are to blame for the tragedy engulfing New Orleans. The September 5 edition of The 700 Club included a report by Christian Broadcasting Network correspondent Gary Lane from outside the ruined New Orleans Convention Center, which had housed mostly impoverished black disaster victims throughout the weekend. "A number of possessions left behind suggest the mindset of some of the evacuees," Lane said. "They include this voodoo cup with the saying, 'May the curse be with you.' " A shot of a plastic souvenir cup from one of New Orleans's countless trinket shops appeared on the screen. "Also music CDs with the titles Guerrilla Warfare and Thugs 'R' Us," Lane stated, pointing out a pile of rap CDs strewn on the ground. The 700 Club's featured guest was Wellington Boone, a black minister invited by Robertson to provide a counterpoint to the ubiquitous Rev. Jesse Jackson. Boone is a member of the Coalition on Revival, a Christian Reconstructionist organization that advocates replacing the US Constitution with biblical law. Throughout his career, he has distinguished himself from his black clerical colleagues with such remarks as "I believe that slavery, and the understanding of it when you see it God's way, was redemptive" and "The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom. He is a role model." Though Boone's appearance on The 700 Club consisted mostly of benign appeals for "laser-beam prayer," CBN featured a separate interview with Boone on its website in which he declared, "We need to consider the culture of those people still stranded in New Orleans. The looting of property, the trashing of property, et cetera, speaks to the basic character of the people." He added, "These people who have gone through slavery, segregation and the Voting Rights Act are doing this to themselves." Boone's appearance on The 700 Club had been preceded by an interview with Operation Blessing President Bill Horan. Horan discussed his group's activities in Biloxi, Mississippi, where it plans to set up a mobile kitchen, and in Houston, Dallas and Beaumont, Texas, where it is disbursing cash grants to numerous, mostly unspecified mega-churches, purportedly to support their work with evacuated hurricane victims. As for the people still stranded in New Orleans who "are doing this to themselves," as Boone said, Operation Blessing has a special plan: avoid them like the plague. "I've actually heard reports that they [the people of Mississippi] were in worse trouble" than those in New Orleans, claimed Gordon Robertson, the son of Pat Robertson and vice president of The 700 Club. "They were actually harder hit." "Oh, absolutely," agreed Horan. At the segment's conclusion, Gordon Robertson asked Horan, "What can people do today? If you were asking for help today, what's the number-one need?" "It's cash. Cash is what we need more than anything," Horan pleaded. "The more cash we get, the more good we can do." And the Bush Administration, through FEMA, is doing its best to insure that Pat Robertson is getting that cash just as quickly as humanly possible. ------------------------------ From: "Stuknot" Subject: Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) Date: 21 Oct 2005 13:31:51 -0700 Everybody's Gonna Be Happy wrote: > You should tell her beforehand that the Paul cartoon never sang the > submarine song. > > That was the Ringo cartoon. > Yeah, she knows that, I think. It's just that Yellow Submarine is the only Beatles song she knows. When she asked if all the other Beatles would be at the show, I and I said no, they don't play together anymore (easiest true explanation), she assured me she understood. The Beatles breaking up is apparently very similar to Hillary Duff not playing Lizzie McGuire any more. John H. ------------------------------ From: "RickNBarbInSD" Subject: Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) Date: 21 Oct 2005 13:36:45 -0700 JC Martin wrote: > Lynne is an incredible talent. While his latter ELO disco records were > pretty bad, the early stuff is very much influenced by the Beatles. > Pretty good stuff IMO. I liked the Wilburys' music, but Lynne got the > worst drum sound ever. It's the "Don't Bring Me Down" drum sound, which > sounds very dated. He used it on a couple of Petty records too. > Drives me nuts, especially how he ruined the kit work of the great Jim > Keltner. > -JC Concur. Old ELO I liked. The later stuff was what sucked. That "Don't Bring Me Doooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn" piece o' crap you mentioned is a perfect example! That one always grated on me. "Fire on High" is an example of some good early ELO. Some may remember it as the theme from the "CBS Sports Spectacular", which I'd characterize as CBS' answer to ABC's "Wide World of Sports". Good tune! Rick ------------------------------ From: "RickNBarbInSD" Subject: Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) Date: 21 Oct 2005 13:38:25 -0700 Stuknot wrote: > The Beatles > breaking up is apparently very similar to Hillary Duff not playing > Lizzie McGuire any more. > > John H. Hahahahaha!!! I love that! Rick ------------------------------ From: "Dave Kelly" Subject: Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 20:39:48 GMT "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy" wrote in message news:yH96f.157 > DO NOT MISS THIS DVD. > > EGBH Eh...I found it somewhat uninspired and obtuse.... not to mention pedestrian...oh.....and pedantic..... can't forget pedantic..ok..I have NO idea what I'm talking about. Siskel & Sweetbac ------------------------------ From: "Stuknot" Subject: Re: Paul McCartney (ndc) Date: 21 Oct 2005 13:42:58 -0700 RickNBarbInSD wrote: > dyrewlf wrote: > > wrote in message > > news:1129911059.572577.292750@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... > > >I grew up with the Beatles. Love most of their work, but I was never a > > > big McCartney solo fan. Two and half years ago, my brother gave me > > > tickets to McCartney's show in Oakland, for my b'day. I went, expecting > > > to be mildly entertained. > > > My bad. Paul rocked the hell out of the big old Coliseum. Had a great > > > time, even if we were the only people smoking pot in our section. > > >>From friends who saw the show in San Jose and Vegas, I gather he did > > > the exact same show (songs and stage banter) for the whole tour. Like a > > > script. > > > BTW, nice interview with McCartney in the current issue of Guitar > > > Player. > > > > > > Larry > > > > > > > This is the same way I felt. We were trying to figure out who to go see and > > his tix were going on sale. My wife really wanted to see him, I had no > > interest. I liked some of his solo stuff, but not a huge fan. She went on > > about it being the last chance for us to see a Beatle. She won and man am I > > glad she did. That was a hell of a show definitely in our top 5 ever. Paul > > rocked out hard and his band was pretty damn good especially the drummer. > > Yes he plays pretty much the same show, he alters it by a song or 2, and > > has the same stage banter at the same time but man it was rocking. Well > > worth the money that tix were going for. It was an outstanding show from > > beginning to end. Needless to say when tix went on sale for his tour this > > year, we snapped some up. Can't wait. we've got the Stones next Sun and Paul > > the following Thurs, should be a fun week. Steve > > > Yup. Paul might have churned out some lousy trite crap over the years > with Wings, but he deserves his props. He remains an immensely > talented man who can definitely blow the roof off the joint when he > reinvests in his fundamental strengths. He writes well, sings well, > plays multiple instruments, and plays rock and roll bass very well. > Although it has sometimes seemed obscured by the aforementioned crap, > he really is a legend for good reason IMHO. > My earliest recollection is doing the tennis racquet/mop thing when I was three or four and the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. Ever since, I can't really hear them objectively, they kind of exist on some sort of mythical level for me. There are songs though where you can't help but notice something really new is going on, the bass on "She's A Woman" for example. I bought Wingspan (two disc overview of post-Beatles Paul) a few months ago and was surprised at how much of it I like. "Junk," "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Too Many People," "Band On The Run," "Let Me Roll It" etc. Of course, there's also a bunch of watery pop on there too. John H. ------------------------------ From: Ben Subject: Re: What is a good "B" rated movie? Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:46:33 -0700 On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 08:46:15 -0700, "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy" wrote: >The Trip (coupled with Jack Nicholson in Psych Out on the DVD), and the Wild >Angels are two other great ones to start with. > >The Trip has Fonda on LSD in Hollywood, freaking out in a very loosely >scripted trip. Wild Angels is a great biker flick featuring a smokin' Nancy >Sinatra. Psych Out has Nicholson joining an acid rock band in the Haight >Ashbury at the height of the neighborhood's greatness. I never saw Psych Out, but the other 2 were very good, I thought. IIRC, Dennis Hopper plays the dealer that Fonda gets his acid from. Another one from that era is Riot on Sunset Strip (I think that's what it's called) - a movie about drug-crazed youth. Nicholson was in Hell's Angels on Wheels in '67 - another biker movie. 70's blaxploitation movies are always good - Superfly, Shaft, Foxy Brown and Coffy are up there. Black Mama, White Mama is a women in prison movie starring Pam Grier - all sorts of cheap thrills and action in that movie. The Dynamite Brothers is sort of a cross-over blaxploitation/martial arts movie. Speaking of martial arts movies, just about anything with Bruce Lee is good (for a B movie) There are lots of bad vampire movies too if one is so inclined. Vampirella stars Roger Daltrey and the "dark, mysterious and sensual" Talisa Soto (whoever she is - she looks good though). Salem's Lot is allright - it stars David Soul and is based on the Stephen King novel. ------------------------------ From: "Bud Shaver" Subject: Re: GDTSTOO - New Year's with Phil Lesh and Friends. Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:54:24 -0700 "Dave Kelly" wrote in message news:a8c6f.5008$BZ5.3324@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com... > Joan Osbore AND John Mayer! > I'll alert my 15 year old niece! > Brother Phil REALLY dropped the ball on this one! > A special midnite set w/ John Mayer! > I think the freak out tent people better be full staffed. > Unfrigginbelievable! > > Look for a special Bo Bice appearance in Vegas! ------------------------------ From: Ben Subject: Re: What is a good "B" rated movie? Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:49:46 -0700 On 21 Oct 2005 11:52:28 -0700, "pbleers@hotmail.com" wrote: >.any flick with Harry Dean Stanton in it, its >almost assuredly a B flick. He's great. Was Alien a B flick? other movies he's been in: Escape from New York Repo Man Wild At Heart Paris, Texas ------------------------------ ** FOR YOUR REFERENCE ** The service addresses, to which questions about the list itself and requests to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, are as follows: Internet: dead-flames-request@gdead.berkeley.edu Bitnet: dead-flames-request%gdead.berkeley.edu@ucbcmsa Uucp: ...!{ucbvax,uunet}!gdead.berkeley.edu!dead-flames-request You can send mail to the entire list (and rec.music.gdead) via one of these addresses: Internet: dead-flames@gdead.berkeley.edu Bitnet: dead-flames%gdead.berkeley.edu@ucbcmsa Uucp: ...!{ucbvax,uunet}!gdead.berkeley.edu!dead-flames End of Dead-Flames Digest ****************************** .